Subera
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Subera is home to a Romulan penal colony. It has three small moons, one of which holds an orbital security and monitoring station for the planet, which has three small interceptor craft for planetary defense.
Environment
Subera has a nitrogen-carbon dioxide atmosphere at 0.8 Earth-normal pressure. The planet only has 10% of its surface consisting of water and that is all locked up into polar ice and water vapor. The climate is hot and dry, with strong winds and regular sandstorms that sweep across the surface. High levels of ionic radiation in the upper atmosphere prevent the use of transporters to and from the planet's surface. Powerful electrical discharges in the upper atmosphere are common.
Subera Penal Colony
Subera is fairly typical of a successful Romulan penal colony. The prisoners are allowed considerable freedom within the limits of the pressure domes. Apart from obeying the guards (who are rarely seen), prisoners are largely left to fend for themselves. Packs of gangs of common, organized around strong leaders. The gangs enforce their own rules on the other prisoners and often extort food (the only valuable resource) from their fellows, as well. Occasionally, the Romulans select prisoners for use in medical or scientific experiments, as well as conduct behavioral studies of prison society.
Sentences to Subera are nearly always for life, and prisoners sent to the planet are generally never heard from again. The facility is often used by the Tal Shiar to make someone "disappear." It keeps a prisoner in the Subera facility for as long as he is useful, conducting lengthy interrogations to gather information. Prisoners who "belong" to the Tal Shiar are often given preferential treatment (for as long as it serves the Tal Shiar's interests to do so). When the Tal Shiar is finished, the prisoner is left to rot in the prison. Such former "favorites" rarely last long in the prison environment.
Places of Interest
The Subera facility is a large collection of pressure domes and structures on one of Subera's flat desert plains. It is a Romulan prison facility for the holding of criminals and political dissidents. The facility currently holds around 100,000 prisoners of various species and it is reputed to be escape-proof. The outside environment is unlivable without the use of a breathing apparatus, and the only way off the planet is by Romulan shuttle to the lunar monitoring base. Anyone attempting to leave the surface without authorization is shot down by Romulan interceptor ships.
The planet itself has ship facilities only for personnel shuttles, which ferry prisoners and personnel in from the lunar command facility. The command facility has administrative quarters and offices and more extensive docking facilities for larger ships, although transfers of personnel and equipment are still via shuttles or transporters (which function normally outside the planet's atmosphere).
Reference(s)
- Estes, James. The Way of D'era: The Romulan Star Empire, Last Unicorn Games, 1999.