OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Space Prison Name Generator
Orbital Prisons, Prison Planets and Prison Ships, With Inmate Nicknames
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How the Space Prison Name Generator works
This space prison name generator names the places a future locks people away: orbital prisons such as Penitentiary Station Kessler, prison planets such as Tartarus Penal Colony, prison ships such as the Long Sentence, and inmate slang such as the Icebox or the Big Rock.
How the space prison name generator names prisons
Official prison names are dull on purpose. They name the function and whoever paid for it, so the Orbital prison kind joins words like Penitentiary or Detention to a surname or a code, Detention Station Voss or Containment DC-114. Prison planets get grimmer names, often from religion or myth, because a whole world used as a cell needs a name that sounds like a sentence: Purgatory, Penance, Tartarus. Prison ships carry corporate code numbers and dark-humoured ship names such as Due Process.
What inmates call it
Nobody inside calls a prison by its official name. Real prisons gather nicknames like the Rock for Alcatraz or the Hole for solitary, and the Inmate slang kind follows that habit with short, flat words: the Can, the Icebox, the Big Drum, the Cold Pit. Using the slang name in dialogue and the official name in briefings is a quick way to show who is talking.
Using a space prison in a story
Prison breaks, rescues and riots all work in space, with the vacuum outside as the extra wall. Name the warden with the sci-fi character name generator, the inmates' gang with the raider gang name generator and the escape ship with the starship name generator. For a dungeon rather than a space station, the fantasy prison name generator suits better.
FAQ
What are some famous space prisons in fiction?
Fury 161 from Alien 3, the Kyln from Guardians of the Galaxy, Rura Penthe from Star Trek, Purgatory from Mass Effect and Crematoria from The Chronicles of Riddick. Most are remote, cold or burning, which the generator's names lean into.
Should a space prison have an official name and a nickname?
Yes, if characters talk about it often. The official name sounds right in a news report or a judge's sentence, and the nickname sounds right from someone who has served time there.
Can I use these prison names in my game?
Yes. The names combine ordinary words, invented surnames and codes. A few, such as Purgatory or Tartarus, are common words also used in published fiction, so pair them with a code or a place to make them your own.
See also: all Sci-fi tools, People, Fantasy & RPG, Culture & Language, Online & Social, Business & Brand, Places & Things.
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