Intro

Date: July 1st, 2005.
Location: a small island in the South Pacific
Time: Dawn

It has been over 50 years since the end of the last World War, but the international community continues to struggle to agree on almost every issue they discuss. Almost.

Although they do not reveal it to the media, a coalition of over 100 countries and nation/states has secretly been meeting to discuss how to deal with the severely deviant individuals who violate local, national, and international law. In the wake of the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the United States, the world began to look at effective and equitable ways to deal with these individuals who engage in heinous criminal acts. One of their solutions was to create a series of "International Penal Territories". Officially known as IPT1, the first of these territories was set up in early 2004 on a small island in the South Pacific Ocean. It has come to gain many names from the various countries that use the island as a final destination for their least wanted citizens. Although it covers only slightly less than 500 acres, the island is considered ideal due to its remote location and varied landscape. The inhabitants live under the constant watchful eyes of the five warships that constantly circle the island, each on loan from the military of a different country.

A mere 18 months after its creation, a colony has developed on the island; a small community whose citizens must live together in order to survive, even though trust is an asset not easily earned. People from all walks of life in the four corners of the world have come to this place, each with their own assorted background and motives. Some are here simply because they've shown an inability to cohabitate with their fellow citizens. Some actually traveled here with an agenda. Some are highly brilliant, while others know only the most primal urges to destroy whatever is good in other people's lives. Some have heard a wake up call, a beacon to a new life, a chance to begin fresh. Others are simply biding their time, waiting and watching for an opportunity to resume their old ways.

Life on IPT1 is always changing, and with the arrival of each pontoon boat on the first day of each month, the face of the island is changed forever.

July 1st, 2005. Dawn.