North Korean prison camps inspired Cursed Mage’s institutions

North Korean prison camps are among the most inhumane places on Earth. And they were a major inspiration for Cursed Mage’s institutions.

On the surface, you wouldn’t call Cursed Mage and the Catenarian Chronicles dystopian fiction. If you categorized it, the work would be a dark paranormal fantasy.

But when you read between the lines, you’ll know why this thing is as dystopian as it can get without me attaching a label. For one, Kaija Jokiharju lives in a nation with a brutal two-party system,

This nation, Vimsinew, is a carbon copy of the modern United States. Or, to be more accurate, post-modern. In other words, it’s a national security surveillance state with a bloated military-industrial complex and corruption on all ends of the political spectrum.

Hey, say what you will about me and my criticism of my home nation’s brewing surveillance state, but patriotism ain’t falling in line with what your morbidly obese federal government values. It’s calling it out when it threatens the liberty of those living in it under any and all circumstances, even if it’s an outlying, minority take.

Also, you may recall that North Korean prison camps helped inspire a few settings in Civil War (Chronicles of Rondure, Book I). This one, that leans into grimdark dystopian fantasy, shows off the prisons’ dreary conditions. In Cursed Mage though, I barely scratch the surface, so background info is needed.

Background information on North Korean prison camps

Inside these camps, trials don’t exist. You can be imprisoned for thinking the wrong thing. And if you’re caught? Your entire bloodline can be punished. North Korea uses “guilt by association” to arrest three generations of a family for one person’s so-called crime.

What happens next is methodical degradation.

Inmates live in overcrowded, unheated cells. They’re fed starvation rations, which are a few kernels of corn, a bowl of grass or cabbage soup, and forced to perform dangerous labor 12 to 16 hours a day. Mining, logging, farming, factory work, it doesn’t matter. It’s all designed to kill you slowly.

If the work doesn’t, the guards might.

Torture is routine. Prisoners are hung from ceilings, electrocuted, raped, or forced into painful stress positions for hours. Women are routinely assaulted, and pregnancies are forcibly aborted. Executions are public, meant to break morale and remind everyone who’s in charge.

And even then, death might be mercy. Because those who survive must endure something far more insidious: ideological “reform.” Inmates are forced to attend daily indoctrination sessions, confess fake crimes, and participate in ritualized self-criticism.

In Cursed Mage, the institutions do exactly this. They punish and erase Mages who’ve committed crimes severe enough to put the nation’s national security at risk. They grind out rebellion, extract submission, and extinguish the soul.

What you will learn about institutions in Cursed Mage

While there are several of them, some, like Linna Yliopisto, are more benign than others. But in Book II, Astray Mage, I’ll reveal a couple of dark secrets about Linna Yliopisto that will completely change your mind about the place.

Then, there are the lowest of the low institutions, often located in the middle of vast forests. Some fall under Mercenary Party control, others, the rival Augury Party. But they have a few things in common, as Kaija discovers when she embarks on a rescue mission to one of them:

• Prisoners are locked in solitary confinement 24/7 in cells without windows
• Their cells are just large enough for them to lay down in
• Most prisoners go insane, evidenced by their primal, inhuman screams which can be heard in the corridors
• Guards have the authority to conduct physical and psychological torture sessions at their whim
• Food, described as slop for the most part, is delivered through a cat flap
• Prisoners consume just enough food to survive
• Hunger strikes lead to consequences, like physical and psychological torture
• Prisoners are on 24/7 suicide watch
• Human experimentation is present (seen in Astray Mage)

The “benign government” is secretly inhumane

Yeah, it’s pretty messed up, and not much different from what you see in North Korea. If you’d like some further reading on this subject, I highly recommend checking out the book Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden.

It tells a chilling tale of one man’s escape from what might be North Korea’s most notorious prison.

And if you’re interested in theme-based libertarian dark paranormal fantasy, pick up a copy of Cursed Mage while you’re at it.

Buy from me directly, and save off of its price at the major outlets. Get Cursed Mage Today.