Carnate Island

Carnate Island is a large island located 10 miles off the coast of Maryland. It houses Abbott State Penitentiary, and is the setting for The Suffering.

The island is renowed for its history of death and bloodshed throughout the ages, and this has changed the overall feel of the island. The island's deathly atmosphere has the effect of turning ordinary people into murderers and thus creating evil, as seen with characters such as Horace and Hargrave. The sins comitted on the island then manifest themselves as Malefactors during the cataclysm. All of the Malefactors are bent on killing everything, including each other. Some are manifestations of the various forms of execution while others (such as the Festers) are the embodiment of those endlessly suffering as retribution for past actions.

History

Carnate's first settlement was a Puritan village called Goodsmouth in the late 17th Century. After a few decades, a trio of young girls accused eleven members of the village of witchcraft, which in turn led to the deaths of the accused. A lighthouse was built on the island in 1834 and is still in operation, though it is plagued by frequent breakdowns. In the late 19th Century, a wealthy family established a home on the island. The family was, apparently, deeply traumatized by an undisclosed incident and left. The home was later converted into The Carnate Institution for the Alienated, run by Dr. Killjoy, until some time in the 1920s. The government acquired the island in the 1930s for use as a POW camp and a major US military fort. Following World War 2, control of the the island was transferred to the state of Maryland, and Abbott State Penitentiary was built using the old fort as a foundation.

Events of The Suffering

On September 1st, Torque, a death-row inmate charged with the alleged crime of murdering his ex-wife and two children, was admitted to Abbott State Penitentiary. He would then await execution via lethal injection on December 15th. However, the inmate has no memory of the events, and so does not know whether he is guilty or not. The C.O.'s (mainly Ernesto) chide and threaten Torque for these crimes while walking him to his cell.

Torque is escorted to his cell, where the surrounding inmates discuss his crimes as he laments upon a photograph of his family. Shortly after Torque's arrival, there is a short earthquake, and it would be apparent that a cataclysm has struck the island, unleashing waves of nightmarish Malefactors throughout the island. The surrounding inmates are killed by Slayers, whilst Torque's cell door is sliced open, allowing him to escape. In the ensuing hours of the night, Torque and the other inmates and C.O.'s all attempt to survive and escape the island. Since the C.O.'s and the inmates have a long history of mistrust and violence against each other, they often end up turning on each other, blaming the other group for the horrifying events and causing even more fatalities. Some inmates and C.O.'s even drift into insanity and kill themselves out of emotional distress. The prison warden, Hargrave, decides that Judgement Day has come, and thus begins viciously dispatching any inmates he finds.

After escaping his cell, Torque makes his way toward the Radio building, where C.O.'s have constantly been attempting to radio the mainland following the cataclysm. However, the distress signal is hampered by static emanating from the long abandoned Carnate Asylum, forcing Torque to journey there and face Dr. Killjoy to turn off the signal. On returning to the prison, Torque learns that he must re-start the Carnate lighthouse to allow the rescue skiff to land. He journeys through the island and re-starts the lighthouse lamp, allowing the skiff to land at Carnate Dock. After defeating the enormous Malefactor at the Dock, a rescue skiff arrives to pick up Torque, informing him that only a handful of people survived. The fate of Torque and the skiff driver past this point depends on the player's morality.

Events of The Suffering: Ties That Bind

The island is rarely mentioned in the sequel, though it is revealed that Foundation soldiers have been exploring the island after the cataclysm struck and have been dispatching any Malefactors and inmates they encounter, sometimes capturing a Malefactor for further analysis. Jordan has specified her interest in the inmate Torque, perhaps because of his durability and affliation with the events that transpired. In the Good/Neutral storyline, the Foundation soldiers will intercept the skiff carrying Torque when it nears the mainland, where they restrain him after he falls unconscious. In The Evil storyline, Foundation soldiers will discover Torque passed out on a Carnate beach, where they refrain from killing him and instead restrain and transport him to the mainland via helicopter.

Later on in the game, Consuela will want to travel to Carnate to check on her husband Ernesto, and the decision to assist her with this is based on the player's morality. Helping her with this task will also unlock the Carnate Island archive page.

Landmarks

• Abbott State Penitentiary
• The Asylum
• Prison Cemetery
• Slave Shipwreck
• Quarry
• World War II Fort
• Lighthouse
• The Town
• Docks