The prisons of the Old World are brutal sub-realms unto themselves where only the strong and ruthless survive. Of the few convicts who do live through their sentences, most return to society as harder criminals than before they entered prison. The Shallyan might preach about forgiveness and second-chances, but the truth is that the rare ex-convict who does manage to reform is met with the same suspicion and resentment as those who do not. In the end, most ex-convicts are released into an unreceptive world with few opportunities other than to commit new crimes, return to prison and begin the cycle anew.[1a]