Ugh, it was like that when I went to Marseilles, France this year. Seriously, they use the streets as a toilet.
But in marseillais dialect "streets" means public toilets.
IF we start in prison, then we should not start alone (though I actually found that annoying dark elf in the beginning of O funny in many ways). You were, as many put before, a civilian caught in the midst of some big krakatoa. Erring on the side of caution, the Nord guards caught the dozen survivors of some unkown explosion/whatever, and so you start sharing a cell with a dozen folks of your same race and six.
Another fubeca appears to happen while the interrogation goes on. The guards have no clue whats going on and in the ensuing turmoil one of the civilians manages to knock a guard unconscious, gets the key and opens the cell. Every man for himself, you prefer not to wait for stressed Nords to believe the famous "I did not do it!" sentence. You are now wanted, as they describe "suspect in the detonation of city of Ni, male, race xxx...." and you have to first clear your name somehow and may face potential enemies like some of the inmates that were not so innocent.