My version of Sonic's world

OK, to make my Sonic story work, it looks like I need to establish a version of Sonic's world, lets just call it Mobius, that is distinct and not really related to Sega or Archie.

The important feature in this version of Mobius however, is that Villain: Exit, Stage Left somehow isn't a problem. That means Sonic can have a rivalry with Robotnik, with Sonic apparently letting him go or showing mercy after each fight, but nobody seems to bat an eye.

But how exactly should Mobian society be for that to actually happen? (Other than, cynically speaking, brain dead?

Currently the only suggestion I have is making it a place where society is rather simple: the planet is divided into about 10,000 Zones, as a nod to the games. Most zones have little population, although a few are large cities that function pretty much like Earth city-states such as Singapore.

Mobius is a generally peaceful place with little war or crime. (Again, not sure how to make that happen.) As a result, most Zones, such as the one Sonic lives in, don't have a military or police. So for all intents and purposes, Sonic IS the military and police where he lives, like a sheriff in a Western.

So is that plausible? Maybe the reason Sonic lets him go is because he has to? Because there is pretty much nothing he can do even after capturing him? Or is the whole idea fundamentally flawed? I would like to try to support it before I come to that conclusion.

Why not just go the ol' Cardboard Prison route? I mean, Robotnik managed a jailbreak from the world's most secure prison in Sonic Adventure 2, so it wouldn't be all that unlikely.

edited 2nd Feb '10 9:28:30 PM by Crank

Maybe make it that Robotnik is a blast from the past. Humans were extinct earlier in Mobiuses history, during a more bloody era, and he's out for revenge, or just to cause havoc. Its a dark take on the setting, but Eggman/Robotnik/PINGAS! might simply be so violent and dangerous that there simply isn't a cell that can hold him. We're talking someone willing to shove animals in a machine to make it run. In a world without a decent police force or military, he'd be almost unstoppable if Sonic is willing to let him go.

I'm not sure. I have trouble imagining how a conflictless world would react to a super-villain.

edited 3rd Feb '10 3:48:20 PM by GameChainsaw

Or it could be that Robotnik actively controls an area of the planet, and no one organization possesses the resources needed to break open his HQ.

EDIT: ignore me, didn't think it through.

edited 18th Aug '10 2:58:20 PM by GameChainsaw

He could rule his own nation/zone/whatever, thereby giving him diplomatic immunity.

I think at this point it would be an act of war. People aren't going to let Super Villains do whatever they want because they have a country.