Addendum

Some might protest that making convicts live inside a whale is essentially a death sentence. Those people go in the whale.

Incarceration Solutions

Prisoners often end up inside whales, but fantasy governments should consider sending them there directly. It's like exile except nobody gets mad at you for sending your worst junk.

Addendum

Specifically, all intellectual property will be protected for twelve years except for Pac-Man, which is protected in perpuity and the penalty for infringement is exile from the solar system. Twelve years is a highly scientific number which reminds us of clocks, which are ticking as we wait for a space monster.

Practical Kingseeking

Usually you can find out who the king is by being exiled for injuring him, but as reliable as that is, the time expended and the injuries required make this difficult without a large grant enabling a large staff.

The Tube

The claims of New Paradise to be at last the perfect land mankind had yearned to reach but had never before done outside of myth had a great amount of factual support. Metro GDP, commute times, unemployment homelessness, education outcomes, homicide rate (0.2 per 100,000), reported happiness; every measurable category put it in the top five cities in the world, and when considered together none could top it.
Yet Percy had always doubted it. Starting with his name, which seemed impossible in a true utopia, but stretching to the fake-looking smiles, the endless friendly chatter on inconsequential topics, the complete lack of swearing, the looming threat of the Tube, everything about New Paradise defied the human condition. He could not believe it, he did not believe it, and at least he did something about it.
The authorities treated him kindly, of course. They seemed more upset about the situation than he was. "Come now, Percy," they said. "You don't want to go down the Tube. We're all waiting for you to smarten up." But he was resolute. He had found his path.
With sighs and even some tears, though not from him, the condemned man was escorted in front of lamenting onlookers to the Tube. Guards opened the hatch, two keys being required simultaneously, and closed it again behind Percy. The mayor pressed the button, and with a phwump, the malcontent was gone.
At last Percy would find out the secret of the Tube and what lay behind the city's glamorous facade. So he believed as he shot along miles and miles of clear plastic tubing above roads and confused cows. Finally the Tube shot him out, and after taking a moment to recover from the unusual trip, he took stock of his surroundings.
"Huh," he said. It was Crown Douglas, the second-most idyllic city in the world. He found out later it had a Tube as well.
Finis

A Chance Cast

The man lurched along watched only by the sun, for other travelers saw the mark on his hat and turned away without speech. Householders put food and water by the road for him and pointed the way if he seemed unsure where to go. That was toward the king, for his judgment must be sought before the banished man knew whether he would be allowed to stay in that country.
After weeks on foot, for the country he had entered after previous weeks was not small, he reached the place where the king sat. He won his audience without a word, for he had the mark, and that was the compact among kings. The sitting was in the square of a town, for the king was out giving justice, and the plain seat was a throne, for a king sat on it. He beckoned the exile forward.
"What is your occupation?"
"A carver of fine things in bone and in ivory, which is bone also."
"For what cause were you banished?"
"The king who was my king then bade me create dice such as no man had seen or used before which would impress his nobles and foreign kings. A set of two hundred thirty-four, one for each year his dynasty has ruled and each carved and dyed so as to commemorate an event of one year. One and one-half years later, I presented the completed set. I was praised then, but I will let others speak to the quality of my dice. I can attest what I was told happened next. The men of the court and visitors alike refused to throw those dice for fear of marring them. The king imagined I had played a trick on him and banished me."
"Will you swear that is the true cause?"
"I do so swear."
"Excellent." The king leaned forward. "It happens that I have come to be dismayed by the extent of gambling with dice in my country . . ."
Finis

Breaking News

They just kicked Mercedes Lackey out of the country. And that was before they read her books!