The End of the World As We Know It - A1 Prologue

[Jitter]

Bear in mind that the selection is about to get very meager indeed. Although I like to think they have, or develop, at least genuine warmth towards each other. But after almost the entire human race is dead, what can you do?

Maybe you might decide having kids is not a good idea, but if you just refuse to give up, then there must be children.

Ps https://www.google.com/search?q=it+was+never+a+dress&rlz=1C9BKJA_enFI879FI881&hl=en-GB&ei=lyBPYp7FBqSprgSo0ZugCw&oq=it+was+ne&gs_lcp=ChNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwEAEYADIFCAAQkQIyBQgAEJECMgUILhCABDIFCC4QgAQyCAguEIAEENQCMgUIABCABDIFCC4QgAQyBQgAEIAEOgcIABBHELADOgcIABCwAxBDOgYIABAWEB46BQghEKABOgQIABBDSgQIQRgAUJQUWIMrYOQ0aAFwAHgAgAGqAYgBxQ6SAQQwLjE1mAEAoAEByAEJwAEB&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp#imgrc=Xl0tcu_bb2fykM

[dmeck7755]

I figure the newspaper articles are examples of the Unreliable Narrator.  No matter how ferociously contagious the Rash was, there's just no way it could have overwhelmed the world in 40 days (page 47) or even three months (page 48) if it came from that small group of refugees.  It had to have been seeded all over the world -- by whom or what is a fanfic question -- and, given its weakness to cold, it would have spread more easily the closer you got to the equator.

I thought the water was leaking in around the window.

There are a few stories in A03 about it spreading. 

As far as a pandemic is concerned.  I think it was spread world wide in 40 days

at the end of 30 days you'd have about 5,368,709 infected

(If you keep doubling that for the next 10 days it would definitely exceed the population.  I used the double a penny a day idea here.  )

[dmeck7755]

There are also spots on grandma's face in the preceived panel.  Maybe he thinks Grandma has the rash also?

Can I just add that I would never have guessed that Aksel would end up with Sigrun Sr. She really does seem like a bit of an ass. Maybe she's great at cooking, or something.

I vote for "or something"

[thegreyarea]

There are so many interesting comments that's hard to begin! So I'll go by order

Grey, your analyses are awesome!
One thing I would like to note about Aksel: his assuming-agreement thing with Gunnar makes me think of Reynir, who also sometimes hears what he wants to hear. Although I guess Sigrun can be ditsy too. ("Did I say that? That doesn't sound like me.")

Thanks Tehta! To me it sounds more like Sigrun, so self-assured of her awesomeness that of course the others are thinking what she's thinking!

Grey, I’d love to interpret it like that but considering how ARtD is absolutely rife with far jokes, I’m finding it hard to believe. Even if the gist of the joke is that Gøran is silly for not understanding the pictogram, it’s not exactly an appropriate joke.

As comes to the Rash being spread by refugees, I’m afraid we’ll see A LOT discussion about that. Or actually I don’t know if it took place on the comic comment section (meaning, I don’t know if we’ll actually see it via the reread), but it’s been debated a lot. Probably also in the LP thread more recently, when also the Emil Incident was brought up. I’m not going to consider whether or not this was intentional, but maaaayyyybe it could have been better if it was done some other way. At least no character ever addresses it in terms of “those people” coming “here” and bringing disease.

Btw I think the water in the floor under Grandma’s window is from the vase that has toppled on the windowsill? Sort of poor granny being unable to take care of even small domestic tasks. But of course a broken heater would be a lot worse even. I wonder whose photo she’s looking at in Aksel’s mind? Her favorite grandson?

I see. I'm not that familiar with ARTD (haven't read it in full yet). Perhaps it's hard for me to understand fat jokes at all...

I can imagine the refugees topic as a very hot one.
And she could really did it some other way. I get the affinity between the rash and warm places, but that spread centered on... Argelia? It's hard to understand. Unless she had some idea for an origin story... Which IIRC she didn't.

I though about the vase, but now I noticed what looks like three drops coming down from the heater's upper left corner... But it can even be both!

I did not notice the rats until they were brought up.  Though they look "cute"

Rats (even lab and pet rats Are not cute )

When I found the comic they were well into Denmark, so I zipped through the pages.  A lot of these lovely details went by me.  So it is really great to see in a new light.  Plus people's comments draw me to thing I have missed.

One more for the "didn't see the rats team" Welcome! 

I think lab rats and hamsters are cute. Not the way a cat or a dog are, but cute anyway. The Pizza video is great!!!

I also found the comic late, at page 800-something, but I liked it so much that I took around two months to catch-up, so I had time to find many things. Still I'm sure I'll find even more this turn.

I figure the newspaper articles are examples of the Unreliable Narrator.  No matter how ferociously contagious the Rash was, there's just no way it could have overwhelmed the world in 40 days (page 47) or even three months (page 48) if it came from that small group of refugees.  It had to have been seeded all over the world -- by whom or what is a fanfic question -- and, given its weakness to cold, it would have spread more easily the closer you got to the equator.

I thought the water was leaking in around the window.

I agree. My personal canon is there were several starting points for the rash, and that's why it hit the whole world so fast. And I have a fanfic in my mind for that. Actually the very first that I considered for SSSS. But it's still a WIP. Hopefully one day I'll finish it.

And the water coming from the window didn't occur to me, but it's another viable explanation.

I vote for a broken radiator, because that's more dire than a leaky window.

I would also like to add that Gunnar seems like an A+ guy. Why isn't he more popular. (I do like his fruit and booze priorities, those are the major food-groups!)

Yeah, two votes for the radiator!

Gunnar and the others are all interesting. I wish we had more of them. perhaps if there was a Norway-centered adventure we could have had a flashback... but now it's up to our fanfics!

... which indicates that either there's a lot of dust particles in the air, or we're talking about lethal levels of nuclear radiation ...

Since grandma lasted a few more years (we suppose) let's stay with the dust... Or maybe she's Supergrandma!

Continue down that road and we'll get stick figures with and without beard (as the other biological differences being shown usually collides with decency laws) ...

But then men without a beard would go to the ladies WC!  And there's always the problem of LGBTQ people. The best solution, IMHO, is to simply make a single instalation for everybody, with separeted cabins for privacy. It already existis in some countries, but I can't go search for it now.

I vote leaky feline, then.

Leaky feline is simply an awful explanation! It gets my vote!   

[thegreyarea]

There are also spots on grandma's face in the preceived panel.  Maybe he thinks Grandma has the rash also?
I vote for "or something"

I also think that "something" is the most best explanation...

[thegreyarea]

Bear in mind that the selection is about to get very meager indeed. Although I like to think they have, or develop, at least genuine warmth towards each other. But after almost the entire human race is dead, what can you do?

Maybe you might decide having kids is not a good idea, but if you just refuse to give up, then there must be children.

Ps https://www.google.com/search?q=it+was+never+a+dress&rlz=1C9BKJA_enFI879FI881&hl=en-GB&ei=lyBPYp7FBqSprgSo0ZugCw&oq=it+was+ne&gs_lcp=ChNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwEAEYADIFCAAQkQIyBQgAEJECMgUILhCABDIFCC4QgAQyCAguEIAEENQCMgUIABCABDIFCC4QgAQyBQgAEIAEOgcIABBHELADOgcIABCwAxBDOgYIABAWEB46BQghEKABOgQIABBDSgQIQRgAUJQUWIMrYOQ0aAFwAHgAgAGqAYgBxQ6SAQQwLjE1mAEAoAEByAEJwAEB&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp#imgrc=Xl0tcu_bb2fykM

Hey, "never a dress" is a great explanation!

[dmeck7755]

Another thing I noticed :  Minna looks like she responded to people's comments in the beginning.  I do not remember seeing any later on.

Bear in mind that the selection is about to get very meager indeed. Although I like to think they have, or develop, at least genuine warmth towards each other. But after almost the entire human race is dead, what can you do?

In some apocalyptic stories/books I have read.  It becomes mandatory to have children

[JoB]

Can I just add that I would never have guessed that Aksel would end up with Sigrun Sr. She really does seem like a bit of an ass. Maybe she's great at cooking, or something.

Her second name is "Al".

Spoiler: show

Sigrun Al Most Best.

Another thing I noticed :  Minna looks like she responded to people's comments in the beginning.  I do not remember seeing any later on.

Yes, she communicated quite a lot one-way in the author's comments before there was a comments section for readers (back with ARtD), then in the comments section as one got added, then tended to reply only in the first hour-or-so after she posted a new page, then stopped entirely. Part of the reason certainly was the growing reader/commenter base, but I've long been wondering whether that was the only reason ...

[Jitter]

I’m always fascinated by family and population ideas for any post-apocalypse! I think I wrote about it just recently, or was it in PM? No, I got called Supreme Mother by Grey for it

Anyways, yes, after you have established that we will try to keep the human race going, every fertile woman would become a most important resource. If the apocalypse in question doesn’t affect fertility by itself, then men would be far less important, because one woman can have only so many children. Of course if it were something that renders most men infertile (too), it would also apply to them although less so, because even one man could have lots of children provided there were women.

I’m glad Minna didn’t go there, because it becomes very dystopian very fast! Funnily enough, I don’t like Handmaid’s Tale. It’s just far to bleak. Although something like that probably would be arranged in a similar situation, but hopefully in a little less terrible ways.

Although by the time of the main story, the peoples of SSSS could already be back to more normal relationships even if there was the initial push to breed by arrangement. And the family tree doesn’t show “inconsequential” siblings for the in-between generation(s), so there COULD be (have been) a sensible arrangement where each woman has children by different men (if non-relatives are available), and it wouldn’t show on the family tree. Such a custom would also be a plausible explanation for Ukko-Pekka: meeting an immune stranger in a safe enough place could be a situation where getting (trying to get) pregnant would be the expected thing to do.

They would also have the opportunity to go back to more attraction-based relationships, because Iceland could have preserved the “usual” system, they didn’t have underpopulation, rather the opposite. There would probably have been enough of them throughout to not be in danger of losing the viability of the gene pool either (or, no more danger than an island nation of a few hundred thousand people has in any case).

I’m not thinking about a handmaid situation, they could well have families of two parents and children, even if it were widely accepted, understood and considered important that the biological father of each of the children were a different man.

And now I’ve gone far off the rails, sorry! Like I said, this fascinates me! When watching post-apocalypse stuff, I’m always complaining to my husband about how absurdly the people let their women go to danger! But every time it’s being considered it’s horrible! In addition to the Handmaid’s Tale, also Mad Max Fury Road comes to mind quickly.

I’m not sure if this should be in this thread at all. So, I’ll stop here.

[Suominoita]

I figure the newspaper articles are examples of the Unreliable Narrator.  No matter how ferociously contagious the Rash was, there's just no way it could have overwhelmed the world in 40 days (page 47) or even three months (page 48) if it came from that small group of refugees.  It had to have been seeded all over the world -- by whom or what is a fanfic question -- and, given its weakness to cold, it would have spread more easily the closer you got to the equator.

Well, most disease spreading-models are based on single-species disease, or if there is two species, it's still very limited. This Rash-thing spreads to (and by) all mammals except the felines -- it's different. Too many species getting it for any measures like border control really stopping it. Not when a mouse can carry it cross the border without anyone noticing and whales carry it across oceans. Spain got the 12 refugees first... how many animals were near enough to catch it? How many people got it before the 12 were quarantined? How many mammals got it from those people etc. Also, I guess it began by some animal population where ever they came from.

[lwise]

Well, most disease spreading-models are based on single-species disease, or if there is two species, it's still very limited. This Rash-thing spreads to (and by) all mammals except the felines -- it's different. Too many species getting it for any measures like border control really stopping it. Not when a mouse can carry it cross the border without anyone noticing and whales carry it across oceans. Spain got the 12 refugees first... how many animals were near enough to catch it? How many people got it before the 12 were quarantined? How many mammals got it from those people etc. Also, I guess it began by some animal population where ever they came from.

Oh, I agree that it would be hard to stop or defend against.  My objection is that it just moves far too fast.  I think forty days is just not long enough.

[tehta]

Wait -- how do we know the family tree doesn't show inconsequential siblings? Have some been mentioned somewhere? Or is it just that the current generation has so many more children than what came before?

Actually, there might be another explanation. Could it be that, at the start, most countries were a bit like Iceland, in that food was a scarce resource? In that context, many people might have been thinking more about shorter-term survival than the longer-term fate of the species, until things stabilized a couple of generations in. When Iceland's breeding program started, for example: and yes, there is a technological element there, but some part of that might be almost necessary? Repopulating the human race wouldn't go half as well without some understanding of immunity genetics, and I am not sure when immunity testing would have been developed. (Even if we don't want to go full eugenic dystopia, breeding for immunity is a canonical thing.) I have even wondered whether the twins might not be a product of some sort of pro-immunity program, where conception is done in a lab setting and only the fetuses known to be immune are implanted. You'd usually implant several, knowing that they won't all 'take', but Siv got lucky, and whee, triplets!


(BTW, I also feel like a government-control sort of dystopia would be quite unlikely in a world where the population is scattered, communication is hard, and guns are plentiful. I think my expectation would be that we might see smaller communities make their own decisions, and some might prioritize babies more than others. That said, I do agree that it's weird when post-apocalyptic stories do not even consider this topic. I imagine it's something people would be certain to argue about actively.)

[JoB]

Wait -- how do we know the family tree doesn't show inconsequential siblings? Have some been mentioned somewhere? Or is it just that the current generation has so many more children than what came before?

We don't know of any family members that have been omitted from the family forest, apart from the ancestors "dangling" off the lines appearing out of nowhere (who are likely to also have provided siblings, yadda yadda, to the dropped-from-the-sky people listed), but IIRC Minna once said that she doesn't give a guarantee that people's offspring is listed in its entirety, either.

(Translation: The "surprise relatives out of nowhere" plot option had been kept open.)

[Jitter]

I asked about the family tree some while ago and Minna said it’s not intended to be comprehensive. For one thing there is no room So yes, there could be loads of aunts and uncles and cousins. Or could not be, she didn’t take any stance on that, but said that it’s possible.

[wavewright62]

I assume there are other siblings left off the tree, as Minna said, but I always wondered about Berit's "not-so-favourite" grandchildren.  We got to see Reynir's many siblings in canon, but the tantalising prospect of appearances by Mikkel's many siblings got left for the fanfics, too.  (I admit to several on my account.)