Preparations - Prologue Y0 and chapters 1&2

[tehta]

The list of fic ideas I mentioned is just something I have in a doc, where I write down my "clever" ideas. Comes in handy for weekly challenges and similar, sometimes.

I like the life insurance idea! It could also maybe work in Taru's favour? Her "we're not closely related" could have been misdirection, to cover the policies she had taken out on all her young cousins. (If that were the case, she will surely be able to afford a few extra monocles now that Tuuri's gone.)

[lwise]

The list of fic ideas I mentioned is just something I have in a doc, where I write down my "clever" ideas. Comes in handy for weekly challenges and similar, sometimes.

I like the life insurance idea! It could also maybe work in Taru's favour? Her "we're not closely related" could have been misdirection, to cover the policies she had taken out on all her young cousins. (If that were the case, she will surely be able to afford a few extra monocles now that Tuuri's gone.)

Quite possibly she only had three young cousins, if Veeti and Ensi were only children, since Ensi only had the twin sons.

[dmeck7755]

The list of fic ideas I mentioned is just something I have in a doc, where I write down my "clever" ideas. Comes in handy for weekly challenges and similar, sometimes.

I like the life insurance idea! It could also maybe work in Taru's favour? Her "we're not closely related" could have been misdirection, to cover the policies she had taken out on all her young cousins. (If that were the case, she will surely be able to afford a few extra monocles now that Tuuri's gone.)

I would think any policy would be null and void going into the silent lands.  Unless you paid a lot up front

[Lazerbird]

I am appalled by the schemers all over again. They know it’s basically a suicide mission, and yet they send in their kin. Taru I can see of dismissing the Hotakainens as distant relatives (although I would imagine they were all living in Keuruu?), and Trond didn’t have an exact say on who he got from Norway.

But the Västerströms! Emil has lived with them, their kids love him even though they apparently don’t, they clearly have a close relationship. Them sending Emil off to die with the exploration party is inexcusable. I could have accepted them scheming with him to get the family fortune back, and him in foolishness deciding to go on his own volition, but that’s not what happened. They decided to prey on the foolish and desperate, and thus decided to target their kin. Horrible horrible people. 😤

To be fair in scandinavian/viking legend and sagas, the people who are most likely to betray, harm or kill you are almost always your relatives

[lwise]

I would think any policy would be null and void going into the silent lands.  Unless you paid a lot up front

Maybe part of the contract between the sponsors and the Nordic Council included a death benefit payable to next of kin or named beneficiaries in the likely event that one of the explorers died.  The beneficiary designation was in Icelandic, which Emil can't read, so Siv just put it in front of him and told him to sign up for the expedition.  Lalli would sign whatever Taru told him to sign, so the only sticking point would be getting Tuuri to sign.

[Suominoita]

Maybe part of the contract between the sponsors and the Nordic Council included a death benefit payable to next of kin or named beneficiaries in the likely event that one of the explorers died.  The beneficiary designation was in Icelandic, which Emil can't read, so Siv just put it in front of him and told him to sign up for the expedition.  Lalli would sign whatever Taru told him to sign, so the only sticking point would be getting Tuuri to sign.

Quite likely, or rather that your paycheck will be paid to your kin if you die, considering the end of Adventure I/beginning of Adventure II when Lalli got two paychecks and tried to give the other to Onni -- seeing as Tuuri's brother is closer kin than her cousin. Except that Onni told him to keep it.

[Jitter]

Hrrrr the life insurance idea is chilling!

Lwise I think there is a thread for fic ideas somewhere. I would imagine the writing board?

[JoB]

Hrrrr the life insurance idea is chilling!

Wait 'til you find out about the betting pool they had going!
(Torbjörn had to do his darndest to keep Siv from placing one.)

[tehta]

Siv betting actually make sense! When Siv says Emil again she says something like, "Oh little Emil, I'd glad you're okay!" so clearly she bet that he would be low in the death order.  If she was expecting a windfall from his death, this would be the pessimistic bet to make. (I once wrote her as commenting on how consumptive Lalli looks, and being worried that he wouldn't be able to keep up, so maybe she put him first?)

Maybe I should stop this now. But I am taking the insurance idea and planning to use it in the future.

[dmeck7755]

I find it rather amusing that most people put/wrote Siv and Torbjörn as rather cruel/evil in fan fics. (I do too  ) Or rather mercenary (money, money)

Trond, in my opinion would be a Y90/Nordic version of a Cosa Nostra godfather.

Taru, could fit is a lot of categories, but i think she is in with Trond

[lwise]

Well, if there were a thread for fic ideas, I would mention something I just learned off the Nebula site.  It seems that Finland has shelters for the entire population in case of nuclear war, which I find awesome in reality.  But in the SSSS context, I expect that few people would take to those shelters or if they did, they would probably have food and water for only a few weeks, and then they'd have to come out and face the monsters.

But some people might retreat to a shelter with food and water for years, or at least with enough weapons and ammo that they're able to survive for a long time.  Their descendants might still be there, hunting grosslings by day and hiding out by night, not even knowing that other people have survived.

Alternatively, how many trolls found their way into such well-protected shelters, and would have to be laboriously dug out if you wanted to cleanse an area?

[lwise]

Trond, in my opinion would be a Y90/Nordic version of a Cosa Nostra godfather.

Ooh, now there's a thought!  So there's organized crime in Sweden, centered in Mora (of course), and Emil's family lost its wealth in a gangland war.  Emil's father, the prior godfather, was murdered, and poor innocent Emil was left alive because, like the Cosa Nostra, these criminals don't make war on family members.  Probably Emil doesn't know about the family's connection with crime as no one trusts him to keep his mouth shut.

[tehta]

I like it! Except, for Trond to be the new Godfather, the organization should probably span (at least) Norway, too. (Maybe Taru could be a foreign-born consigliere like Tom in the Godfather?) Also, a Godfather should not be poor, but then we don't actually know that Trond is poor. He actually gives me a bit of a Heisenberg/Breaking Bad vibe, which leads me to wonder whether drugs are involved, and if not, what sort of vices are used to support the Family. (Gambling surely, plus maybe illegal scavenging as discussed?)

(BTW, I think there are plenty of fics that portray Torb and especially Siv sympathetically. I actually felt a little worried when I first wrote them as evil. Of course, now I stick pins in them every chance I get.)

[JoB]

It seems that Finland has shelters for the entire population in case of nuclear war, which I find awesome in reality.  But in the SSSS context, I expect that few people would take to those shelters or if they did, they would probably have food and water for only a few weeks, and then they'd have to come out and face the monsters.

(It's actually quite normal for fallout shelters and the like to be designed to hold out only 2+ weeks, especially the privately-owned ones. If you go significantly beyond that, you need special long-term-storage food, instead of cycling normal stuff through your "basement larder" - and no, elephant skin pizza that you need to keep frozen doesn't cut it. All-out WWIII isn't the only scenario they're built for, after all.)

Alternatively, how many trolls found their way into such well-protected shelters, and would have to be laboriously dug out if you wanted to cleanse an area?

Remember, you only need it dead, not disintegrated. Fill shelter with flamethrower fluid first, light it, then pour concrete to taste.

which leads me to wonder whether drugs are involved, and if not, what sort of vices are used to support the Family.

Well, Sigrun - as a member of the family - once remarked that they get all the fruits from Iceland ...

[lwise]

(It's actually quite normal for fallout shelters and the like to be designed to hold out only 2+ weeks, especially the privately-owned ones. If you go significantly beyond that, you need special long-term-storage food, instead of cycling normal stuff through your "basement larder" - and no, elephant skin pizza that you need to keep frozen doesn't cut it. All-out WWIII isn't the only scenario they're built for, after all.)

True, but if you had a real prepper with a several-years supply of freeze-dried food for the family, they could survive for a long time.  The problem would be water and sanitation, but if they set up rain barrels and dumpsites in sunny places, and only came out by day ...