FIRST CONTACT
The first instalment of a multi-part series that will explore the consequences of having your world grow to four times what it was.
Before I start the actual narrative, I thought I'd offer a few little insights of the world I'm going to be writing in, and give you an impression of the people who live in it. A couple of statistics, the general nature of the different nationalities being introduced, and how they relate to the world around them. We've already seen how the Icelanders, the Norwegians, the Finns, the Swedes, and the Danes have coped with their new world, but how have things progressed on the other side of the Atlantic? And what happens when a bridge that has been closed for so long is opened once again?
Federation of CanadaPopulation: 117,200 (Census, a. 120)
Largest city and
Capital: Corner Brook, Newfoundland (pop. 23,100)
Official languages: English · French · Inuttut
Minority languages: Montagnais (Innu) · Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) · Danish
About the NewfoundlandersFor all that the people of Newfoundland are the most populous in Canada—and, statistically, the most fortunate in terms of their percentage of survivors after the outbreak of the Rash—few in the Federation would dare to term them "lucky." The safety of the mainland of Newfoundland came only at the cost of a brutal quarantine that left hundreds of thousands of people at the mercy of the disease, and many families were divided by the iron curtain that fell upon the island. Today, they are a people who carefully maintain the technology of the Old World, staffing the oil rigs that power the mighty fleet of ancient, sturdy ships that patrols the seas for beasts and Leviathans.
About the QuébécoisThe hardworking Quebeckers—once driven from their territory to the islands of Anticosti, the Madeleines, and a few coastal holds, have driven deep into the Darkness, first purifying the lands around the Manicouagan and Outardes rivers, and later striking to the south and carving out safe territory in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island to farm. They are known far and wide as the iron-miners of Fermont and the lumberjacks who provide wood for all of Canada. In the intervening years since the outbreak, they have rediscovered their religious zeal, and consider their drive to purify a divine task handed down to them directly from God.
About the FrenchWhile sharing a language with Québec, the French have a very different outlook from their western neighbours. With their nation abbreviated perhaps more greatly than any other in contemporary North America, having lost the entirety of metropolitan France, the inhabitants of its last remaining territory, the tiny islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, strive through their deep, nostalgic longing to maintain the traditions of their patrimony. As a result, the Saint-Pierrais consider their town to be the cultural capital of the world, with broad avenues, theatre, museums, sidewalk cafés, and nightlife unlike anywhere else in Canada. Their historical separation also means that the French remain slightly more distant with their Canadian compatriots, and they maintain their own currency and certain government structures. They do not share the Quebeckers' embrace of religion, and have largely ignored their attempts at conversion.
About the InuitThough their culture and society is very much centred on the original nation of Nunatsiavut, the native people of the coasts of Labrador, the nation has become very much pluralistic. Since the Greenland tragedy brought the few remaining survivors across the sea, all three of Canada's significant minority languages and cultures have shared space with Inuttut and the
linguae francae English and French. With a largely hostile, barren inland, the Inuit look instead to the sea. Under Agloolik's protection, they patrol far and wide to protect the Federation from the sea beasts and Leviathans that lurk in the ocean, commanded by the wrathful sea goddess Sedna, and they destroy the beasts' coastal nesting sites whenever they can.
About the MainersThe people of Maine lived on the edge of existence, surrounded by the Darkness of Boston to the south and Saint John to the north, for almost 80 years before being discovered by the Federation of Canada. Used to a hard and solitary life without much in the way of technology, the island-dwellers have prospered greatly with the help of Newfoundland, and look forward to someday joining the ranks as a formal member of their federation.
The Nordic CouncilPopulation: 331,300 (Census, a. 120)
Largest city and
Capital: Reykjavík, Iceland (pop. 48,900)
Official languages: Icelandic · Swedish · Norwegian · Danish · Finnish
Minority languages: English (Scottish) · Faroese · Estonian
About the FaroeseThough decimated by the Rash like everyone else, the Faroese have weathered the loss of their home and waited patiently in the safety of Iceland until their islands could be cleansed once again. Diligent efforts to keep the language alive means that most children growing up in the reinhabited islands can speak their ancestral language, though Icelandic is still commonly heard in the streets of the re-established capital Tórshavn. Like Scotland and Estonia, it is an "incubator nation" which, as it is too small for self-sufficiency, does not hold a permanent seat at the Nordic Council but instead is represented by a rotating seat intended to advocate for the three small statelets.
About the ScottishEnglish—once the world's common language—is no longer, and nowhere is this more obvious than the Shetland islands, capital of the incubator nation of Scotland. In the capital Lerwick (or
Leirvík in Icelandic), English is not commonly heard on the streets, and is mostly spoken by the older generations, while younger Scottish kids are completely fluent, if not native speakers, of the common language of Icelandic. Regardless of the language strife on the islands, the Scots, as a whole, are immensely grateful to the Icelanders for being saved, and even those who have left Iceland to return to settle Scotland maintain a good relationship with their former host country.
About the EstoniansAfter 100 years stranded on the tiny island of Prangli, the Estonian population—once as small as 300—finally grew large enough, with the aid of careful intermarriage and a lot of Icelandic fertility clinic visits, that it became necessary to begin the cleansing of a larger island for their new home. With the aid of the cleanse-happy Swedes, new ground has been broken on the island of Hiiumaa, and the tiny nation's prospects, after 100 years of uncertainty, are finally looking up.
In the next instalment, I'll introduce you guys to our main characters, the historian Claire Girard and the hunter Anna Okalik, and then First Contact will officially be kicked off.
