Carrying over some good comments from today's SSSS page.
Spencer Welch said:
I refuse to accept that Europe is the only country that still has some semblance of civilization. I'm sure there are still communities, albeit smaller ones, in the Americas (Canada, USA, Mexico, etc.), Russia, China, India, all of those African countries etc. It's just in this story those countries haven't been contacted in a long long time. Americans and Canadians are very close genetically to the Europeans, many of which are immune, and with 300 million of them in the United States alone, there are bound to be at least a couple that don't get sick from the rash disease.
And don't forget, Americans spend like, a ludicrous amount on national defense. We are in a good position to fight back. I don't think we would escape relatively unscathed, I'm sure a country our size would take some big hits, but I don't think we would be wiped off the face of the earth.
Dorje replied:
You may want to go back and reread the early comics. Not many people were immune to the Rash. And it isn't Europe, it's select Scandinavian countries that had both cold climates and a plethora of fortifiable islands. The characters we are seeing how are the descendants of people who "survived" on those islands.
America, Russia, mainland Europe, and many other places are basically toast because they either don't get cold enough or don't have easily defensible locations... that are cold enough. Defense spending only helps when the vast majority (again go back and read earlier comics) of your defenders don't get sick, die, and become Trolls from the Rash. America doesn't have substantial inland islands.
Where you would possibly find surviving pockets, maybe, are in the northern reaches of the Rockies (food production is an issue), maybe some of the peninsulas off the coasts (but unlikely due to population density), maybe northern sections of the Appalachians as they extend up into Canadian (again population density is an issue). The Urals and Alps are also possibilities.
Here are circumstances that make immediate survival more likely.
-> Cold
-> Low Population density
-> Defensible locations
Warmish, high density, open areas (like most of America) makes a poor situation for those few survivors of the Rash.
Long term food is a big issue. Hunting is basically gone as an option since the animals have become Beasts. Which removes a huge source of protein. You also need to be able to safely grow and harvest crops during warm periods when you are under attack from roving Trolls and Giants.
The other locations that may have pockets of civilization would be the Himalayas and the Andes, which are both cold, fairly low population regions, defensible, and prior proven homes to agrarian civilizations.