Survivor communities outside the known world

[Róisín]

I think it sounds interesting! I wonder how it would work out? And if it turns out that Christians don't work as mages, didn't Sardegna/Sardinia/Sardigna use to have an old-style fertility cult, way back in the Bronze Age, with a solar bull-god in the same style as Mithras, and a Water-Mother? Would be interesting to see if the Nuragic structures and the old holy wells still work.

Would you like to make yourself known in the Introduction thread? We're a friendly lot!

[CuteAndSmallFox]

I dont know about it :/ Im not familiar whit it I just though that Sardegna would be a great safe zone and in the end good settlement. Im still thinking about the scenario and how it would looka like.

[Róisín]

It's certainly a good site, and like Bornholm in-story, might be easier to secure, since it is an island.

[CuteAndSmallFox]

If it survived then I wonder how advanced it would be.
Also I will need to search for more information about this island to add more details to scenario and think about magic based on christianity.

[Jerzy_S]

Róisín, CuteAndSmallFox, this made me think about one thing, related to the fact that I've been pondering Poland for a while - would Poles convert into pagans too? It could be hard, since unlike Celtic and Norse beliefs, pre-christian Slavic religion has been mostly forgotten. But! not everything has been lost. We know about a few deities, some rituals, and we know a lot (almost everything?) about the demonology. So, maybe it would be enough for some people to change their faith? And if so, would there be any Slavic mages? What would be their powers? I will give it some thought.

[CuteAndSmallFox]

Well there are some small groups of people who still believe in slavic gods but its like0.01% so when the rash hit they would propably all died. As for the most of EU christianity based magic is I queass the most propable scenario :/ I may be wrong.

[Róisín]

There has always been an undercurrent of magic in Christianity, with the magical effects ascribed to the assistance of angels or saints, but I suspect it's all the same magic under the skin. The Elizabethan era English mage John Dee wrote some really interesting books, including 'The Hieroglyphic Monad' ('Monas Hieroglyphica'. That one is very technical and complex, but his work is detailed and beautiful. The mediaeval European alchemists also invoked angels to bless and sanctify their work, as did the Middle Eastern alchemists. It's a fascinating subject.

As I recall, Sardegna also has cats. I wonder if they would also form the same alliance with humans?

[CuteAndSmallFox]

I queas they would easly become allys

[Athena]

I queas they would easly become allys

The humans would realize the cats could be useful in detecting beasts - the cats would realize the humans could be useful for getting food and shelter. That would happen quite naturally, I'm sure.

[CuteAndSmallFox]

So Sardegna could be a safe place

[Fauna]

Technically, yeah. It's got a nice rocky landscape and everything.

But I dunno, it doesn't seem as islands are really all that safe. Even islands like Gotland and Öland, that would be insanely useful geographically as a trading hub between Finland, Sweden and Denmark as well as be relatively easy to defend and with a probably still-existing infrastructure, are not cleansed at all. I wonder if the Sardenga islands wouldn't be too big to reasonably defend.

Malta on the other hand... and perhaps some other smaller islands...

[Aileil]

Technically, yeah. It's got a nice rocky landscape and everything.

But I dunno, it doesn't seem as islands are really all that safe.

Okay, it seems that the things required for a chance at life are as follows:
1. Defensable terrain.
2. Reliable ways to exterminate beasts/trolls/giants etc.
3. Enough other people to form a sustainable gene pool.
4. Enough natural resources to survive on.

Given that, how about the Rocky Mountains in America and Canada? Or maybe the Andes, in South America? These mountain chains harbour enough people currently that some would have to be immune/lucky enough to have survived the Rash. Most of the population lives in the highly sheltered valleys of the mountains (so that the cities could be abandoned, once they became unsafe, fairly easily), but going into the mountains themselves, at least the Rockies have good ground for growing orchards, there are enough rivers to generate hydroelectric power (also a fair number of coal deposits, for the communities that couldn't harness the water), they have lots of trees, marble, granite, basalt, sandstone (lots of sturdy building materials), plenty of animals herds get raised on the peaks and brought in a few times a year (it wouldn't be hard to hem the farm/grazing land in enough to defend it). All in all, it seems feasible.

[Fauna]

Okay, it seems that the things required for a chance at life are as follows:
1. Defensable terrain.
2. Reliable ways to exterminate beasts/trolls/giants etc.
3. Enough other people to form a sustainable gene pool.
4. Enough natural resources to survive on.

Given that, how about the Rocky Mountains in America and Canada? Or maybe the Andes, in South America? These mountain chains harbour enough people currently that some would have to be immune/lucky enough to have survived the Rash. Most of the population lives in the highly sheltered valleys of the mountains (so that the cities could be abandoned, once they became unsafe, fairly easily), but going into the mountains themselves, at least the Rockies have good ground for growing orchards, there are enough rivers to generate hydroelectric power (also a fair number of coal deposits, for the communities that couldn't harness the water), they have lots of trees, marble, granite, basalt, sandstone (lots of sturdy building materials), plenty of animals herds get raised on the peaks and brought in a few times a year (it wouldn't be hard to hem the farm/grazing land in enough to defend it). All in all, it seems feasible.

At this point we're only 90 years in, which means that there's not yet a need for a lot of genetic variety. We're, what? Two or three generations into the apocalypse or something like that? In that span, you could theoretically start out with only two people and still have a reasonably healthy (albeit inbred to the point of ill health) family. On the other hand, winters and cold climates are probably a requirement, unless there's something really valuable in the area.

The Rockies and Andes have been discussed and they are absolutely candidates. As are many of the glacial mountain ranges.

[Róisín]

Cold does seem to be a major factor. I think Minna said that trolls don't endure cold at all well, needing to hibernate ( I think that was what was going on with Leaftroll, it may have survived in its cocoon in a more sheltered part of the building when the ones Lalli punched out succumbed to cold and exposure? Some of the fans have theorised that since the grosslings appear to need water, areas of extreme heat and drought may also serve, such as deserts. Rainforests would be hopeless to retake.

Personally I rather like the idea of survivors in our Australian deserts, with their extremes of heat and cold. There is water if you know where to look, and once there were too few humans to tap the artesian waters as extravagantly as at present, the aquifer should regenerate quite fast.

I can imagine people taking refuge in places like Kata Tjuta, Uluru or Mount Conner, or the caves under the Nullarbor, where there is water in good plenty. Mount Conner maybe not, because although it is quite defensible, and has water, as well as nearby good resources of minerals and wild food plants, even in our world the place is famous for the hostility of its landspirits. Though a lot would depend on whether or not marsupials are sufficiently 'mammals' to beastify. If they are, we're all doomed!

[Aileil]

That does make me wonder if the lack of humidity in deserts would even bother them. Obviously, dry air isn't gonna be a major problem for the nasty things, but as much water as there is up around Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and all, they have got to have more moisture in the air. And useless wonderment aside, do trolls and their ilk prefer running water to standing water, or do they care at all? Would lakes or rivers be safer?