Survivor communities outside the known world

[Solokov]

Eh, perhaps, but I would love to see an up-armored corn chopper in Minna's art style mowing down giants and beasts.



I've seen what these things do to flesh and bone thanks to being the son of a farmer, reading ALL the safety manuals and watching all the OSHA safety briefs.

[Oskutin]

I guess with this latest revelation of UV and sunlight (which shouldn't be a surprise, really) I could easily see Bedouin tribes surviving and areas of the middle east.

Didn't you read my post? 

There has been lot of talk by Minna and the community that summer is the most dangerous time in post-rash world and that trolls hate cold more than anything.

[partofacitygiant]

<Solokov> Now that's a weapon if any! Maybe the next attack by Danes to the mainland is lead by these! Add a couple of cutters to the sides of the thing to prevent side attacks and you're the king of the battleground until they get to your backside. No way a monster wielding some tools (they can't use normal guns since they're so deformed, my guess) would get near that one. And you'd probably see poorly made traps from up there, too. Of giants (and some beasts) I'm not too sure, maybe they could jump over the blades.

[partofacitygiant]

of survivor communities, I'm pretty sure Karelia and other northern Russia has some, also Northern Canada (the villages of the Native peoples), likely Mongolia, possibly most large deserts (having a small native mammal population, though camels may have transmitted the Rash there too. Then there are of course Shetland, Orkney and Outer Hebrides, and maybe Rügen and other Baltic islands. In fact I'm pretty sure the goverment of Iceland knows the situation in British Isles but this is not told to the public.

[Solokov]

<Solokov> Now that's a weapon if any! Maybe the next attack by Danes to the mainland is lead by these! Add a couple of cutters to the sides of the thing to prevent side attacks and you're the king of the battleground until they get to your backside. No way a monster wielding some tools (they can't use normal guns since they're so deformed, my guess) would get near that one. And you'd probably see poorly made traps from up there, too. Of giants (and some beasts) I'm not too sure, maybe they could jump over the blades.

Which is why I say it needs to be uparmored, more blades on both the front back and top, also armored slats for the cab, possibly a heavy duty mesh screen as well. The Bast part is that everything is hydraulically powered.

[Mayabird]

Didn't you read my post? 

There has been lot of talk by Minna and the community that summer is the most dangerous time in post-rash world and that trolls hate cold more than anything.

Granted, the post-rash 'world' doesn't extend further south than the Baltic Sea.  Scandinavia's hottest summer day would be a cool day in many parts of the world.  We don't know how trolls etc. would survive in really extremely hot or dry conditions.  Another reason why more exploration is needed. 

[Prestwick]

Also I'd be interested to see if the creatures of the post-rash world can survive in a world of scarcity. I'd say that giants, trolls, etc would find it hard to survive in an arctic environment or on ice floes for example yet would also find it incredibly hard to survive in a desert environment.

Remember that deserts are possibly even more hostile due to their wild temperature fluctuations. Yes, temperatures may soar to over 40-50 degrees celcius during the day which would encourage monsters to come out and play but where would their food and water be? And what exactly would they do come sunset when the temperatures plunge to freezing and beyond as they do in the Sahara - 30 deg C on a summer's day and sub zero at night?

And thats not taking into account the cold deserts like the Gobi desert or parts of Namibia and South Africa who "enjoy" the triple whammy of being incredibly dry, short of any kind of food and crippling cold during the day and night.

I think when you look at the facts, deserts would actually be a troll's worst enemy and possibly the best place for humanity to survive in so long as those communities learn how to survive in such brutal environments.

EDIT: I'd say places where monsters would thrive would be temperate climates where the temperature never falls below 15 deg C. Rainforests and areas near the equator would be extremely dangerous all year round. Much of the Indian sub continent could be off limits permanently (unless you want to nuke the trolls out of existence.)

[Solokov]

So during work I had a thought of another community that could have survived, at the very least a few years after the initial outbreak. That would be Utah (generally known among americans as "mormon country".

Some of the things I do know about mormons, they're highly religious, and the church actively promotes survival skills, shelters and having a years supply of food and water. This all stems back from the couple of times the U.S. army decided to start shooting at them during the frontier days, and their settling in Utah (a very inhospitable area with harsh winters and summers) eventually could have led to a very robust community that survived the rash.

Anyway if they survived into year 90 the terminology would probably end up being something like this:
Infected:
Beasts<Demons<Legions

Probably most other terminology would be the same, but I'd imagine that the post-rash society that might develop would be highly religious, so anyone with an affinity for magic would be probably trained and called upon as Priests.

3. Texas. Enough guns here to take over a small country.

Funfact, California has more firearms, and is a larger market for firearms than Texas and most other states (excluding Arizona and Alaska IIRC) for that matter, despite the Californian government's best attempts at complete and total removal of the second human right.

[J Wingermass]

Alright, so I've been giving this a bit of thought. Not really about places which are likely to have large surviving populations, but places that might have kinda cool survivor societies, specifically the Isle of Man, although the likelihood of it surviving is pretty slim. It can be easily reached by ferry, is right next to England (which I think consensus agrees will go, and go fast), and relies on tourism for its economy. Really, it's only saving graces are that the population is mostly contained in large towns on the east coast, and the high hills of the interior might act as a temporary obstacle to any creature once on shore. Really though, this is just me indulging myself in hypothesising.

So the Isle of Man sits in the middle of the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. Since the Manx are in the middle, they act as a sort of trading hub for the other survivor nations around the Irish Sea, as they still have the Steam Packet ferries to ship things about. The fuel for them would probably some terrible combination of oil extracted from peat and distilled alcohol that fouls up the engines terribly and requires them be cleaned out after every other voyage. The Manx are thus relatively wealthy and powerful in the region (although still woefully under-armed and under-equipped by the standards of any of the Nordic countries).

The island is governed by the Tynwald parliament, and has been since the UK government collapsed in their Year 0. It consists of the elected House of Keys and the executive Legislative Council, which meet at Tynwald hill for ceremonial purposes, or the new Parliament building in Castletown for general business, organising the running of the island (peat conservation, land disputes, trade disputes etc.), as well as operations in which Manx cleansers support the efforts of survivor societies in Great Britain and Ireland.

For religion, worship tends to be towards Manannan Mac Lyr, the old sea-god who protects Man. There are a few dedicated priests who claim special connection of him, but mostly he is invoked in prayer by anyone in need. Other older Celtic gods and figures appear in mythology, but Manannan is the patron of Man.

Infection is controlled by an internal police force, an institution descended from the original tiny military garrison put in place after quarantine was declared. It uses Manx cats bred and trained to Nordic standards, although other breeds are introduced to keep bloodlines relatively diverse and to prevent the cats from being woefully inbred. Infected Beasts aren't distinguished by size on Man since few ever get bigger than trolls, so are generically called "bugganes", which also applies to cetacean Beasts (i.e., whales, dolphins etc.).

Since it has limited arable land, sheep and goat farming is the main form of agriculture. Fishing is possible, but there are often disputes between fishermen from Man and other survivor societies around the Irish Sea. Man therefore requires imports of food from those survivor societies elsewhere: Scots-Gaelic forester communities in Galloway, Welsh-speaking sheep farmers in Snowdonia, arable farmers in Northern Ireland, and the English-speaking Muslim and Sikh salvage communities in Lancashire. In return, Man exports wool for clothing, peat for fuel, and its cleansers, since it has men and resources to spare.

Like I said, it's not likely, but I think it would be pretty neat.

[Haverberg]

The survivor communities we know about, they have roughly the same population density as the Western United States, save for the coasts and urban areas - and the area has the advantage of being a gun culture as well (not just the crazy survivalist/NRA cultists, it's a part of the life style).

I wonder what Owens valley would look like, after its water is no longer taken by Los Angeles?

[Solokov]

I wonder what Owens valley would look like, after its water is no longer taken by Los Angeles?

Dunno. That would depend on what happens to Fresno. If Fresno survives (or infection hotspots are firebombed) Owens valley would probably be fine.

If not then Owens valley could potentially face lots of biomass monsters making their way over Kaiser pass every summer

[partofacitygiant]

Seeking people for a mission eastwards:

[ruth]

a bit hard to read, so i may have missed some things, but i thought i'd try my hands at a quick and dirty little translation of that poster:

Notice!
The Nordic Council intends to search for lost communities.

Requirements for searching these zones for lost communities in Karelia:
— 2 years of language study in the lost language of Russian (for books on this, you might try looking in major cities).
— The Karelian language will probably not take more than study of Finnish to understand (likely to sound as a thick northern Swedish accent would to a Dane).
— Excellent scouting skills, including drawing maps.
— Mage skills preferred, but it is uncertain how mages operate in this field (due to different languages).
— Must be good with people outside the home.
— Experience with travelling outside of the Known World is a must.

In green: The main objective of the search.
In purple: Known and predicted areas of high danger.
In brown: Suggested names for the settlement.

If you wish to know more, talk to your contact officer!

[partofacitygiant]

, Ruth, I think your translation is better than what I tried to scoop together! 
There's only one I'd add to that:

In yellow: The area of possible Karelian speakers.

[Prouvaire]

I think Alaska would be a good candidate for survivorcy. Not only does most everyone have guns and good sense, but some of the places are so dang secluded that I wouldn't be altogether surprised if they never actually got infected. They don't have a lot of contact with other places, with exception of people flown in by bush plane. So, depending on how quickly the Rash spread down south, it might just be that those little places only hear about everything on the radio.

Considering that animals are affected by the rash illness, I think Alaskans would either starve or have to import food.  We have a really erratic growing season, and without moose and fish everyone would just eat potatoes forever.  And there's not nearly enough people to purge "silent" areas, so most of the state would be overrun and stay that way.

There's already khaa yakghwahéiyagu (ravenous spirits) in Tlingit culture, so the mythology and beliefs wouldn't change much.