Survivor communities outside the known world

[wavewright62]

I feel like hotter climates wouldn't thrive all that well. Not sure about deserts, but to get a good civilazation going you need a good mode of transport and maintenence, and unless Trolls are as succesptible to hotter temperatures than they are to freezing ones, they'd end up thriving in place of survivors. I imagine that countries closer to the tropic would be harder to settle because of that, since winter wouldn't be much help. Not to mention how close to ground zero the mediterranean was, seeing that the first known patients of the disease appeared on Spain, I reckon most of the european south and african north got hit very hard and were almost completely wipped out. Higher altitude and more isolated regions might have a better chance, like the Basque country and the swiss alps, but I'd still put my bets on mostly islanders surviving, like the Portuguese islands of Azores and such.



EDIT: Read the rest of the ideas, now not so sure about this post I made, but I still think it contributes a bit to the conversation.

I'd say your analysis is sound, especially the fate of the Mediterranean region.  However, I headcanon that trolls are still subject to the requirements of their former human selves, and cannot live anywhere where humans cannot live without technology.  (I am using the broader term of technology here, meaning use of specialised useful tools.  Making a flint knife counts as technology, where tearing off a handy piece of house to use as a shield doesn't.)  There are essentially returned to a primitive version of a hunter/gatherer scenario. 
One of the primary needs humans have is water.  Most of the trolls we've seen so far are associated with damp and wet places, or even secrete wet themselves.  Therefore I headcanon that deserts are havens for survivors, possessing temperature extremes, harsh amounts of UV, and NO WATER.  Well, no water without technology.
(Okay, now I'm picturing cutesy-poo trolls nesting in water-barrel cactuses.  Focus, woman!)

[Reclaimer 549]

So I've put a lot of thought into this and I fairly confident in my prediction of which areas of the world would survive.

North America:
there would be there main survival points in North America. The Seattle, Portland, Toronto, area due to it's proximity to the Rocky Mountains, and a defensible access point to the ocean. Hover Damn, and the Mojave (maybe Vegas but probably not). The Mojave desert would be very effective in eliminating trolls, as well as the water supply of lake Mead, the electricity of the dam itself, and the ability to set up hydroponic farms. Not to mention Nevada is home to a very large solar power plant that with some skill could be reactivated. Richmond, and Norfolk Virginia, as well as the nearby sections of the Appalachians. Another scenario of mountains for initial survival and then a reclaimed defensible port. Also while I don't think any other major cities would be reclaimed however Alaska and most of northern Canada would have small groups of survivors.

South America:
The western edge of South America is at very high elevations and the southern end is close to Antarctica. While Central America, and the Amazon rain forest, as well as the previous heavily populated areas of Brazil would be highly dangerous, Chile, Argentina, and the western part of Peru would be mostly fine.

Africa and Australia:
While theses places are different in people there survival would face similar difficulties. While the desert and sparse grasslands would offer protection from trolls and beasts, the main issues is that in both of these places the most densely populated areas are the ones with ready access to water. Thus leading to a large portion of the water supply becoming non accessible to do troll nests and beast hunting grounds. While it is possible for the survivors to all band together and retake access to water it is also likely for these water supplies to fall into the hands of the ill willed, leading to a very Mad Maxian scenario.

New Zealand:
While Australia is, as we in the industry like to call, ducked, New Zealand would be relatively fine. It isn't densely populated, it has plenty of mountains and cold enough weather for survival.

South East Asia and India:
While I list these areas the only survivable area in this region is Nepal/the Himalayas. India has dense population surrounding water, and south east Asia just doesn't have the climate. To warm and lots of rain storms that would block the sun.

North East Asia:
While the main cities of China would be gone, and Taiwan would be reduced to at most a few small survivor groups. North east Asia is where it gets interesting and could lead to a similar scenario to SSSS. North Korea would be almost surly destroyed but the DMZ would serve as a defensive line for South Korea. Not to mention while Soul is densely populated many Koreans who live there have plans in place to leave the city in the event of an emergency due to the cities proximity to the DMZ. Japan would be mostly fine, and I'm not saying that as a weab, it actually has good mountain ranges and climate, not to mention large amounts of rural land. Also Mongolia would be almost 100% fine. The Mongolians have maintained there traditions and ways to this very day, they are still amazing mounted archers and live mostly nomadic ally.

I understand there are a lot of areas that I didn't list. I simply do not know enough or I consider a near flat 50-50 chance of survival. So if I didn't list it here I could be swayed either way. Also while I'm happy to debate this I don't even consider this fact. I'm using estimations and rough knowledge. Survival depends on people working together. If people cooperated the entire world could be retaken or if they don't it could be absolute chaos. So in general if you think a regions people would put aside their differences and cooperate and you want to write about that area go ahead, also if you think the regions I listed are too set in their ways to cooperate and you want that area to be chaos go right ahead.

[Iceea]

I would add to North America the Northern Great Lakes area. Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and northern Wisconsin. They are thinly populated, lots of vacation homes, they get a pretty nasty winter, but they do have a fair amount of local fauna. There are also a number of decent sized off shore islands that could be settled. Wisconsin's Door County is a good size peninsula separated by water from the mainland. So many possibilities. Scarcity of food is probably the biggest problem.

My survival library would most definitely include the books by Eric Sloane. How to make most anything out of wood and then how it was used in colonial times in NA. Absolutely fascinating reads even just for fun. And the illustrations, thin line pen and ink type, are to die for.

[Róisín]

Iceea, those sound like fascinating books!

Reclaimer, the trick in Australia is knowing how to find water or extract it from the local vegetation, how to build a dewpond, how to tell by the vegetation, insects, animals and birds where to look for water, and how to access it when you find it. Aboriginal tribes who lived in desert areas usually had a network of wells and springs, generally capped with stones or otherwise covered, both to conceal them and to stop evaporation. Also there is the Great Artesian Basin. Once the number of humans overdrawing the underground water had dropped it would likely replenish. And much of the network of caves under the Nullarbor has water, though those caves might also become prime troll habitat.

[Reclaimer 549]

Iceea the great lakes area was one I had thought about, the scarcity of food is what made me think it wouldn't be a zone with reclaimed cities more just small survivor communities. Though with your points they may be interconnected enough to be considered a reclaimed zone.

Roisin I didn't know about the Great Artesian Basin. Consider that and considering SSSS's 90 year time skip I think Australia may be able to have pretty good size survivor colonies. Also due to the 90 year after the incident Africa would probably be in a similar state of decent size survivor colonies. My conclusion with those 2 areas did sufficiently take into account the 90 years, which would give enough time to move though the violent survivalism that would follow an apocalyptic scenario.

[Reclaimer 549]

After thinking about this more while at work I've come to the definitive answer that I don't have a definitive answer for Africa and Australia's state of life in year 90.

With both of those place their position on the scale of no human life to reclaimed cities comes down to the individuals who survive and their attitudes towards each other. In both regions you have natives that understand survival but would have no real reason to take back cities, and non natives that wouldn't understand the nuances of the regions survival and thus may either vastly help or hurt the natives.


I'm considering making a map that we can up date with agreed upon survivor colonies and what areas we consider more dealer choice in their survival.

[Krillian]

After thinking about this more while at work I've come to the definitive answer that I don't have a definitive answer for Africa and Australia's state of life in year 90.

With both of those place their position on the scale of no human life to reclaimed cities comes down to the individuals who survive and their attitudes towards each other. In both regions you have natives that understand survival but would have no real reason to take back cities, and non natives that wouldn't understand the nuances of the regions survival and thus may either vastly help or hurt the natives.


I'm considering making a map that we can up date with agreed upon survivor colonies and what areas we consider more dealer choice in their survival.

I'd wager that non-natives still would be able to survive together with the natives, in a post-apocalyptic scenario its rather unlikely that humans wouldn't all band together to survive, and non-natives would probably ask for the natives' help in the first years of the new world. In 90 years, with two generations past, they'd probably be one at that point, all sharing their knowledge with one another. I'm not sure about languages, however, most likely that natives who still stick to their languages would teach their children and maybe it would survive in a few families, but most likely that people would still keep using english, if anything just as a lingua franca.

[Róisín]

Yeah, it seems likely to me that survivor groups made up of different races would come up with various kinds of linguistic creoles which would eventually become new languages, with children born into a group acquiring the creole particular one used by their group as a native language. Fascinating concept.

[Dilandu]

North Korea would be almost surly destroyed

...Seriously? One of the most heavily militarized nation of the world, with very little contact with outsiders, heavily defended borders and ruthless totalitarian government, which would not have problems with just shooting the infected & cleansing the hopelessly infected areas by fire? Not to mention, the one which have atomic bombs to augment the solution?

Frankly, North Korea would probably be the most likely nation to survive the Rash in ALL WORLD. If Iceland manages to pull it out, North Korea would almost surely be able to.

[Meh]

I'm not sure if it has been mentioned but the American military is kinda scary. if the rash has struck during the age of computer monitors and cds than America has a few things to say to these zombies trolls.

Assuming the rash happened the second Minna started her comic in 2013 America would have 9 or so operational SUPERCARRIERS. I do like that we invented another type of boat just to show off. Each one has 6000 crew, supplies to last 2 months at sea, and always surrounded with a support fleet, and have 2 reactors that could theoretically last long enough to be in the comic (if they can yoink a nuclear enrichment plant). With the power of chain of command, resources, and great territories in secured positions I believe the American military would not fall even if California would be lost within milliseconds.

Most of America would probably follow California within weeks to months as though we have excellent weaponry in all of our citizens hands we also have anti-vaxxers which would act as effective sleeper agents in destroying the already heat wave suffering south (rip in peace Texas, you heed a good haw). A fair few prep-per communities could survive a bit but they will literally all die by digging neighbors, starvation, or psychological problems. So with this mess I believe American military forces might have a lovely time floating depressingly close to the land they once loved. Huh. That's rather sad.

Spoiler: show

So in conclusion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGQaH3-LK54.

[Demopans]

So, we all agree that areas with good crop potential, access to water, and either a harsh winter or a harsh summer(cough deserts cough) have the highest potential for survivor communities? (Assuming that the militaries of the world fall apart within the first few weeks)

[Hrollo]

I think people who expect countries with strong militaries to survive easily misunderstand the nature of the main threat. The main threat is not the trolls, the main threat is the epidemic disease with a ~95% infection rate, a 100% fatality rate, and for which every living mammal outside of felines is a vector. Lining up your border with armed guards won't do much when mice, rats and squirrels can carry the disease. Add to this and carriers can be asymptomatic but already contagious for up to two weeks, and you've got a recipe for Spanish flu levels of pandemics. It's extremely unrealistic to expect any non-island nation to escape the disease, especially if the main arguments is "but the army!!!!".

And once the disease is in, it doesn't really matter how mighty your military is when 90%+ of it will soon be out of commission (not to even mention all the civilian logistics that allow the military to function at all).

[Róisín]

True that, Hrollo. People tend to forget the civilian background on which any military depends.

[urbicande]

Maybe some US survivors in Alaska, but not many.  Similar to Norway, I guess.

The lack of real radio means we won't see them

[thorny]

I like to think there may be some people barricaded in on Bluff Point, Keuka Lake.

That's a small area to keep going long-term, though; even if we posit that they got a wall all the way across between the arms of the lake in time; and that they've been able to keep a very good watch and/or barricade against trollified deer, beaver, etc. which might be able to swim the lake.