Survivor communities outside the known world

[benbah]

I would love to work out how Australia would go.  Eastern seaboard is toast.  But the interior may be ok.  Yes hot but sparsely populated.  How would marsupials go?  They aren't placentals,  more primative.  I think we may have survivor populations.
Aussies, any thoughts?

[BrainBlow]

I still think the northern most island of Japan, Hokkaido, could survive. It has a much lower population and gets cold in the winter. Especially since Japan was one of the first countries to close boarders along with Iceland, and magic has returned. Likely there would be kamikaze (in the literal meaning of divine wind) protecting them from infected from other lands try to get there.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again:
Just imagine the scenario in which a storm sets in when the world infection is peaking, vanquishing or denying any would-be refugee fleets that may carry the rash. Basically a third Kamikaze. Then magic returns.
The Shinto faith would experience an explosive rebirth.

Japan would probably succumb to the rash eventually in any case. It's geographically a huge country, and most of it quite warm as well. You just need that one beached beast whale.
And with the almost inevitable collapse of its current central government due to famine, there wouldn't be anyone capable of mounting any sort of swift response.
Even with surviving civilization in Northern-Japan, those would be some extremely brutal first years, with or without the rash.

[Balthazar]

I've said it before, but I'll say it again:
Just imagine the scenario in which a storm sets in when the world infection is peaking, vanquishing or denying any would-be refugee fleets that may carry the rash. Basically a third Kamikaze. Then magic returns.
The Shinto faith would experience an explosive rebirth.

Japan would probably succumb to the rash eventually in any case. It's geographically a huge country, and most of it quite warm as well. You just need that one beached beast whale.
And with the almost inevitable collapse of its current central government due to famine, there wouldn't be anyone capable of mounting any sort of swift response.
Even with surviving civilization in Northern-Japan, those would be some extremely brutal first years, with or without the rash.

Japan would still definitely succumb to the rash. However, so did Sweden, Finland and Denmark, and yet they are still struggling for survival. Therefore, there is a chance of pockets of survivors.

Shintoism in particular is all about purification and pleasing to gods, if magic comes back to the world it would not surprise me that they would have magic wards in place to keep trolls and Giants at bay.

However, if Hokkaido is the main place that the survivors are, then it is also very possible that Ainu (indigenous people of Hokkaido) culture is mainly practiced by the survivors and not the culture of the mainland. While Ainu religion is similar to Shinto practices is still slightly different. 

[princeofdoom]

Japan would still definitely succumb to the rash. However, so did Sweden, Finland and Denmark, and yet they are still struggling for survival. Therefore, there is a chance of pockets of survivors.

Shintoism in particular is all about purification and pleasing to gods, if magic comes back to the world it would not surprise me that they would have magic wards in place to keep trolls and Giants at bay.

However, if Hokkaido is the main place that the survivors are, then it is also very possible that Ainu (indigenous people of Hokkaido) culture is mainly practiced by the survivors and not the culture of the mainland. While Ainu religion is similar to Shinto practices is still slightly different.

Yeah, I'm not saying Japan as a whole would still be ok, and the culture would probably go through some major changes. Plus, maybe Shinto would have a similar role to the Norse gods in The Known World, while Ainu customs would be more like Finnish paganism? They would have some areas of intersect, but mostly would work in different ways and regarding different aspects.

Maybe I just want there to be suzu bells that are used to lure monsters away from villages, or to places where they could be easily killed by Shinto priest(esse)s and monster hunters. Traditionally, suzu bells are used to protect from evil spirits or warn the carrier to the presence of evil, but if stand still and stay silent is the law of the land, they might be better as a distraction.

[MG]

I assume that most of the pacific Islands would be relatively clean.
The local people are famously tough, the climate is surprisingly harsh, and there are very few large population centers. I can imagine the old Polynesian gods would have a sudden abundance of faithful worshipers shortly after the Rash plague starts. Besides, the Norse survivors prove it doesn't take much water to act as an effective barrier. In this case, they would have the entire Pacific ocean.

[ruth]

people talking about japan? sounds like it's time to plug my drawing of post-rash japan again!

[princeofdoom]

people talking about japan? sounds like it's time to plug my drawing of post-rash japan again!

I THOUGHT that was Hokkaido too.

[Snommelp]

I would love to work out how Australia would go.  Eastern seaboard is toast.  But the interior may be ok.  Yes hot but sparsely populated.  How would marsupials go?  They aren't placentals,  more primative.  I think we may have survivor populations.
Aussies, any thoughts?

I'm not from Oz, but even so, I lay good odds on infected creatures (trolls and beasts) having a hard time getting a foothold there. So many of Australia's dangerous animals aren't mammals - crocodiles, the inland taipan and other absurdly venomous snakes, funnel-web spiders... of course, a lot of how Australia goes would depend on how infected creatures react to venom.

Also, drop bears become a real thing, because of infected koalas.

[Daéa Reina]

Also, drop bears become a real thing, because of infected koalas.

INFECTED KOALAS O_____O

There's so much nightmare stuff in this thread.

people talking about japan? sounds like it's time to plug my drawing of post-rash japan again!

I love it!
I've been thinking about drawing some post-rash Brazil or something (there wouldn't be much left, but still...).

[Balthazar]

I'm not from Oz, but even so, I lay good odds on infected creatures (trolls and beasts) having a hard time getting a foothold there. So many of Australia's dangerous animals aren't mammals - crocodiles, the inland taipan and other absurdly venomous snakes, funnel-web spiders... of course, a lot of how Australia goes would depend on how infected creatures react to venom.

Also, drop bears become a real thing, because of infected koalas.

I feel like if anyone can handle the apocalypse, it's the Aussies. I mean, snakes, crocodiles, giant spiders, almost everything that moves on that contenent wants to kill them already and they seem to be doing fine.

[BreezeLouise]

I feel like if anyone can handle the apocalypse, it's the Aussies. I mean, snakes, crocodiles, giant spiders, almost everything that moves on that continent wants to kill them already and they seem to be doing fine.

True. They just add a couple more items to the list and move on with their lives. xD

[Superdark33]

Realism wise: Oz can survive, yup.

Drama/awesome/funny wise: Oz can become a mad max style wasteland becuase any single apocalyptic or semi apocalyptic or just a slight disrepcency of their lives turns that place into a gang riddled wilderness.

[Snommelp]

Realism wise: Oz can survive, yup.

Drama/awesome/funny wise: Oz can become a mad max style wasteland becuase any single apocalyptic or semi apocalyptic or just a slight disrepcency of their lives turns that place into a gang riddled wilderness.

...oh man, I think you're on to something. What if Mad Max and Stand Still, Stay Silent take place in the same post-apocalyptic universe? If I'm remembering right, Mad Max's Australia is falling apart due to oil shortages... but what if the reason Australia can't get oil is because the rest of the world has fallen to the Illness?

[Vafhudr]

We really need to make a huge collaborative project of what happened in other parts of the world at some point.

Because I'd read that.

[Koeshi]

Eh. I think some section of China might endure. The mega-metropolitan areas of the south are megascrewed, but the mountains and more harsh climates of the north and west provides some interesting opportunities.

I think you have a point here.  The northern deserts are rather inhospitable, isolated settlements may be able to survive provided they have the resources to provide for themselves.

Dramatic irony tends to be savage to those kinds of people and that kind of scenario.

But dramatic irony results from the need to create interesting stories rather than realism.  Nobody wants to read/watch a story about a group of people hiding in a bunker that functions well, it would be boring.


As for the people talking about Australia.  I think internet culture has got you a bit too worked up about how lethal the place is.  Keep in mind that people were living there quite comfortably for thousands of years before modern medicine and housing.  Sure there are a fair few scary creatures there, but no more than Africa or South America.