Survivor communities outside the known world

[Rasder]

In the Known World, we saw that large cities disappeared from the map, while small, but not the smallest, towns became the new "big cities." Japan would most likely see something similar. Upon further research, the mainland would almost certainly be completely infected, but I still think the other islands would have a pretty good chance. One of the reasons Japan imports so much food now is how densely populated it is. A lot of people are working in cities, and thus don't produce food, but the (to a varying degree)less urban smaller islands could potentially be sustainable. They are also much less frequented by tourists, and less likely to be infected.

On another note, there is evidence of survivors in the Faroes. They were shown on the world map, but as part of the Silent World. However, on page 196, there is a section specifically showing the portions of the language trees containing Nordic languages. It also shows many speakers there are in the year 90 relative to the number in the year 0. On the Faroese section, there  is a light blue dot. This could be an accident, or it could mean the Faroes are inhabited, or it could mean there are some people in the Known World preserving the language. It's probably an accident, but hey, maybe not.

[BarbaryLion22]

But there is a lot of underlying folk belief in traditional Hawaiian religion, even on cosmopolitan Oahu and much more on the other islands.  So I can picture troll hunters in salvaged armor from the many U.S. military bases, zapping trolls in the sugar plantations north of Honolulu with mana and retreating to a defensible camp on Ford Island.)

Yes! I'd love to see what damage a war club would do to a troll! Also, if there are mages, what's to stop practitioners of kalaepahoa (black magic)? Does kalaepahoa injure a troll? And so on and so forth.

[JoB]

On another note, there is evidence of survivors in the Faroes. They were shown on the world map, but as part of the Silent World. However, on page 196, there is a section specifically showing the portions of the language trees containing Nordic languages. It also shows many speakers there are in the year 90 relative to the number in the year 0. On the Faroese section, there  is a light blue dot. This could be an accident, or it could mean the Faroes are inhabited, or it could mean there are some people in the Known World preserving the language. It's probably an accident, but hey, maybe not.

In the comments on that very page, Minna labeled Faroese and Estonian as "the endangered, almost extinct fringe languages of the SSSS world".

The Faroe islands are indeed marked as "Silent world (forbidden)", unlike two islands among the Shetlands, but note that there's no category between that and "Cleansed area". If, for whatever reason, a small group of immune Faeroese decided to stay on their islands even though they aren't properly cleansed (yet), I guess that Mr. Þórðarson wouldn't have hesitated to paint them a dark brown nonetheless.

The likely scenario is, however, that these languages are being kept alive by a small enclave of survivors that have fled to one of the official remaining Nordic nations.

[FinnishViking]

Well even if the immune would have stayed behind wouldn't their community be very heavily inbred by now? After all i don't think there is too much traffic back and foward from there.

As for languages being kept alive: It might be a situation where the remaining central goverments are doing their best to record everything they can, but as time goes one the minorities will slowly start dwindling as the younger folk starts picking up habits of the majority. With Estonians and Finns for example the languages are close enough that the process wouldn't even take too long and after a while only the elderly speak the orignal form of the language while the younger generation might speak either a special mix of finnish and estonian or they might have become fully finnified.

[JoB]

Well even if the immune would have stayed behind wouldn't their community be very heavily inbred by now? After all i don't think there is too much traffic back and foward from there.

Maybe not enough yet to make them go extinct. Ninety years aren't that many generations for humans.

The amount of traffic would remain to be seen, though. According to the World Map, the Faeroes are quite close to the Y90 shipping lines, and Iceland has put its main quarantine facility onto ... uhhhh ... open water?? ???

Anyway, it's someplace between Iceland and the Faeroes, and if the Rash has the equivalent of Typhoid Marys (asymptomatic carriers), dumping them onto an immunes-only Faeroes instead of killing them outright would be the obvious solution ...

[Vafhudr]

The quarantine facility is probably on an oil rig or something.

[urbicande]

The quarantine facility is probably on an oil rig or something.

I'd be really doubtful of the ability maintain an oil rig in Y90.  Look at the condition of the Öresundsbron, and that's in a much less harsh area.  I might go with series of floating boats, because those are really easy to just  sink if need be.  (Granted, platforms are pretty robust, but the infrastructure necessary to maintain them simply isn't there any more)

[Superdark33]

High chance of survival and relevence, also size and strength: The Principality of Sealand.

Dont look at me like that.

[Stefan]

...

And speaking of island nations and closed borders, have we discussed Madagascar yet? They're one of the first four to close their borders in the comic, but they're also not far from the mainland at all, and have tons of native mammalian species. Also, tropical climate. Probably totally overrun, yes?

Snommelp there was a short discussion early in this thread. Go back here: https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=24.105 for the start, but be warned Madagascar is only a small side discussion since at that point Japan was the main focus. It didn't go in depth beside wether or not Madagascar survives. I can't recall if there were some detailed discussion in the comments back in the Prolog. But I will shamelessly quote my own thought from back then.

...

Madagascar:
Since I don't have any data for Madagascar at the moment I can only offer some guesses. The main one is that while for Japan there are distinct scenarios, Madagascar has a spectrum of possible outcomes with lots of fine gradations between each major point. Therefore I will only give a brief summary for now.
The possibilities for Madagascar reach from no one surviving to a considerable number of small groups of survivors, which roam the countryside, and continue to the existence of a number of seperate agricultural areas, which are seperated by hostile wastelands, and end with the existence of a small number of industrial centers(at the level of the early industrial revolution).

...

I hope the old discussion will be of help for you Snommelp, and that you and others will add some more insight in this matter. I myself am still trying to find some more information to improve my theories.

[Rasder]

High chance of survival and relevence, also size and strength: The Principality of Sealand.

Dont look at me like that.

That would be awesome, but there's no way to grow food.

[Divra]

That would be awesome, but there's no way to grow food.

Not necessarily true. Greenhouses, hydroponics, kelp farming and fishing could all be done. It's all skill- and equipment intensive, so you're probably not wrong, but it's not COMPLETELY hopeless.

[Snommelp]

Many thanks, Stefan. I tried my best to dig through the whole conversation before contributing, but as one of the new guys coming to a long and active discussion, it was daunting and I admit I skimmed perhaps more than I should have.

[Stefan]

No problem Snommelp. Beside Japan and Madagascar detailed cases were made for New Zealand(https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=24.msg2437#msg2437), the North Americian Pacific Coast(https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=24.msg4507#msg4507) and New Foundland (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=24.msg445#msg445 and following posts).

One big problem remained and is still unsolved: Why is there no radio communication from the Silent World? Building the equipment for short wave communication isn't that hard and morse code is a very robust form of transmission. So why didn't they receive signals yet from other communities? I consider it as an established fact that it is quite likely that there are several communities of at least a size comparable to the Known World. So I can not ont only assume that it's possible that there are radio transmitters but that it is guaranteed. I had hoped somebody would have come up with a solution to this, because the only solution I found is a strong imperativ to stay isolated and the only case where such would exist is for Japan if they managed to keep their population intact(an unlikely scenario compared to the others for Japan). Ah well back to the thinking room.

[Divra]

No problem Snommelp. Beside Japan and Madagascar detailed cases were made for New Zealand(https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=24.msg2437#msg2437), the North Americian Pacific Coast(https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=24.msg4507#msg4507) and New Foundland (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=24.msg445#msg445 and following posts).

One big problem remained and is still unsolved: Why is there no radio communication from the Silent World? Building the equipment for short wave communication isn't that hard and morse code is a very robust form of transmission. So why didn't they receive signals yet from other communities? I consider it as an established fact that it is quite likely that there are several communities of at least a size comparable to the Known World. So I can not ont only assume that it's possible that there are radio transmitters but that it is guaranteed. I had hoped somebody would have come up with a solution to this, because the only solution I found is a strong imperativ to stay isolated and the only case where such would exist is for Japan if they managed to keep their population intact(an unlikely scenario compared to the others for Japan). Ah well back to the thinking room.

Radio communications are easy to disrupt, and we've seen that even transmissions from Copenhagen to Malmö (the base) are an iffy proposition at best due to the amount of "black noise"-laden interference. It's all in the comic!

[urbicande]

Radio communications are easy to disrupt, and we've seen that even transmissions from Copenhagen to Malmö (the base) are an iffy proposition at best due to the amount of "black noise"-laden interference. It's all in the comic!

Voice is easier to disrupt than morse. I'm surprised they're not using morse