Survivor communities outside the known world

[kjeks]

So, at long last, I have a moderately polished outline of what shape survivors in North America's Pacific Northwest might be in:
http://imgur.com/a/98rkU#0

It's gorgeous. The argument is fine as well. But this also counts for Airdomes Vision of Poland. Maybe I should Check on the Alps as well as the Feldberg-Region in Thuringia as well. there might be some potential but not too much.

[Aierdome]

I thinks Alps actually have some potential: they are very snowy (bad for trolls), have some lakes (water source) and human settlements. On the other hand, it's tourist place, so there's a lot of people coming and going, bringing rash in and out. And what can they eat? I'm not sure farming would be good...

Added:
Few things I forgot about in my case for Poland  (BTW, thanks for positive reactions)
As to the magic, I... don't really see slavic religion reemerging in Poland. If you asked Poles about some of their ancient gods, they'd prooobably remember Perun (that's our God of Thunder, more user-friendly than Thor), but that's about it. Ever since 996 AD we've been catholics, so I think some sort of christianity-based magic would be more probable (priests turning into mages? Hmmm...). There's also the fact that after government falls, Church is the institution most Poles would turn to (as of the last survey, 98% of the population declared themselves catholic). Combine that with the fact that historically, churchmen had some very highly-ranking positions (first councillors, royal advisors), the recent (80s) Church's support of anti-communism, and almost-cult of St. Mary some Poles indulge in and it's possible that post-Rash Poland would be very religious state.

I'm thinking about making a map, as they look really cool when you do them. What font did you and Minna use?

[Hrollo]

I've thought about the Alps, I've tried to make the map but it's hard to make it look good.

I was thinking that, after a few initial strifes, the few remaining bits of south-eastern France, northern Italy and eastern Austria would join with the surviving southern third of Switzerland to form the Alpine Confederacy, with French, Italian (with strong northern Italian influence) and German (with strong Bavarian and Allemanic influence) as the official languages (maybe minority languages would survive too but they seem in a precarious situation even today).

The resulting community would be stable due to its strong defensive position, but would have a hard time expending and reclaiming back the Silent World areas, due to being surrounded by formely-densely populated areas, lack of many critical ressources (the technological level could well fall back to pre-industrial level in most of the confederacy), lack of many appropriate agricultural land (can't cultivate much in the mountains) lack of good internal travel means within the confederacy, and lack of sea access (the closest point the Alps get to the mediratean coast are currently a very densily populated area lined with many cities).

Since the initial conditions would be pretty bad, I'm guessing the whole area would have no more than 50,000 inhabitants by year 90, though if someone is ready to do a more precise estimate...

I imagine the whole area would develop a new religion which would be a weird mixture of Roman Catholicism and Swiss Protestantism, with many elements from minority religions and folk beliefs taken in as well, with magic mostly of the healing and defensive kind.

[Stefan]

So, at long last, I have a moderately polished outline of what shape survivors in North America's Pacific Northwest might be in:
http://imgur.com/a/98rkU#0

...

I acknowledge that I may have spent far too much time on it, but there is an entire spreadsheet behind the numbers and outlines I've come up with, and some headcanon for each nation that has popped into my mind as I went about writing this, which I might share when I have more sleep in the tank.

Good work Deadlander, particularly that you could managed to gather such a wealth of information. However I don't think they will have much use for the uranium mine. Anyway the map is quite informative.

Hello,
first time poster, so I beg for understanding 

Anyway, I'd like to make case for Poland. It was mentioned before, but not in detail, so here you are:

http://mapa.zumi.pl/_d/mapy/polska.png

...
In general, main cons would be unreliable winter and summer (much like in Britain) and fact that Poles generally don't have guns. On the pros, Poles as a nation are survivalists and McGyvers (no kidding here), and have some talent to work without government input, which, following the societal collapse, is very useful. There's also historical precedent: find some maps of Black Death spread in medieval Europe 

Aierdome you have some good thoughts here. While I think that the black death is not a good comparison, it at least shows that Poland, and the rest of Europe, has already had to deal with some severe epedemics in the past and managed to survive.


To add my own thoughts about survivors in Europe: I believe we will probably see some small widely scattered villages in the scarcely populated regions of today like the Auvergne, Transylvania and Masuria perhaps even the Erzgebierge. The only major problem I see for the regions I mentioned is that they all see a considerable number of tourists trough the year. Besides that they are quite remote, self sufficient and more or less easily defendable(at least compared to regions like the Magdeburg börde). But the survivors there will have quite a hard life because the paths between the settlements will be long and dangerous.

[Hrollo]

I had suggested for Europe the Carpathian mountains as a whole, which pass over a good chunk of Romania, eastern Ukraine and Slovakia.

Funnily that would mean Hungarians would be more likely to survive in Romania (since central Romania has a whole chink of land populated by a majority of Magyars) than in Hungary proper.

[Sunflower]

So, at long last, I have a moderately polished outline of what shape survivors in North America's Pacific Northwest might be in:
http://imgur.com/a/98rkU#0

I acknowledge that I may have spent far too much time on it, but there is an entire spreadsheet behind the numbers and outlines I've come up with, and some headcanon for each nation that has popped into my mind as I went about writing this, which I might share when I have more sleep in the tank.

Amazing.  Really amazing.  What a great mixture of Cascadian Native cultures, stubborn Alaskans, Benedictine nuns (who actually might be some of the most resilient and valuable people out there), and tame cougars!

[kjeks]

What about the Channel Islands? They're so small maybe here some people would have withstood the rash disaster?

Some of them do depend on tourism but as they are able to make their own laws maybe they shut down quick enough. Also there is some agriculture possible (but most times there is none so the number of beasts to be fought is on a low scale) and lots of fish to be eaten. Or does fish carry the infection through the water?

On many of these Isles are strongly built castles which could be a help against fighting those beasts and secure survival. Also there are many uninhabited smallers islands wich offer refuge.

[Aierdome]

Fish don't carry Rash. I'd say Channel Islands have quite a chance of survival, although mind the weather. According to their official site (http://www.metoffice.gov.gg/climate.htm) temperatures never get below 8 C and there's less than an hour of sunshine per day (I guess that means rest of the day is cloudy?). Those are good conditions for trolls. On the other hand, if they cleansed themselves quick enough, their only problem would be sea mammals on the shore, so I guess it's possible they could survive, albeit with very high immunity rate.

[Deadlander]

Good work Deadlander, particularly that you could managed to gather such a wealth of information. However I don't think they will have much use for the uranium mine. Anyway the map is quite informative.

Thanks.  That's actually my thinking with the Uranium, as well.  Mostly a sentimental move ("Hurr, we are America, so we have to be nukular, hurr..."), but also one that could push them a little forwards in technology; the rare earth elements also found in the area could have some novel uses at the relatively low levels of refinement we would see.

As to the magic, I... don't really see slavic religion reemerging in Poland. If you asked Poles about some of their ancient gods, they'd prooobably remember Perun (that's our God of Thunder, more user-friendly than Thor), but that's about it. Ever since 996 AD we've been catholics, so I think some sort of christianity-based magic would be more probable (priests turning into mages? Hmmm...) [...]

I'm thinking about making a map, as they look really cool when you do them. What font did you and Minna use?

Swietowit and Perun don't have quite the same popularity as the Norse gods - I blame Marvel - so it might be the scenario as the Benedictine nuns:  prayers to intercessors, acting like what we've seen Lalli do.  It might end up blurring the lines between devotion and heresy, but that's another matter...

I used bold Constantia in Paint.NET (free bare-bones Photoshop ftw!), but any serif font might do for re-creating Minna's map style.  I'll make a new topic somewhere that can walk y'all though the process when I find a moment; I'd love to see the scenarios everyone else has in mind come to life.

Fish don't carry Rash. I'd say Channel Islands have quite a chance of survival, although mind the weather.  [...]  Those are good conditions for trolls. On the other hand, if they cleansed themselves quick enough, their only problem would be sea mammals on the shore, so I guess it's possible they could survive, albeit with very high immunity rate.

Agreed - I'd say it might look like the scenario I came up with for the San Juan Islands - scraping by, fishing, scavenging, and being very careful to avoid sea beasts.  Dancing on the edge of a knife like that for 90 years must be nerve-wracking, and I don't know if the small population and relative homogeneity of an Old World island might not cause some trouble...

[Noah O.]

Thanks.  That's actually my thinking with the Uranium, as well.  Mostly a sentimental move ("Hurr, we are America, so we have to be nukular, hurr...")

WELL I'M SORRY IF NUCLEAR STUFF IS AWESOME. AND IT'S NOT PRONOUNCED NUKULAR! IT'S NOT! HOW MANY G-D TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL PEOPLE!

[kjeks]

Agreed - I'd say it might look like the scenario I came up with for the San Juan Islands - scraping by, fishing, scavenging, and being very careful to avoid sea beasts.  Dancing on the edge of a knife like that for 90 years must be nerve-wracking, and I don't know if the small population and relative homogeneity of an Old World island might not cause some trouble...

Just think under which condition they lived on the Arran islands for nearly 800 years. Without the fishermen most people didn't even get in contact with the land. The channel isles have the advantege that there a lot of crop would survive somehow. The Arran isles only had some very rare spots. Most people there didn't have the money to pay anybode bringing goods like bread from the mainland in so they really survived just on fish and if the got lucky on to two chickens. Some of them had sheep though but if you keep your island clean those beasts might survive uninfected.

[Maycroft]

My guesses for big survivior groups would be Australia and New Zealand since its isolation always keeps them well on the apcalypse scenarios. As many people have stated, northern russia and Alaska might be around and well populated if people began to migrate there to avoid the desiase. Aslo, the far end of South America could have some large human populations if they took shetler in the Andes.

The rest of the continental masses of the world could have small tribes of people that became nomads that go from one place to another searching for food and escaping from trolls and giants.

[Prestwick]

I'm not sure its been mentioned but I'd think a lot of the British overseas territories would have survived.

I'd probably say specifically:

- Falkland Islands
- St Helena
- Pitcairn Islands
- Bermuda

My reasoning is down to their relative remoteness and their ability to be self-sustaining in food, fresh water and good times. All three also benefit from advanced medical facilities. Also, St Helena's prison also doubles as their video rental store which is a bonus*

I'd counter arguments about the Falklands' proximity to South America by saying they have a Type 45 destroyer plus patrol boats on station as well as a sizeable British Army garrison and indigenous defence forces. Also I'm not being horrible but the inhospitable nature of both the South Atlantic and the Falklands themselves would mean that many survivors heading to or landing on West Falkland would probably bite the dust due to exposure and could be disposed of easily.

I'd also back parts of Japan to survive as well. The JMSDF - the Maritime Self Defence Force - would have enough firepower to repel either a determined civilian rush on the Japanese mainland or defeat an attempt by China or Korea to force Japan to accept refugees by force. It's military is modern, extremely powerful and geared exclusively towards a defensive posture.

Lets just say its Iceland's Coast Guard...only on steroids.


*this is actually true. I'm not making it up.

EDIT: Also I'd love there to be some survivors in New Zealand simply because Maori magic would be simply brutal and beautiful at the same time.

Finnish mage vs Maori mage. Who would win? Theres only one way to find out....

[Fimbulvarg]

Finnish mage vs Maori mage. Who would win? Theres only one way to find out....

I don't think the average Finn would be intimidated by a haka war dance, so in all likeliness it would be a question of the current moods of the cosmic entities.

[Superdark33]

Or the existence of said entities, or the fact that either mage might hold a better weapon than the other.


Easter Islands, will they survive another 100 years on their own?