Poll

What do you think the state of things is beyond Scandinavia?

More of the Silent World: Trolls, beasts and giants everywhere
7 (16.7%)
A few groups of humans, but mostly wilderness
14 (33.3%)
USA and other superpowers are relatively intact
0 (0%)
Scorched Earth: nothing, not even grosslings, is alive
0 (0%)
Plenty of places like Scandinavia, but isolated
21 (50%)

Total Members Voted: 37

Voting closed: July 03, 2015, 03:28:37 PM

Author Topic: Survivor communities outside the known world  (Read 259005 times)

Panzer_Engel

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Re: Survivor communities outside the known world
« Reply #285 on: October 24, 2014, 03:09:04 PM »
Probably, the question is whether they would be able to maintain any technological or social level beyond subsistence agriculture.
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Raya

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Re: Survivor communities outside the known world
« Reply #286 on: October 25, 2014, 03:51:44 PM »
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

Let's be honest, the Falkland Islands are going to be toast. Whenever Argentina is having economic/political problems the government start kicking up a fuss about the Falklands to distract the populace from the real problems. As soon as the Rash begins to spread and civil unrest starts the Argentinian government is going to launch an assault on the Falklands, using 'national security' as an excuse. Not only will it serve as a temporary distraction from the fact the nation is on the brink of collapse, Britain will be unable to launch a defence due to dealing with the Rash on its own shores. Argentina will control the Falklands for about two weeks, until the Rash reaches it from soldiers/colonists. Then it's a goner.

Fimbulvarg

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Re: Survivor communities outside the known world
« Reply #287 on: October 25, 2014, 03:58:56 PM »
Let's be honest, the Falkland Islands are going to be toast. Whenever Argentina is having economic/political problems the government start kicking up a fuss about the Falklands to distract the populace from the real problems. As soon as the Rash begins to spread and civil unrest starts the Argentinian government is going to launch an assault on the Falklands, using 'national security' as an excuse. Not only will it serve as a temporary distraction from the fact the nation is on the brink of collapse, Britain will be unable to launch a defence due to dealing with the Rash on its own shores. Argentina will control the Falklands for about two weeks, until the Rash reaches it from soldiers/colonists. Then it's a goner.

A reasonable assumption if we assume that Africa and Eurasia are the first to be hit and paralysed by the advanced stages of the pandemic, followed by North-America, then South-America and Oceania. But today's Argentina is not the same Junta-led Argentina that invaded the Falklands back in the days, regardless of contuining Argentine claims on the islands. The more immediate threat is probably Argentine boat refugees that may include people who have are still in the incubation phace of the disease.

Raya

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Re: Survivor communities outside the known world
« Reply #288 on: October 25, 2014, 04:15:01 PM »
A reasonable assumption if we assume that Africa and Eurasia are the first to be hit and paralysed by the advanced stages of the pandemic, followed by North-America, then South-America and Oceania. But today's Argentina is not the same Junta-led Argentina that invaded the Falklands back in the days, regardless of contuining Argentine claims on the islands. The more immediate threat is probably Argentine boat refugees that may include people who have are still in the incubation phace of the disease.

Argentina have never given up its claim on the Falklands, and with the 30th anniversary of the Falklands war tensions really got bad again. Last year relationships got so bad Britain held a referendum for the Falklanders to decide what they wanted to do- join Argentina or remain British. 99.8% voted to remain British. Only 3 people voted for Argentina. Argentina then claimed it didn't count because the native Falklanders are just illegal colonists anyway.

The path of the disease spread is an interesting topic. We know it originated in Africa then spread to southern Europe. From there it probably spread first to North America and eastern Asia due to air travel, then spread into the remaining continents (which raises the question, did Antarctica escape? Probably not due to whales/seals spreading it, but there may be some unhappy scientists still stuck there).

BrainBlow

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Re: Survivor communities outside the known world
« Reply #289 on: October 25, 2014, 04:49:56 PM »
Hardly conceivable when a global pandemic is besetting the country, wrecking and incapacitating the populace.
It's such a logistical nightmare(even before anyone realized it was the end of the world) that trying to mobilize for an invasion is just not feasible.
And the Falklands are not without defense these days either.(nor is the country ruled by a military junta)

Quote from: Raya
Argentina then claimed it didn't count because the native Falklanders are just illegal colonists anyway.
It's funny because the Falklands never had a native human population, and Argentinians themselves are all colonists to begin with.


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Headfinder

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Re: Survivor communities outside the known world
« Reply #290 on: October 25, 2014, 05:25:46 PM »
The European Comission did a study that might be helpful here, although it only takes land and sea travel into account (This video should cover air traffic good enough).

For a tl;dr: this article explains the whole thing.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2014, 06:12:38 PM by Headfinder »

Fimbulvarg

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Re: Survivor communities outside the known world
« Reply #291 on: October 25, 2014, 05:32:22 PM »
The European Comission did a study that might be helpful here, although it only takes land and sea travel into account (This video should cover air traffic good enough).

For a tl;dr: this article explains the whole thing.

Eh, the tl;dr version is a bit inaccurate. Sure Svalbard is remote (ratio of polar bears to humans: 3:2) but it's not true that you have to get there by a boat departing one or two days a week. In fact there are almost daily flights there.
Edit: alright, the article says "ground travel" only, but that seems somewhat arbitrary given that we don't know the incubation period of the disease (which would tell us how far it could spread "under the radar").
« Last Edit: October 25, 2014, 05:35:18 PM by Fimbulvarg »

Mica Hind

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Re: Survivor communities outside the known world
« Reply #292 on: October 26, 2014, 09:20:09 PM »
So I was thinking about the Scotland thing.
I generally agree that Britain would be pretty badly screwed, I think if parts of Scotland did survive, this might be how it would go down.

Viable military/naval bases include Faslane (of Nuclear sub fame) and Loch Ewe.  These would most likely be places where some survival might occur, given the amount of military ordenance.  Loch Ewe is especially isolated and, along with its naval facility, has a nice big island in the centre of the sea-loch that would make it a good site for a safe zone.

Crinan and Highland canals would likely be a focus, and Fort George is yet another military point that could either survive or be recovered (as a sensible point on the far side of the Highland Canal. 

I've included Tiree for the simple reason that it is an extraordinarily fertile island and also (along with Coll) very isolated, with very little travel.  Even if its native population was wiped out, it would be a sensible, and easy, island to reclaim, being exceptionally flat.
The other small isles, too, make sense.  Especially Eigg, where the community has bought the island and currently generates most of their power from renewables. 

It looks like it is the islands of Hoy and Yell in Shetland which have been cleansed by the Scandinavians in order to provide a stop-off point for Iceland, so I have duly coloured them in too.

I have other ideas, but this was my way of reconciling the canon world with the possibility of some settlement surviving in Scotland.

[attachment deleted by admin]

Sunflower

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Re: Survivor communities outside the known world
« Reply #293 on: October 26, 2014, 09:34:12 PM »
Hi, Mica.  I'd love to see your SSSS: Scotland map -- but unfortunately, it's showing up as an empty file when I try to click on the .jpg attachment.

You might consider embedding your image instead.  You'd have to provide a URL for your map, but that's easy to do by posting to a service such as Imgur.com.  (I've done that for photos I posted.)  Then it would be instantly viewable by all readers. 

Just a thought...
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Mica Hind

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Re: Survivor communities outside the known world
« Reply #294 on: October 26, 2014, 09:38:52 PM »
Hmm, yeah, I noticed... was trying to edit but it wouldn't let me.  Bah.
I don't use Imgur or Flikr, at least I don't have an account and can't be bothered getting one for this one photo, lol.
I think it failed to attach as it was too large, I've shrunk it down a bit, hopefully it will still be viewable/zoomable!

[attachment deleted by admin]

Sunflower

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Re: Survivor communities outside the known world
« Reply #295 on: October 26, 2014, 10:01:21 PM »
Thanks for re-posting the graphic! 

Although you solved your own problem, just for the record, Imgur doesn't require an account if you want to use it merely for one-time link creation (like a URL-shortening service for Twitter, etc.).  I don't have an Imgur account either, but I've used it several times for one-off photo postings on this forum. 
"The music of what happens," said great Fionn, "that is the finest music in the world."
:chap3:  :chap4:  :chap5:  :book2:  :chap12:  :chap13:  :chap14:   :chap15:  :chap16:

Speak some:  :france:  :mexico:  :vaticancity:  Ein bisschen: :germany:

Eich

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Re: Survivor communities outside the known world
« Reply #296 on: October 27, 2014, 08:31:38 PM »
Quick heads up to everyone (this is the most used thread in this board, so I'm just throwing this in here.  :P)  We're changing up some of the stickied threads.  The new Forum Index thread acts as a pretty awesome way to find what you need without digging through (what will eventually be) pages and pages of stuff.  There will still be some sticky threads, but 5 or 6 of them is... a bit much.  So... trimming. 
*Minor announcement over.  Crawls back onto couch*
Feel free to PM.

Deadlander

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Re: Survivor communities outside the known world
« Reply #297 on: October 28, 2014, 10:27:33 PM »
Thanks for re-posting the graphic! 

Although you solved your own problem, just for the record, Imgur doesn't require an account if you want to use it merely for one-time link creation (like a URL-shortening service for Twitter, etc.).  I don't have an Imgur account either, but I've used it several times for one-off photo postings on this forum.

What Sunflower said.  I don't have an account there, either, and you get a nice, short url + the option to create albums, titles, captions, etc.  There is a 10MB limit per image, but I only ran into that with the zoomed-out map, and only needed to change the compression a little for that to work, too.

The Scotland map is pretty cool, thanks for putting it up!

Calidris

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Re: Survivor communities outside the known world
« Reply #298 on: November 03, 2014, 07:10:29 PM »
I'm of the opinion that parts of the northeast United States would have survived. They are mountainous, self-sufficient if in small populations, due to the prevalence of agriculture, and, in winter, can definitely get colder than Iceland.
However, they cannot be cut of as easily, as they have no water routes barring entry.

Additionally, I would like to make a case for parts of China.
http://www.thaigoodview.com/library/studentshow/2549/m6-4/no12-14-45/china/picture/china_lulc.jpg
This is a map of its geography.
http://mtr1600china.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/china-physical-map.gif
This is a map of some cities.
http://www.chinatouristmaps.com/assets/images/chinamaps/china-temperature.jpg
This a map of temperatures.

Though city centers are unlikely to have survived (...unless the government really, REALLY cracked down, in a terrible manner), it's likely that Xinjiang, the region lining Mongolia, and northeast China would have pockets of survivors, in addition to the Tibetan plateau, as was already mentioned. Cities along the Gobi desert might also be okay.
China is also huge, and not very developed outside the city centers, so smaller, far-flung towns (and there are a lot of isolated villages still) might not be impacted for a decent amount of time.
Likewise, Russia definitely has yearlong, and somewhat isolated, populations in Siberia.
As for Mongolia, the nomadic steppe culture has not entirely died, and is definitely not far from the minds of the inhabitants. I don't see why they wouldn't take it up again, particularly in a life-and-death situation where societal status no longer matters.

Regarding the use of cold to exterminate trolls, I believe it has to do with them dying from exposure, as their nests and burrows are what must be compromised. Following this, heat would likely be just as able to exterminate trolls, provided it was extreme enough. Given that, desert areas are, in my opinion, also likely to have survivors.
Areas where trolls cannot easily hide from the sun, and cannot easily build and find shelter - such as the prairies and plains of the United States, or, as mentioned above, deserts - might be good.
Jungle's toast, though. No matter how isolated the groups may be.

Just as an aside, we have no idea what the rate of immunity is for non-Caucasian groups.

Cairbre

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Re: Survivor communities outside the known world
« Reply #299 on: November 04, 2014, 06:46:07 AM »
About Estonia. As we know from Language Tree that some Estonians have survived but I think the mainland Estonia is out of the question. Flat, dense with woods and not much natural barriers. Bigger western islands are too big, and can be reached by foot during winter when sea freezes so beasties will come to visit. I think the only option for survivals is island KIHNU. Totally fantastic small island, with habitants who have skills to survival (grow food, fish, weave fabrics). Only problem would be to protect themselfs from other refugees. Perhaps the first refugees brought guns and help to maintain the quarantine. 90 years later and I'm picturing an island with militant grannies in striped skirts. Kihnu is the last matriarchal society in Europe, they will take no nonsense from beasties and trolls.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kihnu

eta: I found the surviving Estonians. They are not on Kihnu island, but on Naissaar island (I can see it from my office window! ) in front of Tallinn. There is a red dot on Tytärsaari island as well (easter Gulf of Finland) but as there are no Estonians in that island any more in year 0 I don't think they are estonians any more. Unless survivors decided to move in.
http://sssscomic.com/comicpages/66.jpg
« Last Edit: November 05, 2014, 06:15:35 AM by Cairbre »