Latest Page Discussions/Comic Update Chitchat

[Lazy8]

So we know that the Icelandic coast guard murdered refugees, and now it looks like the Danish army distributed a lethal drug claiming that it was a cure for the illness. I wonder what nasty secrets the other countries of the Known World have in their past.

I could definitely see the first Hunters learning their trade by killing people who'd once been their friends... possibly straight out of quarantine, right after they'd become trolls. Can you imagine what Dalsnes must have been like in the early years?

[Possib]

So we know that the Icelandic coast guard murdered refugees, and now it looks like the Danish army distributed a lethal drug claiming that it was a cure for the illness. I wonder what nasty secrets the other countries of the Known World have in their past.

I can't imagine that its a secret that Iceland killed people trying to get in

I wouldn't put it past the Russians, Chinese and American governments activating paveway protocol (bombardment from various heavy bombers) on population centers that had been overrun by mutated infected, possibly even napalm and even glassing some of the worst sites with atomics.

By the point where trolls were happening, there wouldn't be enough military in any of these places to care about firebombing cities, especially when you could die of the infection just as easily in the other 99% of the country

[Vafhudr]

Hmm. This newest page seem to suggest that a lot of the bodies still in beds, of which we have seen quite a few, might not have succumbed to the disease, but might have been killed by the imperfect serum.

[Aierdome]

Hm, an odd thought - could the serum be somehow connected to ghosts? They've been popping up ever since the cure sub-plot has begun, and we haven't seen them anywhere beyond Denmark (granted, that could be just narrative convenience). And beyond that, the doctor states clearly that there's no known reason for the cure to cause brain death, so perhaps they've stumbled upon something magical?

[urbicande]

I can't imagine that its a secret that Iceland killed people trying to get in

If I were Iceland I'd be broadcasting it loud and clear that they were doing that.

Hm, an odd thought - could the serum be somehow connected to ghosts? They've been popping up ever since the cure sub-plot has begun, and we haven't seen them anywhere beyond Denmark (granted, that could be just narrative convenience). And beyond that, the doctor states clearly that there's no known reason for the cure to cause brain death, so perhaps they've stumbled upon something magical?

Absolutely.  In fact, given what I've posited about the Illness having to be magical in nature, I'd say that's a certainty.  It also means that Denmark probably has a lot more nasty ghosts than the team originally thought.

[Vafhudr]

I also think so. They are starting to meddle with things but they just don't understand what they are doing yet. The ghosts could be the unfortunate result of that.

To draw a comparison, for those who have read the His Dark Material trilogy, perhaps the serum caused a situation similar to what the Guillotine did. The ghosts are the spirits physically severed from the body, causing brain death physically and condemnation to wander as a ghost spiritually. Or to use the idea of finnish folklore according to which some parts of your soul can take a hike, now it can't enter back in.

[Windfighter]

Well, we know they have ghosts in Iceland, or can at least pretty safetly say so because


and we can also assume they have ghosts in Finland based on


And they're probably also available in Norway based on Sigrun's reaction when Reynir mentioned ghosts. Look at her being all serious

and then straight to the necessary information:



so ghost are not necessarily born from use of the serum. On the other hand we can guess that the use of the serum might be what have caused the ghosts to remain for so long, based on a certain comment from Onni:


so... uh... I don't really know where I'm going with this buuuut... maybe the serum is connected to the state of the ghosts more than the fact there is ghosts. So far it has seemed that the Serum Ghosts are more angry and linger on longer than the Normal Ghosts, and why shouldn't they be angry? They were treated with something that was supposed to be a cure, but instead killed them. Brain dead, so maybe they even had to sit there and watch as their bodies was kept alive, knowing fully well they'd never be able to return to them. I dunno, I'm not sure how brain death works.

[Solokov]

By the point where trolls were happening, there wouldn't be enough military in any of these places to care about firebombing cities, especially when you could die of the infection just as easily in the other 99% of the country

Eh... there were enough left in Denmark to  bomb out the area where the crew currently is. The area honestly looks less "90 years of wear and tear" and more "90 years of wear and tear after a couple artillery bombardments."

As for not enough military remaining, it's hard to say. I do know that there are trainings and contingency plans put out by the pentagon that cover scenarios like this. Generally speaking anyone on patrol would be in full CBRNE kit and would have to go through decon. I also wouldn't be surprised if they didn't figure out a test for immunity pretty quick (probably something straightforward like take a blood sample and introduce rash'd cells and see if they infect under a microscope). That and some of the air bases that would ultimately get converted into bases of operations are WAAAY out there.

For those that aren't in the Western US or used to these distances we're talking along the lines of Bethesda to Providence at a minimum to the nearest "population center", or for the Europeans on board Paris to Frankfurt with no major integrated rail systems... well unless you buy into that hyper-loop underground along the 38th parallel conspiracy garbage.

[Róisín]

In our-world folklore just about everywhere has ghosts. But murderrghosts seem different.

[VibratingText]

I wouldn't put it past the Russians, Chinese and American governments activating paveway protocol (bombardment from various heavy bombers) on population centers that had been overrun by mutated infected, possibly even napalm and even glassing some of the worst sites with atomics.

I know for a fact that the moment trolls started appearing this would happen, at least in America.

[Vafhudr]

The only problem with such an attitude I can see is that high density target area tend to also be areas of high agricultural value or high value period. Such a move would basically mean that there is no hope of retaking the areas, ever and it's better to burn it all.

My understanding though is that I think government would probably prefer going into full reconquista mindset rather than final nuclear solution in most cases.

Of course, some government might be less far-sighted or interested in the survival of the species to take such things into consideration.

[urbicande]

Well, we know they have ghosts in Iceland, or can at least pretty safetly say so because

Sure, although ghosts don't necessarily equal spirits.

[Lazy8]

Well, we know they have ghosts in Iceland, or can at least pretty safetly say so because


and we can also assume they have ghosts in Finland based on


And they're probably also available in Norway based on Sigrun's reaction when Reynir mentioned ghosts. Look at her being all serious

and then straight to the necessary information:



so ghost are not necessarily born from use of the serum. On the other hand we can guess that the use of the serum might be what have caused the ghosts to remain for so long, based on a certain comment from Onni:


so... uh... I don't really know where I'm going with this buuuut... maybe the serum is connected to the state of the ghosts more than the fact there is ghosts. So far it has seemed that the Serum Ghosts are more angry and linger on longer than the Normal Ghosts, and why shouldn't they be angry? They were treated with something that was supposed to be a cure, but instead killed them. Brain dead, so maybe they even had to sit there and watch as their bodies was kept alive, knowing fully well they'd never be able to return to them. I dunno, I'm not sure how brain death works.

Oh yeah, we know that there are ghosts elsewhere, based on everything that you mentioned above (though I'd argue that Reynir doesn't know the difference between nature spirits and departed human souls, so the spirits he mentioned having seen before could have been the former). I think that what people have been guessing is that it's thanks to the serum that the ghosts in Denmark are so numerous, so angry, and have stuck around for so long. Other places have ghosts, but from some of the things that Onni said a ghost infestation is practically unheard of in the Known World.

[Windfighter]

Sure, although ghosts don't necessarily equal spirits.

On the other hand the ghosts were call spirits on numerous occasions. But, uh... I guess the characters could be wrong. I'm just working with what I've seen in the comic

Oh yeah, we know that there are ghosts elsewhere, based on everything that you mentioned above (though I'd argue that Reynir doesn't know the difference between nature spirits and departed human souls, so the spirits he mentioned having seen before could have been the former). I think that what people have been guessing is that it's thanks to the serum that the ghosts in Denmark are so numerous, so angry, and have stuck around for so long. Other places have ghosts, but from some of the things that Onni said a ghost infestation is practically unheard of in the Known World.

Yes, thank you Lazy8! It was mostly an answer to

Hm, an odd thought - could the serum be somehow connected to ghosts? They've been popping up ever since the cure sub-plot has begun, and we haven't seen them anywhere beyond Denmark (granted, that could be just narrative convenience).

because that comment sounded like the phenomenon of ghosts overall was unheard of anywhere else. I may have just interpreted the message wrong though and in that case I apologize *bows*

alsooo, uhm... Reynir wasn't able to see nature spirits, so it's a pretty safe bet it was departed human souls he encounters, isn't it?

[Lazy8]

alsooo, uhm... Reynir wasn't able to see nature spirits, so it's a pretty safe bet it was departed human souls he encounters, isn't it?

I think Minna said somewhere that spirits in Iceland are capable of choosing whether to show themselves to humans, magic or not? I might be misremembering, though.