/ssss/ Stand Still, Stay Silent General: Norwegian Waifu Edition

I think they should be kept in that mysterious light, only ever being a sort of nebulous enemy that can only be fought through magic or abstract means.

Or they could just be like a dope boss enemy, thats cool too.

Apparently, in the traditional mythology, all it took to become a "Kade" was to just be -really- fucking envious of everything else along with the happiness of others, and boom. Instant eldritch abomination. You didn't even need to be particularly magical or anything. Kades could also apparently instill fear and despair into the hearts of their foes with but a single look, which if Minna's interpretation of them goes all in, could lead to bad shit down the line.

>Main and north east Canada
TBD

It's nice to see you so excited about something, but I'm going to be blunt:

You're vastly overestimating the ability of Russians to get shit done in an emergency. The Russian mindset relies on redundancies; once it's past the point of redundancies and into working on the fly, Russians are notably bad at accomplishing their goals (see also: Crimea, Donbass Region).

Kamchatka has a ZATO (Vilyuchinsk) and that's likely to be the only place on the peninsula where security would be maintained. Everywhere else the general pessimism and lack of redundancies would likely give the Silent world plenty of opportunity to creep.

The big advantage they do have is the submarine base at Petropavlovsk, but the redundancies for them mean they'd leave the slip at the first sign of instability, meaning they'd be out to sea.

The other problem is most Russians out in Kamchatka krai are alcohol-dependent.

Cheers.

Canonically there are survivors in Scotland, Canada, and the northeast US. But aside from acknowledging that I don't think the author has done anything with them.

>Canonically
Proof?

Call it Vikingr general now?

But we discuss more than just vikingr

She talked about it on the forums that were on her site in ~2013-2014.

They're gone now, so you'll either need to dig through internet archive or hope her comments were transcribed here: ssssforum.com/index.php

Some clarification here.
The submarine base is actually in Vilyuchinsk, not Petropavlovsk. So if we're boiling it down to a minimal number of settlements, it should be former as the capital of the region.
The subs would slip, sure, but not all of them. With the state of Russian Navy it's expected that at most 50% of the subs would be able to go out without prior major repairs (which can only be conducted in another ZATO, Bolshoy Kamen, near Vladivostok, a few thousand nautical miles south).
The one thing that doesn't really need repairs though? Nuclear reactor. So Kamchatka would probably be ok in terms of generated power for a hundred years or so, with a good half a dozen nuclear subs hooked up to the grid, leaving the workforce and military with the ability to do other stuff.
And I wouldn't overblow the importance of alcoholism in the region. Sure, it's one of the top regions in the countrywide alcoholism rating - but with population falling by as much as 70% I see the non-functional drunks going down first.
As for redundancies/contingencies, I'd say that Kamchatka of all Russian regions actually has best chances of survival through isolation - very limited trade & travel, no actual roads leading to the area, permafrost in the northern parts, and the degree of remoteness from anything important incomparable to anywhere in the Eurasia. I don't think there's an existing official contingency plan, but if the central government in Moscow was crumbling apart I totally can see the military command of the Far Eastern Military District and the Pacific Navy getting some of their shit together, popping open the nuclear disaster bunkers and warehouses for canned food, and shipping as much of it with the military personnel and their families to Kamchatka and Sakhalin. After that, it's all about establishing the perimeter.

System-user here, please don't. Vikingr is just one attempt at making a system for SSSS. I'm sure someone else could do a better job, but since I'm here and I'm excited about the world, I'm giving it a shot. The universe deserves its own thread.

(cont.)
Long-term survivability there is questionable, though. It depends on how low the expected military government would be ready to set the rationing standard and how much food can you really grow in the (geothermally heated) greenhouses.

Mighty fine of you, System-user. You've done great effort so far so I'm sure you'll do great.

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I mentioned it last thread, and I'm gonna point it out again. There's quite a bit of speculation in this regard on the comic's forums, much of it's pretty well thought out. I'd recommend checking that out, it's pretty interesting to read.

Pic related for example, with more detail here imgur.com/a/98rkU

I think we were already contemplating an Alaskan remnant state as a direct successor to the U.S.

Eh, even if you mess up terribly and make something unplayable I'll fix it so don't worry it'll work out fine.

Honestly, US is large enough I could see several independent successor states, all isolated and unaware of each other's existence.
Alaska and Canadian coast, New England and Newfoundland area, maybe something in the Rocky's and/or Great Basin area, etc.

I'll say again. Maine new Hampshire and Vermont have the most cats in the US.

So are the cats rebuilding?
Because all the people are dead

I'm not gonna lie, I thought Sigrun was a dude up until I caught up with the comic and read the Cast page.

Well, for starters, besides the general 'Magic' Skill and associated Core Attributes, I think each school of magic will work differently, and have their own positives and negatives.

For instance, some Icelandic magic can be cast quickly, but it won't be as effective as a Finnish mage who's been preparing a long runo. On the other hand, a Finnish mage can't create warding effects or enhance items with runes like an Icelandic mage can.

Parts of Vancouver Island are remote enough I could see some of it being cleansed and retaken.
There'd be a constant risk of infected beasts swimming the gap between the islands during late summer. It's less than 600m in places.

I agree that the Queen Charlotte Islands seem like a good enough place to have a safe area. Good distance off shore, weather should be appropriate.
>Changed to Haida Gwaii in 2010
Clearly It's been awhile since I've been to BC.

...

>Changed to
Only on paper, really. I've never actually heard anyone use that name in conversation.

In my opinion magic should be kinda freeform.
Icelandic mages get a certain amount of "aspects" they can work into their runes or somethng like that.
Finnish mages are another problem, im thinking that at character creation you pick an animal and from then may do things related to things associated with that animal, gaining new spells and more generic abilities as you grow in power, or somethin.

>aspects
That's a good idea. I was also thinking that instead of casting galdrastafur all the time, they can utilize the runes from the Elder Futhark for more immediate if less effective spells.

I think the Finns will be a little more abstract, but I like the idea of a spirit animal being your primary casting vector.

The only problem I see with magic coming primarily from animal spirits is how do you do the moon spell we see Lalli(?)?

Sorry, I forgot to respond with my characteristic arrogance.

>System-user thinks my ideas are good
Bitch, I know it

Well, Fininsh mages are also described as being able to control the elements and influence spirits. Maybe calling in the animal spirit is each mage's 'nuclear option' like we saw here. Perhaps Onni specced his spirit animal for FIRE, while Lalli's animal would produce a different effect.

That's fair but we see lalli(?) use his lynx to do something as simple as quickly checking a building for infection.
In addition by the way Onni talks about the spirits it seems like the nature spirits aren't always present to use, do we have to roll to check what spirits are around every time a finn magics?

Mages like Lalli and Onni are capable of calling upon the gods to grant them aid, either in direct combat, or as support. The moon speel Lalli cast was one such case. The other was When Onni beseeched Kokkolintu the Firebird, to aid in the fight against Sleipnope.

Okay, so what do you suggest then? We just let the finns do whatever they want and roll to see if it works?

I think that anywhere there's nature, there will be spirits to accompany it. In abandoned cities and places where lots of death occurred, the only spirits you'll find are those creepy ghost fuckers. That will probably translate into nature-based spells suffering d10 pool penalties in urban environments, while gaining bonuses in heavily wooded areas.
>Kokkolintu the Firebird
Oh fuck, I thought that was his animal spirit. Oops. Maybe 'Beseech' will be a late tier spell, with a skill rank requirement of 15 or something, with each god providing a different effect.

...

Let them call upon their spirits and deities, and then roll to see which (if any) decides to heed their call.
Or roll to see which evil god or force decides to fuck them over

You are not the only one. The cartonish style of the artist makes guessing the correct genders dificult some times. I even show the comic to a cartonist i know and he only get the right gender with Mikkel.

...

They're gonna fuck.

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Doubt it. Mikkel would be a fucking tuna in bed I bet.

Hopefully. Sigrun's already christmas cake, she needs herself a man soon.

And that's assuming they make it out alive. Something tells me there won't be many coming back on the boat home.

Related question - does anyone know how much longer the comic will last? I feel like the end of this expedition will be the end of the comic, but I really don't want it to end.

>Related question - does anyone know how much longer the comic will last? I feel like the end of this expedition will be the end of the comic, but I really don't want it to end.Minna's herself has said that all of the chapters and content focusing on the expedition could constitute a single "Arc", and that she might plan out multiple "Arcs" to expand the story. I think she even said some stuff about wanting to continue SSSS for "20 years", or something like that.

*I don't know why that ended up green-texted, but okay.

System-user here. Found this page when combing the comic, could be an interesting mechanic for Finnish mages that allow an increase to Magic-based d10 pools at the risk of taking Stunning or Mental Wounds.

Shush you. Maine is perfect for surviving. It's cold as shit up there.

>San Juan is a viable place to live
>largest metro in the region is literally right across the water
hmm

Waitaminute...
>Maine
>Tons of cats
>but also apparently the most haunted state
>Also Stephen King and Lovecraft ideas

So, Maine could be the odd holdout because the old ghosts and the cats protect it from the Rash and their associated ghosts, but there may still be Rash whales and fishmen out in the waters off Maine. What small communities that survive there will have all sorts of crazy superstitions that happen to work, and even weirder twists of religion.

...

the writing is getting shittier by the minute

You can always fuck off to one of the other threads on the Catalog if this doesn't interest you, my friend.

Cool

Ok, I love this idea. Make it so user.

It's not cold enough though and far below the 60th parallel north.

Yeah, that and a couple other pages were where I was grabbing the spirit animal magic from.

...

Haven't been keep up with the Comic, is the only girl on the team dead yet?

I'm so sorry

There's two girls at the start - and as of now, there's only one.
Unless you don't count the Norwegian.

Reading page 190. Got curious and took a look at the Characters page.
Wait.
Tuuri is a girl? Wtf

I really don't think anywhere in America would survive the rash. It's not like walking dead with survivors popping up everywhere. The only reason all human life wasn't extinguished was a perfect combination of forced isolation early, native magic, freezing temps and luck.

Tuuri looks pretty feminine user. She isn't like Sigrun who's nearly a man in terms of design.

That being said... i think some the island off Maine like Monhegan, Matinicus and grand Manan. No magic unless some native American spirit wanted to help the white devils survive i guess. But it's cold, lots of shellfish to eat, could have become isolated on accident as shit goes down and mainland forgets to go out there. Plenty of cats.

I just saw her as a plumpy cutesy curious teenage boy character, I guess.

Maybe American magic would be more like a ghost whisperer thing. No gods to call on so not as powerful but you can see and communicate with the original ghosts in an area and they don't like these new rash ghosts.

System-user here. Developing Icelandic magic right now, I think I've come up with something really interesting and setting-appropriate. Might be a bit bloated in its current iteration, but it looks like it could be fun to play.

Hoping to update the Rulebook tomorrow.

The gist of the system: Seiður have two types of spells: Runic (runes and galdrastafur) and Prophetic. The medium they use to transcribe each spell adds different bonuses. For instance:

>Animal Blood (hunted yourself): +1 die to all Magic rolls. Additional +1 die to all runic spells.
>Animal Blood (hunted by another): +1 die to runic spells.

...

We're building a setting and a system based on the comic here. Fuck off.

Heading to bed. These are the basic mechanics I constructed for magic. Pretty basic stuff. All the interesting stuff happens in the school-specific sections. Sorry if it's hard to understand, it's late here.

>Mechanics Overview

>No matter the school employed, casting runes, runo, and galdrastafur (henceforth collectively referred to as spells) requires rolling. This can take the form of standard Thresholds, which must be bested by rolling a die pool comprised of [INT (Icelandic Mages)/ WIS (Finnish Mages)] + [Magic Skill], or opposed rolls that roll a given pool of die. If the caster’s hits exceeds the defending creature’s, the spell connects, and its effect is delivered.

>Conditional modifiers may also apply to this roll, but they are rarer than regular Skill checks.

>Each spell requires a certain level of magical proficiency to perform. This is indicated by the Magic Rank Required (MRR) statistic of each spell. Relevant Core Attributes are not considered when determining which spells are available to the mage.

>A mage can learn any spell at any time provided they have enough Experience (even if he or she has not met the MRR), but they must first be learned. Seiður can seek instruction from the Academy of Seiður in Reykjavik, while Noita must learn from a more experienced mage that knows the desired spell.

I also did a map and lore for Alaska

Here my Alaska map.

Although not as detailed, it has lore that fits into my russian for east maps.

>Hur durr russians cant survive because alcohol and stupidity.

You do realise Danish youths drink more on average than Ukranians? And only second behind russians?

Also if Russia cant survive because of yoyr listed reasons, scandinavia sure as hell wont survive because.

>they're peace lovings fags
>the average scandinavian has zero capacity for violence
>their military and police forces are non-existant
>they trust their goverments even though their goverments are inept
>swedes would probably let in aææ tge infected fpr "diversity quotas"

>all those mistyped "æ"s

But hurt dane?

Considering the actual content of his post, I'm guessing butthurt russian. Or possibly butthurt american russiaboo.

Not so. Vilyuchinsk is just outside of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, which is where the actual base is located. The ZATO doesn't extend to the base, nor does it extend to the city adjacent to the base. It's a near thing, I know, but they're distinct political and security environments.

>The one thing that doesn't really need repairs though? Nuclear reactor.
Absolutely untrue. Reactors require constant maintenance or they'll begin to leak and once they begin to leak they begin to destabilize.

>And I wouldn't overblow the importance of alcoholism in the region. Sure, it's one of the top regions in the countrywide alcoholism rating
You're talking about a top 5 krai nationwide for alcoholism in a country where the drinking problem is so severe men have a life expectancy barely above that of the 1800s. They drink antifreeze, for crying out loud. The alcoholism problem cannot be overstated.

>permafrost in the northern parts
It thawed this year and last.

>degree of remoteness from anything important incomparable to anywhere in the Eurasia
It's not nearly as remote as Svalbard. Or Franz Josef Land. Or Severnaya Zemlya. Or even, for that matter, Novosibirsk or Irkutsk. I think you meant geographically isolated, to which my response is still the former.

>but if the central government in Moscow was crumbling apart I totally can see the military command of the Far Eastern Military District and the Pacific Navy getting some of their shit together,
They couldn't get their shit together if they had a communal toilet.

>popping open the nuclear disaster bunkers and warehouses for canned food
Brezhnev, they were completely looted decades ago. You do realize they have farms outside of the barracks because they're so hard up for fresh produce and food, right?

>it's all about establishing the perimeter.
Which is terrifyingly hard to do when you're actually organized and have trained infantry.

Brah nearly all post apoc settings wouldn't have any survivors if it was 100% realistic.

And as this anonpointed out, scandinavias survival chances are also complete shit.

Nords are also vile drunks. They pretend to be high, mighty and civilized.

But these idiots are worse than any sad drunk in russian far east.

praguepig.com/2014/02/danepocalypse-nigh-drunken-scandinavian-teens-rape-pillage-prague/

Dane here.

Can cornfirm, youbg people here are almost expected to get drunknat their social gatherings. And we're talking as young as 13-14 here.

While alcohol consumption in on the decline in all of eastern europe, here its rising, especially among the youth.

If current trends continue, WE will be the alcohol capital of europe.

I even know of some nurses who stole pure alchol from a hospital for drinking.

Those nurses should know more then most others, medical alcohol cannot be consumed, it's not inebriating, just straight toxic. Only one type of alcohol can safely be consumed, either ethanol or methanol, one is the medical alcohol, one is in drinks.

Let's not turn this thread into /int/.

So someone mentioned stuff like chainsaw spears a few threads back. While I feel like they shouldn't be statted and standardized (they don't really fit the setting), maybe there should be a section about jury-rigging to help DMs. Something like a list of suitable traits, like reach, fuel consumption, noise, misfire chance, etc, as well as how long they'd last.

Making them a short-time thing still rewards resourceful players, without just turning the setting into Degenesis.

How would chainsaw-spears work? Like common spears? As Halberds? Could they be thrown?
I think we should think about how they would be used, before writing rules.
Also, I think a good rule for them would be something like "unwieldy" to highlight that, yes these are good weapons, but nearly impossible to use, and a huge drain on stamina.

Its was pure ethanol. Methanol just striaght up kills you.

They mixed the ethanol in soda and other drinks and stuff

>swedes would probably let in aææ tge infected fpr "diversity quotas"
Get a better keyboard app, /pol/tard.

I though hospitals used Methanol to sanitise things.

Indeed, hence why ethanol is needed

Ethanol is a natural antidote to methanol poisoning

Ahh, that explains a lot.

Holy shit, the viking spirit is not dead!

>If current trends continue, WE will be the alcohol capital of europe.
>will be

Try have been, and have been for some time, and it is actually in decline.