"Plague pits...."
I more-or-less intended that the epidemics were engineered to die off fairly quickly (a few months, a year at most) after they'd killed everybody who was readily vulnerable, so the long-lasting "plague pit" effect wouldn't be an issue. Part of that was the same reason I used bio-weapons rather than nuke strikes: I wanted to kill people but leave infrastructure intact and available. Half the population is dead, but the machinery still works ... if the people who know how to use it are still alive. Having to keep a "plague pit" quarantined would've often deprived the survivors of a lot of that machinery -- and the resulting damage to the civilization would've been much more intense.
What I wanted, and wrote for, was a situation where most populations are drastically reduced, and there've been major political realignments, but day-to-day living, once the bodies were disposed of, is more like a cyberpunk world than your classic post-apocalypse scenario -- at least in the U.S., which is where the story proper takes place.
Bear in mind the population loss in most of the places the French took over. 90% in Scandinavia; 50-60% in Europe as a whole -- and some of the places they didn't take would've had higher survival rates that skewed the overall figures upward. For at least the first few years after the French put their own house in order and began moving into other areas, it likely looked less like conquest and more like disaster-relief:
French soldier: Bonjour.
Local (in whatever local language): Oh, thank God! Do you know how to make [important infrastructural system] work? The disease killed off everybody we had who knew how to run it!
Also, local Muslims might have managed to assimilate and become valued members of the survivor community, but given the degree of anger I'd expect, it doesn't seem very likely. So the French would be seen as rescuers for getting rid of "those pesky Muslims." You know us humans; we're always ready to get behind a "good" pogrom. Who bothers to remember what Martin Niemoeller said?
(Edit to above: Oops, I'd left out the second "e" in "Niemoeller.")
-----
Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING.
I more-or-less intended that the epidemics were engineered to die off fairly quickly (a few months, a year at most) after they'd killed everybody who was readily vulnerable, so the long-lasting "plague pit" effect wouldn't be an issue. Part of that was the same reason I used bio-weapons rather than nuke strikes: I wanted to kill people but leave infrastructure intact and available. Half the population is dead, but the machinery still works ... if the people who know how to use it are still alive. Having to keep a "plague pit" quarantined would've often deprived the survivors of a lot of that machinery -- and the resulting damage to the civilization would've been much more intense.
What I wanted, and wrote for, was a situation where most populations are drastically reduced, and there've been major political realignments, but day-to-day living, once the bodies were disposed of, is more like a cyberpunk world than your classic post-apocalypse scenario -- at least in the U.S., which is where the story proper takes place.
Quote:Alors, a slur upon la belle France!
I ... I just have trouble crediting the idea that *France*, of all places, managed to be that ruthlessly effective. Especially after they start going out and conquering (double bwah?)
Bear in mind the population loss in most of the places the French took over. 90% in Scandinavia; 50-60% in Europe as a whole -- and some of the places they didn't take would've had higher survival rates that skewed the overall figures upward. For at least the first few years after the French put their own house in order and began moving into other areas, it likely looked less like conquest and more like disaster-relief:
French soldier: Bonjour.
Local (in whatever local language): Oh, thank God! Do you know how to make [important infrastructural system] work? The disease killed off everybody we had who knew how to run it!
Also, local Muslims might have managed to assimilate and become valued members of the survivor community, but given the degree of anger I'd expect, it doesn't seem very likely. So the French would be seen as rescuers for getting rid of "those pesky Muslims." You know us humans; we're always ready to get behind a "good" pogrom. Who bothers to remember what Martin Niemoeller said?
(Edit to above: Oops, I'd left out the second "e" in "Niemoeller.")
-----
Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING.