Month: September 2017

Author’s Notes (Dark Continents 1)

~ Matthew K. ~ Leave a comment

Dark Continents 1

  1. So this took longer than I expected!  Mainly, I just wasn’t sure what I wanted beyond covering proximity illness and Lahore.
  2. Alves is Portuguese—I didn’t misname an African general.
  3. I tried to write this without peeking into Alves’s mind, limiting myself mostly to descriptions of actions.  I think it came out alright, but it was hard.
  4. RIP Mushroom.  I’m sure someone will miss you!
    1. I used FantasyNameGenerators.com for his name.  Really.  He’s seriously just a plot device.

Blight Spread Calculations II

~ Matthew K. ~ Leave a comment

Spoilers for some minor future developments below!!!

There are two other Lunar Blight outbreaks in the coming arc: India and South America.  They spread using slightly… different mechanics.

The Indian Blight—which actually starts in Pakistan—is mostly the same as the African Blight, modulo the fact it’s altitude-locked.  As such, as long as a few choke-points are defended, the Indian Blight will stay in the Indian Subcontinent.  Hell, some areas in he Deccan are safe!

Now, India is much smaller than Africa.  Distance Calculator gave the following numbers:

  • Lahore to Khyber Pass – 412 km
  • Lahore to Karachi – 1036 km
  • Lahore to Kanyakumari – 2633 km
  • Lahore to Mandalay – 2403 km

Thus first defenses must be up by ~1 month, 6 days; India gets fully infested by ~7 months, 22 days.

Now, the South American Blight spreads very differently.  Instead of spreading by runners, it spreads via spores.  After landing, the spores form an infested area (really a massive fruiting body) of a few square kilometers over around three days.  New spores are ejected and land around ~100 km away next day.  This gives an average spread rate of ~750 km/month.

I have the following distances:

  • Brasília to Pacific (Arica) – 2403 km
  • Brasília to Atlantic (Porto Seguro) – 946 km
  • Brasília to Panama border (Cacaricas) – 4154 km
  • Southern Path
    • Brasília to El Chaltén – 4366 km
    • El Chaltén to Bahía Thetis – 788 km
    • TOTAL: 5154 km
  • Acandí to La Palma (Max jump distance) – 102 km

Thus Panama’s defenses must be up by ~5 months, 16 days; South America gets fully infested by ~6 months, 25 days.

These are much faster infestation rates than Africa, although they’re also much less deadly.

 

Blight Spread Calculations

~ Matthew K. ~ Leave a comment

So let’s talk about the spread of the African Lunar Blight.  We’ll assume the following:

  1. It spreads at a roughly constant rate.
  2. Season and weather have no effect.
  3. Rivers also have a negligible effect.
  4. Deserts severely slow it down.
    1. We’ll treat the Sahara as impassible
    2. The Kalahari probably has little effect.

Using Distance Calculator, I got the following distances:

  • Kemba to Atlantic (Kribi) – 1390 km
  • Kemba to Indian (Mombasa) – 2129 km
  • Kemba to Mandeb Strait (Fagal) – 2483 km
  • Southern Path
    • Through Kalahari
      • Kemba to Cape Town – 4256 km
    • Without Kalahari
      • Kemba to Windhoek – 3026 km
      • Windhoek to Cape Town – 1478 km (road)
      • TOTAL: 4504 km
    • Sanity check
      • Kemba to Chiredzi – 2980 km
      • Chiredzi to East London – 1388 km
      • TOTAL: 4368 km
  • Western path
    • Kemba to Conakry – 4017 km
    • Conakry to Casablanca – 3794 km (road)
    • Casablanca to Ceuta – 331 km (road)
    • TOTAL: 8142 km
  • Eastern Path
    • Kemba to Massawa – 2266 km
    • Massawa to Cairo – 1813 km
    • SUBTOTAL: 4079 km
    • Cairo to Algiers – 3285 km (road)
    • Algiers to Maghnia – 482 km
    • Maghnia to Oujda – 24 km
    • Oujda to Ceuta – 339 km (road)
    • TOTAL: 8209 km

So, dropping to two SigFigs, here are our milestones:

  1. 1400 km – The Blight hits its first ocean.
  2. 2100 km – Africa is split in two.
  3. 2500 km – Mandeb Wall must be operational.
  4. 4100 km – Suez Wall must be operational.
  5. 4500 km – Southern Africa overrun.
  6. 8200 km – Africa overrun; Gibraltar Wall must be operational.

Now, I have the Danubian Lunar Blight breaking out in November 2037, roughly when the Suez Wall is formed.  We’ll say that’s around a month before the Blight actually hits the Suez.  That gives a spread rate of around

  • 340 km/month,
  • 11 km/day (calling a month 30 days),
  • 470 m/hr, or
  • 13 cm/sec (5.2 in/sec in imperial units).

Our timeline thus becomes

  1. 4.1 months – The Blight hits its first ocean.
  2. 6.2 months – Africa is split in two.
  3. 7.4 months – Mandeb Wall must be operational.
  4. 12 months – Suez Wall must be operational.
  5. 13 months – Southern Africa overrun.
  6. 24 months – Africa overrun; Gibraltar Wall must be operational.

Naturally, as we’re just using ballpark figures, these are just… well, ballpark dates.  Still, it should give you an idea of how terrifyingly fast the Blight spreads.

Author’s Notes (Malachite 2 & 3)

~ Matthew K. ~ Leave a comment

Malachite 2

Malachite 3

  1. Alright!  The prologue chapter is done!
  2. Malachite 2 was trying to convey a sense of terror, irritation, and exhaustion.  Hopefully it comes across naturally.
  3. It also introduces the Occult Congress.  They primarily draw inspiration from things like X-Files, SCP, and other Masquerade-based works.
  4. Malachite 3 was trying to convey a sense of detached interest.
  5. Mushroom isn’t a recurring character, just like Elf.  Now, that voice in his head…