How would you fight the Ancient Evil?

[Matt]

Think about your world. Jobs, school, family, political bickering on the news, wars against religious extremism, social unrest and economic turmoil.

Now imagine that world suddenly and unceremoniously pitched into a technological dark age. Our satellites, cell phones and internet are useless and worldwide communication is as advanced as the 19th century.

Rumors of conflict are carried on the wind. Refugees pass through your neighborhood on foot, telling tales of nightmares walking and the armies of evil risen again. Everyone has different explanations. Lucifer has risen and Revelation is come. The god Kali is angered and seeking war with mankind. Sauron, the Dark Lord had shown his face and struggle and pain are his aims. You know the drill.

Soldiers follow the refugees, clearly retreating. Few have any ammunition in their firearms, and almost none are uninjured. They speak of unholy creatures fighting alongside humans to topple the world powers. They tell also of mankind's rediscovery of elemental magic, in awe and fear.

Riots sweep your town, and hopelessness infects your friends and family. The forces of evil are on your doorstep, and every seat in every house of worship is filled by those that have not simply taken their lives. It is up to you to ensure survival.

What do you do?

Do you fight or surrender? Lead or follow? How would you arm yourself? Do you dare try to learn magic, ignoring the risks of an untested power? How is it best to fight, if fighting is, in fact, best.

Let your imagination run wild on this one. You set the rules here, but you have to fight or everyone you love will perish.

[Elise]

Well, I'd imagine first I'd try to get as many allies as I can. Power in numbers. I would pick people who have different skill sets. Maybe get a few spies, to check out the enemy's movements. Just really get to know the enemy, so I can formulate a strategy against them. We'd also need to find some kind of safe bunker, to discuss the plans in detail in secret. I'd imagine the plan I'd come up with would have to be one that would take the enemy off guard.

[Collin]

I would go to the mountains where noone ever goes. Bring a lot of food, alcohol and friends with me (I agree with Elise on the varying skills thing) and hold up until it blew over. The picture you paint isn't of the most optomistic world -- and generally it takes generations to change as dramatically as would be required to fight off those evil over-lords.

Anyway, it would give me a reason to sit in the mountains for a while eh?

[Matt]

It's true the picture isn't optimistic, but neither am I really. And if this situation were to arise, it would be difficult for anyone to be I think. As for the skill sets, I agree completely. The first to come to my mind are farmers and doctors, though I imagine a carpenter and maybe someone familiar with metalwork would be helpful. My first plan would be to head north, maybe to the Canadian Rockies or even further, to hunker down, gather strength, and plan.

[Kyle]

Well the first question that I would ask, if such a situation did arise, is how these things detect people. I agree that the best course of action would be to find a safe zone and hunker down until a group can formulate a plan of action, but what if their methods of detection aren’t hampered by mountainous terrain? Or for that matter what if their methods of travel aren’t inhibited by the forest?

The next question would be what their weaknesses are. Whatever it is that is trying to destroy humanity they must have a weakness; otherwise, they wouldn’t have broken down the communication lines in fear that we could rally an organized defense.

With these two questions answered alone not only could you find a reasonably safe area to hide from the attack, but also be able to formulate a reasonable method of attack when the time arises.

[Jim]

I fiddle around a fair amount with Colonial carpentry & do some blacksmithing. I like visiting places like Colonial Williamsburg & Shaker Villages. It's pretty amazing how much time & work it takes to do the simplest tasks without power tools. You need to have a lot of people because there aren't enough hours in the day.

It's also amazing how much our technology is built on itself. Try making the simplest items & you find you need a file or a drill bit. Did you ever try to make either? Incredibly difficult.

Growing food would be tough. Many of the big staple crops are a generation ahead of a variety of blights that killed the previous generation. Soils are worn out & need commercial fertilizers. Think of how much time it would take to grow a crop & then prepare & preserve it.

Add in fighting Sauron or whatever on top of it. Ugh! Just fighting off bugs & rabbits off the veges would be tough. I think a crash or a big bad guy would be enough. Both would really be a drag.

[Collin]

I am a distiller... would that be a viable skill? Please take me to your safe zone! I can make you booze!! And alcohol to disinfect things too!!

[Jim]

Lots of Colonials made whiskey because it was the best way to use extra grain & transport it to market. One of the big rebellions in the early days of the US was the Whiskey Rebellion because the government of PA was taxing small whiskey producers higher than the bigger ones, I think. Part of the mess to pay for the Revolutionary War. I'd say it was a very valuable skill.

[Collin]

Though, to make whiskey you would also need a cooper to make barrels -- unless you were going with an unaged corn spirit -- more like moonshine then anything else. So, if there are any coopers out there come on down! Unfortunately it is a very rare skill in this day and age.. so we may have to stick with unaged spirits.

[Jim]

I found out how important White Oak is to the flavor of whiskey earlier this year. I turn bowls out of green wood & had gotten some White Oak from a big limb a neighbor cut down. I put it in my shop a plastic trash bag so it wouldn't dry out before I got to it. It wound up sitting there for a couple of months & my shop gets fairly warm in the summer. One day I went to move it & all this water splashed on my leg. I smelled just like a bottle of bourbon!

If you ever get a chance to watch "The Woodwright's Workshop" on PBS, you should. Roy Underhill does a 30 minute show on Colonial woodworking. He's done at least one show on coopering at Colonial Williamsburg. I saw it & went there. I saw cooper's working. It is absolutely incredible. They plane the angles on the staves by eye & practice. Wow! They make it look easy.

[Matt]

Distilling would be extremely helpful. Obviously one jumps right to good liquor(something I would definitely want if the world fell to chaos), but a distiller has many uses other than that. Whiskey and Isopropyl Alcohol both serve as an antiseptic, and both need to be distilled. Or vinegar, which you need to process and preserve hundreds of types of food. I brew beer, and personally I'd say drink the beer, and save the spirits for the necessities, the good times, or the hardest.

Now...

It seems like most of you would settle with fortifying yourselves and trying to preserve what you could. I would likely do the same. But what happens when your settlement is one of only a handful left, and the armies of evil came a-knockin'? How would you organize a resistance? Or would you become refugees and continue to try and find a safe haven?

Also, Collin, do you have any suggestions for a good reference on distilling? My beer has gotten pretty consistently decent, and I'd like to try something new. I remember seeing a really cool distilling setup as a teenager in someone's dad's basement. But all the online resources seem to give sketchy instructions at best. Frankly, distilling seems a bit dangerous, and I'd like a reliable source before getting started.
It seems pretty easy to find aging barrels on craigslist, and barrel makers are actually almost common in my corner of the world.

[Mawgojzeta]

I would try to learn magic. I was raised by pagan hippie-types, so I am hoping that gives me an edge - haha.

I would also grab up a doctor or nurse from the local hospital (there has got to be at least one willing to go with), my boyfriend (can build/fix about anything, has equipment to make homemade wines and other alcoholic beverages, and is a great hunter), my friend Earl (70 year old farmer but still quite a mover), my friend Bobbi (because I can't live without her - oh, and she does Reiki and massage), and my son. I myself know how put up buildings, pick and use herbal remedies, am a great scavenger, and have books for about everything. Others are welcome, too, but best if they have some skills. Fortunately, I live in farm-country so there are many people out here with survival/growing/hunting skills. The older farmers would be an asset, as they likely still have simpler tools that have not been discarded and methods to contribute.

I would hope we would be able to hole up where we are (or an hour further). Once things were settled a bit, it would be time to discover what we could about this magic and about this enemy. Hopefully it would not be too late.