History Fridge / StandStillStaySilent

** In the same vein: hiding the real reasons for their trip from their 10-year-old daughter was one thing. But why did Stig and Ulrika neglect to tell Stig's adult and (to all appearances) mentally sound parents that they were fleeing a deadly disease, especially given that the main reason said riot happened in the first place was due to them being unaware of the seriousness of the situation? Not to mention that they were only protesting in response to the refusal of some pretty basic and reasonable requests, like wanting to see the newspaper or even to get a ''bathroom break''. This puts Ulrika's admonition to her husband to "control his parents" in a considerably more sinister light.

** Iceland in Year 90 has only about 60% that real life Iceland had in late 2013 (190,600 to about 325,000 [[labelnote:note]]the second number increases if later years of the comic's run are assumed to be Year 0[[/labelnote]]), which hints to other factors than the Rash decreasing the population.

* When the team first finds out about a potential vaccine for the Rash, Siv and Taru advise them not to detour to investigate, and instead just let whatever's been there for ninety years wait a little longer for a better prepared expedition. The fridge horror being, research into a cure/vaccine for the Rash seems to be only being conducted by Sweden. So strong odds says that if the protagonists had stuck to their original travel plan and left the vaccine for the next expedition to investigate, the next team would have likely been primarily Swedish. Swedish people can't be mages, and are firmly of the opinion that magic isn't a thing, so that team would not have included a mage. With nobody able to see the spirits... well, it says a lot that the best case scenario would have been that entire team being killed by ghosts, as the alternative would be bringing back something that's just as fatal as the Rash, while causing worse damage to the soul, and exchanges a small chance of a victim becoming a dangerous monster for a 100% chance of the victim becoming a dangerous monster that's InvisibleToNormals. The supposed cure being brought back to Sweden could have very easily ended with humanity getting taken out for good.

* Iceland's violently enforced isolation policy in the early days seems horrifying at first, but makes sense with some cold logic. While able to be autonomous in terms of bare necessities for some time at first glance, Iceland is still reliant on imports for some perks of modern life, including things that could make the difference between life an death for some people. One spell of bad weather without anywhere else to import food from could create a famine. Fishing may have spent years not being considered a reliable food source between the presence of sea beasts and fish being possibly considered a potential vector for some time; Árni had to do two weeks of quarantine without ever interacting with a beast. On top of this, whatever imported modern-day supplies they had in stock before closing the borders would only run out faster if they took extra people in and any new children born after they ran out of vaccines would be at risk of catching various diseases. The closing of the supply routes may have started to have real consequences by Month 3, to the point that the last thing they needed was extra people coming in, regardless of whether they carried the Rash or not.
** Iceland in Year 90 had only about 60% that real life Iceland had in late 2013 (190,600 to about 325,000 [[labelnote:note]]the second number increases if later years of the comic's run are assumed to be Year 0[[/labelnote]]), which hints to other factors than the Rash decreasing the population.

* Iceland's violently enforced isolation policy in the early days seems horrifying at first, but makes sense with some cold logic. While able to be autonomous in terms of bare necessities for some time at first glance, Iceland is still reliant on imports for some perks of modern life, including things that could make the difference between life an death for some people. Whatever they had in stock before closing the borders would only run out faster if they took extra people in. One spell of bad weather without anywhere else to import food from could have led to famines. Fishing may have also been too risky in early years (sea beasts and not knowing fish are immune yet). Árni had to do two weeks quarantine without ever interacting with a beast, there's no way any fishermen wouldn't have to do two weeks quarentine every time they went out - and that's assuming the Icelandic government wasn't paranoid enough in the early days to assume the fish could be a vector for infection, from sharing the same water as infected beasts. And then there's medical supplies, as even without the Rash there's still plenty of diseases and injuries. With no new medical supplies or equipment incoming, and nowhere else to treat people, one bad disease could be just as deadly as the Rash - no way to make and distribute vaccines anymore, at least not for everybody. Herd immunity would be destroyed within a decade, with a new generation of non-vaccinated children being born - herd immunity begins to fail with just 85% of a population not being vaccinated. Even safe from the Rash, Iceland is at a very serious risk of famine and plague, not to mention the civil unrest that would come with the end of the world, and how many non-Icelandic citizens would have been trapped in when the borders closed. Of course Iceland was so desperate to prevent any refugees from reaching them. They were barely keeping their own heads above the water, and adding to the population would have made the problem worse. They couldn't risk anyone getting through.

* Iceland's violently enforced isolation policy in the early days seems horrifying at first, but makes sense with some cold logic. Iceland is a tiny island, and with the world ending and the borders slammed shut, nothing comes in or out, making it a closed system. Meaning that one tiny island needs to provide enough food, clean water, shelter, clothing, medical care, and any other needs, ''for every single person on it''. There's no more safety net. When things break down, and the replacements break down, there's nothing that can be done. And just for feeding everybody, one spell of bad weather and the entire island starves if they can't farm enough, especially since ocean fishing isn't safe - seals, whales, and other aquatic mammals are very much infected, and hostile. Arni had to do two weeks quarantine without ever interacting with a beast, there's no way any fishermen wouldn't have to do two weeks quarentine every time they went out - and that's assuming the Icelandic government wasn't paranoid enough in the early days to assume the fish could be a vector for infection, from sharing the same water as infected beasts. And then there's medical supplies, as even without the Rash there's still plenty of diseases and injuries. With no new medical supplies or equipment incoming, and nowhere else to treat people, one bad disease could be just as deadly as the Rash - no way to make and distribute vaccines anymore, at least not for everybody. Herd immunity would be destroyed within a decade, with a new generation of non-vaccinated children being born - herd immunity begins to fail with just 85% of a population not being vaccinated. Even safe from the Rash, Iceland is at a very serious risk of famine and plague, not to mention the civil unrest that would come with the end of the world, and how many non-Icelandic citizens would have been trapped in when the borders closed. Of course Iceland was so desperate to prevent any refugees from reaching them. They were barely keeping their own heads above the water, and adding to the population would have made the problem worse. They couldn't risk anyone getting through.

** Iceland in Year 90 had only about 60% that real life Iceland had in late 2013 (190,600 to about 325,000 [[labelnote:note]]and the second number only increases if later years of the comic's run are assumed to be Year 0[[/labelnote]]), which hints to other factors than the Rash decreasing the population.
** Meanwhile it's safe to say the other four countries would have been welcoming refugees with open arms (after quarantine, mind you), considering how far the populations dropped, and the threat of beasts, trolls and giants. Anyone who found their way to a different prologue location would have been home free.
* The absence of EncyclopediaExposita pages from Chapter 16 onwards. Serveral of the documents are implied or outright shown to be the official mission's reference material. Said reference material probably has a few copies somewhere in the Known World, so it would make absolutely no sense take along on the trek [[spoiler:especially with the only person who ever officially needed it dead]]. The only reading material that ''was'' taken on the trek were carefully packed Old World books that nobody would consider touching just for the sake of killing time. In other words, the crew no longer has access to reading material, so the audience doesn't either.

* Iceland's violently enforced isolation policy in the early days seems horrifying at first, but makes sense with some cold logic. Iceland is a tiny island, and with the world ending and the borders slammed shut, nothing comes in or out, making it a closed system. Meaning that one tiny island needs to provide enough food, clean water, shelter, clothing, medical care, and any other needs, ''for every single person on it''. There's no more safety net. When things break down, and the replacement's break down, there's nothing that can be done. And just for feeding everybody, one spell of bad weather and the entire island starves if they can't farm enough, especially since ocean fishing isn't safe - seals, whales, and other aquatic mammals are very much infected, and hostile. Arni had to do two weeks quarantine without ever interacting with a beast, there's no way any fishermen wouldn't have to do two weeks quarentine every time they went out - and that's assuming the Icelandic government wasn't paranoid enough in the early days to assume the fish could be a vector for infection, from sharing the same water as infected beasts. And then there's medical supplies, as even without the Rash there's still plenty of diseases and injuries. With no new medical supplies or equipment incoming, and nowhere else to treat people, one bad disease could be just as deadly as the Rash - no way to make and distribute vaccines anymore, at least not for everybody. Herd immunity would be destroyed within a decade, with a new generation of non-vaccinated children being born - herd immunity begins to fail with just 85% of a population not being vaccinated. Even safe from the Rash, Iceland is at a very serious risk of famine and plague, not to mention the civil unrest that would come with the end of the world, and how many non-Icelandic citizens would have been trapped in when the borders closed. Of course Iceland was so desperate to prevent any refugees from reaching them. They were barely keeping their own heads above the water, and adding to the population would have made the problem worse. They couldn't risk anyone getting through.

* When the team first finds out about a potential vaccine for the Rash, Siv and Taru advise them not to detour to investigate, and instead just let whatever's been there for ninety years wait a little longer for a better prepared expedition. The fridge horror being, research into a cure/vaccine for the Rash seems to be only being conducted by Sweden. So strong odds says that if the protagonists had stuck to their original travel plan and left the vaccine for the next expedition to investigate, the next team would have likely been primarily Swedish. Swedish people can't be mages, and are firmly of the opinion that magic isn't a thing, so that team would not have included a mage. With nobody able to see the spirits... well, it says a lot that the best case scenario would have been that entire team being killed by ghosts, as the alternative would be bringing back something that's just as fatal as the Rash, while causing worse damage to the soul, and exchanges a small chance of a victim becoming a dangerous monster for a 100% chance of the victim becoming a dangerous monster that's InvisibleToNormals. The supposed cure being brought back to Sweden could have very easily ended with humanity getting taken out for good.

[[AC:FridgeLogic]]
* Iceland's violently enforced isolation policy in the early days seems horrifying at first, but makes sense with some cold logic. Iceland is a tiny island, and with the world ending and the borders slammed shut, nothing comes in or out, making it a closed system. Meaning that one tiny island needs to provide enough food, clean water, shelter, clothing, medical care, and any other needs, ''for every single person on it''. There's no more safety net. When things break down, and the replacement's break down, there's nothing that can be done. And just for feeding everybody, one spell of bad weather and the entire island starves if they can't farm enough, especially since ocean fishing isn't safe - seals, whales, and other aquatic mammals are very much infected, and hostile. Arni had to do two weeks quarantine without ever interacting with a beast, there's no way any fishermen wouldn't have to do two weeks quarentine every time they went out - and that's assuming the Icelandic government wasn't paranoid enough in the early days to assume the fish could be a vector for infection, from sharing the same water as infected beasts. And then there's medical supplies, as even without the Rash there's still plenty of diseases and injuries. With no new medical supplies or equipment incoming, and nowhere else to treat people, one bad disease could be just as deadly as the Rash - no way to make and distribute vaccines anymore, at least not for everybody. Herd immunity would be destroyed within a decade, with a new generation of non-vaccinated children being born - herd immunity begins to fail with just 85% of a population not being vaccinated. Even safe from the Rash, Iceland is at a very serious risk of famine and plague, not to mention the civil unrest that would come with the end of the world, and how many non-Icelandic citizens would have been trapped in when the borders closed. Of course Iceland was so desperate to prevent any refugees from reaching them. They were barely keeping their own heads above the water, and adding to the population would have made the problem worse. They couldn't risk anyone getting through.
** Meanwhile it's safe to say the other four countries would have been welcoming refugees with open arms (after quarantine, mind you), considering how far the populations dropped, and the threat of beasts, trolls and giants. Anyone who found their way to a different prologue location would have been home free.

* In the prologue, Ulrika Västerström stopping a riot in the car via dangerously swerving it while her daughter is in the back without a seatbelt, with two animals and most of the family's luggage. When it happens, it can been seen as a partly justified DudeWheresMyRespect moment, with the riot happening while she's in the middle of literally driving her family away from the Rash. The Year 90 Västerströms seem to have a mild ParentalNeglect thing going on. This makes one wonder if that car swerve was just a single moment of frustration or actually illustrative of Ulrika's everyday habits. It gets even more worrying when you realize she did this ''after'' she got gas at a station that was obviously abandonned, which indicated there would have been no way to get help if someone had actually gotten hurt from this.

* Iceland's violently enforced isolation policy in the early days seems horrifying at first, but makes sense with some cold logic. Iceland is a tiny island, and with the world ending and the borders slammed shut, nothing comes in or out, making it a closed system. Meaning that one tiny island needs to provide enough food, clean water, shelter, clothing, medical care, and any other needs, ''for every single person on it''. There's no more safety net. When things break down, and the replacement's break down, there's nothing that can be done. And just for feeding everybody, one spell of bad weather and the entire island starves if they can't farm enough, especially since ocean fishing isn't safe - seals, whales, and other aquatic mammals are very much infected, and hostile. Arni had to do two weeks quarantine without ever interacting with a beast, there's no way any fishermen wouldn't have to do two weeks quarentine every time they went out - and that's assuming the Icelandic government wasn't paranoid enough in the early days to assume the fish could be a vector for infection, from sharing the same water as infected beasts. And then there's medical supplies, as even without the Rash there's still plenty of diseases and injuries. With no new medical supplies or equipment incoming, and nowhere else to treat people, one bad disease could be just as deadly as the Rash - no way to make and distribute vaccines anymore, at least not for everybody. Herd immunity would be destroyed within a decade, with a new generation of non-vaccinated children being born - herd immunity begins to fail with just 85% of a population not being vaccinated. Even safe from the Rash, Iceland is at a very serious risk of famine and plague, not to mention the civil unrest that would come with the end of the world, and how many non-Icelandic citizens would have been trapped in when the borders closed. Of course Iceland was so desperate to prevent any refugees from reaching them. They were barely keeping their own heads above the water, and adding to the population would have made the problem worse. They couldn't risk anyone getting through.

* Iceland's violently enforced isolation policy in the early days seems horrifying at first, but makes sense with some cold logic. Iceland is a tiny island, and with the world ending and the borders slammed shut, nothing comes in or out, making it a closed system. Meaning that one tiny island needs to provide enough food, clean water, shelter, clothing, medical care, and any other needs, ''for every single person on it'''. There's no more safety net. When things break down, and the replacement's break down, there's nothing that can be done. And just for feeding everybody, one spell of bad weather and the entire island starves if they can't farm enough, especially since ocean fishing isn't safe - seals, whales, and other aquatic mammals are very much infected, and hostile. Arni had to do two weeks quarantine without ever interacting with a beast, there's no way any fishermen wouldn't have to do two weeks quarentine every time they went out - and that's assuming the Icelandic government wasn't paranoid enough in the early days to assume the fish could be a vector for infection, from sharing the same water as infected beasts. And then there's medical supplies, as even without the Rash there's still plenty of diseases and injuries. With no new medical supplies or equipment incoming, and nowhere else to treat people, one bad disease could be just as deadly as the Rash - no way to make and distribute vaccines anymore, at least not for everybody. Herd immunity would be destroyed within a decade, with a new generation of non-vaccinated children being born - herd immunity begins to fail with just 85% of a population not being vaccinated. Even safe from the Rash, Iceland is at a very serious risk of famine and plague, not to mention the civil unrest that would come with the end of the world, and how many non-Icelandic citizens would have been trapped in when the borders closed. Of course Iceland was so desperate to prevent any refugees from reaching them. They were barely keeping their own heads above the water, and adding to the population would have made the problem worse. They couldn't risk anyone getting through.

* When the team first finds out about a potential vaccine for the Rash, Siv and Taru advise them not to detour to investigate, and instead just let whatever's been there for ninety years wait a little longer for a better prepared expedition. The fridge horror being, research into a cure/vaccine for the Rash seems to be only being conducted by Sweden. So strong odds says that if the protagonists had stuck to their original travel plan and left the vaccine for the next expedition to investigate, the next team would have likely been primarily Swedish. Swedish people can't be mages, and are firmly of the opinion that magic isn't a thing, so that team would not have included a mage. With nobody able to see the spirits... well, it says a lot that the best case scenario would have been that entire team being killed by ghosts, as the alternative would be bringing back something that's just as fatal as the Rash, while causing worse damage to the soul, and exchanges a small chance of a victim becoming a dangerous monster for a 100% chance of the victim becoming a dangerous monster that's InvisibleToNormals. The supposed cure being brought back to Sweden could have very easily ended with humanity getting taken out for good.

** In the same vein: hiding the real reasons for their trip from their 10-year-old daughter was one thing. But why did Stig and Ulrika neglect to tell Stig's adult and (to all appearances) mentally sound parents that they were fleeing a deadly disease, especially given that the main reason said riot happened in the first place was due to them being unaware of the seriousness of the situation? Not to mention that they were only protesting in response to the refusal of some pretty basic and reasonable requests, like wanting to see the newspaper or even to get a ''bathroom break''. This puts Ulrika's admonition to her husband to "control his parents" in a considerably more sinister light.

* Tuuri's family portrait is a balck-and-white photo, while the one in Reynir's house is color photo. While a color photo works much better for Reynir's family narratively, it would also make sense for the more technologically-advanced Iceland to still have color photos while Finland can only do black-and-white.

* While on the phone with his boss, Michael Madsen pretends that his OhCrap reaction to the news of the travel restriction is due to Magnus peeing himself. The family tree indicates that Magnus has descendants and hence wasn't spayed. The urine of male cats that haven't been spayed can be quite smelly, which means Magnus peeing himself would have warranted a small OhCrap reaction if it had actually happened.

* In the prologue, Ulrika Västerström stopping a riot in the car via dangerously swerving it while her daughter is in the back without a seatbelt, with two animals and most of the family's luggage. When it happens, it can been seen as a partly justified DudeWheresMyRespect moment, with the riot happening while she's in the middle of literally driving her family away from the Rash. The Year 90 Västerströms seem to have a mild ParentalNeglect thing going on. This makes one wonder if that car swerve was just a single moment of frustration or actually illustrative of Ulrika's everyday habits. It gets even more worrying when you realize she did this ''after'' she got gas at station that was obviously abandonned, which indicated there would have been no way to get help if someone had actually gotten hurt from this.

* In the prologue, Ulrika Västerström stopping a riot in the car via dangerously swerving it while her daughter is in the back without a seatbelt, with two animals and most of the family's luggage. When it happens, it can been seen as a partly justified DudeWheresMyRespect moment, with the riot happening while she's in the middle of literally driving her family away from the Rash. The Year 90 Västerströms seem to have a mild ParentalNeglect thing going on. This makes one wonder if that car swerve was just a single moment of frustration or actually illustrative of Ulrika's everyday habits.

*** Main question: while the "any cat is better than no cat" is obviously a common knowlege of the Known World, how could possibly expedition be launched without ANY cats onboars (not counting Lalli)?

* While on the phone with his boss, Michael Madsen pretends that that his OhCrap reaction to the news of the travel restriction is due to Magnus peeing himself. The family tree indicates that Magnus wasn't spayed and the urine of male cats that haven't been spayed can be quite smelly. Magnus peeing himself would have hence warranted a small OhCrap reaction if it had actually happened.

* While on the phone with his boss Michael Madsen pretends that that his OhCrap reaction to the news of the travel restriction is due to Magnus peeing himself. The family tree indicates that Magnus wasn't spayed and the urine of male cats that haven't been spayed can be quite smelly. Magnus peeing himself would have hence warranted a small OhCrap reaction if it had actually happened.

* Veeti Hollola has a UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance despite the fact that the devices used by other characters indicate that the console should be obsolete. The model Veeti is using runs on normal batteries that can be used with other devices. Later models of the same console line, including the one Mia Västerström seems to be using, run on batteries that are specifically made for the device and may be tricky to use to power anything else. The Hotakainen-Hollola family is the most CrazyPrepared among the prologue characters.

* Veeti Hollola has a UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance despite that the fact the devices used by other characters indicate that the console should be obsolete. The model Veeti is using runs on normal batteries that can be used with other devices. Later models of the same console line, including the one Mia Västerström seems to be using, run on batteries that are specifically made for the device and may be tricky to use to power anything else. The Hotakainen-Hollola family is the most CrazyPrepared among the prologue characters.

* Veeti Hollola playing with a UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance despite that the fact the devices used by other characters indicate that the console is obsolete. The model Veeti is using runs on normal batteries that can be used with other devices, while later models of the same console line (including the one Mia Västerström seems to be using) run on batteries that are sepcifically made for the device. The Hotakainen-Hollola family is the most CrazyPrepared among the prologue characters.