To Participants,

Due to the lack of information provided, or conflicting reports between one chapter to the next regarding the basics and society of the toxums, I am here to provide a detailed explanation on how life works. If you have sent in your entry and feel it will benefit more by being more accurate towards this chapter, you are free to edit it and send it again.

THE HISTORY

The environment and basis for Winter Revolution follows the story Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban, found online for free via PDF if you wish to see.

Many centuries ago, an atomic bomb of massive proportions was dropped on the world. This event was called Genesis. While most of the world's human and animal and plant life died out, there were small groups of people who survived by either being incredibly isolated or by being underground during the time of attack. These people lived beneath the earth for a century, where the sustained themselves through storage from before Genesis and hunting poisoned animals above ground when food supplies ran out. Any inconstancies with how they survived don't matter, point is they did. Above ground during this time was devastation. There was no sun, as it was blocked by the hazardous gases caused by the nuclear meltdowns. Animals mutated and so, too, did the people who ate the animals below the ground, for they grew more and more immune the more they lived beneath the earth. Eventually plant and animal life returned above, and the sly began to clear. The humans below had survived and expanded their population, and had developed a system of innovations that helped them survive underground but not above.

When the humans grew to inhabit the earth again, though their immune systems were strong, their skills from below ground never applied. While below ground there was time for a bit of leisure due to the small quarters and essential 'family' aspect of it, above ground they had to adapt to shelter, weather, technology, etc. They receded to politics where only the educated were in charge. Everyone else had returned to a survival instinct of building to survive.

Fifteen generations have passed since Genesis. Seven generations lived below the ground, and this is the eighth generation above.

THE EDUCATION

Because of the fact survival is the biggest factor in the toxum's, which are their small towns and collective homes, education is no longer seen as effective. There are very few books, no books have been printed for fifteen generations, so 300 years, and Genesis occurred in 2020 present time. All knowledge is written down by the Elders of the toxum, leaders who did not become poskas (politicians). Elders, though only mentioned now, are the educated of the group, as if the poska suddenly dies one must be able to take their place. Education is hereditary: the head poskas of each toxum will educate their children in reading and writing, and so will the Elders, who choose students based on promise and whether their parents or guardians consent. Essentially they are small tutor groups. There are no formal schools. No technology besides radios have survived Genesis. No electricity, no televisions, nothing automated exists, as the people are still developing. However, Markus 14 developed for the mission what we today would consider walkie-talkies, only available for the mission.

Any child can apply to be educated, however it is rare for such to happen: education is seen as a poska's job and the rest of the people are trying to rebuild and invent their way to survival. Any books, as stated above, were written by the educated on topics only broaching that of the last three hundred years after Genesis. Mathematics, while used, is a rare form, as is any physical science, and literature/art, and only a select few know of their beauty.

Essentially, note that in the beginning of our human civilisation, there are no records besides that of cave paintings. The earliest work of literature today is the Epic of Gilgamesh, written during the first peak innovative era of the world in Mesopotamia. While the Mesopotamians had developed irrigation (in our case in After Genesis, greenhouses) and the wheel, they only began writing when everything had settled down. Right now, little is settled.

THE ENVIRONMENT

There is no formal country name, only toxum name. Essentially they are on a land mass, that's all that matters. The only wars that occur are the fights between human and animal. Toxums have not yet pillaged others, it will be another fifty years before the first do. You may assume the people speak fluent English, but note they would not know much of what today is, just as those in Panem do not know of today's technology.

WEATHER is mild, the earth is in a state of flux between long summers and long winters. Currently they are in the middle of the five-year summer, where temperatures remain around 20C and the sun appears for around five hours each day around noontime (due to the smog and fog that obscures the horizon). They will enter another period of a five-year winter afterwards.

AGRICULTURE is sustained through the use of greenhouses and cultivating plants found within the mangled forests that sprouted while humans were underground. Animals are shot and killed, but thy are rare and so the people sustain themselves mostly through diets of vegetables and plants. Greenhouses are made from the broken and discarded glass scavenged. Animals found are often disfigured from radiation.

HOUSING is often built on the foundation of communities three hundred years before. When humans first came out of the ground, they knew how they wanted to live: in a community of environmentally conscious people. They dug out and rebuilt the homes of previous communities, using bricks and dirt to make what would be the first new-age homes. Household amenities grew better as generations wore on. Rugs, beds, carpets, stoves, desks, tables, etc. were all made and created. Heating is provided by the homes being semi-submerged in the dirt ground. Artisans are popular careers.

MONEY is distributed as through trade-and-barter. Monetary values do not exist save for those educated.

FAMINE AND DISEASE is brought on by prolonged winters and by bacterial agents brought over by the wind. Children and elderly are most susceptible to the pathogens. There was recently an outbreak in the toxums of Miriam and Markus.

THE TOXUMS of Miriam and Markus are surrounded by several other smaller communities who we don't care about in this Game but are there.

CAREERS include Elders (those educated such as rudimentary engineers, scientists, etc.), agriculturists, home-keepers, traders, builders, scavengers, shop keepers (artisans, foodstuffs) etc. Entertainment is limited to community gatherings every month with singing and dancing to praise for the good food. There is no religion. Children are often put to work either underground in the now abandoned system of tunnels those before used to live in, either mining or clearing, or working above-ground as harvesters in the expansive greenhouses that stretch around the toxum limits. Can you imagine a group of grandfathers gossiping around a convenience store of coffee shop? Now imagine that as the constant community but around homes or rudimentary businesses.

THE GREENHOUSE is sustained by the entire toxum. Each family is provided a plot to plant their goods, and the center of the greenhouse is a toxum-wide one in case of shortages or drought due to lack of either collectable rain water (another career) or lack of sun during the winter years. Famine is brought on by the destruction of the indoor crops.

FAMILIES are defined by two parents, or one if one is deceased or missing. Often children are conceived when the parents are in their twenties. There are only basic HOSPITALS and medical centers (a career for the Elders) and so stillbirths and maternal deaths occur often. Asthma and sickness, though undiagnosed, are common illnesses.

HOSPITALS AND MEDICINE are scarce, usually only one person in the toxum knows how to handle basic emergencies. However there are a couple apothecaries, who the doctor goes to.

This is all for now, if anyone wants a more detailed description of certain aspects I'm missing, please let me know.