In my world, a specific area of land has been cursed into an eternal winter. The story takes place in a kingdom that is surrounded by deciduous forests similar to ones in north america, and the eternal winter started about 153 years ago. I have no idea how that much time with ice and snow would affect the wildlife, and I need to figure out how the society of the kingdom developed based on that.
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$\begingroup$ Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer. $\endgroup$– Community BotCommented Mar 25 at 17:19
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3$\begingroup$ On the surface, this is a big question that might need to be narrowed. Have you researched Arctic forests? Even hibernating trees need water, meaning there must be some moisture somewhere or they die (even in just one year). The more established the tree, the longer it takes to die. Check out those arctic forests, they might help you clarify and narrow the question. Cheers. $\endgroup$– JBHCommented Mar 25 at 17:35
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1$\begingroup$ ok, thanks for the feedback guys, I'll try to narrow down the question. $\endgroup$– JayCommented Mar 25 at 18:40
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4$\begingroup$ There's also a very wide range of interpretations of what constitutes "Winter". This could mean it never gets above -60 C, or it might just mean that it drops below 0 every night, or it might be a costal winter where it's just in the 10-20 C range all the time, or anything in between. $\endgroup$– MathaddictCommented Mar 25 at 20:12
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1$\begingroup$ I would also like to know if this was a case of BAM Winter!, the normal fading of fall into winter (but then it stays that way), or something that allows for gradual ecological adaptation. I'm getting the impression that the latter isn't the case. Also, how localized is this? How big is the kingdom, and can the neighbors compensate for the food shortages? $\endgroup$– Robert RappleanCommented Mar 25 at 21:33
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7 Answers
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If your kingdom has been in continual ice and snow for 153 years, the only life (wild or otherwise) lives close enough to the borders to get its food and water from outside, or is huddled around a geothermal vent, or eats from a river/lake/ocean that receives warm flow from an unaffected zone. Even the midges of Antarctica only survive in the northernmost regions that do occasionally thaw, and almost their entire diet is blown or washed in from non-frozen regions. Deeper inside the permanent winter, not even pine needles remain. 153 years is rather long to go without watering. Any society in this kingdom is trading, or raiding, or dead.
Depending on how large this kingdom is, and how the border of winter is maintained, you could get some fantastic meteorological effects. Warm moist air from neighboring Summertopia will immediately drop out as precipitation when it hits a magically sudden drop in temperature, and unless the magic prevents it there should be wild winds due to the constant intermixing of warm and cold air. The only cessation is during natural winter when the temperature on either side of the boundary is similar enough to let the air have a season of relative rest and catch its breath. This atmospheric intermixing will result in a border gradient that has a massive impact on neighboring lands as well. Assuming this kingdom is large enough and positioned athwart prevailing air currents carrying oceanic moisture inland: within a few years of this winter descending, the windward neighbors have seen lush farmlands drowned into drizzly gusty swamps, while the lee side is facing a drought measured in generations. Even if the neighbors would be willing to trade for whatever your winter wonderland could mine or manufacture, some of them may be in no condition to do so.
It would be a peculiar people who would choose to remain in such conditions, rather than fleeing. I'd wonder about their reasons for doing so.
Postscript: your question is rather broad, so it's worth mentioning that depending on how big the kingdom is, where it's located geographically, and how exactly the magic winter is imposed-- absolutely none of this is mandatory except "any place that is constantly below the freezing temperature of water gets its nutrients from someplace that isn't". A small kingdom, or one that's small relative to the continental weather patterns? Might have weird border winds but not enough to mess with its neighbors, if you don't want its neighbors messed with. A winter effect that's like a magical veil where it's warm and lush one side and still and frozen on the other, with no transition? Sounds great, it's your magic after all. But anything inside still has to eat and drink.
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5$\begingroup$ Trading, or raiding, or dead: in principle, they could use solar, wind, nuclear power to power greenhouses for food, mines for raw materials, geothermal heat pumps, etc. The question gives no indication on the level of technology. With enough technology, such a kingdom could survive. $\endgroup$– gerritCommented Mar 26 at 7:54
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Quick answer: here's what one year might do. This was 1816 and the winter followed the explosion of Mount Tambora. After earlier ice ages, we find mammoths that have been frozen to death with their last meal still in their stomachs, which suggests that they may have died within days of a snap cold spell. Seeds and a few creatures that can survive in a frozen state might last longer. Yes, everyone didn't die in 1816 because people knew how to store crops, but another year would probably have finished off most of the survivors in the US. Anything that can't migrate to somewhere warmer is probably history.
153 years is a strangely precise figure: is there some background to this?
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2$\begingroup$ :-) I once read a book about negotiating business deals that advocated using oddball numbers, e.g., an interest rate of 3.469%. Why? Because it's distracting to the person you're negotiating with and represents a bargaining chip you can throw away. In other words... I'm not too worried about the length of time (but it is interesting). $\endgroup$– JBHCommented Mar 25 at 20:03
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2$\begingroup$ The most difficult problem long term would be food. As with out a magical solution every one would starve. Or they just import it from somewhere not completely frozen over. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 25 at 20:10
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1$\begingroup$ @Pica There were no mammoths after 1816. Yes. I had got confused with too many cuts and pastes, and those bits should not have been next to each other. I have fixed the original post. Thanks. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 26 at 9:51
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Polar Desert. See link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_desert
As stated by the first poster the only life inside your kingdom aside from mosses and lichens on exposed (ice free) surfaces and in this case maybe some fungi trying to consume whats left of any exposed, dead plant material would be located on its borders i.e. at the interface between it and the unaffected lands or seas around it. The inner regions however would be ice covered hell holes.
In this case though the term 'desert' might be a misnomer because given the deciduous forest locale you describe your kingdom as being located in it would most likely receive very high rainfall (as snow) carried in via winds blowing into the Kingdom from outside it's borders. This would make the situation for life inside the Kingdom even worse though because the ice would increase significantly in depth year by year and only ever melt off at the edges. Most likely only the highest, steepest slopes and cliffs would remain ice free after the first few decades.
(As a side note any kingdom in the the rain shadow of your 'polar' kingdom is going to suffer a significant reduction in rain fall.)
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$\begingroup$ I am not sure if any plant life could be alive in perma Frost is that is what the Author suggested. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 25 at 21:52
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1$\begingroup$ @Fallenspacerock. As per my answer the he only plant life inside continental Antarctica (which is an Arctic Desert) exists only in places where there is exposed/ice free ground (exuding simple life like bacteria which has been found at the bottom of frozen lakes and other locations where there is still liquid water. $\endgroup$– MonCommented Mar 25 at 22:15
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$\begingroup$ Yes though as far as we know everything could be permanently frozen. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 25 at 22:34
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This depends wildly on the level of technology. If we assume a 21st level of technology, the transition would be hard and probably involve reliance on neighbours or famine, but the situation may ultimately be manageable, albeit with a lower population level than before.
Unless your magic winter is also associated with a magic 153-year polar night (which would be even more magic if it doesn't affect the entire planet), there will still be reliable daylight during much of the year. The weird weather will also be associated with wind. Therefore, your kingdom can use solar and wind energy to generate electricity. With electricity, they can power greenhouses, mines, and industry. Perhaps they can generate nuclear power. They can power heat pumps to heat their buildings with ice (or simply drill deep enough to use geothermal energy). They could also burn whatever they grow in greenhouses, or fossil fuels under the ice, for electricity production, heating, or combustion engines. It would be more important than ever to remove the snow from their cities and infrastructure, so that it doesn't turn into ice over the years; or they would have to build their infrastructure in tunnels, which would be expensive. Thriving in this kingdom would be hard, but it would still be much easier than in a space colony.
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1$\begingroup$ I am sceptical on them being able to have enough food for all this time. I mean there is a reason things like vertical farms never have been used at large scale in our world. Because you would need a lot of fuel to keep them running especially for an entire city. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 26 at 8:21
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2$\begingroup$ @Fallenspacerock They certainly wouldn't be eating farmed animals. It's hard, but still easier than a colony on Mars. $\endgroup$– gerritCommented Mar 26 at 8:31
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1$\begingroup$ I would say that maybe it is possible for them to survive depending how much is frozen and their technology as well as their magic. Likely there would be fewer people around as feeding people is generally harder. Though i admit that people do live under such conditions or similar like people in Greenland or something. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 26 at 9:42
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1$\begingroup$ @Fallenspacerock Good point about Greenland. If they're at the sea, the food problem is much easier to solve. But the question says it's surrounded by forests, which would seem to imply that the kingdom is landlocked. $\endgroup$– gerritCommented Mar 26 at 11:41
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$\begingroup$ Rivers and large lakes could also partially work to not make everyone starve to death. Though i think under the conditions that they are not permanently frozen. Also being surrounded by forest does suggest that permafrost does not exist everywhere after all. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 26 at 12:16
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It would be quiet the achievement, but in theory, a small wandering tribe could prepare a "road" of resources in the summer/good years for the winter years. The tribe would then circle back, using up every year more of those resources. And as long as there is sunlight, they could also keep some greenhouses on sleds with them. Now this setup is very fragile and one ruined storage spot would mean the end of the tribe.This could work for a 2-3 years period.
But it its 153 years long.. sorry, only the costal areas remain habitable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit and even those barely. Inuit are pretty inventive and tough when it comes to outdoor living.
So, if we do magic - let me do at least interesting magic. Mine - is manna from the sky. There is a flying lichen, that lives above the cloud, in the south- and as soon as its ripe, the fruitbodies bud off, drift in the air currents and come down as something - very similar to snow and nutritious. No offense, but magic, makes all things in a universe construction so pointless. So lets at least add a price. If you eat to much manna- it poisons you- and the plants sprout, turning you into a snowman, your frozen flesh transformed blowing away in the wind. So at least the magic has a horrible price.
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2$\begingroup$ Yeah unless we count in magic under permafrost conditions it's the only place we're there is working eco system. Though with the inclusion of magical farming or some sort of nutritious land animal it could be made less of an issue. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 26 at 9:45
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$\begingroup$ We should air-drop harry potter books instead of nutrient-bars in hunger areas. $\endgroup$– PicaCommented Mar 26 at 10:07
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1$\begingroup$ Really magic is the only solution to world hunger. Just believe me on this i know what i am talking about🙃. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 26 at 10:40
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1$\begingroup$ Sounds tasty though rabbits still require plant life to survive. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 26 at 12:17
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Magic-eaters are the new autotrophs
I am assuming that the eternal winter you're thinking of is more like winter in the arctic than winter in the tropics.
With no spring, the last natural plant died a century and half ago. The only thing that could survive this is something supernatural that can conjure sustenance out of magic. Fortunately for these magic-eaters, the area is high in magic and low in competition; if they can survive the cold, they'll thrive. There are limitless possibilities on what this "something" is; it's magic, after all. Anything from fairies to magic lichen and beyond. How exactly they are creating food for themselves is also wide open. Maybe they consume the magic freezing the realm, slowly weakening its hold; maybe they magically eat lingering heat, and are making things even colder. Sure, the laws of thermodynamics dictate that the energy they extract from heat will eventually be converted back to heat, but who cares about that?
Whatever they are, they'll form the bottom of a new food chain. The lingering wildlife will either adapt to eat the new food-supply, or they will starve. Maybe that will make them magical; it's up to you.
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How cold is this winter? Are we talking somewhere around 0°C? -10°C? -30°C? Knowing the specific temperatures would be useful here. I assume it's below freezing considering you mentioned that ice and snow would be present. Are there periods where temperatures go above 0°C, or is it permanently stuck in the negatives?
In that regard, plants typically cannot grow below 0°C. Even the coldest of tundras have at least one or more months during the summer that surpasses the freezing point just enough for extreme cold-adapted plants to tolerate. If at least one or more months of this land surpasses 0°C in the "summer", it's an ET (Tundra) climate. If all are below 0°C, then it's an EF (Ice Cap) climate.
This would mean that pretty much all plant life in this frozen land would be dead; the only ones remaining being Moss, Lichen, or maybe small grasses- and that's assuming temperatures at least go above 0°C at some points in the "summer". Taking out the primary producers of the ecosystem would mean a collapse of the land's food chain, leaving most animal species dead. Maybe some small birds or mammal populations would occasionally find themselves as vagrants, but I doubt most life would take up permanent residence in such an environment, especially if there is no summer.
A layer of thick permafrost would eventually develop over the ground, being thicker and deeper at higher altitudes. Permafrost makes the construction of large-scale architecture difficult, which is why places like Yaktusk have their buildings built upon concrete blocks. Farming crops of any kind is off the table, since plants are unable to grow in such a climate. People in this kingdom would probably have to rely upon domesticated livestock as their source of food. Reindeer or some other Tundra-adapted equivalent would be the most suitable for husbandry.
