HYPOGEALIAN

Married couples sleep in groups of six, all living in one communal room. Each couple is given a bed and a locked chest for personal belongings.

Children sleep in much larger community rooms. These rooms are made up of buck beds, and provide lockers for personal items. These community rooms are split by age: children and teens 5 - 17 years old in one, and adults who are 18 or unmarried sleep in another. Older children are expected to watch over those younger than them during sleeping hours, helping them if needed, or guiding them to their parents' quarters otherwise.

Babies and toddlers are cared for by designated nannies/ nurses in other community rooms. These nurses work and sleep closely to these children. Though parents can take them off their hands during the day if they wish.

In these facilities, there are also large community bathrooms. These provide enclosed showers, and stalls for privacy. Towels and toiletries are stored for public use in these as well. Though toothbrushes are encouraged to be taken back to your rooms to avoid confusion.

Farms are enclosed, grown with artificial light and without soil. Plants are artificially pollinated and genetically modified based on the needs of the community. Keeping animals is difficult in a bunker, not only because of space but because of food, so most don’t bother. Some animals are hunted for special occasions, and bugs are farmed for their meat and nutrition.

If a facility is large enough, bunker communities may keep a few rabbits for wool, as wool is much warmer than cotton, but this is rare. Most communities find tech advancements to work around the need for wool.

Water is easy enough, and can be taken from underground wells. These wells do need to be heated, as the water coming up from deep underground usually starts freezing.

Wood is a second to mined metals, but is grown on the surface for harvesting if needed.

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Supplements are provided in place of the vitamins that are missed due to the mostly vegetarian diet and lack of sunlight. These are served with meals, and must be taken before one is served their meal.

Food and water are portioned for each person depending on age, occupation and general health. It’s served in a cafeteria style keeping track of names/ ID numbers, preventing people from eating more, or skipping meals/ medication.

Bunkers are run with Nuclear energy, located deep under the facility, proper ventilation is used but inaccessible to the community areas of the facility. Most bunkers also have solar panels and wind turbines, but they usually end up frozen, or need to be cleared off. Most don’t bother with the turbines, but do keep the solar panels as clear as possible incase of an emergency.

This energy is used for everything in the bunker, and is needed for survival.

Medicine is advanced, and most diseases are stopped before they can spread, including more serious/ deadly illnesses like Cancer or STDs. All residents are required to take necessary medicines and get regular checkups for the good of the community.

Doctors are available for emergencies, and appointments.

Unfortunately, in most bunker communities mental health and disability are stigmatized, but are treated and accommodated.

Weapons are created only for the purpose of defense, farming/ mining and survival. These weapons include knives, guns, crossbows, bow and arrow, swords, spears, staffs, axes, drills and explosives among other things.

Only a select few are allowed to handle them, and stealing one or using one without permission could be punishable by exile. This includes making something with intent to harm.

They are kept locked up if not in use.

Most bunkers are controlled by a group of elected people from each occupation, but community elections are very common. These rulers are respected but not given any unnecessary accommodations.

There are also groups under each individual that come from that profession. Used as a sort of council so that no one person can control a whole facet of the bunker.

The population of a bunker varies, but most can hold around 1,000 - 1,200 people comfortably. The human population in these bunkers is made up of regular and “Quilted” humans. 90% of the population being average, and 10% Quilted. The only difference between these two people are body temperatures. With average people having a temperature around 97 - 98°F and Quilted with 99 - 105°F.

When Quilted are born, they are born with a fever, sometimes even reaching 107°F. If the baby survives and the fever breaks, their internal temperature levels out between 99 and 105°F, making them more resistant to the cold.

Quilted are actually born more often than the 10% would make one think, but many don’t survive the early high fevers.

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These communities promote a larger family/ friend circle, and it is not uncommon for people to consider close friends to be older relatives or siblings. Blood-family circles/ immediate families are encouraged to eat and spend time together despite separate living quarters, and while most do, many children choose to eat with their peers for morning and afternoon meals.

Population control is practiced in these bunker communities by necessity, requiring birth control for all fertile individuals. A couple may only stop these hormones when approved for a child, and are placed back on them when successful. The hormones are mixed in with required supplements among other medications that are served before meals.

Couples are encouraged to have 2 children and some are even approved for 3 or 4 depending on the situation.

Blood relation is tracked to avoid accidental inbreeding, and maternal surnames are given to help this. Couples who may be too genetically similar are encouraged to split, and will never be approved for children.

The view on Homosexuality differs between each bunker, larger bunkers typically being more accepting than smaller bunkers.

Pets do still live in these communities, but are considered more communal animals if not for service. Cats, dogs and possums are the most common, and are provided food and medicine if needed and available.

All children must attend school starting from 4 to 18. School runs year around for about 8 hours a day (with meal breaks and recess included) and students are given 2 days off a week. Their education usually includes basic skills, history, math, sciences, survival, language, technology, and health/ physical education, among electives like art or theater. These classes vary.

At 15 a student can decide if they want to begin a profession like farming, healthcare, energy creation, etc. or stick to a basic education if unsure.

When graduated students have a say in their occupation, but some are assigned based on talent, intelligence or genetics (like Scouts). All occupations that exist help the bunkers run, or help the people living in them. Very few are given the honor of creating entertainment professionally like music, art, books, or television.

People may request changes if they wish, but these must be approved.

Everyone is provided a uniform based on occupation, but customization is allowed within reason.

Personal technology exists, as well as wireless communication and television that exist exclusively within the walls of the bunker. Hobby supplies are provided if requested, and many create art and writing as a form of pastime, and share them if desired and approved.

Everyone is given 2 days of break a week, and is assigned if not requested 2 weeks prior.

Law enforcement is mostly a neighborhood watch, and citizens of the bunker are encouraged to report wrongdoing, but there are authority and police adjacent figures that can be reported to. Both of the more bureaucratic and punitive types depending on the situation. These people will either report the situation, defuse the situation, or get physically involved if necessary.

When someone is reported, it goes to a justice system of sorts, where people who are uninvolved with the crime are asked to judge what should be done.

When petty crimes are committed, the offender may be fed less as punishment or lose break days for a given amount of time. If the offender is a danger to the community, they are branded with their offence, cast out into the snow, and locked out.

Scouts are sudo-celebrities in bunker communities. Born “Quilted” and forced into the profession because of their higher body temperature (though they are often given a temporary occupation when on long periods of break).

They are better suited for the harsh cold outside the bunker, and considered more evolved than other people. They are educated alongside their peers, but begin training for their profession at 10. They are encouraged to marry (but not required) people selected by doctors, to help guarantee high temperatures in their children, and give them a better chance of surviving their initial fever.

Scouts are the one of the three groups of people in the bunkers trained to use weapons like guns, swords, crossbows, or explosives (the other two being those who make them, those who are only allowed to test them, and law enforcement, who are allowed to use them depending on the situation) and are called to duty when messages need to be delivered, people need to be transported, something needs to be fixed outside, or anything else that may require supervision outdoors.

They also may be called to defend the bunker, or escort dangerous people out in the wilderness to be left for dead.

Scouts are at risk for death whenever they leave the bunker due to animals, bad weather and just about anything else outside. Since they are a minority in the population, they are trained in medicine, weaponry, and advanced survival to better their chances of coming back alive. They are only allowed to retire if their position is filled, but expected to come back if it becomes empty again.

Scouts are broken into two groups based on internal temperature:

• Lower Scouts: 99 - 101°F

• Mid Scouts: 102 - 103°F

• Upper Scouts: 104 - 105°F

Upper Scouts are more likely to be leaders, and sent out more often/ on longer or more strenuous missions due to their internal temperature.