What do you do with 2000 teenagers?

[Roc]

I've encountered a problem.

In my NIP, A Titan's Revenge (filler title), a whole high school (kids and all) gets transported to a new world right outside a capital city called Augusta Taurinorum, usually just abbreviated Augusta.

My MC's part their ways in various ways, but I've ran into an issue...what to do with the whole school, especially the adults and the 1000+ kids.

One story line consists of some of my MC's going to rescue some or all of their fellow students.


Any suggestions on ...

1. What to do with the kids?

2. How would adults be treated different than kids?


My original idea was to disperse the kids around the region, but now that I want a storyline to be the saving of the kids, they have to stay in Augusta, or most of them anyway.

The society of the city is civilized, but warlike in that they conquered most of the region they live in.

Thanks guys.

 

[ThinkerX]

Not really enough info to go on - specifically the attitude of the locals of Augusta Taurinorum, especially the authorities.

First issue is the school won't have food for more than a few days.

Also got 'special needs' kids, including a whole bunch of seriously freaked out emo types.

Most likely, most effective immediate option: The school administration and teachers, particularly the ex military types, turn the school into a dictatorship and try to open negotiations with the authorities in Augusta Taurinorum. Maybe blocks of kids are used for labor. Maybe the school has something worth trading - computers, for example.

 

[Roc]

Not really enough info to go on - specifically the attitude of the locals of Augusta Taurinorum, especially the authorities.

First issue is the school won't have food for more than a few days.

Also got 'special needs' kids, including a whole bunch of seriously freaked out emo types.

Most likely, most effective immediate option: The school administration and teachers, particularly the ex military types, turn the school into a dictatorship and try to open negotiations with the authorities in Augusta Taurinorum. Maybe blocks of kids are used for labor. Maybe the school has something worth trading - computers, for example.

The kids are actually evacuated into the city.

And on the not enough info, I knew that would probably come up, so all I got to say is be creative : )

I forgot about the special needs kids, thanks for bringing that into mind.

 

[Dan Latham]

Personally, I think they should all be eaten by monsters. However, this is your story, not mine. The older kids might be conscripted into the military(you said this was a warlike culture). The younger ones and special needs kids might be adopted into local families.

 

[Phietadix]

Does slavery exist here, if so that's were most of them proabably would end up

 

[SineNomine]

Goodness, everyone is so cynical!

I Imagine the adults would very quickly try and work out what the hell happened, and beyond that, do their damndest to protect the students. The initial appearance there would be incredibly tense as both sides try and figure out what in the world has happened but outside of maybe some adults being killed in the tension, you could have Augustians ultimately decide that they are weird but harmless, and give them some small amount of time to decide what they wanted to do before giving them all the burdens of citizenship (if citizenship is mandatory obviously, lower class if needed). The adults and older teenagers might try and find work to provide for the rest while they try and keep everyone together. Some adults, and eventually kids, would try and slip away into the city to make their own way if they chaff at the idea of being a happy little community or give up on being rescued.

You might have whoever owns the land on which they live evict them and then they have to somehow manage to find a new place to live in the city instead of trying to live in the school while waiting for rescue, which would of course be catastrophic as finding some place a thousand kids could live would essentially be impossible...

 

[Butterfly]

I'd go into business.

I mean potentially you got a whole range of crafts in the school from cooking to design and technology. Music students could eventually find their ways into palace halls providing entertainment for dances and parties, and be paid pretty well. Fashion students might do well.

You'd have knowledge of assembly lines, plumbing, running water, low level machinery... depending on the technology level of the city you could potentially make a lot of money bringing 'new' ideas to it. Spark an industrial revolution. Providing, of course, they are transplanted into a historical setting and not a futuristic one.

 

[wordwalker]

I'd go into business.

I mean potentially you got a whole range of crafts in the school from cooking to design and technology. Music students could eventually find their ways into palace halls providing entertainment for dances and parties, and be paid pretty well. Fashion students might do well.

You'd have knowledge of assembly lines, plumbing, running water, low level machinery... depending on the technology level of the city you could potentially make a lot of money bringing 'new' ideas to it. Spark an industrial revolution. Providing, of course, they are transplanted into a historical setting and not a futuristic one.

If you want to go that route, pick up Leo Frankowski's Cross-Time Engineer books for how many ways a set of modern sciences can rebuild a world-- though it's a lot harder with a crowd of kids and a few teachers than with one polymath engineer. Butterfly has a point, the arts kids might have more to offer in the short term.

Two big points: we can assume the transit leaves them able to speak the language. But, always the first question, did anyone have a gun?

 

[Roc]

If you want to go that route, pick up Leo Frankowski's Cross-Time Engineer books for how many ways a set of modern sciences can rebuild a world-- though it's a lot harder with a crowd of kids and a few teachers than with one polymath engineer. Butterfly has a point, the arts kids might have more to offer in the short term.

Two big points: we can assume the transit leaves them able to speak the language. But, always the first question, did anyone have a gun?

Yes, in fact, it comes up later in the story.

The gun, I mean

 

[Fluffypoodel]

if the other students need to be rescued then it would stand to reason that they need to be captured by something, or somethings. gathering a thousand plus people and keeping them subdued would be a pretty exhaustive task unless the government sends out the army to take care of it. Why not split them up? We can think back to the classic Super Mario corundum where Mario is running around to different castles looking for Peach but only finds Toad instead. That would give you multiple plots to play around with as well as giving you an excuse to explore the world that you have created. As for the reasons for the kidnapping any of the above reasons would be great. I might throw it out there that some of the students are having their life force stolen or they have been corrupted by other more sinister beings in their new world.

 

[Roc]

if the other students need to be rescued then it would stand to reason that they need to be captured by something, or somethings. gathering a thousand plus people and keeping them subdued would be a pretty exhaustive task unless the government sends out the army to take care of it. Why not split them up? We can think back to the classic Super Mario corundum where Mario is running around to different castles looking for Peach but only finds Toad instead. That would give you multiple plots to play around with as well as giving you an excuse to explore the world that you have created. As for the reasons for the kidnapping any of the above reasons would be great. I might throw it out there that some of the students are having their life force stolen or they have been corrupted by other more sinister beings in their new world.

The people they're being rescued by don't actually know their situation at this point.

 

[DTowne]

Reading this I'm wondering why exactly you're choosing to transport a school rather than say a block of homes or an office. Is it target audience or something else. Just curious?

 

[TWErvin2]

There is no reason to think that all the students/adults would remain in one place, especially over time. Thus, rescuing all would be a major undertaking.

So much depends on the local culture, customs, size of the city. There would be language barriers, disease, kids and adults that need medications, immediate needs such as food and water. If the school were transported, the power would not be there...no electricity/lights/cell phone service, etc.

The city might enslave, demand they leave, attack and kill, take the pick of the lot and slay the rest, imprison, sell//indenture to the rich/connected, used as gladiators/targets/sacrificed/used for body parts and experiments, taken and sheltered until more can be known/learned about how/why they're there or appeared, stripped of their jewery/clothing for it's value/uniqueness.

Those are just thoughts off the top of my head. It's kind of odd that the writer cannot devise what the population would do. They'd act first likely, and the school would respond, probably confused and disjointed, even panicked.

 

[Saigonnus]

For me, I guess it would depend on the layout of the school and what sort of machinery etc they have that is still functioning or other resources. If it has built in security features, tall gates and the like, the teachers could make it into an armed camp with manufatured weapons; possibly using broom handles for the haft of spears or manufacturing others in the wood or metal shop. Perhaps there is something at the location the school transported to (holy site, gold mine or whatever) that keeps the people from attacking them right away and maybe they'd even make a deal for food.

 

[Roc]

Reading this I'm wondering why exactly you're choosing to transport a school rather than say a block of homes or an office. Is it target audience or something else. Just curious?

I've been sitting here a long time thinking of how to reply to this. The best answer I can come up with is that authors write what they want to write about. Your question could be applied to anything. Why did Frodo have to destroy a ring? Why couldn't it have been a necklace? I'm guessing because the author chose to write about a ring.

In choosing a ring was his audience fiancés who were fretting over rings?...I don't know, could be.

That's the best way I can think of answering such a question.

 

[DTowne]

I get what you're saying Roc. What I mean is does it being students in a school have a specific reason that determines the outcome of the story or specific plotlines or could it be just anyone that gets transported. I try to think of these things when I write, plugging in the right people to roles rather than just what I want. I hope thats a little clearer on my question.

 

[Roc]

I get what you're saying Roc. What I mean is does it being students in a school have a specific reason that determines the outcome of the story or specific plotlines or could it be just anyone that gets transported. I try to think of these things when I write, plugging in the right people to roles rather than just what I want. I hope thats a little clearer on my question.

Some of my mc's are teens so it seemed logical, and I liked the idea. Also, the idea was relatively new so I was hoping to get some interesting suggestions on where to go with it. And I have so far

Also, by saying my mc's are teens, I'm not insinuating I'm writing YA. I don't personally like the genre.

 

[DTowne]

Haha me neither, besides of course Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. A thought just occurred to me. With this school being transported to a different age I could see the science teachers and their knowledge of chemicals, and nature, and the like giving them power or at the very least making them important figures.