To future explorers
The contents of the small room were a radio and a desk, upon which there were two large envelopes. Why hadn't those who had abandoned the vehicle taken them with them? She came closer, and noticed both had writing on them. The first one had "To anyone from the Known World" written on it in Danish. Danish. She had learned the language to be able to read any old document they found. These envelopes were in much better shape than anything they had run into so far, much like the vehicle. She looked at the second envelope, which was much thicker: "To anyone who thinks the entire country is uninhabited". That was her and her teammates, definitely. She slowly realized just how big this was. She decided to gather all her teammates in the vehicle's empty entrance, and open the envelope. The first document was a letter.
Dear explorer,
My name is Mikkel Madsen. I am born on the island of Bornholm, the only part of this country to have survived the epidemic of the Great Illness that the Old World called the Rash. We have yet to find a cure, and I must unfortunately inform you that the one made in Odense that you might be investigating was an unfinished product that only gives a different kind of death to the infected. Enclosed are transcripts of the documents we have found. I hope you will understand that I had to put my own people's certain need for the originals before that of people who may very well never find this. We do, however, have the means of distinguishing those who are immune to the Illness from those who are. I am one such immune myself. During your journey, you may have noticed some buildings that are just a little older than the vehicle in which you found this letter. They are from a failed attempt on the part of our people to reclaim our old lands. This attempt is a decade old as I am writing this, and the country is still recuperating. We do, however, continue our efforts to save as much Old World lore as we can, and are fortunately not completely alone in this effort.
Four other nations have survived along with Denmark. The first is Iceland. They have the least dead from the epidemic and preserved the most technology from the Old World. They now account for the large majority of our world's population and their language is to us what English used to be in the Old World. Be warned that some of the documents enclosed in this envelope are in Icelandic for this reason. We have an Icelander among us. His name Reynir Árnason. He is the young man with the long braid and civilian clothes in the enclosed drawing. He's a stowaway that we had to keep with us because of the precautions that need to be taken to send exposed non-immunes back to the Known World are so high that our mission was going to be finished before an appropriately equipped ship could reach us.
The second is Norway. The country's people are those on the best terms with the Icelanders, as both countries have gone back to worshipping the same ancient gods and a shared delusion that some people have become able to practice magic at the time of the Illness appeared. They have however lost just as much of their population as Denmark has, and have not managed to hold onto much their civilization. This crew's Captain, Sigrun Eide, is from Norway. She has trained among the country's troll hunters. Trolls are what we call what becomes of those who do not die from the Illness. She is the taller individual with chin-length hair in the enclosed drawing.
The third is Sweden. The country is second only to Iceland in terms of preservation of technology and culture. Part of their railway is still functional. Its people are the only besides those of Denmark to have stopped believing in any kind of god after the Illness hit. This crew's cleanser, Emil Västerström, is from Sweden. His trade consists of destroying buildings that nest trolls with fire and explosives. He is the shorter individual with chin-length hair in the enclosed drawing.
The fourth is Finland. Much like Iceland and Norway, they have turned to their older gods after the Illness, and are persuaded that some of their people can practice magic. The only difference is that they have turned to a different set of god than the two other countries. They, too, have lost much of their civilization, even more so than Norway. That said, the country has at least produced a good skald and a good scout that are part of our crew: cousins Tuuri (the person of short stature and hair) and Lalli (the thin one wearing a hood) Hotakainen.
I unfortunately do not have the time to write more, as we are currently packing to get to the spot where a boat is supposed to pick us up to take us home. I hope this letter and the contents of the envelope will be enough to prove to your people that there are other survivors. I hope our worlds will be able to make contact eventually.
There were various other documents enclosed, one of which was a map. All her crew agreed that even considering the military base at the other side of the Øresund bridge, there was no way they were realistically going to reach an inhabited settlement on this mission. But right now, she had the sentiment to not have perceived distances on a map to be so much shorter than they really were in her life.