In a post-cataclysm land, from where does stuff come?

It generally sounds like the start of each game (albiet custom scenarios and mods, of course) all start after the apocolypse and it's up to you as a channeler to bring back life into the land.  If that's true, there are some questions that pique my interest:

*Where do your game resources come from?  Even if you reinvigorate the land, I wouldn't think you'd just create resources as part of that process.  And if you did, why not just add those resources instantly into your pool?

*Where do heroes come from?

*How does your population grow?  Since turns seem to be in terms of days, I wouldn't think realistically your population could grow much in the course of time, unless turns happen pretty quickly.  It takes some time for real growth to happen.

Discuss amongst yourselves...