Fascinating. Any info on the next pole location(s), and what led people to decide on the two locations as the most likely candidates?

As for the rich and their motivations, thats a pretty large subject. My take on it they are essentially so regressed and pathological they dont care for themselves or their own, but are largely motivated by spite and hatred for humanity above all else. They have and will hoard purely to deprive others of the resources to watch them die and suffer while dying. Their bunkers are likely at least partially a 'safehouse' sort of hideout to flee to if and when people come hunting to kill them after being unable to conceal the scale of their wrongdoing and misanthropy. Maybe they have lofty aspirations to live on, but being high-order incredibly specialized parasites, they are the least adoptable to life post-collapse.