smoke signals is a non-standard extension. however over avian carrier has its own rfc and is entirely legit:

https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2549.html

If you think losing DNS root servers means that NK would have to use smoke signals then I think you don't understand how the internet works frankly. If you blocked your own computers access to the DNS root servers right now you probably wouldn't even notice the difference