World Destroying (Not Building)

[Philip Overby]

How does the world end? With a bang or a whimper?

I write lots of post-apocalyptic fantasy so I always have to come across the age old question: What went wrong?

A current story I'm writing is about a berserker who is wandering through a devastated land after an intense war. The war was so brutal in fact that almost everyone within a large (not sure about specifics) radius was killed. The berserker wants to keep fighting the war, his blood and culture call for it. Yet everywhere he goes he just finds more and more dead or dying people. His rage quells as he seeks just anyone who is alive. If only just to hear voices other than his own. Later his focus turns to the kings and lords responsible for the whole mess.

So in this story, a gigantic war basically ends "the world." What are some other good ways to shatter your world?

Also thoughts on the story concept (maybe novel) are appreciated.

 

[TWErvin2]

Map the Dragon's novel (Firesoul) hints at this as the book kicks off with an capital city of a major empire being wiped out to nothing more than dust.

In my post-apocalyptic novel (Flank Hawk), modern warfare and a disrupted experiment bring about First Civilization’s fall.

At the end of the original Elric of Melnibone series by Moorcock, the end of the world is at hand, and in Steven Brust's Vlat Taltos series, how ancient magic nearly wiped out the Dragerian Empire is part of the plotline of several books. They might give you ideas.

With your concept as described above, magic could very well be the culprit that ravaged the countryside and all of it's inhabitants. If and how would depend on the magic in your world. Maybe it was an unintended backlash from powerful magic unleashed upon an enemy that didn't give up without a fight.

There is always a curse laid upon the land or people, or even a plague, be it natural or magical in nature. It could be a powerful artifact or creature has come into being within the land and is sapping the strength or the souls of its inhabitants.

Just a few thoughts. Good luck in your effort to develop this into more than an initial idea!

 

[Philip Overby]

Thanks for the tips! I have some Elric and Taltos books laying around, just haven't had much time to read them. But what I've read of both series are pretty good. There is magic in my world, but it's not a major focus. I'm trying a minimalist approach to writing fantasy for once. It's quite an eye-opener for me.

I may post some excerpts into the showcase. It's pretty graphic though, so I may need to put up a warning. So far it's strange just jumping into a fantasy story without so much clutter (like most of my others.) It's just one character who is looking for more battles, more blood, but just finds desolation.

 

[Lord Darkstorm]

So, how did this person survive if all the others died? It sounds like your character changes as the story progresses. Things you, the author needs to know is what happened. You don't have to tell the reader ever, if the main character never finds out, that is perfectly acceptable. If the people responsible for the destruction are still alive, then how does the main character find out about them, obviously they are somewhere safe, and I doubt they will just let him wonder on in to their safe spot. If you kill off the world, no one is growing new food, or raising animals, or producing the thousand things most civilizations need to continue. So they probably have a stockpile of resources they are going to guard pretty fiercely.

But first you need to figure out how it happened, since what the main character finds, or doesn't find, will be dependent on that event.

Oh, and one minor point. The worlds rarely end (unless you blow them up), it's the people living on them that might not survive.

 

[Philip Overby]

I guess the story isn't really a "world-ending event" type story. This character survives due to being knocked unconscious before the bloodbath really commences. It's just a major battle that stretched further than the main character ever imagined. He keeps looking to join back into the battle and just keeps finding more and more destruction. And there are other survivors, they're mostly near death or wounded and don't live long. That's sort of where I see the story going. When he finally reaches the end of all the devastation, he finds those responsible. And that's where things start to get a bit more challenging for him.

 

[Lord Darkstorm]

Ok, so the next logical question...what drives the people fighting to keep on fighting to the death? If you look at most battles, if one side is winning the other will eventually flee (self preservation is a very strong motivator), also, if no one flees, then the bodies on the ground will eventually start to stack up. You can have all kinds of reasons for why and how they fight, but try and keep in mind what it would be like to be out there fighting for hours...and how they keep going. People need food, water, rest. Swords aren't feathers, and it takes a lot of energy to keep swinging it for hours...days, both sides might die of dehydration...which might be an option too..

While you don't have to detail out all the background problems in the story, after a while, some of us will start to question the believability of what you are showing us. If we stop believing it could be true, then it could make the story fail. A single line mentioning the remains of a supply wagon (maybe he finds some bits of food/water himself) can imply there is a supply system even if the details of how it worked isn't shown.

 

[Philip Overby]

I just started outlining the story some so the ideas are fleshing out. I decided the MC was late for the main battle due to his war-wolf collapsing. So he had to walk because the others left him. So by the time he reached the battle, everyone was dead. It looks like magic was a factor. That's why everyone is dead by the time he gets there. Anyway, still fleshing things out.

Thanks for the feedback. Makes me think more about where the story's going.

 

[Telcontar]

I'm toying around with a post-apocalyptic novel for my next one, as well. I find it odd because in general I don't write with that sort of setting. I think the one I have is a keeper, though.

As to your setup, Phil, I can't say I'm a fan. Wars/battles are simply too slow to wipe out the entirety of a population in any area, unless for some reason they couldn't escape. However, it CAN chase them off, so there could still be plenty of reason for your region to be massively depopulated. The only problem you need to solve after that is 'why didn't the people come back?'

Here's how I'd solve it. It was a very vicious war, where little distinction was made between civilian and soldier. If the wrong side catches you, you die. So the civilian population learns that the 'wrong side' is on the way, and up and leaves. Then the war lasts for a VERY LONG time. Long enough for populations to be truly affected. Plagues and famines often follow wars, and if they become drastic enough we're talking real depopulation. Once the war finally ends, most of the people who remember this region as 'home' are dead anyway, and the rest have no reason to go back.

Thus it becomes something of a 'local apocalypse,' not a general one. Kind of like the Chernobyl region is.

 

[Philip Overby]

It is a local problem, I already decided. It's in a very general area. The story actually takes place after the battle is over, so that's not even a real major focus as the story progresses. I'm not imagining a gigantic epic battle happened. More like a clash. That sort of starts spreading out into the surrounding area. So the effect is very local. I guess I didn't make that clear.

When I posted this thread, I was more interested in what people thought were good ways for a world to end. But as I worked on my story, I realized it's not really about a whole world ending. It's about a very small area becoming devastated and a berserker who is looking to join a battle he missed out on and still assumes is going on nearby (which it isn't).

Maybe that makes what I said before more believable.

 

[Telcontar]

Indeed. And furthermore, now that sounds like a good story setup!

"Where the hell is this battle? I was only out for a little while...."

 

[Ravana]

So, how did this person survive if all the others died?

"…and I alone am left to tell the tale."

Samuel R. Delany once said the reason he liked writing SF was because it was only in SF that the sentence "Her world exploded" could be ambiguous. (I assume the reason he didn't include fantasy was because of that "survivor-narrator" problem, since few fantasy settings allow for off-planet observers.) But, short of that, as LD says, it's largely a question of what you mean by "the end of the world." Any number of religious/mythological traditions hold that either the world is cyclical, or that a new one will somehow be created out of the old–Christianity included, if you're inclined to take Revelation seriously. (In fact, I can see considerable potential for humor in a story about someone showing up late for Ragnarok… hmm: think I just came up with the topic for my next challenge.)

Since you seem to have moved on from the initial concept, though, I'll refrain from listing all the other possible ways I can think of to "end" a societal/cultural "world." For now. At least until someone else expresses an interest in the exercise.

 

[Draconian]

If you want a large population death all at once, my world has 2 groups of beings fight in a one day war over a magical device created by long forgotten gods. ( they killed themselves by fighting over this device The one day war ends with one side winning by making a 1/3 of a continent nothing but dust and sand by nuking it with huge amounts of magic from this device killing millions of people, plants and animals and ends up creating sand monster. Hows that for a catastrope.

 

[grahamguitarman]

I like the premise of this story, especially the idea that all he finds are dead and dying people - the lonely desolation of this appeals to me.

IMHO a cataclysmic event destroying the entire battlefield would be better, a sort of magical eqivalent of a nuclear bomb - with magical fallout raining down on the surrounding areas causing the additional deaths.

A soldier accepts that death is a part of war and wouldn't hunt down his superiors for getting his comrades killed in action (which for a berserker would be an honour anyway).

But an unnaturally destructive force wiping out all of his comrades, giving them no chance to fight back, would be a great dishonour to those warriors. And a good reason to eventually hunt down those responsible.