Both Needed The World is Ending - Now What?

[Scarlet Thread]

You know, everybody always just assumed that when the end of the world happened, it would be sudden. All at once, like we would wake up one day and a nuclear war would blow up everything, or some earth shattering world wide catastrophe would hit without warning and there'd be not enough time to think about it. You'd just act and figure out if you were still alive later. Maybe it was all the movies with a two hour plot that convinced us of this, or maybe it was just wishful thinking. Who knows. Fact is, when the nations' leaders finally decided to get together and reveal that the big one was coming and they couldn't do a goddamn thing about it, so basically good luck and try not to kill each other, not a helluva lot changed. At least, not right away. We found out that we had years, not days or hours. But it kind of, I don't know, put things in perspective for people. I guess the best way to say it is that people started acting like who they truly were. It was both weird as hell, and actually freaking fun. The strangest part was when groups of people just started coming together out of nowhere with absolutely zero in common just to, I don't know, survive? But more than that, just exist, just share themselves with other people. Wanting their life to mean something even if we were all gonna die. I learned a lot about human nature during that time. I think we all did.

Anyway, I don't know who or what might possibly be reading this someday or if it'll be destroyed like everything else. Maybe some people will end up actually surviving, I don't know. But on the off chance, I wanted to write it down. For myself, if for nobody else. That's probably what I learned the most. The only thing not worth doing is nothing.

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Looking for all types of characters. And even after we get started I plan to leave it open to anyone. This is not a Post-Apocalyptic setting, but actually Pre-Apocalypse. Three rules - no god moding, no breaking the rules of the site, and no expectations. What do I mean by that last one? Don't take anything for granted. You can write as much or as little as you like. Your character can be anyone or anything as long as it makes sense. You can make plot twists, do world building, whatever. You can jump in or leave without explanation. That's the unique nature of this beast. I think it'll be fun. Just have characters interact with each other and find whatever ends up being their new normal as they get ready for the end of the world.

 

[Vasara Glyndark]

Aliens invade but something in the atmosphere kills them like in the war of the worlds but it reanimates them into zombies that turn humans into zombies.

 

[Scarlet Thread]

The goal with this is to aim away from clock-ticking, though. I'm thinking aliens becoming zombies is too intense.

 

[Scarlet Thread]

If you are interested in joining, post here. This is just discussion right now. You don't have to have a character in mind yet.

 

[Tàiyálèi]

 

[transastra]

i have a desire to live out the fall of capitalism as we know it through the safety of words, this sounds fun

 

[HexDreams]

This sounds like it could be super interesting. I'm in. What were you thinking, in terms of plot? I see you mentioned people coming together and being free after the end of the world was announced. Is this more of a character study, about how individuals will either seize these last few years on Earth or live in fear, or more of a drama about the slow fall of civilization world wide.

 

[HexDreams]

This sounds like it could be super interesting. I'm in. What were you thinking, in terms of plot? I see you mentioned people coming together and being free after the end of the world was announced. Is this more of a character study, about how individuals will either seize these last few years on Earth or live in fear, or more of a drama about the slow fall of civilization world wide.

Oh, woops, totally missed the poll at the top. Guess that answers my question, haha!

 

[Scarlet Thread]

Oh, woops, totally missed the poll at the top. Guess that answers my question, haha!

The answer to your question is, both! Let's throw things in the pot, stir it up, and see what we end up with.

But it looks like we have a pretty clear winner here in the poll. I kind of just threw that option in there, so that's pretty fitting. What I mean by ecological collapse is, species (plants/animals/people or all of the above) just dying off one at a time. I'm leaning towards plants because it would mean at first people might not take much notice ("Who actually eats kale anyway? We'll be fine!") but as it affects more and more people would actually realize they were screwed ("I don't mind eating meat more often, but what are we going to have left if the animals starve?") and get a little more creative and desperate ("Hey honey, could you pass the crickets?") But that's just my thought. It wouldn't work ot the same way if it was JUST animals, because even though it would be a huge adjustment people could survive on a vegetarian diet; there's enough plants out there to cover people's protein and vitamin needs. But if the bottom of the food chain is effected that's a whole different game. It'd be like playing Jenga with the food supply.

i have a desire to live out the fall of capitalism as we know it through the safety of words, this sounds fun

People will always trade SOMETHING, even if they ended up going back to rocks, sticks and shells. That's why at first I was leaning towards massive EMP or something similar. It's a good all around disaster that affects everything. Nobody knows how to survive without power anymore, and literally all of our infrastructure relies on it. No more mass production or distribution, no more medicine, no more clean running water or heating/cooling systems, no more internet, no more banks or even effective large government. It definitely would be an apocalypse if it happened today. But yeah, the collapse of civilization as we know it will be the main theme no matter what the cause is. When you have to rely on other people to survive (although the temptation to run hide alone somewhere would still be present) people would treat each other very differently. You'd still have assholes though. That much never changes.

Could you elaborate on what you mean by the safety of words, though?

 

[HexDreams]

You know we could do both, ecological disaster plus EMP blast. With governments becoming more desperate to secure their borders and food sources, or to try and break through other nations borders, they might start using these types of weapons. Never corner a hungry human, you know?

This just opens more possibilities for character concepts for me. A scientist trying to figure out what is going on. A general staging a coup in a foreign country because he feel the government isn't doing enough as the food sources in their country dwindle. An engineer tasked with building an underground shelter for the rich to survive the coming apocalypse. A son trying to get to his family as civilization collapses all around him, worried he might never find them after the emo bombs fell.

Super excited!

 

[Scarlet Thread]

Increasingly lawless society and scarcity of food. The rich hiding underground. Lack of infrastructure. Wars and rumors of wars. This is sounding like Fallout minus the radiation. I like it.

 

[Tàiyálèi]

Actually, there was a book series, Terri Blackstock's Restoration Series, that tackled a similar incident to a worldwide EMP that effectively took out everything electronic including cars, cell phones, the power grid, internet, ecetera.

 

[Vasara Glyndark]

Actually, there was a book series, Terri Blackstock's Restoration Series, that tackled a similar incident to a worldwide EMP that effectively took out everything electronic including cars, cell phones, the power grid, internet, ecetera.

Revolution is a tv show that deals with a sort of similar situation. Power is dead all over the USA (maybe the world, not sure) unless you have a special pendant that disables whatever causes power to be out in a local radius.

Jericho deals with the aftermath of Denver then Atlanta being hit by nuclear bombs (as seen by the mushroom cloud from Denver). They lose all communications. Then in episode six of season one an EMP hits wiping out all power. A map in that same episode reveals pins on the following cities: Philadelphia, Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Denver, Seattle, and San Diego. Which led to the person discovering assuming all those cities were hit with nukes.

 

[HexDreams]

I think it would be cool if we had time jumps. Add flavor to the story. Start out with characters reacting to the news the end might be coming, while others in higher positions in governments already knew an are working on projects to save humanity. Then jump to six months and the beginning of civilization collapsing as hunger and riots hit third world countries. The collapse of world powers, nukes going off, the temps. I think that could be interesting without the rp moving slowly in real time.

 

[Tàiyálèi]

What it turned out to be in the Restoration Series was a pulsar.

 

[TheNapQueen]

This sounds fun

 

[HexDreams]

Yeah, let's get this show on the road!

 

[Scarlet Thread]

It will be a while, friends. I had to take my husband to the hospital for survery and we just got home. He'll need my full attention when I'm not at work. Plus I haven't had a decent night's sleep since last Friday (Between 4 and 6 hours a day an hour at a time.) I know the timing stinks but I need a break.

 

[Pyxie]

I'll be interested in joining.

 

[Scarlet Thread]

My apologies yet again. The will to write is definitely there, but what with working in retail and moving in the next couple of weeks, the time and energy are not. It may be January before I can start the ball rolling. Meanwhile thanks everyone for your interest and suggestions.