I have an idea set in pseudo-Europe around the years 1890-1910 that involves a supernatural event where major cities, hugely important cultural and historic urban centers simply vanish overnight. They are replaced by a primordial landscape that slowly expands its borders-eventually engulfing all of civilization. It's a bit steampunk meets the Lost World-airships become the most important means of transportation. Gas powered rifles and literal towers of civilization surrounded by a miasma of humid jungles, bubbling swamps and ash and smoke-spewing volcanoes. Characters could be soldiers, explorers, priests, doctors, scientists or just an average citizen trying to survive. As the story progresses, ruins of an unrecognizable civilization are discovered...Thematically it is man vs. nature. Technology vs. faith. [hr][hr] [center][h1][sup]A F A R L I G H T[/sup][/h1][/center] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/Nll4r7gm.jpg[/img][/center] [center][i]From the HAMPSHIRE CHRONICLE, evening edition, Monday, June 11th, 1875[/i][/center] [color=khaki] [center][h2][sub]DISASTER !! MIRACLE !! [/sub][/h2][/center][center][h2][sub]PREHISTORIC LANDSCAPE APPEARS![/sub][/h2][/center][hr][hr] [quote][indent][indent][sub] Danburge, Brecha On the Evening of June 10th, passengers aboard the Airship [i]Bravado[/i] were witness to an event of divine magnitude. At 4am, the crew was ordered by Captain Arneld Breschia to rouse the passengers in case abandonment of the ship would become necessary. Navigation of the Frigate Class Airship had become impossible, as an unanticipated heavy fog appeared. The Captain, acting in accordance with aeronaut procedure ordered a drop in altitude. What happened next is unconfirmed-several passengers claim flashes of 'eerie lights (north) towards the direction of the city of Danburge, and then darkness'. In the morning, dozens of reports claimed that the city had vanished- to be replaced by a landscape that can only be described as 'prehistoric'. Captain Breschia ordered his men to begin a search of the area using the spot lights of the Airship. After 4 hours of searching, and with coal reserves diminishing, the Bravado was forced to make an emergency landing in the nearby town of Great Bridge. The fate of some 250,000 citizens of Danburge is unknown.[/sub][/indent][/indent][/quote][/color][hr][hr] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/yJE6gmSm.jpg[/img][/center] [indent][indent][b]In the years before the Miracle, an industrial revolution had gripped the world. Advances in technology and medicine were poised to change the face of the world. Great continent traversing airships dotted the skies. Engines were powerful & efficient. Every infantryman in every Great Powers' army carried a gas powered rifle. Advances in art, literature and philosophy made it seem as if another great enlightenment was at hand. It all ended with the Miracle.[/b] [/indent][/indent] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/ambSkPRm.jpg[/img][/center] [indent][indent][b]Nearly 30 years ago, cities the world over began to vanish overnight. After the swirling mist, fog and glimmering lights vanished, what remained could only be described as a prehistoric landscape. Humid jungles sprang from the earth overnight. Volcanoes sprouted and spewed smoke and ash into the sky. Primordial swamps, teeming with all manner of nightmarish creature oozed and bubbled. The event was a Miracle. It was a Disaster. The 'Wilderness' as it would come to be known, began to spread.[/b] [/indent][/indent] [color=khaki] [center][h2][sub]WORLD LEADERS HELPLESS!! WILDERNESSE GROWS MONTHLY![/sub][/h2][/center] [quote][indent][indent][sub]Nearly twenty years ago the Disaster that took in an instant countless cities across the globe resonates with the world today. At the Worlds Fair in Hampshire, World Leaders met with top scientists in the newly formed field of PREHISTORIA. Sources confirm that the WILDERNESSE is expanding at an astonishing rate. Reports indicate that several small towns have been enveloped by the WILDS and the civilians forced to flee. An unconfirmed number of casualties have been reported. Besides the terrible jungle comprises the vast majority of the WILDERNESSE, several sightings of PREHISTORIC-like beasts have been observed. Enormous reptiles and oversized insects of horrific nature. Dr. Simeon Brightweather, of the Royal Academy of Natural History (Overseeing the newly created Department of Wilderness Studies) was summoned By HER MAJESTY QUEEN REBECCA III. The details of that meeting remain unknown at this time.[/sub][/indent][/indent][/quote][/color] [indent][indent][b]Efforts were made to curtail the advance of virulent growth. World Leaders, increasingly alarmed at the spread of the Wildernesse agreed to wage an all out war on the growth. The most devastating weapons in the worlds arsenal would be launched at the encroaching landscape. Chemicals, designed to wage war on man were instead turned against nature. Fired from artillery, or dropped from enormous Airships, the campaign was carried out with great success. [center]At first.[/center] As the 'weeding' campaign (as one former Monarch put it) continued, the Wildernesse renewed its advance with a seemingly sentient vengeance. Devastating incendiary bombs were deployed and the atmosphere was choked with ash and smoke from the burning wilds. All would prove to be in vain as one by one the capital cities began to be overrun.[/b][/indent][/indent] [hider=Log] [center][b]From the Personal Log of Lieutenant Percival Arnherst, [i]HMAS Constitution[/i], June[sup]11th[/sup], 1850[/b][/center] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/eikRTdlm.jpg[/img][/center] [i]Morning- Mission complete. We found the wreckage of the airship Prescott just north of the Yellow Lake. Poor fellows must have flung everything but the engines overboard to gain altitude. It was all in vain as we found her hull smashed against a rocky outcropping. No sign of survivors. I suppose they ran out of coal. We attempted to salvage their silk sails but the balloon had been shredded to bits... We are...under similar circumstances. We returned in the evening to find the settlement of New Hope completely wiped out. A giant redwood had sprung from the grounds where the docking bay once stood. Captain Baines pointed us further south. I wonder if we can make it to James-Bridge? Afternoon- I wonder why I continue this chronicle despite the increasing evidence that in all likelihood our airship is doomed. Maybe all of mankind is doomed? This...Miracle has turned out to be a Devastation. I wonder how Annie fairs back in Whitehall? I miss her dearly. Must remember to bring back something nice from the Fringe. Evening- We can see the towers of James-Bridge just up the gorge, but a trio of those terrible lizards refuse to budge. Captain ordered a broadside just above the ghastly beasts head in an effort to scare them off. They fled, but one found its' way back. He is a nasty brute-supposing it is a he. His head is nearly as big as the maindeck! What those teeth could do to a man...I don't want to think about that. I wish the fellows would quit dropping flares to track his movement. I can't stand the sight of that scaly beast in the phosphorescent glow any longer-[/i] [/hider]