[quote=@Ashgan] Yo, I've exchanged some world building details with Flagg over PM; I'm putting that here now for everyone's benefit. Have fun :3 [hider=The Rot] Yo Flagg, sup? Since you encourage world building so much I wanted to pitch an idea for the symptoms, if not the cause of the disaster that has and is ravaging the planet. It's an idea I halfway developed for something of my own but haven't finished yet, and is loosely inspired by the Color out of Space. I don't know your plans, but I figured I'd let you in on it, perhaps you'll like it or it'll inspire you. The hope is to have an end-world scenario that is less generic than the norm (such as ye olde nuke-doomsday). In my world I called the phenomenon "the Rot". What happens is that a 'disintegration' of sorts is spreading across the land. Everything - and I do mean everything - is falling apart until only a fine dust remains. Exposure to this dust directly leads to exposed objects also starting to disintegrate. Imagine a form of sand that turns everything it touches also into sand. The process isn't hyper quick, and only parts of the planet are consumed. Also, different materials are broken down at different rates, with organic matter generally being eaten up much quicker than inorganics, especially metals and minerals. Now, the 'weird' part of it is that in the deeper parts of the wastelands, the dust is reforming into new solids. Specifically, shapes resembling veiny cathedrals, heavily inspired by the [url=https://i.pinimg.com/564x/26/e4/c1/26e4c11808b02a0bbabcab14341a2f35.jpg]paintings of Beksinski[/url]. Diseased lifeforms might develop a form of insanity (or is it?) where they believe to hear and feel a pulse in the earth, that they will one day follow until they arrive at such a cathedral. There they lay themselves to rest, to be eaten and reborn into the new world. That's the gist of it. Considering the tone of this setting, I suppose creating weird, new lifeforms born from the dust wouldn't be amiss, and I would also say it should be possible to cleanse exposed wounds to stop the Rot. This way, exposed characters and NPCs could have a chance to "just" get away with some ugly scars, similar to acid burns perhaps. One could develop a cool aesthetic of protective gear that is needed to travel through Rot-lands, including some neat vehicles to make the journy quicker. It would also encourage a certain nomadic tendency for many civilizations, given that they might have to reposition every so many decades to avoid the Rot catching up, which I feel suits the setting quite well. Also, there does not need to be any explanation known (to characters in any event) for where and how the Rot even began. All we know is that it's there and it will, one day, perhaps far away, consume the planet. Certainly there could be a lot of myths and theories though. --- Since we have some high tech going on, there could be a type of generator that can create a force barrier to prevent the dust from swooping past. This would essentially be a shield generator against the Rot, and could allow people to prevent a zone from being attacked, provided they can maintain the generator. These things could be as rare as they need to be to keep things exciting. Bonus points if the technology comes at a severe price for the relative safety from certain doom it afford. Like, say, a pillar that you have to chain psychically/magically gifted people to so that they can power it, but they can't leave and will have their minds burned out over the years. --- Sure. On a global scale I imagine that there are basically "blotches" on the world map, which are spreading in all directions over the years. [/hider] [/quote] Sounds absolutely [i]rotten[/i]. I dig it.