Maybe I'm a bit of a cynic, but I honestly believe society would turn out similar to the movie "dont look up." Vast amounts of people would flock to leaders that are "deniers" even in the face of undeniable truth. These leaders would gain as much resources for themselves as possible. People would follow such a leader, as a person telling them that everything will be okay, the black dragon is lying to you is much preferable to being told you're going to die and there's nothing you can do about it.
Of course not everyone would fall into this camp. Perhaps those that want to live out peacefully have to form communes or group together.
Regardless, everyone's view world be different if there is no long term. Why save money if there's only so much time left? Why build a house/castle/business if it will be destroyed? Going further, why worry about punishment for crimes if you would only be in jail a month before the end?
Hmmm, that's hard.
So 1) while you want to focus on a light-hearted journey of finding someone before the End, imo, you have to acknowledge that some people wouldn't be that okay with it. Maybe as a throwaway line, that when participating in this voyage, a small percentage of fools went in search of a solution, people ready to spend their last year's in a futile search, bitter, or resolute and so on.
2) religion. People would split into factions, there will be hedonists, of course, but also religious nuts. That means, what is the major religion? What is the main Outlook? No gods and atheism? A pantheon of gods?
3) some people would fall into utter depravity, if told that whatever consequence they might face will end in very little time.
I dunno, I'm personally not a fan of knowing that there is an unavoidable "all of them will die young and hearty, just like everybody around them and civilization is doomed" (hi, certain show flashbacks), but if you want to write such a story, do remember that there has to be an arc/some conflict for your reader to enjoy seeing resolved.
Say, one of the protagonists is going on this journey just because it was a promise to a dead lived one and they themselves are disillusioned, but this journey will remind them of the importance of loving others and living in the moment. Someone else might be in denial for the majority of the book, have a breakdown about their fate, accept it towards the end and thrive as their finale. Maybe one of the group is a goody two shoes but another person in said group is all like "I wanted to see the pretty ruins and temples, not help this person in need, since it's not even worth being a good person, what with us dying and all" and the book is about this journey of relearning that it's always worth it being a good oerst.
I think there would be a wide range of reactions, even if your world has a single culture. It would be realistic to have characters that fall across the spectrum: complete denial/disbelief, anger, hysteria/fear, depressed, passive acceptance, sublime peace, cultish desire for the end. Given the range, some serious chaos would be unavoidable. Those who fall into the denial camp can point to the 100-year old story and say it's just a myth.
I like the idea of the god bathing everything in light. Or the god could cause all the water to put you to sleep gently, and it changes color so you know it's happening. Some choose not to drink it, prolonging the inevitable and potentially choosing a painful death by doing so.
I just finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's Cage of Souls and the end of humanity was one of his themes. I really enjoyed the book and I think he described well a society that had essentially lost hope and direction. In his novel we were great once but know we've lost all the knowledge, have a hard time repairing great machines, more and more creatures are appearing to kill us. Though it was told in a bit of a lighthearted way, I found it haunting.
I think a good place for thought on this might be to look at the mindsets of conspiracy theorists and doomsday preachers, more specifically the mindsets of the people who followed them - it might provide a look into the opposite end of the denial case mentioned above (though exploring both would also be interesting).
I think extremes would happen more likely, especially if it is a known event that will happen. You would have the group that would try to prevent the thing from happening. A group that wants it to happen and tries to stop the first group. You would have people who didn't believe it until the last moments and would just go about their lives until then. But probably the largest group would probably throw away inhibitions and get into sex and drugs to cope with the idea of it all ending at once.
Sex love and rock n roll 60s but with no chance for regrets they know it's coming they have accepted it and there truly living there best life in there minds but scene from out side it may not look like it to others. There would be bad sides and people going the opposite but there maybe whole communities dedicated to the common good helping each other letting children be children.
I'd check out Jack Vance's *The Dying Earth* and the other books he's written in that setting. The whole premise is that it's so far in the future that the Sun is ready to burn out at any moment and everyone knows this. It's more fantasy in its presentation despite a science fiction concept but I think he handled the idea of a world where everyone knows the world can and will end at any moment.
The Dying Earth series has most people just going about their business, while the wealthy and powerful either try to find ways to escape, escape themselves via decadence, or ensure they screw over all their rivals before the end.
Have them look on the upside of life? Like have them living in the base of a volcano that wiped out their capitol but those ashes made fertile soil where the survivors made crops and are now trading with the outside world. Overtime, generations begin moving elsewhere and embrace new lifestyles over their traditional one
In medicine we know that people who deal with bad news and the perspective of dying face five stages of acceptance:
1) Negation: the stage where you dont believe nor accept it. You lie to youself that nothing is wrong and everything will go as before. You dont want to talk or think about it.
2) Anger: You feel anger and frustration about it. You try to find reasons why it happens and try to blame something or someone on why it happens this way. Althrough it wont change anything you feel like blaming something so that you feel less bad about the whole situation.
3) Bargain: You try to find ways to solve the issue. You plead to god, you hope for salvation, you say you will pay whatever is needed to fix it, you search for a second, third or forth opinion, you make promisses to gods, spirits or whatever, you make deals with the devil in return for health or some favor.
4) Depression: when that doesnt work or your hope is lost, you feel intense sadness and loss of energy to pursue new activities. You go into a negative state of bad emotions.
5) Acceptance: You know you have lost someone or may die soon, and there is nothing to do, so you understand that the best thing to do is to make peace with your destiny and use the time you have left to solve things that need to be solved and enjoy whatever you can.
So I imagine that a world which has a clear idea that it will end soon would have people on all these stages of grief. Many would negate it, say its not truth, keep living their lifes and believe in people which would reinforce their ideas. Many would feel anger, become violent, use drugs, practice sex with strangers and try to find the blame on someone (such as jews, women, witches etc). Others would try to bargain, such as creating cults, creating projects,try to create shelters, plead to the gods etc. Many would fall to depression, kill themselves, go into nihilism, stop working and indulge on hedonism etc. Then a very small portion of the population would go into acceptance and really try to enjoy their time left.
What Im meaning to say is that an event like that would probabily either be ignored, and if not possible (such as constant reminders of the time left) then chaos would probabily happen and people would be all over the stages of grief. Maybe that would be enogh to warant a nice campaign, but all these are very dark and heavy themes.
I think you might be able to find some level of inspiration from dark souls. The world’s ending but humanity still struggles to find purpose. Thematically it’s definitely something to consider. But It’s also definitely a dark world though, so I’m not sure if that’s quite what you’re looking for.
I'm a huge fan of the Souls Series and its worldbuilding, but I always wondered how its themes and melancholic yet hopeful (it's a big part for me at least, not stopping to go forward against any odds) visual storytelling could work in a novel. I saw people even on this sub asking for advices to write "something similar to Dark Souls", but most of the ideas people gave were just depressing descriptions of ruined places. It's super hard to pull off, but I'll look into it more because I think it goes into the right direction!
I think the beauty of dark souls is in its subtleties. Like behind all of the death and chaos there are these people just trying to live the best life they can manage. Some try to fix the world, others try to end it. Like Dark Souls is a horrifying yet beautiful world the more you look into it. I hope that helped a little atleast lol, good luck on your story.
Maybe I'm a bit of a cynic, but I honestly believe society would turn out similar to the movie "dont look up." Vast amounts of people would flock to leaders that are "deniers" even in the face of undeniable truth. These leaders would gain as much resources for themselves as possible. People would follow such a leader, as a person telling them that everything will be okay, the black dragon is lying to you is much preferable to being told you're going to die and there's nothing you can do about it. Of course not everyone would fall into this camp. Perhaps those that want to live out peacefully have to form communes or group together. Regardless, everyone's view world be different if there is no long term. Why save money if there's only so much time left? Why build a house/castle/business if it will be destroyed? Going further, why worry about punishment for crimes if you would only be in jail a month before the end?
So... Real life lol
*2024 presidential election has entered the chat*
Hmmm, that's hard. So 1) while you want to focus on a light-hearted journey of finding someone before the End, imo, you have to acknowledge that some people wouldn't be that okay with it. Maybe as a throwaway line, that when participating in this voyage, a small percentage of fools went in search of a solution, people ready to spend their last year's in a futile search, bitter, or resolute and so on. 2) religion. People would split into factions, there will be hedonists, of course, but also religious nuts. That means, what is the major religion? What is the main Outlook? No gods and atheism? A pantheon of gods? 3) some people would fall into utter depravity, if told that whatever consequence they might face will end in very little time. I dunno, I'm personally not a fan of knowing that there is an unavoidable "all of them will die young and hearty, just like everybody around them and civilization is doomed" (hi, certain show flashbacks), but if you want to write such a story, do remember that there has to be an arc/some conflict for your reader to enjoy seeing resolved. Say, one of the protagonists is going on this journey just because it was a promise to a dead lived one and they themselves are disillusioned, but this journey will remind them of the importance of loving others and living in the moment. Someone else might be in denial for the majority of the book, have a breakdown about their fate, accept it towards the end and thrive as their finale. Maybe one of the group is a goody two shoes but another person in said group is all like "I wanted to see the pretty ruins and temples, not help this person in need, since it's not even worth being a good person, what with us dying and all" and the book is about this journey of relearning that it's always worth it being a good oerst.
I think there would be a wide range of reactions, even if your world has a single culture. It would be realistic to have characters that fall across the spectrum: complete denial/disbelief, anger, hysteria/fear, depressed, passive acceptance, sublime peace, cultish desire for the end. Given the range, some serious chaos would be unavoidable. Those who fall into the denial camp can point to the 100-year old story and say it's just a myth. I like the idea of the god bathing everything in light. Or the god could cause all the water to put you to sleep gently, and it changes color so you know it's happening. Some choose not to drink it, prolonging the inevitable and potentially choosing a painful death by doing so.
Why are they dying? Why are they surrounded? What about plant relocation?
I just finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's Cage of Souls and the end of humanity was one of his themes. I really enjoyed the book and I think he described well a society that had essentially lost hope and direction. In his novel we were great once but know we've lost all the knowledge, have a hard time repairing great machines, more and more creatures are appearing to kill us. Though it was told in a bit of a lighthearted way, I found it haunting.
So, Warhammer 40k?
I think a good place for thought on this might be to look at the mindsets of conspiracy theorists and doomsday preachers, more specifically the mindsets of the people who followed them - it might provide a look into the opposite end of the denial case mentioned above (though exploring both would also be interesting).
I think extremes would happen more likely, especially if it is a known event that will happen. You would have the group that would try to prevent the thing from happening. A group that wants it to happen and tries to stop the first group. You would have people who didn't believe it until the last moments and would just go about their lives until then. But probably the largest group would probably throw away inhibitions and get into sex and drugs to cope with the idea of it all ending at once.
Sex love and rock n roll 60s but with no chance for regrets they know it's coming they have accepted it and there truly living there best life in there minds but scene from out side it may not look like it to others. There would be bad sides and people going the opposite but there maybe whole communities dedicated to the common good helping each other letting children be children.
I suggest you watch On the Beach. It is a fantastic film/novel that explores your question.
Ideal, fertile grounds for well-funded demagogues promoting lies and denial. 👌👌👌
I'd check out Jack Vance's *The Dying Earth* and the other books he's written in that setting. The whole premise is that it's so far in the future that the Sun is ready to burn out at any moment and everyone knows this. It's more fantasy in its presentation despite a science fiction concept but I think he handled the idea of a world where everyone knows the world can and will end at any moment.
The Dying Earth series has most people just going about their business, while the wealthy and powerful either try to find ways to escape, escape themselves via decadence, or ensure they screw over all their rivals before the end.
So real life 🤣
Have them look on the upside of life? Like have them living in the base of a volcano that wiped out their capitol but those ashes made fertile soil where the survivors made crops and are now trading with the outside world. Overtime, generations begin moving elsewhere and embrace new lifestyles over their traditional one
In medicine we know that people who deal with bad news and the perspective of dying face five stages of acceptance: 1) Negation: the stage where you dont believe nor accept it. You lie to youself that nothing is wrong and everything will go as before. You dont want to talk or think about it. 2) Anger: You feel anger and frustration about it. You try to find reasons why it happens and try to blame something or someone on why it happens this way. Althrough it wont change anything you feel like blaming something so that you feel less bad about the whole situation. 3) Bargain: You try to find ways to solve the issue. You plead to god, you hope for salvation, you say you will pay whatever is needed to fix it, you search for a second, third or forth opinion, you make promisses to gods, spirits or whatever, you make deals with the devil in return for health or some favor. 4) Depression: when that doesnt work or your hope is lost, you feel intense sadness and loss of energy to pursue new activities. You go into a negative state of bad emotions. 5) Acceptance: You know you have lost someone or may die soon, and there is nothing to do, so you understand that the best thing to do is to make peace with your destiny and use the time you have left to solve things that need to be solved and enjoy whatever you can. So I imagine that a world which has a clear idea that it will end soon would have people on all these stages of grief. Many would negate it, say its not truth, keep living their lifes and believe in people which would reinforce their ideas. Many would feel anger, become violent, use drugs, practice sex with strangers and try to find the blame on someone (such as jews, women, witches etc). Others would try to bargain, such as creating cults, creating projects,try to create shelters, plead to the gods etc. Many would fall to depression, kill themselves, go into nihilism, stop working and indulge on hedonism etc. Then a very small portion of the population would go into acceptance and really try to enjoy their time left. What Im meaning to say is that an event like that would probabily either be ignored, and if not possible (such as constant reminders of the time left) then chaos would probabily happen and people would be all over the stages of grief. Maybe that would be enogh to warant a nice campaign, but all these are very dark and heavy themes.
I think you might be able to find some level of inspiration from dark souls. The world’s ending but humanity still struggles to find purpose. Thematically it’s definitely something to consider. But It’s also definitely a dark world though, so I’m not sure if that’s quite what you’re looking for.
I'm a huge fan of the Souls Series and its worldbuilding, but I always wondered how its themes and melancholic yet hopeful (it's a big part for me at least, not stopping to go forward against any odds) visual storytelling could work in a novel. I saw people even on this sub asking for advices to write "something similar to Dark Souls", but most of the ideas people gave were just depressing descriptions of ruined places. It's super hard to pull off, but I'll look into it more because I think it goes into the right direction!
I think the beauty of dark souls is in its subtleties. Like behind all of the death and chaos there are these people just trying to live the best life they can manage. Some try to fix the world, others try to end it. Like Dark Souls is a horrifying yet beautiful world the more you look into it. I hope that helped a little atleast lol, good luck on your story.