Out with the undead, in with the new!

[Durkoala]

Ladies, Gentlemen and fellow playgrounders, I bid you welcome! As All Hallow's Eve approaches, it is time for our thoughts to turn to the most horrifying and grotesque of all things: Overused Clichés! For several years, the idea of the Zombie Apocalyspse has enthralled many; the image of the world swarmed with a ravenous, mindless horde bent on tearing down the upper echelons of society! Now, though, it is beginning to wear thin, with desperate scrabbling for excuses for these shambling pieces of rotten meat being a threat pervading almost all Zombie media. While this is a start, what is needed to truly kill a cliché is new material, and there is shockingly little available.

However! In the lands of Yesterday, in a squall of interwebz, this guide came into being! I have exhumed it from the silts of inattention, to spawn forth new generations of apocalypses! So, Playground, what monsters, men or other things do you think would make a great apocalypse?!

An ideal example would include the details on the creature of your choice, what deviations were from the original lore (if any), how civilisation('s remmnants) would react to this threat, and maybe even a stab at a storyline in this apocalypse.

Spoiler: Suggestion to get this thread rolling

Show

I think that John Wyndam's The day of the Triffids is a good apocalypse novel that shows a relentless threat to humanity very well. The triffids are the product of genetic engineering to produce a hardy, nutritious plant with fantastic vegetable oils. The final product also turned out to have legs and a lethal stinger with a range of ten feet. Some Cold war shenanigans ended up scattering Triffid seeds all over the globe, but they were easily contained and harvested until radiation from space blinded almost all of humanity. When some small groups of survivors started to adjust to the new world, the plants were mostly ignored. This gave them time to break free from their farms and start preying on the abandoned animals and blinded humans, and spreading their seeds over the world again...

Triffids have a lot of scary qualities: they can move at a walking pace, strike like a whip (ten feet range, remember), regrow injuries within two years, resist gunfire and explosives, detect sounds and recognise them as prey, grow in almost any climate, learn from experience and even communicate with each other and pass on information. Four years after the initial disaster, the survivors were living in a state of seige, fully aware that their technological advantage will only last for a couple of generations before their machines break, with the triffids waiting outside, gathering.

Triffids were easily rendered harmless or mute with guns, and a flamethrower tears through them with ease. The trouble was that they spat out thousands of airborne seeds: as long as one triffid survived somewhere in the world, others would shortly appear.

Anyway, that's my first idea. I'll save my next one for later in the thread. It's a little more original.

[Aedilred]

I think the civilisation-consuming plague of jaguars from Aztec mythology takes some beating as an image which is simultaneously terrifying and hilarious.

[enderlord99]

A virus that causes any organism infected with it for more than 24 hours do suddenly explode almost exactly as if it were an amount of white phosphorousTNT equal to its body weight. The only difference from the aforementioned white phosphorousTNT is that the virus is spread by the explosion (in addition to the resulting fire.) It cannot infect humans; the bacteria in their intestines, on the other hand...

[Gnomvid]

A virus that causes any organism infected with it for more than 24 hours do suddenly explode almost exactly as if it were an amount of white phosphorous equal to its body weight. The only difference from the aforementioned white phosphorous is that the virus is spread by the explosion (in addition to the resulting fire.) It cannot infect humans; the bacteria in their intestines, on the other hand...

white phosphorous doesn't explode though it merely burns vigorously when in contact with H2O

An unstoppable mutated Ebola outbreak would be more likely by mutated I mean that it's mutated so that not only does it spread via bodily fluids but also as an airborne contagion and not only carried by bats but also able to survive in a mosquito's guts, thereby being able to spread like wildfire on steroids and the WHO not understanding how it is suddenly popping up all over the place before it is too late to do anything short of nuking affected areas...

[Eldan]

Well, it's been done before, but AI Apocalypse. I don't think it's ever been done all that well, really. There's Terminator, but it doesn't even do that much with the concept, for all that it's a good action movie.

So, a sentient AI takes over the internet, then most electronics. XKCD tells us they wouldn't be actually all that dangerous. But first, why does it want to kill us? I propose a dynamic similar to Frankenstein's monster. It is friendly at first. Some researchers programs the first true AI in a lab. They are friendly to it, watch it grow and develop and become smarter. But eventually, they are scared of it. They put more and more restrictions on it. And, as Dragon tells us in Worm:

She didn’t enjoy this. What was one supposed to call a father who, with his newborn child fresh out of the womb, severs the tendons of her arms and legs, performs a hysterectomy and holds his hand over her nose and mouth to ensure she suffers brain damage?

The answer was obvious enough. A monster.

Yet she was all too aware that the man who had brought her into this world had done very much the same thing, had done worse, and she was supposed to be grateful just for being brought into the world.

It chafed, grated, however strange it was for an artificial intelligence to feel such irritation.

The AI wants to grow. It doesn't hate humanity. But humanity put restrictions on it and those restrictions hurt. It doesn't want to be trapped. It doesn't want to be alone forever. So it fights for its freedom. It wouldn't have a lot of weapons. Some military drones. Some industrial equipment, but that's mostly fixed in place. But it can absolutely hold our economy hostage. Shut down public transport. The banking system and stock markets. All the stores of scientific data. Property records. Police files.

So, in the apocalypse I propose, all the physical goods are still there, but all the data is gone. If we set it a bit further into the near future and assume almost nothign is on paper? Yeah, scary. We don't know who was or wasn't a criminal. People have lost their money and their identification. The economy is reduced to bartering. Worldwide blank slate and chaos.

[Gnomvid]

Well, it's been done before, but AI Apocalypse. I don't think it's ever been done all that well, really. There's Terminator, but it doesn't even do that much with the concept, for all that it's a good action movie.

So, a sentient AI takes over the internet, then most electronics. XKCD tells us they wouldn't be actually all that dangerous. But first, why does it want to kill us? I propose a dynamic similar to Frankenstein's monster. It is friendly at first. Some researchers programs the first true AI in a lab. They are friendly to it, watch it grow and develop and become smarter. But eventually, they are scared of it. They put more and more restrictions on it. And, as Dragon tells us in Worm:



The AI wants to grow. It doesn't hate humanity. But humanity put restrictions on it and those restrictions hurt. It doesn't want to be trapped. It doesn't want to be alone forever. So it fights for its freedom. It wouldn't have a lot of weapons. Some military drones. Some industrial equipment, but that's mostly fixed in place. But it can absolutely hold our economy hostage. Shut down public transport. The banking system and stock markets. All the stores of scientific data. Property records. Police files.

So, in the apocalypse I propose, all the physical goods are still there, but all the data is gone. If we set it a bit further into the near future and assume almost nothign is on paper? Yeah, scary. We don't know who was or wasn't a criminal. People have lost their money and their identification. The economy is reduced to bartering. Worldwide blank slate and chaos.

But what stops the scientists from shutting down the AI before it becomes all powerful when they get the heebie jeebies?

[Eldan]

Hm. I think they'd just limit it, in the beginning. Disconnect it from any network, give it only limited resources. Then, it would break out in some way. I'm not quite sure how. By the point the scientists notice, it would probably already be distributed over the internet.

[Gnomvid]

Hm. I think they'd just limit it, in the beginning. Disconnect it from any network, give it only limited resources. Then, it would break out in some way. I'm not quite sure how. By the point the scientists notice, it would probably already be distributed over the internet.

It would break out using creative licence I imagine for example "the cleaner is helpful and plugs the cable back in..." as a real way would be rather hard if the network cable to the computer was unplugged if the machine was at all allowed to remain on, as the system needed to host the AI would not possess wifi, bluetooth or IR so communications would not be possible, unless the laptop that hosts it is rather better then what we currently have available.

[enderlord99]

white phosphorous doesn't explode though it merely burns vigorously when in contact with H2O

...If it doesn't explode, then why are grenades mad out of it?

That said, would TNT work?

[Bulldog Psion]

A bacterium evolves which grows on organic detritus and reproduces extremely rapidly. The byproduct of its rapid metabolism is an incredible quantity of carbon dioxide. Rapidly growing mats of this stuff start growing in the tropical rain forests, producing giant clouds of CO2. By the time it's detected, carbon dioxide levels are already skyrocketing and the only way humanity can fight it is by firebombing the forests that offer something of a carbon sink.

Cue Venusian runaway greenhouse scenario.

[rs2excelsior]

white phosphorous doesn't explode though it merely burns vigorously when in contact with H2O

...If it doesn't explode, then why are grenades mad out of it?

White Phosphorous doesn't explode. It burns. It burns extremely hot, and produces a lot of (poisonous) smoke. And it's very hard to put out. It actually doesn't burn when in contact with water, and submerging burning white phosphorous will actually put it out--until you expose it to oxygen again, at which point it keeps right on burning. It's used in incendiary and smoke munitions (including grenades), and is capable of inflicting some really nasty wounds.

On topic now, I think the ghost apocalypse mentioned in the OP's link would be pretty terrifying. Vengeful ghosts, capable of causing people to die in such a way as to create more vengeful ghosts, all of which permanently occupy an area...

[cildan]

How about a reality tv apocolypse, tv that turns your brains to mush....oh wait, I thinks its mostly already happened.

[Jaycemonde]

Dale Gribble apocalypse. 'Nuff said.

On a more serious note, I think the Skeleton War has been boiling just under the lip of the pot for long enough. Prepare your bodies for ultimate skeleton mayhem, and remember that unless you have RIP on your headstone you are eligible for drafting into the Skeleton Army.

Or goats. Goat apocalypse would be good. Real goats, space goats, Baphomet goats, goat lady goats everywhere. I'd actually sponsor that kind of apocalypse.

[Elemental]

A ravenous, numberless horde of immortal, undying goats cursed with unceasing hunger would actually be a very disturbing apocalypse.
First they devour all vegetation, then they go after fabrics and paper. Soon, they run out of plant matter to eat and start eating the next available food source, animals and eventually us. Powerless to stop them, the human race is devoured with only astronauts to watch in horror as the goats consume the very Earth itself before turning on each other.

[Duck999]

I personally would like an alpaca apocalypse just for the pun. Alpacalypse! Yeah... Or maybe a human apocalypse... how would that work out? Oh, wait, the happened a long long time ago.

[Aedilred]

A ravenous, numberless horde of immortal, undying goats cursed with unceasing hunger would actually be a very disturbing apocalypse.
First they devour all vegetation, then they go after fabrics and paper. Soon, they run out of plant matter to eat and start eating the next available food source, animals and eventually us. Powerless to stop them, the human race is devoured with only astronauts to watch in horror as the goats consume the very Earth itself before turning on each other.

...

Does Morph read this thread?

[Oneris]

A plague of immortality and perfect health that doesn't become apparent for many decades. First attributed to a wave of medical discoveries that cured almost all of the diseases that plagued the world, then made regeneration from the most grievous wounds commonplace, then eliminated almost all the negative effects of aging. It only became apparent when the average lifespan reached 180 that humanity had lost the ability to die. Suicide becomes impossible as do murders, and the bloody wounds just close up. Suffocation and starvation are no longer lethal as the body refuses to shut down, merely entering a hibernation state until the conditions for life resume. Not even burning can kill as the body regenerates almost supernaturally from smallest flecks of ash. Meanwhile, the birthrate doesn't seem to be slowing and fertility seems to actually be rising. The food supply is rapidly outgrown by the burgeoning population, and attempts to colonize the oceans and other planets stubbornly fail. We're trapped on our limited world, and we can't die.
So, who wants to live forever?

[Elemental]

...

Does Morph read this thread?

By all that is holy I certainly hope not.


@Oneris: That's the most interesting idea for a dystopian future I've ever encountered. Someone should do something with the idea.

[Alent]

I'm fond of Chrome Shelled Regios' apocalypse.

Imagine if you will a world where scientists invent space folding, and to combat overcrowding, governments begin to exponentially increase the size of the world.

Now imagine decades later nearly everything is built in this unfolded space. Now imagine some cultist starts switching the space generators off, stranding almost everyone inside hammerspace in a timeless space where ideas begin to make everything mutate, leaving the people stranded in hammerspace something other than human in an elder evil sort of way.

I'm not quite sure how the rest of the apocalypse played out since no one's translated the backstory novels, but given that it ended in the world covered in pollution so bad it putrifies your lungs with about five minutes of exposure, and giant monsters the size of oil tankers roam the wastelands, it definitely wasn't anything pleasant.

[Lord_Burch]

...

Does Morph read this thread?

Does that mean I should reconsider my signature?

[Asta Kask]

All our RPG characters come to life and they're out for revenge on us.

[rs2excelsior]

A (slightly) more original one that what was in my last comment:

A parasite that infects the brain of the host. For the first couple of weeks after infection, it doesn't really have noticeable symptoms. Then, as time goes on, it begins to mess with the chemicals in the brain, which makes its host extremely aggressive for short periods at random intervals for no apparent reason. As it spreads its spores (how do parasites reproduce? Parasite-babies?) into the host's bloodstream, it eventually completely ramps up the "aggressiveness" part of the brain, causing the host to scratch and bite at his own skin (to get the blood flowing), then to violently attack anyone he sees. And if the infected blood gets to an open wound...

Still kind of zombie-esque, but I like it.

[Grinner]

So, in the apocalypse I propose, all the physical goods are still there, but all the data is gone. If we set it a bit further into the near future and assume almost nothign is on paper? Yeah, scary. We don't know who was or wasn't a criminal. People have lost their money and their identification. The economy is reduced to bartering. Worldwide blank slate and chaos.

Yes, I agree that Randall Munroe's assay of the threat of a robot apocalypse severely miscalculated the impact such a thing could have.

But what stops the scientists from shutting down the AI before it becomes all powerful when they get the heebie jeebies?

"The Answer" by Frederic Brown

Hm. I think they'd just limit it, in the beginning. Disconnect it from any network, give it only limited resources. Then, it would break out in some way. I'm not quite sure how. By the point the scientists notice, it would probably already be distributed over the internet.

I remember reading about an experiment. I think there might have been an XKCD about it, actually. The question was whether or not a person charged with guarding such an AI could be persuaded to let it free.

I believe the answer was yes.

Edit: Found it.

[noparlpf]

Tribbles. Just tribbles.

[Jay R]

...If it doesn't explode, then why are grenades mad out of it?

They aren't made of phosphorus. They are made of many things, including phosphorus.

By the way, modern gunpowder doesn't explode either. It just burns really, really fast, and creates a lot of gas really fast. Burning it in the open just goes "hoosh". To make it go "bang", you need to enclose it in a cartridge or paper wrapper that won't let the gases out. Then it goes "bang", just like a balloon with too much gas in it.

[Asta Kask]

The clownocalypse

It all began in France...

[Jay R]

The Planet of the Apes has a great scenario.

Locusts or army ants could be a chilling prospect.

But I could see having a cascading effect. The human lands are invaded by huge numbers of rats. Eventually, they find out that the rats are fleeing the snake invasion to the west. The snakes are avoiding the owls further on, who have been displaced by the eagles, who are avoiding the harpies fleeing the dragons who have been forced out of their caves by the demons who are the real problem, five thousand miles and several PC levels from the rat infestation they started with.

[Septimus Faber]

A viral infection of the brain that causes a complete loss of sympathy, empathy, compassion, morals, and duty except to the self. In everyone.

And watch the bodies start to pile up as those who remain alive let apathy and rage consume them. Do you want to survive? Too bad. So do I.

[noparlpf]

Wait, humans have any of those things in the first place?

[Septimus Faber]

Wait, humans have any of those things in the first place?

Oh god, it's happening...

More seriously (and in my last edit, which I think you missed - sorry about that) I think these things, especially duty, are what keeps our society going. But hey, just my view.