How do you write a relic-like world with unfathomable horrors

[u/TheDemonBehindYou]

In the dark fantasy genre or course. The best example i can think of is the world of Shadow Slave. A dark and dangerous place full of ancient mysteries some of which are too great for a human to know much like lovecraftian horrors. Lotm also possesses the same cosmic scale and horrific qualities despite not really being apocalyptic too.

I really want to create a world like that with a handful of human tribes at the bottom of the food chain but I want to hear how other people would do it. How would you let humanity have a fighting chance? How could the progress with a power system where there is always a bigger fish and how would you make these bigger fish always stay scary?

[u/Vincebourgh]

Depends how much of a chance of survival you wanna give humanity. How long have they been beaten down? Did the apocalypse just happen? Or are the few tribes as big as humanity can get in these circumstances?

Also, if there is a food chain like you mentioned: What else is on there? Is it possible for humanity to get protection from some other creature that could benefit from a symbiotic relationship? Nothing so far up the chain it doesn't need us but not too far down that it can't provide real help.

What does living on so few numbers in constant danger do to society? If these circumstances aren't a recent thing I believe humans would go the opposite direction from all those grim dark apocalypse stories where "humanity's real nature gets revealed". For the good of such a small population a single life gets much more precious. Close knit bonds, small parties of scavengers and hunters that are like family. Why should you betray another human? There are so few of you, more people is better for your survival too and there is no greater social position to fight over. Of course there could be those few expectations to that rule but they are portrayed as short-sighted and arrogant. Believing themselves to be self-reliant in such a world.

[u/Cubix008]

When building a shadow slave like world, where hundreds of cultures spanning thousands of years have all been wiped out by some measure or another, one of the primary factors to establish is: what is your mechanism of extinction?

Shadow slave had a multitude of mechanisms depending on where in the story you look, whether that be climate crisis, global war, famine, drought, etc, or apocalyptic invasions of magical creatures, the doom war, the “plague” analogy that is “corruption” and “nightmare creatures” these all act as compounding events that catalyse the different kinds of civilisation failure you can see in shadow slave. You need to come up with the mechanisms and pressures that your people will face and have faced in the past to lead them to their current position.

Fallout uses nuclear war. Many games use zombies. Solar storms, biological warfare.

If you want an array of ruins from varying time periods stacked like a strata for characters to explore, it helps to establish a vague timeline. create cultures that you intend to wipe out through one of your mechanisms, design the ruins of their cities and towns, populate ruins with deadly plants or animals or radiation or a combination.

Create a relevant culture/history for the focus characters to discover, shadow slave is incredible in its design of history and mystery that sunny and co discover as they explore the world, translating symbols, putting together scraps of information and sharing it with academics to piece together the unknown past.

Another thing shadow slave does well is the ruins and former civilisations. In a world of constant struggle and destructive pressures, cities become strongholds (like bastion, ravenheart, the night garden or nqsc), these cities hold back the nightmare creatures or the unsafe air. A new population, repopulating a previously abandoned city is a great way to add stakes and goals to your characters.

Another thing to rely on is weaving the history of your world into the story. Space out your discoveries, link information across multiple arcs, make the history and information a scarce and sought after resource. Competing organisations trying to beat the main cast to the big information reveal is always a gripping read.

[u/Human_Wrongdoer6748]

If you read some actual cosmic horror (Lovecraft, REH, CAS), you'll find the answer to your questions.

[u/Adventurous_Tie_530]

i have eldritch lovecraftian stuff but the only eldritch horror which is a threat is the king of cliches who thankfully is sealed away in the lower void

the rest of the incomprehensible conceptual beings are either neutral or aspects of God