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What Would You Want from a QW Fantasy World?


Shawn Carpenter

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     I'm looking for a post-Singularity setting.  I first read about the Singularity in an article by Ray Kurzweil in the Futurist magazine.  I think this was back in 2003 or 2004.  In the article Kurzweil claims that advances in robotics, nanotechnology, computers and genetic engineering would converge to create the Singularity during which it would be impossible to distinguish the organic from the mechanical or the virtual from the real.  I figure that the Singularity has a mean rate of failure of about 8 months give or take 3 weeks.  I expect that malware will end the singularity when it takes down the internet and the world's power grid causing a meltdown of nuclear reactors around the world.  I imagine the Singularity itself will be like getting trapped in a video game sort of like Log Horizon though I don't imagine it will be confined to just one video game.  For people caught in the singularity I expect the situation to be a mix of Log Horizon and the Genesis of Shannara series.  My post singularity musing are a mix of the change series by S.M. Stirling; the Westria stories by Diana L. Paxson and the Hiero stories by Sterling E. Lanier.

     I read in a book by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki; sorry I don't remember which one, that 17% of the population is psychically active.  During the Singularity itself magic is widespread since people are basically living in a video game combining Everquest, World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, and Final Fantasy.  Magic helps keep you alive during that time.  After the singularity one person in 6 is still using magic.  The rest of us are trying to develop a working theory and practice of magic out of "Charms, Spells & Formulas" by Ray T. Malbrough; "Pop Culture Systems" by Taylor Ellwood; "How to be a Psychic" by Michael Hathaway, and "Sister Karol's Book of Spells, Blessings & Folk Magic" by Karol Jackowski.  During the Singularity people will face monsters just like in a RPG video game.  After the Singularity if will be just regular animals with a lot of invasive species escaped from zoos.  A few genetically engineered plants and animals will also appear.  People will be mostly human but a few will look as if they were modified or partially modified to resemble video game characters.

     In a post Singularity setting guns will be available but the materials and means for producing more cartridges for the guns will be lost.  Where sulfur and salt peter are available gunpowder will be produced and so will flintlock rifles.  Without gunpowder arrows will prevail.  Cars will mostly be a source of materials.  Bikes, horses and feet will be the normal modes of travel.  

     I imagine sea levels rising three feet every five years from 2025 until 2039.  This will displace a lot of people from coastal areas and virtually eliminate shipping.  During the singularity itself I think people will be forced to huddle together for protection and that we will loose 21% of the population.  After the Singularity we will reconnect but it will be at a slower pace.  There will definitely be a feeling that mankind is in retreat and nature is on the rise.  This will be ironic because I expect that areas where people were practicing regenerative agriculture and rewilding will do better during the singularity than areas that did not.  I imagine that between 2025 and 2038 there will be an average net loss in human population of 6% a year so it will be obvious that the wilderness is expanding.

     I think the United States east of the Mississippi river will remain intact as a political entity.  West of the Mississippi will break up into 4 or 5 republics or confederations.

     The gods are real and communicate with people through dreams, imagination and coincidence the same as they do now.  Pop culture paganism will grow a lot with gods from Legend of Zelda, Elder Scrolls, DC comics, Marvel comics, and Legendary Pokémon taking their place alongside old standbys from Greek, Norse and Egyptian mythology.  Churches will still be around but denominations will not, as people come to believe that the seminaries have deceived the faithful.  Where Christianity persists people will be relying on "Pray the Circle" by Mark Batterson and "Dreams and Spiritual Growth" by Louis M. Savary to communicate directly with God with or without the assistance of cannabis.

     The stakes are mostly low, occasionally rising to medium when successor states go to war with one another, but never high.  High stakes worlds just seem too contrived for me.

Edited by moonwolf8
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