Do you wish this video had more Rain World and Studio Ghibli? Head on over to Nebula for entire exclusive video on my favorite kinds of 'post-apocalypses!' nebula.tv/videos/curiousarchive-my-favorite-kind-of-postapocalypse Also if you're wondering why it says Elden Ring came out in 2011 at the start of this video, believe it or not that's because moldiness is capable of eroding dates too. It definitely said 2022 when I put it in there.
As a biologist, the term mouldy world building fits like a glove. Beautiful analogy - flawless, too. Do you know that the world’s first soil was likely created by fungi? And following each mass extinctions, the fossil records of fungi surges, as they thrive off of the dead matter? As fungi digest the world, they return the nutrients to the land that births life. This is easily one of your best video essays! Bravo!
"I met a traveler from an antique land, Who said-“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.” - Percy Bysshe Shelley My favorite poem
Miyazaki once said in his interview that he thinks "There's beauty in the finality of something." And that couldn't be more true. While playing these games, I can't help but be mesmerized by what has come to passed, but also wonder what comes next. The protagonists in every Souls games are not just a hero who come to put down evil. They represent 'Change'. And most, if not every "bad guys" you slay are always those who cling onto past glory, an era long gone. And you, the player do not kill evil, you kill dormancy of this world, kill those who refuse to let go, and ultimately bring about change, for better or for worse. I think that's what sets them apart from most fantasy. The journey you have in these worlds will always be harrowing, poetic, full of despair, yet you see light at the end of the tunnel. It is beautiful.
I think the start of what you say is very true, the second part is...kind of generous to the Player Character 'oh I'm just facilitating change, stopping the stagnation'. Many an NPC in the Souls games thinks exactly the same way...and most are wannabe dictators, psychopaths and monsters. There are no winners no matter what you do or which ending you choose (Sorry to her fans, but Ranni is also horrible, not the 'good ending').
@@bearhustler Exactly. That's why I put "For better or for worse" there. There're elements of rpg after all, so what you decide to do doesn't necessarily mean good things. Same goes for the NPCs. They want to bring change in their own ways, and sometimes it's not always good for everyone. But change nontheless.
@@BannersglareTheDreamWriteras an adult who binged all of adventure time it’s a surprisingly great story. First season or 2 are more disjointed stories but the world building is excellent and worth the time to build up the lore.
@@procrastinator547 God, I miss that era of Cartoon Network. Between Adventure Time, Regular Show and Gumball they were airing some absolute bangers around that time.
love the juxtaposition between the “rot” of civilization sometimes resulting in the growth or overgrowth of nature. the mystery behind what’s left and what has taken its place is a beautiful exploration
The problem with Greek fire is that all we know about it is its ability to burn on water. We can make many different substances that can burn on water or even under water but without more information we can only guess as to what Greek fire actually was.
Its the cousin of "We don't know how the pyramids were built." Yeah, because we can't eliminate any of the plethora of options because there isn't enough information to do so.
@DefinatelyNotAI very true. Its not a situation of how could they possibly have pulled that off. It's a situation of they could have used a million different things/technique to produce the same outcome, but we have no idea which method they used.
The thing to remember is that all of those now fallen empires grew into existence from humble beginnings. There was growth and hope for decades and centuries before their collapse. In every ruin there is the possibility of new communities to form and prosper once again. Which I'm betting will be covered in the Post-Post Apocalypses video. Great job! I'm looking forward to watching it.
There are no words in any language to describe how much I love Post-POST-apocalypse. I was born 10 years after the collapse of the USSR in a post-Soviet region, so everything I ever had as a child was a decomposing inheritance from a fallen titan. I AM the mold. I broke countless toys left from my older brother. I've read books written by people who were raised in a different, more hopeful world. One day I aspire to become the author of THE moldiest setting. As a goal in life I inherited the Mold.
I hope this doesn't come off as disrespectful, but, as someone who has not grown up in a country that was a former member of the USSR, I've always been enamored with post Soviet landscapes. There's just something beyond beautiful to me about the melancholy that infuses Eastern Europe. That kind of "post post apocalypse" has been a massive influence on all of my writing, and I really hope to be able to visit some day.
Post-post-apocalypse is a hugely underrated type of setting, IMO. We have enough settings where civilization has crumbled, but too few setting show civilization truly rebuilding.
I was legitimately expecting a video about mushroom biomes but insteas I got a video about my favorite thing in the world - mold is a fine way to out it
A favorite of mine is how Portal textures the Aperture Science facility between the two games. Even in the first game, where the facility is presented as contemporary, its still been long abandoned and behind the walls, the infrastructure has rusted and decayed. Its the most technologically advanced system in the world and its mostly empty and silent. And then Portal 2 jumps ahead an unknowable amount of time in the future where the whole place has become overgrown and decimated. Portal 2's imagery of an impossibly advanced computer run infrastructure, covered in gargantuan vines and leaves and plants has got to be some of the most effective I've seen. And added to that Portal 2 expands on the already labyrinthian complex by revealing its true size and depth are seemingly impossible. The very bottom is never even really seen, because its completely flooded. Aperture itself is a lovecraftian nightmare, a self sustained machine of unknowable age and size, building ever upwards on top of the ruin of it's own history, run by AI's who themselves neither understand the true depth of their workplace, or even why they're still working. Glados and Wheatley speak to other unseen AIs and mainframes who apparently run everything from the doors to the walls, all alive, all capable of feeling pain and all working in service of purposelessly testing technology that will never been sold to anyone, because of the aliens that unbeknownst to any of them, conquered the Earth long ago, or because the game takes place so far in the future that no one is left on Earth to interact with. It speaks to a similar idea that Rauru mentions watching the constructs in TOtk. he mentions how unnerving it is to watch the Zonai constructs continuing to work, long after the civilization they worked in service of had died out. There's something about machines in apocalyptic worlds, where so many of them keep working, in service of no one. Wall-E keep stacking trash, with no idea who he's doing it for or why. The Robots in Castle in the Sky tend to gardens even though nobody's left to enjoy them. Glados insists on testing, because her creators programmed her with a need to research, but neglected to give her a good reason why. There's a real melancholy to machines and robots working for no reason, long after their creators are gone.
Nier Automata is another good example of a game that tackles the theme of machines working long after they've served their purpose. That idea is basically the central driving point for the entire premise and for all of the philosophical musings the game makes.
that's what most humans also suffer from, deep down it's relatable, most of us search meaning. Some of us crave meaning without even knowing it. They move through life without ever thinking about their purpose and it's not necessarily sad, the sad part is if they wake up too late. What are we programmed for? Perpetuating life, but we don't have a good reason why. There's a real melancholy to humans working for no reason, long after their creators are gone. Ah, does it even matter? We are fortunately not eternals and gifted with an end to our lives. Mold takes it all. If everything we build decay eventually it means everything we build is in a state of decay, from the very start. Everything we build, from the start, is correlated to a point of decay of the previous thing and probably mixed with the decay of many others and we are all decaying, and the mold takes it all, perpetuating a cycle of hope that is maybe what humans really need. I like mold
What's insane and amazing in Elden Ring is the war you can see remnants of is technically still ongoing. It's just been going on for so long hardly anybody even remembers why. The soldiers you can find inhabiting war camps are tired from unending war, and practically undead due to laws of the world being in disrepair.
@@COHOFSohamSengupta Some around an area near Mt. Gelmir weren't just eating foes... I was riding around the area looking for Azur and I noticed some Lyndel soldiers stooped over the corpse of one of their comrades. At first, I thought they were paying their respects, but as I got closer, I realized they were picking pieces off the corpse and eating them. Honestly, I've been warring against the old ones themselves for so long I had forgotten how fundamentally broken the entirety of the lands between had become, which kind of also goes with Loofy was saying too. ...how has this FIRST playthrough broken me this badly?
I´m in the middle of writing a novel and your videos are SUCH an inspiration everytime. Watching them makes me excited to worldbuild and create stories. Thank you!
I love how your videos always come out at the perfect time, when I need a moment to just hear big and interesting things but in a way that I can love and understand, I’m sick right now physically and just of all the effort I’m putting in for uni but this is letting me take time and just forget it all.
To be clear: We know how to make something that works exactly like Greek Fire is described to work in the sources. We know how to make a number of different concoctions, all of which would work as an analogue for Greek Fire, in fact. We only don't know how to make Greek Fire in the sense that, since there are no records of its exact composition, any attempt to recreate it is ultimately doomed to be speculative - we have no original Greek Fire to compare our reconstructions to. It's entirely possible that one of our recipes is straight-up the same that the ancient Greeks used, we just don't know.
I just finished Pentiment, and this is a huge theme. I love how the ruins of Rome exist in the background so even the player ignores them, but you notice it more and more, eventually delving into old aqueducts and... if you know, you know.
It's interesting to see how Minecraft has been slowly layering this sort of worldbuilding into itself -- every update seems to add some new archeology to the mix. Ruined nether portals now dot the land, speaking to a time when The Nether was used as a hub. Ancient ruins lurk deep underground, swallowed by skulk growing everywhere and containing massive portals that currently do nothing. Trial Chambers filled with copper blocks, both pristine and weathered. Bastions in the Nether, filled with Piglins, separate and distinct from the massive Nether Fortresses of endless brick. Weird floating cities in The End, rising like chorus plants. Cobweb-filled mine shafts and libraries in strongholds, both now overrun with monsters. Ancient temples and shipwrecks dot the sea, as well as massive Ocean Monuments covered in seaweed and kelp. Temples in the desert, often partly covered in the sand of the ages. Archeology sites collapsed and buried that resemble the Villages you can find even to this day. Only things like the villages, woodland manors, and illager outposts seem like things constructed in the modern present.
@@ppeez If you are working within the understanding that it's trying to present a clear narrative path, then sure. But narratives that intentionally allow communities to build their own interpretations despite a 'canon' being possibly present are very real systems used in game narratives and other storytelling. Sky: Children of the Light is another perfect example, but you wouldn't like that one either.
@@ppeezi don’t think it’s that great either but i don’t think that’s why because they do that on purpose. minecraft intentionally keeps lore as threadbare as possible since players are supposed to make their own stories. i just don’t think ancient ruin 77, unrelated to any other ancient ruin because that would be too much lore, to never be expanded upon in any future update because that would be too much lore, is the best way to execute that vision
I find it so interesting that this is the direction minecraft choosed to go. We didn't get sprawling new cities. Instead of adding more life, the designers elected to add a sense of melancholy to the game. The soundtrack for the ancient cities honestly make me cry sometimes. To think that minecraft of all games decided to dable in such a delicate form of worldbuilding, even if only superficially, is something I am grateful for.
I like a world where ruin and atrocity and war has created an endless "onion" of competing versions of lore. Depending on where and when each NPC comes from, they'll have dramatically different ideas of the same events and people. Elder Scrolls is good at this, so is World of Darkness.
Elden Ring's DLC has even more of this, the Gravesite Plain is covered in thousands of graves so old that they're turned to spirits and fading away. The northern ruins of Rauh takes this even further, it's so old that nothing's known about it other than the fact they created the giant golems and that they spread all the way to Limgrave and Caelid.
As someone whos watched this channel for years now, and clicks as soon ah he sees a new video…I’m extremely happy I’ve done so. From speculative evolution, to strangely philosophical dissections of tropes and series, I thoroughly enjoy each. I’ve noticed a slightly more comedic tone to some of your more recent videos, alongside the existential stuff, and think the slight change of pace is oddly comforting. Cant wait to see what you have to offer next time!
@@KalleVonEi yeah, that was what originally drew me in. Still, I haven’t seen anything big spec evo wise on the inter-webs, you know? Although, him making one would be pretty cool :)
Me too, got bored of the video I was watching before this, Refreshed the home page about to go through -a rabbit hole- some shorts if nothing interesting came up, New video from CA at the top of the page. Looks like I'm sleeping on time today...
Man... I like to think to fundamentals and philosophies and stuff, but I am amazed at people who can derive this kind of essence from multiple sources. Cool video.
You should check the Kenshi Lore, it is quite cool. It has the mouldy setting, as you are placed within a setting where everything is just trying to survive, megastructures and such that have eroded through time, beings that are old and are scattered throughout the world will give you lore bits about the time before. You as the player get to experience this open world sandbox in a very well detailed post apocalyptic setting. Cannibals, cults, oppressive rulers, mutated beasts and humans. It has allot of potential for a video.
Honestly I don't know if Kenshi applies here. While it seems, on the surface, to have lots of worldbuilding, this is an illusion - there's not actually anything. It's just grand vistas, but no actual information. There's too little to engage with. You just exist in the world, never learning anything about anything. Ironically, this robs it of all the depth the mold could have given it. There is such a thing as too little, and too vague, information.
Finally, a video essay by someone who can actually write. Great work. I initially thought "moldy worldbuilding" was how a game will leave residue on you and grow over time. The Outer Wilds is an experience I left feeling with "wow that was pretty cool" and as the weeks went by, I processed what I experienced and realized, "I just played something I'll never be able to experience the same way again." Pleasantly surprised by the literal use of moldy worldbuilding. Although, I will say, sometimes ruinous architecture can feel more like a shortcut trope and less like a clue to deeper world building. It's sort of a crutched cliché. Thankfully, FromSoft is too good to have their worlds ever felt this way.
I do feel a contrast should be made between Elden ring everything rots and decays. And more historical layered settings, where the rot of the old becomes fertilizer for new life
The homemade TTRPG i've been working on for the last four years includes a lot of fungi. I've also been a long time fan of the Curious Archive. Being here this early for this video feels like a blessing from a god only a mushroom could comprehend.
18:25 I had a chance to experience the Earth in this way over the summer. I had joined a conservation corps and we were cleaning up an old logging road up in Maine for use as a trail. The road had existed since the late 1800s, but to my knowledge the segment we worked on had only been completely abandoned since about 2016, about 8 years. Despite this, there was thick vegetation that we had to clear (this was a massively wide trail, about 20 feet when we finished, while the narrowest points were shoulder width when we began) from all the trees that began to grow again. There were so many relics of the loggers before, every other creek would have some rusty girders piled next to them, I believe they were bridges for logging trucks that were moved to the side when it was abandoned and bought by the state government. We would also find countless old coca cola bottles and beer cans as we ventured off the trail to deposit the vegetation we cleared, which would give an idea of the lifestyle of the loggers before(we would not remove these, they are considered historic at this point and thus aren't treated as litter). There were plenty of other signs of life further off trail I was told about but I hadn't seen in person. The fact that I was honestly doing very similar work to these loggers that have died long ago was something I would think about sometimes, gave some perspective on my mortality. The feeling it gives you is why Urbex (urban exploration) intrigues me so much, I love watching videos of people exploring abandoned factories and stuff, which is what I think is also appealing about this kind of world building
In reference to Tokien's works containing hope to regain a lost legacy, that is only true in the case of Gondor. Arnor is dead and buried in the Barrow-Downs, and the hobbits have built themselves in the shadow of Arthedain. The Eldar as well have no hope of regaining their glory, *or* of even maintaining their current glory, as they suffer while in middle earth. The Dwarves as well are fated into obscurity, never to truly regain the glory of Dain, and attempts to regain Moria end in the death of great heroes.
Great video, I like it! I'm a little disappointed Hollow Knight didn't get a shoutout though, considering nearly the entire premise is a form of "moldy world."
I haven't been made so willing to play Eldenring by anything else. I truly appreciate that you credit the name of every game/show etc. whenever you show it on screen
YES!!!! moldy, overgrown worlds are one of my favorite things to study!!!!! there is something so fascinating and mysterious about them that i cant help but find intriguing. I also just have a weird fascination with plants and fungi that seeing them take over areas that were once i guess "clean" of these organisms is so exciting!
About halfway through this video I was reminded of Frieren, an anime that also successfully tackles the weight of time and what it means to be remembered and/or forgotten. Although it's more in a character-focused sense than a worldbuilding one. A great watch nonetheless.
Honestly you've really boiled down why I love the setting of Final Fantasy XIV so much. The world of Hydaelyn is filled to the brim with destroyed ancient civilizations built on top of each other, each of which found and modified structures and artifacts from the civilizations that came before in a long game of telephone to produce the setting we see "today". Every time a new expansion or patch comes out and we learn about new ways in which this occurred, I scream in surprise and confusion. It's awesome.
18:00 We just got an extended cut on *Earth's World Building!* Lets goooo! It's a very intriguing place, Would love to check its lore out one day. Hope we get more updates on the planet.
Ugh, it's so overrated. Half of it feels like the writers just wanted some cool big empire to rule half the world and then came up with excuses to make it happen, without any regard for previous lore. We have so much lore on the Romans and how they slowly and meticulously carved out their slice of the world, but then there's something like the Mongol and the Brits who build far, far bigger empires over no time at all. Like come on, the Chinese built that whole wall and they're just going to bypass it and conquer all of China on horseback in a few years? Give me a break...
@@Failure023 one day all will decay into nothing. Stars formation will cease, all stars will slowly evaporate. And one day, even black holes will evaporate and die. At which point nothing will ever happen again… Unless…
14:38 Lol, this part was a bit ironic. The Forerunners built the Halos not out of hubris, but a humble desperation. They KNEW they were going to lose, they admitted it. They just wanted to leave a galaxy for someone ELSE to live within... though funnily enough it was their own descendants who reclaimed parts of the galaxy.
In the lore, the only reason the Flood ever became a problem is because they stole the Mantle of Responsibility, believing they were more worthy of it. And then, their hubris almost cost the galaxy a second infection by keeping specimens because they still thought it could be cured through more conventional means.
Your videos are some of my favorites, you touch on subjects I think about a lot and love and look at things in a way I didn't think of. Keep doing what you do man, it's refreshing.
"i was a good 20 hours into elden ring when i realized i needed to go bury a sandwich in the woods" is a strong contender for best opening line in a video essay ever
"ew that's gross, i didn't know what i was expecting" LMAO! love the super deep analytics then the hit of just being human for a second. I love your Videos
Man, he must have never looked into Warhammer 40K. It’s *the* defining setting of rot and decay for all factions besides The Tau. But seriously, if you’re into this kind of stuff you really need to do yourself a favor and look at Dishonored, Warhammer, and Fallout _(especially_ New Vegas).
I've been interested in Warhammer 40k since algorithm just keeps spamming me the lore short videos, but isn't that just a game (for which the pc I can't afford yet) Or is there a book like novel or comic about it too. If yes then where can I read it
@@talalabid2360 oh buddy, do I have news for you. Warhammer 40,000 was made in like the 70’s or 80’s as a table top RPG (TTRPG) in the same heritage as D&D or Pathfinder, but by the Game’s Workshop company. It’s been somewhat popular since it was introduced, but with the release of 10th edition last year, Henry Cavil announcing his Warhammer show, and Space Marine 2 releasing this year it’s been rather popular in the mainstream too. There are dozens of video games, hundreds of novels, 10 editions of the tabletop wargame, and multiple TTRPGs, that are all Warhammer. -- Now, that’s rather overwhelming, so let me make some recommendations. If you like boomer shooters, try Boltgun, it’s a solid game. Total war, Warhammer is an RTS video game as well. For books, The Infinite and the Divine is a solid option. But there’s books of almost every genre in Warhammer’s library, so you might have a more preferred starter choice. I would recommend you see if there’s a Warhammer official store nearby, they’d be thrilled to introduce you to the hobby properly. But if not, ask a local card shop or miniatures store about Warhammer.
@@talalabid2360 WH40k started as a tabletop wargame, but it has evolved into a huge universe with a lot of supplementary material, mostly books and video games. Space Marine 2 is the one with the most hype right now, and it does require a good PC, but there are many excellent older entries which can run on computers which are potatoes by current standards.
40K is its own creature, even though it has similar elements, the Imperium still exists, weakened and worn out but still alive, they have the machines and equipment, they are more the symbol of stagnation and regression, than rot and decay
One of the mouldy-est settings I've ever played in is definitely Final Fantasy XIV. Our calendar ages are measured in "years since last catastrophe" and "years since we last rebuilt". And most of the NEW catastrophes we avert are really just an old buried one someone dug up. The past is constantly trying to claw out of it's grave and make itself present, old life trying to feed on the new one for fear of death. I also recommend the Broken Empire trilogy from Mark Lawrence for enjoyers of post-post-apocalypse. I won't spoil too much, just be aware that the subject matter is often very dark.
This reminds me a lot of Caves of Qud! One of my favorite things the game does is generate a series of “sultans” of the region who ruled for thousands of years after an inscrutable event separated the world from the rest of the galaxy. A good part of the game consist of delving into these ruins, seeking otherworldly treasures once used by these Sultans and battling the groups who worship these long dead aristocrats. One of my other favorite things in the lore are the Mechanimists, a religion that worship artifacts as gifts from the divine, and as an ineffable part of the world rather than something artificial.
Among my favorite ideas of forgotten, rotting yet life filled worlds is in "Made in Abyss". A civilization of people creating a city, surrounding an almost infinitly deep abyss. Travelers & scavengers who dig deep into it find fauna, land, lost civilizations, relics and artifacts of ancient past. Though digging too deep provides drastic & fatal consiquences. Each layer of the abyss give humans a curse. Top layers provide temporary curses like vomiting or bleeding. But far deeper layers give horrific, de-humanizing curses. And the farther down one goes, the more questions and horrors you may find.
The best part of the danger of the Abyss is that while the flora and fauna are in and of themselves dangerous, the biggest danger only hits you once you ASCEND. The abyss is like a giant fish trap. It'll let you descend as far as you want, but once you hit a certain threshold, return becomes impossible. It's like an even more horrifying, magical decompression sickness. Even ascending just a few meters will hit you with the curse, and then it's over. You're trapped in an eternal downward spiral and there is no way to go but deeper into the belly of the beast. Like the Voyager probes, hurtling through space until eventually its circuits and solarsails will give out, those who push the boundaries of the Abyss will never see the surface again. And YET, humans are undeterred. Our human curiosity, our need to push boundaries, to chart uncharted lands, to boldly go where no man has gone before is so overpowering that even so - KNOWING it will be the death of them - humanity pushes onward. And the Abyss will gladly swallow them all. When the Abyss stared into their hearts, humanity stared back in defiance.
Would you consider Shadow of the Colossus' world a "moldy" world. I guess I'd personally consider it a "dormant" world. A world that has already completed its existence and has failed to join its citizens and society in oblivion
I was thinking about this throughout the video. Glad someone else was too! I'd say it is a 'moldy' world. Think of Wander's degradation the longer he interacts with it, or slays the Colossi. The black ichor. The fruit that gives him strength, or the 'bad' fruit that takes it away in the secret garden, possibly making him more human after ingesting fruit that gave a cursed gift. Also, it has been closed off from the rest of the world, like a prison, the weather grinding down the previous kingdoms, and verdant growth and nature itself decomposing any leftover signs of civilisation.
I don't quite remember, but I believe in the books it was more realistic. The metal from the swords would most certainly not be melted but reworked. Melting would ruin the metal. All working of the metal would have to be started from scratch.
An interesting "moldy" setting is Turnip 28, where a rooty growth has mutated everything, with the mutant humans imitating the napolionic regiments of the past without a real understanding of what they are copying.
If anyone wants to watch some incredible deep dives into the archaeological world building of Elden Ring after this, I cannot recommend The Tarnished Archaeologist’s channel enough.
Exactly this. I’ve started subconsciously accepting ruined structures as just part of any given map because of Monster Hunter, and the Rotten Vale is quite literally built on and of the remains of what once was.
I've probably said this before, ill say it again, please don't ever stop marking videos like these or whatever comes to your mind.... Its a treat to watch your videos.... Thanks!
I was surprised not to see Kenshi included here. That world is built on all of the mold and rust of thousands of years and the denizens have made their home and culture through it.
I love that you use the term post-post apocalypse. It's what I use to describe the common denominator of most of my favorite media. It's no surprise that my professional life is the library and information science field. I've worked in archives, special collections, and museums cataloguing and preserving history and bits of information in attempts to keep them from disappearing. Working with mostly ignored artifacts and pieces of information is very much like interacting with one of these decaying worlds--you discover all sorts of information people have forgotten that helps reveal something about the world you're living in now. Libraries, museums, archives, and special collections are sometimes called "memory institutions" by those in the field. In many ways, we're the ones trying to slow the natural rot of time.
This may get lost in the comments, but I can't stress enough how much this kind of layered world building applies to Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Steven worked as an archeologist and it comes through in the many layers and epochs of the Malazan world, with gods and beings so ancient, their names have been linguistically altered by different cultures, or forgotten entirely. There are hundreds of thousands of years between some events in the story, with untold millennia reaching back even further, but there is also growth as people discover and rediscover new technologies or access to magic. The shifting of power, and the countless fallen are big themes in the series, and it was the first thing I thought of when your were describing this decaying feeling in world building.
What I came here to mention. The author's background is not only evident in the world-building, but also in how he presents it to the reader: Revealing incomplete information out of order and in dubious contexts, assuming the reader has competence to unearth and piece together the potsherds for themselves.
Even though you never mentioned it, I think World of Warcraft fits this very well. Maybe they don't have rot and decay in every zone, but it's very common, as are ancient ruins and other evidence of predecessor civilizations.
@@MatthewTheWanderer i dont see anything being ignorant about it when there is so many other games that actually are build from premise of fallen world that is essential in plot and world building. But wow like how? Cant see any reason how wow should rise above them
This is my favorite channel too watch for inspiration for my writing. I have learend so many various things and I enjoy the format. It helps me make my stories many times better.
Early this week my role play group got introduced to the game Wildsea which is about about a world where Earth experienced an event called The Verdancy where a massive world spanning forest overtook everything, destroying most of civilization and forcing the survivors to leave in the now massive tree tops. A big part of the world building is that civilization survives on scavenging, and repurposing old ruins, and surviving land masses from the old world. Seeing this video has given me a new wave of inspiration for possible characters thank you so much for this!
One interesting aspect that comes to mind is that, since a world being moldy is the realistic way for it to be, the sheer and utter absence of any sort of mold can be unsettling in its own way. A world that is pristine, shiny and unblemished feels... wrong. Whether it's used deliberately to send a message or just to create a vibe.
I was so psyched to see a clip from Sable included in this vid 😊 It’s one of my favorite post-apocalyptic story, and I won’t spoil the lore but it’s incredible how a necessity can turn into something of such big cultural significance that the original purpose is lost to time. I’d highly recommend playing through the game and completing the quests with the ruins of the spaceships.
Honestly this is one of your best Videos yet, even though I’ve only watched the first minute when writing this, videos like this were you find a commen theme throughout different Media and manage to pick out the nuanced underlying Story from Said theme are awesome and we need more of them from you!
Every time I watch one of your videos I get this… cozy kind of feeling. I always settle in to bed knowing it’s gonna be great. Thank you for your work!
well-written script, great music choice, and thought provoking commentary that re-contextualises the concept of ancient civilizations within videogames. great video
😂😂 "irrevocably funerary" i think this means "an undying respect and reverence of the dead" or something like that. Hope I was able to assist you, big homie ❤
Do you wish this video had more Rain World and Studio Ghibli? Head on over to Nebula for entire exclusive video on my favorite kinds of 'post-apocalypses!' nebula.tv/videos/curiousarchive-my-favorite-kind-of-postapocalypse
Also if you're wondering why it says Elden Ring came out in 2011 at the start of this video, believe it or not that's because moldiness is capable of eroding dates too. It definitely said 2022 when I put it in there.
You should do No Man’s Sky at some point
he already did
I love rainworld and ghibli so much that i may have to purchase that
Decay and Fungi FTW.
Feed us the world that rains
"it is the birthright of any empire to die" is actually such a banger of a line to not have more emphasis on it
It’s lines like that that is why I watch curious archive.
Don’t forget “ rot is a story”
@@blackjack2174 to rot is to give life
weirdly....comforting.
@@MaryTheDinosaur nurgle be like
As a biologist, the term mouldy world building fits like a glove. Beautiful analogy - flawless, too. Do you know that the world’s first soil was likely created by fungi? And following each mass extinctions, the fossil records of fungi surges, as they thrive off of the dead matter? As fungi digest the world, they return the nutrients to the land that births life.
This is easily one of your best video essays! Bravo!
“My name is Ozymandias, King of kings. Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair.”
Such is the hubris of empires.
The lone and level sands stretch far away...
Nothing beside remains
"I met a traveler from an antique land,
Who said-“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
My favorite poem
“What the hell is wrong with you? WE ARE FAMILY!!! We are family.”
- Ozymandias, perhaps
I came in the comments to post that 😂
Miyazaki once said in his interview that he thinks "There's beauty in the finality of something." And that couldn't be more true. While playing these games, I can't help but be mesmerized by what has come to passed, but also wonder what comes next. The protagonists in every Souls games are not just a hero who come to put down evil. They represent 'Change'. And most, if not every "bad guys" you slay are always those who cling onto past glory, an era long gone. And you, the player do not kill evil, you kill dormancy of this world, kill those who refuse to let go, and ultimately bring about change, for better or for worse. I think that's what sets them apart from most fantasy. The journey you have in these worlds will always be harrowing, poetic, full of despair, yet you see light at the end of the tunnel. It is beautiful.
I think the start of what you say is very true, the second part is...kind of generous to the Player Character 'oh I'm just facilitating change, stopping the stagnation'. Many an NPC in the Souls games thinks exactly the same way...and most are wannabe dictators, psychopaths and monsters. There are no winners no matter what you do or which ending you choose (Sorry to her fans, but Ranni is also horrible, not the 'good ending').
@@bearhustler Exactly. That's why I put "For better or for worse" there. There're elements of rpg after all, so what you decide to do doesn't necessarily mean good things. Same goes for the NPCs. They want to bring change in their own ways, and sometimes it's not always good for everyone. But change nontheless.
"The worldbuilding of the show Adventure Time is especially sandwich-coded" Amazing line
I never watched Adventure Time, but now Curious Archive sold me.
I mean, you can clearly see that its yes
@@BannersglareTheDreamWriteras an adult who binged all of adventure time it’s a surprisingly great story. First season or 2 are more disjointed stories but the world building is excellent and worth the time to build up the lore.
@@procrastinator547 God, I miss that era of Cartoon Network. Between Adventure Time, Regular Show and Gumball they were airing some absolute bangers around that time.
"This is not a story its a sandwich"
love the juxtaposition between the “rot” of civilization sometimes resulting in the growth or overgrowth of nature. the mystery behind what’s left and what has taken its place is a beautiful exploration
The problem with Greek fire is that all we know about it is its ability to burn on water. We can make many different substances that can burn on water or even under water but without more information we can only guess as to what Greek fire actually was.
Its the cousin of "We don't know how the pyramids were built." Yeah, because we can't eliminate any of the plethora of options because there isn't enough information to do so.
@DefinatelyNotAI very true. Its not a situation of how could they possibly have pulled that off. It's a situation of they could have used a million different things/technique to produce the same outcome, but we have no idea which method they used.
@@JosephHarder-q3eThat's literally the exact same thing he said
@@Egg-Thormore information is welcome, even if it's just to recontextualise
Us: Ancient Greeks, how did you make Greek Fire?
Ancient Greeks probably: _My source is I made it the fuck up!_
The thing to remember is that all of those now fallen empires grew into existence from humble beginnings. There was growth and hope for decades and centuries before their collapse. In every ruin there is the possibility of new communities to form and prosper once again.
Which I'm betting will be covered in the Post-Post Apocalypses video. Great job! I'm looking forward to watching it.
There are no words in any language to describe how much I love Post-POST-apocalypse. I was born 10 years after the collapse of the USSR in a post-Soviet region, so everything I ever had as a child was a decomposing inheritance from a fallen titan. I AM the mold. I broke countless toys left from my older brother. I've read books written by people who were raised in a different, more hopeful world. One day I aspire to become the author of THE moldiest setting. As a goal in life I inherited the Mold.
I hope this doesn't come off as disrespectful, but, as someone who has not grown up in a country that was a former member of the USSR, I've always been enamored with post Soviet landscapes. There's just something beyond beautiful to me about the melancholy that infuses Eastern Europe. That kind of "post post apocalypse" has been a massive influence on all of my writing, and I really hope to be able to visit some day.
Post-post-apocalypse is a hugely underrated type of setting, IMO. We have enough settings where civilization has crumbled, but too few setting show civilization truly rebuilding.
"you merely adopted the mold; I was born in it."
@@membranealpha5961 That goes unbelievably hard mate, and it made me chuckle a bit.
@@NCRVeteranRangeryou should know since new Vegas is a very good example of post post apocalypse
I was legitimately expecting a video about mushroom biomes but insteas I got a video about my favorite thing in the world - mold is a fine way to out it
A favorite of mine is how Portal textures the Aperture Science facility between the two games. Even in the first game, where the facility is presented as contemporary, its still been long abandoned and behind the walls, the infrastructure has rusted and decayed. Its the most technologically advanced system in the world and its mostly empty and silent. And then Portal 2 jumps ahead an unknowable amount of time in the future where the whole place has become overgrown and decimated. Portal 2's imagery of an impossibly advanced computer run infrastructure, covered in gargantuan vines and leaves and plants has got to be some of the most effective I've seen. And added to that Portal 2 expands on the already labyrinthian complex by revealing its true size and depth are seemingly impossible. The very bottom is never even really seen, because its completely flooded. Aperture itself is a lovecraftian nightmare, a self sustained machine of unknowable age and size, building ever upwards on top of the ruin of it's own history, run by AI's who themselves neither understand the true depth of their workplace, or even why they're still working. Glados and Wheatley speak to other unseen AIs and mainframes who apparently run everything from the doors to the walls, all alive, all capable of feeling pain and all working in service of purposelessly testing technology that will never been sold to anyone, because of the aliens that unbeknownst to any of them, conquered the Earth long ago, or because the game takes place so far in the future that no one is left on Earth to interact with.
It speaks to a similar idea that Rauru mentions watching the constructs in TOtk. he mentions how unnerving it is to watch the Zonai constructs continuing to work, long after the civilization they worked in service of had died out. There's something about machines in apocalyptic worlds, where so many of them keep working, in service of no one. Wall-E keep stacking trash, with no idea who he's doing it for or why. The Robots in Castle in the Sky tend to gardens even though nobody's left to enjoy them. Glados insists on testing, because her creators programmed her with a need to research, but neglected to give her a good reason why. There's a real melancholy to machines and robots working for no reason, long after their creators are gone.
Portal is insane.
this is a really beautiful comment, thank you :)
Nier Automata is another good example of a game that tackles the theme of machines working long after they've served their purpose. That idea is basically the central driving point for the entire premise and for all of the philosophical musings the game makes.
that's what most humans also suffer from, deep down it's relatable, most of us search meaning. Some of us crave meaning without even knowing it. They move through life without ever thinking about their purpose and it's not necessarily sad, the sad part is if they wake up too late.
What are we programmed for? Perpetuating life, but we don't have a good reason why. There's a real melancholy to humans working for no reason, long after their creators are gone.
Ah, does it even matter? We are fortunately not eternals and gifted with an end to our lives. Mold takes it all. If everything we build decay eventually it means everything we build is in a state of decay, from the very start. Everything we build, from the start, is correlated to a point of decay of the previous thing and probably mixed with the decay of many others and we are all decaying, and the mold takes it all, perpetuating a cycle of hope that is maybe what humans really need.
I like mold
@salem-salem4426 tautology 🤓☝
22:07 Nice mask man it honestly fits lol
What's insane and amazing in Elden Ring is the war you can see remnants of is technically still ongoing. It's just been going on for so long hardly anybody even remembers why. The soldiers you can find inhabiting war camps are tired from unending war, and practically undead due to laws of the world being in disrepair.
You also come across them fightning & most importantly feasting on their fallen foes on your way to Mt Gelmir.... Kinda gross
@@COHOFSohamSengupta Some around an area near Mt. Gelmir weren't just eating foes... I was riding around the area looking for Azur and I noticed some Lyndel soldiers stooped over the corpse of one of their comrades. At first, I thought they were paying their respects, but as I got closer, I realized they were picking pieces off the corpse and eating them.
Honestly, I've been warring against the old ones themselves for so long I had forgotten how fundamentally broken the entirety of the lands between had become, which kind of also goes with Loofy was saying too.
...how has this FIRST playthrough broken me this badly?
I´m in the middle of writing a novel and your videos are SUCH an inspiration everytime. Watching them makes me excited to worldbuild and create stories. Thank you!
Having shots from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is perfect for this. Love this :D
I kinda wish he brought it up more in the video. Its themes of mold and bugs reclaiming the old world wouldn't fit right in!
wish he actually talked about it in this video lol the movie and manga need more recognition
I love how your videos always come out at the perfect time, when I need a moment to just hear big and interesting things but in a way that I can love and understand, I’m sick right now physically and just of all the effort I’m putting in for uni but this is letting me take time and just forget it all.
To be clear: We know how to make something that works exactly like Greek Fire is described to work in the sources. We know how to make a number of different concoctions, all of which would work as an analogue for Greek Fire, in fact.
We only don't know how to make Greek Fire in the sense that, since there are no records of its exact composition, any attempt to recreate it is ultimately doomed to be speculative - we have no original Greek Fire to compare our reconstructions to. It's entirely possible that one of our recipes is straight-up the same that the ancient Greeks used, we just don't know.
I just finished Pentiment, and this is a huge theme. I love how the ruins of Rome exist in the background so even the player ignores them, but you notice it more and more, eventually delving into old aqueducts and... if you know, you know.
It's interesting to see how Minecraft has been slowly layering this sort of worldbuilding into itself -- every update seems to add some new archeology to the mix. Ruined nether portals now dot the land, speaking to a time when The Nether was used as a hub. Ancient ruins lurk deep underground, swallowed by skulk growing everywhere and containing massive portals that currently do nothing. Trial Chambers filled with copper blocks, both pristine and weathered. Bastions in the Nether, filled with Piglins, separate and distinct from the massive Nether Fortresses of endless brick. Weird floating cities in The End, rising like chorus plants. Cobweb-filled mine shafts and libraries in strongholds, both now overrun with monsters. Ancient temples and shipwrecks dot the sea, as well as massive Ocean Monuments covered in seaweed and kelp. Temples in the desert, often partly covered in the sand of the ages. Archeology sites collapsed and buried that resemble the Villages you can find even to this day. Only things like the villages, woodland manors, and illager outposts seem like things constructed in the modern present.
I dont think Minecraft does a good job at all. The worldbuilding is mostly meaningless
@@ppeez If you are working within the understanding that it's trying to present a clear narrative path, then sure. But narratives that intentionally allow communities to build their own interpretations despite a 'canon' being possibly present are very real systems used in game narratives and other storytelling. Sky: Children of the Light is another perfect example, but you wouldn't like that one either.
@@JamesConoverfax honestly
@@ppeezi don’t think it’s that great either but i don’t think that’s why because they do that on purpose. minecraft intentionally keeps lore as threadbare as possible since players are supposed to make their own stories. i just don’t think ancient ruin 77, unrelated to any other ancient ruin because that would be too much lore, to never be expanded upon in any future update because that would be too much lore, is the best way to execute that vision
I find it so interesting that this is the direction minecraft choosed to go. We didn't get sprawling new cities. Instead of adding more life, the designers elected to add a sense of melancholy to the game. The soundtrack for the ancient cities honestly make me cry sometimes. To think that minecraft of all games decided to dable in such a delicate form of worldbuilding, even if only superficially, is something I am grateful for.
5:50 "When im was younger" is actually such a banger of a line to not have more emphasis on it
I like a world where ruin and atrocity and war has created an endless "onion" of competing versions of lore. Depending on where and when each NPC comes from, they'll have dramatically different ideas of the same events and people. Elder Scrolls is good at this, so is World of Darkness.
elden ring does this pretty well too honestly
Kenshi!
@@launchpendingkenshi is an excellent pick
Try glorantha that world has a lot of conflicting opinions about events
wheel of time!
Elden Ring's DLC has even more of this, the Gravesite Plain is covered in thousands of graves so old that they're turned to spirits and fading away. The northern ruins of Rauh takes this even further, it's so old that nothing's known about it other than the fact they created the giant golems and that they spread all the way to Limgrave and Caelid.
As someone whos watched this channel for years now, and clicks as soon ah he sees a new video…I’m extremely happy I’ve done so. From speculative evolution, to strangely philosophical dissections of tropes and series, I thoroughly enjoy each. I’ve noticed a slightly more comedic tone to some of your more recent videos, alongside the existential stuff, and think the slight change of pace is oddly comforting. Cant wait to see what you have to offer next time!
the final scene at the end was my fav part. HAD ME ON THE GROUND LAUGHING!
Would love to see a new spec evo video tho
@@KalleVonEi yeah, that was what originally drew me in. Still, I haven’t seen anything big spec evo wise on the inter-webs, you know? Although, him making one would be pretty cool :)
Your eloquent video essays are so, so good! This one really appeals to my favorite themes in worldbuilding and narrative.
Just as I was failing to find anything to watch, Curious Archive once again comes to the rescue
literally me
Me too, got bored of the video I was watching before this,
Refreshed the home page about to go through -a rabbit hole- some shorts if nothing interesting came up,
New video from CA at the top of the page.
Looks like I'm sleeping on time today...
same
I was feeling the exact same way this morning!
Touch gr@$$ kid.
curious is on their opossum arc and i am 100% here for it
Grandfather Nurgle is very, very pleased with your work.
And so is Haster
Joy, blessings upon ye
Oh crap
BY THE GLORY OF THE EMPEROR I BANISH THEE BACK TO HELLSCAPE FROM WHENCE YOU CAME
Do you want exterminatus? Because this is how you get exterminatus.
One the “it is a birth right for any empire to die” is a banger line, 2 I love that you showed amphibia
I like my world moldy bruh
🙀
I knew someone would make this comment 💀💀💀
I was looking for this lmao
I doth like mine mold worldly, my dear fellow
The lands between situation just got worse
Man... I like to think to fundamentals and philosophies and stuff, but I am amazed at people who can derive this kind of essence from multiple sources. Cool video.
""There is a particular melancholy to an overlooked structure that clearly held great meaning in a past age."" Oof, ouch, my soul....
You should check the Kenshi Lore, it is quite cool. It has the mouldy setting, as you are placed within a setting where everything is just trying to survive, megastructures and such that have eroded through time, beings that are old and are scattered throughout the world will give you lore bits about the time before. You as the player get to experience this open world sandbox in a very well detailed post apocalyptic setting. Cannibals, cults, oppressive rulers, mutated beasts and humans. It has allot of potential for a video.
Honestly I don't know if Kenshi applies here. While it seems, on the surface, to have lots of worldbuilding, this is an illusion - there's not actually anything. It's just grand vistas, but no actual information. There's too little to engage with. You just exist in the world, never learning anything about anything. Ironically, this robs it of all the depth the mold could have given it. There is such a thing as too little, and too vague, information.
@JRexRegis true, this video just reminded me of it, its one of my favourite games.
When Curious Archive posts, the internet comes together to watch.
Curious archive: Gather around children, for I have a story to tell...
Finally, a video essay by someone who can actually write. Great work. I initially thought "moldy worldbuilding" was how a game will leave residue on you and grow over time. The Outer Wilds is an experience I left feeling with "wow that was pretty cool" and as the weeks went by, I processed what I experienced and realized, "I just played something I'll never be able to experience the same way again."
Pleasantly surprised by the literal use of moldy worldbuilding. Although, I will say, sometimes ruinous architecture can feel more like a shortcut trope and less like a clue to deeper world building. It's sort of a crutched cliché. Thankfully, FromSoft is too good to have their worlds ever felt this way.
19:35 to be fair, we can make napalm, it's not that greek fire is beyond us, but we just aren't sure if what we make is what they made.
I also think it is very safe to say, our versions of Greek fire is much better than the original Greek fire.
@@ddegn for a given sense of 'better'
@@MirrorscapeDC "more effective"?
I do feel a contrast should be made between Elden ring everything rots and decays.
And more historical layered settings, where the rot of the old becomes fertilizer for new life
The homemade TTRPG i've been working on for the last four years includes a lot of fungi. I've also been a long time fan of the Curious Archive. Being here this early for this video feels like a blessing from a god only a mushroom could comprehend.
God I wish Rauxus Prime made it into Star Wars films or shows. The world's a literal scrapyard. An entire _planet._
18:25 I had a chance to experience the Earth in this way over the summer. I had joined a conservation corps and we were cleaning up an old logging road up in Maine for use as a trail. The road had existed since the late 1800s, but to my knowledge the segment we worked on had only been completely abandoned since about 2016, about 8 years. Despite this, there was thick vegetation that we had to clear (this was a massively wide trail, about 20 feet when we finished, while the narrowest points were shoulder width when we began) from all the trees that began to grow again.
There were so many relics of the loggers before, every other creek would have some rusty girders piled next to them, I believe they were bridges for logging trucks that were moved to the side when it was abandoned and bought by the state government. We would also find countless old coca cola bottles and beer cans as we ventured off the trail to deposit the vegetation we cleared, which would give an idea of the lifestyle of the loggers before(we would not remove these, they are considered historic at this point and thus aren't treated as litter). There were plenty of other signs of life further off trail I was told about but I hadn't seen in person. The fact that I was honestly doing very similar work to these loggers that have died long ago was something I would think about sometimes, gave some perspective on my mortality.
The feeling it gives you is why Urbex (urban exploration) intrigues me so much, I love watching videos of people exploring abandoned factories and stuff, which is what I think is also appealing about this kind of world building
NCCC?
In reference to Tokien's works containing hope to regain a lost legacy, that is only true in the case of Gondor. Arnor is dead and buried in the Barrow-Downs, and the hobbits have built themselves in the shadow of Arthedain. The Eldar as well have no hope of regaining their glory, *or* of even maintaining their current glory, as they suffer while in middle earth. The Dwarves as well are fated into obscurity, never to truly regain the glory of Dain, and attempts to regain Moria end in the death of great heroes.
Great video, I like it! I'm a little disappointed Hollow Knight didn't get a shoutout though, considering nearly the entire premise is a form of "moldy world."
yeah or rain world
@@nikoryus he showed clips of Rainworld in the video
Warhammer 40k
@@nikoryus he saved it for nebula apparently
I haven't been made so willing to play Eldenring by anything else. I truly appreciate that you credit the name of every game/show etc. whenever you show it on screen
YES!!!! moldy, overgrown worlds are one of my favorite things to study!!!!! there is something so fascinating and mysterious about them that i cant help but find intriguing.
I also just have a weird fascination with plants and fungi that seeing them take over areas that were once i guess "clean" of these organisms is so exciting!
The amount of clips you included of content I love is staggering. Great video
About halfway through this video I was reminded of Frieren, an anime that also successfully tackles the weight of time and what it means to be remembered and/or forgotten. Although it's more in a character-focused sense than a worldbuilding one. A great watch nonetheless.
Honestly you've really boiled down why I love the setting of Final Fantasy XIV so much. The world of Hydaelyn is filled to the brim with destroyed ancient civilizations built on top of each other, each of which found and modified structures and artifacts from the civilizations that came before in a long game of telephone to produce the setting we see "today". Every time a new expansion or patch comes out and we learn about new ways in which this occurred, I scream in surprise and confusion. It's awesome.
18:00
We just got an extended cut on *Earth's World Building!* Lets goooo!
It's a very intriguing place, Would love to check its lore out one day.
Hope we get more updates on the planet.
Ugh, it's so overrated. Half of it feels like the writers just wanted some cool big empire to rule half the world and then came up with excuses to make it happen, without any regard for previous lore. We have so much lore on the Romans and how they slowly and meticulously carved out their slice of the world, but then there's something like the Mongol and the Brits who build far, far bigger empires over no time at all. Like come on, the Chinese built that whole wall and they're just going to bypass it and conquer all of China on horseback in a few years? Give me a break...
This is probably the most hauntingly beautiful video I've seen on TH-cam. Well done. Will be saving to steal ideas for my own stories...
Babe, wake up, it's time to get an existential crisis 😂
WHY ARE YOU IN MY BED- oh sweet curious archive
As if it ain't looming iver all of us all the time😂
This existance's just surviving and surviving ISN'T living...
Yippee
Me next me next!!
@@Failure023
one day all will decay into nothing.
Stars formation will cease, all stars will slowly evaporate.
And one day, even black holes will evaporate and die.
At which point nothing will ever happen again…
Unless…
Please keep doing what you’re doing here. This is by far one of the best channels on TH-cam.
14:38 Lol, this part was a bit ironic. The Forerunners built the Halos not out of hubris, but a humble desperation. They KNEW they were going to lose, they admitted it. They just wanted to leave a galaxy for someone ELSE to live within... though funnily enough it was their own descendants who reclaimed parts of the galaxy.
In the lore, the only reason the Flood ever became a problem is because they stole the Mantle of Responsibility, believing they were more worthy of it. And then, their hubris almost cost the galaxy a second infection by keeping specimens because they still thought it could be cured through more conventional means.
Your videos are some of my favorites, you touch on subjects I think about a lot and love and look at things in a way I didn't think of.
Keep doing what you do man, it's refreshing.
I've been struggling with some major losses/changes in my life today, but this video was strangely comforting
"i was a good 20 hours into elden ring when i realized i needed to go bury a sandwich in the woods" is a strong contender for best opening line in a video essay ever
"ew that's gross, i didn't know what i was expecting" LMAO! love the super deep analytics then the hit of just being human for a second.
I love your Videos
Man, he must have never looked into Warhammer 40K.
It’s *the* defining setting of rot and decay for all factions besides The Tau.
But seriously, if you’re into this kind of stuff you really need to do yourself a favor and look at Dishonored, Warhammer, and Fallout _(especially_ New Vegas).
I've been interested in Warhammer 40k since algorithm just keeps spamming me the lore short videos, but isn't that just a game (for which the pc I can't afford yet)
Or is there a book like novel or comic about it too. If yes then where can I read it
@@talalabid2360 oh buddy, do I have news for you.
Warhammer 40,000 was made in like the 70’s or 80’s as a table top RPG (TTRPG) in the same heritage as D&D or Pathfinder, but by the Game’s Workshop company.
It’s been somewhat popular since it was introduced, but with the release of 10th edition last year, Henry Cavil announcing his Warhammer show, and Space Marine 2 releasing this year it’s been rather popular in the mainstream too.
There are dozens of video games, hundreds of novels, 10 editions of the tabletop wargame, and multiple TTRPGs, that are all Warhammer.
--
Now, that’s rather overwhelming, so let me make some recommendations.
If you like boomer shooters, try Boltgun, it’s a solid game.
Total war, Warhammer is an RTS video game as well.
For books, The Infinite and the Divine is a solid option. But there’s books of almost every genre in Warhammer’s library, so you might have a more preferred starter choice.
I would recommend you see if there’s a Warhammer official store nearby, they’d be thrilled to introduce you to the hobby properly.
But if not, ask a local card shop or miniatures store about Warhammer.
@@talalabid2360 WH40k started as a tabletop wargame, but it has evolved into a huge universe with a lot of supplementary material, mostly books and video games. Space Marine 2 is the one with the most hype right now, and it does require a good PC, but there are many excellent older entries which can run on computers which are potatoes by current standards.
40K is its own creature, even though it has similar elements, the Imperium still exists, weakened and worn out but still alive, they have the machines and equipment, they are more the symbol of stagnation and regression, than rot and decay
This is what people think until they find out that modern taus are descendants of the Necrontyr
One of the mouldy-est settings I've ever played in is definitely Final Fantasy XIV. Our calendar ages are measured in "years since last catastrophe" and "years since we last rebuilt". And most of the NEW catastrophes we avert are really just an old buried one someone dug up. The past is constantly trying to claw out of it's grave and make itself present, old life trying to feed on the new one for fear of death.
I also recommend the Broken Empire trilogy from Mark Lawrence for enjoyers of post-post-apocalypse. I won't spoil too much, just be aware that the subject matter is often very dark.
man I'm spanish and this videos always give me goosebumps, great work love it
This reminds me a lot of Caves of Qud! One of my favorite things the game does is generate a series of “sultans” of the region who ruled for thousands of years after an inscrutable event separated the world from the rest of the galaxy. A good part of the game consist of delving into these ruins, seeking otherworldly treasures once used by these Sultans and battling the groups who worship these long dead aristocrats. One of my other favorite things in the lore are the Mechanimists, a religion that worship artifacts as gifts from the divine, and as an ineffable part of the world rather than something artificial.
It’s such a unique feeling watching through one of your videos and recognizing nearly every song played in the background
Among my favorite ideas of forgotten, rotting yet life filled worlds is in "Made in Abyss".
A civilization of people creating a city, surrounding an almost infinitly deep abyss. Travelers & scavengers who dig deep into it find fauna, land, lost civilizations, relics and artifacts of ancient past.
Though digging too deep provides drastic & fatal consiquences. Each layer of the abyss give humans a curse. Top layers provide temporary curses like vomiting or bleeding. But far deeper layers give horrific, de-humanizing curses.
And the farther down one goes, the more questions and horrors you may find.
The best part of the danger of the Abyss is that while the flora and fauna are in and of themselves dangerous, the biggest danger only hits you once you ASCEND. The abyss is like a giant fish trap. It'll let you descend as far as you want, but once you hit a certain threshold, return becomes impossible. It's like an even more horrifying, magical decompression sickness. Even ascending just a few meters will hit you with the curse, and then it's over. You're trapped in an eternal downward spiral and there is no way to go but deeper into the belly of the beast.
Like the Voyager probes, hurtling through space until eventually its circuits and solarsails will give out, those who push the boundaries of the Abyss will never see the surface again.
And YET, humans are undeterred. Our human curiosity, our need to push boundaries, to chart uncharted lands, to boldly go where no man has gone before is so overpowering that even so - KNOWING it will be the death of them - humanity pushes onward. And the Abyss will gladly swallow them all.
When the Abyss stared into their hearts, humanity stared back in defiance.
An example i love of this concept is the anime "Made in Abyss". The sheer mistery evoking of the abyss is so cool.
Would you consider Shadow of the Colossus' world a "moldy" world. I guess I'd personally consider it a "dormant" world. A world that has already completed its existence and has failed to join its citizens and society in oblivion
I was thinking about this throughout the video. Glad someone else was too! I'd say it is a 'moldy' world. Think of Wander's degradation the longer he interacts with it, or slays the Colossi. The black ichor. The fruit that gives him strength, or the 'bad' fruit that takes it away in the secret garden, possibly making him more human after ingesting fruit that gave a cursed gift. Also, it has been closed off from the rest of the world, like a prison, the weather grinding down the previous kingdoms, and verdant growth and nature itself decomposing any leftover signs of civilisation.
I love when youtube puts the most amazing video essay you've ever seen randomly in your recommended feed once in a while
Can't help but think about how post-humans must've felt in All Tomorrows. It sounds like a good, if strange, example of such moldy world.
Pretty sure the qu would have tried turning a human into sentiment mold too lol
So much hype for the 2025 hardback release
I don't quite remember, but I believe in the books it was more realistic. The metal from the swords would most certainly not be melted but reworked. Melting would ruin the metal. All working of the metal would have to be started from scratch.
An interesting "moldy" setting is Turnip 28, where a rooty growth has mutated everything, with the mutant humans imitating the napolionic regiments of the past without a real understanding of what they are copying.
0:39 the rot consumes
Rain World
The rot consumes
the rot consumes
My favorite channel returned. The prophecy is true.
If anyone wants to watch some incredible deep dives into the archaeological world building of Elden Ring after this, I cannot recommend The Tarnished Archaeologist’s channel enough.
Not mentioning the rotten vale from monster hunter was a crazy oversight
The Monster Hunter setting as a whole honestly. There's many cases of overgrown and forgotten ruins in the world.
IDK about the Rotting Vale but anything from the Schrade Kingdom would've worked.
Exactly this. I’ve started subconsciously accepting ruined structures as just part of any given map because of Monster Hunter, and the Rotten Vale is quite literally built on and of the remains of what once was.
I've probably said this before, ill say it again, please don't ever stop marking videos like these or whatever comes to your mind.... Its a treat to watch your videos.... Thanks!
I was surprised not to see Kenshi included here. That world is built on all of the mold and rust of thousands of years and the denizens have made their home and culture through it.
So happy youre on nebula. Your videos walk a lively fine line between the artistic, dreadful and inspiring.
Shout out to mycanoid players
I love that you use the term post-post apocalypse. It's what I use to describe the common denominator of most of my favorite media. It's no surprise that my professional life is the library and information science field. I've worked in archives, special collections, and museums cataloguing and preserving history and bits of information in attempts to keep them from disappearing. Working with mostly ignored artifacts and pieces of information is very much like interacting with one of these decaying worlds--you discover all sorts of information people have forgotten that helps reveal something about the world you're living in now. Libraries, museums, archives, and special collections are sometimes called "memory institutions" by those in the field. In many ways, we're the ones trying to slow the natural rot of time.
This may get lost in the comments, but I can't stress enough how much this kind of layered world building applies to Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series.
Steven worked as an archeologist and it comes through in the many layers and epochs of the Malazan world, with gods and beings so ancient, their names have been linguistically altered by different cultures, or forgotten entirely. There are hundreds of thousands of years between some events in the story, with untold millennia reaching back even further, but there is also growth as people discover and rediscover new technologies or access to magic. The shifting of power, and the countless fallen are big themes in the series, and it was the first thing I thought of when your were describing this decaying feeling in world building.
What I came here to mention. The author's background is not only evident in the world-building, but also in how he presents it to the reader: Revealing incomplete information out of order and in dubious contexts, assuming the reader has competence to unearth and piece together the potsherds for themselves.
The beginning already gave me goosebumps like no worldbuilding videos have yet!
Even though you never mentioned it, I think World of Warcraft fits this very well. Maybe they don't have rot and decay in every zone, but it's very common, as are ancient ruins and other evidence of predecessor civilizations.
Nah much better examples wow is bottom of the barrel
@@Versosurma That is your ignorant opinion.
@@MatthewTheWanderer i dont see anything being ignorant about it when there is so many other games that actually are build from premise of fallen world that is essential in plot and world building. But wow like how? Cant see any reason how wow should rise above them
@@Versosurma None of what you just said made any kind of sense at all, lol. Please STFU and go away, you ignorant jerk.
This is my favorite channel too watch for inspiration for my writing. I have learend so many various things and I enjoy the format. It helps me make my stories many times better.
Love your content
I’m honestly surprise to see Scorn not be mentioned here once, as it is still the perfect embodiment of the concept he’s talking about
13:11 Leaving this comment so that I come back to this quote.
Its an awesome quote
Yes
Early this week my role play group got introduced to the game Wildsea which is about about a world where Earth experienced an event called The Verdancy where a massive world spanning forest overtook everything, destroying most of civilization and forcing the survivors to leave in the now massive tree tops. A big part of the world building is that civilization survives on scavenging, and repurposing old ruins, and surviving land masses from the old world. Seeing this video has given me a new wave of inspiration for possible characters thank you so much for this!
A picture speaks a thousand words, but a ruin speaks a thousand years
Earth's moldy worldbuilding has always been endlessly fascinating to me. Seeing ruins for the first time in Ireland was life changing.
I swear I had a 3 page long YT script on mushroom worlds in my google drive 😂 oh dear, oh no!
Time to learn from the master.
If your vids are as good as this I have to check out your stuff after this one. I saw a Kiki’s delivery service one, will report back later
@epsi11i0n I can't possibly claim to be as good as curious archive, but I do claim to be inspired by their work :)
@ the only thing that you are missing is the production value that having more money to put into the video causes. You are doing great work
@epsi11i0n hey thank you! Thank you so much
One interesting aspect that comes to mind is that, since a world being moldy is the realistic way for it to be, the sheer and utter absence of any sort of mold can be unsettling in its own way. A world that is pristine, shiny and unblemished feels... wrong. Whether it's used deliberately to send a message or just to create a vibe.
0:03 It’s amazing how long Elden Ring has managed to stay relevant even though it was released all the way back in 2011, before even Bloodborne!
I was so psyched to see a clip from Sable included in this vid 😊 It’s one of my favorite post-apocalyptic story, and I won’t spoil the lore but it’s incredible how a necessity can turn into something of such big cultural significance that the original purpose is lost to time. I’d highly recommend playing through the game and completing the quests with the ruins of the spaceships.
Not talking about hollow knight here is crazy.
Honestly this is one of your best Videos yet, even though I’ve only watched the first minute when writing this, videos like this were you find a commen theme throughout different Media and manage to pick out the nuanced underlying Story from Said theme are awesome and we need more of them from you!
catching a CA video released 5 minutes ago?? that's a new one.
Every time I watch one of your videos I get this… cozy kind of feeling. I always settle in to bed knowing it’s gonna be great. Thank you for your work!
THE GOAT HAS POSTED!!
well-written script, great music choice, and thought provoking commentary that re-contextualises the concept of ancient civilizations within videogames. great video
Everytime you upload it's like a mini-christmas for me
So eloquently narrated, this is an epic story within itself. Masterpiece.
11:28 i think this channels too advanced for me
😂😂 "irrevocably funerary" i think this means "an undying respect and reverence of the dead" or something like that. Hope I was able to assist you, big homie ❤
It actually means “relating to the precession of death in a way that cannot be argued against.” 👍👍