For reasons long forgotten, two mighty warrior tribes went to war and touched off a blaze which engulfed them all. Without fuel, they were nothing. They built a house of straw. The thundering machines sputtered and stopped. Their leaders talked and talked and talked. But nothing could stem the avalanche. Their world crumbled. The cities exploded. A whirlwind of looting, a firestorm of fear. Men began to feed on men. On the roads it was a white line nightmare. Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice. And in this maelstrom of decay, ordinary men were battered and smashed.
— The Narrator, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
But the princes, putting the words of their wise men to naught, thought each to himself: If I but strike quickly enough, and in secret, I shall destroy those others in their sleep, and there will be none to fight back; the earth shall be mine. Such was the folly of princes, and there followed the Flame Deluge.
—Walter M. Miller, Jr., A Canticle for Leibowitz
In ancient times, men built wonders, laid claim to the stars and sought to better themselves for the good of all. But we are much wiser now.
— Archmagos Ultima Cryol - "Speculations On Pre-Imperial History", Warhammer 40,000
I remember stories of a glorious civilization...Of cities with spires that reached the sun...Of a blue planet with vast seas...Of people with myths of humanity everlasting...Of children who saw, in the embers of dying stars, the destiny of their race...And they hurled themselves into the void of space with no fear.
— Opening Narration, Freespace 2
Ours was a proud people, and always the strongest. For thousands of years our empire expanded. For so long, we could imagine ourselves alone in the universe. For so long, never did we encounter advanced life. And we traveled faster and farther, spreading in our galaxy. And before long we could see the day when our reachable systems would have been exploited, and then there would be nowhere else to go. And we discovered Subspace. It gave us our galaxy, and it gave us the universe. And we saw other advanced life. And we subdued it or we crushed it. In months, the elimination of billions of years of evolution, on a similar but slower path. With Subspace, our empire would surely know no boundaries.
— The Ancients, Descent: Freespace
And so is the Golden City blackened
With each step you take in my Hall.
Marvel at perfection, for it is fleeting.
You have brought Sin to Heaven
And doom upon all the world.
With each step you take in my Hall.
Marvel at perfection, for it is fleeting.
You have brought Sin to Heaven
And doom upon all the world.
— Canticle of Threnodies 8:13, Dragon Age: Origins
Warning after warning, still they took no heed
Thoughts only of the power, ideology and greed
Thoughts only of the power, ideology and greed
— Pagan Altar, "Aftermath"
We wonder, and some Hunter may express
Wonder like ours, when thro' the wilderness
Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chace
He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess
What powerful but unrecorded race
Once dwelt in that annihilated place
Wonder like ours, when thro' the wilderness
Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chace
He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess
What powerful but unrecorded race
Once dwelt in that annihilated place
— Horace Smith, "Ozymandias"
"This is but one of the legends of which the people speak...
"Long ago, there existed a kingdom where a golden power lay hidden. It was a prosperous land blessed with green forests, tall mountains, and peace. But one day, a man of great evil found the golden power and took it for himself. With its strength at his command, he spread darkness across the kingdom.
"But then, when all hope had died, and the hour of doom seemed at hand... a young boy clothed in green appeared as if from nowhere. Wielding the blade of evil's bane, he sealed the dark one away and gave the land light. This boy, who traveled through time to save the land, was known as the Hero of Time. The boy's tale was passed down through generations until it became legend...
"But then... a day came when a fell wind began to blow across the kingdom. The great evil that all thought had been forever sealed by the hero... once again crept forth from the depths of the earth eager to resume its dark designs. The people believed that the Hero of Time would again come to save them... But the hero did not appear. Faced by an onslaught of evil, the people could do nothing but appeal to the gods. In their last hours, as doom drew nigh, they left their future in the hands of fate.
"What became of that kingdom? None remain who know.
"The memory of the kingdom vanished, but its legend survived on the wind's breath. On a certain island, it became customary to garb boys in green when they came of age. Clothed in the green of fields, they aspired to find heroic blades and cast down evil. The elders wished only for the youths to know courage like the hero of legend..."
"Long ago, there existed a kingdom where a golden power lay hidden. It was a prosperous land blessed with green forests, tall mountains, and peace. But one day, a man of great evil found the golden power and took it for himself. With its strength at his command, he spread darkness across the kingdom.
"But then, when all hope had died, and the hour of doom seemed at hand... a young boy clothed in green appeared as if from nowhere. Wielding the blade of evil's bane, he sealed the dark one away and gave the land light. This boy, who traveled through time to save the land, was known as the Hero of Time. The boy's tale was passed down through generations until it became legend...
"But then... a day came when a fell wind began to blow across the kingdom. The great evil that all thought had been forever sealed by the hero... once again crept forth from the depths of the earth eager to resume its dark designs. The people believed that the Hero of Time would again come to save them... But the hero did not appear. Faced by an onslaught of evil, the people could do nothing but appeal to the gods. In their last hours, as doom drew nigh, they left their future in the hands of fate.
"What became of that kingdom? None remain who know.
"The memory of the kingdom vanished, but its legend survived on the wind's breath. On a certain island, it became customary to garb boys in green when they came of age. Clothed in the green of fields, they aspired to find heroic blades and cast down evil. The elders wished only for the youths to know courage like the hero of legend..."
— Intro narration for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
