Well firstly, I wouldn't reduce it to tribal societies, that's going a bit far, just mass enslavement. Also, you need to explain the exact advantages of psionic potential, does it give better endurance, higher intelligence, why is humanity so crippled if these people are removed?
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They're not crippled by that; They're crippled by an End of the World as We Know It.
edited 14th Oct '10 11:10:27 AM by Yej
Da Rules excuse all the inaccuracy in the world. Listen to them, not me.
I've had this discussion a few times before I think, any event that knocks us back to the stone age is going to virtually destroy us since we are now living well beyond our means. Also the enemy is going to focus on population centres right? But just remember that guns don't necessarily need to be produced in factories
, so I suspect that we'll still be able to put up some resistance to the invaders even centuries afterwards, provided their intention is only to enslave rather than eradicate.
If it's only 200 years then humanity should still remember a most stuff. Battlefield Earth was 1000's (which brought up other problems).
So the low level of technology and knowledge should be sttributed to the aliens enforcing various rules.
And they need a reason to invade Earth. If you can sort out a good reason then you should be able to work out what exactly their goal is with the humans. Slow extermination? Slaves? (Why don't the aliens have robots or something) Replenishing the aliens numbers? Maybe the aliens don't have psionics and so they are using humans as living weapons or slaves?
Also known as Katz
You need a stronger unique element (or really good execution) to make this your own, since it's a pretty standard assemblage of common elements. Tropes Are Not Bad, of course, but you need to make yours stand out.
Eventua
Hmm... right then.
1) Psionic potential isn't very important unless its 'unlocked', which only happens under moments of extreme emotional pressure and stress (either that, or achieving a sort of nirvana like state). Once it is unlocked, however, it enables things such as telepathy, telekinesis, enhanced memory and intelligence etc... quite a lot, really.
2) Humanity is crippled from a mixture of being reduced to slaves, kept with minimal technology beyond stone age levels, as well as the presence of genetically engineered 'monsters' left to wander different areas. Lastly, regular & intensive visits from the 'Angels' (usually) results in both untrained psionics being taken and resistence plots being foiled.
3) Lastly, the 'Gods' are what remains of a dieing species that feeds on psionic energy: by reducing humans to superstitious tribesmen and making them live in fear, they get stronger... however, they're also hiding. They were at war with another race, stronger still, which attempted to purge them, and what's left of them are hiding on Earth.
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The problem with reducing humans to stone-age technology is that the world can only support a few hundred million, so if they're any sort of food there'll be a lot less of them. What you want to do is keep humans at the same technology level, but control an important part of the infrastructure, like say the electrical grid, and not allow the humans any sort of alternative to using it, like banning all other forms of energy generation, so although there'll be a lot more of them around, but they can't possibly rebel because if they do you can just destroy them.
edited 14th Oct '10 2:38:26 PM by MattII
Unless they're in the stone age and the aliens dump food on the huamns, so any rebellion will quickly be followed by mass starvation.
Sound's good. I don't think there needs to be billions of humans, so living in villages seems fine.
I think the real hard part will be writing the main character's realisation that something is wrong well. You could write it so that instead of the usual, "They're not gods they're just aliens!" you could write it so the characters NEVER realise that they're fighting aliens. Could be interesting. Or maybe there is a 'human rights' group that free the protagonist and intend to use him as a pawn for their plans to free the humans yet will probably cause his death so it can be an 'example' of what's wrong with the situation.
Just don't have the aliens think of the humans as animals please. They can be considered vastly inferior but not animals.
Unless they're in the stone age and the aliens dump food on the huamns, so any rebellion will quickly be followed by mass starvation.edited 14th Oct '10 4:04:32 PM by MattII
You can have a lot more people just with food and no plumbing. Not 6 billion but certainly quite enough for any story purpose. The larger problem is disincentives on progressing technologically.
Sure, if you spread them out, but you still have to grow the food somewhere. Come to think of it, that might not actually be such a bad idea after all, force the people to work the land virtually by hand, and just provide all the tools, fertilisers, medicines etc. That also solves the technology issue, since you're providing everything except labour, they can't possibly do much about it.
I was thinking food grown offworld, but anyway that works too.
So, why are the humans kept alive. What do the aliens want? Is this discovery part of the plot or do you have an open idea for it?
Set 200 years After the End, mankind was reduced to nothing more than a bunch of primitive tribal type people after an alien race invaded the Earth, their technological might so great as to bring the Human race to its knees in a matter of days. The remaining humans are viewed as an expendable, weak species.
Essentially, an attempt to make Battlefield Earth, So Cool Its Awesome (or at the very least, So Okay, It's Average), as well as at least vaguely plausible and interesting overall. Rather, than, ya know, utter garbage.
Basically, the humans stay in their own simple communities, kept superstitious and weak through an ingenius method: humans with a lot of (admittedly locked) psionic potential are forcibly taken by the 'Gods', trained, brainwashed and modified to turn them into 'Angels'.
Suggestions? Ideas?
My new account at: Eventua