Wushu Skidoo

He hits the city like a pile driver. It buckles under his weight, gives way in a tsunami of stone and soil. The shockwave strips buildings of their iridescent flesh, then crushes them to powder. It boils the lakes and blows them out like candles. His halo of ash blots out the sun.

The angel spreads his wings and rises from the crater to marvel at the grandeur of his work, but the ruins are already dissolving. Their matter flows in great rivers, rises in tendrils of gray ooze, and reforms itself into an army of Titans. Their eyes flash with thunderbolts.

One of them steps forward. "I moved the survivors underground, dipshit. A kid with a telescope could've seen you comin'."

"Wasn't it marvelous?" the angel replies. "The humans will die, claviger. We'll all die and this planet will go on without us. I'm here to revel in this glorious existence while I have it! There is nothing but this moment and beauty is the only truth!"

This December's article is all about endings: the end of the year, the end of the world, and the end of this column. I've been writing for RPG.net since 2001, but now I need to spend more time with my prose and non-fiction. You can follow the former on my blog, An Excess of Brevity. Whatever I write, it'll end up at DanielBayn.com.

The End

The Bible said no one would know the day or the hour, but we all saw it coming. Too many people, not enough of anything else. War was the only answer, but we'd become too good at it. We improved and refined our weapons until a single soldier could wipe out an entire city. We called them "clavigers" and, for a while, they kept the peace.

What we thought was a fail safe turned out to be a lit fuse.

When war finally erupted, it flowed over all the world in a single day. Nuclear blasts, biological weapons, orbital bombardment, nanotech swarms... Mankind had invented a thousand ways to exterminate itself and the clavigers used them all.

Now, only a few thousand lives cling to this barren rock. Extinction is inevitable. The clavigers have come to terms with it through a new philosophy, one that finds beauty in nihilism and exalts it above all other virtues. They live only to destroy each other in magnificent conflagrations. They believe it is the last, best, and only thing left to do upon this earth.

Clavigers

There are dissenters, of course. Some clavigers are still trying to protect their civilians, those who remain, either out of duty or because they think the species can recover. Others are just out to settle old scores. A few have lost their grip on reality, mad godlings run amok.

Give your death machine a motivation and rate it 5. This is their top Trait. Next, name their particular brand of doomsday tech and rate it 4. Their last Trait, rated 3, should be something social or intellectual, for those rare times when they're not trying to obliterate anything. Finally, give your Claviger a weakness. It could be a kill switch built in by their makers or an emotional scar left by war, anything that an opponent can use against them. (This is more important for Nemeses than for PCs, especially if you're just running a one-shot.)

Morningstar

5 - Die in a cataclysm of beautiful violence!
4 - Impervious force field & energy weapon.
3 - Charismatic Leader.
1 - Batteries (even a full charge only lasts 15-20 min.)

Morningstar volunteered to become a claviger so he could serve God and protect his people. His force field wasn't designed to look like an angel's wings, but he took the resemblance as a sign. When Armageddon came, however, he failed his mission and lost his faith. Now, he has a new religion and a new crusade, to give this world the Last Rites it deserves.

The Grey Goo

5 - Prevent humanity's extinction!
4 - Nanotech Swarm
3 - Field Medic
1 - Respects human life.

Mankind's last, best hope may be a living city. This claviger controls a nanotech swarm that can rapidly assimilate most building materials: stone, steel, cement, etc. He can mold structures, build machines, and tear it all down with a thought. He has placed an enclave of human survivors under his protection.

Dagon's Eye

5 - Punish the Guilty!
4 - Weather Control
3 - Manhunter
1 - Powerless over land.

Apparently created by a Bond villain, this claviger is part of an atmospheric control system that lets him generate a massive low-pressure pocket around himself. In other words, he's the Eye of his own Hurricane. (Also, he can fly, 'cuz why not?) He visits nature's wrath upon those he considers responsible for Armageddon.

Father of Lies

5 - Ultimate fight promoter!
4 - False Sensor Telemetry
3 - Espionage
1 - Can't fight for reals.

This claviger isn't really a weapon; he's a counter-intelligence system. His nanotech array and network of spy satellites can create illusions to fool the eyes, ears, and scintillation detector assemblies. Father wants to make sure earth's last battle is also its most spectacular, so he's been tricking the weaker clavigers into killing each other. When confronted directly, he'll send an army of illusions to do his fighting for him.

Pestilence

5 - Be the last beholder!
4 - Parasite Swarm
3 - Military tactics, vehicles, & weapons.
1 - Self-esteem issues, to say the least.

Swarms of synthetic, flying parasites spawn continually from his bloated body. They attach themselves to their host's peripheral nervous system; Pestilence can't control your thoughts, but he can make you say or do whatever he wants. When he is the only free-willed being on this planet, beauty will be whatever he wants it to be.

Pick Me Ups

Morningstar's a cheater. He's hijacked the solar collector that once powered all of Japan and it's energy beam has made him unstoppable. He can only be defeated once someone ascends the abandoned space elevator in the Pacific, spacewalks to the solar collector, and destroys it. That'll rocket you to the top of Morningstar's hit list, but you might just stand a chance.

Survivors in Asia are congregating in a secure facility deep beneath the Himalayas and the Grey Goo wants to take his enclave there from southern India. Defend them against successive attacks by Morningstar (spoiling for a fight), Dagon's Eye (blames Goo for Armageddon), Pestilence (wants to assimilate the enclave), and any other lunatic mass murderers you want to throw at them.

In Grand Emmerich style, here's a list of past and future landmarks to destroy:

• The Taj Mahal, conveniently on the Grey Goo's route to Tibet.
• The Pacific space elevator. (Tear it outta the sky & lash Japan!)
• New Mu, a floating city built from decommissioned aircraft carriers.
• American's East Coast Megalopolis: Washington, New York, etc.
• Varanasi, the highest concentration of temples in the world.
• The abandoned ruins of Old Dubai!

Next Up: Grab your copy of Wushu and go play!