Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Terminally Dependent Society

 Terminally Dependent Society
type
FeatureClass
 Terminally Dependent Society
label
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society
page
TerminallyDependentSociety
 Terminally Dependent Society
comment
An entire ship, city, society, planet or galaxy that depends on a single piece of Applied Phlebotinum to survive. This piece of phlebotinum can take any form: It may be the fuel for power generation or Faster-Than-Light Travel, a single all-purpose crop plant or breed of livestock, a Master Computernote Or The Internet that sees all and plans everyone's day, a Hive Queen or Fisher King keeping the subjects in a Lotus-Eater Machine, a Genius Loci that maintains a Ghibli Hills Utopia, or a spiritual source of life. Or maybe it's just magically linked to every citizen, or to the land itself. In any case, no one can imagine living without it... or literally live without it. It may or may not be sentient, but the point is it's grown completely beyond the control of the people. Even in those cases where it's originally man-made.
Then it breaks down. Or disappears. Or becomes sentient and decides to Kill All Humans, play games with them, or worse, smother them with love. Or it absorbs all lifeforms into itself and becomes a God. And everyone who depended on it is now doomed. The technology that was used before the machine was invented has long since been forgotten, or the dying life source makes the citizens magically ill, or it's simply grown too strong and humanity has become too weak to fight back. This is especially common when the Phlebotinum is Powered by a Forsaken Child.
Being doomed isn't always a bad thing, though. Maybe the society simply Ascends to a Higher Plane of Existence, or discover The End of the World as We Know It means their world has simply changed, not ended. They can survive just fine by giving up the wanton hedonism of their old existence. Of course, it may turn into an Inferred Holocaust if no one knows how to plow a field. Or maybe the good guys can use the energy source to conquer all the bad guys who depend on it.
Fantasy and science fiction like to use the Terminally Dependent Society in conjunction with a Fantastic Aesop about the dangers in abusing Aesoptinum. This is often paired by having it created by foolishly enthusiastic scientist; you can expect its noxious properties to manifest quickly. Interestingly, a Mad Scientist who designs a dependence-causing device in order to take over the world will have it break down/addict him/escape his control as punishment for his pride.
In sci-fi, these days it's almost always a metaphor for the internet (especially in cyberpunk); or in older works, for computers in general (which, up until the 80's, it was generally assumed would always remain centralized and few in number). Electrical power and fossil fuels are other good candidates. In fantasy, it's generally a metaphor for limited fossil fuel. Generally, these aesops lead to No Blood for Phlebotinum. Expect two or three characters to escape and become the new Adam and Eve. Mind the inbreeding.
A lot of sci-fi stories predicted the internet, and many of them describe a society completely depending on it. One of the earliest is from 1909note linked in the literature examples below. There's probably earlier ones out there, but in any case, this trope is Older Than Television.
In horror stories, it can close every door, remove air supplies wherever it wants, create monsters or hallucinations, and it probably looks like a humanoid Eldritch Abomination spouting existentialist Author Filibuster once the heroes finally destroy it.
See also: No Ontological Inertia, Bee People, Keystone Army, Cosmic Keystone, The Magic Goes Away, Multipurpose Monocultured Crop. When people think that the object in question can save them from some kind of disaster, it becomes a Chemical Messiah. Creating this set up is a common means for an Evil Overlord to try and seize power. Or the creator/controlled uses it to seize power.
 Terminally Dependent Society
fetched
2024-03-19T07:16:24Z
 Terminally Dependent Society
parsed
2024-03-19T07:16:24Z
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to AbusivePrecursors: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to AfterTheEnd: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to AlternateUniverse: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to AppliedPhlebotinum: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to ArtificialIntelligence: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to CassandraTruth: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to ColonyDrop: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to CripplingOverspecialization: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to DeathByChildbirth: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to EndOfAnEra: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to EternalEngine: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to FasterThanLightTravel: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to JobStealingRobot: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to MagicalGirlWarrior: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to Magitek: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to MasterComputer: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to MineralMacGuffin: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to MoneyDearBoy: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to MultipurposeMonoculturedCrop: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to MustHaveCaffeine: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to Precursors: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to SpaceJews: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to StarWars: Not an Item - CAT
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to SuperSerum: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to TechTree: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to TheEeyore: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to TheMagocracy: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingComment
Dropped link to frombadtoworse: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingUnknown
EndOfAnEra
 Terminally Dependent Society
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_104b5e68
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_104b5e68
comment
The Pendragon Adventure: In the end of The Reality Bug, the people of Veelox cannot function without the Lifelight pyramid, a virtual fantasy program.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_104b5e68
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_104b5e68
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Pendragon Adventure
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_104b5e68
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_10d303a2
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_10d303a2
comment
In Shin Megami Tensei IV, the Ashura-kai use Red Pills to satisfy the demons' hunger. If it were not for that, the demons would go after humans instead. Then it turns out the pills' active ingredient is neurotransmitters that are extracted from human brains. Forcibly. So it's either extract human brains to feed demons, leaving the affected humans brain-dead, or the demons go after humans themselves!
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_10d303a2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_10d303a2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Shin Megami Tensei IV (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_10d303a2
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_12ba6e90
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_12ba6e90
comment
Vampire Apocalypse: The Series has vampires relating to human beings this way. It's also a metaphor for humanity's relationship with oil, which resulted in the whole situation.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_12ba6e90
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_12ba6e90
featureConfidence
1.0
 Vampire Apocalypse: The Series
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_12ba6e90
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_14504d82
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_14504d82
comment
In Collar 6, nearly all technology works on Magitek, which requires people to be extremely in-tune with their souls for it to work. The Big Bad planned to fire an ancient, magical superweapon to forcibly separate everyone from their souls in order to Take Over the World. However, he planned to give them back once everyone proved they could be responsible with them.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_14504d82
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_14504d82
featureConfidence
1.0
 Collar 6 (Webcomic)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_14504d82
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_16fc4335
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_16fc4335
comment
In the Heralds of Valdemar novels, the Eastern Empire has a much higher standard of living than the lands around it (some version of Medieval Stasis) due to widespread use of magic. When the Mage Storms make magic unreliable, it takes some heavy-handed tactics by the Emperor's new Heir to keep society together.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_16fc4335
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_16fc4335
featureConfidence
1.0
 Heralds of Valdemar
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_16fc4335
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_179e4fcf
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_179e4fcf
comment
"The Mayors": Prince Regent Wienis learns that they've become fatally dependent on the Foundation when he tries to conquer Terminus, but the military, along with the planetary population, rise up against him.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_179e4fcf
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_179e4fcf
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Mayors
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_179e4fcf
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_1b5eb3b4
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_1b5eb3b4
comment
Food might seem like a slightly obvious one to mention, but Ankh-Morpork is apparently only a few meals from going hungry even at the best of times. This problem is mostly mitigated in Raising Steam when the advent of the steam engine makes it possible to get fresh food in the city for the first time, while simultaneously causing a population boom in the environs. Another example would be Vetinari's great Undertaking, a plan to upgrade the city's infrastructure to run off the perpetual-motion Device that the Watch confiscated from the dark dwarfs in Thud!. The largest dwarf cities already run this way.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_1b5eb3b4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_1b5eb3b4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Raising Steam
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_1b5eb3b4
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_1fca96ce
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_1fca96ce
comment
Magic Knight Rayearth: The Pillar system, the world literally begins to fall apart when the Pillar is lost, only held together by Mage Clef constantly casting a protection spell.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_1fca96ce
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_1fca96ce
featureConfidence
1.0
 Magic Knight Rayearth (Manga)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_1fca96ce
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_213274af
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_213274af
comment
The L'Dira in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Relaunch book The Lives of Dax, whose technology requires a resource their own world has run out of; now, they're wretched Planet Looters.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_213274af
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_213274af
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Relaunch
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_213274af
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2505bdb6
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2505bdb6
comment
"The Feeling of Power": Earth is so dependent on computers that the science of Mathematics has been entirely lost. Instead of paper and pencil, people use their pocket calculators to do even simple maths like single-digit multiplication. The story is driven by the recreation of Mathematics by Technician Aub.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2505bdb6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2505bdb6
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Feeling of Power
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_2505bdb6
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2acb12c5
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2acb12c5
comment
In the X universe, the Commonwealth of Planets relies on a Black Box Portal Network left behind a few million years ago by some precursors for interstellar travel and communications. The gate network has a tendency to shift around from the machinations of the precursors, which screwed over the Teladi who got cut off from their homeworld — the only place where males are born — for a few hundred years, resulting in the vast majority of Teladi today being genetically identical females as unfertilized eggs are essentially clones. When the gate network shuts down ("The Dark") following the apocalyptic Second Terraformer War in X3: Albion Prelude, interstellar civilization ground to an instant stop, with numerous One Product Planets starving to death or succumbing to technological decay. The system of DeVries in X: Rebirth is one such system which depended heavily on food and technology shipments from the Sol system, resulting in mass famine and technological decline, though they have recovered in the thirty years since the shutdown.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2acb12c5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2acb12c5
featureConfidence
1.0
 X (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_2acb12c5
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2b21b24c
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2b21b24c
comment
"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream": The internet/computer system AM ends up becoming a god and destroys humanity.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2b21b24c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2b21b24c
featureConfidence
1.0
 I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_2b21b24c
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2cc4abd9
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2cc4abd9
comment
In Monsters, Inc., the monster city uses human screams as their only power source. At the beginning of the movie, the city is in the middle of an energy crisis (and the titular company, which harvests the screams, is in danger of going under) because human children are getting harder to scare. This is why Waternoose is the Big Bad. He's willing to do anything to keep the company afloat, including kidnapping children to forcibly extract their screams. Fortunately, the energy crisis is solved by the introduction of a new, better energy source: laughter.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2cc4abd9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2cc4abd9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Monsters, Inc.
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_2cc4abd9
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2e833eb
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2e833eb
comment
Fallout: Equestria:
A surprisingly realistic version, considering all the magic of the setting. Equestria was dependent on coal for most of their industry, but Equestria doesn't have any coal deposits, so they had to trade with the zebras who had coal in their lands. When relations broke down with the zebras, the supply of coal was naturally cut off, and a massive war started. Littlepip lampshades that building your nation on the back of something you don't even have is incredibly stupid.
The zebras, on the other hand, needed gems for their Magitek but gem deposits were extremely rare in their homeland, so they had to trade with Equestria that did. Worse, unlike the ponies (who had unicorns who could cast spells), the zebras had no ability to cast spells at all without that Magitek. They had magic potions that could do some pretty incredible things, but they were impractical for wide-scale industrialization.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2e833eb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_2e833eb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Fallout: Equestria (Fanfic)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_2e833eb
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_3119fa0e
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_3119fa0e
comment
In "The Machine Stops", humans in the future depend entirely on the Machine, and almost never leave their apartments where everything they need is provided. Society collapses when the Machine stops and no one has any idea how to fix it.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_3119fa0e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_3119fa0e
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Machine Stops
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_3119fa0e
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_31a48eed
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_31a48eed
comment
The Outer Limits (1995): In "The Haven", people have become incredibly dependent on the artificial intelligence Argus, which controls every aspect of life in the buildings in which it is installed. Many people try to avoid contact with others unless it is absolutely necessary. As a result, normal social interaction is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Considering that its mandate is to promote the health and well-being of the people in its care, Argus deactivates itself in buildings throughout the city so that people will be forced to rely on each other for survival.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_31a48eed
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_31a48eed
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Outer Limits (1995)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_31a48eed
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_324ac40f
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_324ac40f
comment
Union City in Beneath a Steel Sky is completely dependent on the underground LINC computer, and shutting it down would spell disaster. By the sequel, Beyond A Steel Sky, LINC is replaced by the (supposedly) more benevolent Minos, turning a city from a gritty City Noir into a much nicer place. However, not only do the people depend on Minos, but also from the huge amount of consumer goods imported from their "ally", Asio City, which in reality is enslaved to provide for Union City's welfare.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_324ac40f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_324ac40f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Beneath a Steel Sky (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_324ac40f
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_33728d94
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_33728d94
comment
In the Dragaera novels, the loss of the Orb in Adron's Disaster caused the Dragaeran Empire to collapse into anarchy, its government shattered and its populace ravaged by plague, invasion, and catastrophe. Only the return of Zerika from the Paths of the Dead, bearing the re-created Orb, re-started the Cycle and restored sorcery and order to the Empire.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_33728d94
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_33728d94
featureConfidence
1.0
 Dragaera
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_33728d94
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_353b7af3
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_353b7af3
comment
The entire galaxy is shown to satisfy this trope during Star Trek: Discovery's third season, which involves the eponymous ship time-traveling forward into a Used Future where dilithium — the Applied Phlebotinum that allows for controlled matter-antimatter reactions in warp cores and thus makes Faster-Than-Light Travel possible — all suddenly went boom. Like, every single bit of it, everywhere. Every interstellar government has since collapsed, creating a Points of Light Setting that the main characters have to navigate.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_353b7af3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_353b7af3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek: Discovery
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_353b7af3
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_35e05f2a
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_35e05f2a
comment
RWBY:
All of the world's technology runs off a single type of Applied Phlebotinum: Dust, magic-like elemental crystals that do everything from power everyday machines to enhancing ammunition. The World of Remnant video on the subject notes that it's becoming harder to find new Dust deposits, and no one has bothered to research any alternative energy sources because Dust is just so incredibly convenient; even a medieval society can quickly make good use of it. In the show proper, however, references to this are minimal, only mentioning that Dust prices have been going up.
The City of Atlas remains floating above the slums of Mantle entirely due to the Staff of Creation. It has a stock of Gravity Dust that will keep it temporarily in the air before that's used up and begins to fall. There's no discussion about whether the city can be landed safely. However, in a situation where everything has gone wrong, allies have turned against each other and one side obtains the Staff while the other side controls the city, it's impossible for the city to stay in the air. In that kind of scenario, it will crash into the city below it, annihilating both. In Volume 8, the heroes steal the Staff from Ironwood to save Penny, evacuate both cities to Vacuo by magical means, and to keep the Relic out of both Ironwood and Salem's hands. There's just enough time to evacuate everyone before Atlas crashes into Mantle. The impact breaches an inland sea to the north of the kingdom, which floods the region, hiding the ruins of both cities beneath the waves.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_35e05f2a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_35e05f2a
featureConfidence
1.0
 RWBY (Web Animation)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_35e05f2a
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_36ee2abe
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_36ee2abe
comment
The Computer in Paranoia, which was in part inspired by Logan's Run. In one adventure, when The Computer is destroyed, Alpha Complex gets very dark, the air stops circulating, et cetera.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_36ee2abe
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_36ee2abe
featureConfidence
1.0
 Paranoia (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_36ee2abe
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_375e8f14
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_375e8f14
comment
It's revealed in The Last Hero that the Disc requires magic to function. Without magic, the sun would fall on it and the ocean would fall off of it... and that's just the first few minutes.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_375e8f14
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_375e8f14
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Last Hero
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_375e8f14
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_38304f1d
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_38304f1d
comment
In Phantasy Star II, the terraforming on Mota and the carefree lifestyle of its people are dependent on Mother Brain for everything. Three guesses on what happens when the system goes out of control in the game's beginning, and what happens to Motavia in between II and IV.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_38304f1d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_38304f1d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Phantasy Star II (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_38304f1d
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_39fe00f1
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_39fe00f1
comment
The Dragon Age: Inquisition DLC Trespasser reveals that the ancient elves were so dependenit on magic that when Fen'Harel created the Veil, cutting off the Fade (the primary source of magic) from the material world, their civilization collapsed within decades, if not years.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_39fe00f1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_39fe00f1
featureConfidence
1.0
 DragonAgeInquisition
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_39fe00f1
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_3a280f3b
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_3a280f3b
comment
Fate Revelation Online: Diabel realizes that they are entirely reliant on the game [Menu], with the private messages, auto-mapping, HP and MP bars, and so on. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal, since they're inside a video game and there's no reason to suspect that these features will be disabled. But then a patch removes the [Items] tab of player inventories for "realism", and Diabel realizes that if the [Menu] disappears then their entire society will instantly break down. Just to start with, they have no backup system for messaging people, and yet they're spread over dozens of floors and thousands of square miles. Diabel quietly starts a think-tank to look into backup plans just to be safe.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_3a280f3b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_3a280f3b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Fate Revelation Online (Fanfic)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_3a280f3b
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_3bce4381
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_3bce4381
comment
All settlements on the planet Gunsmoke in Trigun are cannibalized from the Generation Ships that brought their inhabitants crashing to the surface, and at their core is a Plant, a piece of Applied Phlebotinum that can produce fresh air, water, and other essential resources that are not readily available naturally on the planet. Several plots throughout the series concern attempts to destroy, disable or plunder the Plants. Moreover, there's no apparent way to make new Plants, and the means to repair them are limited, so the society will give way to attrition eventually without some change in the status quo.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_3bce4381
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_3bce4381
featureConfidence
1.0
 Trigun (Manga)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_3bce4381
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_3defe34c
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_3defe34c
comment
Discussed in Tales of the Questor. Sam lampshades that the Racconans seem to be totally dependent on their lux-tech, but Quentyn retorts that every civilization has certain basic technologies it depends on, and that it would be just as accurate to say that human civilization is "dependent" on iron and fire.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_3defe34c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_3defe34c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Discussed Trope
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_3defe34c
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4407fa9a
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4407fa9a
comment
In Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, the city of Passaj was populated by craftsmen who depended on an Alchemy Is Magic forge built by Advanced Ancient Humans. Furthermore, it worked in conjunction with a magical well in the city of Ayuthay to provide water to the entire region. After The Magic Goes Away, Passaj's economy went into a sharp decline and Ayuthay became surrounded by desert. Once The Magic Comes Back after the events of Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Prince Amiti's father Alex restarted the well prior to the start of the game, with the heroes coming in later to finish the job and repair the forge.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4407fa9a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4407fa9a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_4407fa9a
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4505668c
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4505668c
comment
Mike the computer from The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is a benign example: he helps the heroes plan a revolution, using his surveillance system and his complete control over transport, visual media and government documents. However, he really doesn't care to control people's lives; he mostly wants to talk to his friends and learn the nature of humor. Lampshaded by the main character, a computer technician, who notes that hooking everything (including the entire life support system) up to one source makes a society really vulnerable. However, it was cheaper than doing it right, i.e., redundant backup computers plus manual controls for each individual colony area, and the Lunar Authority is all about doing things cheaply. It's so vital that one point in the book, a woman suggests bombing the central computer to create confusion in which they could start a revolution; the main character physically pushes her back down as she gets up — which in the female-dominated culture of Luna could get him lynched, with no trial — so that he can explain to her how terrible an idea that is. He tells her that he would outright murder her first, if for no other reason than that destroying Mike would almost certainly doom Luna's entire population of three million.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4505668c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4505668c
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_4505668c
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_467c89f7
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_467c89f7
comment
Super Dimension Fortress Macross: The Zentradi fleets depend on a galaxy-wide network of fully automated factory satellites and repair facilities; no Zentradi, even among the Archivists, has any idea how to manufacture or repair any part of their technological infrastructure, and over thousands of years the factories have begun to break down. For example, the Bodol Fleet has lost the ability to make new Glaug officer-model battlepods, and those that remain are hoarded. Another example is that after Max blasts through Britai's viewscreen, it remains broken for the rest of the series.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_467c89f7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_467c89f7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Super Dimension Fortress Macross
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_467c89f7
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_468bebb0
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_468bebb0
comment
Discworld:
Food might seem like a slightly obvious one to mention, but Ankh-Morpork is apparently only a few meals from going hungry even at the best of times. This problem is mostly mitigated in Raising Steam when the advent of the steam engine makes it possible to get fresh food in the city for the first time, while simultaneously causing a population boom in the environs. Another example would be Vetinari's great Undertaking, a plan to upgrade the city's infrastructure to run off the perpetual-motion Device that the Watch confiscated from the dark dwarfs in Thud!. The largest dwarf cities already run this way.
It's revealed in The Last Hero that the Disc requires magic to function. Without magic, the sun would fall on it and the ocean would fall off of it... and that's just the first few minutes.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_468bebb0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_468bebb0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Discworld
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_468bebb0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_49ad83ee
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_49ad83ee
comment
World of Warcraft:
High Elves and Blood Elves are dependent on magical energy, without which they become physically and mentally twisted husks called "Wretched". Night Elves suffer a similar affliction, but their need for magic is supplied by moonwells.
Nightborne are even more extreme as even a few days or even hours without arcwine can cause them devolve into the mindless Withered.
Goblins are somewhat dependent on kaja'mite for their superior intelligence. As the supplies have dwindled and they resort to more diluted forms, goblin society and technology has declined.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_49ad83ee
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_49ad83ee
featureConfidence
1.0
 World of Warcraft (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_49ad83ee
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4a4d7232
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4a4d7232
comment
The entire world of Matrin in The Secret Texts originally ran on enormous magic usage. Things get extremely ugly and deadly when their source gets cut off.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4a4d7232
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4a4d7232
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Secret Texts
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_4a4d7232
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4bcaa9d6
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4bcaa9d6
comment
A recurring plot element in the Triptych Continuum is the fact that Celestia and Princess Luna are the only two sapients (other than the imprisoned Discord) who can interface with MOON and SUN. If both of them die, the world of Menajeria dies with them. Needless to say, this results in quite a lot of people (pony and otherwise) being incredibly paranoid about keeping the Diarchs alive. As pointed out in the Daily Equestria Life with Monster Girl splinter-continuity story, this also applies to MOON and SUN themselves. While the Diarchs can operate them, nobody on Menajeria has the slightest clue how they work or how to repair them if they break.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4bcaa9d6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4bcaa9d6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Triptych Continuum / Fan Fic
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_4bcaa9d6
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4bf9cc7b
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4bf9cc7b
comment
The Emberverse shows that humanity in The '90s (let alone our time) would undergo The End of the World as We Know It without trucking and tractors (other linchpins knocked out by said Change include electricity, explosives and steam power, but internal combustion is the most immediately lethal one).
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4bf9cc7b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4bf9cc7b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Emberverse
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_4bf9cc7b
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4c095a1f
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4c095a1f
comment
The Transformers: Cybertronians are completely dependent on Energon for both their own existence and to operate all their technology. Cybertron began to run out, sparking the Great War, which only accelerated the exhaustion of existing Energon stockpiles. While it's possible to convert other energy sources into Energon, the process is apparently difficult and doesn't provide a lot, so both the Autobots and Decepticons spend a lot of time trying to find more naturally-occurring sources of it.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4c095a1f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4c095a1f
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Transformers
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_4c095a1f
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4e936006
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4e936006
comment
In Myst III: Exile, Saavedro's civilization was completely dependent on the Lattice Tree's good health for survival.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4e936006
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_4e936006
featureConfidence
1.0
 Myst III: Exile (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_4e936006
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_51d757e9
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_51d757e9
comment
The vampires in Daybreakers are a society terminally dependent on blood... and they're just shy of wiping out humanity when the movie starts. Whoops.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_51d757e9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_51d757e9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Daybreakers
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_51d757e9
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_526d4c5c
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_526d4c5c
comment
The Rakata of Knights of the Old Republic built their Infinite Empire using technology and hyperdrives fueled by the Dark Side. When they began to lose their Force sensitivity the Rakata could no longer operate their own machinery and they fell into a savage civil war, reducing them to the sorry state seen in-game.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_526d4c5c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_526d4c5c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Knights of the Old Republic (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_526d4c5c
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_53f9ae8a
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_53f9ae8a
comment
I Woke Up As a Dungeon, Now What?: Everything in this world depends on dungeons to survive. Not only is this world's economy based almost entirely around harvesting and processing resources from dungeons, but dungeons also cycle pure mana back into the environment, and without that mana plants cannot grow and other forms of life are weakened.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_53f9ae8a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_53f9ae8a
featureConfidence
1.0
 I Woke Up As a Dungeon, Now What? (Fanfic)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_53f9ae8a
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_5f71a70b
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_5f71a70b
comment
Xenoblade Chronicles:
The world in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a massive ocean of clouds, and the only livable land is on the continent-sized Titans. Except the Titans are all dying out, and for some reason no new ones are being born. Rex's goal is to find Elysium, the mythical paradise supposedly at the top of the World Tree, so that the brewing resource wars become unnecessary. As it turns out, Praetor Amalthus' "core purification ritual" (which makes it easier for Blades to bond with Drivers) wipes out all their stored data and resets them to zero; this is a problem, because Blades evolve into Titans once they accumulate enough data. Amalthus is well aware that this will lead to the inevitable extinction of all life, but doesn't care. When they find Elysium, it's a dead, empty landscape, far from the answer to all their problems. Thankfully, after speaking with the Architect the Cloud Sea is pulled back, and the surviving Titans join together to create a new Elysium where everyone can live.
Life itself in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. All the soldiers of Keves and Agnus are bound to the Flame Clocks, which require life to fill them. Killing monsters works, but killing enemy soldiers is far better. This leads to a Vicious Cycle where colonies must constantly hunt each other down just to survive. Of course, this is completely intentional on the part of the Consuls, the real force behind the war; they need life energy for their immortality, and skim off the top from the successful colonies. If a Colony's Flame Clock is destroyed, all the soldiers are freed, and they don't need to harvest life energy at all.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_5f71a70b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_5f71a70b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Xenoblade Chronicles (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_5f71a70b
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_611c72dc
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_611c72dc
comment
Star Trek Novel 'Verse:
The L'Dira in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Relaunch book The Lives of Dax, whose technology requires a resource their own world has run out of; now, they're wretched Planet Looters.
In The Nanotech War, everything on the planet Chi is dependent on nanites, to the extent that the Chiar think it pointless to try and use simple tools like hammers, because they no longer know how. Even their libraries are run entirely on nanotech; when the nanites are down, they don't even have instructions for using "primitive" tools, and seem convinced that without instructions they couldn't possibly work it out. On top of that, Chi is equally dependent on slavery; Chiar express confusion as to how the Federation economy can function without a slave caste.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_611c72dc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_611c72dc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek Novel Verse
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_611c72dc
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_62aa95a6
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_62aa95a6
comment
In The Lost Fleet, the eponymous fleet is trapped deep in enemy territory and is utterly dependent on its factory ships. These ships provide the fleet with the fuel cells and ammunition that it needs to travel and fight but they are slow and highly vulnerable to enemy attack. A major factor in any battles the fleet fights is to make sure that the factory ships are always protected.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_62aa95a6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_62aa95a6
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Lost Fleet
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_62aa95a6
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_645d2bd1
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_645d2bd1
comment
Hallendren in Warbreaker is a downplayed example. While Hallendren could survive without the Tears of Edgli, the cheap dyes that can be manufactured from the flowers are the foundation of Hallendren's economic prosperity.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_645d2bd1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_645d2bd1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Warbreaker
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_645d2bd1
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_6ab1b49f
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_6ab1b49f
comment
The universe of the Council Wars series starts out as a near Utopia: Mother controls the planet, though there are a few A.I.s separate from her from long ago wars that fought on the winning side. Everything you could want is available. Everyone has a power allotment from Mother, although one can trade power as currency for various tasks either the A.I.s are unable to do or people prefer not to do (such as certain forms of medicine humans are better at). Most people just play various games or try changes to explore other forms of life. Some people choose to become Merpeople, others to fly. Some people upload to nanites. Something between World of Warcraft and LARP occupies many folks' times. Various historians and folks with interest keep up random hobbies from horticulture to smithing. Some folks even change into dwarves and have fun mining. Then a political argument breaks out because humanity hasn't had any real advances in 500 years and birth rates are so low as to threaten the species. One side, believing humanity has become this trope, decides to overthrow the status quo. The 13 Council members then take all the power upholding the system and fight with it.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_6ab1b49f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_6ab1b49f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Council Wars
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_6ab1b49f
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_6c1d09b1
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_6c1d09b1
comment
The first game starts with the main character being sent out of the Vault to find a new water chip, without which the Vault will run out of clean water. The people behind the Vault project realized how dependent their populations would be on the Vaults' equipment, it's just that in Vault 13's case a shipping error left them with no spare water chips. That's not even touching on how things were worse in the Vaults that were secretly designed as social experiments. One we set up so its equipment would regularly fail, as a stress-test for possible space travel. Even more so for Vault 112, where the residents have been imprisoned in a Lotus-Eater Machine simulation for 200 years and are incapable of survival outside of it.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_6c1d09b1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_6c1d09b1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Fallout (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_6c1d09b1
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_6e1d5f36
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_6e1d5f36
comment
Farscape: The Scarrans must eat regularly a certain flower for their brains to function properly. The ruling caste simply has eaten more of the flower, which enhances their neurodevelopment over the mook warrior caste. Places where this plant, Crystherium Utilia, can grow is limited, and thus is the key limit on the growth of the Scarran empire. Crichton's accidental identification of the plant as 'Bird of Paradise' from Earth is a major Oh, Crap! moment as it makes Earth extremely important.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_6e1d5f36
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_6e1d5f36
featureConfidence
1.0
 Farscape
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_6e1d5f36
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_6fe3e8a7
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_6fe3e8a7
comment
Neopets' Darigan Citadel was once a normal medieval town, until someone stole the magic orb fertilizing their crops. Now the land is about as fertile as a cinder block.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_6fe3e8a7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_6fe3e8a7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Neopets (Website)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_6fe3e8a7
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_70814599
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_70814599
comment
Stargate SG-1:
In the episode "Revisions", the computer sends people to their deaths one by one as the power available falls below the levels required to support the population. It also alters their memories to make sure no one knows what's going on. Also interesting because the computer tricks the population into thinking that they can't live without being constantly connected to it through an internet-like link, making everyone think they're even more dependent on it than they really were.
The Goa'uld are completely dependent on their queens to reproduce, with the queens being exceedingly rare.
Jaffa have been genetically engineered such that their own natural immune systems shut down prior to reach adulthood; they instead rely on Goa'uld larva implanted in an abdominal sac which serves as their immune system. This acts as a major deterrent to any form of Jaffa rebellion.
The Asgard long ago abandoned natural reproduction in favor of cloning their current body via an accelerated form of mitosis and then transferring their mind to the new body. However, they experienced genetic degradation over multiple cloning processes to the point that they will soon be unable to produce new, viable bodies. Attempts to reverse the damage are made throughout the series but all fail. Ultimately, the Asgard choose to die en masse rather than drag out their fall.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_70814599
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_70814599
featureConfidence
1.0
 Stargate SG-1
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_70814599
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_72508928
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_72508928
comment
Mother in Dresden Codak is a world-assimilating A.I./Grey Goo/Singularity that provides everything humanity asks for — to point of making people unnecessary, irrelevant and progressively infantile. They go to the verge of extinction as life in the virtual worlds she/it provides takes precedence over breeding. When humanity finally goes to war with Mother, victory comes at a terrible cost: much of human history and culture dies with Mother, and every human is blinded.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_72508928
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_72508928
featureConfidence
1.0
 Dresden Codak (Webcomic)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_72508928
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_73d7930f
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_73d7930f
comment
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: "Shadowplay" sees Dax and Odo investigating mysterious disappearance in a village on a Gamma Quadrant world. The cause is revealed to be the village's reactor, which is, in truth, a hologenerator: the entire village and all of its inhabitants (save for one person) are holograms, and the hologenerator is beginning to break down, causing people to disappear. Thankfully, Dax and Odo are able to repair the hologenerator and save the village.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_73d7930f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_73d7930f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_73d7930f
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_755997ac
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_755997ac
comment
Doom:
In Doom (2016), Samuel Hayden insists that Argent Energy (which is energy harvested from Hell itself) is the singular last power source that can maintain human civilization, as humans have already exhausted every alternative, to the point that even a demonic invasion on Mars slaughtering most of his workforce doesn't deter him from trying to keep Argent Energy production going. It should be noted that he's not quite wrong; Argent Energy is the original form of Hell Energy, and is both perfectly clean and absolutely unlimited. Unfortunately, the demons have corrupted all sources of Argent Energy, necessitating an expensive refining process unless you are willing to use raw Hell Energy, which is much more dangerous. And then of course there are the demons who are using Hayden's plans to get their own cultists inside his organization in order to ultimately destroy the human race.
Doom Eternal introduces us to Urdak, a Heavenlike world whose people are even more terminally dependent upon Argent Energy than humanity from the first game, to the point that the leader of the Maykrs, the Khan Maykr, made a deal with Hell for it, which is why Hell is invading Earth. And that's before we learn that Argent Energy itself is made from the horribly tortured souls of every human and other being to die to the demons, and that the soulless husks left over from this process become demons themselves. It's little wonder that Samuel Hayden, who was once the biggest proponent of the energy in the previous game, now wants to see it gone forever.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_755997ac
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_755997ac
featureConfidence
1.0
 Doom (Franchise)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_755997ac
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7559ae0b
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7559ae0b
comment
Dune's interstellar society is utterly dependent on "spice" that can only be harvested on planet Arrakis. One book even points out what would happen without the spice: hundreds of billions would die of withdrawal, interstellar navigation would be impossible, millennia-old human breeding programs would collapse, etc. The reason for this is that there was a bloody revolution against a highly malevolent artificial intelligence thousands of years previously that led to absolute proscriptions on computers ("Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind"). Toward the end of God-Emperor of Dune, there are signs that this dependence is about to unravel (along with the proscriptions that necessitated it in the first place), which turns out to be a good thing as the crashing finale of Heretics of Dune is the destruction of the entire planet.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7559ae0b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7559ae0b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Dune (Franchise)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_7559ae0b
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_76b8cb10
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_76b8cb10
comment
Fallout:
The entire setting revolves around this trope; it's actually set in an Alternate Universe where the microtransistor wasn't invented until the 21st century. As a result, post-World War II, it entered an Atomic Age rather than an Electric Age, with inefficient technology centered around vacuum tubes and computers taking up entire rooms. As a result, this world depleted its petroleum much faster than the real world, leading to oil wars and social collapse by the mid-2050's. By the time the Great War broke out in 2077, the only known oil deposits left on Earth were in Alaska, with even the Middle East oil fields having been tapped out.
The first game starts with the main character being sent out of the Vault to find a new water chip, without which the Vault will run out of clean water. The people behind the Vault project realized how dependent their populations would be on the Vaults' equipment, it's just that in Vault 13's case a shipping error left them with no spare water chips. That's not even touching on how things were worse in the Vaults that were secretly designed as social experiments. One we set up so its equipment would regularly fail, as a stress-test for possible space travel. Even more so for Vault 112, where the residents have been imprisoned in a Lotus-Eater Machine simulation for 200 years and are incapable of survival outside of it.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_76b8cb10
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_76b8cb10
featureConfidence
1.0
 Fallout (Franchise)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_76b8cb10
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_76c01b30
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_76c01b30
comment
V for Vendetta: The entire story takes place after a "limited" World War III that Great Britain only narrowly avoided due to leaving NATO before the war broke out. While no mention is made of The Outside World (which presumably blew itself to ruins), Britain collapsed into bloody anarchy that was only stopped by the rise of the Norsefire government... which promptly instituted a brutal, fascist regime that exterminated all foreigners, homosexuals, socialists and any sort of dissent. In the present, society can't function without the monstrous tyranny of Norsefire and the supercomputer FATE, which the terrorist V is aware of. In fact, he's counting on it, as he believes that short-term anarchy (the land of Take-What-You-Want) is necessary to destroy the oppressive state and give rise to real change, the land of Do-As-You-Please. The ending shows Britain collapsing into chaos once again, but also implies that V's vision may come true... or at least something like it.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_76c01b30
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_76c01b30
featureConfidence
1.0
 V for Vendetta (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_76c01b30
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_76e7de99
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_76e7de99
comment
Forgotten Realms:
Drow culture is dependent on magical radiations so that cities were born and died when such deposits appeared and disappeared. Averted with vengeance in Sshamath, which managed to cross the deficiency period and emerge even stronger, having usual cheap solutions replaced with true arcane magic. This made it dependent on wizardry.
Most cities of Netheril were placed on artificial levitating islands. When all magic was disabled for a minute or two... Since then, the relevant deity turns magic off "for maintenance" every few centuries, so no long-lasting civilization dares to depend on it that much.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_76e7de99
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_76e7de99
featureConfidence
1.0
 Forgotten Realms (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_76e7de99
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_76e8ecc7
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_76e8ecc7
comment
In Flash Gordon (2007), Ming's rulership of all Mongo was based on his control of The Source, the only supply of drinkable water on the entire planet (except for the polar caps, which he controlled through a usurper in the polar regional government). And that Source appears to be slowly running out. Which is why he's trying to develop interdimensional travel to steal Earth's water.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_76e8ecc7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_76e8ecc7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Flash Gordon (2007)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_76e8ecc7
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7785278d
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7785278d
comment
BioShock:
The plasmids were used by everyone, and they turn out to naturally hover between being Super and Psycho Serum (depending on which you took and if you abused them) and are addictive. Then a civil war breaks out and Ryan had them laced with mind control agents, tipping the balance firmly toward "Psycho". This terminally dependent society OD's.
The BioShock 2 DLC Minerva's Den also runs on this trope, as all of Rapture's infrastructure is automated by the Thinker. Turning the Thinker off would spell doom for the entire city.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7785278d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7785278d
featureConfidence
1.0
 BioShock (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_7785278d
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_791fca45
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_791fca45
comment
The BioShock 2 DLC Minerva's Den also runs on this trope, as all of Rapture's infrastructure is automated by the Thinker. Turning the Thinker off would spell doom for the entire city.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_791fca45
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_791fca45
featureConfidence
1.0
 BioShock 2 (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_791fca45
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7988cb68
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7988cb68
comment
Mass Effect:
Interstellar travel is impractical without the mass relays, all of which are under the control of the Reapers. If the various races took the time to develop their own means of faster-than-light travel, it would solve a lot of problems. This comes up in Mass Effect 2 — the asari bartender on Illium complains that she became a laughingstock for suggesting they try to build their own mass relays. The Protheans' prototype may not have saved them, but in Mass Effect 3 it may be enough to save galactic civilization 50,000 years later. This is the reason for the Inferred Holocaust of Mass Effect 3's original ending — regardless of what choice you made, the mass relays are destroyed, leaving a massive fleet of aliens with a variety of dietary needs stranded over a ruined Earth, and presumably leading to the collapse of interstellar civilization. The revised ending left them damaged but easily repairable.
The quarians live on a flotilla of ships in space, and are dependent on their giant greenhouse ships for all their food supplies. So much so that these are kept at the heart of the flotilla for their protection.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7988cb68
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7988cb68
featureConfidence
1.0
 Mass Effect (Franchise)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_7988cb68
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_79e4edd2
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_79e4edd2
comment
Crying Suns: The galactic empire has relied on the OMNIs to manage all of its advanced technology and infrastructure, including the Fold Net and various terraforming technologies, for the last seven hundred years. When the OMNIs spontaneously shut down all at once, galactic civilization imploded. Since humans no longer know how to build or maintain any of these technologies, it’s stated that humanity will exhaust all salvageable resources and go extinct within the next ten years.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_79e4edd2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_79e4edd2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Crying Suns / Videogame
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_79e4edd2
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7ad168ca
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7ad168ca
comment
Skeleton Warriors shows the society of its world as being dependent on the Lightstar Crystal. When it gets shattered in the first episode, an apocalypse ensues that destroys entire cities and heavily disrupts society and industry. This is not helped by Baron Dark turning into an evil skeleton who can create armies of skeleton warriors.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7ad168ca
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7ad168ca
featureConfidence
1.0
 Skeleton Warriors
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_7ad168ca
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7b039953
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7b039953
comment
Avatar:
The glowy Eywa tree stores memories and coordinates the global ecosystem, and it is almost destroyed until the self-defense function is triggered.
Similarly, the Unobtainium is vital to the humans. While not strictly crucial for survival, it is important for interstellar travel to mitigate the energy crisis of the humans' overcrowded, overindustrialized homeworld. The only use for Unobtainium shown in the film was to get to Pandora... to get more Unobtainium. No talk of colonization.
Some of the side texts do mention other uses, mostly clean mass transit. There's other mentions to various plants and animals being studied for use on earth.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7b039953
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7b039953
featureConfidence
1.0
 Avatar
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_7b039953
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7fc78282
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7fc78282
comment
The Lord of the Rings: The final pages of The Return of the King reveal that Elrond wore one of the three elven Rings of Power, and Galadriel is revealed to have another in The Fellowship of the Ring. It's strongly implied that these Rings were the only real protection for Rivendell and Lothlórien, meaning that whether Sauron reclaims the One Ring and tries to dominate their bearers, or whether the One is destroyed and all other Rings left weakened, then these havens would be left vulnerable: they'd have to be abandoned, even if the elves weren't already leaving Middle-Earth.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7fc78282
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7fc78282
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Lord of the Rings
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_7fc78282
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7fe3f381
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7fe3f381
comment
The Diabolic: Galactic society is completely dependent on their machines. Which wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that it is explicitly blasphemy for anyone to understand these machines, or the science behind them. All their spaceships are centuries old and slowly falling apart because the machines that maintain them are also centuries old, but the Empire refuses to acknowledge any problems.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7fe3f381
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_7fe3f381
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diabolic
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_7fe3f381
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_81692f99
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_81692f99
comment
Star Trek has a fondness for this trope in its various series.
Star Trek: The Original Series:
In "Spock's Brain", an underground civilization is coordinated by a humanoid brain called the Controller. When it fails, the inhabitants go looking for a replacement and acquire the titular object.
TOS adores this trope, especially combined with Master Computer — examples include "Return of the Archons" and "The Apple". Cue the James T. Kirk patented Logic Bomb!
Star Trek: The Next Generation:
In "11001001", the Bynar home planet is run by a computer which is going to be hit by an EM pulse from a nearby supernova and get erased, so the Bynars steal Enterprise to temporarily house their computer's memory.
In "When the Bough Breaks", an alien race called the Aldeans have been reliant on their technology — especially the Custodian supercomputer that provides for all their needs — for so long that they have basically forgotten how everything works; all the super-advanced scientific knowledge of their ancestors has more or less been stored in a computer archive somewhere and forgotten about. Even the idea that something might, say, break down and need fixing never occurs to them. It's made more literally terminal by the fact that their technology is actually slowly killing them, a fact that they weren't able to figure out for themselves simply because they've lost the relevant knowledge, yet Dr. Crusher (from the supposedly less-advanced Federation) is able both to identify the problem and the necessary treatment in a matter of days.
In "Symbiosis", Enterprise encounters a ship from a planet that is suffering a species-wide plague that can only be staved off with a drug supplied by a neighboring race. It is later revealed that the plague is long gone and the symptoms the people experience are a result of withdrawal; the drug is also highly addictive. Due to the Prime Directive, Picard agrees not to reveal the truth to the suffering race, but he also refuses to help them fix their few remaining ships (they have degraded technologically) under the same pretext, so that they will eventually be unable to trade with the other race and learn the truth after they finish going through withdrawal. It's noted in passing that both societies are terminally dependent; because of the profits of selling the drug, the race that provided them ended up structuring their economy around it.
"Up the Long Ladder" has a society dependent on cloning run into Clone Degeneration. They're forced to do it the old-fashioned way with a neighboring society of Luddites.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: "Shadowplay" sees Dax and Odo investigating mysterious disappearance in a village on a Gamma Quadrant world. The cause is revealed to be the village's reactor, which is, in truth, a hologenerator: the entire village and all of its inhabitants (save for one person) are holograms, and the hologenerator is beginning to break down, causing people to disappear. Thankfully, Dax and Odo are able to repair the hologenerator and save the village.
Star Trek: Voyager:
The Ocampa relied on the Caretaker and his relay to power their underground society, as well as keep them safe from the Kazon. The Caretaker himself set this up after accidental destroying the surface of their planet and shattering their culture.
In "The Thaw", a people created a system that would keep their bodies in stasis and their minds active long enough for their world to become habitable again. As time passed, their fears became manifest in the virtual reality as a clown that would bring out a guillotine when it was unhappy. Two are dead before the crew finds them, and another is killed in the process of trying to save them from it.
The entire galaxy is shown to satisfy this trope during Star Trek: Discovery's third season, which involves the eponymous ship time-traveling forward into a Used Future where dilithium — the Applied Phlebotinum that allows for controlled matter-antimatter reactions in warp cores and thus makes Faster-Than-Light Travel possible — all suddenly went boom. Like, every single bit of it, everywhere. Every interstellar government has since collapsed, creating a Points of Light Setting that the main characters have to navigate.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_81692f99
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_81692f99
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek (Franchise)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_81692f99
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8601c91f
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8601c91f
comment
In Doom (2016), Samuel Hayden insists that Argent Energy (which is energy harvested from Hell itself) is the singular last power source that can maintain human civilization, as humans have already exhausted every alternative, to the point that even a demonic invasion on Mars slaughtering most of his workforce doesn't deter him from trying to keep Argent Energy production going. It should be noted that he's not quite wrong; Argent Energy is the original form of Hell Energy, and is both perfectly clean and absolutely unlimited. Unfortunately, the demons have corrupted all sources of Argent Energy, necessitating an expensive refining process unless you are willing to use raw Hell Energy, which is much more dangerous. And then of course there are the demons who are using Hayden's plans to get their own cultists inside his organization in order to ultimately destroy the human race.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8601c91f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8601c91f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Doom (2016) (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_8601c91f
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8a39c411
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8a39c411
comment
The Hegemony of Man in the Hyperion Cantos develops the Farcaster Portal Network, so that you get farm worlds supplying City Planets, or "mansions" where every room is on a different planet. So when the Farcaster network gets shut down...
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8a39c411
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8a39c411
featureConfidence
1.0
 Hyperion Cantos
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_8a39c411
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8ac8797e
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8ac8797e
comment
"The Merchant Princes": The Republic of Korell, rather than collecting drips and dregs of trade with the Foundation, have decided that they need to launch an all-out offensive. They fail to anticipate, however, the cost of war when the opponent refuses to put up much of a fight, instead choosing to briefly defend and running away. Riots break out over the fact that the government is inconveniencing the citizens for nothing more than empty successes.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8ac8797e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8ac8797e
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Merchant Princes
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_8ac8797e
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8ec33a87
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8ec33a87
comment
The world in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a massive ocean of clouds, and the only livable land is on the continent-sized Titans. Except the Titans are all dying out, and for some reason no new ones are being born. Rex's goal is to find Elysium, the mythical paradise supposedly at the top of the World Tree, so that the brewing resource wars become unnecessary. As it turns out, Praetor Amalthus' "core purification ritual" (which makes it easier for Blades to bond with Drivers) wipes out all their stored data and resets them to zero; this is a problem, because Blades evolve into Titans once they accumulate enough data. Amalthus is well aware that this will lead to the inevitable extinction of all life, but doesn't care. When they find Elysium, it's a dead, empty landscape, far from the answer to all their problems. Thankfully, after speaking with the Architect the Cloud Sea is pulled back, and the surviving Titans join together to create a new Elysium where everyone can live.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8ec33a87
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8ec33a87
featureConfidence
1.0
 Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_8ec33a87
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8ec33a88
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8ec33a88
comment
Life itself in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. All the soldiers of Keves and Agnus are bound to the Flame Clocks, which require life to fill them. Killing monsters works, but killing enemy soldiers is far better. This leads to a Vicious Cycle where colonies must constantly hunt each other down just to survive. Of course, this is completely intentional on the part of the Consuls, the real force behind the war; they need life energy for their immortality, and skim off the top from the successful colonies. If a Colony's Flame Clock is destroyed, all the soldiers are freed, and they don't need to harvest life energy at all.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8ec33a88
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_8ec33a88
featureConfidence
1.0
 Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_8ec33a88
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_901df04
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_901df04
comment
The world in Magna Carta 2 has unnaturally high levels of ambient magic, thanks to the Hero of Legend. It is specifically noted that with so much magic around, nobody has had to farm for food for at least a thousand years. The heroes end up having to bring the levels back to normal and force society to labor for sustenance for the first time in generations, as it turns out that the high magic levels are maintained via world wars and human sacrifice of a specific soldier every 250 years or so.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_901df04
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_901df04
featureConfidence
1.0
 Magna Carta 2 (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_901df04
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_90c73dda
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_90c73dda
comment
In Animorphs, the Yeerks (basically plant-aliens) have to soak up Kandrona rays and liquid nutrients at least once every three days. Otherwise, they starve, slowly and painfully. This isn't a problem on their homeworld, since Kandrona is just a rare wavelength of light from their unusual star and the planet's soaking in the required nutrient pools. It's a terminal dependency on any other planet, where they rely on Yeerk pools and a technological replacement, which can be sabotaged by terrori— uh, The Resistance.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_90c73dda
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_90c73dda
featureConfidence
1.0
 Animorphs
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_90c73dda
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_91cf7917
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_91cf7917
comment
Foundation Series:
"The Mayors": Prince Regent Wienis learns that they've become fatally dependent on the Foundation when he tries to conquer Terminus, but the military, along with the planetary population, rise up against him.
"The Merchant Princes": The Republic of Korell, rather than collecting drips and dregs of trade with the Foundation, have decided that they need to launch an all-out offensive. They fail to anticipate, however, the cost of war when the opponent refuses to put up much of a fight, instead choosing to briefly defend and running away. Riots break out over the fact that the government is inconveniencing the citizens for nothing more than empty successes.
Foundation and Earth: Solarians have engineered themselves into hermaphrodites in order to become independent from other humans... but their genetically modified bodies can now only give birth to embryos so small that artificial wombs and robotic care are the only way to procreate. Not that they mind, they've incorporated robots so deeply into their society that they've modified the First Law of Robotics so that only adult Solarians count as "human".
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_91cf7917
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_91cf7917
featureConfidence
1.0
 Foundation Series
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_91cf7917
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_9994a14f
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_9994a14f
comment
The humans in WALL•E depend on their ship for all sustenance. The fact that Earth has actually returned to a moderately habitable state does not change the fact that everyone, including the ship itself, believes the humans cannot live anywhere except onboard the Axiom. A new credit sequence was added when the makers found out test screenings agreed with this.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_9994a14f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_9994a14f
featureConfidence
1.0
 WALL•E
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_9994a14f
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_9a7088bc
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_9a7088bc
comment
Star Trek: The Original Series:
In "Spock's Brain", an underground civilization is coordinated by a humanoid brain called the Controller. When it fails, the inhabitants go looking for a replacement and acquire the titular object.
TOS adores this trope, especially combined with Master Computer — examples include "Return of the Archons" and "The Apple". Cue the James T. Kirk patented Logic Bomb!
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_9a7088bc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_9a7088bc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek: The Original Series
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_9a7088bc
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_9a8bf274
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_9a8bf274
comment
In Command & Conquer, an asteroid carrying an alien substance dubbed Tiberium begins rapidly transforming the Earth. Although dangerous, Tiberium also absorbs minerals from the soil, making it very easy to break down for various metals and rare minerals. Tiberium becomes so important to the world economy that the two dominant powers, GDI and Nod, both rely on it as their primary resource. Tiberium (and the Tacitus) have rapidly advanced human technology but are also destroying the planet (or rather, changing it to be later harvested by the invading Scrin).
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_9a8bf274
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_9a8bf274
featureConfidence
1.0
 Command & Conquer (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_9a8bf274
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_a1e7c7e
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_a1e7c7e
comment
The Scions of Battlezone II depend on the central computer of their homeworld, Core, to keep them alive; possibly to keep their biometal augments in check. Unfortunately for them, the planet is dying. In the International Space Defense Force ending, John Cooke blows up the Core computer, causing the Scions to die off. In the Scion ending, they use what the ISDF thought of as a Doomsday Device to terraform the Dark Planet beyond Pluto into a new Core.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_a1e7c7e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_a1e7c7e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Battlezone (1998) (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_a1e7c7e
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_a2a386c9
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_a2a386c9
comment
Orion's Arm has a serious problem with people developing Baseline Hyperdependency Syndrome (that is: humans are spoiled rotten by the AIs) and nothing has even gone wrong yet, although many groups predict that collapse is imminent.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_a2a386c9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_a2a386c9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Orion's Arm (Website)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_a2a386c9
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_a52286a5
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_a52286a5
comment
In "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", the prosperity of the titular city is dependent on treating some poor kid like crap. If the child's suffering was ever alleviated, all of Omelas would suffer instead. Every citizen of Omelas is made aware of this terrible price. Most of them rationalize it away as something necessary for the greater good and live their lives to the fullest knowing the cost. Then there are those who decide it isn't worth it and walk away from Omelas.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_a52286a5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_a52286a5
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_a52286a5
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_a8729c90
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_a8729c90
comment
One episode of The Fairly OddParents! has Timmy dealing with Mr. Crocker once and for all by getting him committed, his obsession with proving the existence of fairies cured. Unfortunately, it turns out that Fairy World powers all its magic on belief in fairies, specifically the belief of crazy people disbelieved by those around them, and Mr. Crocker was so crazy that they decided to power everything with him. Now Fairy World is without magic and slowly plummeting into Giant Bucket of Acid World, giving a time limit to Timmy trying to relapse Crocker into his fairy obsession without any help from magic. Once power is restored, they go back to drawing power from multiple nutjobs.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_a8729c90
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_a8729c90
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Fairly OddParents!
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_a8729c90
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_abf75551
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_abf75551
comment
"All the Troubles of the World": All of Earth's society is connected to Multivac, in one way or another. The police have been alerted to the prediction of Joseph Manners destroying Multivac, and despite preventing the crime, they realize that Multivac can't handle the stress and is trying to kill itself. Eventually, it will succeed.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_abf75551
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_abf75551
featureConfidence
1.0
 All the Troubles of the World
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_abf75551
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ad6a095e
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ad6a095e
comment
Princess: The Hopeful: The city of Alhambra, capitol of the Court of Tears, depends on the magical light of the wisp-lamps to hold back the All-Consuming Darkness. The lamps in turn are dependent on a constant supply of Wisps harvested from Alhambran territories on Earth, a process that infects the lands harvested from with Taint.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ad6a095e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ad6a095e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Princess: The Hopeful (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_ad6a095e
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ae837359
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ae837359
comment
Star★Twinkle Pretty Cure:
Alien protagonist Lala's home planet, Saman, is terminally dependent on personalized Artificial Intelligence for its survival. Everything they do is automated and decided upon by the Mother AI, down to the job and social caste they are assigned based on the AI's analysis of their strengths. The AI, for what it's worth, is benevolent, less of a crapshoot and more of a liability. Saman's society is Book Dumb as a whole; as the AI can provide the answer to any question, there's no concept of education, much to Lala's fascination when she arrives on Earth and learns about school.
This gaping flaw is naturally exploited by the villains. They upload a virus to corrupt the Mother AI, which leaves the Samanians helpless as their technology goes haywire. Thankfully, Lala's time spent on Earth, as well as her becoming a Pretty Cure, allows her to fight back and undo the damage. By the end of the series, Lala introduces the concept of school to Saman and does away with the social caste system, overall marking a change in the planet's society to become more independent.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ae837359
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ae837359
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star★Twinkle Pretty Cure
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_ae837359
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_aeedf9b7
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_aeedf9b7
comment
The city of Lea Monde from Vagrant Story was designed as a city-sized spell. The game takes place long after the city has already collapsed on itself.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_aeedf9b7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_aeedf9b7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Vagrant Story (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_aeedf9b7
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_af21f5a3
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_af21f5a3
comment
In Fallen Angels, an eco-socialist regime has come to power, and banned everything save "appropriate" technology. The catch is that no matter how many windmills and solar panels they build, it's nowhere near as efficient as good-old-fashioned coal and petroleum, leaving millions of people without political pull to freeze in the ice age brought on by the lack of particulate matter in the atmosphere.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_af21f5a3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_af21f5a3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Fallen Angels
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_af21f5a3
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_b486bc63
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_b486bc63
comment
In the Eight Worlds novel Steel Beach, CC — the Central Computer that runs everything on Luna — goes insane.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_b486bc63
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_b486bc63
featureConfidence
1.0
 Eight Worlds
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_b486bc63
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_b8b6755a
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_b8b6755a
comment
In The Nanotech War, everything on the planet Chi is dependent on nanites, to the extent that the Chiar think it pointless to try and use simple tools like hammers, because they no longer know how. Even their libraries are run entirely on nanotech; when the nanites are down, they don't even have instructions for using "primitive" tools, and seem convinced that without instructions they couldn't possibly work it out. On top of that, Chi is equally dependent on slavery; Chiar express confusion as to how the Federation economy can function without a slave caste.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_b8b6755a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_b8b6755a
featureConfidence
1.0
 TheNanotechWar
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_b8b6755a
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_bcadd7cb
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_bcadd7cb
comment
Warhammer 40,000:
Humanity's Faster-Than-Light Travel is dependent upon a psychic navigational beacon called the Astronomican, without which spaceships would be lost in the Warp. This device consumes hundreds of psykers each day and is directed by the psychic might of the comatose God-Emperor of Mankind, whose life support equipment is both decaying beyond repair and happens to sit upon upon a Webway gate that could lead The Legions of Hell onto the Imperium's capitol. Not only has the Astronomican flickered and dimmed over its history, but it's also attracting the Tyranids to our galaxy.
In a less physical sense, even people in-universe have noticed that the Imperium of Man is dependent on war. Most of its interactions with its member planets revolve around tithes of materiel and manpower for its conflicts, and the draconian measures the Imperium uses to stay in power can only be justified by the number of threats surrounding it. If peace ever broke out, nobody sane would want to live under such a regime — and even in the current state of affairs, world after world chooses to rebel and try to survive on their own rather than endure further Imperial oppression (and are either violently brought back into the fold, conquered by Chaos, eaten by 'nids, etc.).
Forge Worlds, as the name suggests, are Eternal Engines scaled up to the size of a planet, churning out the vast quantities of vehicles, weapons and equipment needed by the Imperium, with little to no space for growing food. The Greater Good has one whose location allows it to forgo self-reliance in favor of more production: Guard regiments are always stopping there to resupply and take care of its defense, while food is imported, rationed, and not stored for maximum efficiency, resulting in riots when the approaching Tyranids scare off the deliveries.
This issue is pragmatically used by the Imperium as another tool to maintain order. A common scenario is that an agriworld produces food on a vast scale, but is typically left dependent on other worlds for its defense or to provide weaponry and/or tools. A world covered in hive cities will create vast amounts of resources and finished goods, but critically relies on another world for its food supply. In the event of either world rebelling or falling to enemy hands, they will lack vital resources to grow into a system-spanning threat.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_bcadd7cb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_bcadd7cb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Warhammer 40,000 (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_bcadd7cb
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_c43df4d8
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_c43df4d8
comment
Doctor Who: In the story "Meglos", the people of Tigella live in a city where everything is powered by a single alien artifact, which gets destroyed at the story's climax; although they're initially horrified by having to manage without it, it's presented as ultimately being an opportunity rather than a disaster.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_c43df4d8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_c43df4d8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Doctor Who
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_c43df4d8
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_cab61fd4
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_cab61fd4
comment
A World Out of Time, The Integral Trees and The Smoke Ring actually call their ruling body the State. Discussed in A World Out of Time when the protagonist has a conversation with his State-assigned case worker about the strengths and weaknesses of an empire based on monopolizing vital resources (water being the example)
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_cab61fd4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_cab61fd4
featureConfidence
1.0
 A World Out of Time
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_cab61fd4
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d0378f53
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d0378f53
comment
Foundation and Earth: Solarians have engineered themselves into hermaphrodites in order to become independent from other humans... but their genetically modified bodies can now only give birth to embryos so small that artificial wombs and robotic care are the only way to procreate. Not that they mind, they've incorporated robots so deeply into their society that they've modified the First Law of Robotics so that only adult Solarians count as "human".
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d0378f53
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d0378f53
featureConfidence
1.0
 Foundation and Earth
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_d0378f53
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d164f01d
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d164f01d
comment
In Armored Core: For Answer, much of humanity (those who could afford it, at least) is dependent on the Cradle habitats they live in. One option the player can take later is to side with Old King and bring them down for the lulz. Maximillian Thermidor also wants to take them down, but this is because he believes that they are a temporary solution at best and that destroying them would open up the way for humanity to get to space.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d164f01d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d164f01d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Armored Core: For Answer (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_d164f01d
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d461f757
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d461f757
comment
Battlestar Galactica (2003): The Colonials are reduced to 50,000 survivors after the events of the miniseries. The society that forms with the surviving humans living aboard the handful of FTL capable ships that survived the genocide fall into this trope in three ways:
Without the FTL technology, they would have been wiped out by the Cylons in short order.
The technology for spaceflight; since the 12 Colonies are now radioactive wastelands and the only habitable worlds they find also get found by the Cylons shortly thereafter, without their ships the Colonials would not survive.
Galactica itself; from the water filtration system that according to Commander Adama doesn't waste so much as a drop of water while cleaning a ship's supply, to the ship's DRADIS that allows early warning of Cylon attacks or its squadrons of Vipers and its powerful weapon systems, or the simple fact that none of the surviving civilian leaders are smart enough to keep the fleet together without Adama. This is proven early in Season 2 when the fleet is divided and the leaders of the civilian fleet are prone to suicidal plans.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d461f757
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d461f757
featureConfidence
1.0
 Battlestar Galactica (2003)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_d461f757
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d4d17cca
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d4d17cca
comment
Uglies takes place in a future where our current society has been destroyed due to a plague that burns up all our oil. The future society thus tries to avoid this trope, making sure to carefully manage their use of natural resources, only to be overthrown in the end since, as David lampshades, they were dependent on a mandatory operation that made everyone beautiful and stopped people from thinking for themselves and wanting things. People who wanted to think for themselves did not like this and found a way to reverse that part of the operation.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d4d17cca
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d4d17cca
featureConfidence
1.0
 Uglies
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_d4d17cca
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d66ef045
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d66ef045
comment
In Atlantis: The Lost Empire, the Atlanteans and their city are dependent on the Heart of Atlantis, a crystal that is alive and made up of the spirits of the dead royalty... or maybe all dead Atlanteans. It gives them vitality and a ridiculously long lifespan through the crystal shards around their necks which stop glowing when the power source is taken away, and Milo explicitly tells Rourke that they'll die if he doesn't return it. However, no one but the King seemed to know about the Heart's influence, though whether they all forgot with time or never knew to begin with wasn't revealed.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d66ef045
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d66ef045
featureConfidence
1.0
 Atlantis: The Lost Empire
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_d66ef045
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d90f02aa
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d90f02aa
comment
In The Books of Ember, the Emberites rely severely on the electrical generator, which is the only thing keeping the city from plunging into permanent darkness. It's currently in terrible shape, with city-wide blackouts becoming longer and more frequent by the day. That's because it's far exceeded its intended lifespan; Ember was designed to be inhabited for 200 years, but it's been nearly 250.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d90f02aa
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_d90f02aa
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Books of Ember
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_d90f02aa
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_da72cf97
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_da72cf97
comment
In the Trails Series, there was a history-defining technological breakthrough dubbed the "Orbal Revolution" brought up by Professor Epstein roughly 50 years prior to the events of the franchise. Epstein managed to develop technology capable to employ a mysterious energy known as "Orbal" to power up mass produced mechanical devices called "Orbments". These contraptions could be used for just about everything: lighting, heating, communications, weaponry and transportation to name a few. As such, mankind never developed anything that could not be powered by Orbments. This flaw was eventually exploited when an enemy created a weapon capable of disabling Orbments, stopping everything on their tracks. Interestingly, it was then revealed that an old inventor had in his possession a prototype diesel engine that he thought could put to use during this crisis, thus demonstrating that there was some kind of progression paralleling real world developments before Orbal Technology rendered it obsolete.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_da72cf97
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_da72cf97
featureConfidence
1.0
 Trails Series (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_da72cf97
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_e235270c
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_e235270c
comment
Stellaris: The Clone Army origin has all pops as short-lived clones which are incapable of natural reproduction, instead relying on a limited number of ancient clone vats to build their population. Each vat can only support so many pops; any pops over that limit, or on a world without a vat, will die off. If all of the vats are lost, such as through orbital bombardment, the race can go extinct.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_e235270c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_e235270c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Stellaris (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_e235270c
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_e6267766
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_e6267766
comment
Star Wars Legends and Star Wars: The Clone Wars reveal that the same happens to the Selkath race introduced in KotOR. They were natives of the planet Manaan, which was the only place in the galaxy that produced kolto for healing vats, making them a galactic superpower and able to maintain their neutrality during the Jedi Civil War. However, after the invention of the more potent alternative bacta, the Selkath were essentially discarded by the galaxy at large and their petition to join The Republic was ignored. Over time, their civilization collapsed, and the people reverted into primitive tribes, later being conquered and enslaved by the Galactic Empire.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_e6267766
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_e6267766
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Wars Legends (Franchise)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_e6267766
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_e63c8b18
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_e63c8b18
comment
The City and the Stars: The Central Computer of Diaspar not only runs the city but actually creates its citizens' bodies using their stored memories. In a variation on this trope, the computer wants humans not to be dependent on it anymore, and has been part of a millennia long gambit by one of its creators to create a human capable of wanting freedom.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_e63c8b18
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_e63c8b18
featureConfidence
1.0
 The City and the Stars
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_e63c8b18
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_e68decb8
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_e68decb8
comment
Star Control:
In the second game, the Utwig are highly dependent on the Ultron, a Precursor artifact which (supposedly) gives them prophetic powers. When it breaks, the Utwig enter a perpetual state of mourning and are too depressed to do anything. Hilariously, everyone else is convinced that the artifact is absolutely useless. Whether it actually does anything is left ambiguous; what matters is that the Utwig believe it does, and are paralyzed by grief and guilt until it's fixed.
In the third game (of dubious canonicity), the Ultron breaks again, resulting in the Utwig going back to their state of mourning. However, after you manage to fix it, they've been without it for so long that they've actually learned to function as a society without it and no longer feel the need to use it, subverting the trope.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_e68decb8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_e68decb8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Control (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_e68decb8
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ea787cd1
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ea787cd1
comment
In the Forgotten Realms novel Star of Curah, an ancient city in the desert relies upon a massive aqueduct to distribute water to its fountains, pumps and wells. When its royals snub a rival city's prince by choosing another for their eldest daughter's husband, he has the aqueduct's water source diverted and the city's population descends into chaos and flight within hours of the flow's cessation.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ea787cd1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ea787cd1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Forgotten Realms
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_ea787cd1
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_eb6802b4
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_eb6802b4
comment
The human population of Cocoon in Final Fantasy XIII depend on the Fal'Cie for everything. There are a few million Fal'Cie in Cocoon and each one handles a different function to keep the artificial world running. Among the Cocoon Fal'Cie we see in the game, there's a Fal'Cie in charge of running power plants, one that handles food production, another one acts as Cocoon's artificial sun, the Fal'Cie Eden is the Internet, Barthandelus acts as the overseer of them all and has the most freedom to act, and there's Orphan who provides the power that keeps the other Cocoon Fal'Cie alive. Without the Fal'Cie especially Orphan Cocoon would fall apart. The Pulse Fal'Cie on the other hand seem more geared towards terraforming Gran Pulse.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_eb6802b4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_eb6802b4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_eb6802b4
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ed4a44cf
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ed4a44cf
comment
The main computer in Logan's Run. After it learns that Sanctuary doesn't exist, it freaks out and destroys the city, forcing the inhabitants to flee.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ed4a44cf
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ed4a44cf
featureConfidence
1.0
 Logan's Run
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_ed4a44cf
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ede55421
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ede55421
comment
Doom Eternal introduces us to Urdak, a Heavenlike world whose people are even more terminally dependent upon Argent Energy than humanity from the first game, to the point that the leader of the Maykrs, the Khan Maykr, made a deal with Hell for it, which is why Hell is invading Earth. And that's before we learn that Argent Energy itself is made from the horribly tortured souls of every human and other being to die to the demons, and that the soulless husks left over from this process become demons themselves. It's little wonder that Samuel Hayden, who was once the biggest proponent of the energy in the previous game, now wants to see it gone forever.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ede55421
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ede55421
featureConfidence
1.0
 Doom Eternal (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_ede55421
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ef076a36
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ef076a36
comment
Star Trek: Voyager:
The Ocampa relied on the Caretaker and his relay to power their underground society, as well as keep them safe from the Kazon. The Caretaker himself set this up after accidental destroying the surface of their planet and shattering their culture.
In "The Thaw", a people created a system that would keep their bodies in stasis and their minds active long enough for their world to become habitable again. As time passed, their fears became manifest in the virtual reality as a clown that would bring out a guillotine when it was unhappy. Two are dead before the crew finds them, and another is killed in the process of trying to save them from it.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ef076a36
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ef076a36
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek: Voyager
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_ef076a36
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ef8bd4a5
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ef8bd4a5
comment
Humans in the Mega Man series are depicted as increasingly reliant on robots as the series goes on in spite of Wily's constant hijacking robots in his bids to Take Over the World in the Classic series and Sigma using his virus to corrupt countless reploids and mechaniloids into servitude in the Mega Man X series. It gets to the point that in Mega Man X8, after New Generation Reploids developed for the Jakob Project are revealed to have Sigma's DNA in their copy chips, and end up revolting and trying to destroy both humans and old-generation reploids, the production of more New Generation Reploids with Sigma's DNA is approved anyway simply because they supposedly need them to work on the Jakob Project. By Mega Man Zero, humans are living in luxury in Neo Arcadia, the last habitable place on Earth, while most reploids have become second-class citizens in their service to humanity, being branded as Maverick and killed at the first sign of dissent. This leads to a reploid resistance group forming and a war between them and Neo Arcadia breaking out that allows Dr. Weil, the cause of the Elf Wars that rendered the entire planet uninhabitable in the first place, to worm his way into seizing control of the city and eventually indirectly causing its destruction, finally putting an end to complacent human society and forcing humans to coexist with reploids as equals.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ef8bd4a5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ef8bd4a5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Mega Man (Franchise)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_ef8bd4a5
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f10619d8
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f10619d8
comment
In Tales of the Abyss, the entire world is dependent on The Score, which is part ancient prophecy and partly a history of the entire planet, from start to finish, with every single detail of existence available for the asking by those who are capable of reading it. Since the Score Yulia read for the planet long ago predicted a prosperous future, devoutness in the local religion means relying on the Score for every decision, no matter how minor, because obedience to the Score will bring the predicted future to pass. Eventually, it's revealed to have gone off-track, and that the formerly-lost end of Yulia's Score predicts the destruction of the world as a direct result of events that happen during the game, and as a result, people have to learn to live without it and make their own decisions. NPC reactions vary from wanting it back to enjoying their newfound freedom.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f10619d8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f10619d8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Tales of the Abyss (Video Game)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_f10619d8
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f13bb091
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f13bb091
comment
The Avatar Chronicles has a colony declining because people are forced to depend on the MMORPG Epic for survival, as players' in-game status dictates living standards, job opportunities, and anything else in the real-world economy.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f13bb091
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f13bb091
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Avatar Chronicles
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_f13bb091
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f5fec525
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f5fec525
comment
The cities of the Khaiem from The Long Price Quartet are dependent on the Andat for defence and economic prosperity. The andat are abstract concepts made physical that grant total power over that concept e.g. Stone-Made-Soft, Clarity-Of-Vision, Water-Moving-Down etc. The Khaiem have no military power and relatively little technology. The over-dependence on the andat is a major theme of the series.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f5fec525
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f5fec525
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Long Price Quartet
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_f5fec525
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f6a1016f
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f6a1016f
comment
The robots in The Matrix are able to take over because they got too powerful for humans to control. The dependent relationship is explored in the animated short prequel film The Second Renaissance.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f6a1016f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f6a1016f
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Matrix (Franchise)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_f6a1016f
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f98c0423
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f98c0423
comment
Giant Robo: As the Evolving Credits say: "Earth, the terrifying world of our future! This is the Shizuma Drive, now broken and useless, the great energy revolution undone in just ten days!" The only one alternative combustible source, an oil refinery left is at Shangai, and then it's destroyed too. The earth stood still, indeed.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f98c0423
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_f98c0423
featureConfidence
1.0
 Giant Robo
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_f98c0423
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_fa13d9be
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_fa13d9be
comment
The Lindauzi of The Wild Boy were regressing to a wild state without the Iani to bond with.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_fa13d9be
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_fa13d9be
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Wild Boy
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_fa13d9be
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_fb9c177d
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_fb9c177d
comment
In the Transformers Aligned continuity, Cybertronians are dependent on Energon. Granted, there is essentially oceans of the stuff, right up until Megatron corrupted the Core of Cybertron and it eventually had to be shut down. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron deals with the aftermath of this. There is a synthetic version, but the formula for it was sent off into space to prevent Megatron from getting hold of it.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_fb9c177d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_fb9c177d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Transformers (Franchise)
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_fb9c177d
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_fd289bb0
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_fd289bb0
comment
Revolution: Societies worldwide relied on electricity for just about everything. Of course, as soon as a worldwide blackout occurs in the pilot episode and the power stays down for fifteen years, you can be sure that society as we know it just fell apart!
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_fd289bb0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_fd289bb0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Revolution
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_fd289bb0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_fd7de151
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_fd7de151
comment
In the setting of Psycho-Pass society is so ultimately dependent on both the Sybil System and Hyper Oats that a collapse of either would mean the collapse of society as a whole, which is actually the premise for the story and the goal of the main antagonist.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_fd7de151
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_fd7de151
featureConfidence
1.0
 Psycho-Pass
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_fd7de151
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ff9ab17f
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ff9ab17f
comment
Star Trek: The Next Generation:
In "11001001", the Bynar home planet is run by a computer which is going to be hit by an EM pulse from a nearby supernova and get erased, so the Bynars steal Enterprise to temporarily house their computer's memory.
In "When the Bough Breaks", an alien race called the Aldeans have been reliant on their technology — especially the Custodian supercomputer that provides for all their needs — for so long that they have basically forgotten how everything works; all the super-advanced scientific knowledge of their ancestors has more or less been stored in a computer archive somewhere and forgotten about. Even the idea that something might, say, break down and need fixing never occurs to them. It's made more literally terminal by the fact that their technology is actually slowly killing them, a fact that they weren't able to figure out for themselves simply because they've lost the relevant knowledge, yet Dr. Crusher (from the supposedly less-advanced Federation) is able both to identify the problem and the necessary treatment in a matter of days.
In "Symbiosis", Enterprise encounters a ship from a planet that is suffering a species-wide plague that can only be staved off with a drug supplied by a neighboring race. It is later revealed that the plague is long gone and the symptoms the people experience are a result of withdrawal; the drug is also highly addictive. Due to the Prime Directive, Picard agrees not to reveal the truth to the suffering race, but he also refuses to help them fix their few remaining ships (they have degraded technologically) under the same pretext, so that they will eventually be unable to trade with the other race and learn the truth after they finish going through withdrawal. It's noted in passing that both societies are terminally dependent; because of the profits of selling the drug, the race that provided them ended up structuring their economy around it.
"Up the Long Ladder" has a society dependent on cloning run into Clone Degeneration. They're forced to do it the old-fashioned way with a neighboring society of Luddites.
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ff9ab17f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Terminally Dependent Society / int_ff9ab17f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek: The Next Generation
hasFeature
Terminally Dependent Society / int_ff9ab17f

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Terminally Dependent Society
processingCategory2
Adverbly Adjective Noun
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingCategory2
Fictional Culture and Nation Tropes
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingCategory2
Older Than Television
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingCategory2
Settings
 Terminally Dependent Society
processingCategory2
Speculative Fiction Tropes
 Space Transformers (Animation) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Giant Robo / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Super Dimension Fortress Macross / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Green Lantern: Lights Out (Comic Book) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Lights Out (Comic Book) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Earth's Alien History (Fanfic) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Emergence (RWBY) (Fanfic) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Fate Revelation Online (Fanfic) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 I Woke Up As a Dungeon, Now What? (Fanfic) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 One for All and Eight for the Ninth (Fanfic) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Paragons of Virtue and Glory (Fanfic) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 The Matrix / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Anon / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Anon (2018) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Daybreakers / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Logan's Run / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Mad Max: Fury Road / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Snowpiercer / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 The Creator (2023) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 All the Troubles of the World / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Bladedance of Elementalers / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Dragaera / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Eight Worlds / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Foundation and Earth / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Isaac Asimov's Caliban / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Logan's Run / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Merry Gentry / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Pegasus (2010) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Pump Six and Other Stories / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Ready Player One / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Rollerskater / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Sagrada Reset / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Relaunch / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Sten / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 The Avatar Chronicles / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 The Books of Ember / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 The Last Hero / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 The Long Emergency / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 The Long Price Quartet / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 The Machine Stops / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 The Mayors / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 The Merchant Princes / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 The Wild Boy / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Wax and Wayne / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 KeyStoneArmy
seeAlso
Terminally Dependent Society
 TheSecretTexts
seeAlso
Terminally Dependent Society
 Galaxy Express 999 (Manga) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 The World God Only Knows (Manga) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Lemon Demon (Music) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Tropes T to Z / Real Life / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Maddigan's Quest / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Spellbinder / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Star Trek: The Original Series / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Star Trek: Voyager / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 3% / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Blades in the Dark (Tabletop Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Paranoia (Tabletop Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Traveller (Tabletop Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Amnesia: Rebirth (Video Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura (Video Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Beneath a Steel Sky (Video Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Fallout 2 (Video Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Glover (Video Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Journey (Video Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Journey (2012) (Video Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 La-Mulana 2 (Video Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Mega Man Revolution (Video Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Phantasy Star II (Video Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Phantasy Star Nova (Video Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Space Pirates and Zombies (Video Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Star Control (Video Game) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Mashed (Web Animation) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Artificial Incident (Webcomic) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Drive (Dave Kellett) (Webcomic) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 I'm the Grim Reaper (Webcomic) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Rice Boy (Webcomic) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Tales of the Questor (Webcomic) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Orion's Arm (Website) / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Monsters, Inc. / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Monsters, Inc. / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 The Mitchells vs. the Machines / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 Shadow Skill / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 The Pendragon Adventure / int_d8fdf777
type
Terminally Dependent Society
 terminallydependentsociety
sameAs
Terminally Dependent Society