Catalyst Castle

Ack! This article is a few days late!

Here's the next Weekly World. String these randomly generated elements together into a workable setting and plot. See previous Weekly Worlds here.

Here are the setting elements:

Setting: Stone Age
Tone: Conspiracy
Things: Mass Transit, Child
Tech Level: Domesticated Animals
Place: Beach

And here are the plot elements:

Opposition: Doppelganger
Plot Action: Blackmail (Classy) Computers
Plot Action: Clean (Sci-Fi) Disguise

Again, before you read further, I challenge you to take 10-20 minutes to develop these elements into a workable fictional setting and plot, and post your results in the comments below. After you’re done, you can come back and read my interpretation of these elements.


My Weekly World: The Secrets in Stone

The stone age world is ruled by the gods themselves, who issue commands through their chosen priests. While man has yet to learn the means for metal working, their numbers have multiplied greatly forcing them to spread out over a large region along the coast. In order to maintain control, the gods sent instructions from their temple describing how to build a stone railway upon which teams of mammoths could pull long trains of stone-wheeled carts. This rail system allowed priests to travel the land, keeping tabs on the goings-on in even far-flung villages both to the North and the South. By this means also, supplies and materials are transported to the capitol and redistributed as needed.

The heroes are a group of priests who travel the rail system investigating the affairs of different towns and acting on behalf of the gods. Problems soon arise when accusations of treachery are leveled against them one after the other. It soon becomes apparent that someone is engaging in underhanded dealings while perfectly mimicking their appearance. The heroes must pursue this doppelganger in order to clear their names and foil his nefarious plot.

Eventually they discover that their foe is actually a man from times more ancient than their own. Long ago, humans built an incredibly advanced civilization. When man was teetering on the brink of self-destruction they turned the care of their civilization over to a group of networked supercomputers that would determine the best course for mankind and dictate their every action. The computers decided that man was not ready for the level of technology they had achieved and so gradually guided them into a new stone age. Eventually all memory of their past glory was lost, and the computers had come to be regarded as gods. Now a man kept in stasis for all this time has reemerged into the new stone age, but knows the truth about the past and the nature of the gods. Using a high-tech holoshroud device that was buried with him, he’s been mimicking the appearances of various priests in order to get close to the gods. Now he gathered enough evidence of the gods’ true nature to completely undo all of their hard work. His goal, however, is not to act on this plan, but to merely use it as blackmail against the computers. He’ll keep their secret safe in exchange for the wealth and power that comes with the position of high priest.


What do you think? Be sure to post your own take on the elements in the comments if you haven't already.