AStoryForOne
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Random snippet idea.
🕑 Added 2026-01-23 14:13:27 +0000 UTCSo I suddenly had this idea in my head and I've been thinking about it recently. It would essentially be an original world, but using Fanfic/other source material like a fanfic does in a way.
So, here's the premise, it'll sound rather cliche, but hear me out.
World is sorta post apocalyptic? Over half the world is kinda destroyed. The US only has some cities on the east coast and they're more colonies again, rather than the US being an actual country. You still have some major cities throughout the world, but most regions had become deserted and dangerous.
Essentially, there are what they call 'Fractures'. Pieces of Myths, Legends, or stories that disrupted time and space in areas and spilled out onto the world. Mythical and legendary creatures spilled out, magic and such returned to the world. And most of the world collapsed before they could stabilized.
MC lives in Londinium, the largest 'hub' left in what is considered the western world, even if there are plenty of big cities left. But as the name implies, it's in England, but it's a hodgepodge of a bunch of different ethnicities and different western countries all pushed together in the years since the collapse, so the culture there is all over the place.
There is a new profession that came about after the world collapsed called -- Scribes. Atleast, that' what they're called in Londinium and most of the western world. Other places may call them something else, but all the same.
Scribes are those who are able to seal a story/myth/legend into a Card for use. Technically, anyone can become a Scribe, but realistically, not everyone can walk that path. The idea of cards is more closer to their 'modern' day, but the concept existed in other forms at earlier times where they used to use paintings, stone tablets, etc. But Cards had become the mainstream method since a long time ago.
The thing is, making Cards isn't easy. To make a 'Card', you need not only proper materials, but also you have to understand the story and incorporate that into the card making. The issues comes that since the world's collapse, most myths/legends/stories have been lost in details. Of course, most people would know who Zeus is, but they can't just go on google and look up every single detail, enough to be able to make a Card of Zeus himself.
What does remain, well, it's properly hoarded and kept hidden because knowledge literally equals power here.
The MC is a reincarnator/transmigrator, whatever term you want to use. Someone who, well, could be called a wiki diver, he knows a bit about a lot of things, but what constitutes his 'cheat' is the fact that he's able to plug in other parts into the story. For instance, for King Arthur, he could use Saber from Fate, because it's still a 'story' it still had weight, or whatever.
Obviously, this isn't an instant cheat to opness, it's an advantage.
The basic concept is like, MC uses the 'Story' of when Merlin asked Saber if she preferred the sword or the Sheath and then scolded her when she said the sword, stating that the Sheath is what would keep her safe. The MC uses that 'story' to create a Rare Card, a Magic Sheath that provides a bit of healing and protection.
It's not enough to create Avalon just from that small bit, but it's enough to become weighty to create an equivalent story and starting point. The more a story is known and used in card creation, the more powerful a card can become. Eventually, said 'story' could fully envelop the entire Myth and become Avalon. But of course, knowing the story is only half of the problem -- albeit usually the biggest hurdle for most people.
Delving more into Cards, there's two facets to it. Cards that do something basic, like say, a Card that allows someone to shoot a bolt of lightning.
It would look something like Unranked Card: Call Lightning.
This is the most basic type of 'card' in the world. Something supernatural, but something basic, something that doesn't constitute a real 'story'. But something mythical enough that it could be called 'magical'. Every civilization has a concept around Lightning which is enough of a 'story' without needing a real story included, people being randomly struck by lightning is a known quantity.
That leads to the opposite side, Saga.
An equivalent example would be like Unranked Saga: Lightning Falls from the skies.
This one would have a story attached to it, small as it may be. Perhaps, it recounts a tale of how during a fight, a stray bolt of lightning fell from the sky, killing an enemy leader or something which turned the tide of battle.
The difference between being merely a 'Card' and a 'Saga'.
The vast majority of them are just 'Cards', lacking a proper 'Story' to support them. The normal population uses basic 'Cards', the more 'elites' uses Sagas.
And there are ranks to cards from here.
Unranked, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Mythological.
'Cards' of the general variety, they don't have any variants above Epic. To reach 'Legendary', it is required to have a significant story attached to it, such like a mythological or legendary figure like King Arthur.
To use another example, there may be a Epic Ranked Card: Dragon Fire
Dragons are predominant throughout most societies. Dragons are strong, dragon fire is deadly. These things would be 'common sense' enough that even without a specific story, the concept of Dragon could carry a card without a story to Epic Rank, but no further.
Cards of course can be upgraded upwards. Using the Lightning Saga from before, if you know the right stories, and have the right materials, you could upgrade it to something like 'Zeus's Fury' or what have you, just as an example.
However, cards that touch certain stories become Unique, they can't be replicated even if the 'story' becomes known. Just like how each figure in myth and legends is unique.
Multiple people may have something like Epic Ranked Saga: Zeus's Fury, but only one person could have something like Epic Ranked Saga: Balmung.
There's only one Balmung, but Zeus could throw as much lightning down from the skies as he wants, that sort of logic. There are multiple times throughout myths that Zeus got angry and smited someone, so people could use multiple different 'stories' to create that Card.
That's sorta the concept I have so far. There may be more reasons why MC can't just make a Legendary Saga right off the bat, maybe some kind of limiter to new Scribes and they need more training and such, but yeah.
There may be things I'm forgetting, so feel free to ask me any questions, maybe it's not something I thought about yet.
Tell me what you think.
Comments
billy oikonomou
Sounds a bit like ORV wich I am definitely down for!
Ringard
Sounds fun.
AStoryForOne
It's not a game world like yugioh. Cards would just be the medium by which they use magic or their 'powers'. It's most certainly an open conflict world, the 'Fractures' had deposited monsters from various myths and legends into the world and they continue to spill out gradually. Most of the world is inhospitable.
Torva_Messor0404
Sounds like a good idea, though I personally think it would be more interesting as an open world with conflict instead of a regulated duel type story like Yu-Gi-Oh.
JetKG
Create to your hearts desire, oh weaver of tales.
Chorky Dawalded
litterly sound like latter seasons of fate kalied prisma illya......with the anisworths pulling fake noble phantasms from the class cards even threw kid gilgamesh for a loop. combineing hurc an medusa to make a scuffed jormangund because they thought they were fighting thor
Benjamin T H
sound really interesting, i would be up to reading that:)
matthew nemec
Gives me cardcaptor sakura vibes crossed with other stuff.
DarkWolf64x
Now that you think about more, it sounds more like the conceptual premise of the world like fate and you could easily make like the conceptual idea of any type of story tell you that could possibly be true and exist like the origin story of the two heavenly dragons from DXD for example, boost or divide as an effect of one of these cards though the more of that story keeps going around, it would evolve those two types of cards to the point they might be able to generate the boosted gear or divide dividing into these worlds could you go for Juggernaut drive that right there? Would be very interesting And technically you could realistically make any conceptual idea or world from any anime actually part of this story what type of limit could it have? That's a good question I would like to see
Ototsu_Yume
Seems fun, gives me severe Worm + Yugioh vibes which I don't recall being done before either. I'm already looking forward to reading it. :)
King Ottarl
Sound interesting! Admittedly am getting worry that we may see less updates for ANK but your other stories don’t seem to be getting on the way so I would say go for it!
obviousPenname
Ooh, sounds like fun. I'm always a sucker for card-making stories like this, they can be a great time. I like the lore you've built up here, it seems well thought out and I would enjoy reading more about it.
Red Bard
I'd read it, sounds really interesting
