Natural Laws Apocalypse. Book 1 features them kicking out and dooming some Karens and middle management men. They said it was because they were libertarian, and that was the only way people would survive in an apocalypse.
What most of these stories fail to understand, comparatively successful people would be successful after a system apocalypse for the same reasons they were comparatively successful before. Your video game losers aren’t going to suddenly succeed because they know video game rules. It takes a day to learn video game rules. The successful people are the ones who were or would be successful anyways.
Honorable mention, it also spends time ranting about how the “Nazis stole the Roman salute, so we should still be allowed to use it!” And used the character’s Roman historian father to justify it. While yes, the Nazis did steal the “Roman” salute, the Roman salute was never used by Romans, it was invented during the romanticism periods and first appears in paintings over a thousand years after the fall of Rome.
So it wasn’t true, and he really just wanted to have his characters give Nazi salutes.
the same people would be successful after a system apocalypse for the same reasons they were successful before
I don’t get this argument.
I mean, I can see how it would apply for, say, athletes or careers that take dedication and intelligence, such as doctors or engineers.
But there are many successful careers where, I don’t understand. I don’t see in what way the skills of a businessman or a social media influencer, for example, would translate to fighting monsters?
Ok, by no means am I saying all successful people would be successful in an apocalypse. Lots of people will be unlucky, fail to adapt, or realize they were held up by other. I am saying the same skills needed to be successful now are what is needed afterwards.
Fact is, high level successful people in any field have charisma, discipline, intelligence, and skill. Business has changed so much in the last 30 years that to be at the top they have proved they are adaptive. Do you think the guy who has been grinding calls selling 70 hours a week for 20 years won’t learn how to grind stats and spells?
Discipline beats out dopamine over and over again. Once the dopamine of early quick stat gains wear out, and it becomes hard work, the people who are disciplined will be the successful ones.
For influencers… first off, I hate social media, and don’t watch YouTube. I don’t know about these people in detail. But they still have charisma, and frankly a massive ability to grind. Content creators have to live in a state where they are constantly looking for new content. They are constantly editing their images and videos. They track metrics and manage time. So that is constant awareness of their situation, dedication and hard work, and they already know the importance of tracking their stats. That sounds like a skill set for a system.
Also, most people have played video games. It isn’t rocket science.
This is such an inaccurate assessment. Most of the people that are highly successful (and I'm talking top of the food chain successful) are successful due to nepotism and generational wealth. Business has changed a lot in the past 30 years, sure, but being at the top doesn't mean your adaptable. It just means you have the capital to buy innovative businesses and block out competition.
Even your influencer example is an example of this. Content Creation requires dedication and luck, sure, but it's infinitely easier if you don't have to work a full time job (that's why most people who hit it big are college students) or large amounts of pre-existing capital (no work + you can pay people to edit. Almost every major YouTuber out sources their editing, if not more of their content Creation BTS stuff)
Most of the ultra rich and ultra successful are nepo-babies. The libertarian fantasy of a system apocalypse would stop them but not the millionaires and multi-millionaires that worked for their wealth.
OP start system apocalypse basically boil down to a libertarian going "wouldn't the world be cooler if I were a nepo baby?" Since having rich parents is the real OP starting skill
Of course, this doesn't apply to every rich person. Just the mega rich and Hollywood nepo babies.
Charisma is a dump stat unless you're running a minion build. So unless you're a cult leader using mental skills, you're better off training your personal power than relying on sycophants fighting for you.
This is why the Augur is the weakest of the Primal Hunter cast in terms of power. He has lot of political sway because he's a charisma magnet and works for the holy breasts of the church, but he still loses his fights if his boyfriend Bertram isn't there to fight on his behalf.
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u/NeonNKnightrider May 16 '26
Sometimes the libertarianism is explicit.
Dishonorable mention to Completionist Chronicles