Heroes of Yore, Reborn
It is in times of need that heroes are born. What need have we of them when there is no danger, no threat, no evil; to confront? And so we revere the heroes of the past, having none among us who fit that same romantic image of one figure standing against an encroaching darkness. No revolutionary, fighting to uplift their people out from a demon's shadow. No Arthurs, no Joan of Arks, no Hercules.
But now is a time when such heroes must return, for we have need of them. Dark and shadowy creatures, numerous and various in their shape and size, roam the land having poured out of the little wilderness still left on the Earth. With no opposition they overran most of our towns and cities, flinching little when faced with modern weaponry. Organised armies, trained to fight against their fellow humans, scattered to the wind in fear as their weapons did nothing to slow the onslaught; tanks ripped apart or crushed by the largest of the creatures while the small feral ones hunted down the skirmishing infantry. Aircraft strafed the enemy horde to no avail until they were forced to return home, having accomplished nothing, or else were plucked from the sky when straying too close to a giant.
Humanity has retreated to its final bastions, its greatest cities, and there built walls that put all former defences to shame in both scale and complexity. There, they have explored their final hope, a return of heroes to our land. Not the heroes of today but the heroes of yore, reborn in avatars possessing their power and their tenacity, who will lead humanity in their struggle against complete annihilation.
Do I still have your interest? Excellent! Then read on.
I believe the above sets the scene fairly well - capital cities are pretty much the only places left that humanity resides in, at least in any great number, with small fortified towns elsewhere but these are very few in number and have largely been occupied for their strategic worth more than anything else.
Little is still known about the creatures which have, more or less, made humanity extinct and now roam in giant hordes freely across most of the world's landmass. They vary little from continent to continent in general although there is great variation within the hordes themselves. From horse sized, feral and agile beasts to giants that tower over even four or five storey buildings, the creatures have different 'personalities' but act as one army, intent on crushing any enemies that appear before them.
Modern weaponry has shown little to no effect, at best slowing the creatures down but never successfully killing them. Only with handheld weaponry, from lucky wielders of kitchen knives, to hardy men and women improvising with large poles or pieces of timber, to purpose made bayonets, swords and spears; can these creatures be successfully killed. Armies have adapted, shunning modern weaponry (except in the case of policing) to adopting older and more conventional arms but they are inexperienced and lack the lifelong training that warriors from the past would have possessed.
This is where our heroes step in. Born as normal humans, and living as normal humans, they will be faced with a life or death scenario (the creatures, in other words) and become an avatar for a long dead hero. Their powers may not be the exact same as the hero by whom they now have an affinity to but they will wield a similar weapon (if one is available) and their individual ability and specialities will come from that hero's legend.
When I use the term 'power' I don't mean that these characters will be performing laser shows, causing earthquakes or creating spontaneous tsunamis. These abilities will be weapon focused and based - for example legends around the Gáe Bulg wielded by Cúchulainn could bring about different abilities, from a spear which is simply forever sharp and causes more damage than would normally be expected to spreading barbs throughout an enemy and literally shredding them from the inside.
Your character will have a 'life flashes before their eyes' moment into which this past hero will step in and awaken their abilities, including the granting of a weapon where applicable (almost always applicable, or else your character would still die).
Despite this awakening of heroes, they are still not numerous enough to form an army on their own as there is never more than one avatar of a particular hero at any one time, and so humanity is stuck in maintaining the current status quo. Beats total extinction though.
I hope this gives y'all an idea of what's going on and some ideas. Any questions then please throw them my way and show your interest, should you still have any after reading this.
