the empty world and the throwing weapons

lately i've been thinking about the empty world. the empty world is a place after a large part of the human population is culled by disease. a place where small settlements and patterns of organized living still exist but once populous cities and towns are all abandoned and are becoming reclaimed by nature.

there's something about this kind of environment that is attractive to me. i think that a less populous world is the only environment that heroic qualities can be properly displayed in, simply because a smaller cast makes the players that do exist more immediate.

the empty world has its population distribution in microcosm to the world we live in today. it has its bullies and villains, its heroes, its victims, its common people and privileged people. it also relies on and is informed by the circumstances of a low population density.

in such an environment, physical strength and melee combat would probably figure prominently, and would become the weapon of bullies and villains. at some point, someone will be the first person to pick up a rock or other projectile weapon, learn to throw it properly, and effectively keep even strong people at bay.

i don't want to make things that are unoriginal. so many of my most beloved stories are driven by melee combat that doesn't operate on rules, the hero can succeed basically at the discretion of the author using whatever explanation they might have on hand. i'm constantly thinking of ways that this formula can be altered and replaced without compromising the intensity of the heroic struggle.

...this is what my creative process looks like right now, i guess, trying to pare away cliches and bad ideas so as to get to the core of my ideas and present them properly. "maybe it'll be fun"