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In my story, there is a planet. The planet's name is not really important for the sake of this question, so we're going to refer to it as "dead planet".

Background:

  • Dead planet is entirely hot desert, with civilization only able to exist in the vicinity of a mega-oasis around the size of Texas derived from the largest known aquifer in the galaxy

  • The galaxy has just been hit with a massive plague that, while having vanished as suddenly as it arrived, caused massive population decline and greatly weakened planetary governments (so it didn't completely remake the social order like the black plague did but weakened existing systems kind of like the Plague of Justinian)

  • The galaxy, in terms of technology and culture, varies by planet from neolithic to very early renaissance. Gunpowder, on planets where it even exists (dead planet is not one of them, being basically halfway between the bronze and iron ages), is still in its infancy, for example. Travel between planets is done by magic-assisted boats rather than through technology at this point.

Basically, the reason I have the dead planet's entire population and culture being wiped out is that the villain gets mad at not being able to get a certain artifact required for his evil plans and unleashes a massive sandstorm that chokes the mega-oasis to punish the planet's citizens. Agriculture becomes impossible and the whole population basically starves. There are only 2 survivors: one of the villain's henchmen who happens to be from this planet, and the planet's crown prince, who escaped in a spaceworthy vessel the king had purchased from a more advanced civilization. My question is, without destroying the planet completely, how could I justify everyone of dead planet's ethnicity being dead after this except these 2 people (for example, how would I explain the lack of a diaspora community anywhere)?

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  • $\begingroup$ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonraker_(film) - Kill all humans, but leave the planet (including plants and other animals) untouched. $\endgroup$
    – Chris Melville
    Commented Apr 5, 2020 at 11:18
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    $\begingroup$ Minor frame challenge: there are only two known survivors of note. The population of this ethnicity just went from potentially millions to perhaps a few dozens in a matter of weeks. Unless there is magic that can quickly search the entire galaxy for individuals of a specific ethnicity, the difference between 2 survivors and 20 or even 200 (all of whom will be in hiding anyway, given the circumstances) is probably irrelevant to the story. $\endgroup$
    – GrandOpener
    Commented Apr 5, 2020 at 18:50
  • $\begingroup$ Coronavirus * 30 $\endgroup$
    – Michael M
    Commented Apr 5, 2020 at 21:20

6 Answers 6

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(for example, how would I explain the lack of a diaspora community anywhere)?

Justifying why no one has leaves the planet after the storm starts is easy. Have you tried flying a magic spaceboat in a category 10 hurricane? No? Yeah, that's what I thought.

However, given that the Prince was on a ship purchased, this civilization clearly has some offworld interaction. Explaining why there were no other traders, pilgrims, or other travelers offworld at the time is something you might have to do.

Perhaps, the villain attacked on an important holiday, when the entire population gathers back on the homeworld for some celebration. (This is probably not an annual holiday, or if it is only every N years is it this important.) The prince was offworld on his own because of a coming-of-age ritual associated with this holiday.

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  • $\begingroup$ i love this answer $\endgroup$
    – Topcode
    Commented Apr 4, 2020 at 18:17
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    $\begingroup$ Wonderful answer. +1 Consider the prince's departure not to be a coming of age ritual, but rather an ascension to the throne (which is why it happens very rarely). Perhaps the legends say that the first king, who helped the world become civilized, came from the stars. So in memory, all subjects to the throne must return and be planet-bound while the ascending prince climbs into the sky so that he can return as King. That tradition might be the whole reason that the bad guy killed the old king; so he could wipe out the whole race with one shot, leaving only the prince to hunt down and kill. $\endgroup$
    – Henry Taylor
    Commented Apr 4, 2020 at 20:41
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    $\begingroup$ Wonderful! One can imagine the vibrant scenes around the oasis as all manner of merchantfolk return to the planet from different corners of the galaxy, blissfully unaware of the villains impending wrath, meeting with family and old friends after many years apart, recalling old times before the plague, and drawing excitement and wonder from the crowds of locals as they reveal their exotic wares for trade. $\endgroup$
    – Aerinmund Fagelson
    Commented Apr 5, 2020 at 11:38
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My question is, without destroying the planet completely, how could I justify everyone of dead planet's ethnicity being dead after this except these 2 people?

You don't have to explain anything, it's perfectly logical.

In the extinction of any species, and I underline the "any", there will be a moment in which there are only two survivors.

The extinction of the dodo? At a certain point there were two dodos left, then one, then 0.

The extinction of the great auk? Same, before reaching zero, there were just two left.

The extinction of any tree on Easter island? Same...

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  • $\begingroup$ This is ignoring the detail of the only 2 survivors surviving because they were off-planet. So the real question: Why weren't more people off-planet? $\endgroup$
    – Llewellyn
    Commented Apr 5, 2020 at 19:06
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Your dude is magic. Big magic. He kills them all, everywhere they are.

Here is a scene from Star Trek Next Generation where they confront a very powerful being, and he tells them of his crime.

https://youtu.be/hNbQZ_jMR2E?t=81

Your evil overlord is mad that he was thwarted in his effort to get this artifact. But it is not his first rodeo. He has other artifacts. He uses one.

These people have travelled on magic boats and do live on other planets, in little colonies or mixed with the native populace. All of them die in their tracks.

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  • $\begingroup$ He's Thanos, but with 10 infinity stones. $\endgroup$
    – Quintec
    Commented Apr 5, 2020 at 20:22
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Disease has

  • Efficacy of Ebola and Cholera (both) (Very bad with no help. There will be no help.)

  • Incubation period akin to HIV

  • Infectiousness akin to measles

  • Re re re infection capability

  • "Novel" - no prior ancestor no vaccine, no immunity.

  • Benign for years say until suddenly not benign. Triggered by some event / material / ... and then releases material that triggers infection response in, by now, everyone.

There are viruses with the last attribute that inject the majority of people now. Just make it everyone. eg the JC virus is fatally triggered for a few people but causes a "mild cold" for most. Once contracted you have it for life. One day ... :-(.

JC Virus - web MD

  • The JC virus, or John Cunningham virus, is a germ so common that the majority of adults have been exposed to it. The virus was first discovered in 1971, when a doctor found it in the brain of a man with Hodgkin's lymphoma and named the virus after him.

  • It doesn't cause problems for most people, but it can be dangerous if you have a weak immune system. There's no known way to keep yourself from getting it. Experts don't know how it's spread, but it's thought that many people pick it up as kids through food or water infected with the virus. It settles in your urinary tract, bone marrow, tonsils, or brain. It can stay there for years, and most people never know they have it.

Wikipedia - JC Virus

  • Human polyomavirus 2, commonly referred to as the JC virus or John Cunningham virus, is a type of human polyomavirus (formerly known as papovavirus).[3] It was identified by electron microscopy in 1965 by ZuRhein and Chou,[4] and by Silverman and Rubinstein, and later isolated in culture and named using the two initials of a patient, John Cunningham, with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML).[5] The virus causes PML and other diseases only in cases of immunodeficiency, as in AIDS or during treatment with drugs intended to induce a state of immunosuppression (e.g. organ transplant patients).[6]

The problem is not having everyone die, it's having even 2 people survive. Think of a reason.

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    $\begingroup$ Novel doesn't preclude genetic immunity. It takes say 3 mutations (which are otherwise meaningless) to render one immune to the disease--and only those two people happened to have all three. (I am not aware of any disease that requires three for immunity but there are examples of otherwise meaningless mutations that grant immunity.) $\endgroup$
    – Loren Pechtel
    Commented Apr 5, 2020 at 20:53
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The population was already partly starved or weakened by other events. The villain sets up a trap making some great promises and gathering all the population in the main city. The survivors are the only two people who realized there was something wrong, they try to convince the others to beware the villain, but they fail and so they are the only ones who take cover.

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What you could do is enter into the realm of philosophical science. I propose three ways you can make this happen. The first being you can have the planet get hit with an asteroid sort of like a dinosaur extinction event. The second way is you could pretend there was a massive volcano that erupted on the surface and wiped everything out. The two people in the story survived be being underground in a cave system or by being in the earths only submarine. The third way is you could have an alien species that wanted to wipe out the planet arrive and drop a massive nuclear bomb on the planet that killed everything except for these two people. Maybe you can make a futurama or halo situation where the only survivors were in cryostasis? Thats all I got for now

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