Hi, I'm here to ask for opinions and tips on a subject. Let me clarify: (there will be some mild spoilers from Savage Divinity, by ruffwriter, here at RoyalRoad)
In a fantasy world where 1 individual can grow madly in power and hold the power to literally wipe out a city, countries, and even continents easily, how does society still exist? I mean, people are inconstant and unpredictable, now imagine if some of these people hold unimaginable power. Able to destroy cities or even nations. I believe it is very, very likely that some will lose their way at some point and cause unbridled destruction, to which individuals of equivalent power would respond in kind. This results in a devastated and destroyed world.
So, based on 'My Assumption' that this would most likely happen in a real context, we writers need to invent ways to 'limit', 'restrict' these individuals from going off on their own and causing rampant destruction. Maybe somehow prohibit them from acting on their own or something.
If I remember correctly, the only story I have read that addresses this 'aspect', situation, or whatever you want to call it, was Savage Divinity. There are beings there who have reached a peak of power of such magnitude that they are called 'Divinities'. If an open war were to occur between the deities of the different factions, it would be equivalent to a nuclear war in our world. And the 'nuclear bombs' of this fantasy world are reusable. And to solve this dilemma, the author decided to create a 'Treaty'. An unwritten agreement where the 'Deities' (who are just ordinary but very powerful beings) refrain from participating personally in 'mundane', 'secular', in short mortal affairs (even if they are not real gods).
This was ruffwriter's solution to this dilemma, and I loved this concept. So much that I want to incorporate it into my story. And this is where the difficulties come, I have to think of ways to exercise this limitation on the more powerful characters. But there is the fact that one of the protagonists I have been planning is one of these very powerful beings from the very beginning of the story. Now how the hell am I going to write a story where the protagonist (one of them, there will be two) cannot act.
See my dilemma gentlemen? I need help to find possible solutions, and opinions. Tell me what you think about this? How would you solve this problem? What ideas come to your mind from what I have said here? Spill the beans!

(I'm not a native English speaker, and my English is pretty weak, so don't mind mistakes. If something is confusing, let me know and I'll try to clarify).

Well, one option might be that this protagonist has permission to be there. The treaty might require some proverbial boots on the ground to monitor things. As long as he doesn't go around destroying cities, that is.

Other entities that are stronger than humans. I've got a world I'm building atm where the strongest mortals are all people empowered by various gods and they are chosen carefully. They're all strong enough to crush tyrants, but can't go against the wishes of their deities, who are largely peaceful. 

There are arguments to be made about freedom of choice in this setting, but things are relatively stable. 

CrowsCrowCrow Wrote: Well, one option might be that this protagonist has permission to be there. The treaty might require some proverbial boots on the ground to monitor things. As long as he doesn't go around destroying cities, that is.

Well it's complicated, would it be the breaking point of the treaty to raze a region with lots of civilians and nothing that goes that far, is that allowed? So these beings could act, but not cause unbridled destruction? Doesn't that make things unfair (to the 'common' people)? After all they are very powerful beings and few can somehow overcome them or come out on top. But also these beings are few and far between. Somehow I feel they would abuse their authority too much. But thinking about it, would that be a problem in itself? They are all powerful, so ""they have the right to impose themselves"" ?, hmmm things to think about!
Another thing, who would punish them for breaking the treaty? Obviously the rest of the powerful people. But what if some of these 'gods' decide to get together to intentionally break the treaty? Then there would be no way for the rest to punish those who broke the treaty.
This treaty seems to be very fragile... Considering that it literally keeps the planet in order.Although again, would that be a bad thing for the plot itself?

Sorry, I just used this text to formulate some ideas, hehe

Ooh! Raw power doesn't solve all problems, how could I forget this maxim of life!

Haust Wrote: Other entities that are stronger than humans. I've got a world I'm building atm where the strongest mortals are all people empowered by various gods and they are chosen carefully. They're all strong enough to crush tyrants, but can't go against the wishes of their deities, who are largely peaceful. 

There are arguments to be made about freedom of choice in this setting, but things are relatively stable.

Interesting. I personally don't like the concept of real Deities, for some reason I find it meh. But the idea that there are more powerful creatures that somehow influence the behavior of these people, is very good! Maybe some common enemy keeps them 'together' in many quotes. A group of powerful people is always going to have conflicts of interest, especially people who are probably very proud. An enemy that has been at war with humanity for centuries keeps them relatively united, not exactly the most original idea I had, but it's a good start! Thanks for sharing

Jexelld Wrote: Ooh! Raw power doesn't solve all problems, how could I forget this maxim of life!

I endorse this message!

One system I have seen in some books and TTRPG's is that "magic" or whatever you call it in your system, fundamentally stresses local reality.  The bigger the change, the more the stress.  That stress results in monsters, magical accidents or similar.  So one solution might be that your "deities" spend a lot of time and effort in learning how to use their magic without wrecking the world around them, and it becomes a serious status symbol for them to be able to do impressive things with the most minimal impact.  For example, rather than blow up a dam, the poke a hole in it and let the escaping water do the work for them.  Same final result, but minimal power usage.  Since you are worried about the civilizational effects- overt use of magic to affect mortals, especially on a large scale, is a sign of weakness and possibly even insanity.  The other deities would turn on such a person and tear them down quickly.  If only to steal their stuff.  This arrangement would allow your character to use magic, but in sneaky, covert ways.

Warby Wrote: One system I have seen in some books and TTRPG's is that "magic" or whatever you call it in your system, fundamentally stresses local reality.  The bigger the change, the more the stress.  That stress results in monsters, magical accidents or similar.  So one solution might be that your "deities" spend a lot of time and effort in learning how to use their magic without wrecking the world around them, and it becomes a serious status symbol for them to be able to do impressive things with the most minimal impact.  For example, rather than blow up a dam, the poke a hole in it and let the escaping water do the work for them.  Same final result, but minimal power usage.  Since you are worried about the civilizational effects- overt use of magic to affect mortals, especially on a large scale, is a sign of weakness and possibly even insanity.  The other deities would turn on such a person and tear them down quickly.  If only to steal their stuff.  This arrangement would allow your character to use magic, but in sneaky, covert ways.

 Good ideas!

Another solution is to have some even more powerful individuals around that are not usually taking part in the story - just minding their own business.  But if anyone tries to do anything world-threatening, such a person appears and slaps them down - in whatever manner works with your story progression.

i.e. don't bug the adults, bratty kid!!

I’m borrowing a lot from xian’xia tropes here, but something like Karma could work. Like, say you start killing a whole bunch of people, and through some magic or whatever other people are able to tell how much of a monster you are. That kinda puts a massive flag on your back and you become something akin to a trophy for the ‘righteous’ people to hunt down.
If the setting doesn’t have something like this, like say in a low-mid fantasy, it could all just be word of mouth too. Reputation really matters if your power isn’t enough to dominate the entire world. Preserving “face” being something old monsters in xian’xia land will kill over demonstrates how much having a clean history matters. When your peers are all world ending calamities, you best believe they want to make sure they can be trusted to continue existing with all that power. If not, then they just band together to get rid of the troublemaker.
This does lead to a concentration of power if those that are at the top are immortal like in cultivation, but they get around that with stuff like tribulations and calamities that shake up the board every [insert very long time] or so.
This is all predicated on the person in question not being so powerful they overwhelm everyone, but that’s usually the domain of the protagonist or the BBEG.
On the all life being annihilated part, whos to say a mass extinction hasn’t happened already? On the scale of a world, a few passing centuries or millenia are nothing. Life will bounce back, even in our world. This gets dialed up to eleven when there is some magical process that seeds new beings into creation every so often.
A BBEG might conquer the world and then rule it for thousands of years and cause untold suffering, but in a million years that’ll all be lost to history.