History Main / TerminallyDependentSociety

* In ''SpaceTransformers'' (a SoBadItsHorrible Joseph Lai film) the fate of the universe depends on a woman named Ivy who has a galaxy inside her body.

* The first Fallout game starts with the main character being sent out of the Vault to find a new water chip, without which the Vault will run out of clean water.

* Peons/Villagers/whatever from most RTS games, without them you can't build/repair buildings or gather resources. Which, in the face of someone who 'can' often gives you a pretty short life.

** ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Spock's Brain". An underground civilization is coordinated by a [[BrainInAJar humanoid brain]] called the Controller. When it fails, the inhabitants go looking for a replacement and acquire the title object.

Being doomed isn't always a bad thing, though. Maybe the society simply AscendsToAHigherPlaneOfExistence, or discover TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt means their world has simply ''changed'', not ended. They can survive just fine by giving up the wanton [[{{Hedonist}} hedonism]] of their old existence. Of course, it may turn into an InferredHolocaust if no one knows how to plow a field. Or maybe the good guys can use the energy source to conquer all the bad guys who depend on it.

* In ''ArmoredCore ForAnswer'', much of humanity (those who could afford it, at least) is dependent on the Cradle habitats they live in. One option the player can take later is to side with Old King and bring them down for the lulz. Maximillian Thermidor also wants to take them down, but this is because he believes that they are a temporary solution at best and that destroying them would open up the way for humanity to get to space.

* The world in MagnaCarta II has unnaturally high levels of ambient magic, thanks to the Hero of Legend. It is specifically noted that with so much magic around, nobody has had to farm for food for at least a thousand years. The heros end up having to bring the levels back to normal and force society to labor for sustenance for the first time in generations, as it turns out that [[spoiler: the high magic levels are maintained via world wars and human sacrifice of a specific soldier every 250 years or so]].
* ''Barely'' averted in FinalFantasyX, where the entire world is dependent on a PathOfInspiration, who constantly dangles the promise of a world without a planet-wrecking SpaceWhale. As Auron put it, "If Yevon founders, so does Spira."
** Interestingly, when Yevon eventually ''does'' founder, [[spoiler: things turn out more or less okay for a couple of years, at which point two factions (one asking for a return to the old ways, one saying the old ways are gone and should stay that way) decide to duke it out.]] The society isn't terminally dependent, they just don't know any other option.
* Peons/Villagers/whatever. from most RTS games, without them you can't build/repair buildings or gather resources. Which, in the face of someone who 'can' often gives you a pretty short life.

* In AtlantisTheLostEmpire, the Atlanteans and their city are dependent on [[spoiler: the Crystal, which is alive and made up of the spirits of the dead royalty...[[TheLifestream or maybe all dead Atlanteans]] ]]. It gives them vitality and [[Really700YearsOld a ridiculously long lifespan]] through [[spoiler: the crystal shards around their necks]] which stop glowing when the power source is taken away, and Milo explicitly tells [[MoneyDearBoy Rourke]] that they'll die if he doesn't return it. However, no one but the King seemed to know about the [[spoiler: Crystal]]'s influence, though whether they all forgot with time or never knew to begin with wasn't revealed.

* In ''ArmoredCoreForAnswer'', humanity is dependent on the Cloud Nine habitats it lives in. One option the player can take is to bring them down.

* As seen in CripplingOverspecialization, many animal species are terminally dependent on a certain food or environment, such as giant pandas and polar bears.

* Electricity is a crux these days, as the Easter Seaboard found out a few years, it is used in everything from communications and transport right on down to food preparation and recreation, and then one tree falls...

** In ''{{Star Trek Voyager}}'', the Ocampa relied on the Caretaker and his relay to power their underground society, as well as keep them safe fron the Kazon.

* Scott Westerfeld's {{Uglies}} takes place in a future where our current society has been destroyed due to a plague burns up all our oil. The future society tries to avoid this trope, making sure to carefully manage their use of natural resources, only to [[spoiler: be overthrown in the end]] since, as David {{lampshades}}, they were dependent on a mandatory operation that made everyone beautiful and [[spoiler: stopped people from thinking for themselves and wanting things. People who wanted to think for themselves did not like this and found a way to reverse that part of the operation.]]

* ''Barely'' averted in FinalFantasyX, where the entire world is dependent on a ReligionOfEvil, who constantly dangles the promise of a world without a planet-wrecking SpaceWhale. As Auron put it, "If Yevon founders, so does Spira."

* The ''CityOfEmber'' with its hydroelectric generator.

* Every society or species, real, imaginary, sentient or otherwise is terminally dependent on something, oftentimes something which is completely taken for granted. For example, all life on earth is highly dependent on a massive hydrogen guzzling fusion engine in the sky, which we call the sun. The difference between continued existence and annihilation usually hinges on how tamper proof and/or sustainable that something is.

An entire ship, city, society, planet or galaxy that depends on a single piece of {{Phlebotinum}} to survive. This piece of phlebotinum can take any form: It may be a MasterComputer[[hottip:* :Or [[TruthInTelevision The Internet]]]] that [[BigBrotherIsWatching sees all]] and [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill plans everyone's day]], a HiveQueen or FisherKing keeping the subjects in a LotusEaterMachine, a GeniusLoci that maintains a GhibliHills {{Utopia}}, or a [[TheLifeStream spiritual source of life]]. More mundane depictions might use it as the energy for FasterThanLightTravel or the entire planet. Or maybe it's just [[FisherKingdom magically linked to every citizen]], or [[CosmicKeystone to the land itself]]. In any case, no one can imagine living without it... or ''literally'' live without it. It may or may not be [[SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence sentient]], but the point is it's grown completely beyond the control of the people. Even in those cases where it's originally man-made.

Fantasy and Scifi like to use the Terminally Dependent Society in conjunction with a FantasticAesop about the dangers in abusing {{Aesoptinum}}. In sci-fi, it's almost always a metaphor for the internet. In fantasy, it's generally a metaphor for limited fossil fuel. Generally, these aesops lead to NoBloodForPhlebotinum. Expect two or three characters to escape and become the new [[AdamAndEvePlot Adam and Eve.]] Mind the inbreeding.

See also: NoOntologicalInertia, BeePeople, KeystoneArmy, CosmicKeystone, TheMagicGoesAway.