The Remnant as seen in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- In Avatar of Victory, it turns out that there are still quarians living on Rannoch, who are descended from those who didn't want to destroy the geth.
- The Bridge: A Shimmer in the Dark
, a crossover between The Bridge (MLP) and The Shimmerverse, features as its main antagonist Countess Mircalla, the last remaining one of Nightmare Moon's Generals, leading a reserve force that is all that's left of the latter's shattered army. Notably, she's lost faith in the cause, but keeps going out of debt to her former master (and because she knows that if she doesn't, the Always Chaotic Evil Nightmare forces will tear her apart for disloyalty). - Code Geass 50K: Lelouch of the Imperium: The Black Knights serve as a relic of the Dark Age of Technology, as well as the embodiment of what Lelouch/the Emperor originally envisioned for the Imperium.
- Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron: After the Galra arrive and occupy Earth, the European Union is defeated within a week. The wZERO Unit is one of the few military units that survives the invasion, and continues to fight back against the Galra Occupation.
- Code Prime: When the Decepticons begin their takeover of the world, the first thing they do is completely uproot the Britannian Empire, killing or capturing any of the major leaders and royals. After a six-month Time Skip between R1 and R2, all that remains of the Empire are Euro-Britannia, which declares independence and is currently fighting the EU, and the Glinda Knights led by Princess Marrybell, who go into hiding before eventually joining Euro-Britannia.
- Conquest in the Name of Advancement! features three examples:
- After discovering a planet's worth left of the Arnor, Flame moves them to his hub universe for their own protection.
- He does the same for the Crogenitors.
- Later, he discovers the Repository, which includes remnants of several civilizations that have otherwise been wiped out. Unlike the first two examples, they willingly sign up with Flame and move to his universe on their own accord.
- Cycles Upon Cycles:
- Even months after the defeat of Saren and Sovereign, the Council and the Alliance are shown to still be moping up units of their forces.
- Cerberus turns out to be all that's left of the UED after the latter was destroyed by Amon.
- Different: Freedom has Dyson taking control of CLU's remaining forces to wreck havoc. Goodbye Ordinary has the same plot, but with Pavel seizing control of CLU instead.
- Earth's Alien History:
- At the end of their failed invasion of the Milky Way, a group of fifty or so Reapers who survived flee to the Andromeda Galaxy in order to start over. And separately from them, the Reaper Odium goes into hiding and starts upgrading itself with TeTO technology in an attempt to start over on its own, until the Enterprise discovers and kills it seven years later.
- After the Cybertronian Civil War ends with peaceful reconciliation between the factions, a group of Decepticons led by Scorponok refuse to accept the peace and go rogue, making war on Autobots and organic life.
- A heroic example in Katie's Bad Future, where after the Empire conquers the Milky Way, portions of GaTO (TeTO's successor state) manage to flee to the Pegasus and Ida galaxies.
- Near the end of the Goa'uld War, Ba'al leads several System Lords who share his (correct) belief that they're about to lose to the TeTO-led alliance in fleeing to the Delta Quadrant with their remaining forces to escape extermination and rebuild their empire.
- Fall of Liberty: Over the course of the story, more and more of the LCPD's stations in Broker are overrun, leaving the surviving officers as these.
- In the Halloween Unspectacular series, the main antagonists of the second Myth Arc are an organization called PURITY, which has its origins in a group of Nazi military officials who fled to a secret base in Alaska after losing the war. Notably, the original leadership of the group wanted to continue fighting the US directly (even planning U-Boat attacks on the West Coast), but General Rausseman realized this was moronic, took over, and reorganized the group to abandon Nazism as an ideology. Instead, they now focus their hatred on nonhumans and people with superpowers.
- Paradoxus: Whatever remains of the once-powerful kingdom of Solaria has sought refuge in Snorx, one of Domino's moons. Courtesy of the Burning Legion and their plot to assassinate Queen Stella. Fortunately, King Brandon and Crown Princess Stacy are still alive to lead their people.
- The main antagonist of Tomica Hero Rescue Pups is a group of surviving Neo Terror Axto from Tomica Hero Rescue Force. Led by a Sith Lord named Darth Longinus, they now have lightsabers, blasters, AT-ATs, TIE Fighters, buzz droids, and episodic super-droids.
- Death of a Nation features several of these after the Rage Virus epidemic:
- What remains of the British government has relocated to Belfast, Northern Ireland, continuing operations from there. Their fifteen overseas territories have all survived the outbreak.
- Glasgow becomes the next capital of the UK after MP Galloway and his forces wrest it from a hostile rival faction.
- The French government relocated to the island of Corscia after France itself was overrun, while the Italians moved to either Sardinia or Sicily.
- The only European countries left untouched by the epidemic are Spain, Portugal, Malta, Cyprus, and Irelandnote .
- The Azula Trilogy's Starter Villain, General Azun, is the leader of a portion of the Fire Nation's military that refuses to accept the end of the war and Zuko's ascension as Fire Lord, and intend to "rescue" Azula so that she can lead them in retaking control of the Nation.
- In Repairs, Retrofits and Upgrades, Kuvira's supporters continue to uphold the ideals of the Earth Empire and defend its territory despite her being captured and abandoning her ambitions. They're still extremely well trained, armed, organized, and equipped; enough to oppose the United Forces on even footing and attempt to "rescue" Kuvira.
- Fabius Maximus has created a Shared Universe that uses this trope to apply some Surprisingly Realistic Outcome, on the grounds that as the Twelve Colonies were a fully developed FTL-capable spacefaring civilization, there must have been more survivors that the Galactica's fleet or the few scattered resistance fighters shown still living on the planets:
- The Pirate King: A pirate organization which was secretly building its own fleet (in order to privately colonize territories on the other side of the Armistice Line) uses that fleet to evacuate as many civilians and military personnel as they can rescue during the destruction of the Colonies, then flees into space to find new worlds to rebuild on.
- The Last Imperial Fleet: Virgon's planetary fleet (which is separate from the overall Colonial fleet) evacuates as many civilians as they can during the Cylon attack, including the sole surviving member of the Virgon Imperial Family, who is automatically crowned Empress. They hook up with some Colonial forces, which agree to submit to their authority, rescue some civilian ships, then flee the system.
- Exiles on the Wind: A Colonial squadron overseeing an asteroid belt mining colony evacuates the population, hooks up with a Marine regiment in the area and some civilian ships, and flee. While the squadron's Commodore is in de facto supreme control, a provisional civilian government is assembled by means of voting in a group of representatives from each ship; when the squadron eventually meets up with Galactica, this assembly is folded into Roslin's government by becoming a lower house to the Quorum of Twelve.
- It's also mentioned throughout all the stories that numerous other small groups of survivors (civilian and military) all also fled the Colonies' system to rebuild elsewhere.
- The Pirate King
- In Code Geass Megiddo, Lelouch is captured and Brainwashed by his father into becoming a loyal Britannian general. Eight years later, the last remnants of the rebellion he began as Zero are still holding on, looking for any opportunity to reclaim him and restore his suppressed memories.
- In Graduate Meeting of Mutual Killing, Monobear tells the graduates that there is a member of SHSL Despair hidden amongst their numbers.
- In What if Nappa Turned Good?, Tarbles has managed to form a small settlement made up of surviving Saiyans, along with a few stray Namekians.
- Seventh Endmost Vision has the Western Alliance remnants, most of which went underground in the wake of Shinra winning the War. Barret has mentioned that he has specifically recruited those he could find into the ranks of AVALANCHE.
- Checkmate (Anla'Shok): Mags and the other tributes in the 9th Hunger Games are marooned to fight for survival in a war zone between the Citadel, a Rebel stronghold that has held out for almost a decade after the defeat of the Districts but falls as Mags becomes a victor. Mags uses a mixture of truth and lies about her encounters with those rebels (who did have some ruthless figures among their numbers) to convince the President Evil that she sees how the Capitol is necessary to keep the rebellion down, putting her in a position to start her own Rebel Long Game.
- Sixes and Sevens: The Romani population of Latveria is described this way. They've been scattered and decimated after generations of oppression, which unfortunately reflects real-life events as well. When the Invaders meet Victor von Doom and Djordji Zindelo Hungaros during WWII, they believe themselves to be the last survivors of Zefiro village after the royal family had it razed. In the final chapter Victor learns that Boris was also born in Zefiro, and the two decide to work together in the hopes of uniting the rest of their people and making Latveria a safe haven for them once again.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Ask a Pony: Zathir, an Arc Villain from Ask Genie Twilight, is a descendent of a Renegade Splinter Faction of a previously well-intentioned regime. To say he has well intentions would be a sad mistake to make.
- Flurry Heart's Story: An entry in Twilight's journal reveals that there's a faction of Changelings who still remain loyal to Queen Chrysalis. "Elements Assemble!" reveals that General Scutellum is the one leading the group in the queen's absence.
- Marionettes: The Stallions in Black are shown to be a massive organization, and it's stressed that defeating Masquerade won't be enough to destroy them. In order to truly stop them, the heroes have to ensure that the entire organization is dismantled.
- To Serve In Hell: In the epilogue, months after Nightmare Moon's defeat, princess Rainbow Dash is still dealing with Nightmare's remaining loyalist soldiers, who are coped up in Hollow Shades. She could crack the whip on them, but took the throne by defeating a tyrant and doesn't want to set a bad precedent for her still young and unstable rule.
- Ffreire's NaruFox AU: One of the many ways this world diverges from canon is that Rasa was overthrown after the public learned about his intention to raise Gaara as a weapon. Despite how Rasa died in prison, however, there are still some "loyalists" left in Suna who believe he should have remained in power, and want to see the policies he promoted return. They attempt to strike during the Chuunin Exams, and make another attempt after the Time Skip to the Shippuden era.
- First Try Series: A few scattered survivors from the lost hidden village of Whirlpool still remain, such as the Former Whirlpool Citizen's Alliance in Wave and the civilian Uzumaki who shows up in Team Tetsuo.
- Heroic variant (but not quite meeting the description of La Résistance); in Naruto: the Secret Songs of the Ninja, Konoha is destroyed and most of its population killed in the Sand/Sound attack, forcing the few hundred survivors to fall back to the Senju clan's hidden fortress, led by Jiraiya.
- Obito-Sensei: After Danzo is killed by Jiraiya, his followers in Root defected Konoha seeing themselves as the "true" Hidden Leaf, vowing revenge on Konoha on their own. They first appear during the Waterfall arc and attempt to kill Team 7.
- True Potential: Following the death of Orochimaru, Misumi and Yoroi attempt to gather an army in order to avenge them by taking down Konoha. Said army winds up getting wiped out by a trio of Konohan ninjas.
- A Fistful of Dragonite reimagines the Kei Pirates/Bandits as this, having fought on the losing side of an unnamed war, which is a loose Expy of the US Confederacy. Their leader, Colonel Hazanko, still holds their loyalty, and their influence is felt throughout the western frontier.
- An Uncommon Proposal has Worm Tongue, the primary antagonist, a former member of the Corvo Gang who blames Fakir for its downfall.
- In A Ballad of the Dragon and She-Wolf, Harrenhal stands as the last remaining stronghold of the Faith Militant, as all the other branches were killed by Cersei.
- Chasing Dragons:
- After Rhaegar flees Westeros, all the Targaryen loyalists unwilling to yield to the rebellion follow him, establishing a court-in-exile that briefly has enough of a power base to rule Myr in all but name. After being defeated by the Sunset Company, however, they're significantly reduced in power, with a large chunk of their men defecting back to Westeros and Rhaegar being fatally wounded, leaving what's left to flee to Volantis and becoming a sellsword company to earn their stay in the city.
- The Sunset Company's victory also sees them conquering Myr and purging most of the old aristocracy in the process of freeing all the slaves. Those who survive, either by fleeing or having been coincidentally elsewhere at the time, regroup and establish a Government in Exile in Tyrosh, determined to eventually reclaim their city. When Tyrosh likewise falls to the Abolitionist Alliance, these "True Myrish" flee again to Volantis, where they pledge themselves to the Targaryen forces for protection. Meanwhile, the Tyroshi who manage to escape the destruction of their city establish exile communities in Lys and Oldtown.
- After Khal Drogo conquers Qohor and razes it to the ground, those Qohori who weren't living in the city itself are scattered. While many settle in the Norvoshi territories rebelling against Norvos proper after the reactionary coup, others emigrate to Westeros and set up exile communities in Duskendale and King's Landing.
- The Grand Army of Volantis was a coalition of that city-state's militia, their Unsullied corps, the Exile Company (a merger of the Targaryen loyalists and the Golden Company), the True Myrish, and the Tattered Prince's sellsword forces. They marched out of their city numbering nearly fifty thousand and boasted themselves as being the mightiest army on Essos since the Doom of Valyria. After the Battle of the Agneiat and the Battles of Ghoyan Drohe, they're reduced to a fraction of the Exile Company sneaking away on river barges after they left the Volantene Militia to the abolitionists' fury, the Unsullied and True Myrish having been wiped out and the Tattered Prince having fled.
- Reasons For Living: In the wake of a massive battle, Jon Connington notes that the Golden Company, once 20,000 men strong, has been reduced to 800: only three-hundred members of the forces brought to Westeros remain, plus five-hundred who were waiting in reserve in Essos (plus the elephants). He dryly remarks that the once-fabled Golden Company now seems more like the blackened company.
- Entropy: The sequel, Chaoskampf, has the Binary Lycans, which were largely wiped out after a Civil War tore them apart. However, a few descendants remain stubbornly clinging to their belief that only "purebloods" should have the right to be Guardians.
- Those Left Behind has the main ensigns (and Lieutenant Stevens) on a planetary survey when they run into a faction of Dominion soldiers that are unaware that the war has ended five years prior.
- The main antagonists of I, Warrior are a group of renegade Yuuzhan Vong who refuse to accept the end of their war with the Galactic Alliance. To this end, they've allied with the enigmatic Sith Lord known as the Master, who has promised them revenge and power in exchange for aiding him find a cure for his illness. In the end, however, he was just using them, and they surrender to the GA after the Master's defeat.
- Liberty Lives: After the Separatist movement is mostly crushed by the Republic, several factions of their military refuse to accept their loss and keep fighting. Eventually, most of these "Lost Cause" warlords band together as the New Separatist Union, declaring themselves the official successor state to the old CIS, despite the fact that they only ever control a handful of systems and are reduced to fighting like terrorists and raiders rather than an actual military due to the sheer material difference between them and the Republic.
- Summer Crowns: After Lys conquers Tyrosh, the Archon and the surviving magisters manage to escape to several of the city's tributaries with a chunk of its military forces, before dividing over disagreements on the best way forward. The Archon, who wants to reclaim Tyrosh and his power, camps out in the trade port of Bluestones, while the magisters, who want to maintain what power they have left, shore themselves up in the lesser cities of Berosh and Vakar and give up on Tyrosh, focusing on conquering the mainland.
Warhammer 40,000 Expanded Universe
- The Mortal Son: Among Inquisitor Vownus' retinue are the surviving members of the Astral Knights, an all-but-extinct chapter of Space Marines who wiped themselves out destroying a Necron superweapon. Only thirty battle-brothers survived (a skeleton crew left behind to defend their Fortress-Monastery base), and only six (plus a Dreadnought) were left by the time Vownus came across them. They all wish they had died gloriously fighting alongside their brothers, and desperately seek to restore their Chapter.
