Alternate Timelines

[Bill]

If I wanna play Demonworld, I usually just go for Wormwood...

Fair enough. The point of the thread is to propose alternative earths though, and KC's proposition is valid in that respect; is it not?

[Killer Cyborg]

There would still be magic and psionics, as well as weapons and ways of exploiting various weaknesses of supernatural creatures.

[Tor]

A timeline where Rifts connected Splicers and Wormwood would be interesting. You could have Gardener-Plant-Fortifications growing on top of soil imported to lie on top of Wormwood, and then grow wormwood up adjacent to it, reach over and cover, then deposit MORE soil on top of the new wormwood-layer, and put more plant-turrets and stuff...

[Nightmask]

The Coming of the Rifts is triggered by the Large Hadron Collider test in 2008, instead of a war during the Golden Age.
So there never is any Golden Age (or mega-damage) Earth technology with which to battle the demons and other creatures that come through the rifts, only modern-day (circa 2008) technology at best.

Then Earth would become Demonworld... since we'd lack the means to resist the invasions at all

Not quite, since pre-Golden Age era is Beyond the Supernatural and not our non-magical earth, so there would still be mages running around and psychics (and the numbers would increase due to the enhanced ambient PPE) so humanity wouldn't be totally defenseless.

[Nox Equites]

Transpose D-bee invasions and see what happens. Larhold Barbarians in NA? Xiticix in Europe? Gargoyle invasion through the Calgary rift? What would the powers that exist in canon do with different opponents? Larhold in NA might join Pecos raiders or be so far away that they set up their own community. Xticix could wreak a lot of havoc if they arrived somewhere isolated in Spain for example. What would Atlantis do with access to Xiticix for their arenas? Would they support their destruction as too dangerous to let be?

Energy weapon control option. Maybe Lasers, ions, and plasma were too difficult to make in the Golden Age? This leaves Railguns and conventional weaponry dominating the field. Without common lasers the GB doesn't have reflective armor reducing the costs of repair and production. They won't be dirt cheap but more will be built.

Robot reduction option. Mankind had barely gotten to practical PA in the waning years of the Golden Age. Larger bipedal robot vehicles were impractical and far too expensive to produce leaving combat the purview of Tanks, APCs and IFVs

What if MOM process was more refined and less insanity inducing? Would Juicers be replaced by Crazies as the specialty shock troops?

AbMechs don't necessarily need to be good guys. Suppose some of them did arrive during the Mechanoids events and set about forming their own kingdom. Where would they go to and who would they ally with?

[Nightmask]

Energy weapon control option. Maybe Lasers, ions, and plasma were too difficult to make in the Golden Age? This leaves Railguns and conventional weaponry dominating the field. Without common lasers the GB doesn't have reflective armor reducing the costs of repair and production. They won't be dirt cheap but more will be built.

Nice idea but the Glitter Boy's chrome armor is independent of the laser/energy weapons development, even if they didn't have to worry about lasers or other energy weapons the chrome armor would still exist and the GB in general would remain the same since railguns still exist and nothing beats the MDC protection the Chrome armor grants. If anything it'd become more common with all those heavy-pounding rail-guns running around necessitating the most protection possible.

[Killer Cyborg]

Alternate plane where Rifts Earth was Systems Failure.

[Glistam]

Transpose D-bee invasions and see what happens. Larhold Barbarians in NA? Xiticix in Europe? Gargoyle invasion through the Calgary rift? What would the powers that exist in canon do with different opponents? Larhold in NA might join Pecos raiders or be so far away that they set up their own community. Xticix could wreak a lot of havoc if they arrived somewhere isolated in Spain for example. What would Atlantis do with access to Xiticix for their arenas? Would they support their destruction as too dangerous to let be?

Energy weapon control option. Maybe Lasers, ions, and plasma were too difficult to make in the Golden Age? This leaves Railguns and conventional weaponry dominating the field. Without common lasers the GB doesn't have reflective armor reducing the costs of repair and production. They won't be dirt cheap but more will be built.

Robot reduction option. Mankind had barely gotten to practical PA in the waning years of the Golden Age. Larger bipedal robot vehicles were impractical and far too expensive to produce leaving combat the purview of Tanks, APCs and IFVs

What if MOM process was more refined and less insanity inducing? Would Juicers be replaced by Crazies as the specialty shock troops?

AbMechs don't necessarily need to be good guys. Suppose some of them did arrive during the Mechanoids events and set about forming their own kingdom. Where would they go to and who would they ally with?

Excellent ideas!

[Tor]

If a permanent portal could open SFearth to North America, how hard would it be for the Bugs to conquer the CS?

[Bill]

Instead of Coake, XarXar the wizard supreme (another of the legendary Defilers of Baalzebub) stays to nurture the wilderness people during the Dark Age. The cyberknights never come to be. In their place is an order of wizards dedicated to the mastery of the mystical arts, the sharing of arcane wisdom, and the subjugation of evil wherever it may take root.

These Exorcists, as they come to be known, change the perception of spellcasters across the North American continent. As a result, the Coalition has far less success in demonizing spellcasters. The common people continue to offer aid and shelter to spellcasters. The Federation of Magic struggles to recruit mages to their cause. Tolkeen and Lazlo attract many more emigrants. The war on Tolkeen never happens; no popular support for it can be cultivated.

XarXar continues to train Exorcists into the present day in old Wyoming, where he oversees a supernatural prison including the demon lord that formerly dominated the territory and researches ever deeper into the mysteries of magic.

[Tor]

Perhaps XarXar is actually the leader of that village of High Wizards in the Southern Federation and he is helping out with stabilizing the wormwood city connection to home planet.

[Bill]

Could be. I don't think they need any help with that though. Wormwood is fairly specific about having many experienced dimensional raiders among the population. SA2 indicates that the three cities are each at a nexus, so they can get to Wormwood and back any time they like. However, if the Wormwooders are attempting to open a permanent portal, that could be another story.

I honestly don't know anything about XarXar the Wizard Supreme beyond the name. He (she or it) is credited with composing the Ballad of the Defilers, which appears at the front of Palladium Fantasy.

A little digging reveals it to be the equivalent to a TW full conversion borg played by Julius Rosenstein. Which could add some interesting quirks to the Exorcists; as they similarly give up pieces of themselves for TW prosthetics.

[Tor]

The permanent portal connection between Wormwood and Southern Federation is the only way I can figure the buildings stay alive without making new rules for mini-Wormwood generation with adequate chunk size.

With all the Shifters on Wormwood there would really be no reason they would remain out of touch, even if they cannot port the whole city back. I just wish I knew WHERE on Wormwood the portal was.

It is odd for CJ not to note this since he mentions Wormwood connections in Phase World...

More important than any probable portals is where the city used to be... a likely spot... or a mention of a lost city vanishing around the time Southern Federation formed.

[Bill]

Honestly, I don't think a vanishing city would be too unique in the last 300 years of war against the Host. That said, it's pretty obviously a dropped thread. Carella left quite a few of those in his books.

For what I'm writing, the majority of all fighters went home to continue the war (and because their symbiots were dying). The peasants and a handful of monks stayed behind to build a new life on Earth and to recruit heroes to join the fight. Several holy days are observed every year where supplies and volunteers crossover to Wormwood. The original people transported and their direct descendants continue to be minor megadamage beings, offering them a significant advantage in the early portion of the Dark Age and in the frequently hazardous conditions of the Southern Federation's mines. That, combined with the Wormwooders mastery of technowizardry make them a huge asset to the Federation.

It really saves me the trouble of explaining a living chunk of Wormwood taking root on Earth, deciding how bad that actually is, and whether the Temple or the Hospitalers are actually aware of it and supporting it. That's just a little more messy than I care to get on this project. And more Wormwood-centric than I think a description of an earth region ought to get. You could go another way, naturally.

[taalismn]

Transpose who claims Atlantis.
In place of the Splugorth, perhaps the TransGalactic Empire, via a lucky set of stable dimensional rifts, finds Atlantis and the Kreeghor invade first, establishing a foothold on Rifts Earth. The Kreeghor are less sensitive/aware of the vampire threat, so they're a less proactive counter to them and a number of other threats that would normally be cowed by the prospect of facing hordes of millions of minions. They're also more inclined towards technology, making it somewhat easier for opponents on Rifts Earth to get a handle on facing them(it would be easier, too, for ARCHIE-3 to knock-off their technology through reverse-engineering). They're less inclined to make deals with demons and other really monstrous species like the Gargoyles and Metzla. They're also rather more vulnerable to magic.
HOWEVER, the Kreeghor are still damned dangerous. They can still, if they deem Rifts Earth important enough(and if they recognize the planet's potential to rival Phaseworld as a lucrative transit hub, they will), send in their own hordes of conscript soldiers and Invincible Guardsmen. They'll also be more inclined to seize the high ground in space, sending up their own starships to establish 'death from above' diplomacy. The Kreeghor will also more aggressively court potential quislings in the governments of Rifts Earth, making tempting offers to join the Empire, sell out their fellows, and set up satrapies on the main continents. If the Kreeghor can swing it, Rifts Earth offers the possibility of the TGE becoming the TDE(TransDIMENSIONAL Empire).
At some point, though, the Free Worlds Council will smuggle agents to Rifts Earth to foment rebellion amongst the conscript soldiers assigned to Earth, sabotage the operations there, and get the people of Earth united against the TGE.

[taalismn]

What if MOM process was more refined and less insanity inducing? Would Juicers be replaced by Crazies as the specialty shock troops?
?

It's possible to build some fairly impressive Juicer and Crazy alternatives using the Eugenic Heroes tables from Powers Unlimited 2; just VERY expensive(as in 6+million dollars per head), with some of the powers in the Ludicrous range. But if you could equip an army of them with appropriate MDC armor and weaponry....oh yeah.

[Bill]

The Dark Age never ended. The only humans left on earth are slaves or food. The last bastions of mankind are the orbital colonies and Mars. From the triangles of Mars, a band of heroes led by Joseph Prosek and his blood brother Nostrous Dunscon drive a two-pronged effort to explore the megaverse and ultimately retake earth from its despoilers.

I may actually use this one.

[Killer Cyborg]

Instead of triggering The Coming of the Rifts, the nuclear war super-charges the ley-lines without any new Rifts opening up.
So there's Golden Age tech, but also there's suddenly powerful magic and psychic energy as well.

[Bill]

The Dark Age never ended. The only humans left on earth are slaves or food. The last bastions of mankind are the orbital colonies and Mars. From the triangles of Mars, a band of heroes led by Joseph Prosek and his blood brother Nostrous Dunscon drive a two-pronged effort to explore the megaverse and ultimately retake earth from its despoilers.

I may actually use this one.

The sons of both can search for the cosmic fordge as a means to rid earth of evil

Son and daughter.

[Killer Cyborg]

The apocalypse happens as normal, but instead of the excess energy opening Rifts... Earth simply becomes the place where floopers in any dimension go to when they floop out.

[taalismn]

The apocalypse happens as normal, but instead of the excess energy opening Rifts... Earth simply becomes the place where floopers in any dimension go to when they floop out.

That WOULD explain why I had to use my windshield wipers to scrape at least eight of them off my front windshield on my commute home from work...

[Killer Cyborg]

The apocalypse happens as normal, but instead of the excess energy opening Rifts... Earth simply becomes the place where floopers in any dimension go to when they floop out.

That WOULD explain why I had to use my windshield wipers to scrape at least eight of them off my front windshield on my commute home from work...

Better than vampires.
You have to use the washer fluid to get rid of those guys.

[taalismn]

[

That WOULD explain why I had to use my windshield wipers to scrape at least eight of them off my front windshield on my commute home from work...

Better than vampires.
You have to use the washer fluid to get rid of those guys.

It's the look on their faces as they think for a moment that they've escaped whatever they've flooped from and then see oncoming traffic.
Priceless.

[Nox Equites]

TW was developed on RE NA somewhere other than Lazlo. Without that source of income they are merely a scholarly center. Their population is significantly reduced and they don't have the cash to do as many archeological investigations. If one of the FM is the original source of TW toys there might be far fewer devices ever brought to market or even more depending on the creativity of the designers.

The new permanent rift to Wormwood in Detroit is much older and is discovered by a NA power. New and old Lazlo would be interested in helping as much as the could. NG and MI would find a way to make a profit, or set up a cordon and atomize anything nasty looking. CS might leave it under observation or conquer the area as a military necessity, perhaps this results in wiping New Lazlo off map. One of the Fed Magics might take a liking and get into an alliance. Stormspire might use it as a profit making venture or an idea mine. Much of the results depends on who controls the other end.

The Lord of the Deep is much closer to East coast of NA. This will cause friction with Splynncryth. The resulting conflict would slow down Splugorth expansions by proxy into SA Africa and Europe. Splynncryth has a lot of resources in other dimensions so it is only a matter of time before he wins. In the aftermath he has far more resources on RE what does he do with them? Send them home or seize more territory than in primary timeline?

[taalismn]

Old London never fell to ruin during the Coming of the Rifts. Instead, it has become a magic community on a par with Dwoemer or Tolkeen, and is the shining city of Great Britain and possibly all Europe, protected as it is by fortified leylines and megalith sites, providing defense-in-depth.
This, however, has garnered the distrust of the New German Republic(despite Magick Britain's role as a buffer from Splugorth attacks), and the attention of the Splugorth, the latter constantly sending raids to test the defenses of London Kingdom, and more covert efforts to subvert it from within.

[Tor]

What if... all the Crazies on RIFTS earth began to hear the whisperings of Nexus... just like they would hear if they went there... but NEXUS was not actually here yet, just broadcasting its signal, reaching out, trying to influence followers... and all the Crazies suddenly begin trying to collect Dimensional Portal scrolls to unify the two worlds... and ARCHIE has mixed feelings about it.

[Zer0 Kay]

Old London never fell to ruin during the Coming of the Rifts. Instead, it has become a magic community on a par with Dwoemer or Tolkeen, and is the shining city of Great Britain and possibly all Europe, protected as it is by fortified leylines and megalith sites, providing defense-in-depth.
This, however, has garnered the distrust of the New German Republic(despite Magick Britain's role as a buffer from Splugorth attacks), and the attention of the Splugorth, the latter constantly sending raids to test the defenses of London Kingdom, and more covert efforts to subvert it from within.

But for some reason internal combustion engines and nuclear power plants don't work and energy is chaotic and refuses to be stored in e-clips. All this to say all tech present in England is steampunk.

[V-Origin]

The Biggest Baddest Megaversal Alien Empire/Army with its own multi - Dimensions (some pocket dimensions with unlimited supplies of gems for unlimited amount of TW magics/weaponry) calling itself the V-Empire invaded both Tolkeen and the surrounding CS troops from within by use of Dimensional Gates and such.

Part of their arsenal involves TW Robotech transformable robots/fighter jets/tanks/destroids/veritech. Multiple TW starships. Oh yeah, and definitely gene-tech + bio-bore augmentations. I even gave lotsa home-brew powers based on ideas from the Marvel RPGs and Bleach/Naruto to my troopers.

Their main objectives include the invasion of Tolkeen without any collateral damage at all, the subversion of Tolkeen's top brass, and the mass-enslavement of both CS and Tolkeen troops into our special gene-tech/bio-borg cannon fodder/servants. Oh yeah Old Detroit and New Lazlo were both taken over as well.

We even framed Robert Creed and Warlord Scard as co-conspirators working with Chi-town to bring Tolkeen down. Major drama there.

After the dust have settled down, Tolkeen, New Lazlo and New Detroit find themselves to be the first three major NA cities with its own Astral Dimensions churning out millions and millions of super-soldiers and magical high-tech TW weaponry.

[Nox Equites]

What if CS Chi-Town had GB technology and not FQ? With SAMAS air cover and GB armor they have a nice start to proper combined arms theory. FQ might not exist as an entity without the GBs.

What if there were more traditional Alchemists making regular magic items? A magic sword that needs no PPE/ISP power to charge is darn handy. This might reduce the costs of rune weapons too, although not by much. Some regions might have guilds that only allow traditional magic items, not TW, and vice versa.

Perhaps a TV or radio station from pre-rifts era "pops" back into RE back in the pre-WC time period. They are very much a pirate radio theme. They make fun of everyone. After the initial freak out, they start a propaganda campaign against the evils of the CS and they have the range to be heard in Chi-town. Worse for the CS is the collection of old protest songs and speeches in their library. Imagine the city rats across the CS jamming out to RAtM and Body Count, rogue scholars recording the speeches of Dr. King. How long does it take the death squads to converge on them? Do they get a portable broadcast arrangement to go mobile? Does one of the anti-CS factions support them just to annoy CS? If the chief DJ has enough MA the station could cause a lot of turmoil amongst the burbs dregs.

What if the ratio for Psychics was much higher like 50%. No longer second class citizens, there are several kingdoms ruled by councils of Psi-lords. On the plus side far fewer nuisance supernaturals. To the negative few "head blind" can achieve status and threats that can defeat psychics are more dangerous. The rise of anti-psy tech could eventually even things out.

More ogres arrived in RE. Instead of a few hundred, there are a few thousand. They have the ability to be any class that doesn't have a size maximum. They are as intelligent as humans and have a long history of organizing sub-human hordes.

[SolCannibal]

It certainly could be. Or it could be one of the mentioned other d-bee communities that crossed over. Or it could be a settlement erected over the last three centuries. I am a fan of the traditional archology description; a single self-contained architectural environment where people live and work without need to venture beyond its confines. The illustration doesn't quite hit that for me.

Well, they did come from an alternate earth were archology-style self-contained enviroments were probably not the norm...

[taalismn]

The Invid discover Atlantis first, and the VERY potent Flowers of Life that grow there. They set up shop there, not bothering anybody until a) they begin sniffing out the Flower growing on the other continents, or b) other folks twig to the really powerful alien plant growing on the new continent and start raiding it.
If it's the Regis who's in charge, expect new Invid castes to start popping up.
If it's the Regent in charge, expect massive armies of Inorganics.
If BOTH are in charge, well, start considering moving to another planet.

[Killer Cyborg]

Man, there are a LOT of good ideas in this thread!

[SolCannibal]

As an aside, is there comment in Rifts books about the whereabouts of other "lost lands" of legend - Lemuria, Mu, Ys, Lyonesse & others - in the years between the fall of magic and the Time of Rifts?

Probably not all of those were contemporary with Atlantis as such, but the ocurrence of other high-scale fading related to whole regions or civilizations could offer some interesting options for many games, alternate timelines and scenarios.

[Kagashi]

Its the typical war against the machines idea, but with a twist. Two rival super computers, ARCHIE and NEXUS, are not only bent on destruction of the human race, but with each other; causing a world war three pronged war void of Geo-political boundaries. Unable to use technology due to the nano-virus, humans rely on Spliced technology and magic and receive additional alien symbiotic weapons from an unlikely alien ally, the Splugorth.

[Glistam]

• Mars colony wasn't wiped out by mutant bugs and human-directed terraforming continues unimpeded. The human population booms and members of the space colonies migrate there, creating an idyllic wonderland where everyone works together for mutual benefit and survival. The Ley Lines of Mars, though not as active as Earths, still flare from time to time releasing occasional random havoc upon this delicately maintained paradise.
• This is more of an adventure than a true alternate timeline...Rifts Earth explorers are pulled into a random Rift that flings the group through time into the past, stranding them in the Golden Age of Man sometime before the coming of the Rifts. Here they have the chance to alter Megaversal history. What do they do, and what will be the ramifications of those actions?

[taalismn]

[*] Mars colony wasn't wiped out by mutant bugs and human-directed terraforming continues unimpeded. The human population booms and members of the space colonies migrate there, creating an idyllic wonderland where everyone works together for mutual benefit and survival. The Ley Lines of Mars, though not as active as Earths, still flare from time to time releasing occasional random havoc upon this delicately maintained paradise.]

..Oh yeah, I can see THIS Mars as THE Human power in the Solar System, warily watching the festering dimensional nexus that is Earth for any sign of trouble boiling up from it.
Meanwhile...Venus slowly, but with increasing speed, begins transforming into something...habitable....

[SolCannibal]

[list][*] Mars colony wasn't wiped out by mutant bugs and human-directed terraforming continues unimpeded. The human population booms and members of the space colonies migrate there, creating an idyllic wonderland where everyone works together for mutual benefit and survival. The Ley Lines of Mars, though not as active as Earths, still flare from time to time releasing occasional random havoc upon this delicately maintained paradise.

Funny that, i have tinkered with an alternate take of my own on the Red Planet for Rifts, but based in a little random bit of info in Mutants in Orbit - the idea that the "martian canals" of much notoriety in part of the 19th & 20th centuries were the last sighting of the fading ley lines of that world. What would imply a network of flaring ley lines dramatic enough to be seen through telescopes for decades, and possibly a sort of event comparable to the Time of Rifts, if not as perennial. From this premise i imagined a martian civilization (that might or not be connected to the atlanteans or some other, that is still undecided so far) that flourished in a number of nations until a worldwide chemical warfare brought a Time of Rifts of their own along with the extinction of most native life by atmospheric, climatic and ecological weather changes.

Most lifeforms, native or imported by the Rifts, died out in the cataclysmic period, expect for a few that ingenious or desperate ones that survived by persevering in well-kept bunkers hibernating in isolated hideouts, making strange and terrible pacts with extradimensional entities or being the members of rare and resilient races that could survive, if not thrive in the dying world. If humans found signs of no other life when they arrived - well, it's not like these remnants would be easy to pick by eye or even close to the surface after more than two centuries of worldwide desertification.

But still the ghost of old Mars and the demons of its fall remain, watching, waiting, hungering, as the scientists and colonists from Earth came, with ambitions, dreams and hungers of their own to quench and seek out...

[taalismn]

Dunscon is very publicly and spectacularly (and most DEFINITELY)assassinated by a Ludicrous Mage...The LM doesn't survive the backlash, and Dunscon's supporters rouse a massive purge that effectively makes the Magic Zone the 'most unhumorous place on Earth' as ANYBODY connected to Ludicrous Magic, comedy, or stand-up, is persecuted. Traveling shows learn to give the region a wide berth. However, the damage is done, as Dunscon's enemies counter by smuggling joke books into the Zone, distributing multimedia of the assassination, and staging parody shows of his demise. Even the CS gets into the act, by copying some of the parodies with its own traveling shows to entertain the troops and heckle those 'dumbarse buffoons in the Magic Zone', and Emperor Prosek secures a copy of Dunscon's kakking for his own private viewing. Overnight, Ludicrous Magic gets taken VERY seriously by the rest of the mage community, often to the detriment of its practitioners, who find themselves scrutinized most closely by paranoid wizards.

[Glistam]

An alternate timeline where giga-damage (from Rifter 9 1/2) is real.

[SolCannibal]

An alternate timeline where giga-damage (from Rifter 9 1/2) is real.

I haven't read that one and i'm already affraid.

[taalismn]

An alternate timeline where giga-damage (from Rifter 9 1/2) is real.

I haven't read that one and i'm already affraid.

If your handgun can't blow the Moon out of orbit, you got ripped off.

[SolCannibal]

An alternate timeline where giga-damage (from Rifter 9 1/2) is real.

I haven't read that one and i'm already affraid.

If your handgun can't blow the Moon out of orbit, you got ripped off.

Can i dual-wield?

[taalismn]

[

Can i dual-wield?

Only with pulse-burst fire.

[SolCannibal]

Can i dual-wield?

Only with pulse-burst fire.

Good enough.

Now, away from this siliness and on to more serious things....

Between the time when the rifts broke Atlantis, and the rise of shining new kingdoms that we now called ancient, there was an age undreamed of, a time of magic bleeding from the world to beyond, of frantic struggles of a dying empire against the scourge of its sins of ambition and overconfidence. A time when when hundreds of thousands of shining atlanteans felt the terrible breaths of darkness, pain and death brush on their skins and press upon their flesh, when the fearful, desperate and even spiteful screamed, hoarsely or silently for help, attention, release, anything - and some of the horrors trying to invade in their land in its darkest time answered, catching them on their hooks and shaping them into anchors and footholds.

Shifters, witches and others rose from among the survivors to fight for the remaining places of power, to remake the broken pieces of Atlantis according to their new twisted visions, exploit the available treasures while they still had worth or simply to spread vengeful misery among those that might have saved it but did not, forcing them into slavery to the Enemy. Meanwhile vampires spread like a plague, subtly at first but then disastrously, the corrupted predators mixing themselves among the rescuers to collect victims and thralls from the masses of injured and dying. The search for survivors became twice as desperate, a race not only for lives but for their own souls, as each atlantean lost to vampires took a little more of their history and lore to the awful Intelligences with it.

Atlantis struggled and heaved ever more frantic and its people learned to adapt - tattoos against the plague were found and given to all atlanteans, even the children, as defense and sign of heritage both, squads of tattooed warriors were formed to deal specifically with the undead and spread across the island and sailed, swam or flew to other distant lands to teach the people they long ignored and save those suffering under the festering evil of their mistakes, the hopes of a rebirth of their empire ever more distant with each bit of atlantean magic, lore and blood lost in the struggle of generations. At the same time, groups of natives from other worlds and dimensions stranded in the land struggled to survive - some allied with the atlanteans, others, surprised, confused or resentful, joined the forces of their new enemies, many simply formed bands to defend themselves, pillage or migrate to other lands and away from madness and chaos, taking tales of the folly and destruction brought by the people of Atlantis along with them. Strange shining kingdoms spread across the world like many colored bonfires beneath the long starless night.

[Zer0 Kay]

An alternate timeline where giga-damage (from Rifter 9 1/2) is real.

What? It's already real in RT, they just don't call it that. It is the main cannons on the ships.

[Glistam]

• One of the many, many portals that appeared during the Coming of the Rifts opened up to the Astral Plane and never closed. Ectoplasm and Astral Denizens have flooded into Rifts Earth from the portal and after 288 years the entire world has become like an extension of the Astral Plane.

[Zer0 Kay]

Instead of putting the GOO to sleep they were all tricked into a circle of alignment reversal.
Thinking the problem solved everyone went on as normal. The elves and dwarves started their war and were destroyed because war is bad for everyone. Humans rose again but inevitably started wars amongst themselves and were eliminated too. Every sentient race that had a civilization and was therefore territorial as a community was eliminated humanely. Dragons remain because they don't have a real civilization and while the world can take two dragons fighting ot can't take a whole races against each other without scars. So it is that the GOO had begun to nullify war in Palladium and now they have brought their rule to Order Earth with a goal to make everything sunshine and unicorns that eat rainbows and poop candy.

Make a character after your done submit it to the GM if it is of a social species the GM will set it in the pan of special sauce (lighter fluid) and apply the mystic flame of judgment, if it goes up in flame it was destined to be in a war. If not... there is no if not, come on people its lighter fluid and a lighter.

[Tor]

Usually the Rifter has statements saying stuff is not canon, but I do not remember seeing it in Rifter 9.5, which could be interpreted to mean that Giga-Damage is indeed canon. Forgiveness please if I simply overlooked it

[Zer0 Kay]

Alternate plane where Rifts Earth was Systems Failure.

Well if were going to do stuff like that...
Splicers happens in wormwoods past. The splicer planet mass shifted through Nightspawn Earths dimensional barrier (the mirror wall) whipping out all non organic material. Every single trace of the machine was wiped out... Unfortunately so is most of the planet. All of the water flows down through the remaining organic materials and encapsulates the plasma nickel core, it quickly changes states from plasma to gas to liquid to solid and stops its rotation, forming a massive steam cloud around the core that does not dissipate. Those who survive the massive tremmors, gravity shifts and other terrible natural disasters figure out a way to fix the planet with bioengineering. They grow a new planet. And to make sure it remains viable and is beneficial to humans they make it from a single Librarian. Now all houses share the same knowledge of genetics because the planet makes the armor for them. Having ripped through dimensional barriers and with all the deaths that occurred, some unwanted attention was drawn as the planet was passing through a hellish dimension on the way to wherever it was being pulled, the Horde, having been stuck in their dimension decide to hitch a ride. two hundred years of travel finally brought wormwood to Rifts Earth on the day of the Apocalypse. In the same orbit as the moon but at a faster orbit. The mass of the planet creates a massive tidal wave that follows its orbit. The wave quickly overwhelms all on the surface, scouring the planet clean increasing the power of the key lines even more. Wormwood overtakes the moon on the first day and consumes it. The tidal wave grows even larger with the increased mass, a mile high at the equator. Wormwoods orbit significantly slows taking several days to orbit the earth. Most of the water on Earth always resides on the wormwood side and has for some reason become desalinized, Those who survived on Earth are of one of three factions
the nomads travel to always keep ahead of the wall even while having to depend on it for the wall food which they fish from it and the fresh water which they set traps for so they can get it on the next time around.
The polars which have built sprawling cities on stilts at both poles where the wall is only 2 feet high. The norths are tech Mecca while the south are their literal polar opposite being a magic haven where even the lost magic's of Palladiums age of 2000 magicks is practiced and many more developed. Both poles seem to have gone to the extreme with experimentation on citizens isn't only allowed but expected. And the specialty being a religion. "All shall be saved by magic/technology and sacrifice."
The third were originally from space colonies but when wormwood arrived it started ripping the stations from orbit with all the LaGrange points messed up. Those points are now much closer to the Earth with wormwoods mass the LaGrange points are all above the wall within the atmosphere, which is also distended in the direction of Wormwood making taller mountains on the opposite side of Earth from wormwood actually be in space, The States, actually WAS short for stationers, referring to the orbital stations, but the original meaning was forgotten and now many think it meanining their ruling class as the States have used their advanced weapons and superior tactical position to subjugate both the Poles and the Nomans (deragatory terms used by the States for the other two groups. The States city is a massive crescent that is above the wall held there in the LaGrange point spanning two within a hundred miles from each pole, spanning the whole width of the wall. The states have the largest collection of pre wave technology but are in decline because they don't know how to fix any of it.
Both Wormwood and Earth have no idea what is going on, on the other planet. Rifts regularly errupt vilolently but anything that comes out usually isn't able to get it together fast enough to survive... especially since the eruptions usually concur with the approach of the wall.

Vampires, scoured, LotD on the wall but constantly fumbled, unable to do anything, occasionally a tentacle will mange to fall out of the wall but as slow as their reaction time is it is sucked back up before it does much damage. The splugorth have abandoned Atlantis. Almost all other AI haven't appeared because of lack of stationary humans for anchors. The rifts accessible at the poles are both locked down under control by the poles. The north poles uses tech like Phaseworld to do so and the south pole uses a combination of stone pyramids, Nazca Line magic, A super Millennium Tree named yggdrasil and Technowizardry.

[Zer0 Kay]

Usually the Rifter has statements saying stuff is not canon, but I do not remember seeing it in Rifter 9.5, which could be interpreted to mean that Giga-Damage is indeed canon. Forgiveness please if I simply overlooked it

You overlooked the entire book being nonauthorized and therfore not official. Some magic's later appeared, expanded in other Rifters making them officially optional instead of completely non-official.