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Do you think California should remain mysterious and out of world books, giving GM's a place to build original concepts?

Or, do you think California should be demystified, and have a source or world book of its own; a book that completes the North American puzzle?

how about we get california after lazlo.

If you do California it should be one book that covers everything from the Great Barrier Mountains west, north of Mexico to Canada and the book should be a lot like the Canada WB with lots of open areas and few groups operating in the area with a few small towns or city states. Whoever does it has to make sure they build it around New West and Spirit West so it doesn't conflict.

If they are not going to do that I would prefer that it is Rifter or other non-canon material.

Orin J. wrote:how about we get california after lazlo.

and after Chitown, CS Iron Heart and New Lazlo.

I voted Source book.
Some information, some new stuff, not a whole bunch of races or OCCs.
Maybe a description/ stats of the spiny-head d-bee I see from time to time, best picture is beaten up and sitting/ under arrest in the Coalition War book

Orin J. wrote:how about we get california after lazlo.

We'll learn all about Lazlo in the book where it gets blown the **** up.

Warshield73 wrote:If you do California it should be one book that covers everything from the Great Barrier Mountains west, north of Mexico to Canada and the book should be a lot like the Canada WB with lots of open areas and few groups operating in the area with a few small towns or city states. Whoever does it has to make sure they build it around New West and Spirit West so it doesn't conflict.

If they are not going to do that I would prefer that it is Rifter or other non-canon material.

Orin J. wrote:how about we get california after lazlo.

and after Chitown, CS Iron Heart and New Lazlo.

i'm fine with iron heart being a side-part of the chi-town book if they tell us what it is they sell. i've been seeing that iron heart sells weapons for ages and that the coalition doesn't sell their weapons so i want to know what they're putting out!

Orin J. wrote:i'm fine with iron heart being a side-part of the chi-town book if they tell us what it is they sell. i've been seeing that iron heart sells weapons for ages and that the coalition doesn't sell their weapons so i want to know what they're putting out!

ive.. never seen that.

Got a source? Not saying you're wrong, just that ive never noticed it saying that Iron Heart produces weapons for sale.

Colonel_Tetsuya wrote:

Orin J. wrote:i'm fine with iron heart being a side-part of the chi-town book if they tell us what it is they sell. i've been seeing that iron heart sells weapons for ages and that the coalition doesn't sell their weapons so i want to know what they're putting out!

ive.. never seen that.

Got a source? Not saying you're wrong, just that ive never noticed it saying that Iron Heart produces weapons for sale.

It's not the CS state of Iron Heart; it was Iron Heart from Rifts Mercenaries that was doing that (New Kenora), and it got taken out early in the CS War Campaign.

We already have that...a little video game called Fallout.

-STS

slade the sniper wrote:We already have that...a little video game called Fallout.

-STS

I don't think that works as far as official material goes for this game. Might be some trademark problems or the like.

By the time the cataclysm comes everyone will have already fled from the failing Communist hades of California.

However, after the cataclysm it may be repopulated by D-bee's and other sentient life.

One of the things that is over-done is pre-rifts connections. I'm more interested in seeing post Rifts developments.

I think a California book would be of interest. There is so little canon about it you can do anything with it without ruining continuity. Continuity being something that Palladium frequently fails to appreciated but that some readers enjoy.

tsh77769

There should be a Millenium Tree.

Fenris2020 wrote:There should be a Millenium Tree.

I'm digging that. Also, despite my comment regarding pre-rifts references; now that you mention sacred trees, something about the red wood forest being magical or sentient or semi-sentient wood be of interest.

(see what I did there, "wood" be of interest!)

Fenris2020 wrote:

slade the sniper wrote:We already have that...a little video game called Fallout.

-STS

I don't think that works as far as official material goes for this game. Might be some trademark problems or the like.

I can't find it anymore, but an old board member here (LDMcFear) started a thread about taking a party of CS Characters on a expectation to California. I remember he strongly referenced a lot From Fallout 1 and 2. He had a whole theory on how Rifts and Fallout are related.

As for the original topic, I wouldn't mind seeing a California Worldbook as long as its done well and doesn't have 12 new O.C.C.s, new weapons and armor no one has ever seen before now, and doesn't try to trump every new city state with over-the-top power levels. Some insight into the lore of the world would be great. And I agree that there shouldn't be more than some city states around the level of Kingsdale (or smaller).

tsh77769 wrote:

Fenris2020 wrote:There should be a Millenium Tree.

I'm digging that. Also, despite my comment regarding pre-rifts references; now that you mention sacred trees, something about the red wood forest being magical or sentient or semi-sentient wood be of interest.

(see what I did there, "wood" be of interest!)

WALKING redwoods. That would be even more gobsmacking.
"I thought there was an old growth forest around here...there certainly was one the last time I came through here about a month ago!"

If I were writing California, I'd go with some new themes and avoid modern/historical stereotypes. The big coastal cities would be gone. Swamped, ground to dust, burned to a crisp, et cetera.

It could be interesting to see a new response to the Rifts in the post-apocalyptic scene. We've seen human society revert to fascism (Coalition), total militarization (NGR), might-makes-right (Warlords of Russia), Communism (Sovietski), Feudalism / Divine Right of Kings / Monarchy (Camelot & Tarnow).

I'd go with having California be dominated by warring religious oligarchies. Take all the worst excesses and intolerances of the Crusades, Inquisition, et cetera, and throw them together. Each faction thinks that theirs is the only way, and all others are blasphemous heretics.

Factions:
The Dominion of the Deep: some coastal communities that worship the Lord of the Deep. The baddies, ruled by minions of the Lord of the Deep.
The Druid Realms: militant nature-lovers, ruled by Druids of various varieties, many of which do not get along with each other.
The Church of Elements: chaotic celebrants of the most extreme elemental forces. Ruled by warlocks.
Temple of Technology: people who literally put their faith in machines. Ruled by Psi-Operators and Psi-Techs.
Temple of Truth. Like Rurga in Fantasy, but worse. Lies and deceit come with extreme punishments. Ruled by Priests of Rurga.
Faith of the Free: Anarchists who hold their individual freedom above all. Associate when they feel like it and live by mob rule.

It's on the schedule, right after the second Australia book.

One tidbit to keep in mind is that about a quarter of California and half of Washington state are Native American Preserves. Spirit West, pages 6 & 206.

I had wanted to build three arcologies in the LA area of California and Las Vegas area of Nevada. One was sunken, and survived, and became a human safe zone (ala Coalition). One was destroyed, and another sunk into the earth. I dived a bit further into the Human safe zone, as it was the most fun to parody (very similar to how Palladium fills their books). The three Arcologies were designed as super Mega-Theme Parks, standing on locations of the old. The Human safe zone had a fairly large diverse group of Human survivors who embraced Magic, Psionics, and Technology. Their Human army dressed in white uniforms/armor, and marched around their Mega-Plex. A group of CyberKnight like people were the leadership, and known as the Inquisition. While their leader dressed all in black, knows some magic, and rules with a tight grip.

Mack wrote:One tidbit to keep in mind is that about a quarter of California and half of Washington state are Native American Preserves. Spirit West, pages 6 & 206.

Like I said in my first post I think this, and the reference in Underseas to towns that trade with the New Navy, are the main things that need to be included in anything for California.

Hotrod wrote:If I were writing California, I'd go with some new themes and avoid modern/historical stereotypes. The big coastal cities would be gone. Swamped, ground to dust, burned to a crisp, et cetera.

It could be interesting to see a new response to the Rifts in the post-apocalyptic scene. We've seen human society revert to fascism (Coalition), total militarization (NGR), might-makes-right (Warlords of Russia), Communism (Sovietski), Feudalism / Divine Right of Kings / Monarchy (Camelot & Tarnow).

I'd go with having California be dominated by warring religious oligarchies. Take all the worst excesses and intolerances of the Crusades, Inquisition, et cetera, and throw them together. Each faction thinks that theirs is the only way, and all others are blasphemous heretics.

Factions:
The Dominion of the Deep: some coastal communities that worship the Lord of the Deep. The baddies, ruled by minions of the Lord of the Deep.
The Druid Realms: militant nature-lovers, ruled by Druids of various varieties, many of which do not get along with each other.
The Church of Elements: chaotic celebrants of the most extreme elemental forces. Ruled by warlocks.
Temple of Technology: people who literally put their faith in machines. Ruled by Psi-Operators and Psi-Techs.
Temple of Truth. Like Rurga in Fantasy, but worse. Lies and deceit come with extreme punishments. Ruled by Priests of Rurga.
Faith of the Free: Anarchists who hold their individual freedom above all. Associate when they feel like it and live by mob rule.

This is kind of interesting stuff but I still like a nice empty wilderness rather than a place full of new political powers.

If someone does write something for the west coast I hope they really do something with what is a larger and taller Great Barrier Mountains. This would be a place to bring in something really new and alien in addition to dwarfs, gnomes and giants.

California fell in the ocean during the great cataclysm. (There all done.)

Blue_Lion wrote:California fell in the ocean during the great cataclysm. (There all done.)

As the mystics and statistics said it would.

Mark Hall wrote:

Blue_Lion wrote:California fell in the ocean during the great cataclysm. (There all done.)

As the mystics and statistics said it would.

This actually got me thinking about something. While California is not going to fall into the ocean it will eventually break off into an island and move north relative to the rest of the continent. It would have been interesting to see part of CA break away and separate from the continent by a few miles in some sort of temporal anomaly. Adding a huge inland sea between the great barrier mountains and California proper would make a really interesting geographic change.

I miss working with Fell. He was going to submit a book for this CA to WA. Greg D's Underseas 2 may have some details (I can't recall).

Fenris2020 wrote:There should be a Millenium Tree.

...That grow oranges and grapes and avocados and...

Hotrod wrote:If I were writing California, I'd go with some new themes and avoid modern/historical stereotypes. The big coastal cities would be gone. Swamped, ground to dust, burned to a crisp, et cetera.

It could be interesting to see a new response to the Rifts in the post-apocalyptic scene. We've seen human society revert to fascism (Coalition), total militarization (NGR), might-makes-right (Warlords of Russia), Communism (Sovietski), Feudalism / Divine Right of Kings / Monarchy (Camelot & Tarnow).

I'd go with having California be dominated by warring religious oligarchies. Take all the worst excesses and intolerances of the Crusades, Inquisition, et cetera, and throw them together. Each faction thinks that theirs is the only way, and all others are blasphemous heretics.

Factions:
The Dominion of the Deep: some coastal communities that worship the Lord of the Deep. The baddies, ruled by minions of the Lord of the Deep.
The Druid Realms: militant nature-lovers, ruled by Druids of various varieties, many of which do not get along with each other.
The Church of Elements: chaotic celebrants of the most extreme elemental forces. Ruled by warlocks.
Temple of Technology: people who literally put their faith in machines. Ruled by Psi-Operators and Psi-Techs.
Temple of Truth. Like Rurga in Fantasy, but worse. Lies and deceit come with extreme punishments. Ruled by Priests of Rurga.
Faith of the Free: Anarchists who hold their individual freedom above all. Associate when they feel like it and live by mob rule.

WAIT!!!! How can they be worse than Rurga? She killed her husband because he said he loved her more than anything else, because she was pregnant and she knew he loved the baby. She arbitrarily defines people's statements. Seeing as how her husband probably meant he felt eros for her more than anyone else as a husband should but as for storage he felt that more for his daughter.

Warshield73 wrote:

Mark Hall wrote:

Blue_Lion wrote:California fell in the ocean during the great cataclysm. (There all done.)

As the mystics and statistics said it would.

This actually got me thinking about something. While California is not going to fall into the ocean it will eventually break off into an island and move north relative to the rest of the continent. It would have been interesting to see part of CA break away and separate from the continent by a few miles in some sort of temporal anomaly. Adding a huge inland sea between the great barrier mountains and California proper would make a really interesting geographic change.

Not much of it though if we're going by the boarder of the San Andreas fault line.

https://images.app.goo.gl/KnerfoeTRCYMSt1c7

Warshield73 wrote:

Mack wrote:One tidbit to keep in mind is that about a quarter of California and half of Washington state are Native American Preserves. Spirit West, pages 6 & 206.

Like I said in my first post I think this, and the reference in Underseas to towns that trade with the New Navy, are the main things that need to be included in anything for California.

Hotrod wrote:If I were writing California, I'd go with some new themes and avoid modern/historical stereotypes. The big coastal cities would be gone. Swamped, ground to dust, burned to a crisp, et cetera.

It could be interesting to see a new response to the Rifts in the post-apocalyptic scene. We've seen human society revert to fascism (Coalition), total militarization (NGR), might-makes-right (Warlords of Russia), Communism (Sovietski), Feudalism / Divine Right of Kings / Monarchy (Camelot & Tarnow).

I'd go with having California be dominated by warring religious oligarchies. Take all the worst excesses and intolerances of the Crusades, Inquisition, et cetera, and throw them together. Each faction thinks that theirs is the only way, and all others are blasphemous heretics.

Factions:
The Dominion of the Deep: some coastal communities that worship the Lord of the Deep. The baddies, ruled by minions of the Lord of the Deep.
The Druid Realms: militant nature-lovers, ruled by Druids of various varieties, many of which do not get along with each other.
The Church of Elements: chaotic celebrants of the most extreme elemental forces. Ruled by warlocks.
Temple of Technology: people who literally put their faith in machines. Ruled by Psi-Operators and Psi-Techs.
Temple of Truth. Like Rurga in Fantasy, but worse. Lies and deceit come with extreme punishments. Ruled by Priests of Rurga.
Faith of the Free: Anarchists who hold their individual freedom above all. Associate when they feel like it and live by mob rule.

This is kind of interesting stuff but I still like a nice empty wilderness rather than a place full of new political powers.

If someone does write something for the west coast I hope they really do something with what is a larger and taller Great Barrier Mountains. This would be a place to bring in something really new and alien in addition to dwarfs, gnomes and giants.

Go lovecraftian and something like the Mtns. of Madness.

Fenris2020 wrote:There should be a Millenium Tree.

For a little twist, make it an adolescent Millennium Tree. One that's not full grown and is need of protection. Perhaps the locals try to keep it secret from outsiders.

Is 5 posts in a row a record on a discussion thread?

I really like how the Americas don't have Millennium Trees, but instead have similar plant beings like the Trees of Wisdom and Memory Trees of South America. I think there's something to be kludged together involving clonal organisms, particularly since there are a few in and around CA. In that some of these colonies are estimated as over ten millennia old, developing some kind of intelligence seems reasonable. The Jurupa Oak colony in Riverside is a fun example, since similar to many Californian oaks it is fairly fire resistant, to the degree that sprouting new growth requires it. Perhaps as a consequence of the Yellowstone eruption certain pyrophytic plants came to not only flourish but gain an elemental connection. The Palmer's Oak that constitutes the Jurupa colony only reproduces via cloning but produces large amounts of flowers and aborted acorns, which sounds tailor-made for empowered gifts. In that the plant never gets very tall, maybe there could be a limited psychic link between separated clones to compensate. Other plants that require fire to grow or propagate like lodgepole pines or fire lilies saved from the ruins of botanical gardens could grow beside them, tended by druid telegraph operators that are a cross between psi-druids and warlocks. And tell me there ain't something cool one could do with the Humongous Fungus.

Given the interdimensional nature of the Great Barrier Mountains, I'd consider playing with time travel. Perhaps the area around Portland OR is in flux, where the region shifts between alternate versions of the same area, separated by dimension or time or both. The inhabitants of these various versions can't travel between them, but some are linked by being in each other's past or future. Via agents not bound to a particular reality, both overt and subtle influences can be made.

For example, by convincing the Breathless Singers of the Neoarchean Era to manipulate carbon deposits, a mining survey of diamonds subsequently having always been there to be mined by the 32nd century Church of the Final Flesh can be exchanged for aerotolerance agents needed for the Singers to survive the Great Oxidation Event. Perhaps the psychic remnants produced by the spiritengines of Gloriana in Perpetuum change chirality when they reform 500 years later, and threaten to comfort She whose Screaming Saves the World. This could be a very neat place to play with multiple religious oligarchies, as suggested above. I'd say that each time/dimensional region, while consisting of the whole planet from the perspective of the natives, only extends for ~100 miles around Mt. Hood. Similarly, goods obtained from these pseudo-pocket dimensions return to their place of origin as soon as they're carried outside that limit. This way one can have an even more gonzo kitchen sink region within the kitchen sink game setting without it affecting anything else. Wheelers/Dealers of the AllCity seem like maybe a R.C.C. with flexible skills, or something that limits magic/psionics.

In another thread I talked about changing Vancouver Island into a smuggling haven shrouded by technologically-maintained mists. link

Fenris2020 wrote:There should be a Millenium Tree.

There could be desperadoes hiding under its eaves.

Zer0 Kay wrote:

Hotrod wrote:If I were writing California, I'd go with some new themes and avoid modern/historical stereotypes. The big coastal cities would be gone. Swamped, ground to dust, burned to a crisp, et cetera.

It could be interesting to see a new response to the Rifts in the post-apocalyptic scene. We've seen human society revert to fascism (Coalition), total militarization (NGR), might-makes-right (Warlords of Russia), Communism (Sovietski), Feudalism / Divine Right of Kings / Monarchy (Camelot & Tarnow).

I'd go with having California be dominated by warring religious oligarchies. Take all the worst excesses and intolerances of the Crusades, Inquisition, et cetera, and throw them together. Each faction thinks that theirs is the only way, and all others are blasphemous heretics.

Factions:
The Dominion of the Deep: some coastal communities that worship the Lord of the Deep. The baddies, ruled by minions of the Lord of the Deep.
The Druid Realms: militant nature-lovers, ruled by Druids of various varieties, many of which do not get along with each other.
The Church of Elements: chaotic celebrants of the most extreme elemental forces. Ruled by warlocks.
Temple of Technology: people who literally put their faith in machines. Ruled by Psi-Operators and Psi-Techs.
Temple of Truth. Like Rurga in Fantasy, but worse. Lies and deceit come with extreme punishments. Ruled by Priests of Rurga.
Faith of the Free: Anarchists who hold their individual freedom above all. Associate when they feel like it and live by mob rule.

WAIT!!!! How can they be worse than Rurga? She killed her husband because he said he loved her more than anything else, because she was pregnant and she knew he loved the baby. She arbitrarily defines people's statements. Seeing as how her husband probably meant he felt eros for her more than anyone else as a husband should but as for storage he felt that more for his daughter.

Rurga's cult and backstory are actually a pretty good example of what I'd be going for with my concept: present groups of people who honestly believe that they are righteous, even as they say and do horrible things in the name of their righteousness. I'd take the central principles of each group, dial it up to extreme levels, and have them inflict those extremes on their neighbors. You'd see a lot of "Ours is the best/only way! We are the righteous!" Each faction would ostracize, alienate, persecute, and drive out people who don't buy into their philosophy/theology, forming enclaves of like-minded people of ideological and theocratic purity. This would give rise to occasional conflicts arising when a religion/enclave decides that others living in the same area or nearby are heretics who need to repent or pay a fine/move away/die. It would be intolerance and ideological purity of a different flavor than what we see in the Coalition.

The Dominion of the Deep would be something of a foil in all of this: the one faction that welcomes everyone willing to serve/fight for the Lord of the Deep and his minions. Yeah, he's evil as sin, and so are his followers, but at least he's not judging you. When the "righteous" factions go too far in condemning and persecuting folks who don't live up to their standards, some folks just snap, go "Oh, I'm evil now? Fine!" and go join the Dominion of the Deep.

I might also throw in a failed Lazlo-type city into the history of the region: a city-state that tried to welcome all people and ideas, regardless of how incompatible they were. The survivors either became part of the Dominion of the Deep or formed the Faith of the Free.

Zer0 Kay wrote:

Warshield73 wrote:

Mark Hall wrote:

Blue_Lion wrote:California fell in the ocean during the great cataclysm. (There all done.)

As the mystics and statistics said it would.

This actually got me thinking about something. While California is not going to fall into the ocean it will eventually break off into an island and move north relative to the rest of the continent. It would have been interesting to see part of CA break away and separate from the continent by a few miles in some sort of temporal anomaly. Adding a huge inland sea between the great barrier mountains and California proper would make a really interesting geographic change.

Not much of it though if we're going by the boarder of the San Andreas fault line.

https://images.app.goo.gl/KnerfoeTRCYMSt1c7

The picture I saw in a geography book showed more but I can't find a visual of it. But hey its Rifts could just separate as much of it as the writer wants.

Zer0 Kay wrote:

Warshield73 wrote:This is kind of interesting stuff but I still like a nice empty wilderness rather than a place full of new political powers.

If someone does write something for the west coast I hope they really do something with what is a larger and taller Great Barrier Mountains. This would be a place to bring in something really new and alien in addition to dwarfs, gnomes and giants.

Go lovecraftian and something like the Mtns. of Madness.

Sort of my inspiration. I just listened to it on Audible.

Mack wrote:

Fenris2020 wrote:There should be a Millenium Tree.

For a little twist, make it an adolescent Millennium Tree. One that's not full grown and is need of protection. Perhaps the locals try to keep it secret from outsiders.

The description of Millennium trees says that they are only in Afro-Euroasia and not in the Americas. I would prefer great trees that simulate the effects of a Pyramid or the trees from South America.

Warshield73 wrote:

Mack wrote:

Fenris2020 wrote:There should be a Millenium Tree.

For a little twist, make it an adolescent Millennium Tree. One that's not full grown and is need of protection. Perhaps the locals try to keep it secret from outsiders.

The description of Millennium trees says that they are only in Afro-Euroasia and not in the Americas. I would prefer great trees that simulate the effects of a Pyramid or the trees from South America.

The description says that none are known to be in the Americas. The Trees of Wisdom in South America and Millenium Trees won't grow within 1000 miles of each other, and some are believed to be some growing in Florida (WB 6 p. 59) and other regions, but 1000 miles is the distance between Tampa and Chicago, so even if you accept that there are Trees of Wisdom in Florida(IIRC, Dinosaur Swamp didn't mention any), that leaves quite a bit of North America (all of Canada, for example) to have Millenium Trees if one wants without volating any established canon.

Warshield73 wrote:

Mack wrote:

Fenris2020 wrote:There should be a Millenium Tree.

For a little twist, make it an adolescent Millennium Tree. One that's not full grown and is need of protection. Perhaps the locals try to keep it secret from outsiders.

The description of Millennium trees says that they are only in Afro-Euroasia and not in the Americas.

That's why I suggest an adolescent tree, and not a full grown one.

Mack wrote:

Warshield73 wrote:

Mack wrote:

Fenris2020 wrote:There should be a Millenium Tree.

For a little twist, make it an adolescent Millennium Tree. One that's not full grown and is need of protection. Perhaps the locals try to keep it secret from outsiders.

The description of Millennium trees says that they are only in Afro-Euroasia and not in the Americas.

That's why I suggest an adolescent tree, and not a full grown one.

Millennium Trees can not exist w/n 1000mile/1600km of a Tree of Wisdom. It is suggested in SA1 (or BoM pg287) that Trees of Wisdom might exist in North America (Florida is specifically called out, but left open to possibility of others in NA). While California is far enough away from SA's known site (and NA suspected site) for it to be possible, these trees are intelligent so perhaps the MTs have given the Americas to the ToWs (and Memory Tree)?

The only problem with putting Trees of Wisdom in California is they seem to travel with Jungle Elves (former JE colony site?).

Mack wrote:

Warshield73 wrote:

Mack wrote:

Fenris2020 wrote:There should be a Millenium Tree.

For a little twist, make it an adolescent Millennium Tree. One that's not full grown and is need of protection. Perhaps the locals try to keep it secret from outsiders.

The description of Millennium trees says that they are only in Afro-Euroasia and not in the Americas.

That's why I suggest an adolescent tree, and not a full grown one.

Yeah I'm sorry I don't think I was clear. We have tons of Millennium trees already and the idea that they are only in Afro-Eurasia makes them less common. If we put Millennium Trees everywhere then they become less. I just think we can come up with something new or use something that is less common.

ShadowLogan wrote:That's why I suggest an adolescent tree, and not a full grown one.

Millennium Trees can not exist w/n 1000mile/1600km of a Tree of Wisdom. It is suggested in SA1 (or BoM pg287) that Trees of Wisdom might exist in North America (Florida is specifically called out, but left open to possibility of others in NA). While California is far enough away from SA's known site (and NA suspected site) for it to be possible, these trees are intelligent so perhaps the MTs have given the Americas to the ToWs (and Memory Tree)?

The only problem with putting Trees of Wisdom in California is they seem to travel with Jungle Elves (former JE colony site?).[/quote]
Now Trees of wisdom would be better because as far as I know they are only in 1 or 2 locations but if they only follow JE colonies then something new would work.

I've been thinking about what other plants might be fun to uplift to near or actual sentience in this way. In order to distinguish them from each other I reckon, among other criteria, they each generally might operate along different supernatural modalities.

In California there is the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, as well as the two best known redwood species. I like imagining that sentient Bristlecone Pines would act like young children, since as old as they are their age is dwarfed by some clonal colonies. Since they like hearing stories they are able to empower heroes whom will share tales of their exploits. Alternatively, maybe since clonal colonies keep renewing themselves the ancient pines are crochety jaded geezers who share secrets of Temporal Magic with Paradox Shamans and the occasional mutant capybara. Now that I write it I feel the paradox of ancient continually renewing colony plants fits Temporal Magic a little better, so the Pines could be a limited source of superpowers, maybe?

I have no idea what to do with redwoods. I don't think anything should be directly tied to Spirit-style magic, just because. There's a colony of Neptune Grass that's who knows how old off the coast of Ibiza, which maps to some combination of Ocean Magic/Biomancy/Water Elemental easily enough, but since that area is under Horune influence could work in something about the Dreamstream. I see the fungal mats of Oregon as being somewhere in between the Psynex of Psyscape and a fungus-based treatment of Mrrllyn/Zazshan I mentioned here and here.


Millennium Tree: Invidual entities, use Incantation/Ley Line Magic, doesn't communicate directly, provides a large number of usable items including housing, found in Europe/Africa/Japan
Tree of Memory/Tree of Wisdom: Encounted as individuals and in groups, Mix of Psionics/Incantation, communicates directly, is able to impart and store information, can imbue self into acorn, found in South America

Jurupa: Unique clonal entity, Elemental Magic, Limited communication with psychics?, provides gifts of elemental magic and extending range of psychic communication, found in Crestmore Heights, CA
Pando: Unique clonal entity, Astral Magic/Psionics, does not communicate, can grant Astral Projection/Intangibility, found in Sevier County, Utah
Bristlecones: Individuals, Superpowers/Psionic, communicates A LOT, provides temporary use of superpowers, Scattered throughout Utah, California and Nevada
Humongous Fungus: Clonal Entity, Psionic, Imprints on those whom make strong impressions, develops hive mind/limited herbalism?, found near Canyon City, Oregon
Ibizan Neptune Grass: Clonal Entity, Watery magic/Dreamy psionics?, limited communication through dreams, dried foilage can be used as insulation to prevent from dream attacks?, found south of Ibiza, Spain
Redwood: Individual, is BIG, man, I don't know, No really, found N. California along the Sierra Madre to SW Oregon

Mark Hall wrote:As the mystics and statistics said it would.

I predict this motel will be standing until I pay my bill....


Daniel Stoker

Daniel Stoker wrote:

Mark Hall wrote:As the mystics and statistics said it would.

I predict this motel will be standing until I pay my bill....

FINALLY!

I was busy!


Daniel Stoker

I'm hoping the Golden Gate Bridge is gone to rust, and isn't some giant Rift or something...

Fenris2020 wrote:I'm hoping the Golden Gate Bridge is gone to rust, and isn't some giant Rift or something...

A ghostly bridge powered by the PPE of the lives lost when the Rifts came would cool.

Hotrod wrote:I
Factions:
The Dominion of the Deep: some coastal communities that worship the Lord of the Deep. The baddies, ruled by minions of the Lord of the Deep.
The Druid Realms: militant nature-lovers, ruled by Druids of various varieties, many of which do not get along with each other.
The Church of Elements: chaotic celebrants of the most extreme elemental forces. Ruled by warlocks.
Temple of Technology: people who literally put their faith in machines. Ruled by Psi-Operators and Psi-Techs.
Temple of Truth. Like Rurga in Fantasy, but worse. Lies and deceit come with extreme punishments. Ruled by Priests of Rurga.
Faith of the Free: Anarchists who hold their individual freedom above all. Associate when they feel like it and live by mob rule.

-Ozians---Not so much a religious faction as a splinter/kin group of the Temple of Technology; survivors of the booming media industry of old, they appear to be experts of magic and summoning, but in reality use advanced technology to create elaborate illusions, blinding light shows, or optical tricks to frighten and distract.

-Golden Pantheonists---They worship the Golden Age of California, but follow the preachings of a survivor, a celebrity of the time, who went full-on survivalist and turned his or her estate into a fortress, managing to save quite a few people during the Dark Ages, but went full-on whacked-out insane in the process. The ex-media celeb's rantings and ravings now serve as the basis of a truly loony religious mix of various pre-Rifts religions, conspiracy theories and pop culture, and by extension many of the celebs of old California(as well as a number of fictional characters) have become either divine beings or evil demons in this religion. A person familiar with pre-Rifts California would find it laughable, if not for the fact that followers BELIEVE, and many/most of the tenants of the religion emphasize martial preparedness.

taalismn wrote:

Hotrod wrote:I
Factions:
The Dominion of the Deep: some coastal communities that worship the Lord of the Deep. The baddies, ruled by minions of the Lord of the Deep.
The Druid Realms: militant nature-lovers, ruled by Druids of various varieties, many of which do not get along with each other.
The Church of Elements: chaotic celebrants of the most extreme elemental forces. Ruled by warlocks.
Temple of Technology: people who literally put their faith in machines. Ruled by Psi-Operators and Psi-Techs.
Temple of Truth. Like Rurga in Fantasy, but worse. Lies and deceit come with extreme punishments. Ruled by Priests of Rurga.
Faith of the Free: Anarchists who hold their individual freedom above all. Associate when they feel like it and live by mob rule.

-Ozians---Not so much a religious faction as a splinter/kin group of the Temple of Technology; survivors of the booming media industry of old, they appear to be experts of magic and summoning, but in reality use advanced technology to create elaborate illusions, blinding light shows, or optical tricks to frighten and distract.

-Golden Pantheonists---They worship the Golden Age of California, but follow the preachings of a survivor, a celebrity of the time, who went full-on survivalist and turned his or her estate into a fortress, managing to save quite a few people during the Dark Ages, but went full-on whacked-out insane in the process. The ex-media celeb's rantings and ravings now serve as the basis of a truly loony religious mix of various pre-Rifts religions, conspiracy theories and pop culture, and by extension many of the celebs of old California(as well as a number of fictional characters) have become either divine beings or evil demons in this religion. A person familiar with pre-Rifts California would find it laughable, if not for the fact that followers BELIEVE, and many/most of the tenants of the religion emphasize martial preparedness.

Injecting some California showbiz flavor into religious extremism is brilliant. Perhaps the Golden Pantheonists have built their main cathedral in the the city of Holywood.

As said by others previously, I think we should get some other older areas fleshed out first (Lazlo, Iron Heart, Chi-town, etc)

As far as the region goes I think California should be more of a wilderness region with very few settlements. Maybe one port village where the mainland starts as the bulk of the southwestern state broke into an island chain during the cataclysm. Further north, but west of the mountain range maybe some dense alien white or silver/grey vegetation that produces nitrogen rich, low level oxygen air, or unbreathable air (for humans anyway) leading up to the red wood area. From there dense redwood growth spurred by the energy surges of the rifts.

I definitely want more survival/monsters feel and less of the classic "ninjas, cowboys, and movie stars came back/survived" ideas.

Thom001 wrote:As said by others previously, I think we should get some other older areas fleshed out first (Lazlo, Iron Heart, Chi-town, etc)

As far as the region goes I think California should be more of a wilderness region with very few settlements. Maybe one port village where the mainland starts as the bulk of the southwestern state broke into an island chain during the cataclysm. Further north, but west of the mountain range maybe some dense alien white or silver/grey vegetation that produces nitrogen rich, low level oxygen air, or unbreathable air (for humans anyway) leading up to the red wood area. From there dense redwood growth spurred by the energy surges of the rifts.

I definitely want more survival/monsters feel and less of the classic "ninjas, cowboys, and movie stars came back/survived" ideas.

A wilderness region with very few settlements... like Rifts is supposed to be in the first place, not a world where a comparatively small nation (the CS) can field a military that we, today, can't.

Hotrod wrote:Injecting some California showbiz flavor into religious extremism is brilliant. Perhaps the Golden Pantheonists have built their main cathedral in the the city of Holywood.

With all of the criticism PB receives for it's Rifts WB just playing on regional stereotypes (some deserved, most not IMHO) I think we can safely avoid this.

Thom001 wrote:As said by others previously, I think we should get some other older areas fleshed out first (Lazlo, Iron Heart, Chi-town, etc)

As far as the region goes I think California should be more of a wilderness region with very few settlements. Maybe one port village where the mainland starts as the bulk of the southwestern state broke into an island chain during the cataclysm. Further north, but west of the mountain range maybe some dense alien white or silver/grey vegetation that produces nitrogen rich, low level oxygen air, or unbreathable air (for humans anyway) leading up to the red wood area. From there dense redwood growth spurred by the energy surges of the rifts.

I definitely want more survival/monsters feel and less of the classic "ninjas, cowboys, and movie stars came back/survived" ideas.

Agreed, all points.

Fenris2020 wrote:

Thom001 wrote:As said by others previously, I think we should get some other older areas fleshed out first (Lazlo, Iron Heart, Chi-town, etc)

As far as the region goes I think California should be more of a wilderness region with very few settlements. Maybe one port village where the mainland starts as the bulk of the southwestern state broke into an island chain during the cataclysm. Further north, but west of the mountain range maybe some dense alien white or silver/grey vegetation that produces nitrogen rich, low level oxygen air, or unbreathable air (for humans anyway) leading up to the red wood area. From there dense redwood growth spurred by the energy surges of the rifts.

I definitely want more survival/monsters feel and less of the classic "ninjas, cowboys, and movie stars came back/survived" ideas.

A wilderness region with very few settlements... like Rifts is supposed to be in the first place, not a world where a comparatively small nation (the CS) can field a military that we, today, can't.

I guess? But when I say settlements I meant a handful of places that by today's standards wouldnt even be considered an outpost, let alone a hamlet or a village. What I'm thinking of is some portable temporary buildings the people live in and maybe one solid fixture like a farm. These areas wouldn't deal in money but instead barter for needs (wants are things they simply don't have) and dont see many outsiders due to the harsh terrain. Then for the port village I was imagining a wharf that handles all the fishing, trading, and commercial aspects. Next would be residential buildings (houses, etc) surrounding that, followed by destroyed ruins of the golden age city that once stood there (not a single full building standing), and in that area some people live. But this place would only have a hundred of so people living there. I guess that would be of a hamlet than a village thinking about it.

Also I think the islands I mentioned previously should be rumored to be filled with a wealth of technology, and advancements, but also dangerous monsters, slavers, etc. Whether any of that would be true, well that's a different story, right?

I guess California could be an ashy wasteland.