Archived: RIFTS-1
Description
300 years ago it was a golden age; Humanity was poised to leave its birth world behind for what lay beyond the solar system. But that was not to be... a nuclear exchange by two third world nations on the summer solstice brought about something no one save a handful had guessed: Magic returned with a vengeance and the world as it was known ended.
But humanity did not die that day. It fought back as best it could and now the remains of Earth's natives slowly work to reclaim their world but they are no longer alone. Aliens, demons and other beings prowl the Earth, and now both science and magic of amazing sorts can be found in this changed world -- but can humanity overcome its oldest problem? The urge to hate, fear and destroy that which is different?
Cast
Active
Dropped
Time
As of AU 22, on RIFTS-1 Earth it is 116 PA by the common calendar, or 2402 AD by the old calendar.
Metaplot
The Coalition v Tolkeen war and the secession of Free Quebec has happened, with Tolkeen being destroyed. Despite dire prophecies, the Mechanoids have not appeared, and the Xiticix are not yet approaching the point of becoming overwhelming within the next few years.
For 4 years Lazlo struggled with the huge number of refugees, but an influx of multiversal technology in late 114 PA (AU 20) ended the shortage of supplies for them and allowed for the rapid construction of new housing projects on the outskirts of the city. Nanofabrication and advanced computers decades ahead of most of RIFTS Earth are becoming increasingly common, and an experimental new method of civilian-grade 'borg conversion (actually conversion into a Transferred Intelligence!) is being used to save an increasing number of the terminally ill and elderly at an affordable cost.
The long-term ramifications of these changes are as yet unclear...
Warpgates
There is one publicly known warpgate east of Lazlo and west of the nearby human supremicist settlements, near the northern shore of Lake Ontario. A second warpgate appeared in Federation of Magic territory but was hidden by those who discovered it so that neither the Federation of Magic nor any other power of the world would find it -- its gate address is not ICly known by any played elite.
