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Kurieg posted:Where does Self/less fit into the Immortals spectrum?
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May 3, 2017 15:38
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Seems like you could play Highlander as a Purified, too.
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May 3, 2017 15:55
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Kurieg posted:1st edition werewolf would probably lean towards the "Okay i'm going to kill you now, Abomination." Whereas 2nd edition werewolf would lean more towards "Huh, okay, that's... interesting, are you actively loving up the locus when you do this? No? Great."
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May 3, 2017 16:07
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RocknRollaAyatollah posted:He is believed to have died from regularly consuming mercury pills in his quest for immorality. His tomb is also believed to be loaded with mercury due to historical chronicles of it and soil samples taken from the site. Yea, the way the tomb is laid out, it's theorized they put in mercury to simulate rivers in the mini-city model - I bet when it was built, it was very very pretty, but also hazardous to your health.
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May 3, 2017 16:30
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Halloween Jack posted:Anyone familiar with Barbarians of Lemuria? It was a RPGnet Darling for awhile, but I found it to be a very bare-bones game that solved the "fighter vs. wizard" issue by just pulling out all the wizard stuff. So you're just rolling to hit, or rolling to succeed at a combat stunt like flipping a table or swinging from a chandelier. (And lo and behold, when they introduced alchemists as an optional class, it got options that baseline warrior characters don't get.) It seems like it was made in a period where people wanted to do "low fantasy" but hadn't come up with mechanics to make a game interesting without feat-like abilities or magical powers. This is fairly accurate except BoL isn't class based. If you take one of your four backgrounds in a magic thing you get to use that thing and you don't if you don't. It's major crime was just being so bare bones that everything is fairly bland.
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May 3, 2017 20:04
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I kickstarted the latest version of BoL, I think. Maybe I should dig it up and F&F it.
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May 3, 2017 20:07
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The Purified sound like a class for NPC mentors - your Ancient Ones or Obi Wan Kenobis. They sound less dynamic to play than the other Immortals.
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May 4, 2017 02:04
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 Before we get to going through the steps of character creation, we have to go over the attributes first, as that’s a big thing many of your choices will affect. Now, there are 10 attributes in Atlantis, and they work basically like any other game. They provide the baseline performance for your character, represent their inborn and natural abilities, and such. The biggest difference is that attributes in Atlantis can go into the negatives, 0 being the average “starting” rating, and are based on an objective scale not a relative one.
There, now that’s covered, let’s get into the first decision point: Races Yep, if you’ve played a fantasy RPG before you know how this works, basically it’s picking your species. Race in this case determines your base attributes, HP, and gives several special abilities. It’s important to note though: These stats and abilities are based on the base for a Player Character Hero, not NPC’s of the same race. You do not have to account for every racial ability for every NPC you might interact with. NPC’s can have none, some, or all of their racial abilities on the GM’s discretion. Ahl-At-Rab Sand Devils, Lizard Men, Snake Men, Saurians  The Ahl-At-Rab are an artificial race, created by the Ophidians as a warrior-slave race, though with the collapse of the Ophidian’s empire many now live independently. Ahl-At-Rab traditionally live in deserts, wastelands, and other hot and arid lands across the world in nomadic tribes of a few hundred individuals. While they do not construct buildings or permanent settlements, they are skilled craftsmen and often make fine arms and armor out of copper, obsidian, and the hides of “Sand Dragons”. The Sand Dragons are a species of large desert-dwelling reptile used as a mount and best of burden by the Ahl-At-Rab, and are often trained to fight alongside their riders in battle. They prefer spears and clubs, both designed for throwing as well as close combat, along with war whips made of sand-dragon hide. Their armor is generally Sand Dragon hide with copper plating. Most of the culture of the Ahl-At-Rab is based around their creation as a warrior race, and they live for the thrill of combat. Tribes will often attack even large groups of armed men without hesitation, and will fight to the death unless the situation is obviously hopeless. One reason for this is that the Ahl-At-Rab are highly carnivorous, and have no qualms about eating the bodies of the deceased after battle, or taking slaves from the defeated. While the slaves of the Ahl-At-Rab are generally treated quite well, they live under the knowledge that they are emergency rations for their masters in times of hunger. Strangely, the Ahl-At-Rab passion for violence also extends to their arts. The Ahl-At-Rab often perform elaborate plays during ceremonies and religious gatherings which are considered to be elaborate and beautiful, often with themes of unrequited love, betrayal, and tragedy. It’s believed that many popular plays by other peoples are adaptations and reimaginings of Ahl-At-Rab dramas. The Ahl-At-Rab are humanoid reptilian beings, standing an average of 2 meters in height (approx. 6’ 5’’). They have scaly hides, which can be any shade of green, brown, tan, and even black. They have a crest along the top of the head, believed to help in thermoregulation, and females of the race have two crest of brightly colored feathers running from their temples to the base of their necks. Most Ahl-At-Rab are stoic and serious, concerned foremost with survival. They categorize everything foremost as packmate, threat, or food. They do not fear death, especially death in combat, and will fight to the bitter end if they believe the battle has any merit or point at all. Attributes The Ahl-At-Rab’s highest attributes are in STR, PER, CR, and CON, and they have the highest base CON of any race. Their greatest weaknesses are in SPD, and MR, but both are only -1, suboptimal but not crippling. This means they are best suited to build as a physical combatant focused on durability over agility. Racial Abilities
Andamen Beastmen, Werebeasts, Chimeras Not so much a single race, but a category of several related beings. Andamen are an alchemical fusion of human and animal, created by the Atlanteans to fight in the Beast Wars against the Ophidians. Each was formed for a certain task within the Atlantean war-machine, and were used as soldier-slaves by their Atlantean masters. When the war was over, they were mostly abandoned, and many have become totally independent since the Cataclysm. They are equally at home both in civilization and in the wilderness, and are often found in small enclaves among other races. Racial Abilities These abilities are shared among all Andamen regardless of type.
Anumbim Jackal-Men  The Anubim were created to be guards, enforcers, and aids for Atlantean generals and sorcerors during the Beast Wars. They stand about 1.5 meters (Approx. 5’) tall, and have lean, wiry builds. They have the heads of jackals, and short fine fur which is generally jet black or dusky gold. They are serious and even-tempered, and known for their loyalty and faithfulness. Anubim never break their word, will gladly die for the sake of a loved one, and will follow their chosen companions to the ends of the earth. Anubim are the most clever and intellectual of the Andamen, and due to their servitude among the Atlantean sorcerers have carried down a secretive tradition of magic among themselves. Attributes Anubim’s highest skills are in INT, PER, SPD, and CR, with no negatives in any stat. They have no real weaknesses, and are the best fit for an Andaman magic-user by default. Racial Abilities
Asena Wolfmen  Asena are powerful trackers and warriors. They stand an average of 1.8m (Approx. 6’) tall, and weigh over 115kg (Approx. 250 lbs). They share hair colors with the animal they are based on, blac, grey, browns, and rarely white. Asena are relentless, and known for baring fierce grudges. They are imminently practical, favoring strength and cunning above all else. Leaders are whoever is the largest, strongest, and cleverest among them, and they have no respect for weakness. Attributes Asena are highest rated in SPD and CR, less so in WIL, STR, and CON. Their only weakness is in MR at a -2. Racial Abilities
Balam Jaguar Men  Balam are large and powerfully built, standing 1.8m (Approx. 6’) and weighing around 85kg (Approx. 200 lbs). They are clever and crafty, with an individualistic streak. Most Balam focus on their own personal well-being first and foremost. They are quick to anger and prefer to solve most problems with physical force. Most Balam have a reverence for their ancestors, and many wear jewelry made from the teeth and bones of notable ancestors. Attributes Balam have high STR, SPD, CR, DEX, and CON, but are weak in CR and average in all others. Very much focused on emphasizing the physical over the mental. Racial Abilities
Uluka Owlmen, Birdmen, Flyers  The Uluka were created as aerial forces for the Atlantean military, and originally just looked like normal humans only with large bird wings on their backs, but over time they developed into their current forms. Uluka are lithe and wiry, standing about 1.5 to 1.75 meters (Approx. 5’) tall but only weighing about 50kg (Approx 110lbs). The majority of Uluka live in a small flying city created by lashing together many ancient Atlantean sky-fortresses together with chains and bridges. The city's magic is slowly failing though, and the resident Uluka are seeking a place high in the mountains to settle the city. Most Uluka are quiet and introspective, and unfortunately very plain spoken. An Uluka will always tell you exactly how they feel and what they think as honestly and straightforwardly as possible. Attributes Uluka are highest in SPD, INT, PER, and WIL, and have no real weaknesses, making them excellent all-arounders and generalists. Racial Abilities
Nemeans Lion Men, Kings of Beasts, Feral Lords  Nemeans were created to be commanders and generals of the Andamen during the Beast Wars. They are mostly golden furred, though rarely a black haired Nemean is born. Both males and females are equally fierce warriors and commanders. Most Nemeans stand at around 2 meters ( 6’5’’) and weigh between 90 and 130 kgs (Approx. 200 to 300 lbs). Nemeans possess an innate sense of entitlement and superiority. They assume the deference of other Andamen to them. While this attitude is off putting to most, Nemeans are loyal to the end to those they consider friends and companions. Attributes Nemeans have high CHA and CR, with lower bonuses in WIL, STR, and CON, and a heavy penalty to MR. Nemeans are best suited to physical builds, but also favor social skills. Racial Abilities
Taurans Minotaurs  Taurans are massive, standing a towering 2.25 to 2.5m (7’5’’ to 8’) tall, and weighing between 136 and 181 kgs (300 to 400lbs). They have a reputation as bullies and blowhards. They live life to the fullest and eat, drink, fight, and love to excess. THey have a fondness for jewelry, and often wear many golden rings on their horns, nose, ears, and neck. Attributes Taurans have the highest base STR of any race, as well has high CON and CR, but face penalties in their INT and MR. Racial Abilities
Tritons Gillmen, Mermen  Developed for naval, undersea, and marine combat. Tritons were originally more human, and amphibious, but now are almost totally aquatic. They stand between 1.5 and 1.8 meters (5 to 6 foot) and weigh between 68 and 90kgs (150 to 200 pounds). They have green or blue skin, with red and gold accents, with large solid black eyes. Tritons are known for being clear and even tempered thinkers who place the best interests of society above their own. They are highly sought after as tacticians and diplomats. Attributes Tritons have high INT and SPD, with lower bonuses in WIL and DEX, and a minor penalty to MR. They are well rounded, with a slight bent towards intellectual skills. Racial Abilities
Atlanteans Little Gods, God-Kings, Noble Creators, Lords of the Earth, Man Shapers  Atlanteans hold themselves to be the greatest of all races upon the Earth. Born, fully formed as a race, without physical, social , or mental evolution, they believe themselves to be the destined masters of the world. A confident, arrogant race that seeks to rule over all others. Atlanteans act without any sense of humility, shame, or fear of failure. Any setbacks or defeats are recontextualized as “all part of the plan”. When their empire fell, it wasn’t a collapse, but a tactical retreat in line with Atlantean interest. Even now when they hold nowhere near the position of they once did, they argue that the future is theirs to grasp, and seem to be scheming some new way to re-establish their dominion of the world. Atlanteans look very similarly to humans. They stand at least 1.8m (6 feet) tall and weigh between 68 and 90kgs ( 150 to 200lbs). Where they differ is in the details. They have skin the color of polished mahogany or deep bronze, with long kinky black hair that they wear in oiled locks. Their eyes are gold or emerald-green, or a mix of both, and their lips are black as pitch. Atlanteans are also, every one, perfectly formed and beautiful. Non-Atlanteans see them as cold, arrogant, and condescending, Atlanteans would agree as to them most other races seem like children to them, lost and needing guidance. They believe they have a divine right to rule over the world, and that their acts are divinely correct. Most races also see the Atlanteans as depraved and hedonistic, but to the Atlanteans the world is theirs to experience and master. Sex is casual and common, drugs are seen as a route to enlightenment, and food is to be consumed and enjoyed. The world is their paradise, and they will experience every bit of it they can. Attributes Atlanteans have minor bonuses in their INT and PER, and a minor weakness in their -1 to STR, but the main defining feature for them is the +4 they have to MR, the highest base among the races, making them by far the best choice by default for a dedicated magic character. Racial Abilities
Now for the Mythology Corner! Where I explain some of the real mythological references in the game! Now, the Ahl-At-Rab I’m not sure about. From what my research can tell me I think it’s supposed to be Arabic meaning something like “People of the Masters” or similar, but I’m not sure. Any ideas? Now for the others, it goes a lot easier. Andaman is a completely made up term as far as I can tell. The closes is it’s a name for a chain of islands in the south Pacific with an unknown etymology, so that’s not much help. Anubim are obviously based on Anubis the ancient Egyptian Jackal-Headed god of funerary rituals and mummification. Asena is the name of a mythical she-wolf from shamanic Turkic mythology. Balam is simply the Mayan word for jaguar. Uluka is the mythical owl companion of Lakshmi, Hindu goddess of Wealth and Prosperity. Nemean is a reference to the Nemean Lion, one of the monsters killed by Heracles in Greek mythology. Taurans are from Taurus, latin for bull, and Triton is the herald and son of Poseidon, the greek god of the Sea. Atlantis is obviously based on the metaphorical and fictional city from the works of Plato, combined with popular pseudo-science and New Age nonsense. Vril is an energy from the 1871 science fiction novel The Coming Race by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. And I think that’ll do for one update! Next time I’ll include the rest of the races in Character Creation Continued: More Races! Wapole Languray fucked around with this message at 04:43 on May 4, 2017 |
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May 4, 2017 03:49
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Why do Atlanteans get a STR penalty? They look solidly built and muscular.
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May 4, 2017 05:23
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Count Chocula posted:The Purified sound like a class for NPC mentors - your Ancient Ones or Obi Wan Kenobis. They sound less dynamic to play than the other Immortals.
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May 4, 2017 05:24
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DNA Cowboys posted:Why do Atlanteans get a STR penalty? They look solidly built and muscular. Well, they're basically a bunch of nobles. Probably they don't get an awful lot of exercise because they're busy lounging around on pillows and commanding the lesser races to do their work for them. Or at least that would seem like the train of logic to me.
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May 4, 2017 05:37
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Rifts World Book 11: Coalition War Campaign posted:Warning! Warning! Rifts World Book 11: Coalition War Campaign posted:Violence and the Supernatural Nazis and Insensitivity Rifts World Book 11: Coalition War Campaign posted:The fictional World of Rifts® is violent, deadly and filled with supernatural monsters. Other dimensional beings, often referred to as "demons," torment, stalk and prey on humans. Other alien life forms, monsters, gods and demigods, as well as magic, insanity, and war, are all elements in this book. The fictional World of Rifts® contains villains modeled after real people who committed one of the worst acts of genocide in known history. Instead of treating this with any sort of gravitas, these villains, often referred to as the "Coalition", are cartoon villains who ride around in ridiculous vehicles inspired by SS imagery. Racism, genocide, and apologism for fascists are all elements in this book. Rifts World Book 11: Coalition War Campaign posted:Some parents may find the violence and supernatural elements of the game inappropriate for young readers/players. We suggest parental discretion. Some players may find the celebration of fascist monsters inappropriate for any readers/players. We suggest reasonable discretion. Rifts World Book 11: Coalition War Campaign posted:Please note that none of us at Palladium Books® condone or encourage the occult, the practice of magic, the use of drugs, or violence. Please note that none of us at FATAL & Friends condone or encourage fascism, racism, genocide, or toyetic Nazis, except for Count Chocula, who has never found an idea so bad he won't try and find some way to excuse it.  Rifts World Book 11: Coalition War Campaign Part One: "As if all this raw excitement wasn't enough to give our fans heart palpitations..." So, we start with Kevin Siembieda's introduction:
Kevin Siembieda posted:As if all this raw excitement wasn't enough to give our fans heart palpitations, it appears Palladium Books is single-handedly holding down the price barrier for role-playing games. We couldn't believe our eyes during a visit the other day to our local game shop. 96 and 128 page books for $18 to $20 dollars! With prices topping out at $28 and $30 dollars! Holy cow! I guess we've been so busy getting out products and sending new product into production that we missed the price hike of the century. And to think, we worried when we raised our cover price by one thin dollar in January. That ends here.  With all respect to Zeleznik, glad we didn't get the armor design in the bottom right, at least... but it's still on the cover! CJ Carella, despite bragging of becoming an in-house employee just a half-year ago, has already left the company. And so Siembieda soldiers on, delivering his vision for the game. And right now, that vision is: skulls. So many skulls. Whereas previously the game line was focused on expanding the Rifts setting, showing us Europe, Africa, Japan, South America, undersea - well, now it focuses solely on the Americas, and that largely means talking about the Coalition for the next two World Books. And while it's probably not the worst Rifts book (my money would be on Africa for that), it's considered the nadir of the line by many fans for several reasons.
Next: Once more across Palladium the spectre of metaplot raises its shrouded head - in agony! Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 06:19 on May 4, 2017 |
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May 4, 2017 06:09
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Wapole Languray posted:Uluka (Sorry) The owl people do look cool.
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May 4, 2017 07:03
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Wapole Languray posted:Vril Masters https://twitter.com/dril/status/26334898832
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May 4, 2017 07:06
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Wapole Languray posted:and their lips are black as pitch. Nobody told the artist this.
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May 4, 2017 11:38
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Can somebody post list of when Rifts books were released? Because I can't help but feel that these later ones are uncomfortably recent
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May 4, 2017 13:12
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Coalition War Campaign was released in 1996.
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May 4, 2017 13:14
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Yessss, bring on the pain, ARB! 
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May 4, 2017 14:17
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Yeah, I'm actually still covering books 20 years behind. The Rifts game line is one of the biggest game lines in RPG history. For a single edition of a single game, I think only AD&D 2e eclipses it (or 3e, but only if you include d20 material inclusively, but if you're going to do that you may as well include 99% of Palladium releases under the Rifts umbrella, since most of them are roughly compatible...). GURPS 3e is another rival monster of a game line as well that might be larger, but once again it depends how much of Palladium's line you include along with Rifts. Of course, also that depends on if you consider Rifts Ultimate Edition a separate edition, but that's debatable. Palladium doesn't, but it is a notable rules update. And then there's the matter of whether or not you count The Rifter... in any case, it's big. In any case, this list is the most complete chronological Palladium list that I'm aware of. There are still notable Palladium books missing and it doesn't have the past six years, but it's still the best I've seen. There was a Coalition book last year entitled Heroes of Humanity  , and two more are supposedly on their way - Coalition States Arsenal and The Disavowed, but all of those are wholly new books, and not part of the Revised book line they've been experimenting with.
Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 14:26 on May 4, 2017 |
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May 4, 2017 14:23
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Coalition War Campaign is where I stopped collecting RIFTS material. I'd enjoyed a fair lot of it, and the books were cheap, and I really liked Carella's additions to the setting-- he really got how toyetic the whole ridiculous thing was. Because we were numbers-driven turbonerds, my GM and I had a habit of going through each of the new books and making printable stat sheets for mecha and more basic listings for wearable gear and such. It was slow going, but interesting, and playing 'spot the cut and paste' was an amusing pastime. CWC... changed all of that. It was smug, handwavy, and made a lot of assumptions that basically treated both players and PCs like blithering idiots. Worse was the power creep-- well, less creep than stumbling leaps, because it really felt like Siembieda trying to out-CJ CJ Carella, while missing the point of his designs. There's a lot of stupid, fiddly poo poo coming up, and even the obsessive nerd that I was at that point had a hard time getting through all the garbage.
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May 4, 2017 15:44
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It sounds like this book is the original source of my osmosed sense that Rifts (or a portion of its fanbase?) treated the Coalition as the heroes.
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May 4, 2017 15:56
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It's a problem for every game with nazis. You end up with some fans and designers who love them.
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May 4, 2017 16:25
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As an industrial music fan, I know nothing about nerds who unironically love fascist trappings and think they're smart but are actually too dumb to know a piss-take when they see it.
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May 4, 2017 16:27
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Mors Rattus posted:It sounds like this book is the original source of my osmosed sense that Rifts (or a portion of its fanbase?) treated the Coalition as the heroes. The amount of information about the CS and the fact that there are so many Coalition OCCs make a compelling case that it was happening at the ground floor.
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May 4, 2017 18:48
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It's a shame that Rifts is written by Siembieda. I could see a competent writer using the Coalition to examine whether a certain amount of totalitarianism is justified if it keeps humanity safe from monsters, aliens, and trans-dimensional demigods. Unfortunately, this is a setting where the Coalition kinda sucks at keeping people safe, is worse off than other less-fascist nations, and only controls a small portion of the planet anyway, and yet the story is still written as if the Coalition were even vaguely sympathetic, so it doesn't work at all. It's the biggest missed opportunity in Rifts's writing, out of so many examples.
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May 4, 2017 19:44
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Yeah, Siembieda goes out of his way to make the Coalition cartoonishly, illogically evil--mandatory illiteracy in a technological workforce! Skulls everywhere skulls 40K prices are so high because Siembieda took all the skulls. I think it was really reading the ghost descriptions in the Conversion book ("your trash can be animated by a hostile spirit that can proceed to gently caress your weak SDC body up with it") that made me think the Coalition might have a point about the supernatural being scary...but the Coalition has no capabilities to fight ghosts and emphatically murders anything they encounter that can. And Siembieda keeps writing them as progressively sympathetic. We started out with Erin Tarn condemning their generic authoritarianism in equally generic terms and now we're getting to the wheedling 'but maaaaybe they have a poiiiiint' 'prosek did nothing wroooooong' and they get to crush egalitarian and cosmopolitan and very magically talented Tolkeen because <reasons> With so many parts of the world still undeveloped (India? Most of Africa not that I want to encourage them to dip into that well again) they decided that what they needed was more goddamn Coalition poo poo. Rifts is funny in some ways because it's a major Earth-centered gameline set in the US midwest instead of one of the coasts or an 'exotic locale' like London or Paris. It's just that they decided to keep that stereotype of being bland and milquetoast going strong I guess.
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May 4, 2017 20:13
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Mors Rattus posted:It sounds like this book is the original source of my osmosed sense that Rifts (or a portion of its fanbase?) treated the Coalition as the heroes. Short answer: yes. Long answer: the intent Siembieda seems to have is that the Coalition at the top is capital-e Evil, but at the ground there are some Coalition soldiers who are more in touch with reality and try and act benevolently within their restrictions while others are baby-popping Pol Pots. The issues with are fairly obvious and I won't expound on it now sonce I'll be getting back to it in the review, but there are Coalition fans. Or, at least, they're trying to sell Coalition t-shirts, mugs, and pencils to someone. Halloween Jack posted:As an industrial music fan, I know nothing about nerds who unironically love fascist trappings and think they're smart but are actually too dumb to know a piss-take when they see it. It's similar to the Space Marines of Warhammer 40k, but unlike the Space Marines, it was never really that much of a piss-take. It's not like something like Judge Dredd that depicts a hero with with fascist loyalties... but with writers aware no matter how relatively moral Dredd himself may be, supporting a fascist state with the best of intentions still causes real harm to human liberty. Midjack posted:The amount of information about the CS and the fact that there are so many Coalition OCCs make a compelling case that it was happening at the ground floor. If you're opening the original Rifts book, they're the first classes you see. Now, it's hard to say the intent of that given that the organization of Palladium books can be based on "whatever got written first", it's not until Ultimate Edition that they're shuffled towards the back of the book. MightyMatilda posted:It's a shame that Rifts is written by Siembieda. I could see a competent writer using the Coalition to examine whether a certain amount of totalitarianism is justified if it keeps humanity safe from monsters, aliens, and trans-dimensional demigods. And that seems to be the original intent - it was portrayed early on that without the Coalition, humanity would be either wiped out or close to it, but as the world was expanded upon, we found all sorts of places where humans and extradimensional immigrants live in peace and thrive anyway, making the answer of "is totalitarianism justified" within the setting into a fairly blunt "nope!"
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May 4, 2017 20:13
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Alien Rope Burn posted:If you're opening the original Rifts book, they're the first classes you see. Now, it's hard to say the intent of that given that the organization of Palladium books can be based on "whatever got written first", it's not until Ultimate Edition that they're shuffled towards the back of the book. I am so glad Savage Rifts just cut them as classes all together and put a lot of their gear in a separate monster-manual-esque PDF. This is one World Book I couldn't even bring myself to read for mocking potential.
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May 4, 2017 20:20
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Rifts World Book 11: Coalition War Campaign Part Two: "If my dream of salvation, freedom, and peace are those of a madman, then I welcome my insanity and bid you all to share in my madness!" So, those who followed my Rifts Index & Adventures Part One review might remember the Skeleton Raiders, which were a big mystery in that book. Well, they're not a mystery here: the raids and murders done by the Skeleton Raiders were really just a cover for field tests of the new Coalition Army. Of course, the Coalition denied it and tried to shut down any scuttlebutt that they're behind it all- You know what, Coalition States? You know what, Emperor Prosek? You want to test your secret military equipment, you know what? Maybe don't put skulls all over your secret units! Maybe you take the skulls off for just a bit while you test out. Maybe put smiley faces on, or clown faces, something that would actually throw people off the scent. If you want to make it secret, just- just try, put some effort into your evil schemes.  There's an interesting (false) rumor in both books that the Skeleton Raiders are actually Coalition troops from another dimension, and you know what? That would be a way more interesting twist, and one that fits perfectly with the multidimensional themes of the game. It would be interesting to see a human threat emerge from the rifts. And you could also have PCs take a trip to some horrible Coalition-dominated Earth that makes them go "Oh, this is why we need to stop them!" But no. No. No, we won't be getting anything that interesting.  Fascist Reed Richards disapproves of you reading this. Or anything. Emperor Prosek So, we have excerpts from a "New Coalition War Campaign" speech given by Prosek. The first part is bog-standard Coalition rhetoric about Earth for humans only and driving out monsters and magic. After that, we get to the actual metaplot chunks:
From the Diaries of Erin Tarn Erin Tarn talks about how shocked and she is as at the live transmission (Wait, how is she watching the transmission? Do they get CoalitionTV or whatever in Lazlo?). She's so shocked at the Coalition declaring war on everything inhuman, but... isn't that something they've always done? Of course, she walks about how horrible it is that he's lauded by the citizens and how charismatic he is. Oh, and he's like Hitler. We haven't mentioned in several books how Emperor Prosek is like Hitler, so we're due to mention it again. Also he's like the devil! The devil and Hitler. Once again, she refers to the Coalition's Campaign of Unity as if we're supposed to have some idea what it is. She points out that Tolkeen has been building their own war machine, but that Tolkeen "is as narrow-minded, manipulative, brutal and fanatical as their enemy", which I we're supposed to take on faith without any details. The Council of Lazlo will stay out of the conflict, because the book I guess wants us to think that fence-sitting in the face of genocide is the proper moral choice. The Cyber-Knights are moving to defend Tolkeen along others, and it tells us over and over that This War Is Gonna Be Real Bad, Man. Yes! It will be, in more ways than one. Free Quebec is another story, and will be a tougher conquest for the Coalition, and Erin hopes the conflict between Quebec and Chi-Town will be their undoing. Nope! It won't be. Still, she worries about the harm that'll come to Free Quebec, which is still evil but is at least the lesser evil. Declared Enemies of the Coalition States  Not a Jedi, just dresses in a bathrobe of wisdom. Erin Tarn Erin Tarn gets a new writeup here, much longer than the one in Africa, and it starts off talking about how well she's known in the Coalition, with numbers like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z36Xadupn5c Siembieda's love of imaginary bullshit statistics continues to fill word count without saying anything meaningful. Who, for the love of Thoth, gives a poo poo how many Atlanteans have heard of Erin Tarn, and what makes even their creator believe they could possibly give a poo poo? "I may be a giant floating psychic crab who despises all soft and pathetic humanoid lifeforms, but I read that Erin Tarn, y'know? She's alright, yeah? She's alright." Naturally, it goes on about how her commentaries are so, so famous, like, super-famous, and the Coalition want her as "Public Enemy Number One" because the truth is dangerous to the man, maaan. It also talks about how beautiful she once was, if the book wasn't done stroking a picture of her, and how a lot of the publications use younger pictures or art of her, and she's eternally smug when people meet her oldie self. Because that's what's important about her. How pretty she was. Rifts World Book 1: Coalition War Campaign posted:Erin finds great amusement in people's reactions to her appearance. Inevitably, somebody will remark something like, "Please don't take this wrong, Miss Tarn, but ... you don't look anything like what I imagined." Or, "... you just don't look like a philosopher or adventurer." At which point she'll flash that disarming smile and ask, "Oh? And what does a philosopher or adventurer look like, dear?" A question most cannot seem to answer.  See, Erin gets away with stuff because, uh, the Coalition are idiots and don't know she's an old lady, somehow. And also everybody loves her forever (the heads of Lazlo and the Cyber-Knights, particularly) except for bad dudes (the Coalition and Mrr'lyn, namely). Her statblock is identical to the one in Africa, save for the fact her magic scrolls seem to have gone missing (or gotten used up?) by this book. Erin Tarn is frustrating because the idea of having an female, elderly hero is really progressive for a game like Rifts, but the problem is that she's a faultless ideal rather than a character. She ends up being the moral compass of the game and the authority on the setting - the latter which ends up being an issue when they decide to retcon elements (like in this very book, as we'll see) and so, well, she's wrong! So she's an unreliable narrator at best, and though she's supposed to be competent, the fiction requires her to get into trouble. So instead she's always making uncharacteristically bad decisions that get her into trouble, and relying on others to bail her out... ... it's a mess. Like I said, she should be a great example in theory, but the actual execution suffers.  "It's true, we braid each other's hair." Sir Winslow Thorpe Erin Tarn's Cyber-Knight Protector See above at the subtitle? That's about 90% of what you need to know about this guy. It also says he fought alongside Victor Lazlo and Thoth in Africa, two of Siembieda's other favored man-crush* targets. Of course, the idea that Thoth would get personally involved in that last book wasn't ever indicated, but I guess he was now? Why Thoth didn't just wipe the floor with the Horsemen, I dunno; he certainly could with his ridiculous statblock and army of elite followers. Once again it hints that mmmaybe he's just related to Jim Thorpe and that he's a serious * Man-crush would be Siembieda's term for it, anyway. Naruni Enterprises Remember these alien traders with amazing equipment? Well, the Naruni were branded as a menace and then the Coalition wiped them out. Wait, what? Yes, it seems somehow the Coalition pulled off a continent-wide simultaneous strike on every Naruni facility. Now, I opted to look up how many actual Naruni enterprises are listed in North America, and there are only two: their storefront in Los Alamo and their sponsorship of Robot Control, a mercenary company. So if their holdings are that sparse, it's conceivable, though having Los Alamo wiped off the map and Robot Control would be worth at least mentioning, but neither are brought up here. The Coalition has declared anybody using Naruni equipment to be an enemy of the state to be destroyed, and part of their agreement with Ispeming and the Manistique Imperium to be part of this. Of course, the fact that the Naruni have an entire mercenary company, vastly superior technology, and extradimensional holdings is completely ignored. That being said, the Naruni aren't wiped out entirely, since they still have holdings off-world, and mostly see it as a clever move by their competition (namely, Northern Gun). They'll still try and support the Coalition's enemies, but won't be readily available for those looking to contact them. Furthermore, the price of their equipment jumps 50% or more where it is available. What I suspect is going on is simply that Carella's material was seen as heavy power creep or "broken" by Siembieda, and the Naruni impinge most on the core setting that he's working on. As such, they (and more importantly, their powerful equipment) got thrown out after only existing for two years in our time. It would certainly explain the lack of consideration in this chunk of metaplot that doesn't even consider the ramifications for the setting (once again, what happens to Los Alamo or Robot Control, who rely mainly on Naruni tech?). It certainly seems like a stretch that a country that will struggle to defeat one much smaller nation (Tolkeen) could pull something like this off, but it probably has more to do with metatext than metaplot. Free Quebec, traitors! So, in response to Chi-Town's declaration of war on Quebec, Free Quebec has naturally seceded from the Coalition States. They were already aware the that "Skeleton Raiders" were probably the new Chi-Town army being prepared against them, and they were very suspicious about "Project Unity" (which, no, still hasn't been explained). They sold their Glitter Boy technology to Triax (as already noted in Triax & the NGR) in exchange for military supplies and money, and have been preparing for this fight. Furthermore, Chi-Town faces morale issues (since they're fighting humans) and... look, it's Germany versus Russia in World War II if you haven't gotten the metaphor yet. Quebec doesn't seem quite so Stalinist, however, so they've at least got that going for them.  Adult Soldier Fascist Humans The Federation of Magic Note this is actually the first we're really hearing about the Federation of Magic, for those more familiar with the line. So we'll see how well this all matches up when they get their later writeup, but for now... We get some history that the Coalition used magic in their early days, but had concerns about its effect on one's humanity and everyday life in general. Part of this was due to the wizardly community that had settled at "Old" Chicago called the Federation of Magic that was like "Hey sorcery is the best, hey let's raise the dead and summon demons, did we mention we're the new superior magic race? Bet you'll think rail guns are lame when you're our slaves, huh?" So the Coalition didn't want any part of that - ignoring the fact it was the practictioners and not the practice that was the problem - and banned magic as a result. Shortly thereafter, the Federation of Magic attacked Chi-Town at the prompting of the generically insane wizard Nostrous Dunscon, and that clinched the Coalition's anti-magic stance. The Federation of Magic, however, was ultimately too disorganized to put up resistance against the Coalition's counterattack, and was seemingly wiped out with a year. While the Federation of Magic and their allied communities were routed. General Joseph Prosek the First, Emperor Karl Prosek's father, pursued the fleeing mystics to try and exterminate them all because they killed his wiiiife, those bastards, they'll pay, they'll all pay, skull rage- In any case, the Coalition thought the Federation had been wiped out, but fifty years later, terrorist acts credited to an Alistair Dunscon and the Federation of Magic began and have been sporadic but ongoing ever since. The Coalition doesn't believe the claims to be legit, but hey! It turns out they are legit. Apparently, the Federation of Magic is sufficiently decentralized now, and the Coalition hasn't realized they're a united if not organized force. They're split on whether or not to support Tolkeen, but the majority probably won't, seeing Tolkeen as a sacrifical lamb to weaken the Coalition so they can strike it down themselves. We're referred to buy Federation of Magic next year to get more information!... which is a release date that Palladium will barely land in December of '97. Tolkeen This is pretty much restating that's been stated before, that the Coalition will probably stomp them unless they're able to ally with a nation like Lazlo (unlikely). The Coalition is starting to attack nearby kingdoms to try and cut Tolkeen off and draw battle lines.  "I had to get most of my internal organs removed for this armor to fit, but it was worth it!" "... they say I have 48 hours to live." Other Enemies
Next: When you ride with Prosek, you... ride with... well, Prosek.
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May 4, 2017 21:20
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 So that's what happened to the shah of Iran.
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May 4, 2017 22:01
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Somehow seeing that face reminds me of the Padishah Emperor Shaddaim IV. I mean, it would technically fit a backwards-minded traditionalist emperor dude, right?
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May 4, 2017 22:21
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So I assume that Kevin Siembieda is not an IRL fascism apologist (otherwise I think theironjef would have said something about it). What has his response been to people pointing out that his game gives an awfully charitable portrayal of the Nazi analogue?
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May 4, 2017 22:35
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Probably kicking them off the forums because given his obsession with Trademarks and complete misunderstanding of IP law he really believes TSR has trademarked Nazis and thus the coalition can't be them.
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May 4, 2017 22:37
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I remember hearing Siemebeda... I am loving butchering this name was trying to go for a WWI-style bogged and harsh realities of war, but could not be convinced that Rifts is totally the wrong setting for it.
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May 4, 2017 22:51
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unseenlibrarian posted:Probably kicking them off the forums because given his obsession with Trademarks and complete misunderstanding of IP law he really believes TSR has trademarked Nazis and thus the coalition can't be them. It's a sad comment on the state of this industry that I can't actually tell if you're being funny or not. E: also I am surprised new rifts books are still being published. Dareon fucked around with this message at 23:21 on May 4, 2017 |
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May 4, 2017 23:15
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Siembieda (and by extension Rifts) is the Dr. Gonzo of RPGs- too strange to live, too weird to die.
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May 4, 2017 23:26
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Kavak posted:Siembieda (and by extension Rifts) is the Dr. Gonzo of RPGs- too strange to live, too weird to die. I just have to give a thumbs up to this description of Palladium as a whole.
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May 4, 2017 23:54
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Kavak posted:Siembieda (and by extension Rifts) is the Dr. Gonzo of RPGs- too strange to live, too weird to die. This sums it up as well as anything and better than most.
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May 5, 2017 01:28
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 Chapter 6: Classified Welcome to the final chapter of Conspiracy X Second Edition. Here, all truths will be revealed! Except for the ones that are revealed in supplements of course.  Recent History This is a history of the paranormal as handed down from Aegis Prime, tainted and subjective as it may be as a result. This is to enhance the whole conspiratorial "do you think you really know the truth" aspect, allow for contradictions in future sourcebooks, and (most importantly) as an easy explanation for the GM to easily change whatever parts of the setting they don't like with a simple "that's not how it REALLY happened". The story starts in the 1930s with a Venetian occultist named Walter Stein. Stein studied the mysteries of the arcane in Germany in the 1920s, being a fellow student of a guy by the name of Adolf Hitler. Around the same time Stein became an initiate of the Secret Doctrine, a cabal of the most powerful mages in the world, Hitler was tapping into the darkest parts of the Seepage in between his political machinations that would form the Nazis. Stein understandably had an "oh poo poo oh poo poo oh poo poo" moment upon discovering his former compatriot's actions and quickly fled from Germany to England. Once there, he warned Winston Churchill of the coming storm, who in turn passed it on to FDR, and all three grouped together resources to form an anti-Nazi society of soldiers and spellcasters called the Watch. It was the Watch stalling the Nazi occultists' plots, including via several assassinations and successfully stealing the Spear of Destiny, that allowed World War II to go on without direct supernatural intervention. With the Nazis defeated, the Watch became primarily a research organization, focusing both on existing paranormal phenomena and the strange reports of "Foo Fighters" that came in from both sides of the war. The wait for more information wouldn't take long at all, as Watch psychics managed to accidentally contact extraterrestrial beings flying in Earth's airspace on March 17, 1947. The significance of the event is not lost on the Watch even though just what these strangers from outer space were psychically chatting about wasn't clear. Things escalate even further when a UFO starts repeatedly flying over White Sands Proving Ground in strange and erratic patterns a few months later. The Watch quickly tears itself apart over what to do: those who wish to make first contact form a coalition called Operation Dove, while those who have the much simpler solution of "shoot that fucker out of the sky" call themselves Operation Pigeon Shoot. And shoot that fucker out of the sky Operation Pigeon Shoot does, slamming a hastily compiled high explosive yield V2 rocket and forcing it to careen through the sky and eventually crash land in Roswell, New Mexico. Unfortunately, Operation Dove members were trying to make first contact at the same time, and the psychic backlash of the pilots' being mentally contacted as they died in a horrible explosion managed to do some real damage. Of the Operation Dove team of nine, one spontaneously combusted, two died of simultaneous aneurysms and heart attacks, one was left permanently comatose, three became clinically psychotic, and only two managed to walk away unscathed. Neither group actually gets the booty, either, as a covert third group of Watch members that are ashamed of their comrades' betrayal of each other abscond with the wreckage and corpses that was packed up and shipped to Fort Worth, Texas, by Operation Pigeon Shoot. What little remained on site in Roswell was taken by Project Dove at the same time they created a smokescreen by replacing said material with a broken weather balloon. Surprisingly, in spite of each group's initial purview, it is actually Operation Dove that ended up forming what is now Aegis, the realization that first contact never would have worked dawning on them with more and more dark actions of the extraterrestrials. Operation Pigeon Shoot's initial goal of defending humanity through force was replaced with the grinding demands for more and more results by the military industrial complex forcing them into eventual agreements with the Grays and Saurians in order to easily attain their technolog and transforming them into the NDD/Blackbook. While Blackbook stayed in the past with heavy ties to the Army and Navy, Aegis managed to gets its hooks into the newly created Air Force and CIA, resulting in projects such as MKULTRA and MOONDUST discussed back in chapter 2. There were also disturbing rumors in both organizations about an uncatchable group called the Majestic 12 whose goals and methods seemed to align heavily with the original Watch. By the 1960s, most of the government and even some private sector groups had Aegis cells implanted, the Ranch had been built at Nellis AFB to conceal the society's deepest secrets, and the HERMES network was up and operational. Then things went south in 1963, with JFK learning that Aegis had been monitoring his every move via infiltration of the Secret Service. The cell got the call from Aegis Prime to make no attempts at brokering a deal with Kennedy, and to instead end him during his visit to Dallas. They called up MKULTRA psychic Lee Harvey Oswald to be the gunman, with two other precogs stationed to use telekinesis on the bullet to make sure that the bullet would do as much damage as possible. There was also a second shooter on the grassy knoll, affiliated with neither Aegis nor Blackbook and once again unable to be sniffed out and discovered after the incident, leading to increased paranoia from Aegis Prime. Things only got more complicated in the 80s and 90s, with Saurians sabotaging the rocket boosters of the NASA shuttle Challenger with aid of Blackbook informants, ecologically-minded Saurian infiltrators helping fuel the rise in sentiment pointing the finger at industrialization as the cause of global warming, Blackbook puppeteering the Gulf War, and rising public paranoia over Y2K. Heading into the new millennium proper, human fears were at such a peak that the Seepage began churning out supernatural phenomena and Infused at the highest rate since the dawn of the 11th Century. This wasn't helped by 9/11, one of the few events explicitly called out at being entirely human-caused and not influenced by aliens or magic (though Ground Zero is now an extremely powerful Locus, to the point that the towers can still be seen standing if you look via aura vision). Human attempts to reach the stars without extraterrestrial aid were ground to a halt with Saurian sabotage of space shuttle Columbia and carefully planned misdirection of probes on Mars. The War on Terror was a horrible thing, and may or may not have been the results of George W. Bush being a Saurian wanting to weed out a renegade tribe of Saurians living in Iraq. All of that brings us to the "present" of 2006, with status quo updates on both Aegis and Blackbook. For Aegis, the big goal is ending any threat of extraterrestrial origin, be it through some peaceful resolution yet to be found or through some future XCOM-esque technowar. Seepage is seen as a trivial matter that is to be used as a tool and investigated rather than fought against. Blackbook, meanwhile, continues to blindly march forward in its quest for technology. The group is so interconnected with the Saurian species at this point that Saurians modified to look like humans, known as Men in Black, are frequently Blackbook agents themselves. They also get free psychic goodies from the Grays in exchange for looking the other way as they abduct and experiment on the general populace.  Aegis Special Resources This section's where all of the special toys Aegis has access to finally get laid bare. Alien Technology This is, as its name implies, stuff gained from the aliens by either pilalging their wrecked ships or taking it off their cold, dead corpses. Taken from the Grays are psychic lenses (special augmentation orbs that boost the power of one's psychic powers), from the Atlanteans come particle accelerator rifles (a high power particle beam that deals a terrifying d8x10 damage; these are normally powered by special bio-batteries connected to the Atlantean's body, but human versions get MacGuyvered up with car batteries or other electrical power sources), and from the Saurians are field generators (harnesses that create a deflector shield around the wearer or make contra-gravity fields to levitate them, both of said functions being exclusive to each other) and plasma claws (large clawed gloves that can create and shoots plasma balls). Atlantean Nanotech Mentioned separately from other alien technology are the nanomachines utilized by the Atlanteans. These can be implanted in humans, but don't work as effectively a they do in Atlanteans (read: they can do horrible things to you if you are a human), and are also susceptible to being destroyed by EMP bursts or other high concentrations of electromagnetic radiation. The individual systems are as follows.
Aurora III The latest in a line of super-fast stealth aircraft designed for Aegis at the Ranch, the Aurora III is a triangular craft made with systems cannibalized from crashed Atlantean and Gray spaceships. It is capable of being either nearly undetectable with its special turbofan jets or go all-out to Mach 3.5 with experimentation fusion detonation engines, though not both at once, and can be either operated by a normal pilot in a manner similar to an SR-71 or piloted by a PICS-augmented individual in order to perform extremely complicated aerobatic maneuvers incapable of being replicated by any other human aircraft. Similarly, the craft's missile guidance systems have inbuilt psychic lenses that allow even greater control by Psis. The Aurora's payload are high explosive missiles and twelve ECM pods MHIC-EDOM The Microwave Hypnotic Intracerebral Control – Electronic Dissolution of Memory, was mentioned earlier but gets a full layout here. This electronic device is about the same size and shape as a large cigar and is utilized to perform one of the two functions listed in its name. The MHIC part means that you can attempt to force an individual within 30 yards to have an alteration in consciousness for d10 turns, either suffering an overwhelming feeling of terror and anxiety, blind and murderous rage that leads them to attack the nearest living thing, or a hypnotic trance only broken by the effect ending or physical damage and/or pain being done to them. The EDOM half of the equation is literally the Neuralyzer from the movie Men in Black, allowing you to daze someone within 10 yards and erase an hour of their short term memory. Drugs Two insidious chemical substances are found in Aegis's repertoire. One, NP-7, is an injection- or pill-based "mind control drug". A normal dose forces a Difficult Intelligence Task to form any short-term memories for the duration of time the drug is in the user's system, while an overdose forces a Simple Constitution Test to avoid permanently suffering from the Amnesia drawback. The other drug is MKULTRA's "Batch 7" psi drug, which can be taken as a pill or huffed as a powder. This substance grants +2 to the Strength of all the user's psychic powers, but also forces an immediate Simple Willpower Test after taking it to avoid spending d10x2 hours fluctuating between unconsciousness and uncontrollable seizures. Even a successful dose causes brain lesions (which sounds not-great) that induce a -1 penalty to all actions for an hour after using psychic powers. Any time you have a number of doses equal to your Constitution plus 6, you run the risk of overdose, no matter how much time has passed between uses. This forces a Simple Constitution Test to avoid getting the Psychic Burnout drawback, or death if you roll a critical failure. Winners don't do drugs, kids. RASPUTIN Psychotrons Psychotrons are psychically powered devices, most of which are either the ones made by Project RASPUTIN or the Grays' lens tech. RASPUTIN psychotrons are rated by their power and rarity: Third Order psychotrons are relatively common in Aegis and do minor little tricks, Second Order are uncommon and require concentration to charge and utilize, and First Order are rare, kept in the hands of directly RASPUTIN-affiliated Aegis agents, and create intensely powerful psychic effects. The example psychotrons given are a black iron egg that spins when psychic powers are used near it, an iron diamond that becomes hot to the touch, and a gold pin that becomes a straight line when activated for Third Order, a jade statue that boosts clairyovance and a divining Ouija triangle for Second Order, and a silver sheet that manifests Strength 7 and Art 6 Clairvoyance for First Order. Satellite Alexis RASPUTIN's crowning glory, Alexis is a psychotronic satellite that is constantly being maintained by an Aegis ground team to ensure it is always up and ready when needed. Its activation bathes an area between ten yards and one mile in radius with psychic energy in order to manifest detect all psychic activity in that area or make telepathic contact. The GM is encouraged to make up other crazy max-power psychic abilities for Alexis to manifest as needed.  The National Defense Directorate As the dark mirror of Aegis, Blackbook/NDD is obviously worthy of a section unto itself, and it does in fact have one right here. While it may seem like going from Operation Pigeon Shoot to alien collaborator is a massive leap, it's ultimately all still in the name of humanity: the NDD genuinely believes (or at least believed) that it's smart enough to exploit the extraterrestrials and use their knowledge and technology for humanity's benefit. The Grays were the first alien lifeforms the NDD made contact with, from whom agents learned a great deal about psychic power and the Gray species. In exchange, the Grays have been allowed to abduct people for research, and sometimes even given people kidnapped by the NDD personally. Grays are fairly distant, however; for actual camaraderie of sorts, one has to look to the Saurians. A specific subspecies of Saurian that call themselves the Gna-Tall met the NDD in the 1950s, forging an alliance and aiding in the construction of a massive underground base known as Dulce Base near Dulce, New Mexico. The NDD gained access to powerful Saurian technology and Gna-Tall agents in human guise (the infamous Men in Black), the Gna-Tall gained knowledge of the human species and access to its military-industrial complex, and both groups grew to have a sort of band of brothers mentality toward each other. While they won't necessarily stick out their necks for each other if it means getting killed for it, individual NDD agents and Gna-Tall soldiers do have respect for one another. This interspecies coalition and the fact that the NDD can cover its tracks under the pretense of the National Security Act make up for the fact that it is more loosely organized than Aegis's tightly-controlled cells.  This image is technically from GURPS Conspiracy X, not Conspiracy X Second Edition, but I don't care because I love the goofy framing device. Grays Grays (spelled Greys throughout, but my stupid American fingers refuse to remember to repeatedly type that) are short (around 4'5") humanoids with rubbery gray skin, five fingers and two toes, bulging foreheads, and huge jet black eyes. Their mouths are entirely vestigial, the roles of communication and feeding being performed by psychic communication and filter-feeding through the pores of their skin respectively. They evolved on an aquatic world where psychic energy was not only even more intense than it is on Earth, but also more refined and controlled, with no Seepage existing there. They are innately exceedingly talented at all forms of psychic powers (with the exception of precognition, which is a uniquely human and Seepage-associated phenomenon) and are much more precise in their actions than a human psychic of the same power level. Most infamously, Grays have the "time loss" power, wherein targets undergo a complete sensory blank that destroys all sense of the passage of time for the duration of the power. This is usually either a defensive maneuver or utilized during abductions. Grays are described as "aviolent" beings: they won't attack you, but they also don't give a poo poo about collateral damage or unintended consequences of their actions, such as the inevitable crash from doing a mental blank on someone driving a vehicle. Grays similarly don't like confrontation or conversation, and may even become angered if you attempt to communicate with them. If the species has any form of national identity, religious ideology, or unique divisions amongst themselves, both Aegis and Black Book don't know about them. The only concrete knowledge of just what makes Grays tick is that they seem to be akin to morally bankrupt Victorian explorers, finding and picking up Earth entities for research without a huge amount of concern for their well-being. As far as their relations with other species go, none of them have gone particularly well. They are ambivalent about humans, avoid Atlanteans due to violent conflicts between the two species in the past, and are scared shitless of the aura of menace they pick up from Saurians and will flee from them whenever the two meet.  Atlanteans The quintessential Ancient Astronauts, Atlanteans resemble perfected humans who ooze style, grace, and confidence (nobody told that to the two hairdo nightmares above, apparently). They are a species of extreme individualists, having become so entangled with their own perception of individual perfection after their civilization fell to some manner of ruin of their own machination that single Atlanteans either decided they were gods unto themselves or could no longer trust others of their kind. Almost all ply the stars alone in search of meaning and purpose, and this lack of a unified goal means what little Aegis has gleaned about "Atlantean activities" is wildly contradictory. There is no grand design, no master plan – and that's what makes them the most frightening to both secret agencies. Atlanteans rely heavily on their highly advanced nanotechnology. This technology has allowed Atlanteans who were around when modern humans first developed to still be alive and kicking, as well as engage in a myriad of miraculous and seemingly magical actions. They are both creative and exceedingly vain, crafting their personal tools as unique art pieces and never going so far as to let their numerous cybernetic augmentations (in their minds) mar their appearance. As far as interspecies relations go, Atlanteans are usually pretty aloof. Humans are seen as interesting but ultimately nonthreatening lifeforms to be used as either toys or tools, with Saurians coming in a close second as a harmless curiosity to be learned more about but not interacted with directly. Grays, however, are a big problem. Atlanteans are always Psy Voids, and the Grays' depths of psychic knowledge and FTL travel actively offend the Atlanteans' belief that they completely understand the physics of the universe. Just what this leads to varies from Atlantean to Atlantean: some attempt to copy the Grays' abilities, others just avoid the question altogether and try not to think about it too hard, and some actively engage in violence against the psychic species.  Saurians The Saurians that are actively known by Aegis and work alongside Black Book are the Gna-Tall, a race of big bipedal lizards with a literal inbred need for violence. Their brutal society is one wherein communities are a "family" led by a feudal lord, with the families being on a hair trigger with one another at any time they aren't already in open war. The Gna-Tall actively work with Black Book to spur on the US military-industrial complex, spoonfeeding tidbits of their advanced technology in order to enhance the human war machine. The two most famous Saurian inventions utilized by Black Book area the TD-121 (basically a knockoff Aurora III, with slightly greater speed but no psychic lens or nanomachines) and the Black Manta (a manta ray-shaped troop transport capable of carrying up to twelve fully equipped Black Book soldiers and armed with a 20mm ECM cannon). In spite of their highly developed particle physics knowledge, however, Saurian science lags slightly behind that of humanity in the biological sector, and humans' capabilities at genetic testing and biological warfare startle even these ferocious reptiles. The big secret about why the Gna-Tall do what they do is one that neither Aegis nor Black Book actually knows about. There are bigger, nastier, and more numerous subspecies of Saurian out there, including the centauroid Croll, four-armed Kath-Yal, and enigmatic Te-Mulys, and they are gunning for Earth and the Gna-Tall. All of that military-industrial complex business is meant to prepare humans to aid the Gna-Tall in the coming Saurian civil war. They have even been willing to compromise their religious belief in the holiness of the natural world and its standard evolutionary course, engaging in the disdained practice of body transmogrification to create the human-shaped Gna-Tall known to Aegis as the Men in Black. Almost all alien interactions the Saurians have are between their clans and subspecies: they don't know about the Atlanteans at all, and their nature as Psychic Voids makes them confident that Grays are insignificant pests that can be offed if one hinders the war effort. Next Time: With the core rules finished up, I am going to take a hiatus (I know, I know, how's that different from usual?) before covering the poll winning supplement, The Extraterrestrials Sourcebook. Fossilized Rappy fucked around with this message at 01:52 on May 5, 2017 |
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May 5, 2017 01:49
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God, when you cover the origins of the aliens, poo poo. That killed my interest in Conspiracy X as soon as I learned them. Also, speaking of Atlanteans... Wapole Languray fucked around with this message at 02:52 on May 5, 2017 |
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May 5, 2017 02:49
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