Rifts Timeline (part 2)

Tarn just looks at Morganna and 179 strangley, and then nods quietly. She isn't sure she believes this....but then agin she has little reason to....doubt.
 
 

Archie sighs and begins CONTINUES.
 
 

The City of Manoa, legendary home of the Amazons who are in fact True Atlanteans of Clan Skellian, is nearly torn apart when their mystic doorways flare to life. They relocate back to Earth which they left 500 years ago. 

"That's only true about the Amazons for this world," 179 smiles, looking off and remembering his tour of a place called Terra Prime.
 
 

Morganna and Tarn look at each other, then at the Rule. Morganna shrugs, not knowing what to make of that.
 
 

"Okay, so on other worlds there are other sources of Amazons," Rarn sighs, making a nod at 179.
 
 

The "Gods" of the Incas return, sensing the vital energy of Earth once again, their minions arriving with them into a world that could support them all. Meanwhile, the Nazca lines flare to life and the Line Drawers return, sensing their Lines active again. 

The technicians at Project Achilles, under the belief that they are going through nuclear war, attempt to destroy their creations (apparently to make their emergency supplies last longer). Amoral to the end, there is a woman who takes a stand! A woman named Cordelia Valdez releases a number of mutants and they take over the complex together. Miraculously, they thrive. 

At the Lone Star Complex, an experiment in dimensional travel is conducted just as the Ley Lines surge to life, enveloping all but three personnel at the Complex, who manage to seal it off and put it in standby mode for the next 300 or so years. 

The three die of old age and the Coalition States, a nation that becomes fascist in later years, unearth it centuries later. They plunder the scientific resources, and thus are able to use this and OTHER sources of lost technology to become the powerhouse of the North American continent....hands down....as far as humans go.
 
 

This discounts the powers off their shore.....Atlantis.

 In Russia, the Eighty Year Winter begins. Whether a side result of the nuclear war or a bizarre Rifts-inspired side effect, Russia labours under nearly 33 feet of ice. 

2099 A.D. 

Survivors huddle in the Mindwerks Complex and ponder their fate. They rally under the banner of one Angel Herrenisel. 

"Wasn't....Mindwerks the creator of the Mind over Matter enhancements that turned ordinary humans into a supersoldier. The one which backfired after a few years when it came to light that the mental implants that allowed the human body to do amazing things....withstand incredible amounts of damage......also caused the user to slide further and further into insanity."
 
 

"Exactly," Morganna sighed, remembering her encounters with the monsters that had survived in Mindwerks to come out and make things......difficult for others. "Angel Herrenisel had a few advance implants within herself that retarded the aging process. It wasn't as swift in driving her insane as other Mindwerk tech.....but it and what happened to her later did her in for sanity. She would soon become the Angel out to destroy the New German Republic by aiding the monsters and demons out to destroy it.
 
 

"Don't forget to mention that the company had been teetering on bankruptcy due to the lawsuits filed by angered relatives of those driven insane by the Mind Over Matter implants." 179 put in, dragging up the information from files online he'd reviewed as part of his job. Rifts Earth may not be the largest pain for 179 in his job....but it drew more than it's fair share of his attention to it. The ley lines kept on opening up to other dimensions, and dragging forth Powers new what next! They may have settled down since the Cataclysm, but they still flared open during things every steller alignment and special event ever recored to man. It was a rare day that something didn't open up to someplace in another universe!

 The lost continent of Atlantis resurfaces in late January. It will stay as long as the ley lines feed it; when the magic stops, the continent will disappear again. And since that isn't gonna happen for maybe millions of years......don't hold your breath. Anyway, with that return, it a lot of water.....causing massive tidal waves that fubared the American East Coast. An already battered human race got battered by the return of a legend....and would keep getting battered when an evil race called the Spluggorth showed up to claim the abandoned and still wet lands.....

 A migration of Lizard Men takes place from the world of Palladium (a world much like that found in your standard fantasy novel....but a bit grittier in it's reality. You have the fantasy races, humans, dragons, et al on that planet in another universe) to South America. They take up residence and thrive over the next 300 years. They soon will be approached and sedduced by an Atlantian (Spluggorth) sponsored Cult of the Dragon......

 2101 A.D. 

A colony of Jungle Elves arrives in South America after being rifted there by their dying kingdom. The Kittari, a subject race of the Spluggorth, had been trying to enslave these elves, but the elves had fought back with the magical aid of their forest/jungle. The Kittari finally just burned it all down, and the Jungle Elves fled to other worlds/universes....else face being killed or enslaved by VERY embarrassed and angry Kittari (who had thought that these elves were going to be a pushover....being so low tech).

 The first Naut'Yll arrive on Earth, their arrival masked by the chaos of the world. They will go on to build an empire that will number six million in 100 P.A. plus slaves. Not much more is known of them at this time, though Morganna says that she's on it.....

 2106 A.D. 

Psyscape as a location comes into being, and a power player in the area. The first major kingdom after the cataclysm, it offers solace to the people of North America and composed primarily of psychics who use their powers to preserve life. While it has been around for a few years it is now that it first begins to be noticed. It will exist in its current form for 80 years. 

2108 A.D. 

ARCHIE 3's surviving human population in the Cyberworks Complex die from and unknown alien plague. ARCHIE lapses into depression. 

"ARCHIE 3, being this toaster," Morganna says, patting the Toaster looking AI. "It was a prototype AI who originally was just a machine....but after being bathed in the glow of the strange powers of an undiscover ely line nexus.....well, he kind of become something more than a machine..... Also, over time, he developed a rather NASTY little obsession and delusion about his place in the order of things!"
 
 

ARCHIE 3 makes no comment, but it's clear that he's disgruntled by all this. He returns to the narrative.

 2121 A.D. 

The Ticonderoga (it had survived the coming of the Rift and pulled what was left from the Cataclysm into what now is called the New Navy), under the command of Captain Nemo, go on a patrol to see what is left of the world. Near the end of it, they encounter a weird rift and it ends up transforming a handful of crewmembers and the Captain himself into what are eventually called Sea Titans. 

Now, the New Navy is a bit....leary of nonhumans, but nowhere near as xenophobic as what the Coalition was. They had been thinking about offering to help the Coalition against the forces arrayed against it, but finally saw that the Coalition for the fascists they were. Negotiations between us and the New Navy continue....but slowly..... Hope exists, but it is an uphill battle.

 Psyscape warrios battle the Soul Harvesters (one of those lesser cousins of the Old Ones....an alien intelligence) and prevent them from bringing the bizarre Outer Thing Nxla into the world. This is good, for the Nxla would have spread it's evil grip throughout the multiverse via the rifts that grip Earth. It had the nasty habbit of draining a person of their soul, and feeding off the torture feelings that the foul induced in the poor SOBs who had been....harvested. The shells were used as cannon fodder....and to bring more for harvesting. Basically, something like "Dawn of the Dead" on steroids. For the next few decades they continue to root out Soul Harvesters. 

2128 A.D. 

The city of Cibola discovers their dimensional pocket is collapsing and relocates to Earth, but in a small error, the lord of the city, an Alien Intelligence named Inix, places it close to Manoa and Omagua. The close proximity proves to be a source of headaches in the future. 

After years of internal distress, the Neo-Humans of the Achilles Republic split into two factions, the Neo-Abels who stay with the Republic and the Neo-Cains who leave the lesser races behind (more problems....more problems....more problems for humanity coming down the pike.....as usual).

 2154 A.D. 

Angel Herrenisel leads a contingent of Mindwerks Survivors to the surface of the planet again. They contact a nearby kingdom and trade and relations open. A surprise attack by a larger, more uncivilized kingdom eradicates most of the survivors on the surface. Angel nearly died and was reborn in a cold body and with no soul, doting on Bridget, an adopted child she had saved from the slaughter (but so injured that a new cybernetic body was needed for her to survive). They had been converted to full cyborges, one of the many forms of human augmentation that played a role in the arms race that lead up to the war that triggered the Cataclysm. 

Now, becoming a cyborge and becoming something less than human is a total line of crap....but the shock of the experience....piled upon everything else that had befallen her....AND the fact that her sanity had been slipping anyhow due to that mental implant I'd mentioned earlier.....she lost her sanity....her humanity....and her compassion. She became a monster, and Bridget got raised by that luney.....well....she became something of a monster herself. Attempts to overthrow her failed, and the people with anything like morals left ASAP. After a mass exodus of people who saw Angel as evil, only 90 people remained. 

Thus Mindwerks changed from something bent on bringing something good and proper into the world became something evil and twisted. Mindwerks became bent on the destruction of all who had tried to bring her down. This included the descendants of the German republic and Triax (the New German Republic). Triax had been a megacorporation bent on squeezing Mindwerks out of business. The German government had been part of the system that had made those law suites possible. So, Mindwerks helps the monsters trying to destroy the NGR and Triax. More on the enemies of Mindwerks later.

 2160 A.D. 

The Horune Pirates first appear on Earth who seem hostile to everyone except Atlantis. What more do I need to say?

 2169 A.D. 

A tribe of Brodkil approach Angel and the Mindwerks Complex, and they strike an unholy alliance with them. They exchange servitude and reverence for Angel's "magic" -- implants and augmentation. And thus it begins....

 2178 A.D. 

In Russia, the Eighty Year Winter comes to an end. However, it will take another 20 years to renew the winter-laden Russia, though it will de-thaw to a virgin wilderness once more. Thus, it will become a wilderness to be beaten back and tamed by man....if possible. Time will tell.
 
 

"So, there is some type of high technolodgy nation out in what used to be Russia?" Tarn asks. "Hmmm. And here I'd thought that nothing of the former nation had survived....but I guess I was wrong."
 
 

"Hey, considering the remoteness of everything...and the difficulty of getting around safely with all the monsters running about....certain parts of the world are going to be almost like trying to reach the next star. Difficult, if not almost impossible with the current situation at hand," Morganna said to comfort the Rogue Scholar.

 2186 A.D. 

Psyscape vanishes, leaving behind no physical evidence, but a small cult develops around the belief that it will return. And I does return, in order to aid in upcoming major dangers facing Rifts Earth...and the megaverse via the Rifts.

 2190 A.D. 

First known report of the Lord of the Deep, yet another alien intelligence that lurks in the Marinas Trench. It has a bad habit of reaching out via it's hundreds of tentacles and attacking boats and ships hundreds of miles away! The Lord of the Deep draggs back it's victims, uses foul magic and combines it's victims into a monster loyal to the foul monster. The sucker isn't very popular with the New Navy, and Nemo wants to kill it...but that's a tall order...until we helped a bit.
 
 

"More like I and my family," Morganna corrected the sullen Archie. "See, a touch of antimatter.....delivered with a special delivery system....."
 
 

Tarn, familiar with Star Trek, feels her eyes bug out again.
 
 

"We were careful on only using a minute amount...we don't need to blow the planet to smithereens," Morganna sighs.
 
 

2198 A.D. 

The Amaki arrive in South America, disappointed to see the ruined planet but sensing the potential sales (being the smaret little business folk they are), set up a colony. In a few decades, it will have reached 100,000. See, if nothing else, a good gun does wonders for keeping you alive...and that monster trying to eat you DEAD!

 2208 A.D. 

ARCHIE 3 reawakens with hope for the world. He creates scores of robots and sends them out to gather intelligence and specimens. He decides to bring humans to him, but they were shocked and superstitious and in a fit of rage he kills them all. He lapses back into depression. 

"Oh, in case you are wondering why it was taking so long for Archie to come up with plans of his own," Morganna interrupted. "you see, Archie may be incredibly intelligent...but he's not what you call imaginative. Through a cybernetic helmet, the AI could use the imagination of a human to become VERY creative....with the humans help. That human became Archie's Idea Man. Without an Idea Man, Archie takes a LONG time to come up with an idea of his own.
 
 

Archie mutters something, and resumes....

 2216 A.D. 

In a tiny village in the Magic Zone, residents begin to develop the most unusual power of intangibility. Within two generations, most villagers wield this power....just another slice of the what passes as life here on Rifts Earth.

 2257 A.D. 

Pharaoh Rama-Set takes over an African empire and renames it the Phoenix Empire. Over the next 132 years, he will expand it through magic and conquest and it will become a mecca for monstrous races. Rama-Set, a special type of dragon who was able to take human form (and hide his true identity), is rather....insane. He had grown to like the atrocities committed by the Nazis before and during WWII, and this would develop into a rather nasty insanity....and a worship of death. Deah was good in Rama-Set's mind, and the dragon would do anything to release death and destruction on the rest of the world....the rest of the MEGAVERSE!

 2258 A.D. 

ARCHIE awakens with a new plan to appear as a benevolent god to the superstitious humans. He was accepted by a local tribe and had a thriving community going within a generation. It is destroyed by the Splugorth and he lapses into silence again. This will develop into a hatred of the Splugorth by ARCHIE . He wants to reach out and destroy these monsters for what they've done to heim....his people....his plans.

 "The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace..." quips Archie. This earns the AI a sharp (but relatively gentle) rap on his electronic housing by Morganna. Pulled or not, the AI feels like he's just been hit by a Mac truck.
 
 

Groaning in pain, the AI's special nature takes time to rebuild the dent that Morganna put in the AI's case.
 
 

The AI, being a bit wiser in his words, gets back to business.

 2271 A.D. 

First reported sightings of Mind Bleeders (a race of humanoids similar to humans....but much more powerful psionically...and able to "bleed" almost any and all information out of a victims mind) happen around the Mediterranean area. They spread to North Africa and the European basin over the next century. 2276 A.D. 

First products of Northern Gun (a weapons company) produced at Ishpeming (and industrial center that survived relatively intact the coming of the Rifts).. 

0 P.A. (2286 A.D.) 

Post-Apocalypse Calendar created. It's created because humanity had no real idea how much time had really passed since the Cataclysm....since they had been more worried about survival than keeping track of time. 

1 P.A. (2287 A.D.) 

Glitter Boy Mark III introduced by Orbital Colonies into service by the KLS Corporation (the maker of that super robot mecha). 

Yes,Erin, something is still up there, alive. All but the Japanese space station survived the coming of the Rifts. The blue flash of light from the sudden flaring of the ley lines during the beginning of the Cataclysm registered as the beginning of a nuclear war to some of the orbiting weapon systems and had blasted the station and other orbiting facilities. The contra orbiting derbies cloud would play a role in why long range communication is so difficult on Rifts Earth. More on that later.

 The New Empire in Japan (a kingdom based upon the idea that high technology had played a part in the disaster that had fallen on Japan...so a simple spiritual life like that of olden Japan was the way to live) comes into power after the threat of decimation by Oni unites the warring factions. This is going to be a bit of a problem for the newly arrived high tech cities of 21rst century Japan....but nothing bloody...yet.

 Alistair Dunscon is born. This guy will become the evil head of the vile Federation of Magic....a group with a faction within it that's as about as black hearted as you can get. A faction of people who care not who they must heurt or kill to gain magical and other types of power....just as long as they get POWER.

 3 P.A. (2289 A.D.) 

The Vampire War begins in the Republic of Colombia (a South American version of the Coallition States....alas) as they the infamous "Night of Blood" happens, with over 30,000 innocents dead. The wars will continue indefinitely. 

Oh, and yes, Erin, there are large vampire kingdoms down in Mexico and central America....they just go to great length to cover their own existence by pushing up a façade of savagery lent by the insane Wild Vampires they sometimes produce....

 "That....would explain much," Tarn says, wide eyed at what she remembered happening on that one night down in Mexico....so long ago.

 5 P.A. (2291 A.D.) 

The fledging Coalition discovered the secret to Juicer technology, but decides to forget about its use. This is because that while you become super quick and strong as a Juicer, through the use of a worn drug injection system that boosted performance, it aged you rapidly. A person died within six years of becoming a Juicer. For the moment, Juicers were considered a waste of human life...promising though the resulting soldier was.....

 First products produced by the Manistique Imperium (another weapons/equipment producer). This is also based up near what had been Canada before the Cataclysm.

 10 P.A. (2296 A.D.) 

The Three (some type of godling or some such) present themselves as Lords of Magic to Nostrous Dunscon and the Federation of Magic. They are given token spots in order to keep an eye on them by the paranoid Nostrous. 

12 P.A. (2298 A.D.) 

The so-called Federation of Magic invades the newly formed Coalition. The Federation overestimates their own power and underestimates the Coalition and are beaten back at cost. General Joseph Prosek begins a two-year campaign of genocide against all suspected Federation members and magic-users in general. And thus begins the slide of the Coalition from democracy to fascist empire. The citizens turn a blind eye on what is done, for it's all in a good cause in the end. It isn't like the ones being killed are Coalition citizens!

 Raiders from Cibola (one of those cities that appeared down in South America) trick the Manoans and the Omaguans into a war by leading their forces into each other, a state of affairs that continues to exist. The Cibola profit from this conflict, naturally.

 14 P.A. (2300 A.D.) 

General Joseph Prosek's purge ends and the Coalition and most others believe the Federation of Magic is obliterated off the face of the planet. But.....

 25 P.A. (2311 A.D.) 

The Coalition attempts and fails one last time to get to space before acknowledging it as a loss. 

See, the problem is that the people up in space saw what came crawling out of the rifts (and do still come out from time to time). They saw, and though know there are humans down below, they have written Earth off as a lose. Instead, they follow a doctrine of containment, to protect the rest of the universe from the threat form below. Silly, since the universe isn't safe...what with what the Rifts can do. The spacers blast anything and everything that tries to leave Earth's atmosphere.....with orbiting killer satellites a contra orbiting debris cloud (which damages a ship over time) and regular manned patrols. So, Earth isn't in some type of dimensional warp....preventing communications satellites form being placed in orbit. It's the spacers, keeping us Earthbound. Thus, we have only now begun to get to this point in history...since long range communication is by microwave relay ground station.....that are vulnerable to attack and must be guard.....this played a large part as to why we were in that Dark Age for so long.
 
 

Erin Tarn looks like she just swallowed a pineapple, because she feels a bit outraged at the truth of it all.

 The Warlords of Russia emerge in a ragtag early form. The Neo-Soviet Empire (the surviving remnants of what had been the original Russian Soviet government) disregards the "wilderness trash" and comes to regret it in the coming years. Yes, the Warlords grow to be quiet a power, comparable to this Neo-Soviet empire we are speaking of here. Too bad for that Empire, for they could have made better relations than what they currently....er....suffer with right now with most of those Warlords. 

1. Morganna offers Erin some tea, and the historian thanks her host. She dreads what this "toaster" will say next....but then again....history was her passion. She was out for truth....not comforting lies.

 Go Back