Bit of Analysis: Rifts

[Ahriman238]

Q: What happens when you kill a demon?

A: It goes to hell.

Q: But isn't that sort of counterproductive? Hell is the beast's home and it'll be back in CHina in a few days at the most.

A: In the short term, it makes a great difference not to have a demon trying to kill you right this second. In the long term, killing demons does little good, but what can you do?


A Demon Queller is someone who sees a certain futilitiy in killing demons, when death is just a big inconvenenience to them. Once, it would have made a world of difference, but now the gates of the various hells yawn wide, and rather than being banished for decades or centuries, a demon faces a long trek home and the mockery of his peers. Hardly making a differencei n the world, yes? So, Demon Quellers don't bother to kill except in dire circumstances, instead they strive to bind or imprison demons in various ways.

Most Demon Quellers are closely tied to the Green Scarf sect of Taoist alchemists, who have stepped up to become the new black market of demon-overrun China, the competition not being able to get around the level of magical surveillance and information gathering available to a determined Yama King. The Green Scarves sell everything from forbidden weapons and technology, to drugs and alcohol, to forged travel papers (sort of a necessity for any adventurers) but their specialty are magic items they create themselves, and they are the primary providers for magic items and artifacts, and making money hand over fist as a result. There are lots of people who resent the Green Scarves for profitting off the struggle against the Yama Kings, and some who suspect an ulterior motive, and a very small but vocal minority that will never see any Demon Queller as anything but a "lapdog of the Green Scarf."

Anyways, a distinguishing mark of a Demon Quller is their one of four forged by the Green Scarves specifically for these classes:

First is the normal-looking Hunter Blade, which does 2-12 standard damage to humans, 3-18 MD to demons, allows the wielder to sense if there's a demon within 200 feet, allows them to see demons hiding under invisibility, illusion, magic, shapechanging, psionics or a physical disguise. Then they can dispell such measures with a single poke of the blade. Finally it gives them a bonus to tracking demons and lets them see vapor trails where entities passed recently.

Second is the Hunter-Slayer Sword, which is actually a bloody big broadsword, requiring an exceptional strength to wield single-handed. 3-18 SD to mortals, 3-18 MD to MDC and supernatural creatures, 5-30 MD against actual demons, and 10-100 MD against demon lords, Yama Kings and supernatural intelligences. The sword is never dulled, and cannot be melted down or damaged by fire at all. If the owner has had it a year or more and formed an emotional conneciton, the sword cannot be lost and will return to the owners hand if thrown.

Third is the Demon Hunter's Defender, a short sickle-blade. It only does 1-6 SD against humans, 3-18 MD to demons, but dealing it out isn't the point. As longas the blade is drawn and in hand, the wielder is considerably more resistant to disease, fear, demonic curses, possession, and gas attacks, and a bit better at parrying and avoiding being disarmed. But the really special part is that as long as he grips the hilt, the wielder cannot be restrained or hindered in his movements by any demon, wither physically or with magic. So a fireball will still flambe him, but a carpet of adhesion or magic net he can ignore.

Finally there's the Demon Hunter's Vengeance, a long and thin sword that loooks "as if it was made from moonbeams rather than steel." 2-12 Sd against men, 4-24 MD against demons, and magical MDC creatures. The peach is that wounds delivered by the sword (to demons, specifically) don't heal naturally, however high the demon's regen. At least, for 3 hours per level of the Demon Queller. They can still be healed with magic or psionics.

Each Demon Queller will wield one of these four swords, it and the avoidance of death are the only things these classes all share. But enough about that, you want to hear about the classes themselves, right?



Fu Yao Da Chia (Great Demon-Catching Hero)

An elite order of demon hunters dating back at least to the Zhou, legend says the first was chosen as a "Rat-catcher" to the Celestial Court, rounding up imps and goblins that got loose where they weren't supposed to. The Order had been underground for a very long time when the Cataclysm rolled around, a secret society of zealots keeping the demon-hunting tradition alive, even when demons were scarce and almost no outsiders belived in them. These days, people believe in demons, but still think the Fu Yao are insane because they don't just hunt demons, they try and rehabilitate them.

Demon rehab isn't easy, to say the least, but it is possible with a lot of "tough love." Demons lack empathy or any concept of friendship, and they are empowered by cruelty and human suffering. Many believe, falsely, that they need to torture humans to survive. So a demon captured by a Fu Yao will be (to his perception) starved, made to carry out hard labor, and lectured on philosophy, with the promise of a brutal beatdown if they set one claw out of line. Well, the last part is business as usual for demons anyway. What's different is that the Fu Yao is fair, and never hands out a beating from sadism or boredom. He models good behavior for his charges and will risk his life for theirs if needed. Eventually progress can be made, but even a best-case scenario takes several months. A Fu Yao is accompanied by his charge(s) whom he makes fight for the side of a good. A skilled and experienced Fu Yao can look after 6 charges at once, beginners stick to one or two at a time, for good reason.

The modern body hardening exercises originate from the Fu yao tradition, they start with 4 and gain one every 3 levels, ending with 9 (or all but two.) Base martial art is either Dog Boxing, Shaolin, or 18 weapons. Mystic martial arts can be Cotton Fist, Mantis, Tieh-Hsueh, or Drunken Style. They can channel ISP into normal weapons so they do MD to demons. They are slightly more resistant to possession and demonic curses, but usually have several floating around. Luckily another class ability means these curses wear off twice as fast.

Fu Yao start out with their trusty Demon Quelling sword, a steel whip they are also proficient in, a magic hand mirror that can trap any demon who looks full-on into it, and a book with the names, history and powers of 10,000 demons. There's only a 30% chance a given minion will bei n the book, but all the major players are definitely in there.



Nu Li Zhang Wo (Demon/Dead Slaver)

Demon Slavers brand demons and the dead with their personal mark, and then magically control them, usually in the worst sort of chattel slavery, if not selling them to others. The brand, a demon-binding stamp, comes from the Green Scarves and it's magic needs to be renewed yearly. In exchange for this service, the Green Scarves reserve the right of first pick of the slave stock, and a 60% discount. The brand does not just compel obediance, it lobotomizes the demon (or the damned soul) making them compliant.

Demon Slavers start with 2 body hardening exercises, and gain 3 more over time. Demon slavers don't get normal or mystic martial arts, but ordinary psychic powers. You roll to determine if they're a minor, major or master psychic. They can even be Mind Bleeders. Aside from their Demon Quelling sword and demon-binding stamp, they start with a handful of snares and chains that can hold demons. They are always accompanied by an enslaved demonic porter.

You don't have to look hard to find Wujick's hand in this one, he's always been big on presenting moral complexity and look, here's all the cruelty and dehumanization of slavery, administered to the cruel and inhuman. Here are the forces repressing humanity used in the free Dragonlands to grow food and build walls, but at the cost of turning humanity into the oppressers. Is doing this to demons justified, particularly where we just saw they can learn and grow to be better? Is it even worth stopping this one evil when there's so much worse going on all the time. Choices the players have to face. I'm not sure I like the idea of letting people play as a slave-trader though.

Going to have to cut this short, the last Demon Queller, the Mo Di Mu Yang will be up soon.

[Battlehymn Republic]

Can any White Wolf scholars comment on the similarities and differences between Rifts' portrayal of East Asian culture vs. Kindred of the East?

[Ahriman238]

Mo Di Mu Yang (Goblin Wrangler)

Another thing that sets Demon Quellers apart is their fundamental understanding of demonic psychology, and how to manipulate demons for their own ends. It doesn't work quite so well with your higher demons, lords and Yama Kings who are accustomed to various plots and schemes, but your average demonic minion is actually pretty easy to fast-talk if you understand the giant buttons and levers they have. The Mo Di takes this to the logical extreme, and is much better at talking demons down, or into doing stupid things, than actually fighting them head-on.

Demons are ambitious and egotistical, in their home dimensions you either claw your way up the long ladder through power and treachery, or you accept being a footstool to higher powers, and lose many of your magical abilities and physical strength. A certain amount of flattery will be involved in any polite conversation with a demon, and you can actually manage some surprising compromises with demons sometimes, as long as they get to save face. Demons love to be in charge, to have power to abuse, and to have the opportunity to be lazy. They are absurdly cocky when they think they have the upper hand, and cowardly when meeting an obviously greater strength. Yes, demons are a cowardly and superstitious lot, many for instance have heard of rare demon trapping mirrors and so fear all mirrors on principle. Demons' main forms of entertainment are torturing humans, drinking, gambling and engaging in challenges of strength, wit or magical ability. It's hard to get a demon drunk, but usually worth doing and they get the worst hangovers. They can also be tricked into betting on almost anything, or into some truly stupid challenges ("I don't suppose, mighty demon, even you could out-wrestle my 2 ton friend here.") All demons hate human music and find it debilitatingly painful, and humans find goblin/demon songs only slightly less grating. Some but not all or even most demons are extremely ticklish or sensitive to being pinched. Others have physical vulnerabilities, some are really vulnerable to fire or running water, some to bone, a paticular metal or wood from a certain species of tree, some are weak agianst sunlight or magic.

Any or all of these can be used to manipulate a demon into giving you what you want, helping you or simply going away if you're clever enough. Ideally a Mo Di acts as a village consultant and intermediary, organizing a posse when a show of strength is needed, finding a compromise when possible. Some demons and evil nature spirits will take a simple offering, an annual feast in their honor or leaving a particular area alone as enough reason not to harm the locals, it's not exactly common but it does happen.

Mo Di start with 3 Body Hardenings, one of which must be Vital Breath, and gain 5 more over time. They can take Dai Sheng, Shaolin, Dog Boxing, Drunken Fist or 18 weapons as their base style. No mystic martial art, their only ISP/chi abilities are channeling energy into a steel whip to make it an MDC weapon (I guess that's one more thing all Demon Quellers have in common, a need to imitate Indiana Jones) and Meditating to regain ISP. They also get one of the four Demon Queller swords, of course.

[Ahriman238]

Can any White Wolf scholars comment on the similarities and differences between Rifts' portrayal of East Asian culture vs. Kindred of the East?

Heh, you're lucky I know what White Wolf even is, so I'm guessing I'm not your scholar.

Heck, I'm sure there's all sorts of bad translations and insulting cultural stuff that's slipped by me because I hardly know anything about China. I mean, besides including Qin Hui in the game, alone of all the people from classical China. I mean, you could have an RPG with Lu Pu Wei, or Chuko Liang, they're already basically RPG characters!

Anyways, let's look at China for a bit longer.


Henan Province, formerly the 1st Hell

Henan was liberated by the Taoist immortal Huan Shih, called the Celestial Master, who thrice casually bested the Yama King Chu Kuan’s champions, and Wu Je Nao a white dragon and abbot of one of China’s foremost Shaolin temples. The region’s 1.6 million citizens are just getting to the point of being healthy, well-fed and educated, and are optimistic about the future. The region is protected by over 3,000 low to mid level mystic martial artists, with over 2 dozen epic level mystic martial artists. Plus Huan Shih has an uncanny knack for seeing the potential in people and sending humble farmer’s sons on impossible quests they nevertheless manage to complete. I give them fairly even odds against the Phoenix Empire, definite victory if Huan Shih and Wu Je Nao come along.




Hanbing Province, 2nd Hell

The second hell is an icy one, the whole province frozen over. The only warmth is found in the city of Harbin, where the iron walls are heated red hot, with lots of screaming faces wrought, and spikes where the dead are stuck on. Chu Chiang, the Sleeping Yama King, is one of the most personally powerful Yama Kings, but he’s bored with combat and intrigue and has become the stereotypical cloistered ruler whose only contact with the world is through his fawning advisers, who are punished terribly if they bring him bad news and various courtiers pursuing various plots. There’s about 22 million in Hanbing, mostly all dead.

Chu Chiang himself is a very powerful demon with 10,500 MDC, regenerating 8-48 every 15 seconds. He takes half damage from magic, psionics and MDC melee weapons, and nil from ranged weapons, explosives, fire, or ice, as well as being totally immune to all poisons and diseases. He can exhale a suffocating gas, dimensional teleport at will, gnossolalia, nightvision and see invisible, plus a special variant of shapeshifting that lets him copy the powers of the form he takes, without losing any of his own. Further, he can manipulate ley lines, increasing the energy flow as though during a major celestial event or suppressing the line. He is the master of all standard spells, Necromancy and Temporal Magic, and knows the Spells of Legend Blight of Ages, Superior Doppleganger, Sanctuary, and Warrior Horde. He is a master psychic with all super powers, and Auto Mind Block, Object Read, Mask PPE, See Aura, Sense Time, Read Dimensional Portal, and Telepathy. He is highly skilled at Ba Gua and Hien-Hsueh, and only slightly less skilled at Hsien Hsia and Snake style. As a Yama King, he can instantly summon and command any and all demons whose names are known to him, including his 20 or so Demon Lord Generals. In short, he’s almost half as broken, overpowered and downright unfair as a Splugorth or VI. His special item/power as a Yama King is the horde of white spiders he keeps in his castle. If he places one of these spiders on a map, every place it touches will experience eternal winter, until that specific spider is killed. They’re not giants, just normal spiders except for being white, being the instrument of his power, and being resurrected each full moon unless killed by silver.

Chu Chiang, being a shapeshifter, likes to wear a jolly chubby face when engaging in his hobby or torturing the damned. His subordinates give him a thousand souls a day to play with, so he'll be distracted and not indulge his sadistic urges on them. For court and formal events, he goes with Yama King traditional, a charred skeleton 10 feet tall in elaborate formal robes.

Kind of a grab bag hell as far as what sins are punished. Those who commit “crimes of passion” (mostly murder and rapine) are kept in filthy pens until they are killed, butchered, cooked and eaten by demons, aware and capable of feeling pain the whole time, until they’re reborn in the pens in two days. Misers who could never spare a penny for the poor starve forever, while incompetent or fraudulent doctors are subjected to endless medical experiments. But this is the most we ever seem to hear about who goes where for what crimes.



Zhejiang Province 3rd Hell


The great, enlightened and scholarly Confucian Yama King Song Ti once resided here. An extremely enlightened demon who acted never from cruelty, but from duty and his belief in a higher order. Did the Celestial Emperor himself not charge Song Ti to punish the lazy, disobedient and disloyal? So when Song Ti saw Zhejiang Province, blasted and ruined, polluted and filled with the ruins of sky scrapers, he vowed to restore it to its 12th Century (Song dynasty, naturally) glory. It took 50 years for him to rebuild the old capital at Hangzhou. But you see, Song Ti had a deceased chancellor and personal project, Qin Hui, one of the most infamous traitors (er… sort of) of the classical period. Back in the day, Qin Hui brokered a very successful peace treaty with the Jin, part of which involved throwing the Southern Song’s great general Yue Fei under the bus, stripping him of position and then arresting him. People saw this as the Emperor betraying one of his most loyal and popular subordinates, and the next Emperor was quick to blame everything on Qin Hui’s bad advice, and that combined with his being a prisoner of the Jin for several years before ascending to high office, led people to vilify him as a traitor. It’s highly questionable whether he actually has a traitor, and debatable how much he even had to do with Yue Fei’s fall from grace. But for purposes of this narrative, let’s assume that Qin Hui was the most cunning and vile traitor to ever walk the Earth.

Anyway, Qin Hui was leading an excavation that found several Song Dynasty relics when he unearthed Yue Fei’s tomb. That’s gotta be awkward. And just outside the tomb were the famous iron statues of him and his wife, kneeling to the man they betrayed and murdered, the one that tens of thousands of people a year spit and urinate on. Well, the moment Qin Hui touched the statue something weird, even for RIFTS, happened. His soul split in two, the statue became animate and he gained the memories of a thousand years of abuse. Well this convinced Qin Hui it was the throne or bust, so that night he stole Song Ti’s mandate, invoked an agent of the Celestial Court, and had the Yama King’s powers revoked on the basis of abuse and neglect. Not sure what became of the weakened Song Ti, but in the morning Qin Hui announced that Song Ti was gone and had named him viceroy. With the mandate and seal of Song Ti, he was able to magically compel the obedience of the demon lords, and with his decades of experience in the byzantine courts of the Northern and Southern Song, he was able to play them off each other and outmaneuver anyone seeking to usurp the Usurper. He was able to trade for the soul of his wife and two minions, who formed similar bonds with their statues and continues to run the 3rd hell as Song Ti would have.

As one of the Dead of China, Qin Hui is a minor MDC creature (80 MDC) able to regenerate from anything including complete disintegration in 48 hours. He can shapeshift at will to appear as he did in life or as a rotting corpse. He shares a mind and soul with his animated iron statue (890 MDC and regenerates) and can sink inside it for safety. The statue has the ability to recognize anyone who ever spat on it, or their descendants, and such people (a third of China, if the book’s to be believed) get earmarked for Qin Hui’s special attention. Qin Hui’s class is listed as “7th level Chi Mage” but he doesn’t seem to have any magical, psionic or martial arts-related powers. Qin Hui can use the Mandate of the Third Yama King to secure his quarters and boss demons around, but gains none of the powers of a Hell God. He did inherit Song Ti’s Ledger of Heavenly Correctness, an 1800 page dissertation on Confucian conduct penned by the Great Sages of Heaven and given to Song Ti as a gift. Even his mightiest Demon Lords cannot resist a command or rebuke if it comes in the form of a quote from that book, and after 200 years Qin Hui’s memorized most of it. Lesser demons, goblins, ghosts, the Dead and nature spirits are hurt by hearing it, and if a line from the book is written on demonic flesh it becomes a brand that will never fade.

As mentioned, those who disobey Confucian ideals wind up in the 3rd Hell. Children who defy or abuse their parents, forgers, liars, slanderers, people who disrespect their ancestors and those who steal burial plots are all earmarked for special attention. The province is run as closely as humanly possible to how it was in 1241, with no new technology permitted. There are 15 million people in Zhejiang, 2 million of them living. The province is also home to the Shu Mo, scholar demons who hoard knowledge and wreak a terrible vengeance on book burners.

[CaptainChewbacca]

The Chinese hells are easily the weirdest part of RIFTS earth, no doubt.

[Ahriman238]

Say what? Weirder than Wormwood, Atlantis, rhinoffalo, Nature Magic or the Illinois Nazis becoming a global power? Don't get me wrong, there's some strange stuff in China, but I don't think it makes the top five.

[gigabytelord]

Say what? Weirder than Wormwood, Atlantis, rhinoffalo, Nature Magic or the Illinois Nazis becoming a global power? Don't get me wrong, there's some strange stuff in China, but I don't think it makes the top five.

Hey they're not Nazis, they just like acting like them and worshipping them and... Ok maybe they are...

At least they don't goose step around North America right? Guys? Damn it, why does it always have to be Nazis.

[Simon_Jester]

It is amusing to imagine the Coalition having evolved out of the Illinois Nazis from the Blues Brothers, though.

[gigabytelord]

Hey Ahriman have you covered the new Triax and Coalition books yet? Jeez this thread is getting big.

[Ahriman238]

Hey Ahriman have you covered the new Triax and Coalition books yet? Jeez this thread is getting big.

No and No.

Honestly, after I wrap up China I'm going to slip in one or two loose ends and move on to the next one. Tie this up with a big bow and a directory post linking back to everything.

The online library thing you sent me back when I started went down a while ago, so aside from things I've done I'm kind of down to 'Stralia, Canada, Free Quebec, Xiticx Invasion, Texas, Arzno, Federation of Magic, Madhaven, the Dinosaur Swamp books, Coalition Navy, Aftermath (of Tolkeen) and the conversion books. So barring new content, that's what'll be in Rifts thread Mk II.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I loved the New West books, Pecos Empire and all that, plus Lone Star.

[gigabytelord]

Hey Ahriman have you covered the new Triax and Coalition books yet? Jeez this thread is getting big.

No and No.

Honestly, after I wrap up China I'm going to slip in one or two loose ends and move on to the next one. Tie this up with a big bow and a directory post linking back to everything.

The online library thing you sent me back when I started went down a while ago, so aside from things I've done I'm kind of down to 'Stralia, Canada, Free Quebec, Xiticx Invasion, Texas, Arzno, Federation of Magic, Madhaven, the Dinosaur Swamp books, Coalition Navy, Aftermath (of Tolkeen) and the conversion books. So barring new content, that's what'll be in Rifts thread Mk II.

Ok I'll see what happened and try to get you the link again.

[Ahriman238]

Fujian Province, the 4th Hell

Home to 9 million mortal humans, 37 million dead and damned, 200,000 D-Bees and half a million demon overseers, Fujian is one of the most densely populated realms of the Yama Kings. The ruler here is Wu Kuan, who rejects the title of King in favor of Judge. Like Song Ti, Wu Kuan is a Confucianist, but not in a good way. He is obsessed with creating the perfect beaurecracy, free of corruption and laziness, where everyone's role, duties and limits are painfully clear and everyone knows their place. He is energetic and again obsessive about improving every aspect of his bubble-kingdom, believing he will become Emperor not through force of arms, but through flawless administration. He routinely sends envoys to the other Yama Kings inviting them to see his perfect realm, but he's acquired a reputation for luring people in and trapping them with unbreakable contracts, so none of his peers will have anything to do with him. Interestingly, Judge Wu Kuan is the only Yama King who hasn't violated the terms of his mandate or overstepped his authority one inch, and so he is not vulnerable to attack through his mandate.

The Judge, personally, enjoys 11,000 MDC and regenerates 6-36 MDC a round (15 seconds.) He cannot be armed by fire cold, disease or any poison. He takes half damage from MDC weapons, magic and psionics. His sole weakness is weapons from the Millenium Tree, which do 5 times normal damage. He has nightvision, see invisible, dimensional teleport, gnossolalia and can sense every ley line for 100 miles, and any odd activity on it. He can shapeshift into any person or other entity, including mimicking their powers without losing his own. He is a master of Necromancy, knowing all spells there, and all from levels 1-10 of the standard list. He has all sensitive and bleeder psychic powers, plus the super powers Auto Mind Block, Group Mind Block, Group Trance, Mind Wipe, Psychic Omni-Sight, and Telemechanics. He is proficient (11th level) at Ba Gua and Pao Chih, and slightly less (9th level) at Tong Lun Mantis style. As a Yama King, he can instantly summon and command any demon whose name is known to him. Judge Wu Kuan has both a special power, and an artifact. His Cloud Radiance Throne is the envy of the other Yama Kings, for whomever sits on the throne can see the entire world, as though from heaven or a high peak, and zoom in on every part. Wu Kuan can scry all over the world, and no defense can keep him out, but he uses this solely to check randomly upon his subordinates and people, keeping everyone honest. His unique power is the ability to freeze time inside his realm, over any area from a room to all Fujian Province. He can freeze time for up to an hour, and do it 6 times a day.

On formal occasions, the Judge appears as a charred skeleton in formal robes. Most of the time, he favors a tall, aristocratic Chinese form. He is unfailingly polite, and never directly contradicts his guests.

About 10% of Fujian is covered by a lake of blood, and surrounding swamps and marshland. A whole new ecology has developed to cope. In all villages and towns, the demons act as administrators and everything is kept orderly to a fault. It's not clear what specific crimes are punished in the 4th Hell, but the damned are required to fill out weekly reports on their punishment, and those who die illiterate are run through demonic schools, where poor grades and slacking are met with all the punishments of hell, until they're capable of doing their own paperwork.


Guangdong Province, 5th Hell

There are few wildplaces in Guangdong, where every square foot of land is precious. There are 2.3 million humans and 11.6 damned, a quarter million D-Bees and 300,000 demons. The ruler here is Yon Lo, another obsessive Yama King. But Yon Lo is obsessed with technology, and the Industrial Revolution, so he's covered most available space with factory floors, and is cheerfully ruining the air and water. Mind, he built a modern army with 85,000 men and 17,000 power armor suits. On the other hand, the day someone explained a computer to him, he decided to invent his own by wiring decapitated (still living, through magic) heads together. Yon Lo was the first Yama King to realize that anyone who pledged to serve him in life would be damned to his hell in death. Well, everyone knew that, he was the first to realize he could use this to secure the perpetual services of a variety of technical specialists.

Yon Lo has 6,250 MDC, and regenerates 10-40 MDC a round. What I'm thinking of as the standard Yama King immunities, cold,fire, disease and poison. He takes half damage from man-made MDC weapons, but full from magic, psionics and holy weapons. Nightvision, see invisible, dimensional teleport and gnossolalia. Magically, he knows all Necromancy and standard spells save Spells of Legend, of which he only knows Hivemind which he abuses frequently. Psychically, he has all super powers, plus Auto Mind block, Object Read, Mask PPE, See Aura, Sense Time and Telepathy. Yon Lo has never bothered to learn Mystic Martial Arts. Aside from his Never Dying Servants (those who make apact with him) his special weapon is his Tu Feng. The Tu Feng are fist-sized black robotic bees. Each has 8-13 MDC, regenerates 1 MDC per round, and can do 1-8 MD with their stinger. They can record and carry messages or objects, able to lift 2 kilos, or 4 lbs. and they shrink down into a tiny black bead. The saving grace is the Tu Feng aren't really smart enough for missions more complicated than "fly to this person and play recording" or "kill them" but Yon Lo has thousands, literally necklaces of dormant robot bees.

In theory all the damned have been freed so they can work in the factories, in practice most everyone is an indentured wage slave. There is an open market where free trade takes place, and Shamian island holds "the City of the Future" showcasing Yon Lo's vision. Yon Lo's vision of the future changes on a monthly basis, and each time the city is razed and another raised in it's place. The citiznes of this new city are chosen by lottery. The 5th hell welcomes all atheists, agnostics, murderers, rapists, and child molesters, and used to have a lovely village where window showed your family's suffering in the world of the living.



Shandong Province, 6th Hell

Exact figures are hard to come by for the living, as so many people outside Shandong are trying to get in and so many inside are trying to get out, but there's roughly 4 million dead and 180,000 demons. Shandong's master, Pien Cheng, was considered one of the wisest and most powerful of the Yama Kings, and 80 years ago made his bid to conquer the others, which ended with him betrayed by his subordinates and killed by 4 of his peers. Death barely slows down a holder of a Heavenly Mandate though, it just left Cheng a disembodied spirit that possessed a man, and normally would have converted his body in a few weeks into something befitting a Yama King. But Cheng was shaken by the failure of his perfect plan, and the betrayal of his loyal subordinates. So he decided to study CHina's history and see where he went wrong. In the process he decided the most powerful man in China's history hadn't been called Emperor, but Chairman. Inspired, he jumped from one host body to another, starting a whisper campaign about the glorious Chairmen Cheng, a man like them but better who would save them all. He formed a Communist Revolution against his treacherous former minions, commanding all his loyal demons to stand down and join the People's Army.

80 years on, and the Perpetual Revolution continues. Everyone is a comrade now, living in communal dorms, eating together and working together at whatever is assigned them by the politburo. The Red Guard watches vigiliantly for signs of treason, quesitoning, or insuffcient drive, and most people are on their 8th or 9th time being vanished and reeducated, returning a creepy smiling drone. While whole generations of teens and young people take the Red Book of Chairman Cheng to the other hells to preach the word and inevitably be martyred. There are also routine purges. Pien Cheng learned the secret of the Never-Dying from Yon Lo, and found he could get the same effect by having people swear themselves to the Revolution "in perpetutity."

Pien Cheng has chosen to remain a bodiless spirit, so he can jump around and pass on instructions not as Chairman Cheng, but someone acting under his orders. Anyone he possesses will have 250 MDC, regen 5-30 MDC a round, be able to lift a ton and run at 50 mph, 80 kph. In spirit form, he has 1850 MDC. He (or his host) is immune to fire, cold, disease or poison, and takes half damage from MDC weapons, magic and psionics. Nightvision, see invisible, dimensional teleport and gnossolalia. An indifferent mage, Pien Cheng knows all standard spells save Spells of Legend, and all Necromancy. However, Pien Cheng is greater than or equal to any psychic on Rifts Earth with all non-bleeder powers, tons of ISP and his own unique attack, Spirit Wrack. This causes someone to question everything they fought they knew, making them ripe for influence, control or reeducaiton, or he can use it to deal a crippling blow to another psychic's ISP pool.

When not possessing someone or making an effort to look invisible, Pien Cheng appears as a nondescript ghostly Chinese man in a Red Guard uniform.

Blasphemers used to reside in the 6th Hell, in the massive swamp known as the Great Filth. Chairman Cheng promised to fill in this blight on the People's land and symbol of the old regime, but the Chairmen also promised food, water and electricity for all, and none of these things have come true. One of Pien Cheng's treacherous subordinates remains, Pa'en Mo, who distributed his mind across a vast swarm of locusts and has resisted every attempt to destroy him for good while he routinely ravages the People's crops.

Since no one's boiled up from the ground to welcome their brothers-in-arms, It's a fair guess that Geofront smells a rat. Then again, Yama King Pien Cheng dies and a couple months later Chairman Cheng the People's Hero liberates his domain sure sounds like a paper-thin disguise if you aren't being monitored and regularly reeducated.

[Ahriman238]

Oh, hey something I've been meaning to ask. What's the proper short form for Chinese names? I mean, if I didn't want to write out Tai Shan Chun each and every time?

[Battlehymn Republic]

Usually the surname is the first name of three, but when names are given in two parts, I'm not sure.

On one hand, hundreds of millions of people are trapped in living hells. On another hand, heroes are capable of challenging those evils and beating them back. Rifts isn't very grimdark for a setting where a lot of atrocities go on regularly.

[Highlord Laan]

Hey Ahriman have you covered the new Triax and Coalition books yet? Jeez this thread is getting big.

No and No.

Honestly, after I wrap up China I'm going to slip in one or two loose ends and move on to the next one. Tie this up with a big bow and a directory post linking back to everything.

The online library thing you sent me back when I started went down a while ago, so aside from things I've done I'm kind of down to 'Stralia, Canada, Free Quebec, Xiticx Invasion, Texas, Arzno, Federation of Magic, Madhaven, the Dinosaur Swamp books, Coalition Navy, Aftermath (of Tolkeen) and the conversion books. So barring new content, that's what'll be in Rifts thread Mk II.

Rifts Australia is goddamed fun, and one of the best books Palladium has ever written.

[gigabytelord]

Rifts Australia is goddamed fun, and one of the best books Palladium has ever written.

It's also insanely under powered compared to all the other books.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Rifts Australia makes no goddamn sense. They flooded the highest part of the continent. Its fun though.

[Highlord Laan]

Rifts Australia is goddamed fun, and one of the best books Palladium has ever written.

It's also insanely under powered compared to all the other books.

That was kind of the point. Rifts in the Americas, Europe and Asia had power crept it's way to levels beyond absurdity. Australia is more flexible and fun.

[Ahriman238]

Short one tonight, sudden bout of computer issues. Sorry.

Hubei Province, 7th Hell

Hubei is known far and wide as the Land of Demons, containing the most transformed landscape, the widest variety of hells (over 40 distinct areas punishing different crimes) and easily the most demons at 4 million. There are 6 million dead and just 300,000 living humans. Hubei is the domain of Tai Shan Chun, who isn't a Yama King, but the Regent for one. No one knows if there was some trachery involved, or simply a multi-century vacation (the Yama Kings do that sometimes) but Tai Shan gets most of the powers of a Mandate through his special position and can't be held strictly accountable to the duties and limitations explicit in the mandate. He is, after all, charged only to fulfil the mandate to the best of his abilities until his master returns. Tai is exceptionally ambitious however, always seeking to expand his army and territory. He has assembled a vast force of demons by offering shelter to anyone trying to get out from under their Yama King, and to any fallen king's subjects. In this way, he has assembled his 4 million demons, and a court of 500 Demon Lords, plus the 14 he has named Overlords for being more intelligent and powerful, who ride herd over the minor Demon Lords.



Personally, Tai has 4700 MDC and regenerates 10-40 a round. He has keen nightvision, dimensional teleport, gnossolalia, and his own set of immunites. Tai Shan Chun is not vulnerable to disease, heat, cold or possession, and takes half damage from poison. He is the master of all standard spells levels 7-15, plus the Spells of Legend Superior Doppleganger, Metropolis and Sanctuary. He has all physical and super psychic powers, plus Telepathy. He knows no Mystic Martial Arts. He has the standard Mandate powers of shapeshifting as well as instantly summoning and commanding any demon whose name he knows. Where the Yama Kings disdain combat, Tai revels in it. His special item is the Wind-Fire Pagoda in the inner courtyard. It's 8 stories, each tall enough for a demon to be comfortable in, and at the command of the 7th Yama King (or his regent) it can fly through the air at 75 mph, or 120 kph. It has no weapons at this time, though it's said Tai is in negotiations with Yon Lo to arm the thing, it just has transport for 100 Greater Demons.

Tai prefers his natural appearance for working. On formal and ceremonial occasions, he wears the formal robes of a Yama King and assumes the appearance of a charred skeleton, albeit na obviously demonic skeleton.

In the 7th Hell, arsonists are bound to red-hot bronze pillars, cannibals are devoured by wild beasts over and over again, and grave robbers swim a lake of boiling oil. Child abusers, neglectful parents and slavers can also be found here. There is even a facility to take in demons who have gone soft, or started moving towards enlightenment. These degenerates are beaten and humiliated for their deviant ways, and if that doesn't work they have an Ear Rat put in one ear, that chews it's way through to exit the other. Because they're demons, it grows back, but their brain grows back as the factory standard.

[Ahriman238]

Chaunxi Province, the 8th Hell

An anarchy of walled towns and city-states, at least 17 cities with no less than 5000 demons and 100,000 dead. Numbers of living are unknown, and the province borders are something of a legal fiction, as most patrols and guards abandonded their posts long ago. You see, Ping Teng, the 8th Yama King, is completely insane. Not paranoid or obsessive like other Yama Kings, but simply nuts with a whirling kaleidoscope of symptoms from every mental disorder ever recorded. Instead of exploiting this, his subordinates fear for their fates if he taken down, and scheme to cover up his madness and prop him up while doing whatever they want.



Ping Teng has 8500 MDC and regenerates 10-60 MDC a round. Impervious to fire, cold, disease and poison, takes half damage MDC weapons, magic and psionics. Nightvision, dimensional teleport and gnossolalia. He keeps the Yama King powers of advanced shapeshifting and instant summoning and command of any demon whose name he knows, probably why his minions go to such lengths to see that he never thinks of them. In his madness, he's let many of his powers and skills slip. He has forgotten all magic save Necromancy, which he knows every spell of. He has lost all psychic powers except for Auto Mind Block and Empathic Transmission. Any Mystic Martial Arts he may have known once are a distant memory. He has a dragon bone charm he wears around his neck, on a chain long enough that he can hold it in his hand. He's always handling it and playing with it, panics whenever he realizes he isn't holding it. No one's sure if it's some ultra-powerful artifact worthy of a Yama king, the source of his madness, or just a dragon bone on a chain.

The 8th Hell is for the punishment of people abusive to their families, you know, that didn't go to the 3rd or 7th Hells. In the valley of the mute, demons eat the tongue of anyone who ever yelled at a sibling, while anyone who physically or emotionally hurt their parents has a nail pounded into their skull for each offense. While anyone who can't list the names and accomplishments of the last 20 generations of their ancestors, or who hasn;t burnt an offering to each and every one, is confined forever in Latrine Swamp.



Guangxi Province, the 9th Hell

Home to 3 million living humans, 7 million dead ones, 200,000 D-Bees, and 300,000 demons. Technology is rare and valued by the local ruler, Tu Shis. Tu Shis has long been skeptical of the notion that he's supposed to spend eternity torturing the osuls of the dead, so the Celesital Emperor can pretend like there's some objective standard of justice and sleep better. So he was the first to abandon his duties, it's Emperor of all China or bust for him. But by the same token, he's a clever and cautious individual, and in no particular hurry. He's spent the last few centuries mostly consolidating, making alliances, exploring the possibilities of technology and seeking lost magical lore, all to increase his power so he's ready when the time comes. He's also prepared a novel defense for if he's ever attacked through his mandate. He will recognize his accuser as a representative of the Celestial Emperor and present him with a length petition of greivances, addressing every apparent inconsistency in his mandate and role. That will stall the proceedings long enough for agents he's prearranged to kill whoever accused him, assuming Tu Shis can't talk him down himself.



Tu Shis has 9800 MDC and regenerates 8-48 per round. Immune to fire, cold, disease and poison, take half damage from MDC weapons, magic and psionics. Also the expected nightvision, dimensional teleport and gnossolalia. As a Yama King he has the advanced shapeshifting skill, and the ability to instantly summon and command any of his demons whose names are known to him. He also has the same ability to manipulate ley lines as Chu Chiang (the 2nd Yama King.) Knows all standard list spells, all Spells of Legend and all Necromancy. All super psychic powers and Auto Mind Block. Ba Gua and Hsien Hsia at level 10, 8th level skill at Tien-Hsueh (the pressure point martial art.) He has no unique powers or artifacts, but he has managed to capture Chu O, a red moth that's supposedly very famous in Cinese myth, and was once a part of defeating the Celestial Emperor (if so, google has failed me.) In normal form, Chu O is larger than an elephant with 18000 MDC and totally impervious to physical attack, vulnerable only to magic, magic wepaons and psionics. Even if Chu O is killed, he turns into a rainbow and is reborn two days later. Tu Shis keeps Chu O, apparently one of the most powerful beings in China, asleep and twice the size of your hand, displayed as a symbol of Tu Shis' power, with the maybe threat of being able to control him.

Tu Shis also has contract with the Hu Fen Pao, or White Lead Leopards. These are demonic remnants of a hell that preceded the Yama Kings. They are the finest assassins in China, master psychics with all physical, sensitive and super powers, with millenia of experience, far stronger, faster and smarter than humans, with 190-240 MDC due to being, you know, made entirely of lead. They are not Tu Shis' servants, and retain the right to refuse any contract, thus their is no problem with leaving them standing orders to kill anyone who tries a mandate attack.

Tu Shis has also been exploiting the Never-Dying trick discovered by Yon Lo, retaining his best technical and mystic experts after death.

The 9th Hell is out of business, no one is being punished because Tu Shis refuses to play along.



Sichuan Province, Remnant of the 10th Hell

Sichuan was the realm of Chuan Lun, called the greatest of the Yama Kings, who is now quite dead. He also made a play to be Emperor, so most of the others ganged up on and destroyed him when he started doing well. Now at least 8 different facitons of demons fight for control of the province, which has become a ghost town, hence my not knowing how many people, dead, or demons are there.

[SAMAS]

Rifts Australia is goddamed fun, and one of the best books Palladium has ever written.

It's also insanely under powered compared to all the other books.

That was kind of the point. Rifts in the Americas, Europe and Asia had power crept it's way to levels beyond absurdity. Australia is more flexible and fun.

To be fair, Australia is the only place on Earth without some big bad dudes actively trying to take over the Earth.

YET.

That said, I also like the fact that it's so low-powered. It makes a good contrast.

[gigabytelord]

To be fair, Australia is the only place on Earth without some big bad dudes actively trying to take over the Earth.

YET.

That said, I also like the fact that it's so low-powered. It makes a good contrast.

Alligator people! WooOoOOOooo! No seriously they're the only one I can think of that would want to take over the world right now.

Whats funny is I'd actually feel sorry for them if they ever found themselves up against the likes of the CS, NGR or just about any other major non-australian power.

[Ahriman238]

With all this buildup, I can't help but think Australia is either going to be incredibly awesome, or a huge let down.

[SAMAS]

Yes and no.

Basically, it goes like this:

The only two cities to survive were Melbourne and Perth. They both became isolationist, tightly regimented, and rather xenophobic (and I mean simply towards people outside of their walls, to say nothing of D-Bees). Recently, they've started considering trading with the communities surrounding them, but it's kinda Colonialist in nature (think like the British Empire, with all the irony you like). The Outbackers, for their part, are just dong whatever it takes to survive. Some want to ally with the nearest City, others want nothing to do with them, and still others actively raid the cities for the technology they need in daring Mission-Impossible-like thefts. In response, the Cities often retaliate with "Recon by Fire", in which they strike back at a settlement (and not always the one that sent the raiders) and burn it to the ground.

Elsewhere, you have the Roadgangers, Mad Max-style bandits who roam the ruined streets in cars, motorcyles, and the odd giant carnivorous kangaroo.

In the north are the Molokai, large crocodile-like aliens who use Techno-Wizardry. They believe that this world was given to them by their gods, and will likely be shocked to find that they're on the single most isolated part of it outside of Antarctica.