The Earth. The only planet where life evolved in the exact way to produce sentient beings. Or so we thought. Then came the Great Cataclysm, the toppling of governments, the Dark Ages, and, eventually the Coalition States. For we found out the hard way that we are not the only sentient creatures in the Megaverse...Welcome, to the nexus point for the Palladium Megaverse, Rifts Earth. In the mid-21st Century, humanity was at the dawn of a golden age. The global geopolitical environment was the strongest and calmest it'd ever been, science and technology rivaled that of the greatest sci-fi epics, and poverty and illiteracy had been all but wiped out. However, this, like all utopias, can crashing to a halt. In South America, a military coup coupled with the largest simultaneous killing in human history created a massive buildup of spiritual energy, that which had long been unseen by the residents of Earth. This energy reactivated the dormant ley lines and nexus points criss-crossing the surface of the Earth, resulting in many citizens of Earth acquiring sudden, strong magic or psionic powers. These empowered people, with no knowledge on how to control or manipulate these abilities, wreaked havoc across the world.
Alongside this, the sudden spark of massive magical energy caused natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, tropical storms, and a massive power and technological blackout. Nuclear weapons were damaged in the process, scorching sections of the Earth, and very few parts of human civilization were left unscathed.
The most traumatic event of the Great Cataclysm, was the opening of the Rifts. At the nexus points of various ley lines, which themselves are prominent points of spiritual energy, massive dimensional gateways would open randomly, some unleashing massive beasts and alien creatures bent on destruction of all around them, others depositing Dimensional Beings(known collectively as D-Bees) who were just as lost and confused as the human race. During this time, the mythical continent of Atlantis returned from it's dimensional traveling to its earthly origin. The returning of a continent raised the ocean levels, recreating the coastlines of every continent, destroying coastal cities and killing more people.
Humanity and the other beings and races now trapped on Earth entered a Dark Age, with little of human governments or nations remaining intact. Many human societies would expel these D-Bees and aliens, blaming them for the traumatic events that had occured. In North America, these societies would homogenize into a new nation known as the Coalition States, a Human Supremacist nation bent on reclaiming the Earth from those that would claim it as their own. Originally, the Coalition states welcomed magic, and encouraged knowledge and learning among its citizens, but a violent magical terrorist attack, coupled with the change to an oppressive, dictatorial regime, saw the outlawing of magic, restrictions placed upon psychics, and literacy, math, and history knowledge illegalized for all but the highest members of the society within the various walled Mega-Cities that make up the Coalition States.
The other major kingdoms and free states of North America are less cruel, with many welcoming those from all walks of life, and seeking to reclaim technologies lost from the past. From partial and full bionic and cybernetic limb and organ conversions, to the superhuman experiments of the 'Juicers' and 'Crazies', to D-Bees, dragons, mages, and psychics. The Earth is vastly different from what it once was, and everyone is simply trying to survive.
So this RP takes place in the year 105 P.A., approximately 100 years from the end of the Dark Age. The Earth has somewhat realized a bit of its technological past, with many cities and towns having technology mixed between that of the early-to-mid 20th century, blended with technology from the mid to early-late 21st century. Our story will be focusing mostly on North America, where the oppressive Coalition States seek to dominate human culture and remove any who stand in their way, surrounded by more open-minded, welcoming city-states and kingdoms, and vast swathes of bandit-filled wasteland and wilderness in-between.
The beautiful thing about Rifts Earth, is that because of the Rifts and the arrival of countless Dimensional Beings, coupled with magic, advanced technology, and psionics, is that just about any character concept can fit within the idea, all you have to do is ask. Anything I've mentioned in the RP, and much of the world outside of North America, is also open to question and character concepts, though the setting of North America will be where our story takes place.
Because of the extensive lore surrounding this setting, I encourage reworking or using characters from past roleplays in this one. As such, there will not be a strictly-enforced CS skeleton. All I ask is that you keep power levels at a reasonable base, and that proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, and such are used.
So welcome everyone, and enjoy your stay on Rifts Earth!
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