Kagashi wrote:I dont want a book about Japan. I want a book about Rifts Japan which is filled with stuff in the future. If I wanted traditional samurai, Id watch Tom Cruise make a mockery of the culture in his movie The Last Samurai. Sometimes folks just need to sit down and think, "why would a culture start doing *this* or *that*?" Palladium does not do that very often because they are not historians, they are sci-fi fans who think the concept is cool. Im just one of those guys who do not think its cool. Id rather see Rifts Japan have a hidden space program, or some sort of unique human augmentation than MDC Teenage Catholic School Girls.
on the other hand, someone recently linked me to a product that was basically mind-controlled wearable cat ears. go ahead. guess where they're made.
you really seriously think that a hundred years of peace, prosperity, and likely all kinds of decadence isn't going to lead to japan developing the technology to make cyborg catgirls, or giant robots that look like schoolgirls?
the only reason japan doesn't have these things *now* (albeit they likely wouldn't be something that *everyone* would get) is that the technology does not currently exist.
on the other hand, limiting those things to japan only is also a bit silly... i'd be absolutely shocked if you were to go through any major city in the world today and not find someone who thinks that being turned into a cyborg catgirl (or kitsune, or werewolf, etc) would be a dream come true. make it cheap and available, and you would definitely see them start to become common.
actually, i think it would be somewhat amusing if certain "stock model" cybornetics/bionics built in pre-rifts factories came by default in something like that... also probably realistic. just imagine the look on the combat 'borg's face (the one they keep hidden underneath a demonic mask) when he finds that pair of bionic legs he's been dreaming of upgrading to... and then you mention that they look like pink furry anthropomorphic rabbit hind legs, complete with a rabbit's tail. bonus points if he goes to a cyber-doc after taking serious leg damage, and those are the only legs they have available.
but really. give it a hundred years for the tech to become cheap and available, and i guarantee you will see people that look like dragons and other fantasy/mythological/science fiction creatures/objects/etc.