Rifts Utah Wiki

[EltonRobb]

I started a RIFTS Wiki around the State of Utah, and it is mostly compatible with Rifts® New West™. I go by town by town and it's for my campaign. It's unfinished, but you can get the jist of what I'm doing. There is still some interesting races to add, although most of my RIFTS library is in storage, I managed to get a second (pdf) copy of Rifts: New West.

There's more I want to do and add.

[Curbludgeon]

I like what I'm seeing, EltonRobb! There are some good post-Rifts hooks mixed in with general information, and I'm hoping to learn a little more about those allosaurians.

I mused a bit over a supernatural treatment of Sevier County's Pando, which might be of interest. Depending on the game I could see spinning the dials on the intersection of LDS thought and Astral shenanigans.

[EltonRobb]

I like what I'm seeing, EltonRobb! There are some good post-Rifts hooks mixed in with general information, and I'm hoping to learn a little more about those allosaurians.

I mused a bit over a supernatural treatment of Sevier County's Pando, which might be of interest. Depending on the game I could see spinning the dials on the intersection of LDS thought and Astral shenanigans.

Glad you like what you see. I checked out your Pando thing, and it looks good. Although as long as Copyrights can be defended in Court, I'd have to ask you permission to add it. Of course my Wiki is a wiki, and you can add or change what you want.

As for the Allosaurians, that will have to wait until I get the Aliens Unlimited pdf. And don't worry, I'll add a Savage Rifts write up for them.

[EltonRobb]

I did manage to add the Allosaurian race. Still have to add the Savage Rifts statistics, but these are good for go for any game. Except class restrictions.

[taalismn]

It's ambitious and well-organized, and useful.

My only real criticism at this stage in its infancy is that there might be a little TOO much history background, which may be useful in a travelogue, but not so much so for a GM wanting to set up an encounter in a location, or adventurers looking for places to go.
In a post-apocalyptic world where the internet's been long gone and most libraries are piles of ash, it's unlikely that detailed descriptions of 'such and such a place became a national park on (specific date) and was managed by(insert name) until (specific date)', when a simple "This was a pre-Rifts national park' and leave it at that.
What historical lore MIGHT jazz up a location might be 'this place was rumored to be the location of the Dutchman's Secret Mine' , 'the hills were considered a sacred place by the natives', 'dinosaur bones were found here', or 'the American Nuclear Regulatory Commission had a facility in this area', which can be spun into adventure hooks/seeds.

In general, for something like this, the original content should outweigh, wordcount-wise, then factual background stuff, since a lot can change when you're talking about magic and space/time rifts ripping across the countryside, and the emphasis should be on that, the changes and additions to the landscape.

That doesn't mean you can't be educational, especially when you talking about places near and dear to you, but the really detailed and esoteric historical stuff could be taken care of with links to the relevant websites for those really interested in the real places. Try to focus on general descriptions, quirky history, myths and legends about places.

The site/wiki is still young, though, so it will/should fill out with the RPG material, so keep working at it; I'll keep watching.

[EltonRobb]

Ah, okay.

[SolCannibal]

Always up to homebrewing stuff for Rifts, so count me in. Taking a look at Lone Star, New West & Spirit West got me a few scraps of post-apocalyptic info on the region that was once the state of Utah:

- It may be considered, along with Arizona and Northern Mexico, as part of the Lyn-Srial's "backyard" and a area where they are actively engaged in fighting evil from their cloud cities.
- Desert Sleepers, Giant Canyon Worms, Grigleapers, Gwylacks, Leatherwings, Panthera-Tereons, Silonars & Whisker Coyotes are among some of the exotic fauna commonly found and well adapted to the deserts and plains of the area.
- It's part of the territory of the Great Basin Tribes.
- The Keepers of the Desert, a group of deformed nomads, considered outcasts by all civilized humans and feared as the enemy of man, supposedly descendants from irradiated survivors of Salt Lake City further mutated by magic and inbreding, may be found in the wastes of the state where most people fear to tread.
- Somewhere in Utah exists a place called Shifting Lands, though i could find no details on them beside the name.

[EltonRobb]

Always up to homebrewing stuff for Rifts, so count me in. Taking a look at Lone Star, New West & Spirit West got me a few scraps of post-apocalyptic info on the region that was once the state of Utah:

- It may be considered, along with Arizona and Northern Mexico, as part of the Lyn-Srial's "backyard" and a area where they are actively engaged in fighting evil from their cloud cities.
- Desert Sleepers, Giant Canyon Worms, Grigleapers, Gwylacks, Leatherwings, Panthera-Tereons, Silonars & Whisker Coyotes are among some of the exotic fauna commonly found and well adapted to the deserts and plains of the area.
- It's part of the territory of the Great Basin Tribes.
- The Keepers of the Desert, a group of deformed nomads, considered outcasts by all civilized humans and feared as the enemy of man, supposedly descendants from irradiated survivors of Salt Lake City further mutated by magic and inbreding, may be found in the wastes of the state where most people fear to tread.
- Somewhere in Utah exists a place called Shifting Lands, though i could find no details on them beside the name.

Nice you find it special. Colorado City, on the Utah/Arizona Border, is where the Shifting Lands is located.

[SolCannibal]

Always up to homebrewing stuff for Rifts, so count me in. Taking a look at Lone Star, New West & Spirit West got me a few scraps of post-apocalyptic info on the region that was once the state of Utah:

- It may be considered, along with Arizona and Northern Mexico, as part of the Lyn-Srial's "backyard" and a area where they are actively engaged in fighting evil from their cloud cities.
- Desert Sleepers, Giant Canyon Worms, Grigleapers, Gwylacks, Leatherwings, Panthera-Tereons, Silonars & Whisker Coyotes are among some of the exotic fauna commonly found and well adapted to the deserts and plains of the area.
- It's part of the territory of the Great Basin Tribes.
- The Keepers of the Desert, a group of deformed nomads, considered outcasts by all civilized humans and feared as the enemy of man, supposedly descendants from irradiated survivors of Salt Lake City further mutated by magic and inbreding, may be found in the wastes of the state where most people fear to tread.
- Somewhere in Utah exists a place called Shifting Lands, though i could find no details on them beside the name.

Nice you find it special. Colorado City, on the Utah/Arizona Border, is where the Shifting Lands is located.

Good to know. Which of the books references the localization of the Shifting Lands and gives some info on it?


Big question - who, if anyone, thinks of the region in terms of "Utah"? The name per se seems to be the product of linguistic drift from spanish to english of a loanword from apache, pueblo or even both. So if the name still exists would be through the action of descendants of the american empire. (Little aside, guess what those spanish explorers were looking for when they first came to the region. )

It has crossed my mind that the state's latitude & longitude-based borders would be pretty much unsustainable (not to say unfathomable) for most people in a post-apocalyptic setting. In fact this applies to a large number of american states, the pre-rifts borders would be quite impratical to maintain if you don't have the know-how to track that and all your neighbors are not other units of the same nation/society as you (the Four Corners, among others), friendly (Washington, Idaho, Montana & North Dakota with Canada) or at least mindful of one's fighting power (New Mexico, Arizona & California for Mexico).

Divisions based on geographical landmarks - pre-Rifts or new ones generated by a number of natural & supernatural changes in the following centuries, would be more intuitive and sensible for people in such a scenario. At least for locals who actually live in the region, instead of a band of adventurous explorers going blind without no reference beside old maps decades or centuries old and based in criteria possibly impratical and senseless for anyone who's not a rogue scholar, scientist or at least highly educated by Rifts Earth standards.


Damn, i'm quite familiar with the criteria involved and still find much of it stupid bull$#i+ cooked up by politicians with not an iota of sense or knowledge of the places they carved.

(Not dissing the USA, Canada or Mexico in particular, that kind of "by decree/draw a straight line wherever" border making is kind of an universal example of diplomatic nonsense that all too commonly turns into a headache later on. European powers and their colonial empires in particular spread this almost everywhere)

[EltonRobb]

Always up to homebrewing stuff for Rifts, so count me in. Taking a look at Lone Star, New West & Spirit West got me a few scraps of post-apocalyptic info on the region that was once the state of Utah:

- It may be considered, along with Arizona and Northern Mexico, as part of the Lyn-Srial's "backyard" and a area where they are actively engaged in fighting evil from their cloud cities.
- Desert Sleepers, Giant Canyon Worms, Grigleapers, Gwylacks, Leatherwings, Panthera-Tereons, Silonars & Whisker Coyotes are among some of the exotic fauna commonly found and well adapted to the deserts and plains of the area.
- It's part of the territory of the Great Basin Tribes.
- The Keepers of the Desert, a group of deformed nomads, considered outcasts by all civilized humans and feared as the enemy of man, supposedly descendants from irradiated survivors of Salt Lake City further mutated by magic and inbreding, may be found in the wastes of the state where most people fear to tread.
- Somewhere in Utah exists a place called Shifting Lands, though i could find no details on them beside the name.

Nice you find it special. Colorado City, on the Utah/Arizona Border, is where the Shifting Lands is located.

Good to know. Which of the books references the localization of the Shifting Lands and gives some info on it?

That would be the main Rifts book, and their map of highly magical areas. One of these areas extends from Flagstaff, Arizona to Colorado City, and into the Zion National Forest (I think that's what it's called, it's a little south of Zion's national park).

[SolCannibal]

Speaking of the places in your wiki, my first thoughts before inserting any info are:

- How could the players learn of this, from whom or what?

- How can the information lead to adventure (revealing the location, a forgotten apartment complex, metro station, factory, military instalation, lost library, DVD collection or something similar, clues about a ressurfacing threat, the lies of some major local figure & so on)?

Take some time to evaluate what you have written from that perspective.


Let me speak of Manti, for example. The history section is basically 3 large paragraphs on XIX century conflicts between the first mormon settlers and the native population. How does that impact in the setting of PA 109 Utah in a manner that is directly relevant to the PCs, or at least NPCs they have strong bonds or connections with? Otherwise, you might summarize or cut it out.

Meanwhile in the coming of the Rifts you have this:

- "During the years of Chaos, the LDS Church headquarters relocated to Manti." - this is very important info, because it pretty much establishes Manti as a cultural and spiritual center of the LDS community in the Sanpete Valley (and possibly beyond). It sets up a situation and imagery that GMs can expand and improvise upon for the players to interact.

- "The Sanpete Valley is defended by two Glitter Boys, a Cyber-Knight, and about 1,000 troops of Chinese, Russian, and Syrian descent." - again, quite relevant, actionable. In fact i'd say this sentence begs for expansion and further detailing - how did those soldiers end in the Sanpete Valley in the first place and how? Did they come together or in separate groups/waves? From what past period or parallel Earth? See? Questions upon questions and i'm simply reacting, like i suspect any group of players would upon hearing of this (not even going into the matter of where the cyber-knight or the glitterboys come from, what could lead into a bunch of other hooks for a GM to explore).

Info is good, but focused info is better. Try to concentrate into the post-rifts bits (remember, there are about 3+ centuries of untold history between their coming and Tolkeen's aftermath) making the most of the individuals, groups or places and leave actual historical tidbits in the backseat - unless you have a plot involving one of those in mind, that is. Tighten things up.

[taalismn]

Indeed, that's my main criticism of many of the entries; there's big chunks of pre-Rifts history that really don't seen relevant and look lifted from a Wiki entry:
Do we really need to know the demographics by household of Snowville in 2000? Post-Rifts, those people are gone and dust, unless you're planning at some point to create a temporal wormhole back to that era.
Or that population of certain communities increased by 'x' during the pre-Rifts(and pre-current day) period of z-y?
Unless you're planting a Chekov's Gun by implying that maybe that population growth was thanks to a bunch of crash-landed aliens masquerading as humans settling in the area, stuff like that could be edited out or glossed over.

Also, are you going to lavish a bit more attention on entries like the Allosaurians? Translating some of the Savage Rifts details like their bite to the Palladium stats is detail worth 'porting over. Maybe a bit more detail on their culture? They had nukes, apparently, but was their tech-level 1950s Cold War, 2020s hypersonic cruise missile tech, or something farther up the tech ladder? They omnivores, pure carnivores who eat their prey live, or just toothsome vegetarians? Adding some cultural color, some peculiarities, and details can help flesh them out and make them really come alive for players.

[SolCannibal]

Also, are you going to lavish a bit more attention on entries like the Allosaurians? Translating some of the Savage Rifts details like their bite to the Palladium stats is detail worth 'porting over. Maybe a bit more detail on their culture? They had nukes, apparently, but was their tech-level 1950s Cold War, 2020s hypersonic cruise missile tech, or something farther up the tech ladder? They omnivores, pure carnivores who eat their prey live, or just toothsome vegetarians? Adding some cultural color, some peculiarities, and details can help flesh them out and make them really come alive for players.

Considering, based on the text, they already know their homeworld was in the Triangulum Galaxy and visits to Phase World and the three Galaxies happened before their coming to Rifts Earth, they have at least some familiarity with space travel, if as a true spacefaring society or merely as hitchhikers of the galaxies mooching on more advanced associates networks, that's up for grabs (though i suspect more of the second).

Also, the Atorians are mentioned, what is kind of curious since the only atorians i know of are an expansionist matriarchal star empire in HU's Milky Way (the AU setting), implying the Allosaurians have been there too and somehow attracted the Atorian Empire attention. Not a bad circuit of (mis)adventures as newbies at dimension-hopping, by necessity to boot, go. The possiblity of Atorians or their minions coming after them could be quite the source of trouble.

As an aside, their passage through the HU universe (and maybe HU Earth) might explain in part how they came to somehow identify their place of origin with the Triangulum Galaxy, i guess.

Also, what do they name themselves? Kind of curious, though i can see them assimilating so much in the intervening centuries that name and part of their original language have been lost, if they arrived right after the coming of the rifts as the write-up of Vernal seems to imply.

[SolCannibal]

Now let me talk of another of the "main races" (those with entries of their own in the wiki) in the region, the "Psionic elves".

First things first - where does that "Elves come in four flavors, usually. High, Grey, Wood, and Dark" thing comes from? Because i'm fairly Rifts Earth natives in general make use of no such form of classification, nor in the world of Palladium, afaik. Is that sort of division something from their world/dimension of origin? And if so, do these divisions even matter anymore, if there are no other natives from home, elven or otherwise, in the whole of Utah, the New West or North America?

I reccomend you think a little about their place of origin to give you a more defined idea of them as a whole.

- How long did they leave and how much do they still remember of it?
- Did they come to, Rifts Earth in general and the ruins of Park City in particular, by choice, force, accident (mass rifting) or some other situation? Did they visit or stop by in other parts of the world (solar system or Megaverse) before picking their current place to settle down?
- Anyone else from their homeworld or past journeys would know of or have an interest in their current location? And if so, is that a good or bad thing for them?
- How similar or different from Psycape is their community?

In fact, going back to Park City, you might as well scratch everything above "After the Rifts" and replace with "once a major silver mining center settled by the mormons, a series of accidents in the early 20th century severely hurt the population & economy and its transformation in a tourist ski resort in the time between the two world wars", imho. Because let's be honest, the fact it's now the elven enclave makes it fairly clear the past city is pretty much gone, except if the elves decided to repurpose parts of the city for their own use, or dismantled a bunch of stuff to trade with other communities around Utah for stuff more to their interests & tastes, that is.

PS: Just noticed an image in their entry compares Elves to Andromedans. Does that include these?


PS2: On the subject of D-Bee races in the wiki, i would like to suggest the Moab Orcs (how much are they inspired by WoW Orcs and how much by other stuff?) and the Gunnison Minotaurs (are they really Space Minotaur native of the 3 Galaxies & UWW or "just" from a race of MDC minotaurs that hail from somewhere else in the Megaverse and in fact are not even very high-tech or TW by themselves?) would merit some additional entries of their own.

[EltonRobb]

Now let me talk of another of the "main races" (those with entries of their own in the wiki) in the region, the "Psionic elves".

First things first - where does that "Elves come in four flavors, usually. High, Grey, Wood, and Dark" thing comes from? Because i'm fairly Rifts Earth natives in general make use of no such form of classification, nor in the world of Palladium, afaik. Is that sort of division something from their world/dimension of origin? And if so, do these divisions even matter anymore, if there are no other natives from home, elven or otherwise, in the whole of Utah, the New West or North America?

I reccomend you think a little about their place of origin to give you a more defined idea of them as a whole.

- How long did they leave and how much do they still remember of it?
- Did they come to, Rifts Earth in general and the ruins of Park City in particular, by choice, force, accident (mass rifting) or some other situation? Did they visit or stop by in other parts of the world (solar system or Megaverse) before picking their current place to settle down?
- Anyone else from their homeworld or past journeys would know of or have an interest in their current location? And if so, is that a good or bad thing for them?
- How similar or different from Psycape is their community?

In fact, going back to Park City, you might as well scratch everything above "After the Rifts" and replace with "once a major silver mining center settled by the mormons, a series of accidents in the early 20th century severely hurt the population & economy and its transformation in a tourist ski resort in the time between the two world wars", imho. Because let's be honest, the fact it's now the elven enclave makes it fairly clear the past city is pretty much gone, except if the elves decided to repurpose parts of the city for their own use, or dismantled a bunch of stuff to trade with other communities around Utah for stuff more to their interests & tastes, that is.

PS: Just noticed an image in their entry compares Elves to Andromedans. Does that include these?


PS2: On the subject of D-Bee races in the wiki, i would like to suggest the Moab Orcs (how much are they inspired by WoW Orcs and how much by other stuff?) and the Gunnison Minotaurs (are they really Space Minotaur native of the 3 Galaxies & UWW or "just" from a race of MDC minotaurs that hail from somewhere else in the Megaverse and in fact are not even very high-tech or TW by themselves?) would merit some additional entries of their own.

Andromedans don't look like that. The greys are wrong too (the artist mixed up the greys with the Arcturians.) Andromedans are human looking except for their ears, and come in two "sub-races": Caucasian and Asian. As far as I know, they don't have a third race corresponding to our Africans. So I have to re-do the entry.

More D-Bee entries is what I'm thinking too. I'll add them for the Space Minotaurs and the orcs. Thanks for bringing them to my attention. As for the rest of the stuff both you and Talismann brought to my attention, I'll consider it as I do more for the wiki. Thanks for all the feedback.

[SolCannibal]

Now let me talk of another of the "main races" (those with entries of their own in the wiki) in the region, the "Psionic elves".

First things first - where does that "Elves come in four flavors, usually. High, Grey, Wood, and Dark" thing comes from? Because i'm fairly Rifts Earth natives in general make use of no such form of classification, nor in the world of Palladium, afaik. Is that sort of division something from their world/dimension of origin? And if so, do these divisions even matter anymore, if there are no other natives from home, elven or otherwise, in the whole of Utah, the New West or North America?

I reccomend you think a little about their place of origin to give you a more defined idea of them as a whole.

- How long did they leave and how much do they still remember of it?
- Did they come to, Rifts Earth in general and the ruins of Park City in particular, by choice, force, accident (mass rifting) or some other situation? Did they visit or stop by in other parts of the world (solar system or Megaverse) before picking their current place to settle down?
- Anyone else from their homeworld or past journeys would know of or have an interest in their current location? And if so, is that a good or bad thing for them?
- How similar or different from Psycape is their community?

In fact, going back to Park City, you might as well scratch everything above "After the Rifts" and replace with "once a major silver mining center settled by the mormons, a series of accidents in the early 20th century severely hurt the population & economy and its transformation in a tourist ski resort in the time between the two world wars", imho. Because let's be honest, the fact it's now the elven enclave makes it fairly clear the past city is pretty much gone, except if the elves decided to repurpose parts of the city for their own use, or dismantled a bunch of stuff to trade with other communities around Utah for stuff more to their interests & tastes, that is.

PS: Just noticed an image in their entry compares Elves to Andromedans. Does that include these?


PS2: On the subject of D-Bee races in the wiki, i would like to suggest the Moab Orcs (how much are they inspired by WoW Orcs and how much by other stuff?) and the Gunnison Minotaurs (are they really Space Minotaur native of the 3 Galaxies & UWW or "just" from a race of MDC minotaurs that hail from somewhere else in the Megaverse and in fact are not even very high-tech or TW by themselves?) would merit some additional entries of their own.

Andromedans don't look like that. The greys are wrong too (the artist mixed up the greys with the Arcturians.) Andromedans are human looking except for their ears, and come in two "sub-races": Caucasian and Asian. As far as I know, they don't have a third race corresponding to our Africans. So I have to re-do the entry.

Well, how much do the Psi-elves have of the Andromedans or not is completely up to you, much like their take on the Psyscape OCCs colors their society in similar or quite different ways.

More D-Bee entries is what I'm thinking too. I'll add them for the Space Minotaurs and the orcs. Thanks for bringing them to my attention. As for the rest of the stuff both you and Talismann brought to my attention, I'll consider it as I do more for the wiki. Thanks for all the feedback.

Well, hope you have fun fleshing them out and giving those groups a flair all its own for your game. Trying to get across how you imagine them being, influences you have in mind and how they stick straight to them or might deviate from their inspirations (if only because they are not in the 3 Galaxies, or WoW/Warhammer/Whatever anymore) can add much in the way of character and color to any one group.


As an aside, ever considered angel/spirit of light-summoning shifters as Mormon preachers? Truth be told i've taken a lot of milleage out of the O.C.C. from using cultural frameworks & underpinings to color its interpretation, entities invoked, possible pacts and so on in my games, with shifters as transcedent monks, priests, exorcists & devil-hunters/chainers instead of ambitious summoners or power-hungry sorcerers with eldritch pacts, among other things. Budhist, sufist, benandanti, taoist, voudoun and a whole variety of regional religious or esoteric from all kinds of places.

[EltonRobb]

More D-Bee entries is what I'm thinking too. I'll add them for the Space Minotaurs and the orcs. Thanks for bringing them to my attention. As for the rest of the stuff both you and Talismann brought to my attention, I'll consider it as I do more for the wiki. Thanks for all the feedback.

Well, hope you have fun fleshing them out and giving those groups a flair all its own for your game. Trying to get across how you imagine them being, influences you have in mind and how they stick straight to them or might deviate from their inspirations (if only because they are not in the 3 Galaxies, or WoW/Warhammer/Whatever anymore) can add much in the way of character and color to any one group.


As an aside, ever considered angel/spirit of light-summoning shifters as Mormon preachers? Truth be told i've taken a lot of milleage out of the O.C.C. from using cultural frameworks & underpinings to color its interpretation, entities invoked, possible pacts and so on in my games, with shifters as transcedent monks, priests, exorcists & devil-hunters/chainers instead of ambitious summoners or power-hungry sorcerers with eldritch pacts, among other things. Budhist, sufist, benandanti, taoist, voudoun and a whole variety of regional religious or esoteric from all kinds of places.

Well, I had a thought that shifters linking themselves to the supernatural, doesn't have to be always an evil force.

[SolCannibal]

More D-Bee entries is what I'm thinking too. I'll add them for the Space Minotaurs and the orcs. Thanks for bringing them to my attention. As for the rest of the stuff both you and Talismann brought to my attention, I'll consider it as I do more for the wiki. Thanks for all the feedback.

Well, hope you have fun fleshing them out and giving those groups a flair all its own for your game. Trying to get across how you imagine them being, influences you have in mind and how they stick straight to them or might deviate from their inspirations (if only because they are not in the 3 Galaxies, or WoW/Warhammer/Whatever anymore) can add much in the way of character and color to any one group.


As an aside, ever considered angel/spirit of light-summoning shifters as Mormon preachers? Truth be told i've taken a lot of milleage out of the O.C.C. from using cultural frameworks & underpinings to color its interpretation, entities invoked, possible pacts and so on in my games, with shifters as transcedent monks, priests, exorcists & devil-hunters/chainers instead of ambitious summoners or power-hungry sorcerers with eldritch pacts, among other things. Budhist, sufist, benandanti, taoist, voudoun and a whole variety of regional religious or esoteric from all kinds of places.

Well, I had a thought that shifters linking themselves to the supernatural, doesn't have to be always an evil force.

True, but presentation is important - for example, a "preacher" can be half a dozen different OCCs depending as one interprets and mixes the different images and tropes related to the role/vocation.

Once did an alliance of zen buddhist communes composed of shifters, mystics, headhunters and psi-slingers for a game in Japan, just to throw something not straight from the book in the PCs' way. There's much you can do just tweaking an OCC or RCC to fit within or bring twists to a certain culture or place.

[EltonRobb]

Added entries for the orcs and space minotaurs. I'll be expanding on them as I go. I wanted to add an entry for the Canis race of greyhounds.

[SolCannibal]

Some nitpicks on the Orcs entry:

- "Orcs are humanoids that have green skin and rounded ears" - well, the guy in first sample picture has some quite sharp & pointed ones that could make a number of elves envious.

- "They say that they are from Beta Capriconis Prime, their homeworld." - how would they or anyone else know their world hails from that particular star without interestellar spaceship travel involved? Cartography and astronomy are kind of not really directly relevant to rift-based traveling, you know.

- "Which they call "Earth" for simplicity. " - No offense, simplicity would be the Orcs using their native & untranslated word-term for earth-land-planet-world, to avoid confusion. Much like a number of sci-fi writers use "Terra" instead of "Earth" in their works to give a sense of otherness and a different era for their settings to english-speaking readers, for example.

- "The orcs have a bad reputation for being warlike, but they didn't commit war on their human neighbors." - Why? Where does such reputation come from, any incidents soon after their arrival, problems with a previous group of orcs (of the same or another origin), or is it from something a little more subjective/baseless, like some aspect of their aesthetics, how much weapons they carry on a daily basis (average american has MUCH more weapons availanle to him or her than most people in the rest of the world, for example), or something else altogether?

- "The orcs dress in furs and leather armor, sometimes with spikes jutting out. This makes them look fearsome." - Are they metal fans? Keeping at it with Utah's weather takes some serious dedication...

- A reputation that is quite well deserved among the Universe." - Uh, what trouble have they caused for that fearsome reputation to be quite well deserved?

- "The orcs of Moab have their own language, orcish (at 98%). They do not speak Gobblely. Some orcs, due to attending schools in Moab, learn American (50%)." - Does Orcish resemble any of the languages available in RMB or RUE? What other languages might others in the Orc community of Moab versed on, even if only on an individual basis? Because i can see some potential issues if they need schoolchildren as interpreters or magic to communicate effectively with their neighbors.


Hope all this questioning is not too much of a bother, but trying to pick apart things in the entry for the sake of bringing some unspoken assumptions to the foreground, so we can have a clearer idea of what they are supposed to be like, how some things fit (or not) together and try to make a more imersive image of them as a group for players to interact with.

[taalismn]

Added entries for the orcs and space minotaurs. I'll be expanding on them as I go. I wanted to add an entry for the Canis race of greyhounds.

Not entirely clear in the description of the Space Minotaurs if they call people wearing clothes as 'Textiles' or if they're constantly being presented with clothes by clothing wearing people("Hey, PLEASE put on this kilt!")
Given that Textiles is capitalized in the description, is there an associated Horror Factor* or Annoyance Factor**?

*"UGH! -SOCKS!-"

**"In retrospect, waving that red shirt in front of Bulron was a REALLY BAD idea."

[SolCannibal]

Added entries for the orcs and space minotaurs. I'll be expanding on them as I go. I wanted to add an entry for the Canis race of greyhounds.

Not entirely clear in the description of the Space Minotaurs if they call people wearing clothes as 'Textiles' or if they're constantly being presented with clothes by clothing wearing people("Hey, PLEASE put on this kilt!")
Given that Textiles is capitalized in the description, is there an associated Horror Factor* or Annoyance Factor**?

*"UGH! -SOCKS!-"

**"In retrospect, waving that red shirt in front of Bulron was a REALLY BAD idea."

Sending red shirts is always a risky proposition....



Anyway, let's delve a little more on the Minotaurs entry:
- "The Space Minotaur of Gunnison is different from the Space Minotaur of the Three Galaxies." - So, does that means the Minotaurs of Gunnison migrated from another space, i guess? Is that one already familiar to the Megaverse forums (Mechanoids, Robotech, Skraypers, Aliens Unlimited, TMNT) or something open & undefined for the future?

- "Although they appear to be red and have horns and resemble a humanoid bovine bull or cow, they differ in the aspect that they are totally naked, male and female, young and old." - appear to be red? Would that mean then that they actually have a range of tones going dark pink or wine to a brick red's near brown? Could be a subtle but relevant difference, along with their naturist sensibilities.

- "The minotaurs of Gunnison are also primative, having come from a planet that was in the Three Galaxies." - THAT sentence is kind of weird, in that it seems to correlate their "primitiveness" (more on that soon) with a Three Galaxies origin what i strange to say the least, considering they are places teeming with lots of tech, much of it more advanced than anything found in the most developed high tech nations from Rifts Earth.

- "It seemed that these minotaurs enjoy their new found freedom, and often don't participate in receiving bionics. They like Techno-Wizardry, and more than a number make techno-wizard items." - well, considering 3Gs Space Minotaurs seem to be mostly fine with cybernetics and when they do go for bionics will really ramp up on the crazy gear options but are also described as very disinclined to build or design things, relying on the Dwarven Guildmasters or other UWW races to cover for them while they focus in fighting, adventuring and being all-around people of action (and let's be honest, a bunch of meatheads), that makes not one, but two quite noticeable differences from the Gunnison minotaurs from UWWs' Space Minotaurs.
That said, their TW skills totally put the lie to the "primitive" part mentioned previously....

- "The religion of the Space Minotaurs of Gunnison is not unlike Christianity, except they worship a Christ in the image of a minotaur. They feel that their nudity is deeply spiritual and regard clothing and bionics to be an abomination." - We need more info on Buck Naked Horny Space Jesus and its worshippers practices for certain.

PS: And a very distinctive biblical base for the Minotaurs' spiritual beliefs on the purity of nudism to have possibly sprung from just crossed my mind. Theological bonus in that the breakaway/redemption from it is majorly associated with the figure of Jesus in christian dogma, if memory tricks me not.


Overall i like these guys, just don't feel they need to be Space Minotaurs (and the baggage that comes along with the name choice) and might be better served by "just" being MD minotaurs with TW or magical artificer skills. No demerit in that, much the opposite in fact i'd say.

[boxee]

Thank you for sharing this post with us all!