Winter (Solstice) Is Coming

[SolCannibal]

End of year festivities are approaching and got in the mood to make a "kind of themed but not exactly" thread for Rifts.

Because as the title references, winter solstice is approaching and in Rifts Earth its a big time of the year when ley lines, nexi and rift activity spark up something fierce, what can quite a bag of surprises good or bad for anyone who lives relatively near to one or more. Even if you are from a relatively developed magical city-state it can be something of a two-edged sword.

Me, i'm messing around with the Krampus folklore, by making them into a large roving band-gang-pack of Pucks, Deevils or Deevilkin (maybe a combination of the three - are not deevils also harmed by iron?) that comes through the Alps with the spike of rift activity during the solstice, to party, prank, scare and have their fun by messing around with whoever and whatever crosses their path before going back home as the ley line surge starts to ebb.

There's also the Perchten, that while looking basically as female krampus, seen to be overall much more benign and have more in common with Nymphs, at least as those described in CB1, what can also be tied up with alpine traditions speaking of beuatiful and ugly perchte.

(Possibly related and even closer to CB1 Nymph's would be this one, imho)

Whoa, wait - Nickodeamis, aka "Old Nick," Nicholas Deevil, Nicandius. "A merry, roly-poly old man with a great grey beard and twinkling blue eyes. He likes to dress lavishly and surrounds himself with fine things". Worshippers/Followers: On several of the realms connected to Dyval, Nickodeamus has managed to insert himself as a minor god associated with children, giving presents, and of the winter solstice (although he has yet to succeed in doing so on the Palladium World), and he uses those followers both to gain information and to prepare for a more insidious infiltration of their worlds.
It's kind of so ridiculously in-the-face obvious the mind tends to gloss it over most of the time, i guess.

The fact his alignement is Anarchist to boot can be helpful with this whole "fairy tale devils meets rough-edged christmas spirits" setup, in fact. And yeah, pure iron vulnerability is definitely a deevil thing according to Dragons & Gods, so mixing up and blurring the lines between Fae & Deevil - with maybe goblins, hobgoblins kobolds & orcs, that supposedly have some vague and unclear relation to fae - could get quite entertaining indeed.

Bonus image of demons trying to rile deevils by calling them "upjumped pucks & pixies", "a parody of a satyr(e)" and other samples of delicious trash-talking.

So, what about you, any ideas of how to mash up the season's themes with those of Rifts for your games this time of the year?

[taalismn]

Santa wants to give gifts to all the deserving d-bee kids in the Coalition 'burbs. The CS air defense net is standing in his way. The PCs have been hired to create a momentary(a few seconds is all that's needed) gap in the coordinated network of missile and gun batteries programmed to include 'Jolly Old Elf' in their IFF 'fry' protocols.
If the PCs succeed, besides the warm fuzzy feeling of having made lots of children happy, they've been promised nice stocking stuffers.
If they fail, well, they may very well be rendered to the consistancy and chemical makeup of burnt coal...

(Really) Evil Version: Unknown to the PCs, this Kris Kringle's an evil Alien Intelligence. If the PCs succeed, Chi-Town's on fire, and hundreds of innocents, including d-bee kids, have been scarfed up by Bad Santa and forced to work in a polar weapons factory making weapons for the hordes of evil, or else they;re made into candied snacks for those same hordes.

[SolCannibal]

Santa wants to give gifts to all the deserving d-bee kids in the Coalition 'burbs. The CS air defense net is standing in his way. The PCs have been hired to create a momentary(a few seconds is all that's needed) gap in the coordinated network of missile and gun batteries programmed to include 'Jolly Old Elf' in their IFF 'fry' protocols.
If the PCs succeed, besides the warm fuzzy feeling of having made lots of children happy, they've been promised nice stocking stuffers.
If they fail, well, they may very well be rendered to the consistancy and chemical makeup of burnt coal...

The failure situation is kind of a little unjust, since it might relate more to lack of luck than lack of trying or even outright "naughtiness" - that i would more probably associate with stealing or selling gifts & candy one was supposed to give for free to the young and/or poor.

Hmmm, what if failure to deliver the gifts resulted in a pile of coal being dropped upon Emperor Prosek or some other Coalition leader - what could inadvertently lead to a Coalition clampdown due to public embarassment related to the "terrorist attack"?

Maybe they could provide distraction by making a large (fairy) candy and food distribution through the 'Burbs, with all the possible ups & downs resulting from this, specially if a number of Dead Boys pilfer a chunk of this for their own consumption before finding out the holiday surprise involved.

(Really) Evil Version: Unknown to the PCs, this Kris Kringle's an evil Alien Intelligence. If the PCs succeed, Chi-Town's on fire, and hundreds of innocents, including d-bee kids, have been scarfed up by Bad Santa and forced to work in a polar weapons factory making weapons for the hordes of evil, or else they;re made into candied snacks for those same hordes.

This could fit well with Nickodeamis as described in D&G i think, though he's more Deevil Lord than Alien Intelligence and Anarchist/Selfish than outright evil (whay is interesting on itself, imho).

Honestly, the more i think about it, the more I'm tempted to make some sort of "intermediate" scenario, where Nick is more inconsequential and mischievous than outright evil, but the whole situation also serves as infiltration and/or an assymetrical preemptive strike (or parting shot, if one already played or GMed through Megaverse in Flames &/or Aftermath) of the Minion War in North America.

[ShadowLogan]

Mistletoe w/n +/- 7 days of the Solstice becomes enchanted radiating a "curse" causing people w/n 3ft/1m to be compelled to kiss.

[SolCannibal]

Mistletoe w/n +/- 7 days of the Solstice becomes enchanted radiating a "curse" causing people w/n 3ft/1m to be compelled to kiss.

More like a geas, then. There's also that certain norse god who's deathly allergic to it. He was bald something, name is on the tip of the tongue but can't put my finger on it.....

[taalismn]

[

The failure situation is kind of a little unjust, since it might relate more to lack of luck than lack of trying or even outright "naughtiness" - that i would more probably associate with stealing or selling gifts & candy one was supposed to give for free to the young and/or poor..

Given that tampering with CS defenses has a high chance of terminal laser-ness, plasma-itis, and rail gun poisoning, the failure situation is appropriate, unless one is playing a 'soft' game, in which case, the PCs can be afforded the chance to escape from prison while the Deadboys are distracted by Santa's backup plan, conducted by his other little helpers.

A 'Candy Bomber' raid using a repurposed DHT(maybe re-done for the occasion with white beard, glowing nose, and red paint job) might be a possible Plan B.

[EltonRobb]

What about Krampus?

[taalismn]

What about Krampus?

Any number of alien intelligences, demigods, or pagan spirits could be masquerading as traditional pre-Christian and post-Christian holiday icons/embodiments for good or ill.

[SolCannibal]

What about Krampus?

Well, my basic take so far, as mentioned in the OP, is of the Krampus as either bands of Pucks, Deevilkin or a mix of both with an Anarchist bent messing around with alpine populations during winter solstices through the ages. Still sketchy in the detalis but liking the idea of giving their antics and nature a dark fairy tale vibe of sorts, for what fairy foods & stuff in the form of candy and such would fit quite nicely.

[drewkitty ~..~]

In the way of Word association.....

Hogswatchnight & the Hog Father

[Borast]

Mistletoe w/n +/- 7 days of the Solstice becomes enchanted radiating a "curse" causing people w/n 3ft/1m to be compelled to kiss.

More like a geas, then. There's also that certain norse god who's deathly allergic to it. He was bald something, name is on the tip of the tongue but can't put my finger on it.....

I agree...if it were a curse, you would not be able to STOP kissing.
Well, I guess if the plant was carnivorous... Given it's not a tree, I don't think Mr. Anthony would come after you!