Getting back into Rifts & hoping to find a Timeline...

[Weaverchilde]

Like the title says, I have not played Rifts in a number of years, but I am back and want to get my group going.

I have all but the Aftermath book for the SoT line and through World Book 23, but I was wondering if there was any more written about Archie, the Orbital Community, or the prophecy mentioned in the Mechanoids (any tie-in to the new Minion War plot?)

Ultimately, I am hoping that someone has a timeline of the major events so I can re-orient myself to the newer aspects of the settings

[The Beast]

Like the title says, I have not played Rifts in a number of years, but I am back and want to get my group going.

I have all but the Aftermath book for the SoT line and through World Book 23, but I was wondering if there was any more written about Archie, the Orbital Community, or the prophecy mentioned in the Mechanoids (any tie-in to the new Minion War plot?)

Ultimately, I am hoping that someone has a timeline of the major events so I can re-orient myself to the newer aspects of the settings

Shemarian Nation is the most up-to-date info on Archie. There are a few Rifter articles as well but I don't recall if any of them are official. There is a brief mention of Archie using advanced alien technology in one or two of his new designs, but aside from that, Palladium's been avoiding using the mechanoids in any official publications.

The last official anything on MIO was from SA2.

[kaid]

Aftermath is probably the best source for current as of 109PA stuff then follow it up with the megaverse in flames minion war book. Shemarian nation is a good supplement for current archie creations. The new vampire sourcebook also has a few more updated blurbs on archie but that is basically he started investigating vampires and found they are a real threat and started to quietly seed supply caches and support for reids rangers in their large battles with the vampire kingdoms. It also is why he so far is not weighing in hard in the minion war yet because he is already pretty concentrated on the vampires and does not want to expose himself to much helping to fight two wars at once.

[glitterboy2098]

the prophecy mentioned in the Mechanoids (any tie-in to the new Minion War plot?)

it has been more or less fully detailed.. though recent books have taken to "no wait, it actually may have meant this other thing" as a way of making it still relevant. something that doesn't really work because the GM's section on the warnings makes it clear about the nature and order of the dangers.

7 demons, 4 great dangers.

"the devourer/swarm" - cloud of armred "demons", consumption of an entire planet. will arrive on eastern coast of NA "soon" (as of 104PA), Atlantis knows of this enemy and has fought them before.

If the swarm is defeated, 4 demons with god like power will arrive at 4 places on one continent, and seek to merge and unleash destruction on the world. Atlantis knows the location where they will arrive (Africa)

the 3rd danger already is on earth, but is unknown, one that created a kingdom long ago and works from the shadows to manipulate things. a being of many faces surrounding itself with noble champions and twisting their good actions into unknowing evil. the weakest of the dangers, but in time one of them most dangerous. location "unknown" (the kingdom of "new camelot" in england, actually)

the 4th danger is an unknown, arriving in chaos and making things worse. no location or nature is glimpsed. (specified in WB19 to be Tilkalik, the frog-demon-god-thing that will swallow the earth's oceans if it wakes, currently slumbering beneath Australia)

in the metaplot, once the mechanoids were beaten (and the "consuming the world" thing is literal, mechanoids mine worlds till all matter in them is used up.), the 4 horsemen arrived in africa, tried to reach the same spot and merge. then they were defeated. they were also specifically said to be the 2nd danger. in WB3 the Ai thing that runs new Camelot was said specifically to be the 3rd danger, and fits perfectly. WB19 also calls tilkallik the 4th danger.

so basically all of them have already been detailed out.. only from WB22 on there has been an attempt to claim "wait no, we were wrong about the mechanoids being the 1st, it's actually [insert enemy of the day here]", with the xiticix and minion war being two groups pegged as "possible 1st dangers"

you know, despite the fact the series of events for the 1st and 2nd dangers already having played out as the psychic warnings predicted..

[Weaverchilde]

Thanks for the info!

I will have to see about getting Shemarian Nation and Aftermath then. I have only had a chance to skim the Outbreak book of the Minion War books, it looks interesting, but I am not sure about the rest. I am not a big fan of the Demon Vs Devil style wars, its like rooting for an Earthquake over a Tornado ripping through your house.

[kaid]

It is a pretty good excuse to stir the pot. Most powers even evil ones do not like the idea of devils/demons taking over so its a great way to get some really unlikely forces working at least towards similar ends for short periods of time.