an interesting thought

[glitterboy2098]

hmm.. Interesting thought. the New Navy's main tank in Rifts, which is what the USMC was using before the rifts, is named the "Merovingian". the Merovingian's were a dynasty from what is today modern France, in the 5th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merovingian_dynasty

They had absolutely nothing to do with America or anything remotely American. and i highly doubt the USMC would name a tank after a (relatively) minor character in the Matrix Trilogy.

but you know which group loves all things Merovingian? France. many French recognize that dynasty as the first step in the creation of France. (specifically the election of Clovis I to be king of the Franks.) so it would totally fit as the name of a French tank.

so could the USMC have been using a French design? wouldn't be the first time they'd adopted an oversea's vehicle for their own use, just look at the Merovingian Tank's modern day inspiration, the LAV-25, which is a variant of the Swiss MOWAG Piranha produced in Canada.
or their use of the Interim Fast Attack Vehicle, a version of the Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen 290, with the IFAV even produced in Austria in the same factories.
and i'm sure if we go back through the USMC's history we'd find more examples.

so i suspect that the USMC in chaos Earth/Rifts could well have been using a French Wheeled Tank Design.

[Shark_Force]

could be.

could also be something happened in between now and the coming of the rifts. though tbh, i'm not sure i'd expect the author to have written out an entire history between now and the coming of the rifts to name the tank after someone. still, could've been a general from some war we've never even heard of because it hasn't happened yet

[taalismn]

could be.

could also be something happened in between now and the coming of the rifts. though tbh, i'm not sure i'd expect the author to have written out an entire history between now and the coming of the rifts to name the tank after someone. still, could've been a general from some war we've never even heard of because it hasn't happened yet

Possibly..or the French save the Americans from some national crisis in the near-future, leading to a spate of French names entering US government/military usage..

"And we wish to thank the French people, and especially French computer experts, for shutting down Twitter for forty-eight hours..."

[Warshield73]

A friend of mine, a Navy vet, and I spotted this to a year or so after the book came out so I wrote this into my campaigns. In facthen my players were in Europe they even found a cash of old French/EU military equipment. In among the British Psi-tech and pre-Rifts Triax tech were several French Merovingian.

could be.

could also be something happened in between now and the coming of the rifts. though tbh, i'm not sure i'd expect the author to have written out an entire history between now and the coming of the rifts to name the tank after someone. still, could've been a general from some war we've never even heard of because it hasn't happened yet

Possibly..or the French save the Americans from some national crisis in the near-future, leading to a spate of French names entering US government/military usage..

"And we wish to thank the French people, and especially French computer experts, for shutting down Twitter for forty-eight hours..."

Something like this is always possible but don't you think it is more likely that we would name a ship in honor of the event. Like the USS Churchill.

[taalismn]

Well, the American military did adopt the Canone de 75 Mle 1897 ('The Famous French 75'), which was the breakthrough modern artillery piece of the century. The US Army used it from 1917 until 1945, and even adapted it for use on B-25 anti-shipping aircraft, so the idea of the US military adopting a major piece of foreign-designed equipment is not without precedent .

[Zer0 Kay]

hmm.. Interesting thought. the New Navy's main tank in Rifts, which is what the USMC was using before the rifts, is named the "Merovingian". the Merovingian's were a dynasty from what is today modern France, in the 5th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merovingian_dynasty

They had absolutely nothing to do with America or anything remotely American. and i highly doubt the USMC would name a tank after a (relatively) minor character in the Matrix Trilogy.

but you know which group loves all things Merovingian? France. many French recognize that dynasty as the first step in the creation of France. (specifically the election of Clovis I to be king of the Franks.) so it would totally fit as the name of a French tank.

so could the USMC have been using a French design? wouldn't be the first time they'd adopted an oversea's vehicle for their own use, just look at the Merovingian Tank's modern day inspiration, the LAV-25, which is a variant of the Swiss MOWAG Piranha produced in Canada.
or their use of the Interim Fast Attack Vehicle, a version of the Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen 290, with the IFAV even produced in Austria in the same factories.
and i'm sure if we go back through the USMC's history we'd find more examples.

so i suspect that the USMC in chaos Earth/Rifts could well have been using a French Wheeled Tank Design.

Maybe it was named after USMC Brigadier General Eliot Meroveus Doriot a distant relative of Georges Doriot in WWII (obviously a made up character) but I find it highly unlikely that the US would authorize a purchase of a tank from a sub par MDC material manufacturer.

[Pepsi Jedi]

I'm betting very heavily it came from the Author or Artist liking the name from the Matrix movie.

Some people are trying a lil hard and looking a bit 'too' deep into this.

Having talked with palladium artists behind the scenes about vehicles and names for them and stuff then seeing it end up in print... It's not always as deep as some might it to be.

[glitterboy2098]

I'm betting very heavily it came from the Author or Artist liking the name from the Matrix movie.

Some people are trying a lil hard and looking a bit 'too' deep into this.

Having talked with palladium artists behind the scenes about vehicles and names for them and stuff then seeing it end up in print... It's not always as deep as some might it to be.

you'd lose that bet, since WB7 came out in 1995, while the first matrix film didn't come out till 1999, and matrix Reloaded (with the character in question) came out in 2003. which means CJ Carella named the tank almost a full decade before the films. my reference was an in setting one, since it is highly probable said films did occur in the rifts timeline.

and no i don't think we are getting 'too deep'.. using cues from the existing material to speculate on setting elements not currently in existance is the best way to expand a setting, and can give GM's some ideas to fill in those gaps.
and having talked to the PB staff a lot myself, i agree sometimes it isn't very deep, but that doesn't prevent the use of what was written to determine larger setting elements, since sometimes this sort of thing is added as plot and/or setting hooks.

and in closer review of the WB7 write up, it does say the design was a french one that the USMC picked up. (never read and post when tired, i guess), which of course makes me wonder what the French were originally using it for, and what the french MDC military looked like at the end of the golden age.

[Pepsi Jedi]

If so that's great. But it's not a uniquely "French military" thing or pertaining only to 'real world' stuff.

There's some sort of tie in to Christianity, and immortal kings with.... memory isfailing me. Something about keeping their hair or losing their power or something. There's also ties in to the holy grail.

"Twyman has discovered that the bloodline of the Merovingians stems not only from Christ and Mary Magdalene, but in fact, goes back to the god-kings and queens of the antediluvian world. She has also determined the nature of the physical object called "the Holy Grail" - a magnificent structure hidden beneath Rennes-le-Chateau, France. And within this structure is perhaps the greatest treasure of human history: the grave of a sacred king named Cain, who brought kingship and the wisdom of the gods down from Heaven. Throughout history, the secret of the Grail, the tradition of the Grail, and the bloodline of the Grail have inspired the activities of secret societies, and guided the destiny of humanity. It has been at the center of a struggle both cosmic and terrestrial that has lasted for thousands of years.

In the pages of this volume, Twyman reveals the answers to dozens of questions that have remained unanswered for decades, centuries, and even millennia. She deciphers nearly all of the many clues pertaining to this mystery that have been left by the Priory of Sion, Berenger Sauniere, the Knights Templar, and the Freemasons. But more than that, she has decoded a tangled web of clues found in history, world mythology, Judeo-Christian scriptures, and the traditions of the occult, resulting in a bold reinterpretation of the story of human civilization. And the outcome is not what you would expect. The villains and protagonists are not who you might presume them to be. For the Holy Grail is a treasure both cursed and sacred, bestowing knowledge both of Good and of Evil."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004PGN7EG/re ... TF8&btkr=1

[glitterboy2098]

Pepsi, i don't see what that has to do with anything in this thread.

since we know it was french, i'd guess that it in the pre-rifts french military it filled a role like the AMX-10C today.. Recon and Tank Destroyer duties. they likely had something akin to the IronHammer tank as their main MBT (though the IHA tanks were probably American Army designs.. but like how the AMX Leclerc has similarities to the to the M1 Abrams, the IHA tank can probably be used as a comparison here too)

[Zer0 Kay]

Pepsi, i don't see what that has to do with anything in this thread.

since we know it was french, i'd guess that it in the pre-rifts french military it filled a role like the AMX-10C today.. Recon and Tank Destroyer duties. they likely had something akin to the IronHammer tank as their main MBT (though the IHA tanks were probably American Army designs.. but like how the AMX Leclerc has similarities to the to the M1 Abrams, the IHA tank can probably be used as a comparison here too)

So... as a land based armored transport would have been better off saying it was a modern AAV-7. someone just like the look of wheeled tanks me thinks.

[glitterboy2098]

Pepsi, i don't see what that has to do with anything in this thread.

since we know it was french, i'd guess that it in the pre-rifts french military it filled a role like the AMX-10C today.. Recon and Tank Destroyer duties. they likely had something akin to the IronHammer tank as their main MBT (though the IHA tanks were probably American Army designs.. but like how the AMX Leclerc has similarities to the to the M1 Abrams, the IHA tank can probably be used as a comparison here too)

So... as a land based armored transport would have been better off saying it was a modern AAV-7. someone just like the look of wheeled tanks me thinks.

except the AAV-7 is a troop transport, and the Merovingian has no troop compartment. it is a wheeled tank, basically. something the current marines Corps does not use (instead preferring to use full MBT's like the M1A1 Abrams.)

the APC type vehicle is the Iwo Jima hovercraft, which is their AAV-7 equivalent.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Pepsi, i don't see what that has to do with anything in this thread.

since we know it was french, i'd guess that it in the pre-rifts french military it filled a role like the AMX-10C today.. Recon and Tank Destroyer duties. they likely had something akin to the IronHammer tank as their main MBT (though the IHA tanks were probably American Army designs.. but like how the AMX Leclerc has similarities to the to the M1 Abrams, the IHA tank can probably be used as a comparison here too)

I'm saying the name very likely came from sounding cool and it's mythic origins. Not some obscure real world french thing that a Rifts author dug up some where.

[Tiree]

Isn't Alex some sort of Historical Military guy? It probably came from him.

[Zer0 Kay]

Pepsi, i don't see what that has to do with anything in this thread.

since we know it was french, i'd guess that it in the pre-rifts french military it filled a role like the AMX-10C today.. Recon and Tank Destroyer duties. they likely had something akin to the IronHammer tank as their main MBT (though the IHA tanks were probably American Army designs.. but like how the AMX Leclerc has similarities to the to the M1 Abrams, the IHA tank can probably be used as a comparison here too)

So... as a land based armored transport would have been better off saying it was a modern AAV-7. someone just like the look of wheeled tanks me thinks.

except the AAV-7 is a troop transport, and the Merovingian has no troop compartment. it is a wheeled tank, basically. something the current marines Corps does not use (instead preferring to use full MBT's like the M1A1 Abrams.)

the APC type vehicle is the Iwo Jima hovercraft, which is their AAV-7 equivalent.

Good point. Still don't like the idea though.

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

... how is this even a thread?

It IS French vehicle. The FIRST SENTENCE of its description calls it out as such:

A French design adopted by the US Navy shortly before the Great Cataclysm,

Literally the first sentence.

[Zer0 Kay]

... how is this even a thread?

It IS French vehicle. The FIRST SENTENCE of its description calls it out as such:

A French design adopted by the US Navy shortly before the Great Cataclysm,

Literally the first sentence.

What... no, It's the first sentence.

[glitterboy2098]

hey, even you can forget a single line in a book from time to time. when i posted this said book was not immediately accessible to me at my location. and i did update later on.. though by that point people had started arguing over it.

[Eagle]

I'm betting very heavily it came from the Author or Artist liking the name from the Matrix movie.

Some people are trying a lil hard and looking a bit 'too' deep into this.

Having talked with palladium artists behind the scenes about vehicles and names for them and stuff then seeing it end up in print... It's not always as deep as some might it to be.

you'd lose that bet, since WB7 came out in 1995, while the first matrix film didn't come out till 1999, and matrix Reloaded (with the character in question) came out in 2003. which means CJ Carella named the tank almost a full decade before the films. my reference was an in setting one, since it is highly probable said films did occur in the rifts timeline.

See I just figured the second matrix movie was so bad that its awfulness reverberated throughout time, even influencing people before it was made.

[Blue_Lion]

Actually there is a pattern to how the military names some things.(even if they use some one else design they rename it.)

Tanks and APC are named after US generals.
So the reason for the name could be a they had a general by that name in the USMC.