The CS Is Running Out Of Resources...

[glitterboy2098]

according to mirriam-webster:
"1.
a country, state, or territory ruled by a king or queen.
synonyms: realm, domain, dominion, country, empire, principality, duchy, land, nation, state, sovereign state, province, territory
"his kingdom stretched to the sea""

bold added by me for emphasis.

and for good measure:
"Nation:
a large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.
"leading industrialized nations"
synonyms: country, sovereign state, state, land, realm, kingdom, republic; More"

so a Kingdom is a type of nation. just not all nations are kingdoms.

further given that Lazlo is described as a 'kingdom' in rifts, when we know it doesn't have a king/queen, but rather a council of appointed representatives, and there are several other entities described as 'kingdoms' which lack any form of monarchy, it would seem that 'kingdom' in rifts is synonymous with "sovereign nation".

[Alrik Vas]

So...why does any of this matter?

[Axelmania]

UK is an example of a kingdom including multiple nations.

If there's any My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fans, Equestria is a nation composed of several kingdoms, including the Crystal Empire (also called Crystal Kingdom in "The Ballad of the Crystal Empire") ruled by Princess Cadence and Canterlot (ruled by Princess Celestia) and the Friendship Rainbow Kingdom (ruled by Princess Twilight Sparkle)

[Alrik Vas]

UK is an example of a kingdom including multiple nations.

If there's any My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fans, Equestria is a nation composed of several kingdoms, including the Crystal Empire (also called Crystal Kingdom in "The Ballad of the Crystal Empire") ruled by Princess Cadence and Canterlot (ruled by Princess Celestia) and the Friendship Rainbow Kingdom (ruled by Princess Twilight Sparkle)

Though I'm not altogether certain the sources of one fictional universe apply to another...?

[Pepsi Jedi]

UK is an example of a kingdom including multiple nations.

If there's any My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fans, Equestria is a nation composed of several kingdoms, including the Crystal Empire (also called Crystal Kingdom in "The Ballad of the Crystal Empire") ruled by Princess Cadence and Canterlot (ruled by Princess Celestia) and the Friendship Rainbow Kingdom (ruled by Princess Twilight Sparkle)

I haven't been paying attention to this thread for weeks, but I swung through to see what yall were up to.

Gotta say, if you all are deputizing My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.... into the debate...

You guys need to put your heads down on your desks for a while..... and or... eat a Snickers. Probably both.

[Axelmania]

.
synonyms: realm, domain, dominion, country, empire, principality, duchy, land, nation, state, sovereign state, province, territory

You seem to have overlooked the significance of state/province also being listed as synonyms. Those words are used to describe portions of nations.

[Axelmania]

Lazlo is described as a 'kingdom' in rifts, when we know it doesn't have a king/queen, but rather a council of appointed representatives, and there are several other entities described as 'kingdoms' which lack any form of monarchy, it would seem that 'kingdom' in rifts is synonymous with "sovereign nation".

Show me explicit proof Lazlo has no monarch. Tolkeen shows you can have both a council and a monarch.

Absence of evidence (aside from the word kingdom) that a monarch exists is not absence of evidence after all.

Although I would wager if there is a king they probably hold less power than Tolkeen's did.

[Library Ogre]

Y'all seem to assume that Palladium books are written with the same exacting precision with which they are analyzed. I think that is... ambitious.

[Alrik Vas]

Y'all seem to assume that Palladium books are written with the same exacting precision with which they are analyzed. I think that is... ambitious.

Thank you for putting my favorite argument most succinctly.

[Axelmania]

It wouldn't be the first time people focus in on the exact RAW in a way that people think conflict with a different picture implied from other examples. Goose and gander and all that. I suppose a kingdom could have no monarch at all and have a vacated seat from an earlier time when it had a monarch. Maybe they have a spiritual king who is absent.

[kaid]

Also these places sprung up after the slate was nearly wiped clean by the rifts. People were likely just naming stuff to sound as impressive as possible or because they liked the sound of it. Like the manastique imperium that strikes me as hey our city survived and we are pretty strong for what everybody else has lets be an empire sort of move.

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

Y'all seem to assume that Palladium books are written with the same exacting precision with which they are analyzed. I think that is... ambitious.

I think it's pathetic.

A writers setting bible should have been completed before anyone was allowed to write a single book for the setting.

A decent editing process shouldn't be beyond Palladium.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Yet we know that there's absolutely no such thing, as the setting bible.

And editing... for Palladium is.... shall we say... hit or miss?

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

Yet we know that there's absolutely no such thing, as the setting bible.

And editing... for Palladium is.... shall we say... hit or miss?

Which doesn't make it less of a problem.

Im long past the age where i can excuse it, because there isn't an excuse for it.

[Library Ogre]

On the topic of a "setting bible", I don't doubt that Kevin has a pretty good idea of what Lazlo is like, and I wouldn't be surprised if Lazlo was a major feature of his early Rifts games (or games that would become Rifts). But that information hasn't been shared, and may have evolved with time.

My main point was that arguing that Lazlo must have a monarch because it was called a kingdom is unlikely. Terms are frequently used imprecisely by Palladium, both in universe and out of universe. Bear in mind that you can still acquire manic depression from a severe bump on the head in this system.

[J_cobbers]

A decent editing process shouldn't be beyond Palladium.

Read through PF Eastern Territories sometime, it has some of the most egregious spelling errors (in bold and/or large print in places) in it that should have been caught by a competent proof reader or copy editor way before publication. I don't know that that book has ever been fixed in subsequent printings, but it really should have been.

The RUE actually has several section in it where the same rules are presented verbatim (cut and paste) more than once. I.e. they repeated content in 2 places where it could have just stayed in one. For example the rules on HP/SDC recovery and Understanding Mega Damage are repeated in both the Step 2 &3 of character creation and the combat sections; pgs 288-289 and 354-355 respectively.

In short, I'm sorry to say, the weight of evidence is against them having a decent editing process, at least for past products.

[Axelmania]

Also these places sprung up after the slate was nearly wiped clean by the rifts. People were likely just naming stuff to sound as impressive as possible or because they liked the sound of it. Like the manastique imperium that strikes me as hey our city survived and we are pretty strong for what everybody else has lets be an empire sort of move.

Repopulation had to occur from somewhere, and those most likely to survive the cataclysm would often have lived in the sturdiest buildings and already owned the rights to them, so we shouldn't be quick to assume that everywhere people lives, they own no rights to.

[eliakon]

On the topic of a "setting bible", I don't doubt that Kevin has a pretty good idea of what Lazlo is like, and I wouldn't be surprised if Lazlo was a major feature of his early Rifts games (or games that would become Rifts). But that information hasn't been shared, and may have evolved with time.

My main point was that arguing that Lazlo must have a monarch because it was called a kingdom is unlikely. Terms are frequently used imprecisely by Palladium, both in universe and out of universe. Bear in mind that you can still acquire manic depression from a severe bump on the head in this system.

And even if it DOES have a king...
That king may or may not have much, if any real power.
The United Kingdom is, technically, a Monarchy with a Queen or King... but their powers are mostly ceremonial with the day to day running of government in the hands of Parliament and the Prime Minister.

[kaid]

Also these places sprung up after the slate was nearly wiped clean by the rifts. People were likely just naming stuff to sound as impressive as possible or because they liked the sound of it. Like the manastique imperium that strikes me as hey our city survived and we are pretty strong for what everybody else has lets be an empire sort of move.

Repopulation had to occur from somewhere, and those most likely to survive the cataclysm would often have lived in the sturdiest buildings and already owned the rights to them, so we shouldn't be quick to assume that everywhere people lives, they own no rights to.

I am not assuming that at all I am just saying places like manistique wound up riding out the apocalypse pretty well but calling what they have an imeperium is pretty grandiose. Smacks of somebody thinking it sounded cool and impressive to say to outsiders.

[say652]

I like the Coalition States the best. Even though it's a Monarchy ruled by an Emperor, calling the Kingdom States implies some semblance of freewill.

[Axelmania]

Has it been called a kingdom anywhere? I'd think 'empire' would be more accurate since Karl isn't a king. "States" was the name since Karl was democratically elected the chairman prior to the people's will appointing him emperor for life.

[Shark_Force]

state does not mean democracy of any form is practiced. it simply denotes a distinct political entity.

the coalition states are so named because they are a coalition (essentially the same thing as an alliance) of what were originally distinct political entities (they each probably still retain some degree of autonomy, but nothing indicates that they have a lot of it). just like the united states are a group of states that joined forces (that is, united) to rebel against the british.

[Axelmania]

I know you're joking, but on a more realistic note, the Techno-Wizards of the Vanguard might put together a "Create Steel" device and be donating metal in places for CS to find. If you are using the "lotsa PPE from the ley lines" in RUE, flooding the world with cheap steal becomes a lot more plausible.

Even though the spell mainly refashions existing steel, it does create a % of entierly new product, so you could just spam cast it to get that % increase over and over.

[glitterboy2098]

The CS controls a permanent rift to an infinite MDC ore they use for their metal. How would they run out of resources?

that's not an official rifter article.
and even if it was, just because the location has immense resources, the fact they they still have mine the place, then transfer the resources back through a fixed size portal that randomly changes destinations would limit how much they can actually obtain through the missouri arch. so it can augment their terrestrial sources, but not replace them.

[Mack]

Locked. This discussion has been dead for over a year.