Editing Reality Shift (section)

== Rift Properties == 

=== The Three Great Rifts ===

Originally three enormous rifts opened on the planet. One in Central America, near the border of Ecuador, one in the holy land of many faiths, Israel, and a final one near the coast of Thailand. On the day the rifts opened strange things began to happen within the affected areas. Certain regions would suddenly shift, becoming entirely different. These differences ranged from the complete reversal of the laws of physics to atmospheric composition and temperatures changing. High radiation and toxins are common occurrences within the rift zones. While there were locations that became unhabitable by human standards, there were other storms that improved life within them, crop yields increasing three fold, climatic conditions improving permanently, or even life continuing on as normal. The many dozens of storms would create separate films keeping the changes in environment completely separated from one another and it was not uncommon to see a completely unaffected farmhouse less then a couple of miles away from an irradiated alien landscape. In the beginning these rifts only extended over a minimal location, a few miles across. However in the months since they have expanded hundreds of miles in every direction, the largest being the one in Central America. 

After the first week not only did the zones that were affected change, but things began to appear within their borders. What appeared ranged from boulders, to strange technology, to entirely new species. Some of these species, due to the fact rift storms would change the world around them, could only survive in their localized rift storm and would quickly die once leaving or if the rift storm changed. However some proved to survive well in earth atmosphere and moved into non effected areas of the planet. Xeno life is not uncommon in Southern Asia and Europe. 

During the second week the nations of the world attempted to control the threat. Desperate, several scientists theorized the rifts might be sealed if enough energy was released inside the dimensional wound. The energy would destabilize the hole and cause it to repair itself, or open into some kind of void. The nations of the world bombed the european rift, eventually using nuclear weapons. Most of these bombs went off, but the rift absorbed most of the radiation. Some of the bombs merely disappeared, or reappeared in other locations around localized Rift Storms.

After this an attempt to invade the rifts was organised. The first humans went it, using new exoskeletons developed by the military for protection. These did protect them from the strange environmental conditions, randomly changing atmospheric composition, radiation, and temperature. However, they did not protect them from the shifts in the laws of physics. Those humans melded with their suits, skin and metal becoming one. They are now called "The Hollow Men" as parts of their mind are now machine. They display emotions to varying degrees, but it is agreed upon that the human beings are still in there and should be treated with dignity. Most of those who went in belonged to the United States. They form a single company of soldiers now,  sent to the most dangerous of storms in the USA as further mutations will not affect them anymore.

=== Localized Rift Storms ===

Besides the permanent rifts, localized rip storms appear outside of the larger areas. These can suddenly come into existence seemingly anywhere on the planet, or even the moon, and will momentarily change the world around it before dissipating. In order to deal with the creatures that come out most countries have founded military organizations with the express purpose of fighting the creatures and containing the rifts through the use of HMD's. When a single nation's power does not prove sufficient to deal with one of these threat AEGIS, the highest single force of HMD on the planet, will be called in to instead contain the threat. This has lead to huge international support and funding for AEGIS as an impartial organization dedicated to finding out the course of and stopping the entirety of the rifts once and for all. 

==== Rift Storm Classes ====

* Class One: Small rift, no materialization, small changes in environment in an area smaller than two hundred feet. Military involvement unnecessary.

* Class Two: Small rift, mild materialization, small changes in environment in an area from two hundred to five hundred feet. Local law enforcement recommended.

* Class Three: Medium rift, mild materializations, medium changes in environment in an area from five hundred to one thousand feet. Local law enforcement recommended.

* Class Four: Medium rift, medium materialization, medium change in environment in an area from one thousand to two thousand feet. Military involvement recommended. 

* Class Five: Large rift, medium materialization, serious change in environment in an area fron two thousand to one mile. Military involvement recommended. 

* Class Six: Large rift, heavy materialization, serious change in environment in an area from one mile to five miles. Military involvement and MECH infantry recommended. 

* Class Seven: Huge rift, heavy materialization, serious change in environment and laws of physics in an area from five miles to ten miles. Military involvement  and MECH infantry recommended. 

* Class Seven: Huge rift, extreme materialization, serious change in environment and laws of physics in an area larger than ten miles. AEGIS involvement recommended.

===  HMDs ===

Some months later some humans escaped from the rifts. However, they did not come out intact. Being bathed in rift energy caused many of them to become horribly mutated, and some to develop seemingly supernatural powers. These powers vary greatly in both kind and power between different subjects. Those that have been seen so far include many classic forms of psychic powers including telekinesis, pyrokinesis, ESP, clairvoyance and mind control. Another power that has proven extremely useful, however, is their ability to manipulate the rifts themselves. This has prompted many countries to require military service from HMDs (if they do not enter AEGIS) so as to help combat the rifts. Those who are not fit to serve but still display powers are instead put into specialist camps or forced into breeding programs in an attempt to create more HMD's. They have become the first line of defense against the rifts and have made permanent outposts inside the Great Rifts possible without fear of the rift borders changing and make the area unhabitable and hazardous to human life. 

=== Possible Great Rift Storms ===

==== Ireland ====

Ireland was incommunicated from the rest of the planet soon after the rifts began. A strange fog surrounds its borders. When a non HMD individual attempts to go into the fog they will wander around for a short while before appearing back in the original location they entered from. Strangely, though the person in the fog only experiences a few minutes passing, several days or even weeks will have passed for the rest of the planet. Residents from Ireland occasionally come out to visit the rest of the UK. They do not have a cohesive appearance and talk in a number of dialects of different time periods. These speaking patterns are consistent with their clothing. If these individuals are asked what is happening inside of the country they will either seem confused, become violent, or completely ignore the question. They do not appear to want to speak of the subject. All scientific probes of the area have proved fruitless, and any pilots flying over at the time do not remember what they saw, reporting only a "greenish purple mist".

==== Middle East ====

For months an enormous rift storm has cut off most of Iraq and Turkey from communicating with the rest of the world. Though this rift storm did not appear at the same time as the three great ones, instead happening over a month and a half later, it is far larger and has lasted much longer than any other minor rift storm thus far. People fear this is a sign of things to come and could possibly mean the birth of more Great Rift Storms in the near future. Inside the rift materializations are common. Some of them, according to the scarce intel coming out of the zone via refugees, are reported to be larger than any that have been spotted elsewhere on the planet. Out of desperation, independent US units with Iraqi units and terrorist cells have joined forces to repel the creature and try to gather enough HMDs to create a passage for refugees to leave the dangerous zones.