Editing RIFTS (section)

==Races and Monsters==

Rifts has a '''LOT''' of playable races. Aside from Humans, Psi-Stalkers(Human mutants) and Dog Boys, there are tons of D-Bees(Dimensional Beings), Basically aliens from other dimensions that were yanked to Earth from their homeworlds during the Great Cataclysm, or explorers and refugees that came after. These range from Fantasy races such as Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Ogres and Giants, to strangers things like insect- or plant-people, giant slugs, Ectoplasmic creatures, demons, and more.

*'''Alien Intelligence''': Eldritch horrors of incredible power, and more than often enough evil. Your average Alien Intelligence can be described as "A giant mass of flesh with more eyes and tentacles than anything should ever need". Many are powerful enough to rival Gods(and some, like Chronos and Aspu, ''are'' Gods). One type is responsible for Vampires. Another type (the one that tends to come up the most in gameplay and lore) is the Splugorth, who are basically cosmic horrors as asshole capitalist imperialist slavers, with a uniform but highly diverse set of minions shared between all members of the "species".

*'''Alterans''': These Blind Warrior Women are (mostly) loyal slaves of the Splugorth. They look almost just like Humans, but are bald and reproduce asexually via cloning. 

*'''Arkhons''': Lizard-Cat aliens that tried to invade Earth thousands of years ago, but got defeated by the Nazca Lines. In 74 PA, a disgraced Arkhon clan decided to try again, not knowing how much the Earth had changed since then. Needless to say, it didn't go well. But several of their ships managed to force a landing in South America and carved out their own little kingdom with their Cyborg hunters, psychic operatives, and hybrid energy weapons. A few more landed on Mars, which is currently overrun by mutant insects unleashed centuries ago by a mad scientist. 

*'''True Atlantean''': The descendants of the original civilization of Atlantis. These guys are effectively Elves in Human form. They are one of the originators of Tattoo and Stone Magic. 

*'''Cactus People''': A peaceful race of plant people who live out in the New West. Unfortunately for them, their blood is delicious, and this has led evil or desperate people to kill them as a source of water or sustenance in the deserts. 

* '''Chasseur Vert''': Oddly French Plant-people. Lived on the same world as the Spinne, and warred with them for centuries because, well, they're delicious. But that was a long time ago, and they get along now(mostly). Chasseur Vert are nature-loving hedonists who can shoot sticky sap from their hands, and have more than their share of artists and philosophers. 

*'''Cyber-Horsemen''': Somewhere out in Canada(around British Columbia) is a High-tech city of Centaurs called '''Ixion'''. Unlike their more rustic kin often found around Canada and the Northern US, the Cyber-Horsemen often augment their bodies with cybernetics.

*'''D'Norr''': Often called "Devilmen" due to their red skin and small horns(kinda look like [[Tieflings]], except they don't have hair, and the backs of their heads are spikey and slightly elongated). Extremely charismatic but have ''no'' supernatural abilities. The D'Norr had never evem heard of magic before coming to Earth, and are fascinated by it. As such, nearly half of them are magic-users. Needless to say, this puts them near the top of the Coalition's shit list. 

*'''[[Giant]]s''': Mostly hail from the Palladium World, but can be found on Earth from time to time.
**'''Algor''': These [[Frost Giant]]s are named after a cold(in nearly every sense of the word) and aloof God in the Palladium Fantasy RPG world. They stand 14-16' tall and can breathe blasts of bone-chilling frost in combat. 
**'''Cyclops''': The classic One-Eyed giant. Have the ability to create lightning arrows and javelins. Anyone else who tries to learn the art gets fucked up by Demons. 
**'''Jotan''': Hill Giants. The largest and toughest of the Giants. And unlike other breeds of Hill Giant, fairly smart too. Their crafts skills are second only to Dwarves. 
**'''Gigantes''':  Bizzare(and often insane) mutants. Gigates have a dizzying array of appearances and abilities, such as turning invisible, having a second mouth, or looking like a giant ape. It is rare to find two with the same mutations/abilities. 
**'''Nimro''': Fire-breathing [[Fire Giant]]s. A group of them have established their own kingdom in Turkey. 
**'''Rahu-Men''': A rare race of four-armed Giants. A Rahu-Man named "General" Rasheen lives in the NGR and is pretty much Martin Luther King as a giant four-armed Cyber-Knight. 
**'''Titan''': A race of handsome and good Giants. One runs a city in what was once Houston, Texas. 

*'''Grackle-Tooth(Jin-Roh)''': These good-natured Dinosaur-like people stand eight to ten feet tall and up to 800 lbs of pure muscle with a prehensile tail. They mostly live in the New West. 

*'''Iktektumiks''': Also known as Iktek Diggers. These Armadillo-like creatures came from the Deific Realm of a forgotten god, where, at 7-9 feet tall and nearly as tough as a 'Borg, they were among the ''smallest'' creatures there and preyed upon by pretty much everything. 

*'''Kraks (Quartigo Cephlapodans)''':  A short race of Green to Brown-skinned D-Bees with two tentacles coming from their cheeks. They are big-time social mimics who rapidly adopt the languages, dress, and customs of those around them. They're basically [[Halfling]]s that in their youth chose to be Squids rather than Kids.

*'''Kreeghor''': A race of heavily-armored humanoids that were originally slaves of the Splugorth, but managed to fight for their own freedom with the help of the suddenly-appearing "Royal" Kreeghor subspecies. They then promptly began a campaign of galactic conquest to inflict that same misery on the rest of the Three Galaxies. 

*'''Larmac''': You know every stereotype about the poor, various immigrants and/or ethnic minorities that are not the speaker being lazy and shiftless? With these lizard men, that's pretty much true. But even they can be inspired to great efforts... if you promise them some time off afterwards. 

*'''Loronids''': These mutant parrots were created by the Achilles Project under ''Project: Norwegian Blue''. They were made to be essentially superior data analysts, skilled in number crunching and pattern recognition. These remarkable birds have the needed data-crunching and analysis skills, beautiful plumage, and a number of psychic powers, but unfortunately they also turned out to essentially have severe Attention Deficit Disorder as a standard mental state, causing them to be either very lazy(prefers keeping on their backs) or motivated to get the hell out of there and explore. Subsequently those that weren't nailed to their perches soon went ''VOOM'', eventually spreading north as far as North America. They also have the ability to enter a death-like state of suspended animation. Or maybe they're just [[Monty_Python|pining for the Fjords]]... 

*'''Lyn-Srial''': A race of flying, four-armed featherless bird-headed people who have used their Cloud Magic to build a city for themselves in the Grand Canyon. Lyn-Srial tend to be Good by nature.

*'''Millennium Trees''': Giant sentient(and mostly benevolent) trees stretching thousands of feet tall. They grow on Ley Lines and Nexuses, and like having people live in their boughs and branches, to the point of growing places for them to live. Their twigs, leaves and branches can be used to make powerful magic items, but they tend to object ''explosively'' to people taking them without permission. They can be found in England, Africa, Europe, and Asia. The Yggdrasil of Norse mythology is a particularly large and ancient one.  There's an evil and twisted one in Germany's Black Forest.

*'''N'retas''': Anteater-people who mostly live in and around Mexico. N'retas have almost entirely assimilated into the life and culture of Earth, to the point most of them are Catholic. Being mortal beings in Mexico, a number of them have indeed been turned into Vampires, which is not easy on them due to lacking teeth. 

*'''Octomen''': Many-tentacled, good-hearted, butt-ugly child-to-man-sized octopus people with limited regeneration.  They were brought to Earth as slaves of the Splugorth, but some of them have gotten free.  Notable for their ability to take Paired Weapon skills and turn them into four weapons for min-maxing; the game even mentions they enjoy warm, dry climates and therefore make geographic sense as Gunslingers.

*'''Phoenixi''': These giant bird-men are born servants of the Egyptian Goddess Bennu. As such, they are as tough as a young dragon, Have several Psionic powers, ALL Fire magic, and an insane amount of PPE to cast it, can engulf themselves in flames, and can instantly regenerate from near-death to full life. Yes, this is one of the more overpowered races in the game, but since it was from a book almost nobody read(Africa), they are hardly used. 

*'''Pogtal Dragon Slayers''': These giants(13-28 feet tall) grew up on a forested world full of Dragons and similar large reptilian predators. Subsequently, they developed an immunity to fire of all kinds, an invisible field that protects them as well as turning any weapon they have into an MDC weapon. But their most striking feature is their huge mouth full of two rows of sharp teeth. 

*'''Power Leeches''': Cute, childlike D-Bees with potbellies and bald heads. They absorb energy, which makes them grow bigger and more powerful. This includes energy weapons fired near(or ''at'') them. 

*'''Quick-Flex Aliens''': These D-Bees look extremely close to Humans, save for smaller/slighter builds and tiny noses. They are however very agile, with reflexes that rival Juicers or Crazies(i.e.: they get an automatic dodge right off the bat). They make great pilots and gun-fighters(especially Gunslingers!), but can do little else. The temperament for things like magic or technical/scholarly pursuits just isn't there. 

*'''Shemarrans''': These cyborg warrior women riding metal dinosaurs are believed to be D-Bees from another world, but are actually robots created by Archie Three.

*'''Simvan''': Savage, cannibalistic nomads with an ability to tame animals and monsters of various kinds. 

*'''Spinne''': Oddly German Spider-people. They are arguably two races; the ''Starke'', a bookish bloodline descended from web-building spiders, and the ''Schnellig'', who came from hunting spiders. As noted above, lived and warred with the Chasseur Vert for centuries in the past of their homeworld. 

*'''Wolfen''': A race of giant (7-9 feet tall) Wolf-people. They're prominent in both the Palladium Fantasy and Three Galaxies universes, and as such many have made it to Rifts' Earth. In particular Italy where they use an organization similar to Ancient Rome.

*'''Yeno''': A scaley/armored race of aliens with short tempers and the ability to naturally fire energy blasts or generate forcefields. There are plenty of sayings about how ill-tempered and vengeful Yeno can be. Many of them end with some variation of "and then the speaker was shot in the back by a nearby Yeno who overheard and took offense to that remark."

*'''Zembahk''': A three- to five-foot-long fleshy worm with a single white eye. They have impressive Psionic and magic powers, and are pretty nice guys in general. Unfortunately the Splugorth discovered them, and worse, that they make excellent components for their horrific Bio-Wizardry.