~ Book of Heresy 11:28

The Golden Age of mankind is lost to nuclear and magical apocalypse. The many cities that once stood have either been scavenged to their foundation stones, buried in the holocaust, or stand as barren lonely testimonials to the greatness that man once knew. Only now, after untold centuries, has mankind been able to pull itself from the brink of near total extinction and once again struggles to reclaim the world.

After the destruction, Earth was plunged into a Dark Age that lasted for an unrecorded length of time. Scholars argue that he age of darkness lasted approximately 300 years, however there are equally substantial arguments that place that date at 500 or even 700 years. During that time mankind had to reinvent survival tactics in a primitive land, and learn to combat the alien and demonic forces that had been unleashed from other worlds by the return of magic. Radiation fallout, nuclear winter, magical wild-lands, Rifts, predators, and marauders were just a few of the challenges that pressed against the survivors of teh apocolypse.

1 PA on the Post-Apocalyptic calendar (PA) which originates from the Coalition States and has been adopted by scholars across North America as a common measuring point for the emergence of Humanity from the Dark Age. Only a pitiful handful of technological centers have begun to claw their way into a semblance of nations. Of these some accept and build upon the fact of an awakened world, while some reject magic in all its forms. In these places a person has the highest chance to escape the harsh reality of life that the vast majority of those who live in North America toil under. In these places people have the time to germinate ideas and ideals, and attempt to support them. However most of North America is uncharted wilderness, empty and vast where humanity struggles for survival against the elements and the predators who hunt them.
These are mostly simple folk, illiterate, ignorant, superstitious, and isolated. They claw at the land for sustenance as homesteaders, follow herds of wild game as nomads, or ply the wooded lands of the north as trappers. They can be found in small towns dotted across the land, basic poor communities that gather together for mutual security. Often these towns survive for only a scant few years before they are destroyed or abandoned, usually fallen prey to demonic forces or alien invaders (D-bees). Just as often they are raided by barbarians and annihilated, or taken over by self-serving bandits armed with some high tech weaponry the locals are unable to defend against. The odds against any startup community surviving are highly stacked against them.
Rarely, things will just happen to fall into place. The community prospers due to being located in a less well-traveled region, such is the case with Windshiem. Perhaps some regional resource such as a pre-Rifts ruin, or a source of raw materials that spurs the local economy causes a community spoiled by raiders to continually rebuild until it can defend itself. Or perhaps a group of very powerful persons decide to band together and found a community and act as its benevolent protectors, avoiding the trap of despotism and allow it to grow such as in the case of Lazlo and Tolkeen. For the most part however, homesteaders and start up towns are transient, here one day and gone the next. One of the most limiting factors in many communities is the lack of technology. Technology effects far more than just the resources needed for defense. Healthcare, farming techniques, industry, and social organization are all affected by a lack of technology. Disease and famine are common in the wilderness and have claimed even some well-established towns, destroying them more effectively than any band of barbarians.

The majority of communities are Tech Level 4, with a scattering of high tech items that have either endured the ages and are pre-Rifts, or have been imported from the industrial powers of North America. Commerce between scattered towns, where it exists at all, is completely barter based and dependent upon the basic principles of supply and demand. Peddlers and traveling merchants are rare, the dangers of travel are simply too great to realize enough profit to make it viable. Only in areas pacified by powerful cities, or states offer that kind of trade, and often such powers have created their own currency based economies. The majority of wilderness communities are barely more than trading posts, and have populations under five hundred ragtag souls. Many are miles, often a hundred miles away from the nearest neighbor, let alone the next community.

BARBARIANS

A good number of wilderness communities still exist in the clannish violent ways of raiders and Barbarians. Most of these communities are homesteaders who farm or trap the land, however they supplement their supplies with captured goods, slaves, and the fruits of others labors. Some are even more primitive, just a notch above cavemen in how they exist. Native Americans and Psy-Stalkers are often the only groups these Barbarians treat as equals, all others are viewed with suspicion and as targets for plunder.

In these communities, “might makes right”, and the leaders are often the most powerful, or effective warriors of the band. Often they have captured some technological weapons and the core of the Warband is equipped with them. Rrifles, handguns and small explosives are the most common tech items, with a scattering of high tech body armors and weapons. More often the armors they wear are a collection of metal items sewn together, parts of ancient car doors, scraps of metal sewn to leather backing, cooking pots for helms and similar items invented for personal protection. The overall appearance of a barbarian warband is eclectic and frightening in its diversity and wild appearance.
Barbarian raids are often fast, brutal, and destructive. Raiders take no chances and shoot to kill when they meet with any opposition. Further, they have learned that the more confusion they inflict upon a community, the less likely they are to meet with organized resistance. As such it is common practice to torch several buildings during a raid to give the defenders multiple concerns to compete with. Livestock, food stores, technology, women, and children, virtually anything of value that isn’t difficult to carry away are prime targets in a raid. On occasion a large warband will enslave an entire community and raze the town to the ground.
Dealing with such bands is as tricky as dealing with any group of thieves and cutthroats. It’s always recommended to appear from a standpoint of strength, so as not to make it appear as an easy mark. Barter is the only economy these people know and so if something is desired of the raiders it will need to be traded from them. Sometimes they will offer to allow particularly powerful groups to go raiding with them, however they should never be trusted. Most of them would stab you in your sleep and rob your corpse, or sell their mother into slavery for a hot meal.

Barbarian camps are often composed entirely of a single race – human or one specific type of D-bee. In a world where anyone can be a demon in disguise, and trust is seldom given easily, its easier for people to trust others of their own kind. However some bands of barbarians have become such due to the intolerance of others. These dispossessed and outcast people (often from every conceivable race) band together simply to increase their likelihood of survival. There is strength in numbers, and desperation calls for extreme measures, such as taking what one needs from those who can’t defend what they have. How ironic that in some of the least trusted and most reviled of social groups, racial hatreds and animosity are finally conquered.

The Dark Age Lingers

As noted, nothing has changed for most wilderness folk in many hundreds of years. Even if they had heard of the Post Apocalyptic Calendar most wouldn’t give a damn about it. Time is measured by changing seasons and people rarely set foot more than 40 miles from the place they were born. Barbarians, tribal people, and trapper-woodsmen being the exceptions. These folks may travel hundreds of miles from their settlements in search of prey and other resources. What this means is that these people hold onto the ideas and concepts that have prevailed for centuries. Even established towns and fledgling city-states hold on to long running beliefs.
The following are some of the more popular and widely accepted beliefs of the wilderness people in North America. Unless stated otherwise, these views are held by humans and D-bees alike. Remember that most D-bees have not come to Rifts Earth by choice. Many were plucked from their native wolds, often without warning, and plunged through a dimensional Rift. These victims of dimensional magic know nothing about Earth except what they are told. Consequently, they only know the prevailing myths.

1) THE NAMELESS GODS – Half of all wilderness people believe the Dark Age of myth is about gods smiting down humankind completely. Even the Church of the Resurgent God agrees with this mythology, although they preach a monotheistic religion which is actually based on a pre-Rifts faith.

2) ANTI-TECHNOLOGY – Many folks, perhaps as many as half all wilderness communities believe the god(s) brought magic into the world to “…destroy and forever hold down human tek-knowledge –ee”. Consequently they fear technological items as dangerous and believe they should be forsaken lest people bring about a second apocolypse.

3) ANTI-MAGIC – Many more wilderness folk fear and distrust magic. They point out that it was “magic” that was used to destroy the old world of “tek-knowledge-ee”, and It’s “magic” that is responsible for the Ley Lines and dimensional portals that bring demons and monsters to the world. Some so adamantly fear magic that they attack and destroy any who wield the mystical arts, or oppose them in any way they can. Humans who hold this view have flocked to the Coalition States over the last 75 years, provided they don’t also fear technology.

4) DEMONS AND SUPERNATURAL BEINGS – Such creatures are seen as punishment sent by the god(s) to torment and keep humans locked in such a state of chaos and misery that they might never again raise to challenge the god(s). Such beings are natural enemies to be destroyed whenever possible. Any mortal, human or D-bee, who allies himself to such diabolical creatures is a traitor and a fool, and deserves death even more than the entities they fight for.

5) D-BEES ARE THE ENEMY – Racial prejudice and fear have eclipsed the old concept of bigotry, racial prejudice had jumped from the color of your skin, to the species you are born into. Fear of the unknown divides the many people of Rifts Earth. Human supremacists point to the passage in the book of Heresy which reads;

“To make certain human cunning wold not, one day, elevate them to challenged god again, humans would never again know the peace of isolation. And so it was, that god called forth the Rifts, and from them rushed the Dragon, the Demon, the Smivan, and the Fury Beetle, and all manner of monsters, wicked spirits, and some beings neither monster nor human… Dimensional beings (here the text seperates into two versions, the following is found in the teachings of the Coalition States) brought to Earth to overshadow humans and keep them low. (The following text is found in the teachings of the Resurgent god…) have been brought to earth to teach humans that they are not supreme in gods universe. These dimensional beings will carry the flame of justice and aid humanity in the struggle for survival.”
~ Book of Heresy 23:9

As a result, depending upon the philosophy followed, all of these creatures are viewed as enemies of humankind, to be destroyed. The Coalition States teach that D-bees are the most dangerous of all as they live like humans in the human world. They compete for the same food, the same resources, and the same lands which makes them the true menace.
As one might expect, the anti-Dimensional being sentiment has worked to make some D-bees, especially those like the Simvan who are already predisposed towards violence, to fulfill the expectations of the human supremacists by becoming the competing rivals and enemies of humankind that they are reported to be. The Simvans are a particularly good example of a D-bee race that has adapted to Rifts Earth and kept to their own kind, while seeing all others as enemies to be driven away or destroyed. This ethnocentric attitude is one of self defense against the agression of hate filled humans. Yet hope remains, there are growing numbers of communities that are realizing the value of a diverse population that enables them to address and overcome a variety of problems. The Church of the Resurgent God continues to grow and attract followers from across North America, and one day may grow powerful enough to confront the Coalition and all human supremacist states with a united front.