Rifts(tm) Alaska

[Khanibal]

They might have a more experienced writer head the project, but you've already done the bulk of the research. You should at least offer to collaborate.

[Aramanthus]

It's great material Gundamchief! I know of several of the things you wrote. You have added a lof of very interesting information. We can always use more information. Thank you and keep adding to this thread. Your knowledge is quite astonishing! I saw them talking about one of the facilities up in Alaska testing gear on Future weapons.

[Princedarkstorm]

You should do a worldbook !

[Aramanthus]

I think he and those others could provide seeds to get this project off the ground. I know everyone contributations are important.

[Princedarkstorm]

Very true !

[Aramanthus]

Now hopefully others will be coming back here in the near future.

[GundamChief]

Hey all, I'm sorry I have taken so long to reply to this topic but life up here can get..cold and hectic.

anyways, last post i said I would come up with some more information, I decided to cover a little on the mystical aspect of Alaska. For this I had looked up most of the legends and myths of Alaska as well as ghost stories and general history of thing that were lost to time.

To begin it must be established that although most would believe that demons and monsters in alaska would not be as big a problem as it is down where the Coalition and magical kingdoms rule, this is in fact not entirley true. In the World Canada book, all of the demons presented would in fact represent 20% of the Demons/monsters to be found in Alaska, and as a minor note it would be more appropriate to call the Demon bear (pg: 170-172 Canada) the "Little Bear Demon".

The first thing to touch on would be gods and spirits. In Alaska (and most native american tribes) the central figure would be "Raven". In legends Raven is credited to be both creator and trickster, credited in creating or at the least molding mankind and for allowing the world as we know it to exist (sometimes reluctantly or outright against his will). He is the native version of promethius, giving fire to mankind either to show how to keep warm and cook fish or stolen from a man who another creature that wished to not share and had his feathers turned black in the process. He is the native version of pandora, either through himself or his son by turning into a leaf and getting swollowed be a chieftans wife. Soon after becoming a child and after a few years throws a fit untill he gets to play with a box that contained the sun, the moon and the stars. eventually he threw and stars and the moon into the sky giving light to the world and the chief got angier each time he did until finally he released the sun and burned his feathers black from its power. He is also the Native version of Posiedon, as through is power he controlled the tides of the world by creating a deep pit that goes into the earth and covers it with a lid, he places a man in charge of lifting the lid and closing the lid twice daily. Although I cannot be certain, Raven would most likely be either one of the greater gods or the king of whatever pantheon this would be called. It would also be good to assume that he had a son since it is often mentioned he did.

Despite the existance of the pantheon however it, like the pantheon presented in the spirit west world book would be small. Most Native American tribes, and especially Alaskan tribes were more shamanistic then outright god believers, in fact the legend of the old woman and her son "Bear" (who was in fact a bear) would be the source and reason the Angakoq O.C.C. exists. The spirits of the animals and land itself were sources of worship and power and the mountains, the sea, the bears, the moose, the ravens, the whales, and rivers and trees the centers of said beliefs. The Northern Lights (Aurora Borialis) were also believed to be either a gathering of souls from all things that have died visiting to show that they still exist in some way or are the souls of those who had died all around the entire world departing to some place beyond. So it would go without saying that the Shaman spells from that of the Spirit west book as well as canada would very much apply as well as the need for more specific to this location. It can also be said that Aurora during the coming of the Rifts would either be exactly what the legends describe or even worse a place where monsters and demons dropped from the sky or even become a super ley-line storm. either way it could easily be considered a conduit of magic and like the full moon/summer-winter soltice could increase a magic users P.P.E. for a period of time (though not consistantly).

Spirits of animals and plants as well as people would be part of everyday life in alaska if only to show the large amount of energy given off by said location. Spirits and demons are drawn to areas with large amounts of magical energy, and alaska has that in spades. Among the most of the places where spirits and monsters are believed to dwell today, the most well known is the "Alaskan Bermuda Triangle". A triangle whose points go from Barrow to Anchorage to Juneau and would be considered the worlds largest land based ley-line system (by length if not by size) and would be one of many reasons for past disappearances (of course in real life it would be more likely that planes get caught in the fog/ bad weather and crash as it is primarily over a vast mountain range). The native Tlingit that live near Juneau believe that an evil spirit called "Kushtaka", a cross between a man and an otter, captures people who have drowned or have gotten lost in this region and are taken away to his realm. In any case this location could easily be used as a point for leyline storms and a place where demons, entire cities, people from other parts of the world or even from other worlds could be introduced to the place. This also would be a reason the Lord of the Deep would even want to reach there as it would have the energy of Alaskan triangle and Devils Triangle (Japan) for its use.

Going into Demons, I had said in the beggining of this post that what has been mentioned in the Canada book would only represent 20% of what there is to be found. Although I don't actually know its name the most powerful Demons to be found are the monster animals. These animals are actually spirits that have for one reason or another was tainted or became corrupted, came to hate man as well as all living things and grew to enourmous size.

The most well known is that of the Monster Bear, a legend in the coastal tribes is the story of a fisherman who went out to hunt seal and wandered to far on the ice away from land, as he went further away he was then startled by an angry voice asking him why he had come where man could not tread (the Ice and ocean are the domains of the fish and animals) and the man answered to which the voice told him leave and starve. The man would not and caught a seal, the voice became enraged and revealed itself as a bear that hid inside of an iceberg tip, and was twice the hieght and length of a humpback whale. In rage it charged and chased the man crushing the ice underfoot, the man however being clever and smaller was able to hide and dive around the many ice cliffs that had formed fromt the bears rampage. Eventually the man made it to land where the bear chased him and was confronted by the entire village, all of the men and women threw thier harpoons into the bear and bound him to the land where he could not crush and thunder. The villagers and the man killed the bear and soon its spirit was released from this shell and thanked the man for his deed, it then revealed that it became a monster because a spirit that hated man gave him man meat and forced him to become a maneater. The more men he ate the larger he became and the angier he became. as a thankyou he told the man that he could eat his body and use his fur and bones and return the balance to the way it should be. The man told the villagers this and they rejoiced and celebrated, they thanked the bear and made him part of thier villages totem and they were fed and warmed and hunted with the best tools for many years.

The giant monsters make up 30% of the beasts to be found as animal are considered intellegent like men. There are also legends of Werewolves but that has been covered in canada, and there are the monsters in Rifts Underseas book as well as the Mystic Russia book which adds 40% of the demons, thus brining it upto 90%. That last 10% would be covered by elementals ranging from air, earth, water and fire to plant and of course ghosts and entities. These Ghost and entities would not just be spirits of animals and natives who in part came to this form from thier beliefs and association but also of people that died during the Coming of the Rifts as a large numer of people would have died in Anchorage and if it were still around (or at least Ruins) would be like madhaven. Needless to say, it would be F*&%$% up.

...I got nothing more for now but still.

As for the World book, I have decided to take somewhat serious look into the possibility in making a world book. I have decided to try, however besides just copying the style and setup of said book straight out of other world books I would like some idea of how this should be done. Post a note to me or just doing it here is fine. we'll see what happens.

[Aramanthus]

These are some great ideas. I've heard some of what you mentioned at the begining, thanks to Scouting. I think you information could form a nice core of the magic and mystic section of the world book.

Now I'm not sure if anybody outside of Alaska is following the posiible volcano that might blow up in Alaska. Mount Redoubt is the common name. I'm not sure if it has a name from the native Amewricans there. I'd be interested in hearing it.

[Princedarkstorm]

The Demon or monster bear reminded me of the HISTORY CHANNEL MONSTERQUESt when they did the show on the killer bears .

[GundamChief]

The Demon or monster bear reminded me of the HISTORY CHANNEL MONSTERQUESt when they did the show on the killer bears .

Yeah I've seen that too. They downplayed it quite abit from how much there really was to the legends and stories but that was pretty much what they were talking about. There are also stories about giant beavers, otters, eagles, and fish.

Granted that not all of the giant animals were in fact monsters, quite a few of them were like the Thunderbirds of legend, benign or even good. Most however were involved in destruction or a singular human's survival against overwhelming odds.

[Aramanthus]

I've heard about the giant versions of animals located up there. And how those very creatures are part of the mythology of Alaska. I remember and found an interesting reference to something you mentioned. It could be stil around in out the way places. Here is the link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbird_(cryptozoology)

[GundamChief]

Wikipedia:In 2002, a sighting of a large birdlike creature, with a wingspan of around 14 feet, was reported in Alaska. Scientists suggested the giant bird may have simply been a Steller's Sea-Eagle, which have a wingspan of 6-8 feet.

hmm, I kinda remember that...well not really. On the Glen-Highway (road to/from Anchorage) there's a place called Thunderbird Falls, haven't been there in years though.

[Aramanthus]

Someplace in my stuff I've got the actual newspaper article that was published in my home towns newspaper about that incident.

[Princedarkstorm]

Like a Liger ?

[taalismn]

It's worth mentioning thatthe old TV series 'Northern Exposure' had a wonderful 'Christmas Pangeant' episode featuring one of the Raven trickster tales ...the parallels between that, Christianity, aspects of Hinduism, and Greek mythology were striking...

[Princedarkstorm]

Oh realy?

[taalismn]

Oh realy?

Yep..the assumption of mortal form to enter into the lives of the common people, both to educate them, and to sneak into the lair of his enemy(Indian deities are notorious for assuming mortal form to prank and poke their enemies, conduct dalliances, etc), the stealing of some great source of power(in this case, the Sun, kept concealed from the rest of the world in an evil shaman's tent), and its freeing to the benefit of the rest of humanity(the Promethean tale).

[Aramanthus]

I've heard of some of those tales when I was a boy scout. But I haven't heard them all. I think it is cool and too bad most people never hear about these wonderful tales that kept people ancestors myths. I always enjoy hearing some of these old myths.