Another Cataclysm?

[MidnightNova]

It is pretty much understood that the Great Cataclysm/Coming of the Rifts started with an unfortunately timed and located nuclear strike on a city that send a metaphorical ton of PPE/life energy into the ley line grid, jumpstarting the multidimensional chain reaction that was the Great Cataclysm. This was magnified by the strike being on the winter solstice (And possibly midnight, not sure if that was ever said).

So in the modern days (Y109-Y110) what would happen if someone hit a city with a high-kiloton or low megaton nuclear warhead, super-dimension beam (Macross), Mass driver from a splugie Taskmaster, or other city-killer WMD? Could another cataclysm happen?

1: Could it happen at all. Or have the energy balances of the multidimensional structure of the continuum been as amplified/wrecked as they can possibly get?

2: Would you need the same "Perfect Storm" of circumstances as in the Great Cataclysm vis a vis solstice, nexus point, etc?

3: If a full "Great Cataclysm 2" is not possible, then what about a lesser version? Not as destructive but things like earthquakes and other seismic chaos on some level, maybe increased rift activity for a short while.

And what happens if you atomize a city that is not on a ley line/nexus at all?

[Warshield73]

It is pretty much understood that the Great Cataclysm/Coming of the Rifts started with an unfortunately timed and located nuclear strike on a city that send a metaphorical ton of PPE/life energy into the ley line grid, jumpstarting the multidimensional chain reaction that was the Great Cataclysm. This was magnified by the strike being on the winter solstice (And possibly midnight, not sure if that was ever said).

So in the modern days (Y109-Y110) what would happen if someone hit a city with a high-kiloton or low megaton nuclear warhead, super-dimension beam (Macross), Mass driver from a splugie Taskmaster, or other city-killer WMD? Could another cataclysm happen?

I Just reread some of this stuff from Chaos Earth and Rifts (RMB, RUE, Space, WB5 & WB8) for something I was working on but I have to preface this with the usual "you are the GM and the master of your world so if you want it you can do it". In my game I had my players trying to stop a cult from setting off what they thought another GC but thry ended up bringing about a partial Dark Day so do what is fun for your group. That said

1: Could it happen at all. Or have the energy balances of the multidimensional structure of the continuum been as amplified/wrecked as they can possibly get?

It can get worse, Chaos Earth is way worse than RIfts Earth so yeah you can make it worse but you just don't have the tools to work with. No planetary alignment, no dammed up PPE waiting to be unleashed but most importantly not enough people. Billions of people died in the GC and provided a lot of PPE, there just aren't enough, IMO, sentient beings to make it work. Add to that that a lot of places, lake Atlantis, have things like pyramids to protect them from the worst so don't see how you get the body count for it.

2: Would you need the same "Perfect Storm" of circumstances as in the Great Cataclysm vis a vis solstice, nexus point, etc?

If I was doing it I think you need some of it or something equivalent. I think you could get a local catastrophe. Some place with plenty of people and/or monsters with PPE and a war. Europe with gargoyle invasion or North America with the minion war, someone drops a few nukes, or there mystical equivalents, and you get a mini-GC. What I love about this is you could have an event in one place but the worst effects might be felt somewhere else. So big boom and lots of released PPE in Europe but you get a return of chaos in California, or Australia, or in orbit.

3: If a full "Great Cataclysm 2" is not possible, then what about a lesser version? Not as destructive but things like earthquakes and other seismic chaos on some level, maybe increased rift activity for a short while.

I think this is a given, you just need a sizable release of PPE, so lots of dead things, and boom.

And what happens if you atomize a city that is not on a ley line/nexus at all?

I would imagine that you would get at least some increase in LL activity in the region, maybe you would even see the creation of a lay line, if such a thing is possible.

[Aermas]

You just gotta channel more PPE into the planet's leylines. So breaking pyramids & killing a lot of people on special days. As for what would happen... well the Yucatan anomaly would grow. Eventually the whole planet would be lost to a giant space rift or something.