When the Earth was shaken by the series of events that created the Rifts, these portals opened to many other areas of the Multiverse, some good and others so evil that they redefine the word. Many of these other realms had been entirely consumed by alien entities that were more than happy to expand their control to Earth. These powerful creatures of the void took control of whatever humans they had easy access to, and by granting them great powers, created The Vampire Kingdoms that consumed (literary) Mexico, Central and South America!
A new definition of Vampire:
For decades now, vampires have been in the various Fantasy and Horror RPGs as a force to be reckoned with. In most cases, the best way to deal with a Vampire in any game was to RUN AWAY! These horrible creatures from legends are nearly unstoppable by mere mortals. One of the greatest strengths is the disbelief of their very existence by most of the population (a game called Vampire: The Masquerade that is almost entirely based on this concept). However, these foul creatures merely use this to increase their numbers as they slowly replace the human population.
However, the vampires themselves are mere servants of a far more powerful creature. These things are only known as the Vampire Intelligence and no, that isn't something like the CIA! These creatures possess (in a way) the humans who become vampires, granting them super natural powers and near invulnerability. These new creatures become the front line of the army that protects and feeds the creature through a collective intelligence much like colonies of certain insects. There are only a few ways to kill one of these creatures, none of them easy.
The easiest way to stop one is to do it before the horror really begins. Simply stated, kill off all the vampires it has created before it can form a strong link to your dimension. This is not a simple task, because as long as there is even a single vampire in the world, the intelligence can continue to secretly build a power base.
The second way is much more difficult. Once the creature has thousands of vampires in the world, it will be able to travel physically to the world. Once this trip is completed, the only way to get rid of the beast is to find its lair, fight through the army of vampires (typically hundreds of personal guards) and then fight the thing face to face and kill it! These creatures have super regenerative powers, so the trick is to dish out damage faster than it can heal itself. Kill the beastie and all the vampires it controlled are instantly destroyed.
But the monster can still prevent that! If it realizes that it is about to die, it can open a Rift to another dimension and flee. Doing this causes it a great deal of harm, often placing it near to death, but it will survive. Most of the vampires it had created will perish, while those that survive will flee to their place of rest and fall into a deep sleep until the Master returns decades later. Now all you have to do is find every single vampire that survived and kill it within the dormant period to permanently keep the creature from returning.
Different types of Vampires:
Now legends have always suggested that vampires come in many shapes and forms. The older ones are often referred to as Master Vampires. Rifts takes this on to redefine the creatures and make them even more deadly than before. The Master Vampire can either kill or create new vampires. These Master Vampires are the most foul of the species because they alone choose their fate when offered by the intelligence. The change is permanent and can never be undone.
Master Vampires can create other vampires, with or without the victim’s consent. These new creatures are Secondary Vampires. Secondary Vampires make up the bulk of the force that an intelligence draws its power from. Secondary Vampires also have the ability to create more vampires, but the greater number of those will be Wild. Do not be fooled by term Secondary Vampire. These creatures have all the powers and abilities of the Masters, however they also have a chance to fight off the virus and become independent of the control of the Master. These can be used as Player Characters, but they must still feed!
Wild Vampires are much more dangerous than either the Masters or Secondary Vamps. Why? Wild Vampires are created in two ways. The process of becoming a vampire makes them slightly retarded because they are created by Secondary Vampires and the process didn't work quite right. The other way of a Wild Vampire coming into being is for it to be driven insane (often from starvation), thus reducing them to an animalistic state of being. Even a Master Vampire can suffer this fate! Wild Vampires are far too difficult to control and often are banished from the collective that they were intended to be a part of. These creatures can also create more vampires, but these will always be Wild and not a part of the collective. Players can also use wild Vampires in the game.
Wow! But what about the new regions?
This Rifts book is called a World Book because it focuses on a part of Earth that is, in essence, a different world. The invested areas of Mexico and Central America are spoken of in great detail. Many of the cities of Mexico are still putting up the good fight, but without the heroes (in the form of Players) it is a losing battle. Even though the war is being fought near the Mexico/US border, the real vampire kingdoms are far to the south. Entire civilizations of Vampires are down there and they control the human population and raise them like cattle.
There is a great deal of information about the cities that remain as strongholds of humanity against the hordes of evil. Still, not even these strongholds are immune to the encroaching vampires. That northern Mexico is relatively free of vampires is a great deception created by the foul beasts intended to lure more people from the northern reaches.
In addition to the info about the cities, there are all new monsters to use for both Rifts and other Palladium games. Most of these are demons or equally foul monsters. You will also find the stats for many Non Player Characters, both good and evil. There are even the details about several of the Vampire Intelligences to include the location of three lairs.
There aren't any real adventures, per se in this book. However, it would be vary easy to put something together from the info gained about the cities and traveling shows. The potential of adventure offered by this single volume is endless. A GM could quite easily run adventures for the rest of his life from this book alone.
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