Fort Reid, how it was before it was destroyed

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Fort Reid, how it was before it was destroyed

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4 days ago...
Today, Fort Reid is a bustling community of ten thousand plus. A hundred or more new recruits gather in every diner, or bustle about in the streets. Their words are filled with dreams of crushing evil, becoming famous, and the virtues of Reid's Rangers. A visitor or new recruit might well imagine the town to be a modern-day Camelot, and the men and women within its walls as the knights-errant who travel the land, rooting out injustice or heroic cowboys taking down desperados. This heady feeling of hope is something quite unique to the average people of Rifts Earth, and in particular, Mexico. It is a rare thing for them to dream of a brighter tomorrow, and the presence of the original Rangers at the Fort only exacerbates their fervor. When not off leading a campaign to right some wrong, the likes of Raoul Lazarious, Grizzly Carter, Carlotta la Blanca, Mii-tar the Destroyer, Vyurr Kly, Meetal the Butcher and the others, teach the recruits the art of combat and beguile them with tales of adventure. The majority of volunteers who come to the fort are farmers and shepherds. Many are mere children, boys in their early teens. Others are young men and women with high ideals and soaring spirits. Few know anything about waging war or slaying vampires. They are given two to four weeks of the most rudimentary combat training, taught the basics of vampire lore, given suitable weapons for the task, and finally, are dubbed "Rangers." They are then sent on missions that the best trained soldier would be hard-pressed to accomplish. When they die, and they die by the truck-full, a story of bravery and sacrifice is sung in their name. In death they have become titanic heroes, martyrs for a great cause. For their families, their lives and deaths seem to have been given meaning. In their home villages they are remembered as the valiant who fought to free their families from the tyranny of the vampire menace. Their graves are covered with flowers and tokens of gratitude. It was enough that they were members of Reid's Rangers, there need not be any questions regarding how or why they died. Their deaths also serve to inflame more youths to rush to join the ranks of the Rangers so that their brethren may be avenged. If Fort Reid is some kind of new Camelot, and the original Rangers are the Knights of the Round Table, then Doctor Kenneth Reid surely plays the part of King Arthur. To hear people speak, the man was born to lead his warriors on a noble journey into the pages of history. Indeed, the fame and glory of any who follow him seem assured. At least 60% of those who join the Rangers come just to become one of Doc Reid's supporters. The would-be heroes trek across miles of open prairie or desert, arriving in the hundreds and from all walks of life. Their dream: To live and perhaps die as one of Reid's Rangers. It is in this desire, and in the people's fanatical faith in Doc Reid, that the seeds of destruction may be sown. The cycle of death perpetuates Doc Reid's mad delusions of godhood, fuels his crusade against the undead, and drives his quest for immortality. It seems to outsiders, that he seldom considers the consequences of his actions which have condemned so many to the grave. He has come to believe the stories of his own divinity and his destiny to become the savior of the land. Blood must be spilled so that the dream can continue. Not just his dream, but the dream of freedom for millions of people across Mexico. Sacrifices must be made. He accepts this, as do the thousands who so willingly place their lives in his care. Doc Reid ignores the critics, for how can others, especially outsiders, question his motives? How can they speak of injustice and cruelty when they do not understand, or lack the courage themselves, to make the dream of freedom from the vampires a reality? It is a good dream. A bold dream that Doc Reid holds dear. However, is it a dream born from hope or madness? And what of the methods and motives of some of his lieutenants? Are they part of his plan or something dark and dangerous? Time, as they say, will tell.
Fort Reid is the largest and most secure human stronghold in all of Old Mexico. It is also the manifestation of its founder's burgeoning ambition - some would say, madness.

The town itself was carved out of the ruins of Torreon, a preRifts city situated along the banks of the Nazas River that once boasted several universities and an international airport. Torreon was also home to the Cristo de las Noas, a seventy foot (21.3 m) tall statue of Christ, and the third largest such statue in Latin America.


Fort Reid Highlights

Designer's Note: We have used the City Creation Rules as found in the Rifts® Adventure Guide as the mechanism to design Fort Reid. The basic attributes of the town have been listed below, which are then fleshed out in the pages that follow. Taken

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together, they make Fort Reid a believable and memorable setting. We hope it stands as an example of how this creation system enables Game Masters to quickly create outposts, towns, and even cities for their players to romp around in.

Orientation: Open and Friendly. Size: Wilderness Town. Weapons: Superior. Medicine: Superior. Agriculture: Fair. Real Estate: Bad. Vehicles & Fuel: Good. Administration: Fearless Leader. Alignment: Unprincipled. Magic: Good Knowledge. Racial Tolerance: Tolerant. Trade: Limited. Threats: Dangerous. Skill Level: Operators and Drivers. Overall: Average. Shelter: Fortified. Security: Sheriff & Militia. Power: Hydroelectric. Special Features: Aircraft hangar, museum, maps, M.D.C. ruins.

1. Outside of Fort Reid lies miles of ruins and rubble. Most of this has been reclaimed by the desert over the past three centuries. The best land lies along the fort's western edge where the Nazas River flows. The river allows for fishing and, thanks to irrigation ditches, some farming as well. Herds of dinosaurs can be found roaming freely for miles and miles along the banks, most typically Nodosaurs, including the water-loving Panoplosaurus (see Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms™, Revised for stats). Still, the land is generally too dry to provide enough food crops for the thousands of people living in the fort. As more and more people arrive annually with dreams of becoming Rangers, the problem of food shortages only gets worse.

2. Protective Walls and the Four Towers. 80% of the fort is surrounded by a wall of salvaged megacrete and M.D.C. steel; each 20 foot (6 m) section of the wall has 90 M.D.C. Only the riverside along the bank is comparatively open and even 50% of it has sections ofM.D.C. wall or S.D.C. fencing topped with barbed wire; the barbs coated in silver and crucifixes hung from it. As the open side of Fort Reid, there are many gates to get to the water. The exterior side of the rugged walls is covered in crosses painted in a variety of colors and designs, and in fact, maintaining these symbols is a favorite daytime chore for young children. There are four tall watchtowers that face the north, south, east, and west respectively. Huge spotlights, weapon turrets and around the clock lookouts are found atop each of the watchtowers. Along the way up each tower are numerous places for additional troops to position themselves in a fight. At the main point of entrance there is a smaller, pre-Rifts ruin that serves as a guard tower for the main southern entrance. Guards are stationed at the top, where a larger church bell is used to alert the fort of danger or attackers. The bottom floor of the building is a sort of welcoming area where visitors can check in. The second and third floors are storage areas for weapons and supplies. The fourth floor has a commissary, complete with kitchen, lounge and dining area, where Rangers on patrol and guard duty can gather and hang out together. There is also a large barracks area where a platoon of 60 men can bunk and even live. These troops are also likely to be the ones to be assigned to defensive positions along the top of the arch. On top of the roof, behind the bell, are several massive tanks of water that supply the water sprinkler system for the front archway into the fort. A water sprinkler system is built along the archway as an extra measure of defense. Though they cannot be seen during the day, there is a massive M.D.C. steel door with silver-etched symbols and designs, that slides out from the wall opposite the bell tower to seal the fort up at night and in emergencies. The bell tower also has a basement level where there is a chapel that can accommodate 200 people. The rest of the basement holds 300 preserved corpses and skeletons clad in pieces of M.D.C. armor (30 M.D.C. on average) and armed with weapons of wood. In case of attack, they can be animated by the dozen Necromancers and dozen Ley Line Walkers assigned to the defense of the main gate.

3. Training Ground. This large, open area is where new recruits are put through their paces. There are also several areas outside the walls of the fort where troops may go to practice.

4. Garage. Jeff Rogers (human Operator, 7th level) is the man in charge of the team that cares for and maintains all of the fort's mjlitary vehicles, robots, and power armor suits. A semi-retired adventurer, he is the type of natural mechanical genius who is more comfortable with machines and other Operators than with ordinary people. In fact, Jeff makes his home in a loft above of the machine floor. In addition to his regular duties, he is always interested in souping-up or repairing vehicles brought to him by independent adventurers.

5. Main Armory. When they aren't being repaired or serviced, this is where the robots and power armor are stored. The building is an excavated pre-Rifts parking garage with 3,000 M.D.C. left in total, and is constantly guarded by some of Lieutenant General Wilding's men. In fact, only the Lt. General and the nine original Rangers have unrestricted access to the building. A sightly smaller, attached building holds many of Fort Reid's guns, ammo, silver weapons, some magic weapons, and M.D.C. body armor.

6. Stables. Down near the river are a series of low buildings, pens and barns where most of the fort's livestock are housed. This includes most of the horses, camels and various Nodosaurs made available to Rangers on assignment. Grizzly Carter makes his home in one of the nearby buildings.

7. Colette Reid Memorial Hospital. Named after Doc Reid's stern, Quebecois mother, this building represents the finest medical facility south of the Rio Grande (the Vampire Kingdoms notwithstanding). Inside are 40 private rooms and nine wards that can each accommodate 20 patients comfortably. Four Smokeskipper hovering firetrucks that double as ambulances stand by at all times. Doc Reid is technically the Chief of Staff, but he has now largely retired from practicing medicine to instead focus on his vampire experiments and plotting the war against the Vampire Kingdoms. Instead, two 10th level Cyber-Docs run the place. The hospital staff includes eight Body Fixers (5-9th level), six holistic doctors (4-Sth level), 20 nurses (3-9th level) and 11 paramedics (local volunteers who have a few Medical and Science skills at +15%), as well as a dozen mjdwives, five psychic healers (5-7th level), and a Ley Line Walker (6th level) whose spell knowledge focuses on healing magic. A Lemurian Healer/Biomancer (5th

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level) has recently joined the staff as well. Many of the medical personnel come from humble, local peasant stock.

8. Reid Research Institute. The benign name of this simple, one story, white building belies its true purpose. This is where Doc Reid and his specialized team of vampire researchers study (read: torture) vampires. The concrete building more resembles a small warehouse of some sort or even a bunker that has been painted white. There are no windows and only four doors, though there is faint evidence that several conventional doors and a few windows have been removed and completely sealed off to look like the rest of the walls. Each door more resembles the hatch and airlock of a spaceship than anything else. Unearthing this find was a dream come true for Doc Reid, as it was a pre-Rifts (NEMA) science or medical infectious disease center. As such, it includes a few large laboratories and several research and operating rooms that can be sealed airtight and have doors and systems in place to prevent the escape of infectious disease and biological weapons. Or in this case, vampires that might turn to mist in an attempt to escape. This is where Doc Reid has conducted almost two decades of research and experimentation on vampires. It is also where he engages in interrogation and torture of vampires and their minions. 2D6 vampire "test subjects" are present at any given time.

9. Doc Reid's Home. Across from the hospital is Doc Reid's house. Surrounded by a meticulously manicured lawn, this stately, whitewashed building looks like it was teleported here from another time and place. In fact, it is a near replica of the house he grew up in back in Free Quebec, specially commissioned and built for him by local craftsmen. In the basement is his own private, state-of-the art laboratory, including specimen containment chambers for vampires and a jail cell for mortal prisoners who have earned the doctor's personal attention for interrogation.

10. Planktal-Nakton's Home. A deceptively simple looking, single story, adobe building, the home of Fort Reid's most powerful man of magic lies so close to the hospital that many people joke it might as well be attached to it. Oddly, they aren't all that far off, as the Necromancer's home actually contains a large tunnel that leads into the hospital's morgue. Sometimes, if a person dies at the hospital, and the body isn't claimed or identified by a loved one, it is covertly sent to the Necromancer. What he might use the bodies for is something that few like to think about. There are also rumors that either the hospital or Planktal-Nakton's home contains a secret room where three dozen or more preserved corpses, all clad in M.D.C. armor (Main Body 100 M.D.C. each) and armed with weapons of wood and silver, are kept as a platoon of dead that can be animated and sent against vampires or werebeasts. Actually, few people are allowed past General Planktal-Nakton's "sitting room," so rumors abound about zombies, mummies and all manner of dead things that might be kept or reside within.

11. Museum. Artifacts dating back to the late 21st Century, many of them excavated from the remains of Torreon, are kept inside a museum. A 9th level Rogue Scholar named Piedad Munoz calls this place her home and acts as curator. Every year she selects four apprentices to come and stay with her, and then teaches them how to read and write, and shares with them the basics of pre-Rifts history. The most promising of the students are eventually trained as cartographers and given access to the museum's library of pre-Rifts road maps. They then painstakingly update these by hand and distribute them to the Rangers.

12. Hydroelectric Dam. Spanning the northernmost portion of the Nazas River is a small dam with a hydroelectric facility from which the fort generates almost all of its electrical needs.

13. Raoul & Carlotta's Home. Built out near the edge of town, as the Cyber-Knight and his beautiful companion value their privacy. A tall stone wall surrounds the house, and only those who are invited by the couple ever get to come inside.

14. Sonreindo Demonio Bar and Grill. A large, three-story building, the "Smiling Demon," as it is called in American, is a favorite place to eat and relax. A bar and kitchen are found on the main floor, and upstairs are a total of two dozen comfortable rooms. Vyurr Kly lives in the largest of the suites and has a good relationship with the owner.

15. El Cristo de las Noas. Atop a hill outside of the fort towers is the largely intact, pre-Rifts remains of a 71.5 foot (21.8 m) statue of Jesus Christ. At some point during the Dark Age that followed the collapse of human civilization, someone - presumably Warlocks or Elemental Fusionists of some sort or another created a massive 20 story (238 foot/72.5 m) replica of the statue. It towers behind the comparatively small statue and like the original statue, the giant edifice is made of alabaster stone. It stands with arms outstretched and gives many living at and around Fort Reid a sense of security and purpose. At some point in its existence, the original statue has suffered damage. One hand is missing and there are cracks and evidence of blast marks. Though it could be repaired, Doc Reid has decreed that it be left as it was found in deference to its original artists. According to local legend, the larger statue has stood over the blessed waters of Nazas River for more than 200 years. Nobody knows who built giant statue or why, but legend has it that giants made of stone once roamed the area more than two centuries ago. It is also common knowledge that vampires seldom come within two miles (3.2 km) of this place, though they can. Vampires take an immediate dislike of the edifice and feel uncomfortable within view of the thing. Mii-tar makes his home in one of the nearby restored buildings and finds the statue brings him a sense of peace and hope. A 7th level Air/Earth Elemental Fusionist lives in the shadow of the two statues and functions as their protector. A force of 12 soldiers are constantly encamped around them to protect them from vampire attacks; more when the Fort falls under siege. Their destruction would be a great blow to the morale of the Rangers, not that the vampires seem to realize this.
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