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MyGURPS - Three Galaxies Summary

Three Galaxies Summary

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Three Galaxies is an important dimension in the Rifts setting. Many rifts connect Earth to planets here (especially to Phase World), resulting in a surprising amount of overlap between our two planes of existence. This page is designed to give a very, very basic primer on the contents of the Three Galaxies.

For each civilization, the "Races" sections cover just the dominant races, listed from most to least common.

The Three Galaxies

These star systems are relatively close. The Corkscrew sits between the Thundercloud and the Anvil, separated from each by just 20-30,000 light years.

  • The Thundercloud: Small galaxy with 7 trillion people. Has a supermassive black hole (the Vortex) at its center.
  • The Corkscrew: Oldest and largest galaxy with 12 trillion people.
  • The Anvil: The smallest galaxy with 6 trillion people. Has a dense star-field (the Core) at its center.

The Cosmic Forge and Cosmo-Knights

It is commonly believed that godlike progenitors known as The First built a sentient Cosmic Forge and used it to expand and empower the universe with ley line energy. The First are long gone but their Forge remains, hidden away, credited with a variety of miracles. Swearing "by the Forge" is more common than swearing to any god.

The Forge's best known miracle is turning people (seemingly at random!) into Cosmo-Knights. These ridiculously powerful heroes can travel between (and into) stars, ignore almost any attack, form weapons with a thought, and exist mainly to deal with galaxy-level threats. (Imagine if every Green Lantern was also Silver Surfer.) In general they remain politically neutral except to champion victims' rights. No, you can't play one.

— Galactic Civilizations —

Phase World

The most powerful single planet in the Three Galaxies, sitting between the CCW and TGE in the Corkscrew. As the technological and commercial center of the universe, it has managed to remain neutral, unaligned to any of the galactic civilizations. They're powerful enough to deal with most any attack — but more importantly, Phase World is so useful that if any civ were to try conquering it, the other civs would attack in reprisal.

Much like Rifts Earth, Phase World has more ley lines and rifts than any other planet in this dimension. The Prometheans there have also constructed 64 orbital spacegates which allow any ship with the right hardware to teleport here instantly. The Prometheans keep their secrets well; outsiders on the planet are restricted to Center, an "artificial mountain" arcology that can hold 600 million people. Center contains thousands of (well-guarded!) rifts and has continual shuttle service to Phase World's 16 space stations.

Races

  • Prometheans: Large humanoids with stone-like skin, great strength, brilliant minds, and unique phase powers. The only folks who understand how the spacegates work.
  • Draconids: Resembling upright dragons, each is a potent mage or psychic (never both).
  • Phantoms: Energy beings with control over electromagnetic energy. With time and effort, they can assume a physical body if necessary.

The Consortium of Civilized Worlds (CCW)

A confederacy united primarily for self-defense and peacekeeping (especially in the face of TGE aggression). While there are a few CCW-wide rules (e.g., no slavery or conquering other CCW members), for the most part the individual federations and worlds govern themselves. The Human Alliance, the Noro Federation, and the Wolfen Republic are the largest subsets of the CCW.

The CCW have 7 trillion widely spread folks. They occupy about 1/3 of the Corkscrew, 1/2 of the Anvil, and 1/5 of the Thundercloud . . . but are currently implementing a program ("the Scramble") to rapidly colonize the Thundercloud. They have an uneasy detente with the TGE, secretly aid the FWC, and get along with the UWW.

Races

  • Humans: Came to the Three Galaxies about 10,000 years ago, either from another galaxy or another dimension, ending up on the planet Terra-Prime.
  • Noro: Thin humanoids with large black eyes, head spikes (instead of hair), and telepathy. Known as the "conscience" of the CCW, always promoting peace. Home planet is Noro-Gor.
  • Wolfen: Proud canids based on the planet Motherhome. Their society resembles a Rome-style republic.
  • Catyr: Red-skinned humanoids with gold hair, from planet Catyr-Ra. They constantly emit radiation (to which they're immune), so they don't physically interact with others much.
  • Seljuks: Evolved dinosaurs, some twice as tall as a human. Known as scholars and explorers. From the binary planet Gemini One; Gemini Two is a chaotic hellscape.

The Transgalactic Empire (TGE)

The Kreeghor were a Splugorth-engineered slave race who escaped their masters and began conquering those around them. At first they destroyed their enemies, but eventually started offering TGE membership to foes who impressed them. Now the TGE is a powerful empire focused on military power and conquest. Many TGE worlds are in open revolt, especially after hearing about the FWC's formation (below).

The TGE have 6 trillion members. They control 1/3 of the Corkscrew, 1/3 of the Thundercloud, and 1/3 of the Anvil. Since the other galactic civilizations are too strong for the TGE to attack directly, they have their diplomats make empty promises while searching for weaknesses.

The Free World Council (FWC)

About a century ago, an uprising at Good Hope (a Human/Wolfen planet) succeeded. Instead of focusing on defense, they immediately began liberating other nearby planets before the TGE could react. By the time the TGE sent a fleet, the FWC had convinced pirates, Cosmo-Knights, and even Splugorth to send ships. Now over 20 planets in the Thundercloud and Corkscrew are holding out against the TGE's attempts to recapture them.

Races

  • Kreeghor: Technically two races, the normal Kreeghor and the super-powerful Royal Kreeghor who run the TGE. These spiky, clawed humanoids have armored hides but only the Royals can use psi and magic. They have developed racial bioengineering that rivals the Splugorth's bio-wizardry.
  • Humans: While their homeworld is part of the CCW, Humans had spread throughout the galaxies.
  • Machine People: Sapient "living metal" robots crafted by the now-extinct Machinists (arguably the greatest engineers ever). Prejudice against self-reproducing machines drove them to join the TGE, though many support the FWC.
  • Wolfen: Same note as for Humans. Wolfen were the first new race brought into the TGE.
  • Silhouette: Quasi-elemental, jet-black humanoids with solid white eyes who can meld into and control shadows. They make great TGE spies.
  • Monros: Four-legged amphibians with one huge eye and tentacles instead of arms. They may be minions of an alien intelligence.
  • Noro: Same note as for Humans.

United Worlds of Warlock (UWW)

Formed when three magic-using civilizations decided to band together against outside threats. The Star Kingdom are elves who originally traveled through space with magic, not even thinking to invent spaceships. The Warlocks are a racially diverse coalition of Techno-Wizards and mages who used Rift-drives on their ships. (When the two met, the elves' knowledge of ley lines made these Rift-drives vastly more effective.) And the Dwarven Guildmasters heard of the UWW and joined later, during a battle against the Splugorth. These three nations are semi-independent but the Parliament of Worlds (comprising their representatives) governs civilization-wide issues.

The UWW has just 500 billion people, spread across about 1/5 of the Anvil plus a few worlds in the Corkscrew. They get along with the CCW, skirmish occasionally with the TGE, and openly assist the FWC.

Races

In order of commonality, the UWW has Elves, Humans, Wolfen, Dwarves, Minotaurs, Ratlings, and True Atlanteans (Clan Acherean). No details given as these are all described elsewhere or self-explanatory.

Smaller Civilizations

  • Splugorth Planets: The Splugorth control about 100 worlds of 80 billion subjects total, divided into four different Splugorth Kingdoms (Desslyth, Rynncryyl, two unnamed). As everyone except Phase World is actively hostile toward them, they've had to learn to coexist "peacefully" with the other galactic civilizations.
  • The Paradise Federation: This small group of 26 worlds and 21 billion people are known as the best vacation spots in the multiverse. From theme parks to casinos to romantic getaway/brothel combos, if you have the money you're welcome here. Employees sign up voluntarily but are then considered to have no rights for the duration of their contract; whatever their boss wants them to do, they must. Because this is effectively slavery, the CCW boycotts Paradise, though many members visit on the down-low anyway.
  • Naruni Enterprises: Not technically a civilization, but as powerful as one, with 200 million full-timers and 2-3 billion temps, associates, middlemen, etc. They stay neutral and sell to everyone, but on rare occasions they'll make a political move (or attack) with their full power. About 30 years ago, a quarter of Naruni employees left the company en masse and formed the "Hartigal Combine"; they mainly reverse-engineer Naruni tech and sell knock-offs. Naruni is openly at war with them.

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