Blood Reaper OCC

In the dark recesses of man’s forgotten racial memory, lurks a nightmare that many deem as little more than myth, but the Reapers were very real, and are one of the most infamous and dreaded creations of the Blood Druids. Relegating them to nothing more than a fancy to frighten small children, is mortal man’s way of deluding himself into believing that such horrors could not possibly exist. The Reapers were used by the Blood Druids to strike fear into their friends and enemies’ hearts alike.

In the world of Rifts the Reapers have been reborn, and once again they are let loose to haunt mortal souls. The Blood Reapers in full flow are a truly terrifying sight to behold. These fearsome warriors are indebted to the blood druids for their existence and are a mighty string in the armoury of the blood druids’ war machine.

They are schooled and empowered by the blood druids. In return for this power they must serve the blood druids, not that they have much choice in the matter, for like many others, they are enslaved by the blood druids.

The foundations of the Reapers’ power are the Blood Skulls provided by the Blood Druids for loyal service. The Blood Skulls are another creation of the Blood Druids and are items of incredible mystical power.

Blood Reapers have wiped out entire villages and communities of sentient beings in the Magic Zone at the behest of the Blood Druids. Their crimes have largely gone unnoticed, although on several occasions their macabre activities were nearly discovered by Lazlo voyager missions and other would be heroes, who stumbled upon them. As chance would have it, these trails led heroes not to them but inadvertently to the work of Nxla’s minions. The emergence of Nxla proved a great boon for the Blood Druids, who were able to use the activities of Nxla’s followers as cover for their own nefarious schemes. A good portion of the atrocities attributed to Nxla’s minions are in fact the actions of the Reapers, carried out on behalf of the Blood Druids.

On the command of the Blood Druids, the Reapers have been fairly active in the last few years, especially in the Magic Zone of Rifts North America. Desperate survivors of the Reapers bloodthirsty raids, tell of shrouded warriors on phantasmagorical steeds, putting everything they came across to the sword. Women, children, old and the young were slaughtered; nothing that caught the marauders’ eye was spared from the carnage. In some instances such was the force of their accursed blows, that victims had their heads separated cleanly from their torso in one fell swoop. Dealing death wasn’t enough to quench their cruel lusts, as the fiends beheaded the slain, who hadn’t been decapitated in the initial attack, holding up their gory trophies in feral triumph, and attaching them to their person and the fiery manes of their hellish mounts.

Tales of the razed villages in the Magic Zone were brought to the attention of the citizens of Lazlo by the exploits of the dashing treasure hunter Velocity Max, whose daring escapades in the wilderness had captivated the enthusiastic imagination of the populace. Unfortunately Velocity Max has not been heard off for the last few years and is presumed dead, as he has not sent back any new TW CrystalSight streams of his death defying adventures. Velocity Max was last known to be in the Magic Zone, seeking the treasures of the legendary Wayfarers.

The Wayfarers are an enigmatic, near mythical figures in the annals of Rifts Earth. Little is known of them, some say they were D-bees from the Rifts, others they were the Technogods, while still others claim they were the last true vestiges of the Golden Age of Man, tenaciously fighting to keep humanities foothold on Rifts Earth. Irrespective of who or what these distant, brooding figures were, it is sufficient to say they played a pivotal role in the wars that raged on Rifts Earth about a century and a half ago. It is thought that it was then the remnants of the Golden Age of Man went into a final cataclysmic battle with their enemies, with the very survival of humanity on the line.

Though mankind did not win, many students of history believe that if it had not been for the Wayfarers intervention and assistance, mankind would not have lived to fight another day. It is assumed that once the dust had settled from these conflicts, the Rifts Earth we know today emerged, but the Wayfarers had vanished, leaving nothing behind of their passing, but fables of their immense wealth and powerful artefacts.

The stories of these legendary items and chambers filled with gold have inspired many futile and ultimately fatal quests. One narrative goes that two of the Wayfarers artefacts fell into the hands of the Prosek family, and with them they rose to power. Without them they would never have defeated the Federation of Magic, and established the Coalition States. Many believe that these items are today in storage in the legendary Black Vault and if they were removed from the hands of the Proseks, then the Coalition States will crumble into dust.

The reports of the Reapers actions in the Magic Zone, tie in with what little is known about the violence carried out by the forces of the Blood Druids in the distant past. Their enemies must have dreaded the sight of the Blood Reaper, knowing the penalty they faced if they lost the day. Those memories have survived on in our myths and legends, and on Rifts Earth, mankind once again faces the horror that hunted his ancestors. This goes someway to explaining the terror man feels at the mere realization of what they are opposing, but facing decapitation at the hands of the Reapers, and cannibalism at the hands of the Blood Druids, are comparatively minor indignities instilled into the very being of mortals to fear, because to know you are up against a Blood Reaper is to know your very soul is at peril.

Ancient records suggest that in the distance past many mortals made a pact with the Blood Druids, where they exchanged their souls for power and wealth. Many of these people would renege on the bargain when it came time for them to pay the price to the Blood Druids, and it was because of this they introduced their terrifying enforcers. The Blood Reapers would ensure the price was paid in full.

One of the roles that the Blood Reapers unwittingly play for the Blood Druids is the reaping of souls, and recently the blood druids have cranked this up to an almost industrial scale. Almost as if they are stockpiling souls. The Blood Druids have not been able to train their Reapers fast enough to keep up with their insatiable demand. They appear to have thrown caution to the wind in this headlong rush to gather souls. They are taking greater and greater risks, whether this is in collecting the souls or acquiring the personnel to train as Blood Reapers. Blood Reapers were fairly active during the wars that broke out in Rifts North America, like a pack of scavengers they were following the ebb and flow of the conflicts from a safe distance, and then darting in to pick off the weak and injured.

The Blood Druids exchange these souls with demon lords for power, and this may explain their mad rush to accumulate as many souls as possible, especially if the rumours that have reached Lazlo via Atlantis are true. These rumours suggest that open warfare has broken out between the Lords of Hades and Dyval, as they vie for dominion. The Blood Druids will be sure of finding ways of cashing in on this conflict, as they do with all strife, whether they instigate it or not.

If this war is a reality then the fallout would be catastrophic for the Megaverse, for these dimensions are linked to many other dimensions across the Megaverse, and their masters exert great influence on many worlds. It is inevitable that their power plays will rapidly spread to encompass all areas of their influence, as each strives for the upper hand.

This war may drag in many other Megaversal powers, and it comes as no surprise that Lazlo has heard that Atlantis is rapidly stepping up its security to safeguard its borders. Lazlo dreads what the CS reactions will be if they fear that Atlantis is increasing its military activities. A pre-emptive CS nuclear strike on Atlantis will be little more than an irritant to Atlantis, and is an open invitation for Lord Splynncrrytth to seize control of Rifts North America. There is very little anyone will be able to do about it, if the Splugorthian Lord decides to flex his tentacles.

Blood Reaper ritual transformation

Blood Skull powers

O.C.C Name: Blood Reaper

Attributes: As per species

Attribute Requirements: None – usually unwilling volunteer, but high M.E and P.E attributes are desirable.

Alignment: Any – but honourable alignments are unsustainable, especially when the warrior realizes that he steals souls. Most mortals find the selling of souls as unpalatable, something that is beyond the conception of sane men, and is something that is to be deplored and opposed at all costs. They will immediately cease being Blood Reapers and look for another trade. Many have committed suicide when they have realized what they were involved in.

Horror Factor/Awe: See description – powers of the birth skull.

O.C.C Abilities: See description – Powers of Birth Skull, Powers of the Reaper halberd, and Powers of the Blood Skulls. They start out with 1 greater and 2 lesser blood skulls. For loyal service the Blood Druids will bestow the Reaper an additional greater skull at levels 4, 7, 10 and 13; and a lesser skull at levels 3,6,9,12,15.

O.C.C Bonuses: + 1D4 to P.S, +1 to P.P, +1 to M.A+ 1D4 to M.E, + 1D6 to P.E, + 1D6 to Spd attributes. + 2 to all saving throws.

S.D.C & HP: Base as per species + 4D6 SDC & + 2D4 HP

P.P.E: None!

I.S.P: None!

O.C.C Skills: For game purposes use the Cyberknight O.C.C Skills

Hand to Hand: Will either have Assassin or Martial Arts. But will have HTH: Commando if trained by the members of the Black Hills Empire

O.C.C Related Skills: For game purposes use the Cyberknight O.C.C Related Skills

Secondary Skills: For game purposes use the Cyberknight O.C.C Secondary Skills

Appearance/Size/Weight: Appears to be a normal member of his species, but over time will become a gaunt, unhealthy, and decrepit image of their former self. They will be wearing Blood skulls as jewellery and/or as body piercing. This jewellery and body piercing will be done with shrunken skulls and/or with full size skulls. When he wears the Birth Skull, the warrior appears as a large, ‘halflife’ ethereal figure with a skull head and smouldering eyes hidden amongst the slithering Cowl.

Equipment: For game purposes assume starts out with similar amount and type of Equipment as the Cyberknight O.C.C. Blood Chain (optional): see description Powers of the Blood Chain.

Money: For game purposes assume starts out with the same amount of money as the Cyberknight O.C.C

Enhancements: See Blood Skulls, Birth Skull, Reaper Halberd. Rarely starts out with any other Enhancements.

GM Note: The blood druids are keen for all their forces to have formal military/warrior training. The blood druids blame the lack of combat expertise and disregard for battle innovations, such as armour and other military technology, for their demise at the hands of their enemies in antiquity. They insist their forces use the latest hardware and get the best warrior training possible; the reapers are no exception to this doctrine. Unfortunately over the last few years the blood druids have been churning out the reapers at such an alarming rate, that their training and selection process has suffered. This has led to poor quality and poorly trained reapers. In game terms, this means that Reapers have been ordinary people plucked from their family and altered into the reapers. Thus the majority of reapers will have the same training and equipment as a vagabond OCC.

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