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What's the whole story of the Watergate rift?

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mcv

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« on: <10-09-19/0810:44> »
From what I understand, the Watergate Rift was created by the bomb that killed Dunkelzahn, and closed by Ghostwalker in a ritual that killed a lot of people including Aina Dupree, which made Harlequin angry. Also, it seems to be letting Shedim into the world.

But this information is spread across tons of books, and it's hard to assemble the whole story. A few things I don't know:

  • What is the Watergate Rift actually? What is it a rift in? What does it look like? (in astral and meat space)
  • When exactly did Ghostwalker close it, and how? Who else was involved?

Where can I find more details about this? What else am I missing about the rift? And are there more rifts like that?

Beta

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« Reply #1 on: <10-09-19/1331:30> »
I think the rift closing happened (-ish) in the end fiction of Artifacts Unbound (4th ed). 

In Dark Terrors (IIRC) a post talked about a rift down in the ocean near an underwater research facility, and I think it was implied that there may also be additional rifts.  Whether those are as 'good' for shedim to come through, and whether they are stable, etc. was not discussed.

In one of the recent books (Better than Bad, maybe?) it was suggested that Aina Dupree is not dead, but actually trapped in a metaplane.

As for the rest, yah, I'd like to know the answers to those too!

Reaver

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« Reply #2 on: <10-09-19/1413:30> »
most info on the watergate Rift can be found in 3e books... which makes it hard to find now given the 15+ years since that edition was published. I'll try to fill in what I remember of the Rift for you.

AS for how it looked on the physical, it was described as basically a swirling light in about 6m above the street level. There was no physical disturbance in the area other then the lights. (so, no sucking wind, no real noise, etc)

On the Astral however, it was described as a swirling pattern of light with a black center.

For mundanes, the rift didn't seem to have any adverse effects, other then being a swirling pattern of lights.

However, any awakened entity (from metahuman to spirit) that came into contact with the rift lost their astral form to the rift! - Spirits would disappear and could not be resummoned, awakened metahumans would drop to the ground, their bodies still alive but absent their consciousness...


The Rift appears to be a "hole" between metaplanes, allowing whatever was on the other side a chance to come to our side, and vice versa. However, it was never explained if it allowed willing transportation for those ont he other side or not (meaning were they sucked through accidentally, or willingly came through.)
What meta-plane it connected to however, we don't know. We DO know that Shedim seem to come from this plane, or at least the Shedim have been connected to the Rift...


AS for when it was closed... I think Beta is correct that it was covered by the Artifacts adventure series that came out for 4e..


Where am I going? And why am I in a hand basket ???

Remember: You can't fix Stupid. But you can beat on it with a 2x4 until it smartens up! Or dies.

Beta

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« Reply #3 on: <10-09-19/1531:05> »
A few more details, from digging through the french wiki (has a lot more info than the english one)

2057, 9 August: Big D's death (or 'death'?), creating the rift

2061, 24th of December: Ghostwalker's astral form comes flying out of the rift, surrounded by a haze of spirits -- including the shedim (to appear in notable numbers, at least)  (shortly after he appeared in physical form in Denver).  This is probably covered in The Year of the Comet

2073, 18 July: Ghostwalker leads a ritual, including Harlequin, Hestaby, Erhan, Frosty, Lugh Surehand, Jonathon Reed, Aden, Aina Dupree an unknown, and some very powerful artifacts whose combined presence was stressing reality.  (Artifacts Unbound).  About 600 civilians were killed, 2000 wounded, and 3000 disappeared (presumed pulled into the rift).  Aina Dupree was doing magic to protect everyone involved, but exhausted her magic and died. (Source appears to be Conspiracy Theories).  President Colloton announced that several government agencies had worked together to close the rift.

A bunker was built around the rift at some point, but I couldn't find when.  The ritual in 2073 caused extensive damage to the bunker.

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #4 on: <10-10-19/0147:30> »
Note that according to Ghostwalker's thoughts in some short fiction, Aina Dupree didn't actually die and Harlequin was a fool for wanting revenge. (Be still my Lionheart!)
How am I not part of the forum?? O_O I am both active and angry!

mcv

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« Reply #5 on: <10-10-19/0840:59> »
You're right, Ghostwalker also came out of that rift. So apparently it's a hole to somewhere else where Ghostwalker spent the Fifth World, where Shedim come from, and where Aina Dupree and probably lots of other people now are?

But if it also sucks astral forms through, it can't be easy to get back here.

So to know more about how it was closed, should I get Artifacts Unbound, Conspiracy Theories, or both?
« Last Edit: <10-11-19/0501:00> by mcv »

Beta

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« Reply #6 on: <10-10-19/0902:55> »
I'm pretty sure that you only get, roughly, "these powerful magic wielders gathered powerful artifacts that have extraordinary properties when brought together and performed a ritual unlike any that the sixth world has seen ... and that did the job."

Crimsondude

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« Reply #7 on: <10-15-19/2331:41> »
2057, 9 August: Big D's death (or 'death'?), creating the rift
Dunkelzahn created the rift.

Quote
2061, 24th of December: Ghostwalker's astral form comes flying out of the rift, surrounded by a haze of spirits -- including the shedim (to appear in notable numbers, at least)  (shortly after he appeared in physical form in Denver).  This is probably covered in The Year of the Comet
Yes. The "Ghost Stories" chapter of YotC.

The bunker was built after this and in response to it. Before then, the military had cordoned off the area but hadn't erected anything permanent for a long time because it was stable and physically benign, and astrally, it was only dangerous if people managed to get past the cordon of spirits and mages. There was also the early belief that acknowledging its permanence by building a bunker or some form of containment would be a sign of defeat, which the government could not bear to admit after everything else that happened in the 2050s.

But after a Great Dragon suddenly emerges without warning, and while not destroying DeeCee (this time), GW did a lot of damage in Denver. And that all prompted the UCAS to erect the bunker immediately.

Quote
2073, 18 July: Ghostwalker leads a ritual, including Harlequin, Hestaby, Erhan, Frosty, Lugh Surehand, Jonathon Reed, Aden, Aina Dupree an unknown, and some very powerful artifacts whose combined presence was stressing reality.  (Artifacts Unbound).  About 600 civilians were killed, 2000 wounded, and 3000 disappeared (presumed pulled into the rift).  Aina Dupree was doing magic to protect everyone involved, but exhausted her magic and died. (Source appears to be Conspiracy Theories).  President Colloton announced that several government agencies had worked together to close the rift.

A bunker was built around the rift at some point, but I couldn't find when.  The ritual in 2073 caused extensive damage to the bunker.
That's pretty accurate. The non-Ghostwalker participants didn't expect him to basically blow everything up, and since what goes into the metaplanes eventually must come out, they took the hit so that not all of DeeCee was vaporized.

There have been other references to what happened to Aina, but I'd have to go back and look since quite a lot's happened since I wrote that story. The worst part was having people get upset or annoyed or curious and not be able to say anything – and still not – for various reasons. I wrote that story eight years ago and in the lifespans of these characters that's nothing, and sometimes that means it seems like, or is a case of, nothing happening.

But, anyway, that's pretty much everything. In Conspiracy Theories, the bunker area was still a mess. That area is really inconvenient to have an interdimensional rift or the remants of the giant bunker than surrounded it for a decade. I can't say exactly what it was, but it isn't necessarily a rift to one metaplane or area. The metaplanes don't adhere to Euclidian geometry. There are physical areas of the world that serve as nexi not to one metaplane but to, let's just say, multiple means of access. So the rift could have been a tear through multiple planes or not even necessarily a tear itself so much as a weakening of one or more planes, which could allow shedim and great dragons and imps and who knows what else to enter, and not even necessarily to enter the physical world in DeeCee because that's just where it appears and how it appears as we can see it on this plane.

Wakshaani

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« Reply #8 on: <12-31-19/1111:08> »
Small side note: The Shedim that came out with Ghostwalker scattered all over and more gradually came out over time. Once Ghostwalker closed the rift, no more Shedim were able to enter the world, so their number were finite.

As of Dark Terrors, a few Master Shedim have been teaching willing mages how to summon Shedim to try and get around this problem … without these summoners, the Shedim would be on borrowed time since they can be destroyed but weren't able to get more of their kind, resulting in a gradual extermination. The DIMR (Dunklezahn Instute of Magical Research) has put out a bounty on both Master Shedim and Shedim summoners.