The resurrected research did not last long before the Great Cata
clysm all but obliterated civilization on Earth. Thus, the secrets
were lost - for a while.
Early Juicers
The early pre-Rifts Juicers were not too different from their
contemporary counterparts. Many of them did not undergo the
full, terminal process, however, but instead used the less severe
JAEP (Juicer Augmentation Enhancement Program) treatments
which gave the users only a fraction of the Juicer's power, but
did not kill the enhanced humans if they did not overindulge (de
scribed in Rifts® World Book Five: Triax™ and the NGR). The
people of "civilized" nations, like Germany, considered the vol
unteers who underwent the fatal augmentation to be insane patri
ots or barbarians to be shunned by "right-thinking folk." At the
same time, however, many others, especially the young and
members of the "counterculture," were fascinated by the concept
of men and women who accepted a short life in return for god
like powers.
Juicers were often romanticized in novels, movies and video
games. A few pre-Rifts relics have been preserved, and have
greatly contributed to the prevailing Juicer "mythos." Among
them is Reginald Wallazek' s novel trilogy, The Deathdance
Saga. The Deathdance Saga chronicled the (utterly fictional) ad
ventures of Julian Amici, a European mercenary and secret agent
who used his Juicer powers to uncover evil government con
spiracies. The novels spawned a myriad of sequels, movies,
video-games, and even a worldwide chain of interactive game
parks. Julian Amici became as popular in the 2 1 st Century as
James Bond had been in the 20th, particularly among young
teenagers who loved the idea of a doomed, misunderstood, yet
heroic character. The anxieties caused by the new "cold war"
may have had something to do with the popularity of an aveng
ing Juicer who was capable of defeating any foe but was help
less to stop his inevitable fate.
Copies of the Deathdance Saga have been found in many
pre-Rifts ruins. Although these books and films, both on paper
and disks (computer and video), are banned in the Coalition
States, manufacturers in Ishpeming (Northern Gun), Lazlo, New
Lazlo and Kingsdale have produced a number of restored edi
tions, as well as new, modem versions and spin-offs. Sales are
huge and many copies have been smuggled into the Coalition
States. Computer games and movies, mostly pirated from an
cient copies from before the collapse, are also fairly popular
among the technological elite. Outside major kingdoms and
technological enclaves, books are almost unknown, however, an
oral tradition based on these stories has been created after travel
ers and merchants shared their renditions of the novels or movies
they had seen/read with local peasants and farmers. In some
places where Juicers are not popular, Julian Amici is seen as an
evil "bogey-man" which mothers used to scare their children: "If
you 're not good, Julian Amici will come for you ! " At others, he
is a symbol of justice and heroism, no less real than other mytho
logical figures. In some villages, Julian Amici is believed to be a
real person who has somehow managed to survive and is alive
and well ! More than one youngster who undergoes the lethal
Juicer Process has been inspired by these legends.
It may be no coincidence that the self-proclaimed leader
01
the Juicer Uprising calls himself "Julian the First."
9
Juicers After the
Great Cataclysm
During the "Dark Ages" following the Great Cataclysm, most
technology was lost. Most surviving groups of people did their
best to unearth or rediscover as much knowledge as possible.
Among the first priorities were weapons and armor; the threat of
bandits, supernatural creatures and D-Bee marauders were the
most important concerns. Unearthing tools and knowledged re
garding building and manufacturing were next. Human augmen
tation quickly became another major priority; Juicers and similar
"super-humans" had a much better chance of surviving fights in
volving monsters and alien beings. To protect their loved ones,
many people willingly sacrificed their lives to become the en
hanced warriors. After all, life was so hard that very few people
had any certainty that they would survive five or six more years
under any circumstances ! Life expectancy, for the lucky, was
age 26 - augmentation offered the augmented warriors the
hope that those they protected had a fighting chance to survive
and rebuild.
In most places, of course, the technology was utterly lost. The
bio-comp systems necessary to create Juicers were complex,
very advanced machines, far beyond the capabilities of most sur
vivors. A few made do with pre-existing systems and models un
til the computers broke down or the drugs ran out. Others tried to
make do without the bio-comp system, resulting in the deaths of
many would-be Juicers through overdoses and other mishaps.
Enclaves like the NGR in Europe, the Silver River Republics in
South America, and the future nation of Ishpeming/Northern
Gun in North America, were the only places where the knowl
edge was kept alive. As communities grew and dispersed, they
carried with them some of this precious scientific heritage. In
other places, desperate scavengers in the ruins of old cities un
earthed books and computer files that would lead to the redis
covery of old technology. Even so, Juicers did not make their
return in numbers until the first years of the Post-Apocalyptic
(P.A.) era. It took that long (a Dark Age estimated to have lasted
300 years) for humankind to rebuild even a fraction of its former
might.
As noted previously, most redevelopment focused on the
military sciences; the tools of war were crucial for survival. As a
result, many civilizations started creating Juicers, Crazies and
mutants, or turned to magic or alien champions to protect them.
The Coalition States were the main exception. Although at first
they may have relied on at least some Juicer soldiers (since the
official history of the Coalition is so thoroughly rewritten to re
flect current propaganda, nobody knows for sure), the CS soon
made it a point to tum its back on all forms of human alteration.
Its leaders turned to power armor, armored vehicles, robots and
trained mutant animals. Far more efficient, its leaders insisted,
was to use (intelligent) mutant animals and robots to fight and
die for Humankind than the needless sacrifice of human life. For
the CS, the idea of putting human lives at risk was stupid and de
structive. The preservation of humankind and what made them
human was more precious than ever in this new world of mu
tants, aliens and monsters. As a result, they regarded most types
of augmentation as deforming and dehumanizing, so such proce
dures were outlawed in CS territories.
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