Looking through Rifts: England I have found a plethora of useful ideas and tidbits for any Gamma World Campaign. A central theme in this book are the Millennium Trees aka "The Trees fo Life", incredible trees some over 1,000' tall, these trees are believed to be sentient and can influence the weather around them (sounds like an upgraded version of the old GW mutation Weather Manipulation). Of additional interest are the giant hollow tree burls, found on the trees, that are used as natural tree houses. Indeed entire communities of sentients live in these trees. The trees are "tended" by mutant espers that are referred to as Druids, Millenium Druids specifically. They "pray",plead, or talk to the sacred trees asking for help etc., and are frequently "answered". I can envision a Gren's paradise!! visualize, if you will, an entire community of grens ,complete with Celtic-like tattoos and some High-Druid (mutant) acting as there voice to the tree , thriving in such a setting. The tree on rare occasions may "present a gift" to certain suitable beings. This gift may come in the form of special Bark armor/shield, Leaf body armor (all very lightweight, but strong), or other such items. None of the residents of the tree would ever rob from the tree or despoil it. I see potential for the Blood Druids here, they would seek to despoil from the tree and take all that they could from it. Leading to some nasty battles. Hmmm, sounds like a cool campaign, with a title something like "The Paradise Wars".

Elsewhere in the book various herbs and there properties are detailed. Once again I see the Grens shining thru here, to me they should be some of the best herbalist types in all of GW, and with the near limitless range of mutant plant types. They could come up with a potion or remedy for all kinds of bizarre stuff. The book also has some cool mutant plant life very useful in a GW campaign like the Towershrooms, giant hollow-stemmed mushrooms that many folk have learned to make into durable homes. A large section on Druids comes next. You don't run a fantasy campaign you say, I say you're missing the point! The Druids could make for a really cool British Isle's based Cryptic Alliance. They don't have magical powers just rare herbal knowledge ( learned from the Grens??) , and plant based mutations,as well as, a love of Nature (as mutated as it may be).

There are some truly nasty Mutants in the book! Armored Devil Fish (60' long), Crawlies, Giant Clamp-mouth Dragonfly,Flash Beetles, Petal Things, Stone Ball Bug all very unique and interesting. The next section of the book deals with Temporal Magic, you might find some useful stuff here, especially if you use some Time-Altering mutations in your campaign.

Of course what England setting would be complete without some mention of King Arthur. He's Back! as well as, Merlin, who is actually a mutant nasty thing in disguise. The Knights of the Round Table have returned (sort of), they seek to hold off the nasty mutants and monsters that rove the wilderness.

This ties in nicely with James's Russia Campaign, the Simvan and Xiticix (sp.?) make nice antagonists here. But don't forget about the Fomorians!! Truly radiated to such a level that they have hideous deformities, and twisted minds. On a less viscious note, to me the much maligned Lils fit in nicely with this setting, the locals would probably view them as real faeries and treat them as such.

Going in a different direction, as well as, a different book, I must mention the TMNT After the Bomb book; Mutants in Avalon, Arthur and the round table Knights are here also, but they are all New Animals, (pretty cool huh?).

Blood Druids, also known as the Disciples of Destruction, are members of a growing death cult based in the country once known as France. They believe in the perpetuation of anarchy and chaos, making them dangerous in the extreme. They have no formal alliance with anyone. They advise, teach and assist many nefarious beings: Rogue Mutants, petty Tyrants, etc.. Their only true allegiance is to the spreading of evil and destruction! They thrive on war, panic, fear. They hate those forces within society that promote peace and order.

All Blood Druids are evil through and through. They routinely practice human sacrifice. On a similar note, many of the Mutants within their order have come to believe that they cannot utilize their mutational powers without first performing a sacrifice, thus adding more innocent victims to the madness.

Headquarters

The Blood Druids' headquarters is located near the border of the old French and Swiss "empires" , about 8 miles from Switzerland, near the city once known as Geneve. They occupy the village Le Morte (The Death), which has a population of about 2,600, 30% of which are Blood Druids. Most of the remaining townspeople are dedicated supporters and protectors of the druids who they consider to be the village's benefactors and protectors. Less than 20% have any idea of what horrors the blood druids are involved in at other places.

France is the home of the Blood Druids but they have begun to spread into other areas throughout Europe! They are participants in the on-going struggle in the wastelands of Europe. They are sowing the seeds of chaos and dissent throughout even the Russian Warlords camps.

They have not reached the Americas, yet, but if they were to ever contact the Friends of Entropy an Alliance of Evil would surely follow!... (info taken from Rifts World Book 3: England with slight modification).

Well I guess I've rambled on enough, hope this was helpful.

Regards,

Brutorz Bill