Rifts is a multi-genre role-playing game created by Kevin Siembieda in August 1990 and published continuously by Palladium Books since then. Rifts takes place in a post-apocalyptic future, deriving elements from cyberpunk, science fiction, fantasy, horror, western, mythology and many other genres.

Rifts serves as a cross-over environment for a variety of other Palladium games with different universes connected through "rifts" on Earth that lead to different spaces, times, and realities that Palladium calls the "Rifts Megaverse". Rifts describes itself as an "advanced" role-playing game and not an introduction for those new to the concept.

Palladium continues to publish books for the Rifts series, with about 80 books published between 1990 and 2011. Rifts Ultimate Edition was released in August 2005 and designed to update the game with Palladium's incremental changes to its system, changes in the game world, and additional information and character types. The web site is quick to point out that this is not a second edition but an improvement and expansion of the original role playing game.

Background
The RPG had the tentative title Boomers, named after the original name for the Glitter Boy power armor until Kevin Siembieda changed the name after finding out it was in use for Bubblegum Crisis.

Setting

The foundations for the Rifts world were originally developed in the Palladium game Beyond the Supernatural (first released in 1987).

The Rifts world is Earth, but hundreds of years into the future. Ley lines, lines of magic energy, criss-cross the earth forming supernatural geographic areas such as the Bermuda Triangle. Points where Ley Lines intersect, called a nexus, are places of powerful magic, such as the Pyramids of Giza and Stonehenge. If a Ley Line nexus energy surges or is purposely activated, the very fabric of space and time can be torn, creating a rift, or a hole in space-time leading to another place, time, or a new/parallel dimension. Ley Lines in most lower capacity "realities" have less Potential Psychic Energy or PPE to allow them to be visible, but in the magic or PPE saturated worlds like Rifts Earth, they become visible based on PPE intensity. Some are visible during the day as evident by a slight blue shift of the surrounding environment. Otherwise at night or from space the massive bands of blue-white energy can be as large as half a mile wide in some places, and stretching for many miles.

The Magic energy making up Ley lines as mentioned is Potential Psychic Energy or PPE. Found in various places, objects, and animals, one of the greatest sources of PPE is in young and prepubescent children. An adult's level of PPE can vary based on other factors. PPE also allows Psionics which uses energy known as Inner Strength Points or ISP. Psychic phenomenon (more commonly called psioics) can also vary from individuals, ranging from none at all to Master level abilities. Psychic abilities can manifest in virtually any way imaginable. Some psychics develop differently, such as psi-stalkers; human mutants that feed on psychic energy.

Earth

Rifts begins with two future-historical premises: first, a golden age of humanity occurs, with tremendous advances in science, technology, military, and society. Humanity as a whole is at peace as a majority of Earth's nations decide to cease world war and begin to share ideas and technology freely. Much of the solar system is conquered, humanity's wars will end, and harmony will reign. Second, that this golden age is followed by an unknown cause near the winter solstice and a rare planetary alignment, causing a disaster that cascades into tremendous destruction via a ripple effect.

The cataclysm begins with unprecedented storms of all kinds, earthquakes and tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions including the Yellowstone Caldera.

What is already a huge release of mystical energy is multiplied as a result of several special conditions: a rare multi-planetary alignment, occurrence during the Winter Solstice, and all at midnight.  The deaths of millions at this time amplifies these already high psychic energies, triggering many powerful natural disasters across the world, including the return of Atlantis.

The energy release from the deaths of millions more in turn releases even more mystic energy, causing more disasters in a vicious cycle. Ultimately, the total destruction brings an unprecedented energy release of billions.  Ley Line networks that crisscross the globe are energized as never before, causing rifts to open both on Earth and throughout the Megaverse.  Untold numbers of alien beings are pulled from their own home worlds, while Great Powers of the Megaverse are alerted of a new and valuable planet to conquer.

For hundreds of years after the holocaust, many creatures, both mythical beasts and alien beings, come through the Rifts – some of them now permanently opened  – to wreak additional havoc. The old world gone, a new Dark Age dawns and humanity's shrinking population is reduced, due to catastrophe and domestic failure, immeasurably.  This period is covered in Palladium's Rifts Chaos Earth spin-off series.

Rifts initially takes place in 101 P.A. (equivalent to the year 2387) 289 years after this event. The "Post-Apocalypse" calendar was established by the formation of the Coalition States in 2286.

While many different events that make up the world begin before and after this time, such as with the invasion of Chi-Town by the Federation of Magic (before) or as the Four Horsemen appear in Africa (after), this time frame is the setting for most "World Books" that describe a kind of snapshot in this phase (103-109 P.A). In the latest World Books, the current date is around 110 P.A. (2396).

By this time, most of the disasters have quieted down, though Earth is still bathed in the released PPE. The planet's mystical energy has added untold numbers of alien beings from other dimensions, who continue to arrive through the Rifts both accidentally and deliberately. The humanoid creatures that arrive on earth are referred to as Dimensional Beings (called D-Bees). Some are familiar fantasy races, such as elves and dwarfs, while others have never been seen before (created specifically for the game setting).  Non-humanoid creatures have also arrived, including monstrous creatures and mystical demons with hides as strong as tank armor. The most powerful (and a common theme in the Palladium Megaverse) are the Lovecraftian Alien Intelligences, living mountains of flesh with lidless eyes, wriggling tentacles, and great supernatural powers. In some rare cases, even the ancient gods of mythology have returned to reclaim their former lands.

To cope with these natural, supernatural, and alien menaces, the human race has adapted in a variety of ways, many of them borrowed from the technological developments of the lost Golden Age. Powered armor suits and giant robot vehicles are frequently used to combat the dangers of Rifts, but more invasive augmentation is common. This has three basic categories: "Juicers" do it chemically, the "Borgs" do it mechanically, and "Crazies" make use of performance-enhancing brain implants. All such augmentations boost strength, speed, endurance, and dexterity to superhuman levels. However, all come at great cost. Chemicals cause the body to wear out faster, decreasing life span to a few years. Mechanical Borg augmentation causes a loss of humanity when those with multiple limb and organ replacements become more machine than human. Brain implants cause mental instability ranging from mild phobias to crippling neurosis or psychosis.

Dangerous augmentations are often necessary dangers for humans in order to keep pace with the world around them, and those that choose augmentation accept these risks for the power they bring. Still others are required to receive augmentations either for self-defense, work, or even against their will as the minimalistic, needy, and weak are forced or coerced to serve. Some aren't aware of the dangers, and accept the augmentation blind to the side-effects.

Some turn to other means to become "more" than human. As magic abounds on Rifts Earth, many people turn to the magical arts. Others form pacts with alien intelligences or deities in exchange for great magical knowledge, risking becoming a pawn of the beings they dared turn to for power. Still others discover that they have great natural psionic potential, and dedicate their lives to discovering the abilities of their own minds.

The Ley Lines, formerly invisible, now dominate the landscape, appearing as massive lines of bluish energy half a mile wide, some twice that tall, stretching thousands of miles, crisscrossing the globe. The largest can even be seen from space.

North America
The strongest power in North America is the Coalition States (CS). The governing body of the Coalition States is based in the arcological city of Chi-Town and lays claim to northern Illinois (the southern part being controlled by the "Federation of Magic") and all of Iowa. Other member states consist of "Lone Star", formed from the Texas Panhandle, who specialize in mutating animals into talking servants considered by many players as cannon fodder but is one of their primary weapons against the supernatural as without them they would have to rely solely on human psychics; Missouri; and Iron Heart which consists of the eastern half of Ontario, Canada.  The Coalition States are most often described as technologically advanced fascist human supremacists with a totalitarian government, restrictive internal media, restrictive education (such as enforced illiteracy), and a massive military. The Coalition is ruled by Emperor Karl Prosek, and is genocidally opposed to all aliens, D-bees (Dimensional Beings, to include humans from other times and even unlucky CS troops that have traveled through a Rift and survived to return... only to be "contained" by his former comrades), human mutations, and Magic. His ultimate goal is to control the Earth by humans and for humans, and do so by attacking anything and everyone that is foreign to Earth as it was before the cataclysm.  Nevertheless, Prosek allows some of the less threatening non-humans to live alongside lesser-privileged humans in the burbs surrounding Chi-Town.  Most of these poor souls think that they may eventually gain citizenship so they can live within the protective walls of the arcology.

The second greatest power is "Free Quebec". At one time it was a Coalition State, but constant disagreement with Chi-Town over issues like Glitter Boy production, education level of the populace, and use of mutant animals, led to secession and eventually a short civil war. A cease-fire was signed (mainly due to the CS's bigger problem with Tolkeen), but distrust has remained.

Mexico is ruled by a group of vampire kingdoms, who treat humans as little more than cattle to feed upon. North of the Rio Grande, west of Texas and roaming most of the American Southwest are large nomadic bands/tribes of bandits who collectively form the "Pecos Empire" which incorporates the cities of El Paso, Los Alamos (formerly Austin) and "Houstown", its unofficial capital. Though the nation is not part of a cohesive power structure or political organization, "Emperor Sabre Laser" is attempting to unite the city-states under his banner. Much of the western United States has more or less willingly reverted to a mix of modern and past technology, and the days of the Wild West, where outlaws ride hovercycles into battle, cowboys are as likely to raise dinosaurs as they are cattle, cyborgs prospect for gold and other minerals, and wild buffalo, sent to another dimension to prevent their extinction, have returned to the plains in the millions. American Natives have divided into two groups. The Traditionalists, who were also taken by the spirit people and returned to Earth along with the Bison, refuse to use most items of technology, preferring the old ways.  Then there is the modern camp, who have designed many technological marvels of their own.  The pockets of civilization include the "Colorado Baronies", Hope, Testament, Wilmington, and Charity, a collective of small and a few large towns, founded by the survivors of the Denver area. In Arizona, the "Clarkdale Confederacy" (Clarkdale, Jerome, and Cottonwood), has managed to survive even as Flagstaff, Prescott and Phoenix have collapsed around them; there is also the town founded and run by mercenaries known as "Arzno".

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police managed to survive the great cataclysm, though Canada itself did not. The Mounties have become an independent law enforcement force called the Tundra Rangers, patrolling the northern wilderness.

The Midwest, both upper and central, is home to most of North America's population. The Manistique Imperium and Northern Gun in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, both Coalition allies, are among the biggest weapons manufacturing areas on the continent. "New Lazlo" is one of the largest cities in Michigan's southern portion. Chillicothe in Missouri is a large supplier of Coalition food processing and growing. However, Missouri's southern half, home to the city-states of "Whykin" (Poplar Bluff) and "Kingsdale" (West Plains) are in constant opposition to the CS and claim independence. North Dakota is home to the Wilk's firearms corporation, though not much else. Arkansas is home to the independent CS ally "El Dorado". Southern Illinois and the Ohio Valley is home to the "Federation of Magic". Also in the Ohio Valley is "Psyscape": a city-state founded by Psychics.

"Tolkeen" was a major city in the former Minneapolis region in early Rifts books; the city welcomed users of magic. A military campaign made by the Coalition States (which is the primary event of 109 PA) resulted in the magic-user kingdom being wiped off the map (this is covered in the highly debated six-volume series of source/storybooks "Coalition Wars: Siege on Tolkeen").

In the Northeast, the city-state of "Lazlo", named after the great 20th century supernatural researcher and writer Victor Lazlo (from another Palladium RPG, "Beyond The Supernatural"), was built upon the ruins of the Canadian city of Toronto. This major center of civilization is well known as a melting pot of humans, D-Bees and other, stranger beings, and is the home of Techno-Wizardry. "Mad Haven" is the name given to the ruins of Manhattan Island, although tectonic forces during the cataclysm have moved it into the coast creating a peninsula. It is seen by most denizens of Rifts Earth as a refuge of demons and madness.

South America
The return of Atlantis has caused the Amazon River basin to flood most of the western part of South America, giving it the nickname "The Land of a Thousand Islands". In Colombia, a nation of humans and Dwarves fight against a kingdom of Vampires. The gods of the Inca  have returned to their ancient holdings in the Andes, and fight a battle against alien invaders known as the "Arkons". Coming together as one, the "Empire of the Sun" has created a wide range of technology and magic, including "Nazca Line Magic", exclusive to the Empire. The Empire incorporates the cities of Cuzco, Nazca, Arequipa and Lima. Much of the rest of the continent is a wide collection of states ranging from democracies, corrupt oligarchies, and communist guerrillas known as Shining Path, to Mutants, Amazons, Aliens, Transdimensional Mercenaries, pre-historic creatures and dozens of others.

In what was once Argentina, the "Silver River Republics" of Cordoba (the "South American Chi-Town"), Santiago (one of the most tolerant Human nations on Rifts Earth), Achilles (a nation founded by Mutants) and New Babylon (a nation where Humans and a race of Aliens live side by side) have thrived and created nations whose strength rivals that of the CS.

In what was once Bolivia freed Human and D-Bees slave soldiers, of the race called "Dakir", have formed the "Megaversal Legion": a mercenary company with one of the highest levels of technology on Rifts Earth (possibly even the Megaverse). Their Inertia Beam weapons are truly one of a kind, allowing them to keep the edge over all opponents they face.

Europe
 England has become a vast wilderness again, broken up by the occasional giant Millennium Tree or feudal kingdom, complete with a New Camelot and a new King Arthur, partially being manipulated by the ethereal extension of an alien intelligence (disguised as the wizard Merlin). Also the magic of Druids and Faeries has become commonplace.
 In Germany, the New German Republic, with assistance from the Triax corporation, battles against an empire of Gargoyles that has apparently conquered much of Europe.
 France has already been overrun by Gargoyle hordes and other monsters and cults. New Camelot, the NGR, and the Gargoyle Empire are all making moves into the territory as well.
 Russia is ruled by a collection of Warlords, who rule through the use of vast armies and Cyborg troops. The only major civilized nation is the "Sovietski", all that truly remain of the pre-Rifts Russian Empire and a trade partner of the NGR, who, like them, are in constant battle with the Gargoyle and Brodkil Empires.

Asia
Much of China has been overrun by demons. The remnants of the People's Republic of China live in the pre-Rifts subterranean city Geofront, possessing pre-rifts technology equal or exceeding any other human nation on Rifts Earth, fighting to free their nation from the grip of the Yama Kings.

Japan has become a mixture of tradition and technology. The Samurai and warrior monks of the New Empire battle Oni demons and high-tech raiders from the Otomo Shogunate. Despite their ardent anti-technology sentiments, one of the New Empire's closest allies is the Republic of Japan, an alliance centered on three pre-Rifts cities (Hiroshima, Iwakuni, and Kure) accidentally rifted off the planet at the exact moment of the Great Cataclysm, and sent hundreds of years into their future. The rest of the archipelago (which now has the pre-Rifts main island of Honshū divided into two islands from the risen sea levels) is dominated by smaller breakaway governments; a significant portion of the northern half of Japan is dominated by Oni and other denizens from Rifts called the Zone.

Korea - both North and South - has been completely overrun by demons with nothing remaining of the pre-Rifts nations.

Africa
Much of Africa has gone back to nature, making the land a wild, mysterious Dark Continent again, where only those foolhardy enough to ignore the cautionary tales would willingly go.

In Egypt, the ley lines coursing through the pyramids have brought Rama-Set, an evil oriental-type Dragon who has conquered the locals and established the Phoenix Empire (with Rama-Set, in human form, leading it as Pharaoh).

Meanwhile, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (the powerful supernatural beings legends named War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death) are traveling across the continent, seeking to reunite and combine their powers into an ultimate destroyer of a monster; but a group of powerful adventurers is hot on their tails, including the legendary rogue scholar Erin Tarn (marked for death by the Coalition States for her writings, which criticize the Coalition States), and the 20th century's most accomplished time-displaced expert on the paranormal, Victor Lazlo (whose writings were so popular among P.A. magic-users that they named a kingdom after him), and even the disguised (and unfortunately amnesiac) Egyptian Goddess Isis. (See Rifts: World Book 4: Africa)

Atlantis

The lost continent of Atlantis appeared after the cataclysm that caused the rifts. According to some it rose from the sea, but more accurately it returned from an alternate dimension to which it had shifted to ages ago.

Now controlled by the Splugorth, a race of Supernatural Intelligences, Atlantis is a land ruled by magic and monsters. An inter-dimensional marketplace where any number of creatures, including humans, are bought and sold as slaves, and often serve as fodder in gladiatorial arenas. Enhanced by parasites or other magic, they are then pitted against one another or bizarre, monstrous creatures.

The Splugorth are evil, trans-dimensional conquerors that are reminiscent of supernatural entities described in the works of H. P. Lovecraft. They are huge, tentacled monstrosities with a giant eye atop their massive, amorphous bodies. The Splugorth rule through the use of subject races enslaved by Bio-Wizardry, a form of mysticism that involves the use of parasites and symbiotes to enhance one's abilities. The Splugorth are also masters of Rune Magic (such as the creation of the fabled rune weapons), an offshoot of Bio-Wizardry. They are an evil power that spans many dimensions and are the sworn enemies of the True Atlanteans who have been banished from Atlantis. The Splugorth minions are a particular threat on the coast lines of adjacent North and South America, conducting slave raids against human and D-Bee settlements to feed the insatiable hunger of the Atlantean slave markets, and in some cases, the hunger (often literal) of Atlantis' extradimensional visitors.

Australia
A vast inland sea has flooded the centre of the continent leaving notable landmarks like Uluru completely submerged. With the return of magic to the land, the Aborigines have enjoyed resurgence and many practice Dreamtime magic. The "civilized" world has devolved into often competing city-states, with Melbourne and Perth the most technologically advanced. In the "Northland" exist the races known as the Mokoloi and Shadow People.

The Oceans
Deep within the Mariana Trench, a massive, evil Alien Intelligence known as the Lord of the Deep (sometimes mistakenly believed by survivors of its rampages on Rifts Earth to be the Kraken or Leviathan) slowly grows ever larger in size and may someday try to devour every living thing on the planet. It is opposed by the Whale Singers, rebellious creations of the monster, and the descendants of the United States Navy, now called the "New Navy". Other forces above and below the waves include a floating city known as Tritonia, pirates including the ruthless aliens known as the "Horune", monsters, dolphins/orca/whales, and extradimensional invaders.

Other settings
Further supplements to the Rifts game have expanded the setting to include:

Mutants in Orbit - Several Space Stations and Colonies existed in orbit at the time of the Great Cataclysm. The descendants of their inhabitants, including many Moreau-style mutant animals, still survive in space, fighting against each other, and trying to prevent any force from entering or leaving Earth.  (For use with Rifts & After The Bomb.)
The Three Galaxies - an alternative space opera setting of a series of galaxies centered on the planet and dimensional nexus of Phase World. Several explorers, cults, and interstellar and intergalactic states are involved in the search for the Cosmic Forge, a powerful artifact that is said to have created the universe.
Skraypers - Superheroes lead a resistance movement against alien conquerors amongst the massive cities of their home planet. Like Mutants in Orbit, Skraypers is designed for both Rifts (where it is set in the Three Galaxies), and another Palladium game, in this case Heroes Unlimited.
Wormwood - Knights and symbiote-bearing warriors fight against demons on a living planet.
Rifts Chaos Earth - Earth as it was during and immediately after the devastation of the Apocalypse. (Was supposed to be an alternate Earth where the governments and civilizations of the Golden Age were able to stay intact all because the first nuke strike was one minute after midnight.)
Manhunter Universe - an alternative dimension to Rifts:Earth, published as a sourcebook under license from Palladium Books by Myrmidon Press. In this dimension, humankind fights an intense battle against artificially intelligent robots bent on human extermination.
Additionally any other Palladium RPG can become the setting for a Rifts style campaign.
ALL Palladium Books - though the above sourcebooks are more specifically related to Rifts all of Palladium's games are considered to be within the same "megaverse" and so all of their other games can be used as source books.  Though the canon incarnation of Chaos Earth is Rifts' past it is also commonly accepted that Beyond the Supernatural is the distant past (due to the presence of the same mystic energy AND use of Lazlo's name) which may or may not include Ninjas and Superspies, Heroes Unlimited, After the Bomb (or if you have the books Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), System Failure, Dead Reign and even Nightspawn/bane or Robotech or Macross II. But Palladium Fantasy RPG or Recon happen in entirely different dimensions so could be source books but not Rifts' past. While Splycers on the other hand is intentionally a big mystery it may or may not be an alternate reality or a completely different dimension so as Kevin likes to point out so often, it is all up to the GM.
Anything - if you like the system but you have an old favorite character... convert it. Conversions are encouraged but due to copyright issues Kevin doesn't want any conversions that have a basis copyrighted by someone else posted on the Palladium Forums.

Weapons and technology
Despite the near-total collapse of human civilization, most of the powerful technology managed to survive the centuries. There are many reasons given for the survival or rapid development of the high technology. In The New German Republic/Triax Industries the infrastructure survived. In the case of the Coalition States it is suggested that their benefactor is a rogue artificial intelligent computer named ARCHIE 3. In Japan the main technology base is a part of the country that was "rifted" from Earth's past. The technology, regardless of the unlikelihood of the varied factions obtaining it, is in fact instrumental to the continued survival of mankind in a world where many creatures now can survive being struck by the main gun of a battle tank.

The most prolific weapons on Rifts Earth, in nearly all regions, are energy weapons. The most common are lasers, ion beams, plasma cannons, and particle beams. Also popular are rail guns, and miniaturized rockets inappropriately called Mini-Missiles, as they have no guidance system. Due to the proliferation of supernatural monsters such as vampires, silver-plated melee weapons and silver-plated bullets have also risen in popularity. For more conventional opponents, vibro-blades (knives, swords, and other edged weapons whose edges vibrate very rapidly to increase cutting power) are the weapon of choice for hand-to-hand combat.

Rail guns are highly advanced in Rifts, and are used in a way similar to machine guns in modern times. However, the weapon, ammunition belts/drums/clips, and energy packs to power the weapon make most rail guns very heavy, and are usually restricted to Powered Armor, 'Borgs, and vehicles. One of the most famous rail guns on Rifts Earth is the RG13 Rapid Acceleration Electro-Magnetic Rail Gun known as the "Boom Gun" used famously by the USA-G10 Glitter Boy power armor. It is a weapon so powerful that it creates an immensely deafening sonic boom whenever it is fired that shatters glass for hundreds of yards around.

Ion weapons are also popular, presumably because they do provide sound and recoil unlike lasers.

Heavy weapons are generally Plasma or Particle-beam weapons, which have great stopping power, but also generally have a short range.

Alongside hover vehicles and Powered Armor, a common vehicle used in battle in Rifts Earth is the Giant Robot. In addition to their role as war machines, Giant Robots are also intimidating, and turned out to be good in combating very large supernatural creatures (such as dragons, demons, and giants).

An increasingly popular use of technology is Techno-Wizardry, which is a fusion of magic and technology. The aims of Techno-Wizardry are to use magic not only to power technology, but to make it more effective than it was prior to magic infusion. Techno-Wizardry also encompasses the creation of more traditional magic weapons, so a Techno-Wizard can make both a flaming sword or a plasma cannon, often with many of the same components and spells.

The ultimate in magic are Rune Weapons, indestructible, extremely powerful weapons with the life-force of an intelligent being driving them. Rune weapons are capable of communicating with their wielders, animating and fighting by themselves, casting magic, and may harm potential users if they don't like their motives and personality (based on the RPG tradition of assigning an "alignment" to a character of good, selfish or evil), and can bind themselves psychically to those they do. Some of the strongest Rune Weapons, reminiscent of Michael Moorcock's fictional sword Stormbringer, are Soul Drinkers, capable of tearing the soul out of their victims, irrevocably killing them with only the slightest scratch.

System

Character classes
While the game books rapidly expanded the number of character classes to a large number, the original game book contained four overall character groups with approximately 4 to 5 character classes per group.
 Men of Arms are the combat specialists of the game. They include cyborgs, freelance warriors called Headhunters, the Coalition Army, the Glitterboy powered armor pilot (the Glitterboy named for its laser proof chrome alloy armor), the Cyber-Knight psychic warrior, the drug enhanced Juicer who will die in a few years as a side effect, and the Crazy who has microchips installed into their brains to force higher performance and psychic abilities at the expense of their sanity.
 Scholars and Adventurers. These are the wilderness scout, the rogue scientist, the rogue scholar, the Cyber-doctor, the Operator (a mechanic second to none), City-Rat street punk and computer hacker, and even a vagabond who has minimal gear and skills.
 Racial Character Classes. These are not trades or skills you learn, but a group of classes that were born with their powers. They include hatchling dragons, the Dog-Boy from the Coalition which is a mutated dog that walks upright, talks, and can psychically detect the supernatural, the Psi-Stalker which is more powerful than a Dog-Boy, but must also feed on mystic energy which a Dog-Boy does not, the Burster with psychic powers over fire, and the Mind Melter with large amounts of psychic power.
 Men of Magic. These are the Ley Line Walker with special abilities when on Ley Lines and normal magic spell casting, the Shifter who is taught their magic by an external supernatural creature and specialize in travel magic, the Mystic who is instinctive and self-taught and half psychic, the Techno-Wizard who can install magical properties into technological devices

Damage and firepower
One important note about Rifts versus other game systems is scale: weaponry and combat in Rifts are generally far more destructive than in other gaming systems. For example, in Rifts and other Palladium games, a simple knife inflicts between 1 and 4 "points" of damage. This point system makes sense when considering a small animal killed has between 1 and 4 "hit points," which make it realistic that it could be killed by a single strike. Yet even a basic Rifts-era laser pistol will cause between 100 and 400 points of damage (more than enough to totally destroy a small car in one shot). This means someone shot by such a laser pistol would be literally cut in half without protective armor and trees, bystanders, or anything else in the line of fire would meet a similar fate. Thus, an average player character in Rifts Earth with standard-issue armor and weapons has the effective durability and firepower of a modern tank. Even minimal skirmishes may leave deep craters or even level towns from collateral damage.

To accommodate this scale, Mega Damage Capacity or MDC is an important game concept. Each point of mega-damage is equal to 100 points of "Structural Damage" or SDC. Armor and vehicles of this power level have protection of equivalent levels. For example, most personal body armor in the Rifts setting has on average 40 to 80 MDC, comparable to a modern-day tank, and Rifts armored vehicles start around 100-200 MDC and go up from there. Exceedingly powerful beings such as Dragons, gods and alien intelligences have mega-damage bodies caused by the high levels of magic energy present in this game setting, and their MDC can soar into the thousands, if not tens of thousands.

As Rifts has no systematic method of designing weaponry, the game is criticized frequently for severe power escalation; often magic, equipment, and character classes from new books are more potent than those from an earlier one (sometimes even with the same character class), with the result of many thinking they are thus required to buy the most recent supplement to keep up with the power curve (This is parodied in an 8-bit Theater episode fittingly titled "Glitter Boy"). Rifts Conversion Books are designed to help facilitate the transition of magic and psychic characters and creatures from other Palladium game lines into this new landscape, for which many automatically gain increased benefits due to the magic-rich environment.  But a pistol or rifle that fires projectiles in our time fires the same bullets with the same effects during Rifts times and is effectively useless in most combat situations. It does retain certain value as an antique, and from a survival standpoint can be desirable as a hunting weapon.

Skills
Rifts, like other Palladium games, use percentile dice to calculate skill success. Each character, based on training, intelligence, and experience level, has a base percentage chance of success. If a number equal to or below a player's percentage is rolled on percentile dice, then the use of the skill is considered to be a success. While modifiers are suggested in cases of unusual difficulty or proficiency, these are rare in the system, usually reserved for special skills. Some criticize this as being more cumbersome than the D&D D20 System while Palladium defends their method as allowing for a wider variety of skills.

However, Combat is determined through the use of 20 sided dice. In its most basic form the combat system is an opposed roll of two dice, with additions and subtractions for character skills and environmental factors. One character will generally be offensive, the other defensive, and the highest dice roll will determine if the defender is struck by the offensive character's attack.

Spinoffs and alternate editions
Several novels, a MUD, several mush/muxs and large amounts of fan fiction have been based on the world of Rifts. A licensed Rifts video game (Rifts: Promise of Power), was released in November 2005 for the Nokia N-Gage.

Siembieda has stated that he would like to see Rifts games developed for other consoles. However, he has stated that the niche nature of the role-playing game industry means it is hard to attract prospective developers to the property.

RIFTS Collectible Card Game
RIFTS Collectible Card Game is an out-of-print collectible card game released in September 2001 and was also one of the last games made by Precedence. It was based on the role-playing game. Precedence spent more time developing this game than any other. The core set had 286 cards with an additional 38 fixed cards released in a starter box format designed to sit on a bookshelf next to the RPG. The fixed cards had different stats than the booster pack versions. Two additional promo cards were also available and their names were homages to Diamond Comic Distributors and Gilbert Gottfried. The game is set 300 years in the future where dimensional anomalies called "rifts" have beset the world and through which aliens, demons, gods, and magical forces invade Earth. Each player adopts the role of a post-holocaust nation such as CyberWorks or the Tolkeen. The game is played so that the first person to run out of cards, loses the game.

The game included artwork by Mark Evans, among others, that creator Kevin Siembieda's had a desire to reprint in an art book. It featured characters such as Fury Iron Juggernaut, General Ross Underhill, and King Victor Macklin. Eventually, the artwork was republished in the RIFTS Ultimate Edition RPG book. The book reproduced approximately 75 images from the CCG.

According to author Jane Frank, players thought the game artwork and game detail were excellent.

The Breaking Dads podcast reviewed the game and noted the company was hosting organized play events and gave retail support, when publisher support for the game immediately ceased as the company went out of business. They also remarked you couldn't play the full game with the starter packs alone but rather a "dumbed down" version of the game. Essentially, the game suffered from lack of expansions and felt "too basic", though they did mention the designer in an archived listserv addressed cards like Counter Attack, Event cards, as well as, adding new factions in future expansions.

Savage Rifts
In 2015 Pinnacle Entertainment Group announced a series of supplements converting Rifts to the Savage Worlds system. April 2016 Pinnacle announced a 2-month Kickstarter. By November 2016 they had dubbed this project Savage Rifts.

Titles released in the series include:
The Tomorrow Legion's Player's Guide (PG)
Game Master's Handbook (GM)
Savage Foes of North America (SFoNA)
Character Folio
Archetypes Set 1
Archetypes Set 2
Coalition Field Manual
Contamination Principle

Adventures:
The Garnet Town Gambit (TGTG)
Tome of Destiny

Reception
In Issue 48 of Challenge, Lester W. Smith found the information about rifts and the new Earth gave both players and referees a good base of knowledge. He especially liked the section on magic, saying, "The magic system, when taken as a whole, is clear, concise and logical, explaining magic in general in a new and 'realistic' light." However, he didn't like the lack of an introductory adventure, commenting, "For a game that is meant to stand alone, it's surprising that no introductory scenario was included. Nor were any character sheets, handouts or pull-outs provided to aid the players." Smith had thought that the completely new rules system would clear up some of the long-standing problems with old Palladium rule systems. However, Smith found that "Instead of clearing up old discrepancies, Rifts creates many of its own." He also found the rules badly organized. Despite these issues, Smith concluded, "I highly recommend Rifts because of its setting and potential for great scenarios. [...] There is enough here to keep any GM busy thinking up new scenarios and creating new archvillains for players for quite a while."

In Issue 13 of Arcane (December 1996), Lucya Sachnowski was disappointed in the Rifts World Book 11: Coalition War Campaign, saying that "There are just five pages of short adventure ideas which are usable and versatile - providing a good mixture of combat and moral dilemmas - but they aren't enough." She gave the book a below-average rating of 6 out of 10.

In a readers' poll conducted by the UK magazine Arcane in 1996 to determine the 50 most popular role-playing games of all time, Rifts was ranked 22nd. The magazine editor Paul Pettengale commented: "It's the ultimate in old-style high-energy RPGs. It uses a class-and-level system, and its supplements are full of new character classes, as well as weapons, robots and power armour. Fantasy-style creatures are a bit less common, and tend to be rather conventional elves and orcs - although it's perfectly possible to play a baby dragon. One of the key concepts is 'mega-damage', which is important when you're playing with giant robots and such. This is the game for people who want to have everything possible in their campaigns - and then to blow a lot of it up with cool super-weapons."

Scott Taylor for Black Gate in 2013 rated Rifts as #9 in the top ten role-playing games of all time, saying "Think about how many gaming groups have fallen apart, how many campaigns have turned to dust, all because people got tired of the same old story.  Rifts changes all that, because one week your characters could be fighting aliens in giant mecha and the next they could be raiding a dragon's hoard with Vikings.  Not bad, Mr. Siembieda, not bad at all..."

Other reviews and commentary
White Wolf #26 (April/May, 1991)

References

External links
Rifts official discussion board at Palladium Books Forums of the Megaverse
Rifts at RPG Geek Database
Rifts at RPGnet Game Index

Megaverse (Palladium Books)
American role-playing games
Post-apocalyptic role-playing games
Role-playing games introduced in 1990
Science fantasy role-playing games
Science fiction role-playing games
Video games about parallel universes
Alternate history role-playing games
Collectible card games
Dark fantasy role-playing games
Dystopian fiction
Fantasy worlds
Fiction about artificial intelligence
Brain–computer interfacing in fiction
Cyborgs in fiction
Demons in popular culture
Fiction about magic
Genetic engineering in fiction
Mutants in fiction
Nanotechnology in fiction
Fiction about robots
Transhumanism in fiction
Vampires in games

Rifts (role-playing game)


Morenismo fue denominado un movimiento político encabezado por el abogado liberal, periodista y político Delio Moreno Cantón, a principios del , en Yucatán, México. El movimiento estuvo orientado a combatir al grupo oligárquico de la Casta divina encabezado por Olegario Molina, su yerno Avelino Montes y su testaferro, Enrique Muñoz Arístegui, quien despojó a Delio Moreno en la elección estatal de 1909 de la gubernatura yucateca, apoyado por la administración de Porfirio Díaz, dictador en el México pre-revolucionario.

Datos históricos
La corriente política del morenismo se desarrolló en Yucatán de 1909 a 1915 como movimiento opositor al monopolio político y económico del grupo encabezado por Olegario Molina que había sido gobernador de Yucatán y era a la sazón secretario de Fomento en el Porfiriato. Este grupo, más tarde denominado Casta divina por Salvador Alvarado, dominaba la política y la economía regionales mediante pluralidad de empresas entre las cuales estaban las relacionadas con la industria henequenera yucateca.

Delio Moreno Cantón, que era un abogado liberal y periodista nacido en 1863 en Valladolid, Yucatán, fue varias veces contendiente al cargo de gobernador de Yucatán y en dos ocasiones fue despojado de su triunfo por fraude electoral cometido en su perjuicio. Moreno había ejercido la profesión de periodista como propietario y director de la Revista de Mérida (antecedente del Diario de Yucatán).

Moreno Cantón luchó políticamente contra el reeleccionismo en Yucatán imperante en la época, y también, contra el porfiriato henequenero formado en Yucatán por la que más tarde sería denominada Casta divina.

Como resultado de las elecciones de 1909 (periodo 1910 - 1914) en las que Enrique Muñoz Arístegui salió electo gobernador por fraude electoral cometido en contra de Delio Moreno, las fuerzas morenistas se organizaron en un movimiento de resistencia que inclusive llegó a fraguar la rebelión de Valladolid, que fue aplacada y sus participantes duramente reprimidos, perseguidos y encarcelados por el gobierno. Hubo inclusive tres ciudadanos que fueron ejecutados tras juicios sumarísimos. Delio Moreno sufrió persecuciones acusado de haber participado en la revuelta. Todo ello contribuyó a magnificar la figura política del abogado y periodista, como víctima que había sido de una gran injusticia.

Más tarde, en 1911, ya depuesto Muñoz Arístegui por el propio Porfirio Díaz, poco antes de retirarse este a su exilio, Delio Moreno volvió a contender por la gubernatura teniendo como adversario a José María Pino Suárez, quien fue apoyado por el maderismo triunfante en México como resultado del Plan de San Luis. A pesar de la popularidad de Moreno Cantón, volvió a perder las elecciones en otro alegado fraude electoral. A pesar de este nuevo fracaso, las fuerzas morenistas intentaron una vez más lanzar la candidatura de su líder para el periodo 1914 - 1918, pero el huertismo ya imperante en ese momento tras la decena trágica, lo evitó. Delio Moreno prefirió en este punto retirarse de la política, no sin que el morenismo perdurara en Yucatán por varios años.

Véase también
 José María Pino Suárez
 Francisco I Madero
 Revolución mexicana en Yucatán
 Casta divina

Referencias

Enlaces externos
 Summer of discontent, seasons of upheaval: elite politics and rural ...Allen Wells,Gilbert Michael Joseph
 El Porfiriato Henequenero, Archivo General del Estado

Movimientos políticos de México
Revolución mexicana en Yucatán
Partidos políticos de Yucatán
Ideologías políticas de México

Morenismo en Yucatán


Cumberland es una estación en la línea Azul del Metro de Chicago. La estación se encuentra localizada en 5800 North Cumberland Avenue en Chicago, Illinois. La estación Cumberland fue inaugurada el 27 de febrero de 1983.  La Autoridad de Tránsito de Chicago es la encargada por el mantenimiento y administración de la estación. Los trenes en la estación operan las 24 horas al día.

Descripción
La estación Cumberland cuenta con 1 plataforma central, 1 plataforma lateral y 3 vías. La estación también cuenta con 1633 de espacios de aparcamiento.

Conexiones
La estación es abastecida por las siguientes conexiones:
 Rutas del CTA: Pace y Greyhound Lines

Referencias

Enlaces externos

 Estación Cumberland
 Líneas y estaciones del Metro de Chicago

Estaciones de Metro de Estados Unidos inauguradas en 1983
Estaciones de la línea Azul (Metro de Chicago)

Cumberland (Metro de Chicago)


Cláudia Patrícia Homem de Gouveia Dantas  (Moçambique, 1972) geralmente conhecida como Patrícia Dantas, é uma economista e política portuguesa. É deputada do PPD/PSD.CDS-PP à Assembleia da República pelo círculo eleitoral da Madeira.

Biografia
Patrícia Dantas nasceu em Moçambique em 1972, filha de João Heliodoro da Silva Dantas, antigo presidente da Câmara Municipal de Câmara de Lobos (1977-1983) e do Funchal (1984-1990), e de Elsa Homem de Gouveia Pinto da Silva. À época do seu nascimento, João Dantas prestava serviço como oficial do exército na Polícia de Segurança Pública de Moçambique, cargo que exerceu de 1964 a 1974.

É licenciada em Economia pela Nova SBE-School Business of Economics, com pós-graduação em firstname.lastname@example.com no INDEG-ISCTE Business School, e pós graduação em Finanças pela Universidade Católica de Portugal.

De outubro de 2005 a outubro de 2017 foi presidente executiva da Startup Madeira/BIC-Business Innovation Center Madeira, anteriormente conhecido como CEIM-Centro de Empresas e Inovação da Madeira.

De abril de 2015 a julho de 2017 foi presidente da Assembleia Geral da BICs- Associação dos Centros de Empresa e Inovação.

De abril a julho de 2016 foi assistente convidada da UMa-Universidade da Madeira para lecionar a cadeira de Empreendedorismo no mestrado de Ecoturismo.

Atividade política
Patrícia Dantas é militante do PSD-Madeira.

A 17 de novembro de 2017, foi nomeada Diretora Regional Adjunta de Economia do Governo Regional da Madeira, em regime de comissão de serviço, pelo período de três anos, por despacho assinado pelo vice-presidente regional, Pedro Calado.

Em janeiro de 2019, era diretora regional Adjunta dos Assuntos Parlamentares, Relações Externas e da Coordenação, cargo que mantinha em agosto de 2021 quando foi mandatada pelo Governo Regional da Madeira para representar a Região e exercer todos os seus direitos, enquanto acionista única da Assembleia Geral de sócios da Empresa de Eletricidade da Madeira. A decisão viria a ser revogada a 12 de agosto, sendo substituída por José Manuel Soares Mota naquela reunião.

Em setembro de 2021, durante a votação para as eleições autárquicas, nas quais era apoiante da coligação Funchal Sempre à Frente, foi alvo de queixa apresentada contra si na Comissão Nacional de Eleições pela mandatária da coligação Confiança, Violante Saramago Matos, por afirmações proferidas no interior de uma secção de voto da Escola da Ajuda, no Funchal.

Em dezembro de 2021, foi candidata pela coligação Madeira Primeiro, que juntou o PPD/PSD e o CDS-PP, às eleições legislativas portuguesas de 2022, vindo a ser eleita.

XV Legislatura
A 30 de janeiro de 2022, Patrícia Dantas foi eleita deputada pelo PPD/PSD.CDS-PP para a Assembleia da República pelo círculo eleitoral da Madeira.

Processo da AIMinho
Em novembro de 2018, uma investigação do programa Sexta às 9, da RTP1, colocou Patrícia Dantas como arguida no megaprocesso da Associação Industrial do Minho (AIMINHO), entretanto falida, envolvendo apoios comunitários. Segundo a investigação, em 2017 Patrícia Dantas havia sido acusada pelo Departamento Central de Investigação e Ação Penal (DCIAP) de obtenção fraudulenta de subsídio, irregularidade alegadamente cometida à época em que era presidente do CEIM. Segundo a reportagem, o Ministério Público acredita que os documentos passados por Patrícia Dantas, de serviços prestados, foram falsificados, referindo que, nas buscas efetuadas pela Polícia Judiciária à sede do CEIM, a 7 de julho de 2017, não foi possível localizar e apreender quaisquer evidências dos serviços prestados. Em interrogatório, Patrícia Dantas disse que os relatórios haviam sido efetivamente realizados, e entregues em mão a um responsável pela Oficina de Inovação, empresa à qual havia sido prestado o serviço, num encontro na Irlanda. Sobre o processo, Patrícia Dantas afirmou ao "Sexta às 9" que o CEIM limitara-se a prestar um serviço de consultoria, admitindo que os relatórios não se encontravam no edifício na altura das buscas, mas que os havia feito chegar às autoridades no dia seguinte. Segundo a investigação, os documentos deram entrada no DCIAP um mês depois. À investigação, Dantas afirmou-se tranquila e confiante que todas as situações serão esclarecidas nos tribunais.

Na sequência da reportagem, o PS-Madeira pediu a demissão da diretora regional adjunta. Em nota enviada à imprensa no dia seguinte à emissão da reportagem, Patrícia Dantas informou que o processo ainda se encontra em fase de instrução, e que tenciona prestar todos os esclarecimentos necessários ao Ministério Público. Afirmou não ter intenção de se demitir, colocando, no entanto, o lugar à disposição da presidência do governo, caso entendessem o contrário. Na nota, Dantas avançou várias informações sobre o processo, referindo que se trata de um processo que começou a ser investigado em 2012, para o qual apenas em meados de 2017 lhe foram solicitados esclarecimentos, relativos à sua anterior função de presidente da Startup Madeira/CEIM. Está em causa a elaboração de dois relatórios no valor global de 10.000 euros mais IVA, num processo que ascende, na totalidade, aos 10 milhões de euros. Segundo Dantas, houve uma prestação de serviço, devidamente faturada e liquidada pela Oficina de Inovação, cujo valor recebido ficou na CEIM, nunca tento existido qualquer envolvimento pessoal nem profissional quer do CEIM, quer seu, com a AIMinho, nem envolvimento de qualquer apoio comunitário sobre o montante recebido, descartando qualquer acusação de fraude. No mesmo sentido, também o PSD-Madeira emitiu um comunicado afirmando que o envolvimento de Dantas e do CEIM se deu por arrastamento, uma vez que o CEIM prestara serviços à Oficina da Inovação, que por sua vez estava relacionada com a AI Minho, afirmando não existir qualquer relacionamento direto entre o CEIM e a AI Minho, nem com os factos constantes da acusação.

Naturais de Moçambique colonial
Deputados da Assembleia da República Portuguesa em funções
Políticos do Partido Social Democrata (Portugal)
Mulheres de Portugal na política
Mulheres economistas de Portugal
Políticos da Madeira
Governo Regional da Madeira
Alumni da Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Alumni do ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa
Alumni da Universidade Católica Portuguesa

Patrícia Dantas


ASCII se poate referi la:

 ASCII, un sistem de codificare a caracterelor
 3568 ASCII, un asteroid din centura principală

ASCII (dezambiguizare)


Noufissa Sbaï, née à Tanger en 1946, est une romancière marocaine.

Elle a publié deux romans, L'Enfant endormi et L'Amante du Rif, tous deux centrés sur la condition féminine au Maroc. Elle est par ailleurs enseignante dès l'âge de 17 ans, d'abord dans le primaire puis dans le secondaire.

L'Enfant endormi
L'Enfant endormi traite de la condition des femmes. Le titre fait référence à une excuse alléguée traditionnellement par des femmes divorcées ou veuves pour expliquer la naissance d'un enfant hors mariage. Selon une croyance populaire, un fœtus (un «enfant») peut demeurer endormi dans le ventre d'une femme enceinte pendant plusieurs années pour s'éveiller  ensuite, se développer et naître.

Le critique Mohand Améziane Bellagh présente l'ouvrage comme relevant à la fois du genre du roman autobiographique et de celui du roman social. EN tant que roman social il traite des relations entre les hommes et les femmes au Maroc. Le récit croise les destins de deux femmes dont l'une est victime d'un viol, puis entre au service de l'autre, une institutrice dynamique, aux prises avec un directeur d'école et un mari autoritaires.

Le titre a été repris par la cinéaste Yasmine Kassari en 2004 ; toutefois le film L'Enfant endormi traite d'un sujet différent de celui du livre : la manière dont les femmes au Maroc vivent l'absence de leurs maris émigrés.

L'Amante du Rif

L'Amante du Rif représente une journaliste qui filme un reportage sur des femmes de la ville de Tétouan dans le but de transmettre leurs témoignages sur les injustices et les diverses formes d'oppression dont elles sont victimes

L'Amante du Rif est adapté au cinéma en 2011 par la réalisatrice marocaine Narjiss Nejjar qui est par ailleurs la fille de Noufissa Sbaï (née en 1971) ; le film L'Amante du Rif, tourné en arabe, est produit par le  Belge Tarantula. Selon un critique, le film ,

Sur les femmes
Dans un article de 1997 Noufissa Sbaï critique certaines pratiques initiatiques censées protéger des petites filles du danger du viol ; ces rites consistent en ablutions et massages pratiqués par une vieille femme sur le corps de l'enfant, ; ils risquent selon Noufissa Sbaï d'inculquer à des filles la peur de l'Autre. L'écrivaine affirme avoir été elle-même longtemps terrorisée par les hommes.

Bibliographie

 Déjeux Jean, « Dictionnaire des auteurs », dans : , La littérature féminine de langue française au Maghreb. sous la direction de Déjeux Jean. Paris, Karthala, « Lettres du Sud », 1994, p. 215-242, lire en ligne

Références

Romancière marocaine
Écrivain marocain francophone
Naissance à Tanger
Naissance en 1946
Membre de la tribu des Oulad Bou Sbaa

Noufissa Sbaï


Karayemiş (Prunus laurocerasus), gülgiller (Rosaceae) familyasından küçük beyaz renkli çiçekler açan, daha çok rutubetli ve gölgeli yerlerde yetişen 5–15 m boyunda, yaprak dökmeyen bir ağaç türü. Türkiye'de çeşitli yöresel adlarla bilinmektedir. Yaygın olarak "Taflan" adıyla bilinen bitki, "Gürcü kirazı", "Laz kirazı", "Laz üzümü", "Laz yemişi", "Tanal", "Tçkoo" adlarıyla da bilinmektedir.

Morfolojik özellikleri

Yapraklar derimsi kısa saplı ve oval şekillidir. Orta damar alt tarafta çıkıntı teşkil eder. Çiçeklerin 30 - 40 tanesi bir arada bulunur. Taç ve çanak yapraklari 5 parçalıdır. Meyveleri zamanla siyah renk alır.

Genel kullanımı

Yaprakları şeker, tanen, kalsiyum, oksalat, emülsin, prunasin ihtiva eder. Taze yapraklardan elde edilen taflan suyu, antispazmodik ve öksürük dindirici, bulantı ve karın ağrılarını giderici olarak kullanılır. Fazla alınırsa, zehirlenme yapar. Taze meyveleri yenir. Taze meyvelerinin idrar söktürücü ve taş düşürücü etkileri vardır. Yaprakları ise gıdalara koku vermekte kullanılır.

Yapılan çalışmalarda on fenolik ve altı şeker içeriği tespit edilmiştir. Bilinen en yaygın üç fitesterolden biri olan β-sitosterolün karayemiş meyve çekirdeklerinde % 73' ünü oluşturduğu belirtilmiştir. Yeteri kadar araştırması olmamasına rağmen topikal kullanımlarda ağrı üzerinde analjezik etki gösterdiği söylenmektedir. Besin ve nutrasötik takviye formülasyonlarında potansiyel olarak kullanılabilen iyi bir doğal antioksidan kaynağıdır. Halk ilacı olarak mide ülseri, sindirim sistemi şikâyeti, bronşit, egzama, hemoroit, diüretik ajan olarak kullanıldığı bilinmektedir. Meyvelerinin ise yenerek diyabette kullanıldığı bilinmektedir.

Dağılımı
Güneybatı Asya ile Güneydoğu Avrupa'da doğal olarak yetişir. Türkiye'de Samsun, Giresun, Trabzon, Rize, Ordu ve Artvin civarında yüksek dağlık bölgelerde doğal olarak bulunur.

Kaynakça

Prunus
Türkiye'deki odunsu taksonlar
Meyve
Carl Linnaeus tarafından adlandırılmış taksonlar
Rize florası

Karayemiş


El Partido Comunista de Alemania-Oposición (, generalmente abreviado como KPO o KPDO) fue un partido comunista de oposición fundado a finales de 1928 que existió hasta 1939-1940. Tras el ascenso al poder de Adolf Hitler y el Partido Nacionalsocialista Obrero Alemán en enero de 1933, el KPO existió sólo como organización ilegal y clandestina. El grupo inicialmente buscó reorientar y, más tarde reemplazar, al Partido Comunista de Alemania principal (KPD, liderado por Ernst Thälmann). El KPO fue la primera sección nacional afiliada a la Oposición Comunista Internacional.

Historia de la organización

Antecedentes

El KPO representaba a la denominada Oposición de Derecha en el KPD, que se distinguía de la Oposición de Izquierda trotskista y la facción centrista pro-Comintern. Estaba liderada por Heinrich Brandler y August Thalheimer, que dirigieron el KPD entre 1921 y 1923. Fueron expulsados del mismo tras organizar una reunión para combatir lo que ellos veían como corrupción en el partido. Ernst Thälman encubrió a un protegido suyo en el partido, John Wittorf (1894-1981), de acusaciones de desfalco a pesar de conocer su culpabilidad. Se halló que el secretario de la organización de Hamburgo del KPD se había adueñado de 2000 marcos de las finanzas del partido para su uso privado. Cuando los contables del partido descubrieron el delito, fueron amenazados con la expulsión del mismo por parte de Thälmann si daban a conocer al ladrón. El escándalo ciruló por el Comintern, lo que condujo a una crisis en el partido alemán cuyo Comité Central depuso a Thälmann por unaminidad (incluso con su voto). Estos hechos representaban una amenaza para la facción del Partido Comunista de la Unión Soviética encabezada por Stalin, quien tenía en Thälmann a un aliado de fiar en las pugnas entre facciones. Como resultado, el Presídium de la Internacional Comunista, revocó la decisión del Comité Central alemán, reponiendo a Thälmann como secretario.

En octubre de 1928, Brandler regresó a Alemania contra los deseos del KPD. El caso de corrupción en Hamburgo y la protección de la facción de Stalin, fueron usados como pretexto por Brandler y Thalheimer para convocar una reunión de sus partidarios el 11 de noviembre de 1928. El Comintern reaccionó con furia. Brandler, Thalheimer y sus socios fueron fuertemente criticados en una carta abierta del Comitern del 19 de diciembre de 1928. Ambos fueron expulsados del partido alemán en diciembre de 1928 y del de la Unión Soviética y la Internacional Comunista en enero de 1929.

Formación

Brandler y Thalheimer reunieron a sus partidarios en una nueva organización llamada Partido Comunista de Alemania (Oposición), que fue fundado en la reunión, celebrada el 30 de diciembre, que motivó las expulsiones. El grupo también lanzó un nuevo periódico comunista, Gegen den Strom ("Contra la corriente"). La mayoría de los que asistieron a esta reunión eran aliados de facción de Brandler y Thalheimer desde hacía años, desde los tiempos en que ambos lideraban el partido. Una excepción a este grupo mayoritario era Paul Frölich, quien había sido partidario de la Facción Conciliadora, que emergió entre los líderes del KPO y el KPD. Tanto Frölich como su compañera Rosi Wolfstein, así como Brandler y Thalheimer, habían sido partidarios y pupilos de Rosa Luxemburgo.

A lo largo de 1929, el KPD expulsó a los partidarios de Brandler y Thalheimer, así como a los "conciliadores", que deseaban una tregua entre las facciones. Se calcula que las expulsiones afectaron a unos mil miembros del partido. Estas expulsiones fueron paralelas a los esfuerzos en Rusia por purgar al Partido Comunista de los seguidores de Nikolái Bujarin, Alekséi Rykov y Mijaíl Tomski. El KPO inicialmente trató de ser un grupo de influencia que intentaba cambiar la línea política del KPD más que un nuevo partido competidor. La organización sostuvo otra reunión en noviembre de ese año, en la que, en palabras de Manabendra Nath Roy, "declaraba que entre la Socialdemocracia y el Comunismo no existía un punto medio." Opuestos a esta idea, el KPO llamó a la inmediata formación de una amplia alianza antifascista que incluyera a la federación sindical controlada por los socialdemócratas, los socialdemócratas, los comunistas y el Partido de los Trabajadores Socialistas de Alemania. La prohibición, juntamente con otras medidas similares tomadas contra otras publicaciones de la izquierda, dificultó la coordinación de ésta contra el ultranacionalismo alemán. Tras el ascenso al poder de Adolf Hitler y su ultranacionalista Partido Nacionalsocialista Obrero Alemán el 30 de enero de 1933 y la ola de represión antiradical que le siguió, Brandler y la mayoría de los líderes del KPO huyeron a Francia. Brandler vivió en París hasta el inicio de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, donde continuó involucrado en la política comunista.

Período clandestino

El KPO sólo pudo trabajar legalmente un año más, hasta que los nazis tomaron el poder en enero de 1933. Tuvieron que pasar a la clandestinidad inmediatamente para evitar la persecución en la medida de lo posible. Lograron convocar una reunión en Dinamarca en abril de 1934, manteniendo una estructura nacional. No obstante, en 1935, los nazis iniciaron la represión de todos los grupos comunistas, juzgándose a miembros del KPO en Weimar, Jena y otros lugares. La organización dejó de operar a nivel nacional y se mantuvo confinada a círculos de exiliados y el Sarre, gracias a la ocupación francesa. Cuando se dio un plebiscito en la región sobre si debía ser devuelta a Alemania, el KPO propuso el voto por una Räterepublik soviética de Sarre, oponiéndose a la unidad con la Alemania Nazi. Esta posición se encontraba en desacuerdo con la del KPD, que propugnaba el que el Sarre se mantuviera en manos francesas.

El KPO, con sus dirigentes exiliados en París, continuó la publicación de Gegen den Strom. Políticamente, continuaron la línea previa del KPO, apoyando al Comintern y a Stalin en la Unión Soviética, y criticando únicamente al KPD. Esta posición comenzó a cambiar con el inicio de la Guerra civil española y el desarrollo de la Gran Purga en Rusia. Varios militantes en el exilio viajaron a España, luchando en el bando republicano integrados en las Brigadas Internacionales. Algunos de ellos sufrieron la represión por parte de los estalinistas, destino que compartieron con los militantes españoles del Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista (POUM).

Disolución

En el seno de la KPO se creó una corriente que quería distanciarse del apoyo al estalinismo y que, tras abandonar las filas del partido, crearon el Grupo Internacional Marxista en 1939. Este grupo firmó una declaración de partidos socialistas independientes, muchos asociados con el Frente Obrero Internacional, que habían dejado la ICO y la KPO. A partir de este punto hay pocas acciones tanto de uno como de otro grupo. Con la caída de Francia, el liderazgo del KPO tuvo que huir de nuevo, y la organización fue disuelta de hecho.

Brandler y Thalheimer pasaron la guerra exiliados en Cuba, donde moriría este último. Brandler regresó a la Alemania Federal y tuvo cierta relevancia en el Gruppe Arbeiterpolitik, que siguió la tradición del KPO, pero jamás lograría su antigua influencia. Brandler murió en 1967, aunque su agrupación aún existe, con sede en Hamburgo.

Véase también
 Oposición de Derecha
 Nikolái Bujarin

Referencias

Alemania-Oposicion
Comunista-Oposicion
Partidos políticos fundados en 1928
Partidos políticos disueltos en 1940


Avrupa Birliği Müktesebatı (acquis communautaire), temel Avrupa Birliği anlaşmalarında ve diğer yardımcı hukuk kaynaklarında (tüzük, karar, yönerge vs.) yer alan kural ve kurumlar bütününü ifade etmektedir.

Dış ilişkiler, güvenlik ve adalet, serbest dolaşım, gümrük birliği, çevre koruması, eğitim ve araştırma vs. tüm konular AB Müktesebatı içinde yer alan konulardır.

Fasıllar
AB tarafından genişleme müzakereleri için hazırlanmış olan "AT Müktesebatı Analitik Çerçevesi" aşağıda yer almaktadır. Söz konusu müktesebat, AB'nin kendi içindeki müktesebatın (kazanım) benzeridir ve özellikle genişleme sürecinde katılım müzakereleri yapılacak olan aday ülkeler için hazırlanmıştır.

Bu tür müzakereler genellikle, yeni üye devletlerin Avrupa Birliği yasalarını tam olarak uygulamaları ve onlar ve vatandaşlarının müktesebat kapsamında tam haklara sahip olmaları öncesinde geçiş sürelerini kabul etmeyi içermiştir.

Terim
Müktesebat terimi aynı zamanda Schengen Anlaşması kapsamında kabul edilen yasaları tanımlamak için de kullanılır; bu durumda Schengen müktesebatı olarak bahsedilir ve daha sonra Amsterdam Antlaşması ile Avrupa Birliği hukuki düzenine entegre edilir.

Müktesebat terimi, Dünya Ticaret Örgütü Temyiz Organı tarafından Japonya - Alkollü İçecekler Üzerindeki Vergiler davasında, Genel Gümrük Tarife ve Ticaret Anlaşması (GATT) ve DTÖ hukukunun birikimini ("acquis gattien") ifade etmek için kullanılmıştır, ancak bu kullanım pek yerleşik değildir.

Avrupa Konseyi'nin (Avrupa Birliği ile bağlantısı olmayan uluslararası bir kuruluş) başarılarını tanımlamak için de kullanılmıştır.

Ayrıca, Güvenlik ve İşbirliği Teşkilatı'nın (OSCE) "ilkeler, normlar ve taahhütler" birliğine "müktesebat" terimi de uygulanmıştır.

Ekonomik İşbirliği ve Kalkınma Örgütü (OECD), "Büyüme ve genişleme stratejisi" başlıklı belgesinde, OECD Müktesebatı kavramını Mayıs 2004'te tanıttı.

Dış bağlantılar
 EUR-Lex, AB Kanunları
 EU law blog , AB Kanunları blog
 JRC-Acquis, 21 Dilde

Kaynakça

Avrupa Birliği hukuku

Avrupa Birliği müktesebatı


Dvozub (lat. Bidens), rod jednogodišnjih i dvogodišnjih biljaka i trajnica iz porodice Compositae. Postoji preko 200 vrsta raširenih po svim Kontinentima, a pet od njih rastu i u Hrvatskoj, to su: dvostrukoperasti dvozub (Bidens bipinnata), cjelolisni dvozub (B. cernua), trodijelni dvozub (B. tripartita),  listnati dvozub (B. frondosa),  izmjenični dvozub (B. subalternans)

Opis
Bidens su kozmopolitski rod korovskih biljaka iz porodice Asteraceae, koji se sastoji od oko 230 vrsta. Karakteriziraju ih plodovi s dvije do četiri bodljikave čekinje koje se pričvršćuju za životinjsku dlaku ili ljudsku odjeću. Neki imaju podijeljene listove s nazubljenim segmentima i dugačke zrakaste cvjetove; drugi imaju nepodijeljeno lišće u obliku koplja i kratke zrakaste cvjetove ili ih uopće nemaju. Većina ima žute diskaste cvjetove, a najmanje jedna vrsta, B. ferulaefolia, uzgaja se kao ukras za vrt.

Vrste

 Bidens acrifolia Sherff
 Bidens acuticaulis Sherff
 Bidens aequisquama (Fernald) Sherff
 Bidens alba (L.) DC.
 Bidens amplectens Sherff
 Bidens amplissima Greene
 Bidens andicola Kunth
 Bidens andongensis Hiern
 Bidens andrei Sherff
 Bidens angustissima Kunth
 Bidens anthemoides Sherff
 Bidens anthriscoides DC.
 Bidens aoraiensis M.L.Grant
 Bidens arenicola Sherff
 Bidens aristosa (Michx.) Britton
 Bidens asperata (Hutch. & Dalziel) Sherff
 Bidens asymmetrica Sherff
 Bidens aurea (Aiton) Sherff
 Bidens balsana Melchert
 Bidens barteri (Oliv. & Hiern) T.G.J.Rayner
 Bidens baumii Sherff
 Bidens beckiana (F.Br.) Sherff
 Bidens beckii Torr. ex Spreng.
 Bidens bicolor Greenm.
 Bidens bidentoides  (Nutt.) Britton
 Bidens bigelovii A.Gray
 Bidens bipinnata L.
 Bidens bipontina Sherff
 Bidens biternata (Lour.) Merr. & Sherff
 Bidens blakei (Sherff) Melchert
 Bidens borianiana (Schweinf.) Cufod.
 Bidens brandegeei Sherff
 Bidens brasiliensis Sherff
 Bidens buchneri Sherff
 Bidens burundiensis M.Tadesse
 Bidens cabopulmensis León de la Luz & B.L.Turner
 Bidens campanulata Bringel & T.B.Cavalc.
 Bidens camporum (Hutch.) Mesfin
 Bidens campylotheca Sch.Bip.
 Bidens carinata Cuf. ex Mesfin
 Bidens cernua L.
 Bidens cervicata Sherff
 Bidens chiapensis Brandegee
 Bidens chippii (M.B.Moss) Mesfin
 Bidens chodatii Hassl.
 Bidens chrysanthemifolia (Kunth) Sherff
 Bidens cinerea Sherff
 Bidens clarendonensis Britton
 Bidens clavata Ballard
 Bidens colimana Melchert
 Bidens conjuncta Sherff
 Bidens connata Muhl. ex Willd.
 Bidens cordifolia Sch.Bip.
 Bidens cordylocarpa (A.Gray) D.J.Crawford
 Bidens cornuta Sherff
 Bidens cosmoides Sherff
 Bidens crocea Welw. ex O.Hoffm.
 Bidens cronquistii (Sherff) Melchert
 Bidens cynapiifolia Kunth
 Bidens deltoidea J.W.Moore
 Bidens discoidea Britton
 Bidens diversa Sherff
 Bidens domingensis O.E.Schulz
 Bidens eatonii Fernald
 Bidens edentula G.M.Barroso
 Bidens ekmanii O.E.Schulz ex Urb.
 Bidens elgonensis (Sherff) Agnew
 Bidens elliotii Sherff
 Bidens engleri O.E.Schulz
 Bidens esmartinezii Villaseñor
 Bidens evapelliana W.L.Wagner, J.R.Clark & Lorence
 Bidens exigua Sherff
 Bidens fischeri (O.Hoffm.) Sherff
 Bidens fistulosa Sch.Bip. ex Baker
 Bidens flabellata O.Hoffm.
 Bidens flagellaris Baker
 Bidens flagellata (Sherff) Mesfin
 Bidens forbesii Sherff
 Bidens frondosa L.
 Bidens gardneri Baker
 Bidens × garumnae Jeanj. & Debray
 Bidens gentryi Sherff
 Bidens ghedoensis Mesfin
 Bidens glandulifera M.L.Grant
 Bidens goiana B.L.Turner
 Bidens gracillima Sherff
 Bidens grantii Sherff
 Bidens graveolens Mart.
 Bidens gypsophila Miranda
 Bidens hassleriana (Chodat) A.A.Sáenz
 Bidens hawaiensis A.Gray
 Bidens hendersonensis Sherff
 Bidens henryi Sherff
 Bidens herzogii (Sherff) D.J.N.Hind
 Bidens heterodoxa Fernald & H.St.John
 Bidens heterosperma A.Gray
 Bidens hildebrandtii O.Hoffm.
 Bidens hillebrandiana (Drake) O.Deg. ex Sherff
 Bidens hintonii (Sherff) Melchert
 Bidens holstii Sherff
 Bidens holwayi Sherff & S.F.Blake
 Bidens hyperborea Greene
 Bidens insolita Sherff
 Bidens isostigmatoides Sherff
 Bidens kamerunensis Sherff
 Bidens kamtschatica Vassilcz.
 Bidens kilimandscharica (O.Hoffm.) Sherff
 Bidens kirkii Sherff
 Bidens laevis (L.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.
 Bidens lantanoides A.Gray
 Bidens lejolyana Lisowski
 Bidens lemmonii A.Gray
 Bidens leptocephala Sherff
 Bidens leptophylla C.H.An
 Bidens lineariloba Oliv.
 Bidens longistyla C.R.Hart
 Bidens macrocarpa Sherff
 Bidens macroptera (Sch.Bip. ex Chiov.) Mesfin
 Bidens magnifolia Sherff
 Bidens malawiensis Mesfin
 Bidens mandonii (Sherff) Cabrera
 Bidens mannii T.G.J.Rayner
 Bidens mathewsii Sherff
 Bidens mauiensis Sherff
 Bidens maximowicziana Oett.
 Bidens melchertii B.L.Turner
 Bidens menziesii Sherff
 Bidens mesfinii Anderb.
 Bidens mexicana Sherff
 Bidens meyeri V.A.Funk & K.R.Wood
 Bidens micrantha Gaudich.
 Bidens microcephala W.L.Wagner, J.R.Clark & Lorence
 Bidens microphylla Sherff
 Bidens minensis Sherff
 Bidens mitis Sherff
 Bidens mollifolia Sherff
 Bidens molokaiensis Sherff
 Bidens monticola Poepp. & Endl.
 Bidens mooreensis M.L.Grant
 Bidens moorei Sherff
 Bidens × multiceps Fassett
 Bidens nana M.O.Dillon
 Bidens negriana (Sherff) Cufod.
 Bidens nobilioides Sherff
 Bidens nudata Brandegee
 Bidens oaxacana Melchert
 Bidens oblonga (Sherff) Wild
 Bidens occidentalis (Hutch. & Dalziel) Mesfin
 Bidens ocellata (Greenm.) Melchert
 Bidens ochracea Sherff
 Bidens odora (Sherff) T.G.J.Rayner
 Bidens oerstediana Sherff
 Bidens oligantha Brandegee
 Bidens oligoflora (Klatt) Wild
 Bidens orofenensis M.L.Grant
 Bidens ostruthioides (DC.) Sch.Bip.
 Bidens pachyloma (Oliv. & Hiern) Cufod.
 Bidens paniculata Hook. & Arn.
 Bidens parviflora Willd.
 Bidens pilosa L.
 Bidens pinnatipartita (O.Hoffm.) Wild
 Bidens × polakii Velen.
 Bidens polycephala Sch.Bip.
 Bidens polylepis S.F.Blake
 Bidens populifolia Sherff
 Bidens prestinaria (Sch.Bip.) Cufod.
 Bidens pringlei Greenm.
 Bidens pseudalausensis Sherff
 Bidens pseudocosmos Sherff
 Bidens radiata Thuill.
 Bidens raiateensis J.W.Moore
 Bidens reptans G.Don
 Bidens riedelii Baker
 Bidens riparia Kunth
 Bidens rosemaniana B.L.Turner & Melchert
 Bidens rostrata Melchert
 Bidens rubicundula Sherff
 Bidens rubifolia Kunth
 Bidens rueppellii (Sch.Bip.) Sherff
 Bidens ruyigiensis T.G.J.Rayner
 Bidens saint-johniana Sherff
 Bidens saltillensis Melchert
 Bidens sambucifolia Cav.
 Bidens sandvicensis Less.
 Bidens schaffneri (A.Gray) Sherff
 Bidens schimperi Sch.Bip. ex Walp.
 Bidens segetum Mart. ex Colla
 Bidens serboana B.L.Turner
 Bidens serrulata (Poir.) Desf.
 Bidens setigera (Sch.Bip.) Sherff
 Bidens sharpii (Sherff) Melchert
 Bidens shrevei Britton
 Bidens sierra-leonensis Mesfin
 Bidens simplicifolia C.H.Wright
 Bidens societatis J.W.Moore
 Bidens socorrensis Moran & G.A.Levin
 Bidens somaliensis Sherff
 Bidens steppia Sherff
 Bidens steyermarkii Sherff
 Bidens subalternans DC.
 Bidens subspiralis McVaugh
 Bidens taylorii Sherff
 Bidens tenera O.E.Schulz
 Bidens tenuisecta A.Gray
 Bidens ternata (Chiov.) Sherff
 Bidens tetraspinosa Majeed Kak & Javeid
 Bidens torta Sherff
 Bidens trelawniensis Proctor
 Bidens trichosperma (Michx.) Britton
 Bidens tripartita L.
 Bidens triplinervia Kunth
 Bidens uapensis (F.Br.) Sherff
 Bidens ugandensis Sherff
 Bidens urceolata De Wild.
 Bidens urophylla Sherff
 Bidens valida Sherff
 Bidens vulgata Greene
 Bidens whytei Sherff
 Bidens wichmanii W.L.Wagner, J.R.Clark & Lorence
 Bidens wiebkei Sherff
 Bidens woodii W.L.Wagner, J.R.Clark & Lorence
 Bidens xanti (A.Gray) B.L.Turner
 Bidens zairensis Lisowski
 Bidens zavattarii Cufod.

Vanjske poveznice

Izvori

Coreopsideae

Dvozub


Una reserva marina  o reserva de recursos pesqueros es un área del mar a la que se aplica una legislación especial y restrictiva, para disminuir el esfuerzo de pesca en áreas determinadas con un valor potencial pesquero y ecológico, de manera que sirvan como zonas protegidas de la reproducción y cría para que pueda darse las recuperaciones de los recursos. Esto es lo que la distingue de un parque marino, donde no se permite actividad alguna en áreas de su conservación.

Desde 2008 no se ha declarado ninguna reserva marítima de importancia, aunque Greenpeace lucha para que las zonas denominadas como "agujeros de donut" del pacífico occidental sean declaradas reserva marina, y existe una campaña para conseguir que el 40% de los océanos del mundo también lo sean.

Reservas marinas en el mundo

América del Sur
 Reserva Biológica Marina del Arvoredo
 Reserva Marina de Galápagos
 Reserva Península Valdés
 Reserva Nacional Pingüino de Humboldt

Antártida
 Gran Reserva Natural del Mar de Ross

Australia
 Great Barrier Reef Marine Park - Es considerado el mayor parque marino, con 350.000 km² y es parcialmente una reserva marina.
 Australian Whale Sanctuary
 Great Australian Bight Marine Park
 Shark Bay Marine Park

España
 Reserva marina de la Isla de Tabarca
 Reserva Marina de Cabo de Palos e Islas Hormigas
 Reserva Marina Cabo de Gata-Níjar
 Reservas marinas de Canarias
 Reserva marina de las Islas Columbretes

Honduras
 la isla de utila
 las islas del cine

Nueva Zelanda
 Nueva Zelanda tiene más de treinta reservas marinas distribuidas alrededor de la región del Norte y del Sur y sus otras islas periféricas. Sus reservas marinas son administradas por el Departamento de Conservación.

Véase también
 Área marina protegida
Ecosistema
 Ambientalismo
 Oceanografía
 Pesca
 Impacto ambiental de la pesca

Referencias

Enlaces externos
Greenpeace sobre las reservas marinas

Reserva marina


شتوكة هي قرية مغربية غرب المملكة. تنتمي شتوكة لإقليم الجديدة. تضم هذه القرية 28.939 نسمة (إحصاء 2004).

أعلام
 الشعيبية طلال

مصادر

  إحصائيات إقليم الجديدة على موقع World Gazetter

أماكن مأهولة في إقليم الجديدة
جماعات قروية في المغرب
جماعات قروية في إقليم الجديدة
جماعات قروية في جهة الدار البيضاء سطات

شتوكة


Jungermanniineae, podred jetrenjarki, dio reda Jungermanniales.

Porodice
 Acrobolbaceae E.A. Hodgs.
 Antheliaceae R.M. Schust.
 Arnelliaceae Nakai
 Balantiopsidaceae Nakai
 Blepharidophyllaceae R.M. Schust.
 Calypogeiaceae Arnell
 Endogemmataceae Konstant., Vilnet & A.V. Troitsky
 Geocalycaceae H. Klinggr.
 Gymnomitriaceae H. Klinggr.
 Gyrothyraceae R.M. Schust.
 Harpanthaceae Arnell
 Hygrobiellaceae Konstant. & Vilnet
 Jackiellaceae R.M. Schust.
 Jungermanniaceae Rchb.
 Notoscyphaceae Crand.-Stotl., Váňa & Stotler
 Saccogynaceae Heeg
 Solenostomataceae Stotler & Crand.-Stotl.
 Southbyaceae Váňa, Crand.-Stotl., Stotler & D.G. Long
 Stephaniellaceae R.M. Schust.
 Trichotemnomataceae R.M. Schust.

Izvori

Jungermanniales

Jungermanniineae


The Castle of Otranto is a novel by Horace Walpole. First published in 1764, it is generally regarded as the first gothic novel. In the second edition, Walpole applied the word 'Gothic' to the novel in the subtitle – A Gothic Story. Set in a haunted castle, the novel merged medievalism and terror in a style that has endured ever since. The aesthetic of the book has shaped modern-day gothic books, films, art, music, and the goth subculture.

Walpole was inspired to write the story after a nightmare he had at his Gothic Revival home, Strawberry Hill House, in Twickenham, southwest London. Claiming he saw a ghost in the nightmare—which featured a "gigantic hand in armour"—Walpole incorporated imagery from this into the novel, and also drew on his knowledge of medieval history.

The novel initiated a literary genre that would become extremely popular in the later 18th and early 19th century, with authors such as Clara Reeve, Ann Radcliffe, William Thomas Beckford, Matthew Lewis, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson and George du Maurier.

History

The Castle of Otranto was written in 1764 during Horace Walpole's tenure as MP for King's Lynn. Walpole was fascinated with medieval history, in 1749 building a fake gothic castle, Strawberry Hill House.

The initial edition was titled in full: The Castle of Otranto, A Story. Translated by William Marshal, Gent. From the Original Italian of Onuphrio Muralto, Canon of the Church of St. Nicholas at Otranto. This first edition purported to be a translation based on a manuscript written at Naples in 1529 and recently rediscovered in the library of "an ancient Catholic family in the north of England". He employed an archaic style of writing to reinforce this conceit.

The Italian manuscript's story, it was claimed, derived from a story still older, dating back perhaps as far as the Crusades. This Italian manuscript, along with alleged author "Onuphrio Muralto", were Walpole's fictional creations, and "William Marshal" his pseudonym.

In the second and subsequent editions, Walpole acknowledged authorship of the work, writing: "The favourable manner in which this little piece has been received by the public, calls upon the author to explain the grounds on which he composed it" as "an attempt to blend the two kinds of romance, the ancient and the modern. In the former all was imagination and improbability: in the latter, nature is always intended to be, and sometimes has been, copied with success...." There was some debate at the time about the function of literature; that is, whether works of fiction should be representative of life or more purely imaginative (i.e., natural vs. romantic). The first edition was well received by some reviewers who understood the novel as belonging to medieval fiction, "between 1095, the era of the First Crusade, and 1243, the date of the last", as the first preface states; and some referred to Walpole as an "ingenious translator". Following Walpole's admission of authorship, however, many critics were loathe to lavish much praise on the work and dismissed it as absurd, fluffy, romantic fiction, or even unsavory or immoral.

In his 1924 edition of The Castle of Otranto, Montague Summers showed that the life story of Manfred of Sicily inspired some details of the plot. The real medieval castle of Otranto was among Manfred's possessions.

Plot
The Castle of Otranto tells the story of Manfred, lord of the castle, and his family. The book begins on the wedding day of his sickly son Conrad and princess Isabella. Shortly before the wedding, however, Conrad is crushed to death by a gigantic helmet that falls on him from above. This inexplicable event is particularly ominous in light of an ancient prophecy, "that the castle and lordship of Otranto should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it". Manfred, terrified that Conrad's death signals the beginning of the end for his line, resolves to avert destruction by marrying Isabella himself, while divorcing his current wife, Hippolita, who he feels has failed to bear him a proper heir in light of the sickly condition of Conrad before his untimely death.

However, as Manfred attempts to marry Isabella, she escapes to a church with the aid of a peasant named Theodore. Manfred orders Theodore's death while talking to the friar Jerome, who ensured Isabella's safety at the church. When Theodore removes his shirt to be killed, Jerome recognizes a marking below his shoulder and identifies Theodore as his own son. Jerome begs for his son's life, but Manfred says Jerome must either give up the princess or his son's life. They are interrupted by a trumpet and the entrance of knights from another kingdom, who want to deliver Isabella to her father, Frederic, along with the castle, as Frederic has a stronger claim to it (another reason Manfred wishes to wed Isabella). This leads the knights and Manfred to race to find Isabella.

Theodore, having been locked in a tower by Manfred, is freed by Manfred's daughter, Matilda. He races to the underground church and finds Isabella. He hides her in a cave and blocks it to protect her from Manfred and ends up fighting one of the mysterious knights. Theodore badly injures the knight, who turns out to be Isabella's father, Frederic. With that, they all go up to the castle to work things out. Frederic falls in love with Matilda, and he and Manfred make a deal to marry each other's daughters. Frederic backs out after being warned by an apparition of a skeleton.

Manfred, suspecting that Isabella is meeting Theodore in a tryst in the church, takes a knife into the church, where Matilda is meeting Theodore. Thinking his own daughter is Isabella, he stabs her. Theodore is then revealed to be the true prince of Otranto as Matilda dies, leaving Manfred to repent. A giant ghostly form appears, declares the prophecy fulfilled and shatters the castle walls.

Manfred abdicates the principality and retires to religion along with Hippolita. Theodore becomes prince of the remains of the castle and is married to Isabella, for she is the only one who can truly understand his sorrow.

Characters

 Manfredthe lord of the Castle of Otranto. He is the father of Conrad and Matilda, and the husband of Hippolita. After his son is killed by the falling helmet, he becomes obsessed with the idea of ending his marriage with Hippolita in pursuit of the much younger Isabella, who was supposed to marry his son. Manfred serves as the prime antagonist of the novel; he is the dictatorial ruler and father and drives the plot forward in a depiction of deranged cruelty visited upon his children.
 Hippolitathe wife of Manfred and the mother of Conrad and Matilda. After having lost her son, she is left with just Matilda to combat the tyrannical turn of mind that her husband displays. Manfred intends to divorce her due to her sterility and on the grounds that their marriage is in fact false because they are actually related. Faced with the threat of divorce, Hippolita is mournful yet submissive to the will of her husband. She acts as a sort of enabler to her husband, putting aside her morals and happiness so that her husband can get what he wants.
 Conradthe fifteen-year-old son of Manfred and Hippolita and the younger brother of Matilda. In the first pages of the novel, he is crushed by a giant helmet on his way to his wedding with Isabella.
 MatildaMatilda is the daughter of Hippolita and the oppressive Manfred. She falls in love with Theodore, much to her chagrin since it is a love unsanctioned by her parents. Upon the appearance of Frederic, things become even more complicated as Frederic lusts after Matilda. She serves as the forbidden woman, a facet of Gothic literature. Frederic and Manfred make plans to marry each other's daughter, crushing Matilda's hope of being with Theodore. At the end of the novel, she is mistakenly stabbed by her father.
 Isabellathe daughter of Frederic and the fiancée of Conrad (at the beginning of the novel). After the death of Conrad, she makes it clear that, although she did not love Conrad, she would have far preferred being betrothed to him than to his father, who pursues her throughout the novel. Isabella and Matilda have a brief argument concerning the fact they both have feelings for Theodore. After the death of Matilda, Theodore settles for Isabella and the two become the lord and lady of the castle.
 Theodoreat the beginning of the novel, Theodore appears to be a minor character, whose role is purely to point out the significance of the helmet as a link to the fulfillment of the prophecy. However, he emerges as a main character after Manfred orders him to be imprisoned within the helmet for his insolence, and he escapes and helps Isabella to escape from the castle through a trapdoor. He is revealed later in the novel to be the lost son of Friar Jerome. Theodore proceeds to protect Isabella from the wanton lust of Manfred. He captures the hearts of both Isabella and Matilda, but settles for Isabella after Matilda's death. He also later goes on to rule the Castle of Otranto.
 Friar Jeromethe friar at the monastery near the Castle of Otranto. Manfred attempts to manipulate him into both supporting his plan to divorce his wife and persuading his wife to go along with this plan. It is later discovered that he is Theodore's father.
 Fredericthe long-lost father of Isabella who appears late into the novel. He opposes Manfred at first, until he settles on a deal to marry Matilda.
 Biancathe servant of Matilda who serves as a comic relief of the otherwise highly melodramatic novel.
 Diego and Jaquezthese two, like Bianca, are other servants in the Castle of Otranto.

Literary elements
In the preface of the second edition, Walpole claims the novel is "an attempt to blend the two kinds of romance, the ancient and the modern." He defines the "ancient" romance by its fantastic nature ("its imagination and improbability") while defining the "modern" romance as more deeply rooted in literary realism ("a strict adherence to common life," in his words). By combining fantastic situations (helmets falling from the sky, walking portraits, etc.) with supposedly real people acting in a "natural" manner, Walpole created a new and distinct style of literary fiction, which has frequently been cited as a template for all subsequent gothic novels. The Monthly Review stated that for "[t]hose who can digest the absurdities of Gothic fiction" Otranto offered "considerable entertainment".

Gothic elements

The Castle of Otranto is the first supernatural English novel and is a singularly influential work of Gothic fiction. It blends elements of realist fiction with the supernatural and fantastical, establishing many of the plot devices and character types that would become typical of the Gothic novel: secret passages, clanging trapdoors, pictures beginning to move, and doors closing by themselves. The poet Thomas Gray told Walpole that the novel made "some of us cry a little, and all in general afraid to go to bed o'nights."

Queer elements

Symbolism in Castle of Otranto is perceived by some as homoerotic and the novel seen as an externalization of the author's grappling with sexuality. Max Fincher has written that Manfred is preoccupied with the threat of his identity being discovered in a way that parallels the fear of homoerotic desire being discovered. He argues that misogyny in the novel is an attempt to project manliness, overcompensating for the author's or character's fears of queerness or weakness. Because of these fears, the book presents non-heteronormative behavior as "unnatural and demonic," according to Fincher.

The Castle of Otranto and Shakespeare
The first and most obvious connection to William Shakespeare is presented by Horace Walpole himself, in the preface to the second edition of Otranto, in which he "praises Shakespeare as a truly original genius and the exemplar of imaginative liberty, as a part of a defense of Otrantos design". Elsewhere, Walpole's several allusions to works by Shakespeare further emphasize the connection he wishes to draw between his own work and Shakespeare's. For example, in Hamlet, "Hamlet's encounter with the Ghost becomes for Walpole a template for terror".

Walpole presents a "more fragmented recasting" of the Ghost in Hamlet, which had served as a representation of the "now unsanctioned, but still popular Catholic view of ghosts as speakers of truth" for Shakespeare. The Catholic elements at play within both Hamlet and Otranto are invoked to represent a further sense of wonder and mystery to the Protestant audiences of both works. The Catholic element was a necessary facet of the "template of terror" that Walpole meant to invoke.

The allusion to Hamlet's experience with the Ghost is meant not only as a "template of terror," but also to make readers feel as if they are watching the play itself, and Walpole does this on three occasions. First, he posits Manfred's encounter with the animated portrait of Ricardo as a connection to the Ghost's initial appearance to Hamlet. Second, when Friar Jerome informs Theodore of the dangers to be found in Otranto and calls for him to take revenge, this is a direct allusion to the Ghost's demand to Hamlet to remember him. Third, Frederic's encounter with the skeletal apparition parallels the final appearance of the Ghost in Hamlet.

The violent question of bloodlines and succession serves as a key element in many of Shakespeare's plays, from Hamlet to Richard II and Macbeth, and it is clearly one of the major concerns of Otranto. The link to Hamlet is strengthened even more because of the incest that is also at play in Otranto. "In Otranto, the castle and its labyrinths become grounds for incest that signal the dissolution of familial bonds", which is also a major point of issue in Hamlet since Hamlet's mother (Gertrude) and his uncle (Claudius) were, in a way, related before their marriage. Both Hamlet and Otranto are literary springboards for discussion of the questions of marriage, as the question of Henry VIII's annulment of his marriage and later marriage to Anne Boleyn were still heated topics of controversy. Henry VIII had married his brother's wife Catherine of Aragon and later dissolved that marriage due to Catherine's inability to produce a male heir who lived to adulthood. Similarly, Otranto revolves around "a larger sexual contest to secure lineage".

The final connection between Otranto and Shakespeare lies in the role that the servants play. Like Shakespeare, Walpole aims to create a "mixture of comedy and tragedy," and one of the ways he does so is by using the minor, servant characters (such as Bianca) as comic relief. This is a trope that Walpole takes from Shakespeare as, for example, Shakespeare's mechanicals from A Midsummer Night's Dream also serve as the key comic element in the play.

Impact and adaptations

Literary
Otranto is generally credited with creating the entire Gothic novel genre. It was a smash hit in its day, until the author revealed that it was purely satirical fiction rather than an actual adaptation of medieval text. At that point, the critics and populace who had praised it turned on the book, claiming it was superficial, and other pejoratives generally assigned to romantic novels, which were seen as inferior in Britain at that time. But its impact was dramatic. The novelist Clara Reeve wrote The Old English Baron (1777) as a response, claiming she was taking Walpole's plot and adapting it to the demands of the time by balancing fantastic elements with 18th-century realism. She explained:

After a number of other novels were added to the budding Gothic genre, the teenage author Matthew Lewis published The Monk (1796), a novel that directly imitated the formula of Otranto, but took it to such an extreme that some have interpreted the novel as parody.

Film adaptations
Jan Švankmajer directed the surrealist short film Castle of Otranto (1977) based on the novel. It takes the form of a pseudo-documentary frame story in live action with an abridged adaptation of the story itself presented in cut-out animation in the style of Gothic art.

References

Bibliography

Editions
 Fairclough, Peter (ed.), Three Gothic Novels (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968) . With an introduction by Mario Praz. Includes William Beckford's Vathek and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1832 text) alongside The Castle of Otranto.
 Walpole, Horace, The Castle of Otranto (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014) . With an introduction and note by Nick Groom.
 Walpole, Horace, The Castle of Otranto (Macmillan Publishing Company, 1963). "With Sir Walter Scott's Introduction of 1821 and a New Introduction by Marvin Mudrick."

Biographies and correspondence
 Mowl, Timothy Horace Walpole: The Great Outsider (London: Faber and Faber, 2011) .
 Walpole, Horace Selected Letters (London: Everyman's Library, 2017) . Edited by Stephen Clarke.

Criticism

Articles
 Cohenour, Gretchen. "A Man's Home is His Castle: Bloodlines and The Castle of Otranto." EAPSU Journal of Critical and Creative Work. Volume 5 (2008): 73–87.
 Cohenour, Gretchen. "Eighteenth Century Gothic Novels and Gendered Spaces: What's Left to Say?" Diss: University of Rhode Island, 2008. ProQuest LLC, 2008.
 Hamm, Robert B. "Hamlet and Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto." SEL Studies in English Literature 1500–1900. Volume 49 (2009): 667–692.
 (IT) Carlo Stasi, Otranto e l'Inghilterra (episodi bellici in Puglia e nel Salento), in Note di Storia e Cultura Salentina, anno XV, pp. 127–159, (Argo, Lecce, 2003)
 (IT) Carlo Stasi, Otranto nel Mondo, in Note di Storia e Cultura Salentina, anno XVI, pp. 207–224, (Argo, Lecce, 2004)

Monographs
 Mellor, Anne K. Mary Shelley: Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monsters. New York: Routledge, 1988. 196–198.
 (IT) Carlo Stasi, Otranto nel Mondo, dal 'Castello' di Walpole al 'Barone' di Voltaire (Editrice Salentina, Galatina 2018)

External links

 OUP – an audio guide, audio recordings of Nick Groom for the OUP edition

1764 novels
1760s fantasy novels
18th-century British novels
British horror novels
British novels adapted into films
English Gothic novels
Otranto
Works published under a pseudonym
Fictional buildings and structures originating in literature
Otranto
LGBT-related horror literature

The Castle of Otranto


Herrernes keirin i banecykling under sommer-OL 2016 fandt sted 16. august 2016 på Rio Olympic Velodrome i Rio de Janeiro.

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Cykling under sommer-OL 2016 – Keirin (herrer)


Daniel Lamarre (1953 à Grand-Mère au Québec - ) est une personnalité québécoise du monde des affaires. Jusqu'en décembre 2021, il était président-directeur général de l'entreprise canadienne de divertissement Cirque du Soleil. Depuis décembre 2021, il est vice-président exécutif du conseil d'administration du Cirque du Soleil. Il est récipiendaire de l'Ordre du Canada.

Biographie

Il a obtenu un baccalauréat ès arts en communications de l'Université d'Ottawa en 1976. Il a reçu des doctorats honoris causa de l'Université McGill et de son alma mater, l'Université d'Ottawa.

M. Lamarre a commencé sa carrière comme journaliste, puis il est devenu directeur des communications de la Fédération des Caisses Desjardins du Centre-du-Québec. En 1977, il devient directeur des relations publiques de l'entreprise médiatique canadienne Cogeco. Il a travaillé pour les cabinets de relations publiques Burson-Marsteller (à partir de 1981) et National (1984-1997), où il a occupé divers postes de direction, dont celui de président. Il a ensuite été président-directeur général du réseau de télévision TVA, le plus grand télédiffuseur privé du Québec, de 1997 à 2000. Il s'est joint au Cirque du Soleil en janvier 2001 à la demande du fondateur de l'entreprise, Guy Laliberté, qu'il avait déjà rencontré lorsqu'il travaillait pour National. Au Cirque du Soleil, les responsabilités de M. Lamarre ont inclus l'élaboration de stratégies liées au développement des affaires, aux opérations, aux ventes, à la viabilité financière de l'entreprise et à la perpétuation de sa culture et de ses valeurs.

En 2012, il a collaboré à la création de la conférence C2 Montréal, un rassemblement de l'élite mondiale de la création et des affaires.

Daniel Lamarre soutient plusieurs organismes de bienfaisance, notamment la fondation One Drop, dont la mission est de lutter contre la pauvreté en fournissant un accès à l'eau potable, ainsi que Cirque du Monde, un programme mondial de cirque social destiné aux jeunes à risque. Il est également membre du conseil d'administration de la Fondation de l'Institut de cardiologie de Montréal depuis 1994.

Références

Homme d'affaires québécois
Chef d'entreprise canadien
Officier de l'Ordre du Canada

Daniel Lamarre