D-Bees

The very definition of alien is something that is strange: “adverse; hostile; opposed.” The countless numbers and varieties of beings, sentient and otherwise, that poured through the Rifts from the very beginning triggered the most negative sense of the term among those humans who managed to survive the near-annihilation of their species. Early encounters did not go well. Some groups responded in kind; the Coalition States were built on the premise of eradicating non-humans from Earth. As these entities did not come from outer space (which, for reasons unknown to this day, remains completely off-limits to Earth), the word “alien” was thrown out for something more accurate—Dimensional Beings, more commonly called “D-Bees.” From a position of ignorance, the term has a homogeneous, all-encompassing quality, yet nothing could be further from the truth.
The only unifying traits D-Bees share is that they are not from this Earth, and the vast majority of them are stuck here, whether they like it or not. Almost anything might now live on Rifts Earth, and probably does: any story, any fiction, any idea, any imaginative speculation, populated with beings of fantasy, science fiction, or horror, is possible. Scholars speculate that ancient times’ fictional stories were nothing more than interpretations of realities, tapped by the subconscious minds of highly creative and enlightened people. Others go so far as to purport that the act of creation led to quantum splits in reality, crafting realities based on gestalt intent. Regardless of such esoteric ideas, there are clans of dwarves, orcs, elves, and all manner of traditional and mythic fantasy races to be found everywhere on the planet, along with every form of classic horror monster, insectoid swarm, dinosaur, bio organic terror, demon, angel, super-powered being, sentient android…there is no limit to who or what might be encountered while traveling the globe. It bears noting that a great many humans encountered on Rifts Earth are not from Rifts Earth. Travelers through time and space, from alternate histories or the far future, arrive through Rifts all the time— often with no way to return to where they came from.