Castes

*"I remember the good ol' days when there were only a half dozen different castes of Shemarrian. Now they have ones that are on fire, fly and even monsterous ones! I'm getting too old for this crap."*

*Coalition State Sargent on patrol along the Shemarrian Nation border, 3 days before retirement.*

The Shemarrian Nation and Star Nation have a number of new Castes and Elites as Rites of Upgrades, specialists, or some born through Progen. Some are available to all Tribes, while some are Tribe specific.

## All Tribes

### Warrior

The standard Shemarrian warrior, most start life as a warrior. See Rifts Source Book One Revised pg 102, Shemarrian Nation pg 35 for more details. See individual Tribes for Tribe specific Right of Upgrades.

### Berserker

First variant created for heavy melee combat. See Shemarrian Nation pg 37.

### War Chief

Leaders amongst the Shemarrians. See Shemarrian Nation page40.

### War Goddess

Powerful leaders, usually leading large battle groups, large tribes and enclaves. Many are members of the High Council. See Shemarrian Nation pg 42.

### Male

Males, used mainly as scouts and second tier combatants. See Shemarrian Nation pg 46.

### Spinster/Tinker

Originally called Spinsters by A.R.C.H.I.E. 3, renamed tinkers in the Reformed Shemarrian Nation, they act as healers, mechanics and scientists. See Shemarrian Nation pg 52.

### Pariah/Acolyte

Originally spy units used by A.R.C.H.i.E. 3, became diplomats and fill other non-combatant roles. In some tribes, they are members who have performed a great dishonour and are striped of their Upgrades, weapons and status and are considered the lowest of the low until they regain their honor. See Shemarrian Nation pg 50 for Pariah, and Acolyte for their new lease on life.

### Seeress

A.R.C.H.I.E. 3 created shamaness and diplomat, with very few overt weapons or bionic systems. Post-Civil War they can still be found, filling similar roles as the Psi-Shamaness, but with fewer overt Rites of Upgrade, acting more as druids amongst the Shemarrians. Found more in this role among the Horrorwoods, Darkwaters and Wayfinders. See Rifter 53.

### Preserver

Large heavy unit used for defense, disguised to blend in with trees when at rest. See Rifter 53.

### Psi-Shamaness

Shemarrian with more powerful psionic abilities, some filling roles of Seers/Prophets and advisers.

### Valkari

Elite Psi-Shamaness that specializes in searching battlefields, and other areas of death for NeShemar initiates.

### Yurei

The Shemarrian version of ninjas, specializing in stealth, secrets and special operations that normal Shemarrian warriors are not able to handle. Take on many actions that can be deemed 'unhonarable' by the rest of the Shemarrians.

### Dervish

Shemarrian speed demons, some compare them to the equivalent of a Juicer as they are faster and have greater reflexes than other Shemarrians.

### Psi-Blaster

Psionic Shemarrian with psinetic upgrades geared for ranged combat.

### Psi-Bruiser

Psionic Shemarrian with psinetic upgrades for greater melee combat.

## Blood Rider

### Zealot

Known as Hot Bloods, elite veteran Berserkers that have the ability to engulf themselves in flames.

### Vulcar

Large male elite, based on the Preserver, but looks more like a rocky outcropping.

### Krakaterra

A larger, heavier version of the Vulcar, can easily be mistaken for a small volcano when at rest.

### Kometa

Blood Rider aerial elite, similar to the Hawkmoon Harpy, but able to burst into flames and has enhanced plasma thrusters. Considered an elite among Zealots who aim to become one.

#### Inferno Well

Blood Rider upgrades for the Warchief and Wargoddesses, enhanced with multimode plasma weapons, plasma field and plasma thrusters.

#### Rajeshar

Neshemar cyborg designed for infiltration and destruction of the enemy from behind front lines, equipped with plasma weapons.

#### Renarii

A Fox/Kitsune based elite using a smaller Berserker/Zealot frame.

#### Ifrita

A six armed elite that is a combination of Zealot and Naga.

## Darkwaters

### Asrai

Humanoid mermaids, modified for more efficient movement and operations underwater.

### Scylla

Octopoid-legged centauroids with a humanoid upper torso, and multiple tentacle attacks

Hirudite(WIP)

## Ghost Rider

### Domimatrix

Scary-kinky extractors of information from sentient organics. What happens when espionage-grade data mining and code-cracking programs hybridize with dating-sims and are given real-world android bodies.

### Phantom

Infiltration and disguise specialist with powerful communication systems.

### Hierodalite

Light cyborgs enhanced with nano-tech to keep them as normal looking as possible, enhanced to survive the insanity inducing psychic atmosphere of MadHaven.

## HawkMoon

### Celestial

Angel-like elites created only through Progen, fairly rare.

### Celestar

Crystal-winged elite warriors with the ability to absorb and repurpose laser energy as attacks, extra speed, or protective shields.

### Harpy

Iconic Hawkmoon winged warriors, at one with the atmosphere.

### Thunderwing

Upgraded version of the Warchief and Wargoddess.

## Lost Eclipse

Kildren

Nahsi

VAtFather

Tisiphonii

Mirva

Yashi-TekTree

Yaldasha

Varaxa

## Sapphire Cobra

Naga

Medusa

Quiksil/Darkling

## SkullCrusher

### Necriant

Giant-scale heavy artillery units that put the 'crush' in Skullcrusher.

## Wolf’s Path

### Channide

Wolf's Path werewolf, using advanced frame reconfiguration and skin change mechanisms to switch between humanoid and wolf-mode quadruped at will.

### Cerberon

Male Elite with humanoid bodies and multiple wolves' heads. Ever-watchful shamanistic male versions of the Seeress.

## Fringe Tribes

Many of the Fringe Tribes have their own elite units or castes, some of which are spreading to the founding Tribes.

### Clan Pantheron

#### NekoMeki

A NeShemar cyborg frame based on cat-girl cosplay designed for infiltration and computer hacking.

### Clan Shelley

#### Vlade

Based on A.R.C.H.I.E. 3's ARCH-Vamp androids, cultivating the Vampire look.

#### ScreamQueen

A full conversion 'hidden cyborg/android' disguised to look like helpless human meat, but meant to bait monsters and bandits into a fatal trap with a fully armed combat unit.

#### E-GOR

Male elite equivalent to Tinkers, but serve mostly as assistants in labs, mechanics and engineers.

#### Gilloc

Android amalgam of classic B-movie 'fishman' monsters; in reality beach-bum ampibious operations expert-units