Rikti Supers?

Watching the Ustream feeds and just thinking about random CoH lore. As I recall, the Rikti are from a parallel Earth where Nemesis baited them with robot duplicates of the Signature Primal Heroes which is what eventually turned their attentions to invading Primal Earth.

I don't recall whether they were Rikti prior to that or not, or how they became Rikti (I want to say it had something to do with the Battalion/Coming Storm?)

One thing that has me thinking, though, is- were there ever any superheroes on Rikti World before or after they first contacted Primal Earth? If not, why? And is their parallel Earth like the Praetorian Earth in that it has duplicates of Primals (ie, a Rikti Marcus Cole).

Related to that last thought, the origins of the Rikti name. Rikti... Richter? Hmm...

Well the short answer is that we don't know for sure.

The following is my personal interpretation of the lore. Rikti Earth history diverged from Primal Earth history far enough back that there aren't any parallel versions of Primal Earth humans (compare with Praetorian Earth which had a relatively recent divergence point). Rikti "supers" do exist but the nature of Rikti society means that they are more likely to work within the system (where they invariably rise to high ranks) as opposed to the more individualistic nature of Primal Earth Supers. Rikti such as Hro'Dtohz, Dra'Gon and U'Kon Gr'ai can be considered supers on a par with the Freedom Phalanx but while the Freedom Phalanx operates as an autonomous entity the Rikti supers have chosen to operate as leaders of the military (and presumably others are active in different areas of Rikti society).

Interesting insight. I also realized just a minute ago that- again, IIRC- the Rikti have some issues with magic (not understanding it, not utilizing it, being vulnerable to it), which would suggest that at least one of the Origins is not available to them in their world.

Could the proliferation of Origins be somehow intimately connected to the degree to which supers exist across the worlds? I'll probably have to go back and redo the Origin of Power arc to recall what it says about them all. But perhaps the Rikti come from a universe where one (or more) of those Origins are absent, and thus others may be "stronger" than on Primal, where all are present (ie, Rikti technology blooms larger than on Primal Earth, due to the imbalance. Sort of like how blind people use their other four senses better or something.)

Interesting questions.

If I recall, magic was not absent in the Rikti home dimension... until they destroyed it (a Rikti NPC in Montague Castanella's arc mentions this for example). I don't recall any explanation of how or why they destroyed their world's magic, though.

With the Battalion appearing soon, and the Rikti's current state being a result of their encounter with the Battalion, maybe we'll learn more about their history.

The Rikti became Rikti at a vaguely defined point in the past (thousands of years) due to the intervention of an unnamed alien race. The world wide psychic network they have leads to a society where individuals rarely become seen as outstanding individually. Hro'Dtohz is an important exception, having characteristics such as personal ambition that most Rikti don't really understand.

The conflict with the Battalion occured approximately 100 years ago causing the Rikti to increase the size of the military, which normally had only small ceremonial roles in their society. After defeating the Battalion the Lineage of War again became a small part of the population and remained that way until shortly before the invasion of Primal Earth. The Rikti war machine was put in full force for that meaning most Rikti soldiers were not part of the Lineage of War prior to the conflict. Hro'Dtohz, for example, had been a historian before showing his military leadership potential in the current conflict.

I'm tempted to write an AE arc of the first encounter between Arachnos and the Rikti, if only so I can use this as dialogue when Lord Recluse meets their Ambassador.

"Rikti, meet Richter." "Richter, meet Rikti."