Shiftsville : History and Description

When the leylines erupted, the 1 mile diameter spherical area that became the original community, found itself at the junction of seven short leylines in a triangle of 3 major lines. In other places this lead to the formation of super nexus points and permanent gateways to other dimensions. Fortunately,or not depending on your point of view, at the exact centre of what would have been a super nexus was an experimental fusion reactor. The leylines and containment fields of the reactor interfered catastrophically, causing the reactor to implode. The implosionsion distorted the space/time continuum, wrenching a 1 mile diameter spherical area outside normal space and time, shattering the seven small leylines, and altering the arrangement of the major lines in the process.
What was left would appear from first glance not be the best place for a town to grow up, since there should be nothing except a large crater. Space, time, leylines, and dimensional physics, being what they are, had other ideas and the sphere re-appeared 5 miles from where it started, almost entirely structurally intact and devoid of anything living. With all the chaos of the first months after the coming of the Rifts, the intact and empty buildings started attracting refugees, until a small community of 300 people existed. Nature however still had one more trick up her sleeve, the land upon which the community now lived was dimensionally unstable. At the next equinox, when the leylines flared, the land(and community) D-Shifted re-appearing some distance away. This was more than most of the community could take, especially on top of the rift that now existed where the town had moved from, and most of them fled.

The town today is very different from the ramshacle community of 250 years ago. It is now a city of nearly 5000 humans,D-Bees and aliens, over 50% of which are either Psionic, Magic-Using, or have Super-Powers. It owes its progress in the last 13 years to its mysterious ruler- The Iron Duke- and in the last ten to the mercenary force Ironhand's Irregulars which have their base in the city. All beings prepared to live in tolerance of one another and abide by the laws are welcome, assuming they can find the city.
Despite all the other changes the city is still dimensionally unstable and major fluxes in leyline energy (such as at equinoxes, solstices, eclipses, and major planetary conjunctions) cause it to move. Where it moves to is somewhat predictable, being one of seven positions on a five mile radius circle centered on the original reactor position. The twist in all this is that every move causes a random rift to open at the position it leaves which remains open for between 2 and 12 hours. The position occupied when the town moves is never the one it came from previously but can be any of the other 5 (See Shiftsville - Position History).
One of the reasons for the high levels of magic and psionics becomes clear when the city is located in two of the seven positions (1 &7) - it becomes hidden inside a leyline (it's partially hidden in two other positions - 5 &6). The only means of locating it then is to 'feel' for it along the centre of the leyline; inexperienced travellers have spent days looking for it in these locations. The other reason is that the city is a permanent nexus no matter where it is - but no form of dimensional manipulation magic works as expected inside the city limits (See here). Anyone who has been to the city and is familiar with it can Dimensionally Teleport into or out of it, otherwise the only way in or out is to walk, drive, swim, or fly (See the Shiftsville Dimensional Affects page for full details.
The location of the city and its high levels of D-Bees and magic make it a prime target for Coalition agression. Unfortunately, because of the dimensional displacement of the city, targeting of objects by technological means either from inside the city to outside, or from outside the city to inside is impossible. This means that only direct fire attack forms (troops, indiscriminate shelling) can be used to attack the city. With the forth coming war against Tolkeen, and the necessity to maintain its borders, the Coalition cannot spare the manpower to mount a direct assault against the city. It has therefore, via a number of 'front' agents, been mounting a guerilla war against the Shiftsville and the neighbouring villages. Until recently this had been quite successful, but in the last couple of months the operation has suffered has suffered a number of major set backs.