Dated January 29th (decided to give my friends a few details with the lore behind RIFT)
First, it's been said that the Gods made Telara, and placed it at the center of the six planes of the Elements - Fire, Earth, Air, Water, Life, and Death. The Blood Swarm, led by Regulos the Destroyer, was a group of dragons that went through the planes, devouring worlds and absorbing their power. However, Telara being the nexus point that it was, it was too tempting to simply destroy. Regulos wanted to rule over that world. So, that's what happened in the beginning.
King Aedraxis was a powerful king, but, like all rulers, he eventually wanted moar power. However, he was pretty high in the polls, so he couldn't do too much to hurt his reputation. Then came his brother. His brother was really supposed to be the king, but Aedraxis had usurped the throne. The brother, Zareph, launched a campaign to overthrow Aedraxis, but the common people didn't like that, Aedraxis being the popular, fun loving guy that he was. Except that he wasn't; Aedraxis was actually a dragon cultist. The dragons and gods had always been known, but the dragons were kind of like Satan, so people kept hush hush about it if they worshiped them. Anyway, Zareph was soon caught against public opinion, and found himself besieged at his castle. A lot of crap happened, but eventually Zareph forced Aedraxis to use necromantic powers, and the public saw who he really was. Aedraxis, butthurt over his defeat, escaped and turned to the technomagical machines of the Defiant.
Being the soddy dragon cultist he was, Aedraxis used the machines, without the Defiants' permission. He used it to open the rifts to the other planes, to go bawwwing to his dragon overlord Regulos. That's when the shit hit the fan. The rifts opened, mad planar creatures walked the earth, and some seriously fucked up things were going on. The whole Mathosian (human) army fought against this threat, but since they were fighting against a supernatural army, they were royally fucked. Things got bad really fast. First, everyone died. That's it. But then something crazy happened. The Gods, also known as the Vigil, swooped down and resurrected a bunch of the Mathosians, High Elves, and Dwarves that died, and brought them to safety. They didn't resurrect them because they had been good and kind in their life, but because they had kicked a lot of ass. These resurrected people were called the Guardians, a race of Ascended called on by the Gods to combat the rifts and Regulos' threat.
On the other side of things, we have the Defiant. After the Guardians came to be, they told everyone not to worry, that they would take care of everything, and that everyone should put their trust in the Vigil. But you know what? The Guardians remembered the fact that the Defiant had built the machines that allowed the rifts to open in the first place, and so branded the Defiant as heretics and broke all their toys. By toys I mean their machines. Now, the Defiant are kind of like the Horde, in the way that they're more or less a tribal people. However, the Defiant are a more peaceful, technomagical group - they're only called the Defiant because they don't believe that the Gods will save them, and want to do things on their own terms. In any case, the Defiant, being a peaceful group, were unable to stop the Guardians from breaking everything.
When the rifts opened again, the Defiant were unable to defend themselves, and many lives were crushed. The leader of the Defiant, Asha Catari, had fought with Zareph, and was killed when the rifts opened. Her soul was taken by Regulos, and he infused her with power as a bribe to becoming his avatar. She refused, and before Regulos could destroy her soul, she was brought back by the machine that would eventually go to create many Defiant Ascended. A small group of survivors, led by Asha, worked on and succeeded in creating a machine that could artificially create the powers that the Vigil had bestowed upon the Guardians, and instill them in a body. These Ascended were then recruited to join the survivors, and defend Telara from the dangers without.
Of course, this is kind of a 'brief' history - there's a lot more depth to the story, but this is what I've gleaned from the quests and opening sequences. The Defiant are actually the name of the Ascended that were revived by the machines, but because there are three races to each faction, it's hard to name them all separately. I played Guardian first, and I thought that they were pretty cool, and Defiant were awful people, but then I heard the rest of the story, and it just looks like the Guardians are being self-righteous assholes. I eventually decided to go Defiant, because while they seem to be the 'Horde' kind of faction, I can't bring myself to not like them and their history.
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