Lore question: Ages of History [metaplot spoilers]

Discussion on the Earthdawn game line, errata, and feedback not related to playing or GMing.
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BosTaurus
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Lore question: Ages of History [metaplot spoilers]

Post by BosTaurus » Fri Aug 04, 2017 6:38 pm

Fair warning, meTaylor discussion to follow









We know Earthdawn as the Fourth Age and once upon a time, Shadowrun was the Sixth Age, which means the modern world was the 5th Age.

But what about the 1st through 3rd Ages?

One of the things that drives me nuts is the lack of a creation myth/story and a history of the past of the Setting. The developers chose to obfuscate the past, providing only clues. While I understand the decision, as Barsaive is a post-apocalyptic setting and the true holders of History are not willing to share, I would prefer to have at least an idea of what happened.

While certainly not necessary to play or enjoy the game, I have been messing around in this world for so long that I would prefer to have some definitive ideas of what went down just for my own personal sake. I understand I may be in the minority with this view, but since Earthdawn has been decoupled from Shadowrun, I really want to have some fun and create my own set of Ages surrounding the 4th Age.

What I have been able to gather is this:

The Dragons were apparently the first Namegivers and even claim they Named themselves, the only Namegicers to do so. Did the Dragons appear in the First Age?

It seems that in the Second Age, Dragons bred with Elves, creating the Great Houses and the Great Elves and there was an eventual war between them.

The Third Age is never mentioned, that I can find.

The Fourth Age we know, and in my personal canon, ends with the Sinking of Thera. I could be very wrong about that (or all of this).

Do we know anything else about these Ages? Do we know when the First Scourge occured, or why?

Slimcreeper
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Re: Lore question: Ages of History [metaplot spoilers]

Post by Slimcreeper » Fri Aug 04, 2017 9:02 pm

Aaaaactually, Shadowrun isn't part of Earthdawn anymore. Check out 1879 in other parts of the site. It's all steampunky and cool. But still kind of a secret, I guess? You can share the secret.

BosTaurus
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Re: Lore question: Ages of History [metaplot spoilers]

Post by BosTaurus » Fri Aug 04, 2017 10:47 pm

I know, hence the "once upon a time".

Since the fictional universe is divided, the 5th and 6th Ages are different, and because they're different, that means the earlier Ages can be, too.

We don't have to worry about trying to match the real world, or the real history. Because of that, I'm trying to find any lore about these previous Ages. I'd like to build a coherent version of Earthdawn for my own benefit. I'd like to know what came before Throal and Thera, what possible things I can seed into my adventurers for my lore-hound players.

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Kosmit
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Re: Lore question: Ages of History [metaplot spoilers]

Post by Kosmit » Wed Aug 16, 2017 3:34 pm

1st - Age of the Dark One
2nd - Age of Dragons
3rd - low-mag
4th - Age of Legends (Earthdawn)
5th - low-mag (our world)
6th - Sixth World (Shadowrun)
7th - low-mag
8th - Equinox (Space opera with magic?)

I am running ShadowDawn which teases previous Ages during SR campaign and it works out pretty well. Do you know the Chernobyl is situated in the old Blood Wood territory? :D

Telarus
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Re: Lore question: Ages of History [metaplot spoilers]

Post by Telarus » Wed Aug 16, 2017 7:52 pm

I've heard the Blood Wood/Chernobyl connection before based on word meanings, but the map kind of places Blood Wood near Nizhny Novgorod where the Volga river and the Oka river come together (on our maps). Chernobyl seems to be located on the Pripyat River (an upstream branch of the Dneiper River). Best I can tell, that's the outlet of the Liaj Jungle before the Liaj river runs through the Delaris Mts (roughly... maybe reference a different Wyrm?).

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