Sure. And I dig the idea of an alternate past. I guess I just would have liked a more primal feeling setting, where you take a close approximation of where we were back 5000 BC or so in art and industry and patch the holes with magic and adept talents. Something that feels akin to a magical version of Fallout with a neolithic Conan vibe.
Things that are out of their time are fine, ancient magical civilizations are better than fine. I just wish they felt like was primordial and original rather than horse and wagon, sword and board D&D with thatch-roofed inns and cobblestone streets.
Ok. I see where you are coming from now.
I would keep Thera the more advance powerhouse that it already is in the game, but it might be interesting to give the rest of the setting a little more primal feel.
Hmmm...I may need to keep your idea as a possible take on the seeting the next time I run Earthdawn.
That would be sweet. I'd love to see another group take a crack at a more primal Earthdawn. It certainly seems like it has some gas in the tank. I like the idea of a big magical empire that's looming to subsume everyone. The idea is really fun. But in the same way that seeing them with automobiles and skyscrapers and jetfighters would make my brain go like Whuh!, I'd love it if it could be a much more advanced society in the right timeframe.
That could be both very cool and really fresh and interesting.
Earthdawn assumes that the ancient ages ended the current ascension of man, and when the end of the age dropped mankind back into the stone ages.