Since Urban Arcana is officially out, I can now post about my modern day D&D setting. We'll do that by starting at the beginning.
The universe Dragon Earth exsists in started off pretty much as our universe did, with a Big Bang. But with one small difference, magic works there. This all has to do with the physics of the place, having a form of energy our universe doesn't. One folks can manipulate with their minds to produce useful effects.
How does magic work? I haven't the foggiest. The whole question is in a state of flux on Dragon Earth right now, and it's expected to be some time before the matter is settled to anyone's satisfaction. The dragons claim they have a good working theory, but getting any information out of them is like getting anything more than disgruntled mumbling from a teenaged boy.
That out of the way. Dragon Earth is about as old as our Earth, and had much the same history to start with. When and where the first magic using creatures first appeared is a matter of acrimonious debate. Many paleontologists hold to the 'The Dragons were First" theory for the simple reason the only way an animal as large as the Jurassic Age dragon (about the size of a modern cow) could 'fly' was by the use of magic. Others disagree, and there may be evidence of a magic using animal dating back to Permian times.
Other than magic possibly the biggest difference lies in the presence of a number of hominid and humanoid sophonts, their attendent gods, and all those dang hexaeodal vertebrates. In most cases it was the first set of limbs that got duplicated. However, in the course of evolution things have gotten a bit muddied.
Life on Dragon Earth followed pretty much the same course as life on Earth. With the addition of dragons and other hexapedal vetebrates. In addition, there was no great extinction event about 65 million years ago. The dinosaurs mostly died off between 70 and 50 million years ago as the world changed in ways they could not adapt to. By modern times the only dinosaurs left are one (possibly two) species of sauropod, and four species of advanced hadrosaur. Which last look a lot like ceratopsians after completing an exercise program.
There are other dinosaurs, by the way, but they are placed in with the birds for the simple reason they rather look like birds. Birds with toothy muzzles, arms with clawed fingers, and long bony tails, but birds. (Matter of fact, there was some disagreement when early blood testing showed a closer connection between tailed birds and dinosaurs than between tailed and non-tailed birds.)
There you have a short introduction to Dragon Earth. When next I post in this forum I'll be giving you a brief prehistory of humanity and related sapients. The posting after that will take a look at early history; the establishment of civilization and things like that there. Expect it either later today, or sometime tomorrow.
The universe Dragon Earth exsists in started off pretty much as our universe did, with a Big Bang. But with one small difference, magic works there. This all has to do with the physics of the place, having a form of energy our universe doesn't. One folks can manipulate with their minds to produce useful effects.
How does magic work? I haven't the foggiest. The whole question is in a state of flux on Dragon Earth right now, and it's expected to be some time before the matter is settled to anyone's satisfaction. The dragons claim they have a good working theory, but getting any information out of them is like getting anything more than disgruntled mumbling from a teenaged boy.
That out of the way. Dragon Earth is about as old as our Earth, and had much the same history to start with. When and where the first magic using creatures first appeared is a matter of acrimonious debate. Many paleontologists hold to the 'The Dragons were First" theory for the simple reason the only way an animal as large as the Jurassic Age dragon (about the size of a modern cow) could 'fly' was by the use of magic. Others disagree, and there may be evidence of a magic using animal dating back to Permian times.
Other than magic possibly the biggest difference lies in the presence of a number of hominid and humanoid sophonts, their attendent gods, and all those dang hexaeodal vertebrates. In most cases it was the first set of limbs that got duplicated. However, in the course of evolution things have gotten a bit muddied.
Life on Dragon Earth followed pretty much the same course as life on Earth. With the addition of dragons and other hexapedal vetebrates. In addition, there was no great extinction event about 65 million years ago. The dinosaurs mostly died off between 70 and 50 million years ago as the world changed in ways they could not adapt to. By modern times the only dinosaurs left are one (possibly two) species of sauropod, and four species of advanced hadrosaur. Which last look a lot like ceratopsians after completing an exercise program.
There are other dinosaurs, by the way, but they are placed in with the birds for the simple reason they rather look like birds. Birds with toothy muzzles, arms with clawed fingers, and long bony tails, but birds. (Matter of fact, there was some disagreement when early blood testing showed a closer connection between tailed birds and dinosaurs than between tailed and non-tailed birds.)
There you have a short introduction to Dragon Earth. When next I post in this forum I'll be giving you a brief prehistory of humanity and related sapients. The posting after that will take a look at early history; the establishment of civilization and things like that there. Expect it either later today, or sometime tomorrow.
