D&D 5E The Tale of the First World: What Do We Know About it and How Does it Connect to the Rest of the Lore? (+)

[Bitbrain]

This all seems like much ado about nothing to me. The obvious answer is that the Progenitor Myth and the Elegy of the First World are both myths, which share a common motif of three dragons creating reality and dragonkind. There are probably many more such myths throughout the world, or worlds if you’re doing a multiversal campaign. There’s no need for there to be one right answer, especially in Eberron where the gods are less overt than in a lot of other D&D settings. Nobody knows what the real truth is, just like in real life.

Amen.

Me? I prefer the Dawn War to be my home game settings’ true history, but I also enjoy having the First World be the dragons’ creation myth and by extension, the dragons’ justification for their actions in subjugating other creatures to their will.

Well, the chromatic dragons anyway.

 

[Charlaquin]

Amen.

Me? I prefer the Dawn War to be my home game settings’ true history, but I also enjoy having the First World be the dragons’ creation myth and by extension, the dragons’ justification for their actions in subjugating other creatures to their will.

I take a lot of inspiration from the Dawn War lore to inform the common points in various world myths in my own setting, but I wouldn’t say it’s outright the truth. Most cultures in my setting have some version of a war among the gods myth, and I like to think that they all point towards some underlying truth, but I think having a definitive answer to what that truth is makes it less compelling.

 

[Bupp]

The great thing about a multiverse is that it's all true. First World, Dawn War, giants, aboleth, mind flayers, dragons, Cthulhu, the TVA, turtles all the way down.

The true complexity of creation of the multiverse is beyond the comprehension of mere mortals such as ourselves. Season to taste.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

The First World is almost like some Gnostic idea of reality with the different layers or emanations, except that it's about purely the material. A lot of other RPGs like drawing from Gnosticism, like Mage or Unknown Armies. It also to some extent reminds me of The Chronicles of Amber (which also has it's own RPG) with it's "True Worlds", a series of Fantasy novels that I'm puzzled about why there hasn't been an adaptation made of it yet.

As for Aboleths I think some of the sources have said they come from the far future (or maybe it was Mind Flayers who did).

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

As for Aboleths I think some of the sources have said they come from the far future (or maybe it was Mind Flayers who did).

That's mind flayers.

 

[SkidAce]

@Levistus's_Leviathan , I know its a necro, but I feel its a valid one.

Was there any more info to add to what we have here in the new edition (I don't have all the books) or did the First World idea kinda dry up?

 

[pukunui]

@Levistus's_Leviathan , I know its a necro, but I feel its a valid one.

Was there any more info to add to what we have here in the new edition (I don't have all the books) or did the First World idea kinda dry up?

It gets mentioned in the revised core books but I don't think there's any additional info about it in them.

 

[SkidAce]

It gets mentioned in the revised core books but I don't think there's any additional info about it in them.

Thanks.

 

[pukunui]

Thanks.

Just looked on DDB, and it's mentioned in the DMG Glossary:

First World, The​

Scholars speak of a primordial state, a single reality they call the First World, which preceded the Material Plane. Many of the peoples and monsters that inhabit the worlds on the Material Plane originated there. After the First World was shattered by a great cataclysm—giving birth to the worlds that came in its wake—the progeny of the first elves, dwarves, beholders, and other iconic creatures took root on world after world, like seeds scattered by a cosmic wind. If the musings of these great sages are true, every world of the Material Plane is a reflection—or, in some cases, a distortion—of the First World.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Just looked on DDB, and it's mentioned in the DMG Glossary:

First World, The​

Scholars speak of a primordial state, a single reality they call the First World, which preceded the Material Plane. Many of the peoples and monsters that inhabit the worlds on the Material Plane originated there. After the First World was shattered by a great cataclysm—giving birth to the worlds that came in its wake—the progeny of the first elves, dwarves, beholders, and other iconic creatures took root on world after world, like seeds scattered by a cosmic wind. If the musings of these great sages are true, every world of the Material Plane is a reflection—or, in some cases, a distortion—of the First World.

I believe the Tiamat and Bahamut entries in the lore glossary also mention the first world