Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: "David R. Henry" <dhenry@******.NODAK.EDU>
Subject: Shadowrun/Earthdawn Links: The List
Date: Wed, 3 Nov 1993 13:35:40 CST
Since there seems to be some interest on the list now for this, I figure
this would be a good time to present my list of SR/ED links, made by the
simple procedure of sitting down with my ED book and writing down everything
that looked _too_ familiar as I reread it cover to cover.

Spoilers, I guess, for those of you who choose not to look too deeply into
SR/ED crossovers.

SHADOWRUN/EARTHDAWN SIMILARITIES

1. The various races of humanity, of course. In ED, there is listed a
rumor that orks, trolls, elves, humans, and dwarfs are all just variations
of one race, but that this has not been proven. Also, Windlings are
obviously the Sprites or Pixies from the Europe Critter book.

2. Thera. Thera is/was a real island, linked obliquely to the Atlantis
myth. Thera in ED is a world-spanning empire. In the "A Killing Glare"
SR adventure, which came out just before the ED set came out, mention is
made in the newsfax in the back of stunning new archaeological finds on
Thera. Old time SR players may also remember the strangely-unmentioned
Atlantean Foundation from the Seattle Sourcebook.

3. The map. Barsaive looks like the Ural region of the old Soviet Union.
The "Aras Sea" and "Caucavik Mountains," while not conclusive, also
point to
similarities.

4. The Elvish language in both games is called Sperethial. Elves in both
games are said to have a normal lifespan of about 400 years, but, as ED
puts it, rumors exist of Elves that have lived far longer.

5. People who can use magic for only a few things are called Adepts in
both games. (All Magicians are called Adepts in the rules to ED, but there's
background information that shows that a lot of Wizards consider the
lesser "adepts" annoying upstarts).

6. The dragons. In ED, there is a Great Dragon called Alamaise. The
Great Dragon Alamaise is an important player in the SR novel "Night's Pawn."
The Great Dragon Mountainshadow (ED) has a human servent called Darktooth.
Darktooth in German is "Dunkelzahn" (SR). In "The Longing Ring" novel
(ED), Mountainshadow introduces himself as the "only" Great Dragon who is
interested in the affairs of mortals, an attitude much like that of
SR's Dunkelzahn.

7. Harlequin. There's no reference to the H Man in ED (yet), but in
the story "Harlequin's Back" (SR), Harlequin calls the metaplanes
"netherworlds," which is the term for the places where the powerful
astral entities summoned by the Nethermancers of ED come from. Harlequin
is also talking to a spirit or being that looks very much like the
description of the Mad Passion Vestrial from ED. Their conversation shows
marked similarities to a conversation about the Scourge, from ED.

8. Both games have orichalchum, and both games have Great Form
Earth Elementals (no other spirit type of that particular name has been
given in ED yet).

9. The Blood Elves from ED are obviously referred to in the Tir
Tairngire sourcebook for SR. On the other hand, the two Queens of the
Blood/Wyrm Wood mentioned in ED do not match the names of the two
"secretive" female members of the TT Council of Princes.

10. In the history of the Scourge in ED, reference was made to the
coming of the hordes from the netherplanes by the beings that presaged
them: strange, twisted insect-like beings that infested the cities, and
dark, cloak-like spirits that caused men to fight against one another.
In SR, obvious parallels can be drawn to the Insect Totems and the Wraith
from the ParaEurope Critter book. Also, the Wraith entry in the PAE book
includes an entry warning of the evil of the Wraiths by a decker called
"-H-", which matches one alias that Harlequin uses in the "Harlequin"
adventure.

11. The magical theories of both games is roughly the same. ED makes
a whole lot more out of Patterns and History, but in both astral forms
can't cross native, solid earth, and astral space is warped by the emotions
of those in the real world.

12. Death's Sea. This is a stretch, but the vast "Death's Sea" in ED
consists of lava which, when the prophecy of Death being freed from it
is fulfilled, will turn all the lava into water. This would make it fit
the current map of our southeastern Europe.

13. The Passions. Walker, in the TT sourcebook, talks of how certain
Elven druids follow no totems, but Passion. Harlequin mocks him, and calls
him a dead man. In ED, the Passions are metatotems, that actually physically
interact with the mortal beings of the ED world, and have Questors who
gain magical powers from serving their ideals, much like the shaman and their
totems.

14. Reference is made in the PAE book of a Tir na nOg noble calling
his Windling captive more precious than "True Fire" (or Air, I forget
which). This term is used in ED to refer to pure Elemental incarnations
of that specific element.

That should be most of them; please feel free to contact me to add any
I forgot.

drh

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Shadowrun/Earthdawn Links: The List, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.