Editing Dawnforge

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{{Topquote|Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars.|[[Robert E. Howard]]}}

'''Dawnforge''' is a Primordial World setting by Greg Benage with help by Wil Upchurch and some others. Benage submitted this one to [[Wizards of the Coast]] in a competition for new and original settings. This one got knocked out in the semifinals but [[Fantasy Flight Games]] liked it and published it.

Plenty of settings - lookin' at you, [[Ptolus|Praemal]] - attempt Primordial. ''Dawnforge'' is the one that succeeded at getting across the atmosphere of a young and vital world.

Where the Hyborean Age (and [[The_Silmarillion|Middle-Earth]]) purport to be records of the prehistory of this world Earth, ''Dawnforge'' suggests the prehistory of [[Standard Fantasy Setting]]. Quite often people complain that the backstory of - say - [[Rain of Colorless Fire|the Sea Of Dust]] in [[Greyhawk]] is more interesting than anything you're likely to do in there besides die of thirst and sunstroke. Who ''wouldn't'' want to check in on how the [[drow]] and the [[elves]] first fell out? ''Dawnforge'' lets you do that.

This is an age when human civilisation is young. The elves and the dwarves are still here. Elves struggle with drow, still just a sect (so, Feist's ''moredhel'', then...?); and dwarves fight, of course, giants.

Well phooey, we hear you say; what about dungeons, before there was anyone to build them. Here, Benage brought in [[serpentfolk]]. [[Yuan-ti]] in fact; we told you he was submitting this to WotC. The world's primordial for us apes - not for reptiles! Go right ahead and plop your yellowed copy of ''[[I1: Dwellers of the Forbidden City]]'' wherever you want. Such ruins are best placed, where else, in the southern jungles of Zangala.

Another lot of baddies here are [[tiefling]]s, whose Valhedar stands in for Howard's Acheron. In this world they're still active.

This isn't [[Forgotten Realms]]' backstory; [[Ed Greenwood]] has different ideas on [[yuan-ti]] in particular.

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