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View Full Version : Brainstorming What if the Primordials had won the Dawn War? (4e)



ReturnOfTheKing
2014-11-11, 07:22 PM
In 4th Edition lore, the world was created by the Primordials, who wanted it to be a place of chaos and imagination which they could do anything with. However, they abandoned their work, so the gods came to apply their own vision to it.

The Primordials were angered by this, and tensions simmered between the Astral Sea and the Elemental Chaos. When Tharizdun planted the shard of evil in the Elemental Chaos to create the Abyss, it was the last straw, and the gods and Primordials went to war.

Eventually, the Primordials were defeated and the primal spirits intervened to end the fighting. Most of the surviving Primordials were imprisoned and the gods decided to leave the world alone so it could develop in it's own course.

What I was wondering was, what do you think would've happened had the Primordials won the war instead of the gods? One example of how this might've played out is Dark Sun, which, in 4e lore, is a place where the gods lost the War. However, that's just one possible outcome. After all, most of the worlds in 4e are different possible outcomes for the gods' victory. I'm curious to see what you think might've happened.

Jakodee
2014-11-19, 07:04 PM
The primal spirits probably would not exist. People, if they existed would whorshiped the "elemental gods" and shun those demons (the gods) who wished to mess with creation. I image it would be rather like the elemental chaos.

BetaStyle
2014-11-22, 07:23 PM
If they had the same motivations as the Primordials from the game Exalted, the creation of the world in the Material Plane would be a refuge of reality for the Primordials to escape the Elemental Chaos, and whatever mortal races populate the world would be little more than pink squishy things going "worship, worship, worship." Existence like that is basically prehistory, as far as 4th Edition's nameless core world would consider such things. Without the gods to provide or empower ideals, it would very much be a Primal Power based world, like something out of Conan or similar stories.

Though another idea that springs to mind is that of the prehistorical world of The Last Airbender, where humanity was sheltered in bastions of civilization (works perfectly with the Points of Light ideal :) ) by the great Lion Turtles, as the rest of the planet was given over to the domain of the spirits; and the bending powers were granted to those mortals who left the cities on foraging, hunting and gathering trips for resources. It could be that since the powers of Elemental Chaos hold sway over the world still, most of the world at large is dominated by elemental outsiders of all manner of sizes and strengths, with a few shadow or fey creatures lurking at the edges from their remnant realms. This idea could open up some more options for varying power sources beyond Primal.

Freelance GM
2014-11-24, 04:29 PM
The Material Plane might have been created as a last-ditch effort- a refuge to hide in, not a world to build. The gods themselves are either dead or in hiding. If it's in the Elemental Chaos, it's the eye of the storm.

The world is probably overdosed on fantastic, impossible geography. Like a hybrid of the prehistoric Avatar world and Zendikar, injected with elements of the other Avatar (James Cameron's), scaled up, and then played in fast-forward.

Flying mountains the size of large islands cover regions in perpetual darkness. Seas that churn with tsunami-sized waves pummel the rocky shores of rugged volcanic wastelands. Tremendous, hurricane-force winds rip through open plains and deserts- sandstorms and dust storms are the natural state of these places- any kind of wildlife is either incredibly tough, monstrous, or dead. The world is constantly barraged by the forces of the Elemental Chaos- the flickering power of the gods is the only thing holding it in one piece.

The only "safe" places would be on a flying mountain, or in the Underdark- the rest of the plane would basically be in a constant series of natural disasters. Even then, your flying mountain might end up on a collision course with another mountain, and an earthquake can squelch an Underdark civilization out of existence rather quickly.

So yeah, it probably would be a lot like Dark Sun in terms of primitive tech and high mortality rates, just with a lot more magic- ideally Wild Magic.