It's still a swamp. ;) But there's no humans or pointy eared facsimilies of any kind. 5 million years is a long while back.

Are you sure you meant 5 million years ago?

This stuff is too tied up in Wilderlands canon for me to make more specific comments right now. I don't believe the First Men from the WL setting are actually human however.

On a more general note, which is what I guess you were asking for in the OP, we know that even in the RW stone age, people were often much more sophisticated than what was believed in the past. Extensive trade networks, knowledge of herbs and medicine, and fairly sophisticated religious beliefs and knowledge of astrology as seen in places like stone henge.

No reason why such things would not also have existed in Blackmoor's past.

IMC I have an Ice Age back 5000 years before the founding of Thonia (NC-5000). In the milennia following that Ice Age the humans of the region went from Stone Age technology to Bronze Age to Iron Age as described in Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor.

Ofcourse, what happened before the Ice Age could be reconciled with Wilderlands material should one wish it.

Basically I am thinking there could be a Pre-Ice Age civilization ala Conan's Hyperboria, which would correspond to Kelnore. The WL region would not have been covered by the Ice Age (though probably weakened by it) thus making room for the Kelnoran Successor states.

-Havard

The first men of WL were winged apes, actually. Remember the LFC. I reference them. If you had gone after Ixion, you would have met. :wink:

But, yeah, essentially, the question is when we have WoB's (yeah, I just did that) neolithic revolution - which leads to the question about which was the first sophisticated civilization.


IMC, everything ultimately derives from the space ghost that the Beagle brought (epilogue LFC), the Sar-Aigu, and the Macrabs, which are really homo sapiens.

They settle in the Age of Ghenrek, and ultimately get canned, with the exception of the mermen, and from their ashes, after a period of barbarism, rises everything else.

If you want to check it out, in this thread, I give Ooooooh so many hints, starting from when James Pren as the new Blue Rider touches the Evershard... :)

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=2113&start=60

I like the idea of magic in the stone age as being like magic in Conans Hyperboria, rare and deadly even to the user that those who crave dark powers will resort to bartering with outsiders from the Void(Macrab?) or delving into the foulest pits to bargain with cthonic entities. Possibly explore this concept of wild magic being constant except to those who use pact based deals with Patrons. You could even tie it in with star/sky metal being something to produce powerful weapons or enhance spells that could be used by primitives to fight unknown ancient horrors.

One basic question about ancient fantasy worlds is always, why did technology not at some point substitute magic, especially, if we talk about an era of a few millenia?

Like, not everybody is gifted in magic, but everybody can invent a wheel.


So, why does the development stall at some point?

I could see possibly like in Conans Hyperboria, in some places where magic was absent technology did advance while places where magic held dominion(Stygia) the use of technology wasn't much popular due to the idea that slave labor could do the same, so instead of a water wheel you had slaves pushing a massive stone slab. I guess you could say its the Dominion Vs. Domination, if magic is absent in areas or the use of magic is rare that only a shaman will teach one student then yes technology could flourish to advance stone working and possibly metal working.

Though the idea that the world in which this is set permeates magic in its raw untamed state so technology might flourish in areas where magic is essentially a death trap.