[Prætus]

The Great Ghost Dance threw the manacycle off kilter, and Aztechnology and various blood cults haven't helped things.  Both the invae (insect spirits) and demiwraiths should have still been centuries off, implied in Harlequin's Back if I recall.  Leave to homo sapiens to foul things up.

Ætherology seems to also imply that the Horrors may be much closer than they should be at this time; ancient ruins of Yth and things barely seen across the great chasm in the metaplanes.  There's material to indicate things are progressing far faster than the during prior Ages.

[Lighthouse]

I am runnng a similar campaign in that the horrors have through manaspikes contacted agents on Earth to hasten their coming. The runners are hired by various immortal parties to stop these agents plots. I am curious how your runs turn out.

[eximius]

My personal fan theory is that dragons come from Mars. Mars gets invaded by Horrors, and leave through the meta planes to Earth, which is why the numbering starts kind of weirdly on the down cycles. The First World happens some 20,000 years ago, and is called the First World, not because its the first mana cycle, but because its the first cycle with dragons on Earth. A few dragons stay behind on Mars, cast a mass entropy spell and kill all life on Mars and destroying Mars's mansphere, and thus banishing the Horrors for a time.

I have a similar theory involving Draconic Ritual magic. It is known that Dragons have their own form of ritual magic that multiplies their powers together somehow to ridiculous(er) levels. It was implied that it was powerful enough to have world-ending consequences and that they refused to use it anymore after a particular incident in the past. My theory is that some cataclysmic event occurs (such as a Horror invasion) and they use Ritual Magic to transport themselves to Earth while a few stay behind to power the ritual that ends all life on Mars.

Draconic Ritual Magic is my favorite plot device, right after the Horrors. You just get to throw all the rules out the window.

[MijRai]

My personal pet theory on the dragon bones on Mars is that in the 4th Age, a dragon in an attempt to flee the Horrors used some crazy teleportation or super-speed magic (or a metaplanar jaunt) to get away and save themselves.  As they didn't realize Mars has no atmosphere (and little to no manasphere), they promptly died before being able to muster up the energy and return (or chose death to going back, for all we know).  They could have landed there by accident, or it might not have been what they'd intended to find (i.e. survivable).

[Sendaz]

What do you call a dead dragon on Mars?

A good start.

[BetaCAV]

My personal pet theory on the dragon bones on Mars is that in the 4th Age, a dragon in an attempt to flee the Horrors used some crazy teleportation or super-speed magic (or a metaplanar jaunt) to get away and save themselves.  As they didn't realize Mars has no atmosphere (and little to no manasphere), they promptly died before being able to muster up the energy and return (or chose death to going back, for all we know).  They could have landed there by accident, or it might not have been what they'd intended to find (i.e. survivable).

Apparently, there's growing evidence (in the real world) of a nuclear "event" on Mars 250,000 to 500,000 years ago. Such things do occur naturally, though not usually on such a planetwide scale. However, the specific elements of the residue are a result of reactions involving large amounts of material that is not normally active enough to go up on it's own -- you couldn't run a reactor with it, for example, much less detonate  it with just critical mass (though the neutrino emissions of a fusion bomb could) -- leading many to conclude it is clearly a weapon signature.

Aside from scrubbing anything organic off the planet, and covering the surface in radioactive dust... that would play merry hell with whatever manasphere might have existed while anything was still living there.

It probably solved any Horror issue, too.

[psycho835]

Except Earthdawn didn't had the technology to make a single nuke, let alone enough nukes to cover entire planet. Aliens? I could definitely see them go "F**k this monster-infested system, let's just drop nukes on the planet we were on, leave and never come back!". ...Except that doesn't explains draconic bones. Test subject? Cloning experiment?

[MijRai]

Except Earthdawn didn't had the technology to make a single nuke, let alone enough nukes to cover entire planet. Aliens? I could definitely see them go "F**k this monster-infested system, let's just drop nukes on the planet we were on, leave and never come back!". ...Except that doesn't explains draconic bones. Test subject? Cloning experiment?

I bet magic used properly could set off fissionable material; however, keep in mind, even on Earth there has been natural nuclear reactions, and the mechanism behind nuclear weapons is not that complicated. 

On top of that, the dragon could have been the one to flip the switch.  'Save yourselves, I'll make sure they don't follow you!' *single tear streaks down the cheek of the love interest.*

[psycho835]

I don't know, nuclear weaponry and magic don't get along, a spell like that seems like a downright insane idea. I see someone being willing to use it in a desperate "we-are-screwed-anyway" situation but to create it they would need at least some understanding of nuclear physics. That means doing at least SOME experimentation. And without technology, their only means of doing so is magic. Using magic to research something that reacts to it in an unpredictable, possibly (likely?) destructive manner? That... Does not sounds like a good idea.

[Fizzygoo]

It is possible for naturally occurring uranium to reach critical mass. Exceptionally rare, but possible. Link

[CitizenJoe]

Toxic isn't the same thing as tainted.  Toxic is a reaction to a polluted environment.  They can be avengers or poisoners. 

Tainted is closer to being controlled by an outside source like the insect shaman.

Mars: EVO's Buttercup has astral gateway power.  EVO sent a ship there and she sent an astral anchor and enough material to Kickstart the Martian Manasphere.  By using the astral gateway she can access Mars almost instantly.  This is secret because if she can do that, she could have any number of anchors on Earth.

Dunkelzahn and older player with metaknowledge.  Look into Whit Hat Aztlan and Dunkelzahn is a Jerk theories.

[Reaver]

I thought they proved the Dragon bones thing was a Hoax (in one of the novels IIRC)?

CitizenJoe:
Where did you read that Buttercup used portals to get to Mars? Or is that just theory?

[CitizenJoe]

It's a pet theory of mine.  It's also a precursor step to an interstellar far future game where the Horrors are captured and used to power FTL drives and weapons via their reality warping powers.

The wiki does list Buttercup as having Astral Gateway power.  Anyway, it explains why EVO made a run for Mars and if that same anchor was used for supplying the spaceship en route it solves a lot of the problems with space travel.

Like I said, the existence of essentially teleportation tech is the utmost secret since the security issue would be crippling.

[Sendaz]

But the problem with Astral Gateway is that you can't haul physical cargo through it.

The power forces parties nearby to become dual natured and allows them to project through it. (pg 194, street grimoire)
Like when Ghostwalker came through the DC rift, it was just his astral form that came through. It then booked to wherever he had his body stashed.

So using the gateways may allow parties to project to a deeper metaplane then back through another gateway to Mars, thus bypassing the void between, but they would not automatically get bodies on the other side (since they still have a body on this plane, just back on earth) nor could it be used to restock a ship in transit so to speak.

It is not to be confused with teleportation or anything similar.

[CitizenJoe]

I thought it brought physical stuff through.  I know it c an bring mundanes through.  It still works as a portal when you use alcherra.