I'm going back to an old off-topic, if you forgive my thread necromancy.
The thing is, that ED was intended as a 'prequel/spin-off' for SR, but evloved on its own, growing in depth as much as SR did. So even if they had some things in common, like certain dragons, and immortal elves, they were different games in the same world. As for example DarkSun is to Forgotten Realms - we have elves and halflings in both, but they're entirelly different. ED has blossomed, and even though there was no serious line development for some time, it looks like there would be now. With the new Cathay sourcebooks, and plans on making city sourcebooks, AND a big, (new)metaplot ridden campaign RedBrick really succeded in making Earthdawn alive again... I only hope that ED will in time reach the level of development SR is on now... But they're still different games, and you can't blame ED for including SR's original elements.
I know, that dragons and immortal elves can be a pain in th rear - i hate the dragon-metaplot in ED myself, especially for killing my favorite dragon, Vasdenjas, Master of Secrets and Eater of Cities (just one). But i can just not involve players with that, or at the least try to turn them into major players, or at least pawns that do more than intended (if i ever manage to get a campaing running). But they're somwhere behind the shadows, oiling the cogs of metaplot, and saving the Sixth World. So if you want to inolve your players in saving the world, you either deal with it, or find another way. Not every threat is covered by the Immortal Elves and Dragons High Threat Response Squad. In fact, if players manage to find a way to deal with it, all the metaplotting NPC's could do is stare at the smoldering ruins littered with charred carcasses ot Some Evil Cult That Almost Called Verjigorm In and His Minor Servants*. And that works especially well, if the PC's left a camera at the site...
On the other hand, playing an ED campaign in which the Heroes deal with something, that raises its ugly head again in SR should be an awesome thing. Especially if your combat mage gets his Elementalists magical ring in the process, or something like that. It's not only that small things matter - medium and big ones do too. Forgetting about them would be racist anyway.
It can be just as gritty as Shadowrun, even more bleak, but it can also have some high fantasy elements (hope, perserverence, that sort of thing).
And without assault cannons or anti-tank missiles or naval guns, dragons are pretty hard to take out.
Well, the Horrors are still there in number. That's pretty much enough.
And as for the dragonslaying, the Theran Empire (Atlantis in SR) managed to pull of a dragon hunt just before the Scourge (the time, in which most Horrors came), because they wanted to have monopol on Kaers (the Vaults of ED, designed to withstand horror assaults), and dragons obviously had, and shared that kind of secret. They managed to kill a few dragons, but lost a Behemoth in the process. And a Behemoth was a giant flying fortress holding thousands of warriors, elemental weapons and hundreds of magicians - a true Death Star class weapon (fueled by a very nasty kind of Blood Magic, which still had it's beneficial uses, like oaths, back in the Age of Legends). And following that Icewing/Ghostwalker just walked in on their capital and began assasinating prominent bigwigs inwolved in the hunt... Yeah, he's that awesome. He's Big D's older brother, and the spotlight is on him in Earthdawn, as he's the only easily approachable dragon - you just need to climb wild mountains above the snow level, and bring him a nice gift... And that only grants you an audience.
* I assume they were savvy runners, and KILLED IT WITH FIRE.
P.S. Remember, that SR was first, and ED second. So there are no ED references in SR. There are SR references in ED.
P.P.S. And Adepts in ED can be as much of a deniable asset, as Shadowrunners. I can't remember how many times we were screwed over by our employer, and still managed to survive, and kick the living crap outta them.
