How old is Creation?

[Eldagusto]

This is a question that has been avoided in the books so you can customize it for your game, but how old is Creation? Is it measured in millenium or is it more million Year Epochs? Was there a billion year age of fire and earthquakes and Primeval Elemental Dragons before life and gods and Mortals? Are gods older then the Sun Thousands of years old or tens of Millions?

[semicasual]

My personal answer to the question is: it is as old as the weave of Fate is long. In practical terms, that makes it about 30-40,000 years old. Before that, time as we know it did not exist, so the exact age of Creation is difficult to pin down.

Creation, naturally, follows a Creationist model, so any fossils you find are either magic or they were put there by the gods, possibly to troll mortals.

[Leetsepeak]

Creation, naturally, follows a Creationist model, so any fossils you find are either magic or they were put there by the gods, possibly to troll mortals.

Methinks that's a bit too meta. Insofar as there might be somethings we'd identify as fossils, I don't really see a reason to assume they'd be faked for the laughs. In fact, if it's a world where there cannot be fossils, then perhaps the concept wouldn't exist, and where would the Gods get the idea from?

Anyway, what actually is a fossil? Not the technical definition, but the popular definition. They're the remains of old shit in the earth. Creation probably has plenty of bones and ruins and other weird things buried in the Earth, and if there is a conception of fossils, it undoubtedly would arise from that.

It's a simple principle that boils down to "Don't overthink it, they likely have an equivalent."

[BrilliantRain]

Yeah, I was gonna say that Creation is as old as Time....because linear time didn't really exist before Creation was made.

As for an actual number? I really couldn't say. I think "Old Enough" is probably as close as one can reasonably get.

[Eura]

Technically creation is somewhat younger than time because the creation of Yu-shan disrupted Timenot, not the forming of creation.

[Isator Levi]

My personal answer to the question is: it is as old as the weave of Fate is long. In practical terms, that makes it about 30-40,000 years old.

There's a missing detail in the middle of that.

Creation, naturally, follows a Creationist model, so any fossils you find are either magic or they were put there by the gods, possibly to troll mortals.

Creationism doesn't necessarily preclude the existence of a fossil record, depending on when one asserts the world to have been created.

There are mythologies besides American Evangelical Christianity that describe the Earth as having existed for periods somewhat equivalent to millions of years.

[BlueWinds]

My thoughts lay on something on the order of 10-2,000 years. That's a lot younger than many people's Creations, but it suits my tastes.

~5,000 years from the dawn of Creation until the dawn of the Exalted. "About as long as humans have had agriculture in our world" feels about right for the era before history, when primordials ruled the world.
~5,000 years from the dawn of the Exalted until the end of the First Age. "About as long as humans have had writing" seems about the right age for the war against to creators of the world.

Note that the ages aren't getting shorter. This is the more important point than the actual length of the ages, for me. It helps the history feel more real, less like a story hitting me over the head with "Paradise or purgatory, accelerating progress or destruction! You are the focal point of history!"

[kongurous]

I seem to recall mention that the Time of Glory lasted an unspecific millions of years, perhaps even more. In any case, it's not a question that is terribly likely to come up in-game with any real consequence.

[Anasurimbor]

Games of Divinity says that the Incarna had administered Creation for "countless epochs", so all we can say for certain is that Creation is very, very, old. Tens of thousands, minimum, but quite possibly millions or more.

[AnubisXy]

In 2nd edition it mentioned at one point that many gods had served the Primordials for million of years and the time between the Primordial War until today was like a "short break."

I suspect in 3rd edition we won't get any actual number put to how long Creation has existed since it was first crafted by the Primordials, but I imagine the game will suggest that the Primordial era lasted for "untold ages" - for an amount of time far, far longer than the First and Second Age combined.

[Boston123]

Considering humanity has only had agriculture for about 10,000 years, and has existed as "modern" (that is, what we would recognize as humans) for about 200,000, that gives a pretty decent jumping-off-point for Creation. Extend it some, throw in some kalpa.

The Dragon-Kings watched over humanity for a very long time, if I remember correctly.

[Mal'akh]

The answer is 42.

Actually Creation is as old as your games need it to be.

[Lundgren]

In my mind, the first proto time and proto solid forms were created by the Primordials over a billion years ago. Still, it took a long time between then and their first attempt to shape an entire world, and there were several attempts before the current Creation. Some of the gods predate the current Creation, and both Sol and Luna are among those. The current Creation is a few million years old.

If I recall correctly, the only part of that being canon, in any edition, is the "several attempts" part.

[Eldagusto]

Technically creation is somewhat younger than time because the creation of Yu-shan disrupted Timenot, not the forming of creation.

The Loom of Fate Resided first upon the blessed Isle and it was what disrupted Time Not.


I like to think The Dragon Kings Existed for a while before Humanity.

[Eldagusto]

The answer is 42.

Actually Creation is as old as your games need it to be.

That is umm a very unhelpful answer... -_-