>>Ah. Exalted is to the World of Insufficient Light as
>>Earthdawn is to Shadowrun, eh? Interesting.
>
>Yeah, pretty much. Except that White Wolf is promoting
>Exalted as a prequel, while FASA never confirmed the
>relationship between the two (to my knowledge, anyway).

Harlequin's Back is basically an Earthdawn module that got transported to Shadowrun. And it does link the two quite strongly. I'll include the basic plot at the bottom for those who don't want spoilers.

Beyond which, there's the fact that Harlequin is referenced in several places as a Knight of the Crimson Spire, and Sereatha in Earthdawn is the Elven City of Spires, with various Knights of the Crimson Spire basically being their heroes. Oh, not to mention that Dunkelzahn was Mountainshadow?

The two were linked (towards the end of Fasa's publishing life, to be sure) and a whole bunch of Shadowrun and Earthdawn players rose up and said, "Hey! We don't want their kind (pointing to the other group) here!"

I kind of liked the idea, but lots of folks didn't. <shrug>

-- Juniper

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<spoiler about Harlequin's Back>
The Horrors are returning early, because the second Great Ghost Dance (the one lead by Daniel Howling Coyote) has made an Astral Bridge with a high enough magic level that the Horrors can cross over through. They'd be coming in the next hundred years or so, but they're coming early and the Earth hasn't had time to prepare for them. The PCs are sent on an Astral Quest by Harlequin (who I'm told had Vestrial appear in his fireplace to warn him) to find a thing of perfect beauty - a song - to hold the Horrors at bay long enough for the Corps and Shadowrunners to gear up and power up and for tech to progress enough that this time the world won't have to retreat to the Kaers.

As I said, it's an Earthdawn plot in the Shadowrun universe.
</spoiler>