[Zsinj]

I think all of you here that know me know I am a fan of the dearly departed David Gemmell. And I was wondering, I saw somewhere on the internet that his Drenai Saga was supposed to be set not in the usual alternate dimension fantasy setting, but on a post-apocalyptic Earth aeons after disaster fell and thus magic and feudalism had crept back into the world.
Now just to get things straight, I am not mixing this up with Gemmell's "Jerusalem Man Trilogy" which is also post-apocalyptic. So is what I'm asking about true, or is it just a theory some fan dreamed up?

[DurzoBlint]

I couldn't find anything that alluded to a apocalypse but more information maybe found at here (http://www.drenai.com/). Its a website dedicated to the Drenai series.

[owlcroft]

I am working from unsupported memory here, but I believe that there is a common thread running through Gemmel's various series that every so often--as best I recall, every eleven thousand years or so--some violent cataclysm (I think the planet turns "upside down" on its axis, or some such ridiculous thing) descends, wiping out whatever civilizations are extant at the time and essentially re-setting the clock on barbarism (along with re-setting geography).

In the last book of the Drenai run, it is made rather explicit that all the magic is in fact some sort of super-science dependant on energies beamed down from from a robot craft in high orbit. And the pervasive evil in the world is a result of an ancient, well-meant (but stupid) science project gone wrong. (Run people through a machine that extracts all the evil, or some such thing, except that the extracted evil didn't go away.)

[Arcelor]

I think all of you here that know me know I am a fan of the dearly departed David Gemmell. And I was wondering, I saw somewhere on the internet that his Drenai Saga was supposed to be set not in the usual alternate dimension fantasy setting, but on a post-apocalyptic Earth aeons after disaster fell and thus magic and feudalism had crept back into the world.
Now just to get things straight, I am not mixing this up with Gemmell's "Jerusalem Man Trilogy" which is also post-apocalyptic. So is what I'm asking about true, or is it just a theory some fan dreamed up?

Well DG had said that all his worlds were connected to each other somehow, he also expounded on the multiverse therory. So I'm guessing that this might not be a post apocalyptic world however a different version of Earth.

[Arcelor]

In the last book of the Drenai run, it is made rather explicit that all the magic is in fact some sort of super-science dependant on energies beamed down from from a robot craft in high orbit. And the pervasive evil in the world is a result of an ancient, well-meant (but stupid) science project gone wrong. (Run people through a machine that extracts all the evil, or some such thing, except that the extracted evil didn't go away.)

I'm sorry OwlCroft but that wasn't what was there in The Swords of Night & Day. The premise was that the previous civilisation had the power of the crystals which channelised the energy & gave them the power to do healings, create joinings & other stuff. It also explained the origins of the Hewla. I dont recall anything about a robot craft or the extraction of evil???

[FitzChivalry]

Considering Gemmell did say that all his books happen in the same world in different times, and considering some of his books happen on our Earth, it's pretty safe to say that his Drenai books are in our distant past or distant future.
The Drenai books are post-apocalyptic in the sense that there was a greater ancient civilization and it collapsed, but i think it's not as simple as to say, that civilization was the civilization we live in, i believe Gemmell's world had cycles of great civilizations and great collapses... are the Drenai in our past or in our future? i guess we will never know.

Having said that, so far, in all the David Gemmell books i read, the only non-drenai books i managed to directly see how they are happening in the Drenai world's past, are Knights of Dark Renown and Morningstar.

[owlcroft]

I'm sorry OwlCroft but that wasn't what was there in The Swords of Night & Day. The premise was that the previous civilisation had the power of the crystals which channelised the energy & gave them the power to do healings, create joinings & other stuff. It also explained the origins of the Hewla. I dont recall anything about a robot craft or the extraction of evil???
Um, do the phrase "silver egg" ring a bell? So high up the sky is black, not blue?

Check it out . . . .

[kater]

owlcroft is part right, if snarky, the temple of the resurrectionists was supposedly powered by a satellite that used technology of the 'ancients' to heal wounds etc which got out of control. This lead to the creation of joinings and also the immortality transfer in that time. However nowhere does it say, explicit or otherwise, it is the source of all magic in the Drenai world. In part it refutes such an idea by mentioning the ability of the Nadir shamen to achieve joinings without any use of the technology.

To the OP's question, as Arcelor mentioned DG did put forth the theory that all his books were linked and that the various world's take part sometime after the 'fall' when technology destroyed mankind. Personally I always thought it was a bit of a stretch but the various time-travelling books - Hawk Eternal for instance - do give it a bit of credability. I know there's a few different sites with potential timelines, could only lay my hands on an old friend's Drenai timeline - http://members.lycos.co.uk/punchbag/drenaitimeline.html but you may get lucky.

[JamesL]

I've read each Drenai book at least twice, and I have to say I've never come across anything that suggested to me that they take place on a past or future Earth.

I do recall that in Midnight Falcon - book 2 of the Rigante series - there is a paragraph that states the city of Stone has equivalents in other worlds, one of which is Rome. This would indicate that the Rigante stories take place in a different world to Earth, but that both are part of the same multiverse.

I do seem to recall Gemmell saying that the books were all set in the same world. So if the Rigante books were set in an alternative world to Earth (albeit in the same multiverse) then the same is true of the Drenai stories.

[Arcelor]

Um, do the phrase "silver egg" ring a bell? So high up the sky is black, not blue?

Check it out . . . .

Silver egg yes Owlcraft... but nothing again about the extraction of evil. I figured the silver egg to be a planet of some kind, now that I dont have my book with me, it will be hard to recheck it. But wasn't the evil caused by people & their choices. Nothing was said about the cause being the temple.

@ James, yes that line from the rigante is very correct & therein light lie the answer as well :)