I thumbed through the books when they initially came out, and I remember some discussions that indicated the Earthdawn setting was the future of Shadowrun (even though the mechanics differed). IIRC, the default setting started in a vault that somebody with too much time on their hands identified (based on topography and ruins) as a location in the Balkans, somewhere.
It was one of the earliest settings in a magical post-apocalypse, and that got it a fair amount of attention. In fact, Mark Skarr used it as the basis for a GURPS campaign G&AInc and I played in, for awhile:
http://www.denvergurps.com/forum/index.php?topic=350.0
If you wanted to convert it to GURPS, I'd highly recommend that approach, especially since the AtE stuff makes that even easier, these days:
http://www.warehouse23.com/products/...1-wastelanders
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...hlight=farming
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...hlight=farming
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...hlight=farming
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...hlight=farming
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...hlight=farming
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...hlight=farming
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...hlight=farming
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...hlight=farming
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...hlight=farming
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...hlight=farming
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...hlight=farming
Hrm. That's a lot of links.
Anyway, it demonstrates how strongly supported post-apocalyptic settings are, by the company and the GURPS community, here. So, if you wanted to try to run an Earthdawn game with better mechanics, I think you could do it really easily.
However, if you do that, please make sure to post your conversion notes, and if you don't provide session logs, we'll be
sorely disappointed. :)