Subscribers have already started thumbing through their copies of the third installment of the Ruins of Azlant Adventure Path as they arrived in the mail, and one of the first things I saw people talking about was the article on the gods of ancient Azlant. I'll talk a little more about that in a bit, but for now here's a look at some of the other exciting things in Pathfinder Adventure Path #123: The Flooded Cathedral.
Up until this point in the Adventure Path, the PCs have had to deal with only a few encounter locations that are submerged, but this one takes the water wings off and drops the adventurers into the deep end in—you guessed it—a flooded cathedral. Don't get scared off yet! The entire cathedral isn't flooded, and not all of the adventure takes place in that one location. This adventure reveals some of the secrets of Azlant as the heroes explore a temple of Amaznen on an island near Ancorato. While inside they get to see some of the amazing wonders engineered by that dead god's priesthood like clockwork winding stations, seismic power generators, intelligent clockworks, and an analytical engine.
This volume also contains an article about clockworks, which talks about their origin and places they are more common on Golarion. It also includes a number of new augmentations for clockwork creatures to keep them fresh in your games, including ioun memory nodes, which grant clockwork creatures a measure of sentience.
Illustrations by Hugh Pindur and Will O'Brien
I also got the chance to explore religion in ancient Azlant with a full pantheon of gods commonly worshiped during the height of the empire. With the utter destruction of Azlant, it's a wonder that any knowledge of these gods carried through to the current age. That many did is a testament to faith. Some of these gods are familiar faces that were worshiped slightly differently over 10,000 years ago, while others deities in the article are new and mostly unknown to the Inner Sea and current day Golarion. In this article you can learn about how Shelyn was depicted as being in mourning after her brother left for places unknown, and how Pharasmins during the height of Azlant still trusted in prophesy.
Some people who've already read this article have commented that the details on Nurgal don't exactly add up to what's mentioned in Pathfinder RPG Book of the Damned. Much of this is due to the focus of the pantheon article, where I was focusing on how things were close to the end of the Azlanti Empire. The ancient origin of Nurgal as presented in Book of the Damned happened long before the empire's collapse, and frankly an expansive origin story for that demon lord deserves to be in the Book of the Damned where it has more space than a single column in an Adventure Path.
Gods of Ancient Azlant
| Deity | AL | Areas of Concern | Domains | Favored Weapon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abadar | LN | Cities, merchants, wealth | Earth, Law, Nobility, Protection, Travel | Light crossbow |
| Acavna | CN | Companionship, defensive battle, the moon | Chaos, Darkness, Protection, Repose, War | Spear |
| Achaekek | LE | Monsters, murder, natural disasters | Death, Evil, Law, Trickery, War | Sawtooth sabre |
| Aesocar | LG | Creation of life, health, medicine | Artifice, Good, Healing, Law, Protection | Mancatcher |
| Amaznen | LN | Invention, magic, secret knowledge | Artifice, Knowledge, Law, Magic, Protection | Light hammer |
| Desna | CG | Dreams, luck, stars, travelers | Chaos, Good, Liberation, Luck, Travel | Starknife |
| Elion | CG | Colonization, discovery, exploration | Chaos, Community, Good, Travel, Weather | Longbow |
| Gozreh | N | Nature, the sea, weather | Air, Animal, Plant, Water, Weather | Trident |
| Groetus | CN | Empty places, oblivion, ruins | Chaos, Darkness, Destruction, Madness, Void | Heavy flail |
| Jaidi | NG | Agriculture, hard work, self-sufficiency | Animal, Glory, Good, Plant, Sun | Scythe |
| Lissala | LN | Duty, fate, reward for service, runes | Knowledge, Law, Nobility, Rune | Whip |
| Myr | LG | Charity, lineage, physical perfection | Glory, Good, Law, Nobility, Strength | Longsword |
| Nurgal | CE | Deserts, senseless warfare, the sun | Chaos, Evil, Fire, Sun | Heavy mace |
| Onos | N | Elements, embassies, extraplanar travel | Air, Earth, Fire, Travel, Water | Chakram |
| Pharasma | N | Birth, death, fate, prophecy | Death, Healing, Knowledge, Repose, Water | Dagger |
| Scal | NE | Annihilation, catharsis, purity | Destruction, Earth, Evil, Liberation, Void | Meteor hammer |
| Shelyn | NG | Art, beauty, love, music | Air, Charm, Good, Luck, Protection | Dagger |
| Sicva | LE | Domination, invasive species, oppression | Animal, Evil, Law, Nobility, Strength | Lasso |
| Ulon | NE | Conspiracy, isolation, manipulation | Charm, Community, Evil, Knowledge, Trickery | Hand crossbow |
| Zura | CE | Blood, cannibalism, vampires | Chaos, Death, Evil, Madness | Rapier |
I hope everyone's been enjoying the Ruins of Azlant Adventure Path. There's still more to come!
Adam Daigle
Managing Developer