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Bikis, Thu, Jul 2, 2009, 04:38 PM

One of my friends recently got The Great Beyond and I was excited so see if there was anymore info on Desna's realm in the multiverse, but instead found that it's a material plane location.

I couldn't find any other info except that Desna resides in Cynosure at the North star. Seeing as TGB didn't have any info and Desna's writeup didn't have anything on it, is there anywhere else where such info could be found? Either in something already published, or something to be published?

James Jacobs (Editor-in-Chief, Pathfinder), Thu, Jul 2, 2009, 06:11 PM

Bikis wrote:

One of my friends recently got The Great Beyond and I was excited so see if there was anymore info on Desna's realm in the multiverse, but instead found that it's a material plane location.

I couldn't find any other info except that Desna resides in Cynosure at the North star. Seeing as TGB didn't have any info and Desna's writeup didn't have anything on it, is there anywhere else where such info could be found? Either in something already published, or something to be published?

We haven't said much more about this yet, although Desna WAS the first deity to get a big article in Pathfinder (back in volume #2).

In my mind, though, Cynosure is part star, part palace, part space station, part living crystal, part cocoon, part paradise, part other stuff.

aylengyr (Pathfinder Companion Subscriber), Thu, Jul 2, 2009, 06:43 PM

James Jacobs wrote:

In my mind, though, Cynosure is part star, part palace, part space station, part living crystal, part cocoon, part paradise, part other stuff.

Wow, that's totally inspiring. Very cool indeed.

Todd Stewart (Contributor), Thu, Jul 2, 2009, 08:52 PM

Bikis wrote:

One of my friends recently got The Great Beyond and I was excited so see if there was anymore info on Desna's realm in the multiverse, but instead found that it's a material plane location.

I couldn't find any other info except that Desna resides in Cynosure at the North star. Seeing as TGB didn't have any info and Desna's writeup didn't have anything on it, is there anywhere else where such info could be found? Either in something already published, or something to be published?

So much stuff to elaborate on. So much inability to fit it all in under the word budget. Arrrrggghhh.

So many things deserving of detail, it makes me wish that hypergraphia could be temporarily drug-induced. ;)

Bikis, Fri, Jul 3, 2009, 01:17 AM

James Jacobs wrote:

We haven't said much more about this yet, although Desna WAS the first deity to get a big article in Pathfinder (back in volume #2).

In my mind, though, Cynosure is part star, part palace, part space station, part living crystal, part cocoon, part paradise, part other stuff.

In my imagination of it, I draw on the observation of whole stars of crystallized carbon at the core of a white dwarfs. Basically a humongous diamond. Throw on top of that something reminiscent of Dr. Manhattan's creation on Mars in Watchmen, add in a dash of interplanetary butterflies, fey-like creatures, elysian paradise, then you've got yourself a good time.

Also since I'm on a Desna kick and just read TGB, as far as my cosmology is concerned Desna created the portals that connect the positive energy to the core of every star, 'pin pricking' the planes to open up the material world for life.

Thanks for the info

cibet44, Fri, Jul 3, 2009, 06:29 AM

Isn't "Cynosure" the IP of First Comics from the Grimjack comic?

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynosure

James Jacobs (Editor-in-Chief, Pathfinder), Fri, Jul 3, 2009, 10:13 AM

cibet44 wrote:

Isn't "Cynosure" the IP of First Comics from the Grimjack comic?

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynosure

The word "cynosure" is not an invention of either Paizo OR First Comics. It's a real word, with a specific definition that makes it a cool name for Desna's palace. Especially since part of its real-world definition is associated with the real world north star.

Check its definition out here!

It's not unheard of for parallel development to occur, and that includes incidents of names ending up being similar or identical. Either two authors arrive at the same name after going through similar processes of naming something (this is more common if the authors both take the same root words or word constructions as their baseline inspiration, or as is the case with "cynosure," take an actual but somewhat obscure word in its entirety for the name), or one author invents a name and another author reads it and then, years or decades later, names something of his own after that name either consciously or unconsciously.

"Cynosure" as a floating dimensional city is different than "Cynosure" as a deity's palace orbiting (or perhaps being part of) the North Star, in any event.

Wolf Munroe (Pathfinder Chronicles Superscriber; GameMastery Superscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber), Sat, Jul 4, 2009, 02:44 PM

James Jacobs wrote:

"Cynosure" as a floating dimensional city is different than "Cynosure" as a deity's palace orbiting (or perhaps being part of) the North Star, in any event.

And different still from the Cynosure of the Forgotten Realms, that was a plane accessible from all divine realms that was the neutral meeting place of the gods.

(Just chiming in, that's where I first heard the word.)