Shetani in Mwangi?


Lost Omens Campaign Setting General Discussion

The Exchange

I just got Heart of the Jungle and I LOVE it! I've also been reading a book of African mythology and came across a story that inspired me to read about Mozambique.
Reading about Mozambique led me to the shetani. They are "evil spirits" with the same root word as shaitan and satan (or Satan for you KJV folks).
So why no shetani in Golarion? They are on a par with the div, in my opinion. I think these creatures (as depicted in the photos and paintings in my limited reading) would make an AWESOME class of demons, especially for Bekyar summoners!

Also, I think the sabosan bat-people in Golarion could be related to the popobawa shetani, although sabosan aren't alleged to be themselves demons, only Vyriavaxus's children. I don't know the exact inspiration for sabosan from the real world. Does Tim Hitchcock talk about it anywhere?

Anyway, thanks Paizo for opening up the (real)world to me by inspiring me to read more about a part of it I knew nothing about! Has anyone else been inspired by Heart of the Jungle this way?

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Zeugma wrote:

I just got Heart of the Jungle and I LOVE it! I've also been reading a book of African mythology and came across a story that inspired me to read about Mozambique.

Reading about Mozambique led me to the shetani. They are "evil spirits" with the same root word as shaitan and satan (or Satan for you KJV folks).
So why no shetani in Golarion? They are on a par with the div, in my opinion. I think these creatures (as depicted in the photos and paintings in my limited reading) would make an AWESOME class of demons, especially for Bekyar summoners!

Also, I think the sabosan bat-people in Golarion could be related to the popobawa shetani, although sabosan aren't alleged to be themselves demons, only Vyriavaxus's children. I don't know the exact inspiration for sabosan from the real world. Does Tim Hitchcock talk about it anywhere?

Anyway, thanks Paizo for opening up the (real)world to me by inspiring me to read more about a part of it I knew nothing about! Has anyone else been inspired by Heart of the Jungle this way?

Two reasons.

1) We have shaitan genies, and "shetani" is pretty close to that name already.

2) We haven't gotten around to statting up shetanis yet. Same thing goes for bigfoot and lots of other monsters.

PS: We did a HUGE amount of African-themed monsters in the six Serpent's Skull bestiaries, so I wouldn't be surprised if they're actually mentioned in one of those volumes already... I don't THINK they were... but that was like last year.

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Zeugma wrote:


Also, I think the sabosan bat-people in Golarion could be related to the popobawa shetani, although sabosan aren't alleged to be themselves demons, only Vyriavaxus's children. I don't know the exact inspiration for sabosan from the real world. Does Tim Hitchcock talk about it anywhere?

The popobawa is in the same issue of Pathfinder as the sabosan, actually. It's called the "popobala", but it's decidedly the same creature. As for the sabosan's origins, I suspect they draw heavily on the Solomon Kane story where he fights blood-drinking bat men in the African jungle.


Demiurge 1138 wrote:
Zeugma wrote:


Also, I think the sabosan bat-people in Golarion could be related to the popobawa shetani, although sabosan aren't alleged to be themselves demons, only Vyriavaxus's children. I don't know the exact inspiration for sabosan from the real world. Does Tim Hitchcock talk about it anywhere?
The popobawa is in the same issue of Pathfinder as the sabosan, actually. It's called the "popobala", but it's decidedly the same creature. As for the sabosan's origins, I suspect they draw heavily on the Solomon Kane story where he fights blood-drinking bat men in the African jungle.

The Sabosan are from the same etymological roots as the Asasabonsam or Sasabonsam, actually (Ashanti legend) or Asiman (Dahomey). Like the the Rakshasa and other Indian demons, the Asasabonsam has backward turned feet, which can identify it to the wary traveler. They dangle from the trees like bats, hence the bat men association. As the Azeman they have become associated with Obayifo (Obeah, witch-magic) and with the hag-vampire type in the Carribean. The Solomon Kane story is "Wings in the Night"-- where they are called Akaanas-- (1935, ambigious copyright status). I suspect Howard's love of anthropology was showing there...

The Exchange

Thanks James, Demiurge and Jeff for your replies. I will have to seek out the Serpent Skull AP with the popobala in it. I'll be intrigued to see its stat block and descriptive text, given what I've seen written about it in the Wikipedia article.

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