Arcadia: Resources & Brainstorming


Lost Omens Campaign Setting General Discussion

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Oops, just remembered the Skinwalkers from Blood of the Moon, which specifically mentions are believed to originate in Arcadia.

A concept brewing, inspired a bit by Cherokee culture and lore:

Spoiler:
The syrinx clan known as the Skili are recognizable by their impressive stature and hornlike feathered tufts, as well as their rule by a powerful coven of witches. Their slaves are many, including the Anijistu, a nation of humans and half-humans kept half as pets and half as a ready source of sacrifices and meat.

Seeking a tool against the Skili, the renegade human Tsu'tla (choo-luh) ventured far and wide across Arcadia, before witnessing an Ulfen wizard defending his lord from monsters on his final journey. When he attempted to follow in order to learn the secrets of the wizard's powerful magic, he was repelled by valkyries guarding the borders of Valenhall.

That night, recovering from his wounds in a nearby cave, he dreamt of a great house such as his people made in the summer, the walls made of thin white birch bark and the floor of reed mats. Yet this house itself was larger than an entire village, and within it roosted countless great birds of beautiful plumage, attending a woman who had all the beauty of a maiden and all the charisma of a great matron. When he blinked, he saw that the woman was a tremendous water-snake, and yet when he blinked again she was a woman, changing each time he looked. He knew that he must be in the presence of a truly powerful spirit, for anyone with a bit of sense knew that water serpents were the enemies of the creatures of the sky—for this serpent-woman to command so many fire-birds and eagles, she must be truly fearsome. The woman spread her long arms, which Tsu'tla saw were also wings, wrapped in sleeves upon which were painted many strange small images. A bird—so small that he had not seen it before—came and took one of these long strips, and flying in circles wrapped it around Tsu'tla's wounds as a bandage.

When he awoke, Tsu'tla found his wounds healed, and where the small bird had bandaged him, there were strange symbols marking his flesh. As he looked, he realized that he somehow knew each one to have a name, a meaning, and a power he could command. In the days that followed, Tsu'tla discovered how to use these symbols to draw forth amazing magical power; victories over monsters that found him while he practiced led to him attaining even greater power, finding his skin marked with new signs he had not seen before.

Now, Tsu'tla returns to the Anijistu to use the power of these signs to free his people from the Skili and share in the favor of The Matron of Syllables.

In essence, Tsu'tla is a fantasy take on Sequoyah (as a human Cleric of Irez with the Rune domain, Language subdomain), and the spiritual significance once attached to the Cherokee syllabary. The Skili are inspired by Cherokee tradition using that word for both witches and great horned owls, tradition regarding them to be one and the same. "Anijistu" is a somewhat phonetic transliteration that means "Rabbit Clan/Nation" as near as I can guess, both due to owls preying on rabbits, and the role of rabbit as a trickster in Cherokee traditions.


ayellowbirds wrote:

Oops, just remembered the Skinwalkers from Blood of the Moon, which specifically mentions are believed to originate in Arcadia.

A concept brewing, inspired a bit by Cherokee culture and lore:

** spoiler omitted **...

Thinking on this a bit more, I'd probably eliminate the Valenhall bit and keep it all-native.


in all likelihood, there are probably native wizards in Arcadia, especially since Paizo seems to want to subvert the "New world is less advanced than old world" trope.

Grand Lodge

The illustration of what I presume to be a skraeling in the Pathfinder Chronicles: Campaign Setting on page 156 seems to be based on the noble savage trope. Not sure if the individual is holding a stone axe with an elliptical blade or if it is supposed to be an obsidian blade. Or is it a staff?


Well, they can look tribal without being a noble savage. Like the Shoanti.

What I don't want Paizo to do is to be so afraid of doing the noble savage trope that they completely ignore Native American dress and outfits. The noble savage trope isn't BAD. The issue is its overuse.

Grand Lodge

I don't know the story of why Wizards of the Coast removed the fictional Americas from Abeir-Toril and replaced them with "Returned Abeir." Was this a matter of creative taste or an indication of the success and popularity of the Maztica setting or America mythology-based fantasy settings in general? It's interesting that they kept the continents of Osse and Katashaka and removed the continent of Anchorome.

Grand Lodge

Odraude wrote:

Well, they can look tribal without being a noble savage. Like the Shoanti.

What I don't want Paizo to do is to be so afraid of doing the noble savage trope that they completely ignore Native American dress and outfits. The noble savage trope isn't BAD. The issue is its overuse.

Perhaps I am presuming the use of tropes because the Golarion setting is so influenced by pulp magazines. I expect Arcadia to be heavily influenced by western and Spanish Conquista fiction, like Captain from Castille (1945) or the "Old Shatterhand" books by Karl May.


A thought: as related by Charles C. Mann in 1491, the apparent wealth of resources and "unspoiled" nature that European colonists found in the Americas was very likely the result of widespread plague reducing the population to a small fraction of its past size. What seemed like forests full of plentiful food plants and bountiful wildlife as well as open spaces excellently suited for use as trails and farmland were very often the result of countless generations of native peoples working with the land, practicing forms of agriculture that are now almost completely erased. Even the soil was the result of this work—look into terra preta. The people who remained after plagues (possibly spread by their extensive trading networks) were further reduced by warfare. In essence, the "savages" were the survivors of an apocalyptic scenario.

Is there potential in that? Perhaps the skraelings and the like are not the norm for Arcadian life, but are rather the few survivors of a devastated culture, scrabbling at the peripheries for survival. But other cultures exist, having found ways to avoid the devastation (or even having been responsible for it, acting against enemy nations).

I think that there is room for both the tropes and the subversions/aversions, considering that Arcadia has been referred to as potentially being the single largest continent on Golarion.

Grand Lodge

Looking at Nyambe from Atlas Games, I was wondering if elves, halflings, gnomes, and orcs could be added to Arcadia and give them an Americas feel.


TritonOne wrote:
Looking at Nyambe from Atlas Games, I was wondering if elves, halflings, gnomes, and orcs could be added to Arcadia and give them an Americas feel.

In my homebrews, I used the memegwesiag—hairy little people from Ojibwe folklore, said to hang around rivers and make stone canoes—as the local dwarves. Of course, the most notable difference between a dwarf and a memegwesi is that the latter has little horns. Had some ideas for halfings and gnomes (and some others, like fetchlings), but never quite hit on something for elves or orcs.


I think the current Pathfinder approach is to do a different set of core races for each area, with some minor overlap

So Tian Xia has elves and humans, but Nagaji, Tengu, Wayang, Kitsune, and Samsaran are the other the other dominant races.

I really like this approach, since I would rather see new races inspired by New World folklore rather than a bunch of reskinned races. Presumably Skinchangers and humans are part of the core 7 for Arcadia. the cryptid revisisted book also hints at a half sasquatch race as existing there as as well.

Grand Lodge

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ayellowbirds wrote:

A thought: as related by Charles C. Mann in 1491, the apparent wealth of resources and "unspoiled" nature that European colonists found in the Americas was very likely the result of widespread plague reducing the population to a small fraction of its past size. What seemed like forests full of plentiful food plants and bountiful wildlife as well as open spaces excellently suited for use as trails and farmland were very often the result of countless generations of native peoples working with the land, practicing forms of agriculture that are now almost completely erased. Even the soil was the result of this work—look into terra preta. The people who remained after plagues (possibly spread by their extensive trading networks) were further reduced by warfare. In essence, the "savages" were the survivors of an apocalyptic scenario.

Is there potential in that? Perhaps the skraelings and the like are not the norm for Arcadian life, but are rather the few survivors of a devastated culture, scrabbling at the peripheries for survival. But other cultures exist, having found ways to avoid the devastation (or even having been responsible for it, acting against enemy nations).

I think that there is room for both the tropes and the subversions/aversions, considering that Arcadia has been referred to as potentially being the single largest continent on Golarion.

Very interesting information, ayellowbirds. Reading about Earthfall and the destruction of the Empire of Azlant, can we extrapolate that the Azlanti also fled to the west to Arcadia in addition to the east? Did the Azlanti who fled to Arcadia also descend into the Arcadian equivalent of the Darklands? Are there Gillmen, Dark folk, Mongrelmen, and Morlocks to be found in Arcadia? Drow?

Earthfall and the plague(s) could explain why there are stone age hunter gatherers in Arcadia, rather than the sophisticated nations that may be found in Garund. Are there ruins of a sophisticated empire like Thassilon to be found in Arcadia?

Grand Lodge

MMCJawa wrote:

I think the current Pathfinder approach is to do a different set of core races for each area, with some minor overlap

So Tian Xia has elves and humans, but Nagaji, Tengu, Wayang, Kitsune, and Samsaran are the other the other dominant races.

I really like this approach, since I would rather see new races inspired by New World folklore rather than a bunch of reskinned races. Presumably Skinchangers and humans are part of the core 7 for Arcadia. the cryptid revisisted book also hints at a half sasquatch race as existing there as as well.

Would you add elves to Arcadia in addition to humans? Or just have humans and then add New World-inspired races?

I guess one of the questions that we need to decide is how human beings arrived in Arcadia in the first place. Was there a "land bridge" similar to Beringia that connected Tian Xia to Arcadia 16,500 years ago that explains the presence of humans on Arcadia? Was it just humans who traveled to Arcadia from Tian Xia? Or did the Elves, Nagaji, Tengu, Wayang, Kitsune, and/or Samsaran follow this "land bridge" to Arcadia as well? What of the Syrinx? Did they originate elsewhere on Golarion and then migrate to Arcadia?

Or is there a different mechanism on Golarion that explains the presence of humans on Arcadia? Did they originate from the east from the continent of Azlant? Was there some Deus Ex Machina that brought humans to Arcadia, or created them on Arcadia, and no migration took place?


Personally, I don't want to see elves on Arcadia, if only because we have them in Tian Xia. I'd like to see either halflings or gnomes in Arcadia (I would would like to see Dwarves as the Avistan race in Casmaron)

I don't know how important that question of how humans got to Arcadia is really. IMHO it still not been adequately established why they exist in Golarion to begin with. I do get a sense that Syrinx might have been the dominant eastern Arcadian empire during age of the Azlanti. Now? who knows?

I also don't necessarily see an issue with stone age hunters in Arcadia. In Avistan, you have stone-age barbarians In the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, at the same time as steampunk elements in Alkenstar, and high magic in Nex, with a vast diversity of nations filling the spectrum in between. Arcadia (I think) is bigger than Avistan, so I don't see a problem with it being just as diverse.

Grand Lodge

Certainly making the decision based on creative taste works. :-)


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Something that I don't see mentioned in this thread (at least a quick search for it didn't yield anything); given Paizo's gender inclusiveness, and given Arcadia is a Native American analogue (roughly), it might be an interesting place to explore the Two-Spirit concept found among many native tribal peoples, particularly as it might apply to a fantasy setting. Perhaps a new mixed-gender race (or a race like the half-elf or half-orc that occupies a place as a sort of bridge between the genders of the human race? The latter could be more difficult and sensitive an approach to take, though). Even just a race (or just humans or an existing race) that acknowledges and embraces the concept in a way not really widely done.

Alternatively, I guess you could take it more literally, and have them be something like a body with two spirits inhabiting it. Sort of like the kalashtar of Eberron, I guess (though I never really cared for the implementation of that idea on that campaign world, which I otherwise quite enjoyed as a setting).


ayellowbirds wrote:

Shame on me for being off the boards for so long! This is one of my favorite subjects of discussion... my blog posts to that effect led to someone linking me back here.

One thing I'd love to see more of is representations of the more diverse clothing and hairstyles. The fashion of the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi confederacy is especially inspiring to me, as is southwestern style like the complex coifs in Zuni and Hopi tradition.

A couple suggestions to evoke the indigenous cultures while still satisfying Evil Midnight Lurker's desire for enough advancement to maintain suspension of disbelief:


  • Armor! It often gets overlooked and few examples survive to today because they were made of perishable materials, but it did exist, most often in the form of plant-based materials. Early Dutch accounts talk about wicker armor used among the Mohawk and neighboring cultures (I have an example somewhere of how this looks, but I'll need some time to dig it up), and the Pacific Northwest cultures provided some examples of wooden helmets and breastplates of wood slats lashed to leather. If you want to maintain the tech level most people imagine, these could stay the same... or you could have metal armor that evokes the forms of the old armor. Imagine steel plate with the kind of etching and sculptural elements you see in present-day coastal silver jewelry and more traditional woodcarvings.
  • Dogs! The lack of horses in the Americas meant that other animals were used as beasts of burden, and a number of plains cultures were so accustomed to the idea that you have a dog help carry your stuff that their words for horses referred to them as dogs- names that translated as things like "medicine hound" (sunkawakan) or "elk dog" (ponokaomita). In one of my homebrews, I decided to evoke this by having a culture that used horse-sized dogs. Another European import that often gets overlooked is sheep: some Northwestern cultures used to keep fluffy little dogs called kamuks (or
...

Yeah, I made that list after skimming the bestiaries pretty quickly. I didn't get to include AP creatures. The Couatl was a blatant oversight, and seems ridiculously obvious now. and I hadn't made the connection for a lot of others. I'd never really known where the Cecaelia came from, though I'd hesitate to include creatures from modern American pop culture as being strictly Arcadian. I was really only trying to include mythical and folkloric monsters.

Grand Lodge

ayellowbirds wrote:



  • Dogs! The lack of horses in the Americas meant that other animals were used as beasts of burden, and a number of plains cultures were so accustomed to the idea that you have a dog help carry your stuff that their words for horses referred to them as dogs- names that translated as things like "medicine hound" (sunkawakan) or "elk dog" (ponokaomita). In one of my homebrews, I decided to evoke this by having a culture that used horse-sized dogs. Another European import that often gets overlooked is sheep: some Northwestern cultures used to keep fluffy

I guess the question is if the Ulfen brought horses and sheep to Valenhall and if these animals escaped and range wild in Arcadia. Perhaps the mustangs of Arcadia are descended from Icelandic horses that are considered pony size?:

Icelandic horse

Or what sort of domesticated animals were brought by the Chelish colonists to their colonies at Caronus or Anchor's End. Or the domesticate animals brought to the Andoran colony of Elesomare.

Or the creative decision could be made for no horses and no sheep.


Horses are native to North America and have been for pretty much as long as their have been horses. There recent extinction on the continent was an anomaly, due to either overhunting by humans, climate change, or disease (or some combination of all of the above).

For that matter, DNA analysis shows that some of the Pleistocene horses in North America were actually the same species as those in Asia, which gave rise to the domestic Horse of today.

Given that the megafaunal extinctions were not that severe in Golarion (see survival of mammoths, etc), it seem pretty fair to assume that horses should be also present in Arcadia. I don't think they need to be introduced from Avistan.

Grand Lodge

I think it might be fun to add creatures from Dougal Dixon's books concerning speculative evolution including After Man: A Zoology of the Future, The New Dinosaurs: An Alternative Evolution, Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future, and The Future is Wild.


Ugh, so some major hitches with writing up the bestiaries. Been swamped with work and it looks to be getting worse. I'll try and finish the Siguanaba as soon as tomorrow!

MMCJawa wrote:

Personally, I don't want to see elves on Arcadia, if only because we have them in Tian Xia. I'd like to see either halflings or gnomes in Arcadia (I would would like to see Dwarves as the Avistan race in Casmaron)

I don't know how important that question of how humans got to Arcadia is really. IMHO it still not been adequately established why they exist in Golarion to begin with. I do get a sense that Syrinx might have been the dominant eastern Arcadian empire during age of the Azlanti. Now? who knows?

I also don't necessarily see an issue with stone age hunters in Arcadia. In Avistan, you have stone-age barbarians In the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, at the same time as steampunk elements in Alkenstar, and high magic in Nex, with a vast diversity of nations filling the spectrum in between. Arcadia (I think) is bigger than Avistan, so I don't see a problem with it being just as diverse.

I'm fine with running the gamut of genres personally, from stone age hunters to the Sky Captains of Machu Pichu from earlier :D

Grand Lodge

It would be interesting if the Sky Captains of Machu Pichu had elongated skulls as a result of artificial cranial deformation via head binding.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull concept artwork by Miles Teves:

Warrior frieze
Guilded throne
Nazca Warrior 3
Nazca Warrior 9
Nazca Warrior 2
Nazca Warrior 10
Nazca Warrior 01
Nazca Warrior 6
Nazca Warrior 8
Nazca Warrior 4

Or the Maya inspired culture on Arcadia:

Maya cranial deformation


For elongated skulls, maybe bring in Kobold Press's vril magic...


Speaking of Crystal Skull, while I'm not a fan of that movie or any "alien visitation" theories of human development, I actually wouldn't mind using some of those ideas for an Arcadia development on Golarion.

Via Distant Worlds (and other sources), we know that there have been extraterrestrial contacts on Golarion, so it wouldn't be quite so out of place. Perhaps some of the Sky God myths of Native American cultures could be combined with alien visitors ideas for some Arcadian development.

In fact, I'm going to toss out an idea that came to me as I thought of this:

We know from Distant Worlds that the Azlanti knew of the Twins- Damiar and Iovo, and that those two planets had interplanetary contact. Perhaps the reason the Azlanti knew of them wasn't simply via astronomy, but first contact- maybe the early Sarcesians actually reached Golarion, and established a settlement(s) in Arcadia, which lost contact with the homeworlds after their destruction thousands of years ago? Or perhaps survivors from the Twins destruction fled to Golarion?

If so, I'd imagine the Golarion Sarcesians are physically much different from their Diaspora dwelling cousins (who adapted to live in the Void).

Perhaps they created the Arcadian "Nazca" lines as landing strips for their interplanetary travels? Maybe theirs is a sort of Inca-analogue culture in Arcadia. The mythological figures of Inti and Mama Quilla (sun and moon) could be the original two worlds of Damiar and Iovo, the place of origin of this culture, now deified in their mythology.

Grand Lodge

I understand that legends of crystal skulls with mystical powers do not figure in genuine Mesoamerican or other Native American mythologies and spiritual accounts. Further, that the crystal from which they are made was unknown or unobtainable within pre-Columbian MesoAmerica.

With that said, it still might be fun to add crystal skulls with magical or mystical properties as they are depicted in fiction, movies, or television.


Indeed, the classic Crystal Skull turns out to have been a paperweight made in modern Germany.

Grand Lodge

Odraude wrote:
Set wrote:
MarkusTay wrote:

'Elder Evils' could make a great replacement for some Meso-american gods, and explain large scale temple sacrifices, etc.

This reminds me of the original Deities and Demigods back cover, with that Erol Otus art of a vaguely Aztec looking dude summoning up a Cthulhu-like outsider or god...

I'm not sure I totally love the idea of an Aztec analogue that worships the Great Old Ones, but it sure does sound evocative and kind of on-theme for a people so caught up in massive bloody sacrifice, and being also a bit obsessed with bloodletting-based-divinations and human sacrifice and massive skull-rack displays of all their victims.

As I mentioned earlier, toss a half-mummified heart-ripping priest after a party, allowing it to teleport around by folding space, freeze people with paralyzing fear-roars, seize control of their minds and infect them with bloodlust to attack their allies, and tear their hearts out of their chest with a special grapple attack that takes a couple rounds, and you've essentially got a thematically appropriate beastie that can use the 3.5 Mind Flayer stats right out of the box.

Man, that sounds horrifying. I'm going to have to use that if I ever decide to run ever again.

I like the idea of Nurgal being a patron Sun God for some tribes or even a nation, demanding sacrifice. Would be cool.

To keep the Meso-American iconography intact, Nurgal could have a different aspect when appearing to the Arcadians and have a different name. Perhaps a Nahuatl sounding name. His mace could appear as a Cuauholōlli.


I'm really, really sorry to bug...
but any chance we'll be getting the third part of that creature list soon, MMCJawa? It has been extremely informative.


We'll see how things shake out. I am moving cross country in two weeks, and I still need to turn in my final draft of my dissertation and signature sheet, as well as pack up the office and work on a postdoc application. So things might get pretty insane in the near term


No problem bro. We can wait. :)


Talking about lists Wannabe, are you almost finished with your huge cool list of creatures for me? :-p

And yes MMCJawa hurry up with that travel, more creatures are always welcome!

Grand Lodge

New Dinosaur "Exquisite" Raptor found

NEW DINOSAUR: Fossil Fingers Solve Bird Wing Mystery?

Grand Lodge

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I was going to create an analog of the Viceroyalty of New Spain for my homebrew campaign on Arcadia. Of the Thrune monarchs, I like the name Carellia the best. Perhaps Canorus and Anchor's End are small cities within the Barony of Carellia instead of using the name New Cheliax. Or perhaps the Barony of Korradia, or Korrada, established during the reign of King Korrado II.


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Alright, I've got the Siguanaba finished. Updating the document in the first post to reflect it. I think I got another monster in me to do tonight :)


An adventure we're working on in Arcadia has the Skraelings essentially worshiping various Horsemen of the Apocalypse, though Pestilence and War are the most popular of the Horsemen worshiped.


I know we aren't friends and all, but I like that Siguanaba version!

Grand Lodge

MMCJawa wrote:

well we will have to see. But I think the vibe I have been picking up from the developers is that a lot of native cultures will probably have pretty sophisticated civilizations with roads and such.

I think teh "hoofed" wolves you are thinking of are mesonychians...were are no longer considered whale ancestors. Indohyus and anthracotheres (hippo like critters) are the ancestral whales. Mesonychians were a major group in the Paleogene, but lost out to true carnivorans and creodonts. Some were indeed pretty big. Andrewsarchus is thought to be the largest mammalian carnivore ever.

I wonder if the continent of Sarusan is a good fit for Andrewsarchus.

Grand Lodge

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Did the cuitlamiztli, known by the Spanish as the Onza, make it to the Arcadian bestiary?


It will be :D


My cat is named Onza. After the cryptid.

Grand Lodge

Wannabe Demon Lord wrote:
My cat is named Onza. After the cryptid.

Hopefully, not named for his or her aggressive personality. ;-)


No, she's a sweet kitty. Even if she play bites too much.


Black Tamamous = Pacific coast Native American creature; giant cannibal monster that stalks humans; leaves tarry footprints; Humanoid; only feeds on those who violate the cannibalism taboo or otherwise prey on humanity

This guy is awesome. Gigantic tar demon, the bane of wendigos and cannibal monsters everywhere. I could actually see him being non evil or even good. Using fear to protect humanity from the wendigos. Could work well with the Dark is Not Evil/Good is Not Nice tropes. Thoughts?


Just finished the Nalusa Falaya. It's a mean monstrous humanoid for players between levels 5 and 10. It's Alter Alignment is especially insidious and the kind of thing that will probably gather similar reactions that the rust monster does. For better for for worse ;)

Luckily it can only do it to unconscious people :D

Link in the Original topic updated to include this monster. I love Google Drives.

Onza is definitely next. I think I have an especially good idea for it :)


Wannabe Demon Lord wrote:

Black Tamamous = Pacific coast Native American creature; giant cannibal monster that stalks humans; leaves tarry footprints; Humanoid; only feeds on those who violate the cannibalism taboo or otherwise prey on humanity

This guy is awesome. Gigantic tar demon, the bane of wendigos and cannibal monsters everywhere. I could actually see him being non evil or even good. Using fear to protect humanity from the wendigos. Could work well with the Dark is Not Evil/Good is Not Nice tropes. Thoughts?

I'll definitely need a link since I can't find much on it beyond a heavy metal group. Sounds cool though.


You can't find much because that's misspelled. Black Tamanous.


Yeah, I had fixed that and even then, didn't find too much on it.

I am sleepy though so I'll look again in the afternoon when I wake up.


Black Tamanous


Thanks for the Nalusa Falaya. Truly awesome. Great, unique monster, great abilities, very well written up. That made my day. And thanks for the link, Gancanagh. Very helpful.


I apologize for interrupting the flow of conversation. I'm lovin' all the spitballing going on here.

With regards to preexisting monsters and races of Golarion, how many of them do you guys think should be found on Arcadia? What percentage of the creatures on Arcadia should be novel?

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