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A year ago, I wanted to make a lizardfolk character to match a lizardman figurine that I had been working on. When it appeared not to be possible, I got splendid advice from someone; use a tiefling or aasimar to gaint lizard-like features, such as an agathion-blooded or beastbrood character. Immediately, I penned down a character. I did some research and I somehow came upon the dead god Curchanus and decided to base my character's bloodline around the event of his death.
So, this is the story I came up with in short.
Before the Age of Darkness, Curchanus' Agathion and Azata followers seeded a number of Aasimar in the Azlanti civilization. These followers were intrinsically linked with the dominion of beasts. When Lamashtu ripped the dominion of beasts from him, she blessed his tortured followers with forms only reptiles could envy, before abandoning the Mwangi Jungle altogether. Now known as the Kurazi, the now-tiefling people have all but forgotten their heritage and with Lamashtu's "blessing" interbreeding with kobolds, lizard- and serpentfolk is common. No human children has survived in the past 10,000 years. Occasionally, an aasimar is born again; such rare occasions go down in history either as good omens or end in tragedy.
Does this sound like Golarion? I know that I'm basically writing an excuse to play a lizardfolk character, but when I was done, I felt like it was more than that. Tieflings are not supposed to breed a pure line, but with Lamashtu's attention, the definition of "pure"'s probably a bit muddled. A year later, I've trimmed it with great satisfaction. What do you guys think about the background? I'd say that they'd be Asura-spawn, specifically from Aghasura-Spawn.
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1. Azlant was located west of Varisia, in what is now a sunken continent between Avistan and Arcadia, that's quite some distance from the Mwangi expanse, which is in Northern/Central Garund.
2. Asura and Rakshasa come from ancient Vedic tradition which has today evolved into the Hindu religion. As such they are more strongly associated with Vudra and Jalmeray, being Golarion's equivalent to India, and are even further from where Azlant once was.
3. Yeah, there's precedent for significant events causing large-scale transformation like that, mainly in an undisclosed plot in Wrath of the Righteous.
4. It is common enough for tiefling parents to beget tiefling offspring to reliably have a direct line. In Absalom's Puddles District there has been a large enough contiguous population of tieflings that they have their own wedding and birth ceremonies.
For more about tieflings, you could pick up the "Blood of Fiends" book if you haven't already
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Strange. The Heart of the Wilds (I think it was called that) talks about Azlanti ruins, especially around Ydersian ruins. What other people were around during the Age of Darkness in Garund?
From what I have read, Asura are spawned from the mistakes of Gods. It seemed like the death of Curchanus could be defined as a mistake of sort. I figured that an Agathion or Azata would transform to something akin to Asura if they are subjected to the death of a god to intimately.
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Shame I can't find anything to help with the imagery. I want some art of more bestial tieflings. Spawn that reflects the relative diversity of fiends. Not just your standard scantily clad girl with ram/goat horns (and sometimes red skin).
Oh and I think demon and devil spawn tieflings would work just fine. And I believe Blood of Fiends is decent enough.
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Shame I can't find anything to help with the imagery. I want some art of more bestial tieflings. Spawn that reflects the relative diversity of fiends. Not just your standard scantily clad girl with ram/goat horns (and sometimes red skin).
Oh and I think demon and devil spawn tieflings would work just fine. And I believe Blood of Fiends is decent enough.
Asura-spawn typically display androgyny, hermaphroditism (male and female external genitalia) as well as assymetrical features, including scales on one side but none on the other.
Rakshasa spawn basically look like a menagerie of petting zoo people, but includes those from rakshasa that resemble tigers, crocodiles, snakes, apes, elephants, mantises, boars, etc.
Asura wish to sow doubt in mortals about their having faith in deities, seeking to undo all the work of divine creation.
Rakshasa believe that only they are entitled to the worship of mortals, and while they acknowledge the gods as powerful, do not view them as inherently divine.
Strange. The Heart of the Wilds (I think it was called that) talks about Azlanti ruins, especially around Ydersian ruins. What other people were around during the Age of Darkness in Garund?
From what I have read, Asura are spawned from the mistakes of Gods. It seemed like the death of Curchanus could be defined as a mistake of sort. I figured that an Agathion or Azata would transform to something akin to Asura if they are subjected to the death of a god to intimately.
Now, looking over the Inner Sea Guide's section on past countries, the earliest Garundi civilization was Ghol Gan, which was ruled by the serpentfolk. After tht there is Ancient Osirion, Jistka Imperium and the Tekritan League, all of which arose towards the conclusion of the age of darkness.
Now, as far as during the Age of Darkness, if starts with the event of Earthfall at -5293 AR, nearly 10,000 years from Golarion's "Present" day. This event destroyed the Azlant empire and the Thassilonian empire. No specified date is given for Curchanus' death. It's very much possible that his death predates Azlant.
Looking over my bestiaries, Rakshasa are created from persons who revelled in the taboo of their society. Asura, as you have said, arise from divine mistakes. Error in battle and defence, I suppose, would be suitable.
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Shame I can't find anything to help with the imagery. I want some art of more bestial tieflings. Spawn that reflects the relative diversity of fiends. Not just your standard scantily clad girl with ram/goat horns (and sometimes red skin).
Oh and I think demon and devil spawn tieflings would work just fine. And I believe Blood of Fiends is decent enough.
Fair enough! Thank you!
Strange. The Heart of the Wilds (I think it was called that) talks about Azlanti ruins, especially around Ydersian ruins. What other people were around during the Age of Darkness in Garund?
From what I have read, Asura are spawned from the mistakes of Gods. It seemed like the death of Curchanus could be defined as a mistake of sort. I figured that an Agathion or Azata would transform to something akin to Asura if they are subjected to the death of a god to intimately.
Now, looking over the Inner Sea Guide's section on past countries, the earliest Garundi civilization was Ghol Gan, which was ruled by the serpentfolk. After tht there is Ancient Osirion, Jistka Imperium and the Tekritan League, all of which arose towards the conclusion of the age of darkness.
Now, as far as during the Age of Darkness, if starts with the event of...
Thank you so much for providing a map! I have looked it up in Heart of the Jungle, it states the following;
The Legend of Saventh-Yhi One of the most legendary of the still-undiscovered cities of the Mwangi Expanse is Saventh-Yhi. Believed by some to be the classic “city of gold” and by others to be nothing more than a hallucination born from jungle fever, most scholars agree that the real Saventh-Yhi exists somewhere in the deep Mwangi Jungle, where it is likely hidden by a combination of fortuitous terrain and lingering magic. The most fascinating rumors of Saventh-Yhi indicate that the city was established by the ancient Azlanti—if so, it would be the only significant Azlanti ruin in the region. The fact that the city’s name has a meaning in the Azlanti tongue (“Savith’s Grave”— the Azlanti hero Savith being the one most often credited with beheading the serpentfolk god Ydersius) is certainly the most compelling evidence to support this theory. Indeed, the thought of an undiscovered Azlanti ruin in Garund has driven countless Pathfinders, Aspis Consortium agents, and other explorers to unknown dooms, for if such a ruin does exist, the secrets it must hide could revolutionize what is known of the mysterious Age before Earthfall.
So you are completely correct. There are no other Azlanti ruins, so I'll have to throw it on a different group of people. Garundi came from the south of the continent, so I'll throw it on the Mwangi people. Which makes sense, since it's the Mwangi expanse. I just don't know if they'd reasonably have worshiped Curchanus, although they do worship Gozreh and some monsters worship Lamashtu.
Curchanus was worshiped by the Azlanti, so it makes sense that Curchanus was still alive when the Azlanti were dying. It is possible that he died along with them, even. Or he died later on. I guess we can't really know. At the very least, he died before 0 AR, otherwise we'd have known Desna rose to prominence as recent as Aroden.
Oh before I forget, daemons and qlippoths spawn tieflings could also work. In fact I meant to say daemon instead of devil. Sorry! Daemons if you want to go for a creepy scaly emaciated look, qlippoths if you want to make it extra abominable(they're basically the Great Old Ones after all).
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I don't think I'll be a qlippoth. I want to be monstrous in a human's eye, but I don't want to seem abominable. Basically, refer to my current avatar for reference or the saurus warrior lizardmen from Warhammer Fantasy.
I can't find any descriptions of daemons that would resemble what I'm looking for. Only the Vavakia demon appears "saurian" but it's of a huge size and it only craves to consume souls, so I doubt it would bother to form a lineage.
I guess I'll go for generic half-fiends with reptilian features.
There are giant saurian demons called Vavakia. I believe that's what you'd be looking for if you're not going down the Rakhshasa route.
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That is the nice thing about the default tiefling, it carries a lot less baggage from its heritage with regards to how they look and what evil acts they are tempted by or indulge in. What class/role are you looking to fulfill with this character?
And on a caveat with Heart of the Jungle, I'm fairly certain I recently read a James Jacobs post that states the Azlant ruin in Garund is the only one of its kind.
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That is the nice thing about the default tiefling, it carries a lot less baggage from its heritage with regards to how they look and what evil acts they are tempted by or indulge in. What class/role are you looking to fulfill with this character?
I made a thread about it recently. It's a Beast Rider (Cavalier of the Penitent) - Maneuver Master (monk). I call it the Kidnapper build; it focuses on the effect of tying enemies up in one turn and having the animal companion using the Guard trick to keep any captives from being cut loose in combat;
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2rwbl?Kidnapper-Build-Review-My-Build
His backstory is that he lapsed in his final trial to become a temple guard because his priorities lay with looking after his delirious sister, the oracle of his village. Several artifacts were stolen and since, he has been exiled until he can bring the thieves to justice and return the artifacts. An ankylosaurus was given to him as a spirit guide; an insult amongst his people, for ankylosaurs are dumb as bricks. He adapted his training to take targets alive for interrogation. His focus on live retrieval have made him a desirable bounty hunter, though he picks his contracts carefully. He's been approached by slavers, but he's never had reason to accept a contract yet.
Oh, and he hits on reptilian humanoids, because he'll probably be the only one in the party who does or could. xD
And on a caveat with Heart of the Jungle, I'm fairly certain I recently read a James Jacobs post that states the Azlant ruin in Garund is the only one of its kind.
Yeah, that is what I linked to. xD I said I agreed with you and will be adjusting. :P
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Cavalier/Maneuver Master, default changeling doesn't really loan itself stat-wise. Oni-Spawn or Demon-spawn would likely be best. Demon spawn have the fairly reptilian Glabrezu demon to base it off of. In terms of fluff, it was Lamashtu, big head honcho demon, that killed Curchanus.
I read that you need a feat to have a bloodline, but also remember reading the opposite a year ago. Would you be able to enlighten me there?
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The feat is from the Council of Thieves Adventure Path, that has since been replaced by the Player Companion Blood of Fiends, which axes the feat requirement, as it is the most recent (and Pathfinder as opposed to 3.5 D&D) publication, the variant heritages are no longer meant to cost a feat.
Short answer: Variant heritages do not cost a feat.
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I have taken a look at the Oni-Spawn. They look very interesting statwise, but I struggle to connect oni with dinosaurs. I think that the ancestral spirits that the mwangi people worship could become kami, especially if they were faithful to Gozreh, Desna, Erastil and Curchanus. However, I don't think that Lamashtu has the power to corrupt kami or ancestral spirits to become oni; she can definitely do so for demons, though.
If you want to retain some connection with Garund, why not design some connection to the ground-based civilization from which Shory's floating cities like Kho were launched. We know relatively little about them (except for the short article in one of the Mummy's Mask books), so you have lots of design space to work with.