Aroden in Tian Xia?

[deuxhero]

Was Aroden worshiped in Tian Xia before his death? The effects of his death were worldwide (Explicit in Amanandar's history. Apparently the storms were bad enough to let the army of exploration land at a landlocked country, which is some massive flooding.).

[blahpers]

No idea. Gods dying tend to cause dramatic effects, though, some of which really don't care what religion you follow.

[Starglim]

He could have travelled there. His holy texts describe twelve guises, but they vary between versions and as far as I've seen, don't name specific cities or nations. Shrines would very likely depict him as Tian in features and dress, following our world's Christian and Buddhist examples.

[deuxhero]

He wouldn't actually be that different looking.

Quote:

Their skin tone ranges from olive to pale white, and their dark hair ranges from deep brown or dark red to black. The Azlanti often have expressive brows, and men often have slightly receded hairlines resulting in a sort of widow’s peak. One physical characteristic—a deep purple eye color—is seen today as absolute proof of strong Azlanti heritage.

Quote:

The people of Minkai display the widest range in eye color

among the people of the Dragon Empires, from the typical [...] violet [...]. Pale skin is considered the most attractive [...] Straight black hair is the most common.

So pale skin check, purple eyes check, black hair check.

[Zhangar]

There's no indication Aroden was worshiped in Tian Xia before his death, and he was already dead when Amanandar was founded.*

However, by complete coincidence, the main Tian Xia empire, Lung Wa, collapsed the year of his death.

Which is part of why Amanandar COULD be founded - because the last Taldan Army (Fleet?) of Exploration sailed into an area that had fallen into civil war, rather than right into the teeth of a continent spanning empire.

The Amanandarians worship Shizuru as their LG goddess of choice, rather than Iomedae. I'm guessing Aroden didn't have a big following in the Army of Exploration (or, just as likely, didn't really have Iomedae clergy to serve as a new rallying point for the faithful). I'm guessing most of the Arodenites in the Army went to Abadar (who already had a major presence in Tian Xia), while the LG ones went to Shizuru (as the result of positive contact with Minkai, which was in good shape at the time, after landfall).

* Thinking about it - The main source of Aroden's worship was the island he raised (Absalom), the kingdom he founded, Taldor, Taldor's successor Cheliax, Cheliax's various vassal states stretched in a crescent across southern Avistan (I.e., Galt to Molthune/Nirmathas), and the independent kingdom of Lastwall (which was founded by the Taldan Shining Crusade). Aroden worship never took off in the places he didn't have a direct hand in, like Garund (Osirian, Nex, Mwangi Expanse etc.), Casmaron (Qadira, Kelish Empire, Iobaria, etc.), or northern Avistan (Linnorm Kings, Ustalav, Riverlands, Brevoy, etc.).

Essentially, everyone who actually cared about Aroden hailed from Absalom, Taldor, Lastwall, or the Chelish Empire.

The places that were into Aroden were really into him (like, usually state religion), but his religion wasn't as wide spread as you'd think.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

Aroden may have called himself the God of Humanity, but if you look at the areas he was most popular, he was really the God of Eurocentric Humanity, because the vast majority of the human population of Golarion probably didn't worship him, or even knew who that flash in the pan god was.

[Quandary]

AKA Amanandar isn't a bunch of migrants... they're EX-PATS...