The Future of Pathfinder Society Organized Play, Part XII: Power through Political Manipulation

Monday, June 6, 2011

Since the Age of Enthronement, no nation in the Inner Sea has had as wide-reaching and influential an empire as the kingdom of Taldor. Sadly, decadence and overconfidence led to the empire's relatively swift decline centuries ago, as vassal after vassal broke free from the crown. Despite its waning influence worldwide and constant internal political strife, Taldor is one of the five nations most strategically poised to take control of Absalom from within. Using the same tactics of espionage, sabotage, blackmail, and deception employed by Taldan nobility for millennia, agents of this political faction hope to manipulate the nobility and citizenry of Absalom to recognize the nation's rightful place as the natural ruler of humankind throughout the region.

Illustration by Ryan Portillo

The Taldor faction has, since the very beginning of Pathfinder Society Organized Play, been in a near-dead heat with the Qadira faction, a fitting rivalry given the nations' longstanding feud. In the end, we decided that the inability of either nation to pull ahead and truly challenge Osirion or Andoran for the top spot on the faction ladder meant something needed to change. So we shook things up...

Taldor isn't going anywhere, but the faction will be led by a new political manipulator in place of Baron Jacquo Dalsine (who many pointed out over the years was so uninvolved that he never even bothered to spell his name correctly when he signed it on faction missives). Lady Gloriana Morilla, pictured here, is also a member of Taldor's thriving noble hierarchy, but she's somewhat less concerned with looking good and throwing a good party than she is with restoring Taldor to its long-lost glory. She knows that the longer the nation rests on its imaginary laurels, the more its influence and gods-decreed dominance slip away from the Grand Prince and his loyal subjects. Expect the missions given to Taldan characters to focus more on the political intrigue that defines the faction starting in Season 3, though characters will still be encouraged to look good and make grand spectacles of themselves while carrying them out.

Lady Gloriana and all 10 faction leaders are featured in the upcoming Pathfinder Society Field Guide, with a headshot of each as well as a brief overview of their backstories, motivations, and personalities. We'll also be featuring them as prominent NPCs in adventures set in Absalom, so faction members will get the chance to directly interact with the very people who dictate so much of their adventuring careers.

Come back next week for a recap of PaizoCon 2011, the new scenarios released there, and the exclusive events attendees will have the option of playing. After that, we'll dive headlong into the first of the new factions to be officially announced. This is where it gets good!

Mark Moreland
Developer