I begin my annotation holding death between my talons. An overly poetic beginning, that, and one I will certainly change when I report back to my Lady. Perhaps this a consequence of reading the Godsrain Prophecies, each with its dire tale of the death of a god and everything that comes after. I am reminded of the year I read What Comes Down: A Treatise on Mortal Falls and used the word defenestrate so often in my papers that Lorminos asked me to limit the word to once per page at most!
As my earlier field notes on these works detail, I learned of the Godsrain Prophecies not long ago, and have acted with great haste to locate as many as possible, despite my many doubts as to their accuracy. I must confess that I have also felt a certain unanticipated exhilaration in bringing rigor to a rumor, despite the grim contents of the documents once discovered. I believe that I may almost understand the impulse of adventurers (a mortal drive that remains an obscure field of study), though I likely took as much joy from detailing my methods as I did in undertaking them. Research rarely moves at such a rapid pace, but then rarely has any researcher been so motivated!
What to make of these “prophecies” is a wholly different matter, and one that I must settle before reporting to my Lady, lest I stir up visions of doom with no attempt at context or framing, no better than a doomsday caller singing in the streets! Any thought of these being accurate seems at first impossible, given the current failure of prophecy overall, and their author has yet to be identified. I immediately recall the many false omens in the years after Aroden’s death, many of which had Golarion perishing brutally a thousand times (and will one day, I assume, make for a fascinating set of studies).
Still, there is something about these pages that makes me ill at ease. The detail, perhaps, or the nature of the futures they forecast. This is heightened, of course, by the subject of the first of them, which I hoped never to find but must still document faithfully, as I have below. Perhaps the thing that troubles me lies in this simple question: how do you tell your Lady that she’s prophesied to die?
—Yivali, Apprentice Researcher for the Lady of Graves
The Death of Pharasma
When Pharasma dies, she dies by inches. She grasps for a prophecy beyond her reach and the skin on her fingertips blisters. She dreams the lost feeling of futures foretold and wakes with a tooth ground to ashes. She feels an uncertainty chilling the air, and her bones grow cold and brittle. What changed with Aroden’s death? Why has prophecy faltered? The questions race and turn and tumble, edges carving at her mind as she tries to judge the mortal souls whose futures she’s unsure of.
Is it any wonder that she shatters?
The god they called Survivor dies alone inside her palace—cold, exhausted, broken. No psychopomps to judge her works, no Atropos to take her reign. Most of her servants lose their power in the instant she dies, and no one comes to place her in a plane for all eternity. The fear of how she might be judged has kept her upright more than once, but in the end it’s simply this—she is and then she isn’t. Pharasma ceases to be.
Death does not pause for the Lady of Graves. Death does not stop for anyone. Mortals succumb to the usual things—some in the arms of those who loved them, some at the hands of those who did not. Some in a show of bravery, some in a haze of regret, some drenched hot with sweat or fear or love or loss or anger. All plunge into the River of Souls like jagged rocks sent tumbling, leaving eddies in their wake that shift and roil the current. The river churns with energy, a swirling froth of rapids, throwing souls from in its midst with no set rhyme or reason. The guardians who watch it pass are nothing more than onlookers, as this soul bound for Heaven is shunted off to Abaddon, and that one at the brink of Hell is flung into Nirvana. With souls no longer guided to the places where they’re most aligned, the outer planes turn turbulent, splintering to factions where they once found harmony. Fights break out, and rescue missions; pacts and trades and promises no sooner made than torn apart—a muddied bloodied mess of souls askew for all eternity.
Pharasma’s former psychopomps, distracted by the chaos or the torrents of the river or the sorrow of their grief, rarely see the predators who feast within the river’s wake—daemons and worse who grab souls up by the handful, taking them to sell or gift or simply disappear with.
Among the mortals, resurrections now begin to falter, as souls are often missing from the places where they’re sought. Even for those who never cared a moment for Pharasmin things, the new finality of death leaves many saying prayers for Pharasma, desperate for a sign that she might one day still reach out.
Her followers are hardest hit—the clerics and diviners, the midwives and morticians—their boons no longer functioning, their spells bereft of power. Those who battle the undead see their advantage dissipate, and some who cannot fight or flee fall easily to undead foes, their victories turned to slaughters in a hundred grim tableaus.
Urgathoa laughs, heartily, to see a foe defeated, declaring 50 days of feasts and manifesting blood-soaked wine in any empty cup. She calls upon her followers to press their new advantages, as those who fought her worshippers are left to face a reckoning—some turning to another god whose purpose fits their calling, some searching for a prophecy or ritual or sacrifice that might bring back Pharasma and the surety she gave them, some finding other pledges for their cause.
Above it all, a visage hangs and grins upon the chaos—Groetus watching eagerly from just above the Spire. Some say the crescent of his moon begins to wax in earnest, as we move ever closer to the end times he desires.
A prophecy foretelling the death of Pharasma specifically caused by the death of prophecy in the Age of Lost Omens certainly poses a paradox.
An unpleasant future, to say the least. I shudder to think of it! Thankfully, much of this prophecy remains questionable at best. Not only are there are many questions raised here, including the likeliness of my fellow psychopomps to simply cease their work and let souls be ravaged, whatever their grief, but this also appears to note the cause of my Lady’s death as indirectly caused by the end of prophecy. And yet if there is no prophecy, then how has this one come to be? A paradox, if I ever knew one, and one that I cannot yet untangle. Perhaps my next annotation will offer greater clarity.
About the Author
Erin Roberts has been thrilled to be able to contribute a few small threads to the fabric of Golarion in the pages of books like Pathfinder Lost Omens Firebrands, Pathfinder Lost Omens Highhelm, and Pathfinder Lost Omens Travel Guide. In addition to her work for Paizo, she freelances across the TTRPG world (and was selected as a Diana Jones Award Emerging Designer Program Winner in 2023), has had fiction published in magazines including Asimov’s Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, and The Dark, and talks about writing every week on the Writing Excuses podcast. Catch up with her latest at linktr.ee/erinroberts.
Pathfinder Maps Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Oh my God...all 20 of 'em. So week by week is how we're gonna find o-WAIT NO!!
There's only 10 weeks until April 16th. They're only gonna clear half the names by the time that stream goes live, if I'm doing my math right (which is questionable).
Let the crackpot theories and conspiracy stringboards reign supreme!:
Alright, so if Calistria isn't next week for Valentine's Day that's a huge missed opportunity. And I betcha we get Gozreh on the Vernal Equinox (March 20).
Just please let the purest and most wholesome of the Gods survive this. Let her majestic reign continue on forever with all her faithful devoted followers, her hair flowing gently in the wind.
Oh my God...all 20 of 'em. So week by week is how we're gonna find o-WAIT NO!!
There's only 10 weeks until April 16th. They're only gonna clear half the names by the time that stream goes live, if I'm doing my math right (which is questionable).
** spoiler omitted **
That, or they can reveal two gods are safe at a time going forward, saving the final reveal for the livestream.
Oh my God...all 20 of 'em. So week by week is how we're gonna find o-WAIT NO!!
There's only 10 weeks until April 16th. They're only gonna clear half the names by the time that stream goes live, if I'm doing my math right (which is questionable).
** spoiler omitted **
That, or they can reveal two gods are safe at a time going forward, saving the final reveal for the livestream.
Pathfinder Maps Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Ezekieru wrote:
Project: J-ko wrote:
Oh my God...all 20 of 'em. So week by week is how we're gonna find o-WAIT NO!!
There's only 10 weeks until April 16th. They're only gonna clear half the names by the time that stream goes live, if I'm doing my math right (which is questionable).
** spoiler omitted **
That, or they can reveal two gods are safe at a time going forward, saving the final reveal for the livestream.
I suppose that's possible, but after reading Pharasma's prophesy, I'd hate to see any attention and detail taken away from any one of the other deities for the sake of wordcount.
Plus, it makes for more moving parts for the upcoming novel.
If they do end up doing two gods per week, I hope the final week before the livestream they only do one again so that there's two remaining that haven't been made safe, for maximum torture. Bonus points if the last two left are Shelyn and Zon-Kuthon.
Oh my God...all 20 of 'em. So week by week is how we're gonna find o-WAIT NO!!
There's only 10 weeks until April 16th. They're only gonna clear half the names by the time that stream goes live, if I'm doing my math right (which is questionable).
Wouldn't Shelyn be more appropriate for Valentine's Day than Calistria?
But yeah ones I hope it isn't: Shelyn(just personal fav among good guys tbh), Iomedae(she is the paladin god, we need archetypical good guy god x'D), Erastil(while I keep saying he is too boring to die, I also legit like his role as npc god and the grumpy family man. Also I don't see reason to kill him besides devs deciding he is expendable, which I don't like as reason to kill major character), Torag(he has chance for character development so no bus crash please), Gozreh (I disagree with people who say Gozreh should die just for being boring force of nature god, none of other core 20 gods are as weird as Gozreh is), Lamashtu (blame RotR nostalgia), Gorum (great npc god as well), or Cayden (hey I like all ascended xP)
...Okay I don't want Norgorber to die because I have softspot for Skinsaw Cult aka Clowncar as my table lovingly calls them, but they have gotten enough appearances that I'm satisfied
Oh my God...all 20 of 'em. So week by week is how we're gonna find o-WAIT NO!!
There's only 10 weeks until April 16th. They're only gonna clear half the names by the time that stream goes live, if I'm doing my math right (which is questionable).
Correct. There's enough teasing in this thread and campaign in general that I do feel a certain level of transparency and expectation management is warranted. This is a 10-part series, during which we will reveal 10 of the core twenty "safe" from the pending demise set to fall upon one of their number. This means that when we do our big stream on April 16—in which we'll reveal not only who dies, but a bunch of info on tie-in products and more—there will be 10 potential victims. We didn't want to narrow it down too much and ruin the fun of speculation!
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Bloody hell, you guys. You are not helping my anxiety by teasing us that much. And I bet that you'll do Saranrae as one of the last, because that's just my luck.
Well, that confirms that just one dies, and that it is of the Core 20, and that being around in Starfinder doesn't guarantee a deity's being safe -- but that last part doesn't say that Pathfinder and Starfinder are separate canons, so that means that if one of those present in Starfinder dies, that deity will either be resurrected by Starfinder time, or be very craftily replaced by a divine Doppelganger.
that last part doesn't say that Pathfinder and Starfinder are separate canons, so that means that if one of those present in Starfinder dies, that deity will either be resurrected by Starfinder time, or be very craftily replaced by a divine Doppelganger.
Or, since it doesn't say whether or not Pathfinder and Starfinder are separate canons, they might actually be separate, and what happens in Pathfinder canon has no effect on Starfinder canon.
Starfinder's whole nature is essentially being AU that works as a "possible future for pathfinder" more or less :'D Like since we don't know what Gap is or what it did, anything is possible or its possible that Gap itself altered what Pathfinder's normal future would have been. Because everything is possible
(its the thing with starfinder being a possible alternate timeline, but it would be boring if it was THE timeline. You don't want idea that future is set, but you don't want possibility that starfinder literally can't exist on same timeline as pathfinder xD)
I got chills reading this. Beautifully written, it sounds do solemn and lamenting, but the "safe" tag made me chuckle. You guys are going to torture us for months now!
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
My bets on who's probably safe-
LG-
Iomedae. Because the deific awkwardness between her and Arazni would be too delightful to give up.
NG-
Sarenrae. Why? Kyra. She's still the iconic cleric, and overhauling her entire faith would be... yeah.
CN-
Gorum- I'm just not seeing it.
N-
Pharasma. Confirmed.
Gozreh. Admittedly a bet I'd accept some odds on, since the Green Faith technically leaves room for nature worship without a deity, but... Goz-masks are cool. I feel like there's more gas in the tank. And I like how weird they are.
LN-
Abadar. Shame, because I find him incredibly boring, but he's kind of load bearing as an Inner Sea deity who's concerned with order and civilization.
Irori- This might be mean of me, but Irori's influence on the setting has been so... light, that his death wouldn't really seem all that monumental. I doubt Paizo's going for a collective shrug with this death...
LE-
Zon-Kuthon. Because Nidal feels like a part of the setting they don't want totally upended just yet. Plus... killing off a villain deity to make room for Arazni who is currently an evil-aligned but not particularly malevolent being would be kind of a waste...
CE
Rovagug. He's so freighted with mythological weight as someone the entire core pantheon had to get together on... it'd be kinda loopy.
Lamashtu. She's one of the first evil deities in Golarion to get much focus (I "met" the Golarion version of her in Rise of the Runelords) and she's just too good an antagonist to throw away.
Pharasma has known since the beginning that she's not going to be the survivor that starts the next universe. So "fades away, gradually" seems plausible, but I agree with Yivali's conclusion since we know that the death of a deity is the inciting incident for the upcoming event, which "a death by inches" doesn't seem to describe.
An absolutely wrong guess pulled purely from my imagination.
Gozreh would split and be replaced by two distinct named aspects with stand out personalities people can resonate with.
One aspect distraught over the corruption of the material world in places like Nidal and southern Kyonin and ultimatly by the presence of Rovagug breaks off of Gozreh to more actively fight these threats to the natural order with a holy sanctification.
The other aspect is what is left of Gozreh no longer tempered by the better natured tendencies of the other half rages against Abadar and Erastil and their followers as the unbridled wrath of nature on civilization.
Erastil maybe dies in this conflict? leaving a hole for Kazutal (Mother Jaguar) to scoop up his followers in the inner sea?
That is 100% accurate and correct and needs to stay that way...not a fan of Starfinder in the slightest personally.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
It will be interesting to see how heavy they go with the story. Is it just the War of the Immortals book or are there going to be additional books, adventure paths and accessories to cover it?
It will be interesting to see how heavy they go with the story. Is it just the War of the Immortals book or are there going to be additional books, adventure paths and accessories to cover it?
It's been said previously that it's a major crossover event, with several products to go alongside it. There's the "War of Immortals" rulebook (which will have 2E's mythic rules, as well as the Animist and Exemplar classes), the "Lost Omens: Divine Mysteries" LO book (with Remastered rules on the gods found in "Lost Omens: Gods and Magic", as well as new gods and archetypes/class archetypes), and a novel. There's also adventuring content, but the details on that (and whether it's a full AP, standalone adventures, PFS scenarios, or some combination of the three) has yet to be announced.
It will be interesting to see how heavy they go with the story. Is it just the War of the Immortals book or are there going to be additional books, adventure paths and accessories to cover it?
Lost Omens: Divine Mysteries is also part of this, and I think an AP related to it all is inevitable.
As far as I understand, Starfinder is considered a separate canon from Pathfinder and thus developments here don't need to affect Starfinder. So a god that's alive in Starfinder could wind up being the one dying here.
True. But, also, now that Pharasma has been marked safe, I'll note that I'm a fan of the quite unofficial fan theory of the Gap that can justify how any other god can die without breaking Starfinder's continuity.
Is someone going to axe Abadar to get all the goodies in the first vault?
I mean, from a meta perspective, Abadar has a great mix of "his death with greatly impact the setting without destroying it" (cities and commerce will likely exist, but will be weakened, which is the start of a ton of great AP ideas) and "Surprising" (almost no one is claiming Abadar). Plus, I feel like he is popular enough for his death to matter, but not so popular that it would invalidate a ton of clerics and champions. I also really want to see what kind of capitalism powers his god goo can give exemplars.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
keftiu wrote:
Helvellyn wrote:
It will be interesting to see how heavy they go with the story. Is it just the War of the Immortals book or are there going to be additional books, adventure paths and accessories to cover it?
Lost Omens: Divine Mysteries is also part of this, and I think an AP related to it all is inevitable.
Agreed. I also think that we're going to get at least one adventure out of this.
Beautifully written, well crafted lore bit. I’m new to PF and normally not at all interested in Golarion. I really enjoyed reading this “What If” scenario and will anxiously wait each week for the next one.
I still find the clue about 'Shyka will survive' so specific. Even the 'development around Torag' and 'an orc deity will die' are very vague and might refer to a number of things.
I don't get why this is a specific hint though. Another one of the clues says the god will stay dead; so I think that rules them out from becoming part of Shyka. But what would threaten things so that Shyka could / would die?
Is there going to be some sort of issue around time that is going to occur? I do find it fascinating that Seasons of Ghosts is one of the few APs to take place in the past. Did that have any bearing on things?
So exciting!
It would obviously affect players more if the deity was a good aligned one, but I would love to see an evil aligned one die, and how their death greatly affect the World. A major one like Asmodeus for instance. That would be a twist, and a great lesson about how everything is about balance
Just gonna throw my two cents out there, I think it's gonna be Iomedae. No reason to have two heralds of Aroden in the core 20.
While Arazni was a champion of Aroden in life, the fact that she was abandoned, by him, by her followers, she definitely wouldn't count herself as a follower now, and that could make for some interesting alchemy with Iomedae, especially if Iomedae is eager to welcome her predecessor back to life, only to find the Goddess looks at her with disdain.
I can offer unofficial confirmation that April 1 is April Fool's Day and is a popular day for important, earthshattering and very "official" announcements by many companies.
Pathfinder Adventure, LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
Pronate11 wrote:
Bluemagetim wrote:
Nolinquisitor wrote:
It's Abadar.
Is someone going to axe Abadar to get all the goodies in the first vault?
I mean, from a meta perspective, Abadar has a great mix of "his death with greatly impact the setting without destroying it" (cities and commerce will likely exist, but will be weakened, which is the start of a ton of great AP ideas) and "Surprising" (almost no one is claiming Abadar). Plus, I feel like he is popular enough for his death to matter, but not so popular that it would invalidate a ton of clerics and champions. I also really want to see what kind of capitalism powers his god goo can give exemplars.
The big problem of axing Abadar in my mind is that Abadar permits for the "rule" of capitalism. Removing Abadar over that means that someone else has to get it, and unless it becomes a good god that is actually all about charity and f%++ing over evil (which isn't really a fun storyline) it just becomes a story of unabashed capitalism paralleling the real world.
Abadar keeps stories about laws, contracts, and money interesting in the fantasy setting.
