Catastrophe struck the world 10,000 years ago, and mighty Osirion was one of the first great nations to rise from the ashes. For centuries its pharaohs oversaw a golden age of expansion and innovation while crushing rivals such as the Tekritanin League and the golem armies of the Jistka Imperium. Eventually, though, the kingdom began to stagnate, its leaders unable to match the splendid accomplishments of their forebears. Following millennia of decline and foreign occupation, Osirion is once again autonomous and prospers under the Ruby Prince Khemet III.
Hoping to uncover forgotten secrets that his kingdom might employ while encouraging foreign traffic into the increasingly prosperous land, the Ruby Prince opened Osirion to foreign explorers approximately a decade ago. Those hoping to plunder tombs and make their fortune are subject to Osirian customs agents who reclaim the most historically sensitive finds and collect a modest tax on other goods. Yet even this is hardly enough to discourage treasure-hunters—not when one could uncover gold, lost magic, or even a piece of one of the legendary Shory flying cities from a lost age.
Among the region’s most influential archaeological operations is the Pathfinder Society, an international league of explorers and adventurers dedicated to discovering and chronicling the world’s mysteries. You recently completed your training as a Pathfinder agent in Absalom and set out for Osirion, dreaming of the ancient secrets buried beneath the sands and stone. Before you embark overland, though, it’s critical that you meet with Venture-Captain Norden Balentiir, who coordinates Pathfinder activity throughout Osirion and is an invaluable sage of which sites remain unexplored and unspoiled by common looters.
As your ship approaches Sothis, you can take in its beauty firsthand. Smooth-sided structures of tawny stone stand tall and proud, many capped with sparkling domes and adorned with spectacular columns. Famous temples tower over the skyline, including the Necropolis of the Faithful, overseen by Pharasma’s priests. It’s a stark reminder that even though Osirion condones treasure-hunting, the Lady of Graves demands that all respect the dead. Perhaps greatest of all Sothis’s monuments is the Black Dome, a colossal, translucent scarab beetle that stands at the city’s center. History says that this was once Ulunat, a destructive behemoth laid
low by the city’s founder and now inhabited by its elite.
There’s little time for sightseeing here, though—once you meet with Norden Balentiir, the archaeological wealth of all Osirion will be yours to explore. What you uncover might not just change your fortunes; it could change the world!
