How I Got to Destroy Avistan

The elves of Kyonin are cowards at heart. They left when the world was in danger, and will do so again. Cheliax won't intervene formally unless there's something in it for them. The Whispering Tyrant is of little threat, being sealed away. If released, he would probably see opportunity in joining the invaders, or using the tear in reality as a source of power. After Being sealed away I'm sure his batteries need charging.

And Runelords... pfft, what are sleeping tyrants to an army of the Abyss? But, perhaps the heroes who founded a nation in the River Kingdoms may be of some use. Though who knows how many in there nation are already cultists. The promise of power, wealth, consorts could turn trusted friends against them.

No very few things could stand in the way of this.

If you take in the number of mythic demons that the Worldwound can field, the destruction of the Fifth Crusade, and the hordes of plain jane demon that can be fielded, I think that the expansion seen is not at all unrealistic. While there will certainly be some road bumps along the way, in the form of little pockets of hero's, if character's with mythic power were not able to stem the tide, with access to personalized artifacts (via legendary item powers), the favor of gods, and the backing of the armies of the Fifth Crusade, the demon onslaught is going to keep on rolling. Little pockets of resistance, sure, but how long can it last? How much damage can they do before a mythic balor and his demon buddies show up to put them down, with cultist assassins to make that end permanent? And all that the alliance between Cheliax and hell is going to do is turn the nation into another front of the Blood War. They'll almost certainly hold out against the demon's longer for it, at what cost?

There will be a fight, for absolute sure, but I think the march of the Worldwound would not be easily stopped by the heroes of other adventure paths sprinkled across the continent. Hence it would be an adventure in and of itself to stop the advance...

So what about a couple of wacky "What if?" modules/supplements? Back in 3.5, Bruce Cordell did "When the Sky Falls" for Sword & Sorcery Press about adding meteor strikes of various kinds to fantasy worlds, and I think there was one about when gods dies. Those are still cool, but I like the "in Golarion" angle of the Worldwound Apocalypse. If Paizo doesn't have the time/interest/staff to do it, what about letting a trusted 3rd-Party Publisher play in the Golarion sandbox a little? There is a precedent for this - the Pathfinder module "From Shore to Sea" was created as a patronage project by Wolfgang Baur's Open Design Project.

"From Shore to Sea is an adventure for 6th-level characters, written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world’s oldest RPG, and produced in collaboration with the patrons of Open Design. Inside you’ll find villagers slowly succumbing to the ancestral taint in their blood, tentacled abominations from the deep, debased fish-men, ancient Azlanti technology, and a secret stretching back millennia to the legendary empire of Azlant itself."

"Patrons" like me paid upfront to fund the writing of the adventure. No cost or risk to Paizo, and a corner of the world got developed that might not have otherwise. Kickstarter before there was a Kickstarter. I assume Paizo had editorial control and final say, so no risk of their world getting messed up or used in inappropriate ways. But I would totally pay in advance Kickstarter/Open Design-style for a series of supplements called "Pathfinder: Apocalypse" exploring various non-canonical ways Golarion could go bad.

If four Mythic level 20 characters could not stop the Worldwound, I honestly doubt a couple dozen level 17 or 18 characters from a half dozen previous campaigns could. Especially if the demons are smart enough to sent hit-squads of numerous balors and other highly-potent demons to try and assassinate those heroes.

In addition, this isn't the expansion of the armies of the Worldwound. This is the expansion of the corruption of the Worldwound itself. This is the growing Abyssal Corruption of Golarion. How do you stop the world, the very land itself from turning corrupt and evil? Especially if there is a font of power with dozens and dozens of potent demons and at least one demon lord that is spreading that corruption?

That's what we'll learn in Book 6, After the Adventure. ;)

Alas poor River Kingdoms! I knew them, Daigle; a place of infinite possibilities, of most excellent adventure; they hath laid me on my back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. There walked monsters whose lives that I have slain I know not how oft. Where be your inns now? Your bards? Your songs? The flashes of merriment, amidst the lawless lands controlled by despots and dictators.

Actually, how would Tar-Baphon react to a swarm of demons knocking at his doors?

He'd likely start killing them in masse, gathering up a new undead army with which to conquer Golarion.

So what about a couple of wacky "What if?" modules/supplements? Back in 3.5, Bruce Cordell did "When the Sky Falls" for Sword & Sorcery Press about adding meteor strikes of various kinds to fantasy worlds, and I think there was one about when gods dies. Those are still cool, but I like the "in Golarion" angle of the Worldwound Apocalypse. If Paizo doesn't have the time/interest/staff to do it, what about letting a trusted 3rd-Party Publisher play in the Golarion sandbox a little? There is a precedent for this - the Pathfinder module "From Shore to Sea" was created as a patronage project by Wolfgang Baur's Open Design Project.

"From Shore to Sea is an adventure for 6th-level characters, written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world’s oldest RPG, and produced in collaboration with the patrons of Open Design. Inside you’ll find villagers slowly succumbing to the ancestral taint in their blood, tentacled abominations from the deep, debased fish-men, ancient Azlanti technology, and a secret stretching back millennia to the legendary empire of Azlant itself."

"Patrons" like me paid upfront to fund the writing of the adventure. No cost or risk to Paizo, and a corner of the world got developed that might not have otherwise. Kickstarter before there was a Kickstarter. I assume Paizo had editorial control and final say, so no risk of their world getting messed up or used in inappropriate ways. But I would totally pay in advance Kickstarter/Open Design-style for a series of supplements called "Pathfinder: Apocalypse" exploring various non-canonical ways Golarion could go bad.

I'd buy a module like that! And being a what-if module I have to agree it seems like it'd have less risk for a canon viewpoint since it doesn't actually affect the world itself, just a possible future. Maybe try out one and see how well it does?

Filby Pott wrote:

I note the Worldwound's expanse ends right at Tanglebriar in Kyonin. I wonder how Treerazer would get involved.

I'd hate to be the elves in Kyonin; fighting a two front war. I think the suggestion that they hightail it back to Sovyrian.

Treerazer, on the other hand- I imagine would be trying to figure out how he could utilize the growing Worldwound to return to the Abyss and resume his ascension- perhaps even to take on Cyth-V'sug.

What role Treerazer plays will have to depend on abyssal politics.

IIRC, Cyth-V'sug is not a major player in the Worldwound. Deskari might consider an alliance with Treerazer as beneficial, especially since those elf gates will be useful if the demons try to spread to other worlds.

On the other hand, Treerazer is a nascent demon lord, and Cyth-V'sug is the real thing, and probably a pretty powerful one at that. He might not like another demon lord helping out someone that tried to overthrow him. A promise to stomp out Treerazer might even be used to entice Cyth-V'sug to throw more resoruces into the fight. Help in conquering Golarion isn't worth an abyssal war. In which case Treerazer might actually be on the side of an alliance against Deskari, since he is probably not powerful enough by himself to take on the worldwound forces,

I wonder if Aroden would return to Golarion if this happened...

Now I want Mythic Nightshades statted up for the aftermath between Ustalav and the Worldwound. I could see lots of Balors and other things getting drained and transformed even if the "Abyss" controls the land itself. There are layers of the abyss that even demons steer clear of, and I could see parts of conquered Ustalav being like this, conquered but never fully claimed (the demons would probably at first believe that the human nobility of the nation controlled it).. Almost like a pocket layer full of bad negative energy stuff.

He's dead, Jim.

The philosophy of the people at Paizo was to keep the world from being overrun by high level good guys outside of the PC. While that is a nice thing and probably the right move as far as a table top gaming setting goes it does show one of the flaws of it as far as a fictional setting is concerned. In some ways it goes to show how hard, maybe almost impossible, it is to reconcile what’s for the best between a pure storytelling setting, say something closer to Forgotten Realms, and one that‘s much more engineered for tabletop gaming like Golarion is and finding the right balance.

Part of it in this instance is if something really bad does hit the fan the only other people that have a chance of stopping catastrophe are other bad guys. Out of all the people mentioned that might be able to deal with this almost none of them are good. This seems like something that might be fun to play as a change of pace for a short time, but would be a gigantic headache in the long run if one didn't want to adventure in a crappy dystopian world.

It also makes me wonder how so much more high level evils stuff happens to exist outside of powerful good forces to counteract it.

Also do not forget, it is the sin of mortals that fuel demonkind and as they push beyond the Wardstone border, I see their spread taking on the characteristics of a cancerous virus, spreading from one sinful mortal to another.

I think this map fails to take into account that the PC's kingdom from Kingmaker is right in the path of the demonic hordes. Knowing my players there will be a long green spot where the Kingdom of Kyshahn stands. They are far too clever.

I'm glad that if the PCs die, in my Avistan I'll have at least 12 brave high level heroes who can pick up the torch.

We don't assume Kingmaker has happened yet, and therefore, as far as this map cares... the Stolen Lands remain as they are at the start of Kingmaker; untamed and wild. Whether or not in your campaign you dovetail in previous campaign canon from your game isn't something we can anticipate.

The map for me its not really realistic. A lot of things can block the invade. Elves from Kyonin, In ustalav the Lich. In river Kingdom, we have the kingdom from kingmaker (if its not a fail, this kingdom is really powerfull), The cheliax and his devil ally (devil never accept that invade... Asmodeus has a plan...) All runelords..., In brevoy, Choral never accepts to lose... Aashaq same thing... Heroes from Ustalav (They block the return of the Whispering Tyran)

And more and more and more ... it s interesting but not enough for me

It's just the map. The words that describe why and how the map is the way it is aren't here... they're in the article accompanying the map.

... of the Blood War...

Wrong setting.

What nobody is actually taking into account here is the celestial hosts.

I can't see Sarenrae and Iomedae shrugging and moving on.

I have this feeling that Iomedae is at the same power level as an Empyrean Lord and may not have much energy left to contain the spread of the Worldwound. Sarenrae mIght take a more active hand if the Worldwound threatens the containment of Rovagug.

Iomedae is a true God, the empyreal lords are all demigod status. Meaning she is much more powerful and could easily stop deskari but there are divine mandates that stop her from acting, and as she is lawful she would not break those mandates like desna did.

Sprain Ogre wrote:

... of the Blood War...

Wrong setting.

I thought the blood war was mentioned in Pathfinder as well. My bad, thanks for the insight.

I've always figured the good powers *could* stop the worldwound, but the collateral damage possibility made losing Sarkoris a small price to pay for not getting involved. (Think Good is not Nice)

As in the effect of 'closing' the worldwound as it is now would blow up the rest of the continent. So the expanding worldwound would require greater force.

I wonder what happens to the Orcs in Belkzen. Do they side with the demons, or just get devoured along with everyone else? The Orcs side with Elvanna if she wins in Reign of Winter, so maybe it'd be the former.

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

I think this map fails to take into account that the PC's kingdom from Kingmaker is right in the path of the demonic hordes. Knowing my players there will be a long green spot where the Kingdom of Kyshahn stands. They are far too clever.

I'm glad that if the PCs die, in my Avistan I'll have at least 12 brave high level heroes who can pick up the torch.

We don't assume Kingmaker has happened yet, and therefore, as far as this map cares... the Stolen Lands remain as they are at the start of Kingmaker; untamed and wild. Whether or not in your campaign you dovetail in previous campaign canon from your game isn't something we can anticipate.

If that is true, what is the "official" timeline for the Adventure Paths then?

James Jacobs wrote:

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

I think this map fails to take into account that the PC's kingdom from Kingmaker is right in the path of the demonic hordes. Knowing my players there will be a long green spot where the Kingdom of Kyshahn stands. They are far too clever.

I'm glad that if the PCs die, in my Avistan I'll have at least 12 brave high level heroes who can pick up the torch.

We don't assume Kingmaker has happened yet, and therefore, as far as this map cares... the Stolen Lands remain as they are at the start of Kingmaker; untamed and wild. Whether or not in your campaign you dovetail in previous campaign canon from your game isn't something we can anticipate.

If that is true, what is the "official" timeline for the Adventure Paths then?

There is no official time line. Most of the time they assume they start on the month and year the ap is released (exception reign of winter which starts in the summer) but they do not usually say they have happened. That is more left up to you and your players to decide in your version of Golarion. Only one ap assumes there is a history and that is Shattered Star and it assumes Rise of the Runelords, Second Darkness, and Curse of the Crimson Throne has happened. Wrath of the Righteous could take place before rise of the rune lords or after.

James Jacobs wrote:

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

I think this map fails to take into account that the PC's kingdom from Kingmaker is right in the path of the demonic hordes. Knowing my players there will be a long green spot where the Kingdom of Kyshahn stands. They are far too clever.

I'm glad that if the PCs die, in my Avistan I'll have at least 12 brave high level heroes who can pick up the torch.

We don't assume Kingmaker has happened yet, and therefore, as far as this map cares... the Stolen Lands remain as they are at the start of Kingmaker; untamed and wild. Whether or not in your campaign you dovetail in previous campaign canon from your game isn't something we can anticipate.

If that is true, what is the "official" timeline for the Adventure Paths then?

Yup. We don't assume any start times. You can play them in any order.

This has the advantage of not obsoleting them as we print new ones. And it allows new GMs to pick which one they wanna start with without feeling like they have to read every one that came before. And many more advantages.

I'd play a what-if Adventure Path. Desperate to hold the line and start the long road to push back the demonic horde.

Wow, what a great way to start another campaign!

Viva Le Gal-*splat*

Another thought as to why this happens so fast is what happens if the Mythic Heroes fail to stop the corruption of the Wardstones....

Except this is the Worldwound itself. The Abyss-corrupted land. Not the demonic invasion. The demons are probably attacking multiple areas and eliminating any sources of order, especially with a large band of powerful demons hitting any royalty and governments, all over the world. After all, this is about corrupting the entire planet and making it a part of the Abyss.

Random 3 year old thoughts on this sort of event;

'Needs must, when the devil drives' or 'Unlikely bedfellows';

The Worldwound is currently on 'slow boil,' but could explode at any moment, and if Mendev falls, a much more intriguing set of battle-lines, with Ustalav, Numeria, Belkzen and the Realms of the Mammoth Lords could take place. (The demons don't expand north, onto the Crown of the World, 'cause of hard-learned experience of A) how little there is to plunder and devour there and B) how really unfriendly Shoggoth are to those who attempt to plunder their frozen abandoned haunts...)

Sections of Ustalav could fall, only to have someone take advantage of the chaos to free Tar-Baphon (or perhaps one of his powerful servants, the 'Kas' to his 'Vecna'), and create a eternal war between undead hordes and demonic minions, with the surviving mortal population of Ustalav caught in the middle, viewed as tasty snacks and squishy playthings by one side, and a fresh supply of soon-to-be-undead recruits by the other.

In Belkzen, the orcs no more want to be devoured by rampaging demons than anyone else, and a surge of Gorumite-led orcish mercenary groups could attempt to hold the line, and create their own versions of 'warding stones' to protect their own holdings. Lacking the special advantages of some of the other lands, Belkzen might be almost overrun in short order, and troops from Lastwall (bolstered by fresh recruits from Nirmathas, Molthune, the Five Kingdoms, etc.) might ride into the heart of Belkzen, right past retreating and regrouping orcish encampments and refugee trains, to engage the approaching demons, to the shock and confusion of orc and crusader alike, as they buy the orcs time to regroup (and get their non-combatants to safety, behind *human* lines!). Tensions will be strained by orc tribes converting en masse to demon-worship, revering the strength of their conquerors, and wanting to be 'on the winning side.' On the front lines, troops of dwarves, humans and orcs will fight demonic invaders, with orcs of their own, and the occasional Five Kingdoms axe or Nirmathan arrow may find itself lodged in the wrong orcish skull, in a sort of 'friendly fire' accident...

In Numeria, the Black Sovereign and his 'techno-mages' won't give up Starmount without a fight, and big gun-equipped mecha-scorpions won't be the only surprise they are ready to bring to bear on the encroaching demon hordes. Mendevian knights forced to retreat into Numeria will be grudgingly tolerated, and wonder behind their hastily-constructed fallback redoubts, what sort of horrible alliance they have made, as drug-addicted techno-sorcerers and soulless mechanical horrors from beyond the stars fight the demons at their side.

The Realm of the Mammoth Lords seems likely to fare worse, lacking the more supernatural defenses available to Numeria, and, in the worst case, to Ustalav. Still, there's something to be said for the damage a herd of mammoths, or even a stampede of dinosaurs, could inflict, even to demons! It's also possible that agents of Baba Yaga could be drawn into the fray, intending to stop the demonic incursion before it reaches Irrisen (and, in the process, taking the Mammoth Lords lands for themselves). The Mammoth Lords may have no love for the Winter Witches (and vice-versa), but when demons are pouring over their eastern flank, better to allow winter wolf and ice troll slaves of the witches to engage them than to risk the extinction of their local mega-fauna on suicide charges.

Druma would contribute no troops, but every Drumite craftsmage would be set to pumping out arrows of demon slaying by the thousands, and they would be made available at precisely controlled prices by the Kalistocracy (single-handedly preventing wartime price-gouging, as they seize utter control of certain markets, out of 'enlightened self-interest').

Cheliax, while offering token support to the actions in Numeria and Belkzen (through Molthune, in the latter case), would buckle down and ruthlessly secure their own country and borders, erecting wardstones of their own, rumored to exist more to keep Chelish citizens in, than outside forces out.

This is Awesome! Avistan faces the direst threat since ... ever?

Yet, i found those predictions about the demonic expansion very, very optimistic!

Sincerely, I'll interpretate that map as the progressive expansion of the Worldwound influence on Golarion itself (and here we can have, for the joy of all, demon infused annihilators) in correlation to the world wide invasion (or should I say ingestion) of Avistan by the abyss itself.

And then i eat one of them anyway because he's a demon locust.

This part made me snigger.

Something I wonder... How big a threat is the big R to the PRime? IOW, could you see the unholy alliance of Desna, Black Butterfly, and the Great Old Ones working together to do something, because the big R getitng out of his padded cell would be a threat to the Great Old Ones?

The idea of an inquisitor of Black Butterfly working with followers of Hastur amuses me, even if I'm not a big Mythos fan.

Looking at the map gives a whole new meaning to the name Lastwall.

This is Awesome! Avistan faces the direst threat since ... ever?

Yet, i found those predictions about the demonic expansion very, very optimistic!

** spoiler omitted **

Sincerely, I'll interpretate...

I feel like if that was the case, they would have done that in the very beginning, before the warpstones were in place.

Demons are chaotic, and while Deskari and Baphomet have certainly given them an extra bit of order, I feel like the horde still needs to be kept in line by more powerful demons/cultists, who in turn need to be kept in line by more powerful demons, and so forth. Deskari has lots of cannon fodder but possibly not many minions he would trust on long range missions who are powerful enough to get the job done. Given the choice of trying to murder a high value enemy asset, who is probably high CR and well protected, a lot of them would rather mess around with some small village.

Also, the Demons are more into corrupting mortals than military conquests. Laying siege to cities and subverting the citizenry are more fun for them than just straight killing, at least for most demons. Wrath of the Righteous pretty much confirms this.

I'm a reallyreally Bigshot of the abyss; why would I let Bugboy have it all??

I wouldn't!

While his back is turned and the worldwound is syphoning his forces I would attack the "wardstones" in his abyssal realm that opened and are powering the worldwound. Cutting off the return of these forces.

Throwing my own troops into conquering more of the abyss and capturing the resources there.

I will of course be supported by great and pwerful gods of good who want the worldwound closed..meaning Solars, Planetars and Epic Mortals will be using my abyssal realm to access the tagets.

...just an idea...lol

And who says the abyssal big guns are limitless? Would anyone keep sending their best defenders far fromthe seat of power when they're surrounded by dangers?

btw...I'll buy It Right Now!!!

So. Here is a theory. What if Deskari, Harbinger of the Apocalypse, ultimately a creation of Daemons, is working at the behest of the Four Horsemen? As part of that plan, Aroden was killed but not really. He's actually chained in Abbadon and actually is the The Oinodaemon. Why this mad theory? Well one since Aroden's death, Prophecy no longer works but wait! It does for The Oinodaemon! Why? Because it is mofracking Aroden that's why!

Anyway, regardless of my mad theory, I will now toss Daemon Shock Troops in Part 6 sent by the Four Horsemen of oh you know THE APOCALYPSE heh.

Man, when I get around to running Wrath in my shared-world, post-apocalyptic, PbP Ruins of Pathfinder, my players will have a lot at stake!

this is the first thread that i've felt obliged to participate in; ..my house rules are very a bit extreme...for ex: every trial is the same...no matter what the encounter is like...if one char or all are heading down the mythical path...the trial is that the PC must die in a crucial fight of the adventure...(Immortality is granted at 1st tier)...the dead mythic PC is then reborn within 100 miles at a site important to their power and must find their way back to the party!!!

very evil i know...lol

but it makes it very important when they choose to gain a tier...or when i choose...bwahahaha

many of our house rules are equally stiff, but the benefits are more liberal too.

we've only had the mythic stuff for a few weeks, but with this one house rule we almost eliminated the need to keep track of how many uses of daily powers we go through...it all evens out compared to dying for 24 hours! (as long as it's not a mythical killing blow)

This is actually pretty interesting, it sets up an alternate reality Golarion campaign setting! Want to really spice up the setting, just drop this into play.

I wouldn't mind if the entire world of Golarion got sucked into the Abyss and became a layer onto itself.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a Abyssal layer that is an infinite void full of "sucked in" worlds (end result kind of like Carceri...). :-)

I wouldn't be surprised to see a Abyssal layer that is an infinite void full of "sucked in" worlds (end result kind of like Carceri...). :-)

Now this I want to see.

Pnakotus Detsujin wrote:

This is Awesome! Avistan faces the direst threat since ... ever?

Yet, i found those predictions about the demonic expansion very, very optimistic!

** spoiler omitted **

Sincerely, I'll interpretate...

I feel like if that was the case, they would have done that in the very beginning, before the warpstones were in place.

Demons are chaotic, and while Deskari and Baphomet have certainly given them an extra bit of order, I feel like the horde still needs to be kept in line by more powerful demons/cultists, who in turn need to be kept in line by more powerful demons, and so forth. Deskari has lots of cannon fodder but possibly not many minions he would trust on long range missions who are powerful enough to get the job done. Given the choice of trying to murder a high value enemy asset, who is probably high CR and well protected, a lot of them would rather mess around with some small village.

Also, the Demons are more into corrupting mortals than military conquests. Laying siege to cities and subverting the citizenry are more fun for them than just straight killing, at least for most demons. Wrath of the Righteous pretty much confirms this.

I do recognize your points. Demons are not Daemons. They like to toy and have fun. All those tiefling came from somewhere, after all ... Also, they had 18 years of "almost" free time before the first crusade. Darm,if they are lazy ... and darm if Iomedae is slow!

Lucky her Deskari wasnt serious at that point. By wiki, he was just purposely going easy, testing the situation, and the following attacks during the years were progressively more efficient.

However, I remark my point: the idea of a linear, progressive expansion for an invading demon horde is amusing for me, since they can, literally ,appear everywhere they know. If you could eat noodles in China just by looking at a picture of Bejiin, would you not? Switch "eat noodles" to "doing censored things" and you get my point.

Also, regarding the assassination wave, I dissent. While there are indeed unique targets who are constantly ready against such dire threats (mostly undead or dragons), most of high level/political influent golarion humanoids all suffer the same weakness: they need sleep, and more than often the sleep in places not shielded form an ethereal attacked. Now, we know Deskari is really oberated with things, but if he enjoy all the mayhem that comes from Curse of the Crimson Throne like scenarios he don't need to call out the big guns against those pesky mortals: He just need to tell a minion to put togethere a dozen of succubus and give them city postcards and names!

Here an example.

Again, I know demons should be chaotic and unfocused, but for me the sad truth is that some monsters, mostly outsiders, are simply too much gamebreakers (indeed outsides) outside dungeon situations, and therefore the idea of medieval nations against them(no matter how many clerics and paladins)is simply not possible.

I really hope to read in this article about slayeresque solutions (like asteroid bombardments) of Eberron like scenarios (thousands of gold, silver and copper dragons flying against those army). Did anyone see Terendevel's family or friends around Kerabras?

Depends if it works in Glorian, but Gorgan's blood mixed in concrete/masonry prevents ethereal travel. I wouldn't be surprised if important spots such as palaces,wizard academies and the likes have such protections in a world where teleportation is possible.

I have talked about how critters like demons and devils do break the game as pointed out above; many immunities and resistances, ability to teleport at will and the upper level types can spam unholy smites/blashpemies. Killing them depends on specific weapons and tactics.

Depends if it works in Glorian, but Gorgan's blood mixed in concrete/masonry prevents ethereal travel. I wouldn't be surprised if important spots such as palaces,wizard academies and the likes have such protections in a world where teleportation is possible.

I have talked about how critters like demons and devils do break the game as pointed out above; many immunities and resistances, ability to teleport at will and the upper level types can spam unholy smites/blashpemies. Killing them depends on specific weapons and tactics.

Pick your flavor of Hallow with dimensional lock for teleportation blocking.

Maybe this would be a way to bring in other demon lords not necessarily native to Golarion, maybe like Grazzt, Fra'bur'logh?

I know the gods/demigods, including Deskari and the Empyreal Lords, can't directly go in and lay the smack down. But in the mass assassination scenario given above, I wonder if celestials are allowed to interfere. Some angels running interference could likely neutralize a lot would be teleporting demon assassins. For all we know, that explains a lot about what happened with the initial opening of the worldwound.

The shear number of mortal cultists and really low level demons involved in the Worldwound battles would seem to imply that maybe the demons themselves have to play there hands/claws carefully, less they escalate the conflict to a higher level that draws the wrath of dieties and powerful celestials.

Abyssal Lord wrote:

I wouldn't be surprised to see a Abyssal layer that is an infinite void full of "sucked in" worlds (end result kind of like Carceri...). :-)

Now this I want to see.

Actually my homebrew campaign awhile ago featured a layer filled with floating planetoids (dwarf planets), each about 666 miles in diameter, each ruled by a petty demon noble or a rep of one of the demon lords. Each planetoid is different: one ruled by a Thrall of Dagon that is covered in water, another is a giant blot of web that is ruled by Lolth via a yochlol queen, another is a maze ruled by a minotaur/gorgon tauric creature thrall of Baphomet, one planetoid is shaped like giant skull and is ruled by an undead demon lord (nascent rank for Pathfinder I guess) seeking to take over Orcus' title, and yet another is a frozen orb of ice ruled by an cold elementalist succubus wizard who is a consort of Aseroth, another is a tropical jungle world that is ruled by one of Demogorgon and Malcanthet's offspring.

Some planetoids are bits from other planes and prime worlds that were drawn into the Abyss. Perhaps when the Worldwound is closed, it is closed by actually "cutting" it off Golarion (literally) and tossing it (good riddance) into the Abyss.

The ruins of pathfinder alternate world is getting crowded.

hmmm... I'm not that familiar with all the different APs but that sounds interesting. What would the world look like if all the APs had been failed in the order that they were released? How would the different world conquering forces interact? Alternate world Pathfinder sounds like an interesting and dynamic place.