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Illustration by Nikolai Ostertag

First World Preview—The Places

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Last week, I showed off one of the Eldest write-ups from our upcoming campaign setting book, The First World, Realm of the Fey. This week, I thought I'd give you a taste of some of the bizarre adventure locations you'll find inside.

My philosophy with gazetteers has always been to squeeze as many ideas into an article (or in this case, book) as possible: give GMs just enough fun details to get their minds spinning, then go off in an entirely different direction and leave them (or future adventures) to fill in the rest. These short shotgun blasts of ideas are also one of my favorite thing to write, and thus I try to carve them out as much space in my books as possible! As a result, this book has a heaping helping of encounter locations, ranging in size from a mere paragraph for random adventure sites to an entire page for the Eldest's seats of power or cities in need of maps. Presented below is just one of these locations, plus its awesome illustration!

Cobyslarni: The gleaming domes and steeples of this magical academy would be impressive anywhere, yet instead of standing atop a mountaintop or in some bustling city, the Traveling Academy of Cobyslarni roams the plains of the First World, riding like a howdah atop an enormous, three-eyed elephantine beast. The university's charter holds that its founder, Cobyslarni, decided the best way to foster independent thought was to be constantly moving, never able to be claimed by any given Eldest or city government. In the academy's halls, some of the greatest arcane and occult scholars of the First World gather to teach promising students, peruse the school's extradimensional libraries, or debate the finer points of occult theory upon floating disks in the school's open-air auditoriums. Overseeing the day-to-day running of the school is Headmistress Bofika Nemesan (NG female human wizard 11/occultist 6), chosen from among her peers by the school's illustrious founder. As for Cobyslarni himself, any student or traveler may ask him questions, yet he rarely deigns to answer these days, busy as he is contemplating the mysteries of the multiverse and carrying the school upon his vast back.

For dozens more locations like these, please check out Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The First World, Realm of the Fey, coming later this month!

James L. Sutter
Creative Director

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Silver Crusade
6 people marked this as a favorite.

Oh.

My.

F$!#ing.

God.
Sovereign Court
4 people marked this as a favorite.

Stats for Cobyslarni, please! :)
Silver Crusade
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Curse you for making the perfect magic-school campaign location. Because it's constantly moving you can always have new adventuring locations nearby.

YAASSSSSS!

Now that's pretty cool! I eagerly await the release.
Dark Archive
3 people marked this as a favorite.

Hogwarts School for Palanquins and Pachyderms? Sign me up!
DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

Curse you for making the perfect magic-school campaign location. Because it's constantly moving you can always have new adventuring locations nearby.

YAASSSSSS!

Yep my first thought was a badass version of FF's Balamb Garden

Then again Balamb Garden + First World setting = Scary Magic School Bus
Silver Crusade
net-diver wrote:
DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

Curse you for making the perfect magic-school campaign location. Because it's constantly moving you can always have new adventuring locations nearby.

YAASSSSSS!

Yep my first thought was a badass version of FF's Balamb Garden

Then again Balamb Garden + First World setting = Scary Magic School Bus

... please tell me Bofika looks like The Frizz.

4 people marked this as a favorite.
Quote:
Cobyslarni

That still only counts as one!

Creative Director, Starfinder Team
5 people marked this as a favorite.

Thanks everybody! I can't wait to hear stories of people adventuring in this book's locations. :D
Grand Lodge

Seeing this makes me wonder if Paizo and Oda (creator of One Piece) read the same lore. I'm 110% reminded of the Zou Island that is in the current arc of the anime series. Wonder if this place has anthropomorphic humanoid animals (minks) too.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Can someone tell me what the race is riding the dinosaur on pg 49 of the book?

Thanks
Dark Archive
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Petition for a First World AP for students/academics of this academy named "Cobsylarni's Wild Ride"

Not trying to criticize such a frakking awesome concept but...

Why is a human the overseer of the fey academy in the First World, a fey plane in which their are giant amounts of fey, the city in which they are in charge of being on top of a giant fey creature, with all the students of the academy being fey, and the whole set up was presumably set up by some ancient fey?
1 person marked this as a favorite.

I like James approach to these types of books. City of Strangers was awesome.

Cobyslarni is awesome too!
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Malefactor wrote:

Not trying to criticize such a frakking awesome concept but...

Why is a human the overseer of the fey academy in the First World, a fey plane in which their are giant amounts of fey, the city in which they are in charge of being on top of a giant fey creature, with all the students of the academy being fey, and the whole set up was presumably set up by some ancient fey?

Presumably because said fey thought it would be interesting?

O_O

Elephant-mounted magical school? Sign me up!

What a fantastic "location"! That's the right way to increase our curiosity.

And, I'm really sorry, but, I thought he was the Oliphaunt of Jandelay. When I found out he wasn't, automatically thought about a fight between these two elephantine creatures.

Luthorne wrote:
Malefactor wrote:

Not trying to criticize such a frakking awesome concept but...

Why is a human the overseer of the fey academy in the First World, a fey plane in which their are giant amounts of fey, the city in which they are in charge of being on top of a giant fey creature, with all the students of the academy being fey, and the whole set up was presumably set up by some ancient fey?

Presumably because said fey thought it would be interesting?

It seems he doesn't want to get too involved in the intrigues of the realm, as he carries the school upon his own back so no Eldest or city government could claim it. A human is neutral enough for that purpose, I suppose.

Wow...the founder of the magic school is the bleeping elephant itself? Man, it's power must make it a rival of the Oliphaunt of Jandelay.

Bofika Nemesan is a really weird way to spell Mustrum Ridcully.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

Soo cool!
Scarab Sages
2 people marked this as a favorite.

"Time for school! All aboard the cat bus!"
Purple Dragon Knight wrote:
Stats for Cobyslarni, please! :)

You could try using the Oliphaunt of Jandelay from Mythic Realms; it is another giant magic elephant.

Sovereign Court
Sam the silver dragon wrote:
Purple Dragon Knight wrote:
Stats for Cobyslarni, please! :)
You could try using the Oliphaunt of Jandelay from Mythic Realms; it is another giant magic elephant.

I'm not in a huge hurry for this. It would imply an evil party, and it would mean death to them probably.

More importantly, I'm more than willing to wait for another Paizo product (or BLOG... hint hint... even if there's only 3% chance of that) that details such a unique creature! (or anything else dreamed up in campaign setting books that doesn't have stats yet!) Something as amazing/unique/huge as Cobyslarni would probably be best handled as part of a First World AP (it's not only a creature, it's a location)

In the interim, I'd like a size comparison side-by-side picture of Coby beside a tarrasque, please. :)

Sold.
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