The Godsrain Prophecies Part Two

Cayden Cailean is the god of the tavern brawl.

Well, dang. I had hopes that Mephistopheles would step up as the new lord of Hell. The false prophecy is really fun to read as well. One almost wishes that this lie were true, Garak-style. "Especially the lies".

Still worried about Saranrae. I hope she'll be the next one to be declared "safe".

I think they will keep fan-favorites such as Sarenrae from being declared safe till the end.

Much more hype that way.

Maybe around your tables, but clearly not a stereotypical party to me. I associate Cayden Cailean with the archetypical Swashbuckler, personally.

It's not really the case around my table, but I'm under the impression that it's the most cliche dnd party setup (or at least that it was in the 2000'). They meet in a tavern, and go back here for a rowdy night between each quest. They do whatever they want without paying much mind to any authority, but are rather heroic, do good deed and defend the innocent. When an injustice is legal, they don't care and still correct it without caring about consequences. They don't have a familly or any NPC tied to their backstory, they're either orphan or their parent/previous friends simply aren't mentionned. They don't have any particular goal in life except for doing good deed and trying to become folk heroes.

It does fit a swashbuckler, but Cayden was introduced to the setting long before this class was. He is an archetype, but where Irori/Nethys/Iomedae/Norgorber all fit a given base class especially well, he don't. He's a fighter in ability, and a bard in spirit.

Razmir, The TRUE LIVING GOD wrote:

Again, I am still safe. Thank you for your concern.

Razmir is not among the Core 20, so shall never be safe! Though if he's collateral damage, that would make the next Living Lodge scenario verrrry interesting...

In other thoughts, it could be Torag who's dying, since he's "missing" in Starfinder, but that seems far too obvious for the payoff we're expecting here.

Razmir was noted by Luis to have an entry in Divine Mysteries...all hail the god king!

My question, is Ihys powerful enough to grant clerics? Because I would love to worship the future lord of hell.

My question, is Ihys powerful enough to grant clerics? Because I would love to worship the future lord of hell.

Ilhys is, for the moment, quite dead. If you live in a world where the GM has accepted the idea that he continues to exist as, in effect, an infection in Asmodeus - that their fratricidal battle still continues at some level - then... you might get a witch out of him? I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get a cleric.

Honestly, at that point Oracle seems like it might be the best bet. They're all about divine dissonance and divine mysteries. Oracle of Life seems particularly appropriate, as it can literally cause wounds to open up on your body if you take it up to Major Curse and then cast a 5th+ level slot spell.

I am now significantly more comfortable in my guess that Iomedae is the Deity who will be killed.

While not every god would have or would need a successor, this "What If" story shows that it is important to note that some positions need to be filled. Hell needs a dictator, so if Asmodeus was going to be killed then Ihys would be the God who would take his place and he would be the God joining the Core 20.

Which to me, shows that it is important to consider that different gods would be chosen to replace different other gods.

It could never have been Pharasma, because someone would have needed to take the reigns and keep the flow of souls going, and since we know Arazni is the one joining the Core 20, I doubt they would place her in that position.

As such, Iomedae makes the most sense, because she is the champion of Aroden, risen to take his mantle. And that is the position that makes the most sense for Arazni to rise up and take over for.

If any of the other Deities died, we would have a thematic and symbolic hole in the roles filled by the Core 20, AND two champions of Aroden taking up a lot of divine real estate.

For the record, when I say "significantly more comfortable" what I mean is my certainty has gone up from 20% to 30%, and I could absolutely be wrong, but it makes the most sense to me.

While not every god would have or would need a successor, this "What If" story shows that it is important to note that some positions need to be filled. Hell needs a dictator, so if Asmodeus was going to be killed then Ihys would be the God who would take his place and he would be the God joining the Core 20.

I don't think that's true, though. Like, in this case he slotted into his role as Hell's Dictator, because he was already in that role, and could manifest his will on Golarion more effectively by playing from within that role, rather than just discarding it... but in the first one, no one replaced Pharasma, and her role was more important, if anything.

But the first story was in large part about the fallout that her absence caused. While it showed no successor, it the problem her vacancy caused, which is another way of illustrating why she need one.

Meanwhile, the fact that Ihys was here to immediately replace Asmodeus meant that it's unclear how well Hell would have functionned without a clear leader, and what would have been the consequences for the universe. Perhaps it would have devolved into infighting as the archdevils would have scrambled for the top spot. Perhaps it would have continued going in an orderly way, the infernal engine still running without a hand to direct it, a machine without a purpose to fill, now churning out suffering not even in the name of an evil god's plan, but for no reason at all. Perhaps it would simply appear to still function as usual, as slowly each archdevil altered the mechanism of their own realm, each trying to work the engine a different way until it simply break and "all hell break lose".

In a sense, those two prophecies showed very different things. The first one showed what happen if Pharasma is gone and leave an empty throne. The second one show what happen if Ihys get into the driver seat and replace Asmodeus. We don't know what would have happenned if someone else had taken up Pharasma's domain, or if Asmodeus left an empty throne behind.

Ashanderai wrote:

I'm leaning towards the "one" to die being Gozreh. With the Elemental Lords being around, Gozreh always felt more superfluous to me than the other gods. Now, after Rage of Elements and the return of more Elemental Lords, I feel that way even more strongly.

I have a minor argument against Gozreh biting it: worship of Shimye-Magalla, the union of them and Desna, is one of the defining traits of the Mwangi Bonuwat people. While that lore's hardly scaffolding all of Golarion, it's a bit of that region that I think would be a shame to see fall away with Gozreh's death.

I also don't see how it would spark a war between the other deities. Someone on either Team Holy or Team Unholy feels much more likely as an inciting incident, IMO.

Sorry to counter this, but the worship of Shimye-Magalla was solidly debunked in Age of Ashes as Taldan propoganda. At a meta level, I recall it being explained that Golarion deities “just don’t work that way”.

Sorry to counter this, but the worship of Shimye-Magalla was solidly debunked in Age of Ashes as Taldan propoganda. At a meta level, I recall it being explained that Golarion deities “just don’t work that way”.

In the Mwangi Expanse, Desna is most often associated with a pale blue color, a relic of her former role as Queen of the Sky. The Bonuwat consider Desna one-half of the pair known as Shimye-Magalla, alongside of Gozreh, as the sky and the wind are so intertwined as to be inseparable[...] The Bonuwat see Gozreh as embodying the freedom of the wind, and have long paired Gozreh with Desna as Shimye-Magalla, a powerful aspect of the open sky.

It's my understanding that they're essentially a two-deity Pantheon, with Age of Ashes predating the 2e Pantheon mechanic.

I am now significantly more comfortable in my guess that Iomedae is the Deity who will be killed.

While not every god would have or would need a successor, this "What If" story shows that it is important to note that some positions need to be filled. Hell needs a dictator, so if Asmodeus was going to be killed then Ihys would be the God who would take his place and he would be the God joining the Core 20.

Which to me, shows that it is important to consider that different gods would be chosen to replace different other gods.

It could never have been Pharasma, because someone would have needed to take the reigns and keep the flow of souls going, and since we know Arazni is the one joining the Core 20, I doubt they would place her in that position.

As such, Iomedae makes the most sense, because she is the champion of Aroden, risen to take his mantle. And that is the position that makes the most sense for Arazni to rise up and take over for.

If any of the other Deities died, we would have a thematic and symbolic hole in the roles filled by the Core 20, AND two champions of Aroden taking up a lot of divine real estate.

For the record, when I say "significantly more comfortable" what I mean is my certainty has gone up from 20% to 30%, and I could absolutely be wrong, but it makes the most sense to me.

Luis already confirmed that Arazni isn't inheriting anything from the deity that dies.

Vardoc Bloodstone wrote:

Sorry to counter this, but the worship of Shimye-Magalla was solidly debunked in Age of Ashes as Taldan propoganda. At a meta level, I recall it being explained that Golarion deities “just don’t work that way”.

Lost Omens: The Mwangi Expanse, page 144 wrote:

In the Mwangi Expanse, Desna is most often associated with a pale blue color, a relic of her former role as Queen of the Sky. The Bonuwat consider Desna one-half of the pair known as Shimye-Magalla, alongside of Gozreh, as the sky and the wind are so intertwined as to be inseparable[...] The Bonuwat see Gozreh as embodying the freedom of the wind, and have long paired Gozreh with Desna as Shimye-Magalla, a powerful aspect of the open sky.

It's my understanding that they're essentially a two-deity Pantheon, with Age of Ashes predating the 2e Pantheon mechanic.

Too late to edit this, but Age of Ashes actually agrees with me!

With a successful DC 17 Religion check, a character surmises that the temple seems to be devoted to the deities Desna and Gozreh, but that it combines their depictions into a singular entity. A critical success reveals something more—that this temple was devoted not to a combination of the two gods, but to a sort of “mini-pantheon” composed of both of them, named Shimye-Magalla. The Bonuwat have long admired and worshiped the two deities as equals. The age of this temple, combined with its inland location, suggests that the Bonuwat were more widespread long ago. To Gerhard, both of these revelations threaten some of his own (ill-informed) theories about Bonuwat history and Shimye-Magalla (who he has always believed to be an actual merging of the two deities rather than a pantheon composed of the two)[...]

The discredited Taldan archeologist is going "those stupid Mwangi think Desna and Gozreh are one god!", rather than grasping the nuances of their merged worship in Bonuwat culture. I'm actually very surprised we haven't gotten a Pantheon profile for Shimye-Magalla yet!

Vali Nepjarson wrote:

I am now significantly more comfortable in my guess that Iomedae is the Deity who will be killed.

While not every god would have or would need a successor, this "What If" story shows that it is important to note that some positions need to be filled. Hell needs a dictator, so if Asmodeus was going to be killed then Ihys would be the God who would take his place and he would be the God joining the Core 20.

Which to me, shows that it is important to consider that different gods would be chosen to replace different other gods.

It could never have been Pharasma, because someone would have needed to take the reigns and keep the flow of souls going, and since we know Arazni is the one joining the Core 20, I doubt they would place her in that position.

As such, Iomedae makes the most sense, because she is the champion of Aroden, risen to take his mantle. And that is the position that makes the most sense for Arazni to rise up and take over for.

If any of the other Deities died, we would have a thematic and symbolic hole in the roles filled by the Core 20, AND two champions of Aroden taking up a lot of divine real estate.

For the record, when I say "significantly more comfortable" what I mean is my certainty has gone up from 20% to 30%, and I could absolutely be wrong, but it makes the most sense to me.

Luis already confirmed that Arazni isn't inheriting anything from the deity that dies.

I think you're misunderstanding me. I'm not saying that Arazni will take on Iomedae's portoflio or her "job" in the cosmos.

What I'm saying is that some gods are safe, theoretically, because if they were to die, someone would need to do that and we know that isn't going to be happening. Asmodeus, Pharasma, and Rovagug are the most obvious, but you can potentially make an argument for deities like Desna, Sarenrae, and Lamashtu as well (although I don't think we know if their death would cause the end of the things they empower, so those ones could still be in danger).

And then as a second point, while we know Arazni is not taking over the cosmic deific role of the Core 20 deity who dies, there is still going to be a narrative role that we are going to lose from that deity, and another narrative role that Arazni will bring in to the story.

So for example, I highly doubt Torag or Calistria are going to die, because they are the Dwarven and Elven representations in the Core 20. Cayden Cailean is probably safe because he brings something entirely unique to the Core 20 that frankly I don't know if anyone could replace.

Iomedae is the inheritor of Aroden, and the Paladin representation within the Core 20. At least one of those roles is one that Arazni is perfectly capable of filling. And if, in the course of the story, she manages to find forgiveness in her heart for Aroden, for Humanity, and for herself, she could easily fill the second narrative roll as well.

I don’t know it being Iomedae feels cheap honestly.

Like “Oh another of the formally mortal Starstone gods died.”

It doesn’t really capture my attention/imagination as much as an older God with a wider context behind them dying.

I also don’t really agree with the Torag thing, since he up and vanished in Starfinder and they refocused on other members of his pantheon.

keftiu wrote:

Vardoc Bloodstone wrote:

Sorry to counter this, but the worship of Shimye-Magalla was solidly debunked in Age of Ashes as Taldan propoganda. At a meta level, I recall it being explained that Golarion deities “just don’t work that way”.

Lost Omens: The Mwangi Expanse, page 144 wrote:

In the Mwangi Expanse, Desna is most often associated with a pale blue color, a relic of her former role as Queen of the Sky. The Bonuwat consider Desna one-half of the pair known as Shimye-Magalla, alongside of Gozreh, as the sky and the wind are so intertwined as to be inseparable[...] The Bonuwat see Gozreh as embodying the freedom of the wind, and have long paired Gozreh with Desna as Shimye-Magalla, a powerful aspect of the open sky.

It's my understanding that they're essentially a two-deity Pantheon, with Age of Ashes predating the 2e Pantheon mechanic.

Too late to edit this, but Age of Ashes actually agrees with me!

Age of Ages: Volume 2, p.40 wrote:

With a successful DC 17 Religion check, a character surmises that the temple seems to be devoted to the deities Desna and Gozreh, but that it combines their depictions into a singular entity. A critical success reveals something more—that this temple was devoted not to a combination of the two gods, but to a sort of “mini-pantheon” composed of both of them, named Shimye-Magalla. The Bonuwat have long admired and worshiped the two deities as equals. The age of this temple, combined with its inland location, suggests that the Bonuwat were more widespread long ago. To Gerhard, both of these revelations threaten some of his own (ill-informed) theories about Bonuwat history and Shimye-Magalla (who he has always believed to be an actual merging of the two deities rather than a pantheon composed of the two)[...]

The discredited Taldan archeologist is going "those stupid Mwangi think Desna and Gozreh are one god!", rather than grasping the nuances of their merged worship in Bonuwat culture. I'm actually very...

Oh that guy. I love that guy! He's one of the funniest characters Paizo has ever written. Especially with his heroic willingness to not let actual archaeological fact get in the way of his theories.

Luis already confirmed that Arazni isn't inheriting anything from the deity that dies.

Which... suggests that it's less likely to be Iomedae?

I feel like we might be reading too much into "isn't inheriting anything from a deity that dies" since there's no way to preclude deity B from picking up the slack from the absence of deity A in some role that people in the diagesis find meaningful. Like if Gozreh dies, farmers are going to pray to Erastil for good weather for agriculture, and if Erastil dies vice versa. If Torag dies, someone else in his family is going to take up the role of Patriarch in Torag's family.

I think what Luis means is something like "If Urgathoa dies, that means that nobody in the core 20 has the undeath domain, we're not just going to give someone the undeath domain to fill the gap." The social roles that people use religion to fill in their lives are going to be fulfilled by somebody, no matter who dies.

The fun thing about this one is it doesn't actually require Asmodeus to die to come true.

Ashanderai wrote:

I'm leaning towards the "one" to die being Gozreh. With the Elemental Lords being around, Gozreh always felt more superfluous to me than the other gods. Now, after Rage of Elements and the return of more Elemental Lords, I feel that way even more strongly.

I have a minor argument against Gozreh biting it: worship of Shimye-Magalla, the union of them and Desna, is one of the defining traits of the Mwangi Bonuwat people. While that lore's hardly scaffolding all of Golarion, it's a bit of that region that I think would be a shame to see fall away with Gozreh's death.

I also don't see how it would spark a war between the other deities. Someone on either Team Holy or Team Unholy feels much more likely as an inciting incident, IMO.

i don’t really care one way or another about any argument for or against it. An argument can be made about any core 20 deity dying having an adverse impact somewhere, if not everywhere, after all. So what? That’s what we would want, isn’t it? Conflict and story, right? Figuring out how to resolve the problems arising from the death of the dead deity is what will drive the story, regardless.

Besides, the death doesn’t have be about sparking a war initially. It could be unintentional - the war or the death, or both. Their death doesn’t have to have been about what can be taken from them, but perhaps it could be about the opportunities their death yields to others… what doors are opened by their passing… even if they were on the same “side” as the killer(s). “Sides” may not even matter until the war starts. Maybe the “murder” is about creating new “sides”. We just don’t know.

Anyway, I am WAY LESS interested in who dies (and infinitely less than that in arguing about who it is) than I am about figuring out who the killer is. I only care about the victim in as much as knowing their identity can help with getting a clue regarding the identity of their killer(s). I mean what was their motive, if any, anyway? I mean, it’s Paizo telling the story and it isn’t like them to accidentally kill a deity. So, I’m sure the death will be intentional and with motive, but I don’t think we know that for certain yet. Paizo could surprise me still. So, I want to know who the killer is and if they are the real mastermind or not. They won’t necessarily be one and the same. Will betrayal play a role? Antagonists drive stories and good antagonists have great motivations. Will this story make me like any of these characters more? I hope so.

By narrowing down the victim, these bingo board articles are just adding to my suspect pool.

Also, Luis stated they started conceptualizing the death of this deity they are killing off back in the summer of 2022, right? When was Rage of Elements being developed? I don’t know exactly, but, food for thought, eh?

I wouldn't be surprised if "Who was the killer, anyway?" was massive spoilers for the associated AP.

Luis already confirmed that Arazni isn't inheriting anything from the deity that dies.

In the "technically true" sense, this would suggest Shelyn dies, Zon-Kuthon reverts and takes her role, and then Arazni could inherit something from him.

This really hit with me. I don't know that it'll be the one to prove true, but I hope.

Also, Luis stated they started conceptualizing the death of this deity they are killing off back in the summer of 2022, right? When was Rage of Elements being developed? I don’t know exactly, but, food for thought, eh?

They decide which books to make, and start outlining them 2 years before it comes out... So Rage of Elements should have started in... 2021, so one (or maybe half a) year prior. :P

I wouldn't be surprised if "Who was the killer, anyway?" was massive spoilers for the associated AP.

The killer is Aroden. He faked his death to avoid being a suspect. ;)

I don't think this will necessarily happen, but an idea which came to mind: the death is accidental, but Aroden's fault. Like, Aroden procrastinated actually fixing something because he was like "euh I can just check on it every century or so and keep it from boiling over, it's not like I'm going to die or anything", and then he died, and there was nobody to maintain his "temporary fix", heck nobody who even knew it was an issue. Like, some sort of time bomb where he kept pressing the "delay" button instead of actually defusing or removing the thing; and then it explodes when some random deity is just passing by to do the equivalent of grocery shopping.

I like this idea because it'd give us yet another thing that Aroden is to blame for.

I wouldn't be surprised if "Who was the killer, anyway?" was massive spoilers for the associated AP.

Unless there *is no* killer. Could be a bad case of the godsflu. Or perhaps a suicide. Old age? Fade away into nothingness out of sheer boredom with the whole schtick of having to endlessly being deific? Look, even superheroes get the blues...

Sanityfaerie wrote:

I wouldn't be surprised if "Who was the killer, anyway?" was massive spoilers for the associated AP.

Unless there *is no* killer. Could be a bad case of the godsflu. Or perhaps a suicide. Old age? Fade away into nothingness out of sheer boredom with the whole schtick of having to endlessly being deific? Look, even superheroes get the blues...

Could still be massive spoilers.

Also, we have the image of the deity being torn apart and raining down on the world as godstuff. That's not old age.

LandSwordBear wrote:

Sanityfaerie wrote:

I wouldn't be surprised if "Who was the killer, anyway?" was massive spoilers for the associated AP.

Unless there *is no* killer. Could be a bad case of the godsflu. Or perhaps a suicide. Old age? Fade away into nothingness out of sheer boredom with the whole schtick of having to endlessly being deific? Look, even superheroes get the blues...

Could still be massive spoilers.

Also, we have the image of the deity being torn apart and raining down on the world as godstuff. That's not old age.

Hey, it could be old age! I mean, it’s a different state of being/existence. We don’t actually know what a god dying of old age actually looks like for a deity, now do we…? :p

I don’t know it being Iomedae feels cheap honestly.

Like “Oh another of the formally mortal Starstone gods died.”

It doesn’t really capture my attention/imagination as much as an older God with a wider context behind them dying.

I also don’t really agree with the Torag thing, since he up and vanished in Starfinder and they refocused on other members of his pantheon.

I definitely agree with the sentiment here. The Age of Lost Omens is a campaign setting already built on the corpse of a dead god; for this development to have any impact it has to be as compelling as Aroden's death is. I question if Aroden Junior would cut it.

LandSwordBear wrote:

Sanityfaerie wrote:

I wouldn't be surprised if "Who was the killer, anyway?" was massive spoilers for the associated AP.

Unless there *is no* killer. Could be a bad case of the godsflu. Or perhaps a suicide. Old age? Fade away into nothingness out of sheer boredom with the whole schtick of having to endlessly being deific? Look, even superheroes get the blues...

Could still be massive spoilers.

Also, we have the image of the deity being torn apart and raining down on the world as godstuff. That's not old age.

Large enough stars blow themselves apart in a supernova when they run out of fusion fuel and "die". While I certainly don't expect "natural causes" to be what takes out any of the gods on the proverbial chopping block, it's entirely possible that the death of a deity can manifest in many different ways, some of them explosive and cataclysmic.

For example, as I understand it, Nethys has always been described as being in a delicate balance between opposing forces of creation and destruction that are perpetually trying to tear him apart and annihilate one another - he's essentially a divine, sentient matter-antimatter bomb. I'd expect any situation involving the death of Nethys to end in a cataclysmic explosion of magical power, regardless of what actually killed him, simply by virtue of what Nethys is.

Talking about who the killer is seems a bit premature when both prophecy thus far have the god die of "natural causes". I mean, Asmodeus technically got killed by Ihys, but this happenned billions of years ago, and he just died from the wound "now". So this leave open the possibility that no one will "pull the trigger" at all, and that the war that will start as the result of this death won't be a simplistic "war of revenge" where the allies of the dead god will face the killer and their ally.

It's why I think it won't be any of the (previously) lawfull good gods, I don't see them being assassinated, and I don't see their domain being so sought after that it start a cosmic war between those trying to take it back. I think it's far more likely to be either a neutral deity who aren't formaly "murdered" but whose death start a war over their domain (like Gozreh or Abadar), or either Shelyn or Zon Kuthon who actually get killed and start a massive brawl (with possibly the one of the two who survive flipping over and taking the domain of the dead one, either abandonning their own or fusing the two).

Nethys stubs his toe at the precise moment some apprentice messes up a cantrip; the resulting harmonized feedback jars Nethys' precarious internal balance and leads to a massive explosion.

I just really want to see Nethys die okay, you can't have "this god is barely holding himself together" and then NOT describe what happens when he's no longer held together. Whether that's a what-if or the actual storyline, they'd be doing everyone a disservice if they didn't explore the concept.

Nethys stubs his toe at the precise moment some apprentice messes up a cantrip; the resulting harmonized feedback jars Nethys' precarious internal balance and leads to a massive explosion.

I just really want to see Nethys die okay, you can't have "this god is barely holding himself together" and then NOT describe what happens when he's no longer held together. Whether that's a what-if or the actual storyline, they'd be doing everyone a disservice if they didn't explore the concept.

Remaster Syndrome? Perhaps the schools of magic were the last threads keeping him contained. ;)

As fun as it is to make theories about who is going to die, I feel some people are totally missing the point here. This is supposed to be a big event, and its going to have its own AP and a lot of support material like WoI to fully describe it and flesh it out, yet I see some people (trying to not point out anyone in particular) that suggest stuff along the lines of "one day X wakes up and farts so hard that they explode". I assume some of these have to be jokes, but I feel some of them aren't, and in those cases I would want to ask: do you think that would make for an interesting story? The same with my earlier comment in which I said that I don't think Paizo is going to kill a god that is "problematic" just for the sake of getting rid of it because it is very likely those "problematic" gods aren't really that popular to begin with and so most people wouldn't be invested in a whole event built around them. Its important to remember that Paizo likely wants people to keep engaged with this whole thing as much as possible, so they aren't going to pull up a "random haha xd lol" death on a deity and them keep going as if nothing happened.

With that said, I really want to know what Paizo is planning to keep the interest going after everyone knows who's the deity that dies. I assume this death is what is going to trigger this whole thing in the first place, so how Paizo is going to keep people interested in how this whole thing ends since most people likely only want to know who dies and that's it.

I assume this death is what is going to trigger this whole thing in the first place, so how Paizo is going to keep people interested in how this whole thing ends since most people likely only want to know who dies and that's it.

It's also possible that "who the killer is" is what sets off this whole thing to begin with.

Consider the following: Pharasma gets so sick of Urgathoa since she no longer has near omnniscience, she breaks the celestial detente and finally claims Urgathoa's soul, using Archaekek as her weapon (who famously "doesn't kill gods" but still lives in Pharasma's spire.) In addition there's some reason to believe that Aroden might have met his fate in the same way, which is deeply concerning to Iomedae, and Pharasma has expelled all outsiders associated with other planes from the Boneyard. The fact that the trusted neutral arbiter of the outer planes has apparently taken a side (even if it's her own) leads to long dormant battlefields becoming active. Plus, what better way to baffle the Goddess of Death than to become immortal yourself?

I think this is a lot more interesting that "Pharasma is now an active participant in Celestial politics" than "the Goddess of undeath, disease, and hedonism got got."

And let's be honest: aside from those who knew him personally, how many people do you think ACTUALLY cared about Archduke Franz Ferdinand? His assassination still kicked off the first global conflict though.

And let's be honest: aside from those who knew him personally, how many people do you think ACTUALLY cared about Archduke Franz Ferdinand? His assassination still kicked off the first global conflict though.

I don't think this is comparable because WW1 wasn't an event that was created for some company to make profit of it (even if that kinda happened at the end). Paizo has to make this whole event interesting for us, the costumers, to follow it up all the way up to its conclusion, so if the deity they kill is uninteresting to people, the way the killing happens also isn't interesting or doesn't feel as cool to trigger such an event, or the AP or whatever they release to tell this story loses most of its momentum really fast it not only would hurt their sales because obviously those products will lose interest, but also would hurt the setting long-term since whatever happens here would impact the whole setting going forward, which means people could probably lose interest in future APs too.

I don't think Paizo is going to screw this up because they had this planned for a long time, and if Paizo is known for something is for their APs, but I certianly wouldn't be on Paizo's shoes on this situation because it is really easy to screw it up and the consequences are everlasting. Think of this whole thing like when an important character dies on a show. If a random dude that people barely knew about dies the showrunners don't start teasing the death of a character with months in advance, make a whole event that could change the universe of the show forever, or have you week-by-week with posts that confirm who isn't dying.

As I continue my reading of the Godsrain Prophecies’ dire predictions of the deaths of various gods, it should be noted (and will be, in the compiled report for my Lady), that their existence as a collection brings into question the validity of each one. I believe that a corollary of the Windsong Paradox explains this best (as unsettling as this discovery of “prophecy” has been, I relish the opportunity to apply one of my favorites!): each individual prophecy exists independent of the others, as if they each occur in their own solitary void (note, for example, the mention here of a living Pharasma).This means they cannot all be true and, per the corollary, the chance of any of them being true is lessened¹. A reassuring thought that I am happy to consider!

¹In all fairness, a counter-argument could be made that one of the Godsrain Prophecies is correct in full, with all others either invalidated by its truth or purposefully created to mislead, but I tend to believe my initial theory (perhaps, if nothing else, because it is a bit more comforting).
{. . .}

What if they are ALL correct in their own timelines, and the real challenge is to figure out which parallel timeline you're in before it's too late?

My question, is Ihys powerful enough to grant clerics? Because I would love to worship the future lord of hell.

I mean, everything is always up to your GM, but spoilers, Ihys is getting a deity entry in Godsrain Contingencies. The more I looked at this, he isn't simply stepping into Asmodeus's powers, it's going to be an interesting blend.

For Pharasma her clerics needed to find new gods because she was gone. In this scenario, _some_ of Asmodeus's clerics may not be on board with new management...

And let's be honest: aside from those who knew him personally, how many people do you think ACTUALLY cared about Archduke Franz Ferdinand? His assassination still kicked off the first global conflict though.

I kind of think he had it coming.

The next update for Godsrain Contingencies is available!
Check out what the world is like with Asmodeus passing and the rise of Ihys, doing Hell his way. In addition to the Pharasma mterial from last week, take a look at new feats, items, the Contract Overrider archetype, and of course new worship options for former Asmodeans, including a deity entry for Ihys.
People who've already purchased can head back to your library and download your updates. For everyone else it's available here for $2.99 till the next god falls.

The next update for Godsrain Contingencies is available!

Instant buy! I have to say the hat is on point

Sanityfaerie wrote:

I wouldn't be surprised if "Who was the killer, anyway?" was massive spoilers for the associated AP.

The killer is Aroden. He faked his death to avoid being a suspect. ;)

We're getting into "Who Shot J.R." territory...

Gisher wrote:

Sanityfaerie wrote:

I wouldn't be surprised if "Who was the killer, anyway?" was massive spoilers for the associated AP.

The killer is Aroden. He faked his death to avoid being a suspect. ;)

We're getting into "Who Shot J.R." territory...

Just as long as we don't wake up in PF3 and learn it was ...all just a dream.

Just as long as we don't wake up in PF3 and learn it was ...all just a dream.

So... Desna, then?

Wei Ji the Learner wrote:

Just as long as we don't wake up in PF3 and learn it was ...all just a dream.

So... Desna, then?

So all of TV, including St. Elsewhere and Tommy Westphal, are just a dream that Desna is having? Figures.

Sanityfaerie wrote:

Wei Ji the Learner wrote:

Just as long as we don't wake up in PF3 and learn it was ...all just a dream.

So... Desna, then?

So all of TV, including St. Elsewhere and Tommy Westphal, are just a dream that Desna is having? Figures.

I'd rather have Desna doing that dreaming instead of say, Lamashtu, Z-K, or HasbrAsmodeus, in all honesty.

It might be all ephemeral and whatnot, but at least it's not a raging nightmare. Usually

Plot twist: The events in this prophecy take place, but Ihys soon discovers that just as Asmodeus actually failed to eliminate him forever, he likewise failed to eliminate Asmodeus forever, but the payback time is a LOT shorter.

Plot twist: The events in this prophecy take place, but Ihys soon discovers that just as Asmodeus actually failed to eliminate him forever, he likewise failed to eliminate Asmodeus forever, but the payback time is a LOT shorter.

Watching Asmodeus undo Ihys "damage" would be pretty fascinating actually. Would he be able to get everything back to how it was?