CNichols's page

On trying to read the Playtest rules more closely, I noticed a change that I found quite positive and which I have not seen any comment on. On page 16, we have the following sentences:

Your character’s age is a major factor that shapes how she interacts with the world. There aren’t any mechanical adjustments to your character for being particularly old, but you might want to take it into account when considering your starting ability scores and future advancement; for instance, an old and wise character might have a higher Wisdom score, so you might want to make sure to put one of your free ability boosts in Wisdom.

Which is far more player friendly and inclusive than the PF1e rules on aging.

With age, a character's physical ability scores decrease and his mental ability scores increase (see Table: Aging Effects). The effects of each aging step are cumulative. However, none of a character's ability scores can be reduced below 1 in this way.

1 At middle age, –1 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.

2 At old age, –2 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.

3 At venerable age, –3 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.

Which left venerable characters with a cumulative -6 to all physical stats! This made certain character concepts, such as a grandmother cleric of Andoletta for instance, difficult to play.

Edit: Also, this removes the need for the age resistance line of spells, so less clutter in the spell lists.

So I found this change very positive. Personally, I'd like information on playing young characters too, for adventures that try to capture the Steven Spielberg preteen adventure movie feel. However, I realize such a section would necessarily be several times longer than the current paragraph on age and aging, so it seem unrealistic for inclusion in the PF3e rulebook.

More about Whiteshaw:

• Whiteshaw (continued) The CDCI has long been institutionally divided between Constables, officers who work a regular patrol on the streets of Caliphas, and Inspectors, detectives who focus on more complex crimes. There is considerable friction between the two divisions. Both sides often hold unflattering opinions of the other division – constables view inspectors as wild-goose chasing pseudo-intellectuals, while inspectors view constables as incurious, intellectually lazy dullards. Not every constable or inspector holds these opinions, but enough do that interaction between the divisions is always fraught with tension. As Captain Hoptler started his career as a constable, as did multiple generations of his family before him, the division of constables usually comes out ahead in interdepartmental conflicts. One of Hoptler’s actions based on disdain for the inspectors’ division was expansion of the constables’ work area and the movement of the majority of the inspectors’ office space to Whiteshaw’s uncomfortable fourth floor. While the office rearrangement happened almost six years ago, grudges based on it still simmer. Further complicating matters, corruption exists in both divisions. Various constables and inspectors owe allegiance to Dr. Low's criminal syndicate, the vampires of Caliphas, Countess Caliphvaso, and other factions, tainting the department's efforts to stem crime and its reputation.

Next - NPCs of Whiteshaw!

Chris Nichols

Some notes on the district of Eskcourt:

Eskcourt (outlined in blue) is the beating heart of Caliphas, housing the palace and government buildings, the art district, and many businesses and cultural institutions.

• Whiteshaw

  As described in Pathfinder Adventure Path #47: Ashes at Dawn, Whiteshaw is the headquarters of the Caliphas Department of Constables and Investigators (sometimes shortened to CDCI). The cubic structure behind its low walls is named non-indicatively; the building and walls are gray, not white, and first time visitors to Caliphas are often confused by this (giving first-time visitors incorrect descriptions of Whiteshaw as a minor wild goose chase is a common prank).

  Once, Whiteshaw was an adequate headquarters for Caliphas’ law enforcement. But as Caliphas grew and especially since the city has become the new capital, the demand for expanded law enforcement has resulted in a building that is both understaffed and overcrowded. Captain Hoptler has worked to alleviate this by establishing a number of satellite stations – small offices that serve as a base of operations within a district. Station houses can be found in Blackwood, North Cushing, West Cushing, Dowell, Eskcourt, Hawthorne Rows, Leland, Valpole, Crossleigh, and Graystove.

  Behind its outer walls, Whiteshaw itself is a blocky building that looks half-finished in comparision to the more ornate and decorated architecture of Eskcourt. The first floor contains the various public-facing offices of the CDCI, booking, and assorted rooms used by the constables. The first floor is also the only entrance to Whiteshaw’s holding cells. The second floor houses more constables. The constables also claim part of the third floor, with the remainder housing Captain Hoptler’s office and some inspectors. The fourth floor is mostly occupied by the CDCI’s remaining inspectors. The offices on this level are notoriously stuffy. The basement level contains the holding cells, various supply and work areas. The sub-basement area contains Whiteshaw’s small morgue, overseen by Vicar Vyeden Moldenhauer (LN female human alchemist (vivisectionist) 5/cleric of Pharasma 3), and the begrudgingly allocated offices of the Bureau of Special Affairs (sometimes shortened to BSA). A discreet staircase leads from the Bureau of Special Affairs offices to an alcove next to one of Whiteshaw’s postern gates.

  One of Whiteshaw’s quirks is that while the holding cells in the basement and sub-basement levels run from B-01 to B-21 (or SB-01 to SB-21 on the lower level), there is no Cell B-13/Cell SB-13. There certainly used to be, but bad things happened when prisoners were put in the Thirteenth Cells. The prisoners died, or went mad, or disappeared. Eventually, the constables stopped using it after a guard was briefly locked in and apparently stabbed himself to death with his own sword. One of Captain Hoptler’s predecessors, Captain Georg Litlikker, became convinced that the cell numbers were the problem. If he simply eliminated the cursed thirteens, the problem would go away. Litlikker had new signs produced for the cells and changed B-13 and SB-13 to B-14 and SB-14 himself.

  A prisoner and a constable were found dead, one in B-14 and one in SB-14, the next morning. For twelve nights, B-14 claimed a constable and SB-14 claimed a prisoner, even when the entire building was emptied. On the morning after the thirteenth night, the cells opened again, this time disgorging foolish Captain Litlikker himself – half of him in B-14 and the other half in SB-14. After that, the thirteenth cells calmed down. As long as no-body is put into the two cursed cells, nothing happens. Everybody can safely pretend B-14 and SB-14 are normal cells, and if, on occasion, a prisoner who happens to be inconvenient to powerful people is booked into the wrong cell… Well, accidents do happen.

Sorry that took so long - was travelling, then had post-travel sickness. More on Whiteshaw and related NPCs soon.

Chris Nichols

Give us some more NPC one liners interspersed in the descriptions.

I'll try to include more NPCs in future posts. I've got some discussion of Diauden, advisor to Prince Ordronti and head of the Bureau of Special Affairs, planned for when I discuss Whitehall.

Thanks for the feedback!

Chris Nichols

More notes on the district of Dowell

Dowell is outlined in yellow.

• Silver Road (shown as a gray-blue line) is the route connecting the trade gate at Castle Balatz with the Coast Road. This broad road sees a constant flow of merchants and traders bringing their goods to Caliphas’ markets. Those new to importing goods to Caliphas’ are often frustrated by having to travel the longer route of the Silver Way after being turned away from the Skanegate.

• On the outskirts of Caliphas, the road known as Wolfbend hosts those wandering Varisians and their Sczarni cousins who visit the capital. The north side of the road is lined by a meadow wherein many wagons and campsites sit, filling the air with bright colors, music and voices, and the smells of cookfires. A small stand of trees on the far side of the meadow, called Deadmen’s Copse is avoided however. In 4459, mass hysteria and mob violence over alleged crimes by a Sczarni criminal family lead to the lynching of three dozen people, both innocent and guilty, one for each tree in the stand. The spot is still haunted and luminous spirits hanging from nooses appear in the trees each night.
  

Chris Nichols

Is there anything the people reading this list think Caliphas could use? Things that would be useful to others running games set in Caliphas?

Here are some items I want to cover in the future:

• More Dowell, then Eskcourt, Hawthorne Rows, Laurelight Hill, Leland, Valpole, Crossleigh, Graystove, and Wrenhyde
  
• Aspis Consortium compound
  
• Caliphas College
  
• Lamplighters Guild
  
• other guilds
  
• Department of Public Works
  
• Silver Way
  
• White Way
  
• Shaw Street
  
• Eskovir Keep (including City Hall, Mayor's Residence, City Courts, and Ornislovna Clocktower)
  
• the derro enclave of Voord
  
• bank/temple of Abadar
  
• Vojmorant Cemetery
  
• noble estates
  
• gentlemen's clubs
  
• hospital
  
• Neska Mining office
  
• industries in Graystove - stockyards, foundry, textile mills, porcelain
  
• Graybrume Lake
  
• bridges of Caliphas
  
• embassy building
  
• art district (theaters, galleries)
  
• cafes
  
• academic district
  
• publisher
  
• broadsheet offices
  
• Nidalese district
  
• Sczarni gathering place
  
• Wolfbend (road and Varisian campsite)
  
• museum of curiosities
  
• Seraph Dock
  
• some more haunted sites
  
• parks, gardens, other civic landmarks
  
• Anaphexia safehouse
  
• other factions within the capital and their holdings
  
• Caliphas' undercity and its divisions (Dr. Low's criminals, vampires, derro, rats, etc.)
  

Is there anything else that Caliphas needs?

Also, there have been others on the Paizo boards that have written interesting stuff about Caliphas and Ustalav. Try these threads:

• Expanding Caliphas: Vampires, Witches, Nobles and Other Dangerous Decadence
  
• Ustalav Government
  
• Does Ustalav Make Sense?
  
• And basically the entire Carrion Crown section of the Forum
  

Lastly, does anyone know anything about the Royal Accusers of Ustalav mentioned in Occult Mysteries? I haven't found any other references to this and if no conflicting information exists, I was considering just having it be an older name for the Bureau of Special Affairs.

Chris Nichols

Some notes on the district of Dowell:

Dowell is Caliphas’ northeastern district, surrounding the Eskmere. The district in largely composed of middle class to lower upper class homes.

• The cloudy waters of the Eskmere hug the city walls of Caliphas. Formed by the Tristevaso River as it flows southward, the Eskmere houses one of Caliphas’ more infamous haunted houses. On Suteflori Island, stands Szazvirag Manor. Once home to one of Caliphas’ elite families, the tragedy which struck in 4554 has left the island shunned. During a gala ball hosted by Destinee Szazvirag, youngest daughter of the Szazvirag family and a rising star of the Caliphas Comital Ballet, the young ingénue murdered everyone in attendance by flooding the house with poisonous gas. The subsequent investigation swiftly turned disastrous with most of the investigating party failing to return. The few who did reported that the island had changed. When they had set foot upon the island, the world became monochromatic, utterly drained of colors. The investigators found a ballroom full of fallen corpses whose spirits still danced and swirled to the tunes of a skull-faced orchestra, hallways where servants choked and died endlessly, rooms that shifted and warped, cloud of deadly vapors, windows that looked out on the dead Caliphas of the Whispering Tyrant’s reign, ancient spectres and shadows, throbbing drumming and chanting in ancient Kellid tongues from beneath the ground, and sudden surreal shifts in the surroundings. Some experts in supernatural phenomena have since speculated that the deaths of the ball attendees served as a tipping point, releasing the pent-up effects of a hidden history of horrors, unhinging Szazvirag Manor’s mooring in normal space and time, and transforming into a transition point between this world and some other, more strange and terrifying reality.
  Haunting (per Rule of Fear) wrote:

  Szazvirag Manor

  Nightmare House Without Color
  Master: --
  Inhabitants: danse macabre, ghost (Destinee Szazvirag), hounds of Tindalos, hungry fogs, shadow creature flying polyp (the Horror Bound Between), shadows, spectral Whispering Tyrant era undead, undead shadow lord Kellids, vampiric mists
  Hauntings: clouds of deadly gas, endlessly repeating moments of death, phantasmal time shifts, spatial distortions, surreal environmental alterations
  

Chris Nichols

Some notes on the district of West Cushing:

West Cushing (outlined in orange) contains upper-middle class and upper class residences and select businesses catering these classes.

• Hidden among the residences of West Cushing is The Widow’s Boudoir, a hidden brothel specializing in the intersection of sex and murder (discussed in Pathfinder Adventure Path #31: Stolen Land). The Widow’s Boudoir’s existence is an extremely closely-guarded secret and its clientele is a small, highly exclusive circle of the extremely wealthy and extremely depraved.

• The small military outpost known as Tower Janoglu stands on the spur of land known as Writhe Point. The tower houses a pair of searchlights used to illuminate the harbor during night-time disasters, storms, and police actions. Sirgut Janoglu was a Shining Crusade admiral who won a pitched battle against a force of undead sea serpents raised by Tar-Baphon to defend Caliphas in 3802. The skull of one of these monsters is still kept on display in the tower’s entry hall. Soldiers newly stationed at Janoglu Tower are sometimes told ghost stories about pinpoints of ghostly flame appearing in the skull’s eye sockets at night when all the lights go out.

• Golbanze Road runs from the Coast Road south to Castle Golbanze. The wastrels and rakehells of the Bleeding Heart Club own a villa, Villa Gelosia, along this road. Using the emblem of a bleeding-heart pidgeon, the club is widely believed to be an exclusive group of young noble heirs with more money than sense or taste, who join together to waste their money on women, alcohol, gambling, drugs, mild blasphemy, and humiliating their more straight-laced peers. They also dabble in breeding and raising beautiful bleeding heart pidgeons. What is kept hidden is that the Bleeding Heart Club is a cult of Shax, demon lord of lies and murder. On a monthly basis, the club gathers to ritually vivisect an unfortunate victim in Shax’s name. The members of the Bleeding Heart Club commit more murders than just Shax’s unholy sacrament but try to keep these to a minimum and to cover their tracks thoroughly. Unfortunately, this requires restraint and moderation – something in short supply among club members. Typically, the Bleeding Heart Club has between three and ten members at any given time.
  

Chris Nichols

Some notes on the district of North Cushing:

North Cushing (outlined in green) is home to a variety of small businesses and middle-class homes. The Coast Road runs through the heart of the district

• A several locations in North Cushing are discussed in Pathfinder Adventure Path #47: Ashes at Dawn. The Hound’s Tooth, Haraday Theater, and Crown and Carriage Livery Yard are all found in North Cushing.

• The grim façade of the Steel Steward Orphanage (outlined in yellow) harbors Caliphas’ orphans. The grim features of a massive statue of the Steward of the Skein look down from the orphanage’s façade. The wardens raise the children brought here in the grim traditions of the Pharasmin faith, sometimes enforcing the harsher elements of the Pharasmin Penitence.

• Caliphas’ artisan district (outlined in dark red) lies in North Cushing just off Coast Road. Skilled craftsmen produce the capital’s finest goods here. One of the largest and most up-scale establishments is The Nobleman’s Stitch (outlined in orange), a fine clothing store that occupies an entire block and is detailed in Pathfinder Adventure Path #47: Ashes at Dawn. Ravenwood Furnishings, makers of fine heirloom furniture, lies directly across the street. Their products are noted for their dark finishing and intricate avian-themed carvings.

• The enclave of Hawkshaw is wedged between the artisan district and the Eskmere. Many of Caliphas’ non-human citizens live in this confusing jumble of dwellings and alleys. Established shortly after the city’s refounding, eight hundred years of residents living in this small area have resulted in the neighborhood expanding both upward and downward, with stacked residences that in places lean against the city walls and basements and sub-basements that lead into Caliphas’ undercity.

• For travelers heading north on the Coast Road from Caliphas, Cavalier’s Charge Goods is the last place to stock up on supplies. Located at the intersection of Coast Road and Silver Way, the store’s emblem of three charging cavaliers on white mounts catches the eyes of passersby. Cavalier’s Charge has been owned by the Stokov family for generations. The owner Sen Stokov (LN male human expert 2/fighter 2) knows the dangers of Ustalav well, having served in the military in various capacities until his recent retirement. Thus, adventurous customers can find a variety of supplies critical for facing the many dangers found throughout Ustalav at Cavalier’s Charge.

• Running through West Cushing from Blackstove to West Cushing is the Coast Road (marked in gray). This highway connects the capital with Vellumis in Lastwall and the Ustalavic cities of Vauntil and Thrushmoor. The Coast Road deteriorates and eventually peters out in the sodden town of Illmarsh.
  

Chris Nichols

Some notes on the district of Blackwood

Blackwood (outlined in brown) is an upper class district nestle between academic district of Leland and the heights of Laurelight Hill. Here successful merchants and lesser nobles make their homes, raise their families, and keep their secrets.

• Blackwood Academy is Ustalav’s finest boarding school, training the minds of Ustalav’s heirs since 3886. Generations of young Blackwood students have gone on to positions of fame, wealth, and power, giving this all-boys school both ironclad traditions and powerful patrons. The school is also regarded as a fertile recruiting ground for a variety of clandestine agendas, including the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye, the Aspis Consortium, the Sleepless Agency, the Whispering Way, the city’s vampire population, and even the agents of Countess Carmilla Caliphvaso. While many of Blackwood Academy’s graduates go on to attend Lepidstadt University, some stay in Caliphas to attend the more practical Caliphas College.

• Blackwood Academy is not the district’s only educational institution. The Caliphvaso School for Girls educates promising young women, following the Caliphvaso family’s traditions of raising talented women to positions of power. While the school is not as old as Blackwood Academy, it graduates are fully as illustrious and come from a more diverse background due to the school’s aggressive recruiting and extensive scholarships. Countess Caliphvaso often takes personal interest in especially promising students, and other factions within Ustalav do as well. Due to the close proximity of the schools, students of Blackwood Academy and the Caliphvaso School for Girls often engage in clandestine dalliances, despite both schools officially restricting students to their respective campuses. The sole exception is the Yearend Ball, when the schools meet to mingle and receive instruction in social graces.

• The fenced woodland of the Poltvas Zoological Park lies on the eastern end of Blackwood, encompassing the small wood that gives the district its name. Here, creatures beautiful, ferocious, and strange have been collected from throughout Ustalav, Avistan, and beyond. Previously, Poltvas Zoological Park was known as the Caliphvaso Comital Menagerie and was open only to friends of the Caliphvaso family. The menagerie, at the time in a state of considerable disrepair, was sold to the Poltvas family by the current countess’ father. The Poltvases, loyal retainers of the Galdanas of Amaans, rebuilt the menagerie into a small but well-appointed private hunting park and zoo. When the park passed into the hands of Harran Poltvas (NG male human aristocrat 2/ranger 2), the young noble eliminated the private hunts, expanded the zoo with an eye toward scientific research and education, and opened its gate to the public, requiring only token donations for entry. Harran is always eager to bring in new creatures and sometimes hires adventurers to procure specific exhibits. He dismisses fears of dangerous creatures escaping and rumors of even stranger and more deadly exhibits hidden away, but accessible though secret private tours, with equal genial ease.

• Running between Blackwood and the district of Dowell is the Laurelight Stream (marked with a blue line), a small but still relatively pure waterway which flows down from a spring in the hills north of town, emptying into the channels known as the Tideditch. The area around the Laurelight Spring is closed off to the public as the private preserve of the six wealthiest families of Caliphas, led by the Caliphvasos. Thus, the beauty, privacy, and purity of the Laurelight waters are closed guarded by wealthy patrons. The Caliphas public works department uses the Laurelight as the source of the city’s fresh drinking water. Until 4609, Caliphas’ drinking water was drawn from sources upstream along the Tristevaso River, but following the cholera epidemic of the previous year, city engineers were allowed to access the Laurelight Stream.

• From its intersection with Silver Way in Dowell, the Crossleigh Road (marked in dark red) cuts east across Blackwood as it leads to the outlying borough of Crossleigh. The length of the road is lined with low stone walls, dotted with carvings of unusual grotesques. On nights when thunderstorms roll up from Lake Encarthan to drench Caliphas, a spectral carriage races down this road, the skeletal coachman furiously lashing his equally fleshless team until they vanish at the Silver Way intersection.
  

Chris Nichols

Some notes on the district of Ashtown:

Ashtown (outlined in orange) occupies the southeastern section of Caliphas' city center. Home to the East Docks, tenements, the gambling and prostitution of Lantern Street, smoke-belching industry, Ashtown is the center of Caliphas' urban blight.

• The Ashheap, a section of the district ruined by the explosion of a chemical works in 4677, lies just north of the East Docks and the Seventh Eye. The area has bad reputation, with rumors about the area being cursed or haunted cropping up regularly. A few strange folk dare to live in makeshift dwellings hidden among the rubble, and still stranger still lurk in the Ashheap's deeper reaches.

• The intersection of Ipston's Cross (marked in gray) and Ratpen Alley (marked in dark red) has been the site of a number of disappearances. An individual wearing a cloak and cane, and the sound of small dragging chains, has been connected to these incidents.

• Near the dangerous intersection of Ipston's Cross and Ratpen Alley, stands the ruined St. Ipston's Church, abandoned after decades of fatal accidents and structural failures. A nosferatu lairs in the sub-basement, having driven out the previous occupants. He (or she; no name yet) submits to the authority of Luvick Siervage, but is secretly allied with the returned Viscount Oilic Galdyce.

• Running the length of Ashtown's southern shore is Fume End, a strip of factories and workshops which produce the smoke and ash that give the district its name. The largest industrial sites are the Redstag Cannery and Klapotke Dye and Paint Works, situated closest to Hawthorne Rows, while the eastern portion of Fume End is occupied by unsafe workhouses and sweatshops run by cruel overseers.

• Just one block over from the businesses of Barragaro Road is Lantern Street, lined with filthy dives, seedy brothels, crooked gambling parlours, and debauched drug dens, most owned and operated as part of Dr. Low's criminal empire. At night, the glow of red glass lanterns makes the street seem to be something out of a blood-soaked fever dream.

• Once the garish temptations of Lantern Street give way to tenements, one can find Brookman's Alley (marked in blue), Caliphas' most haunted street (as discussed in Pathfinder Adventure Path #47: Ashes at Dawn). Aside from the full moon's bloody hopscotch game, numerous other haunts and entities plague the street some dating back to the reign of the Whisering Tyrant. Fortunately, the unquiet dead of Brookman's Alley are limited to the alley itself; they can not leave the alley or enter any of the buildings lining it. The pragmatic natives of Ashtown have managed to deal with the hauntings by bricking up all the doors and windows that face the alley.

• The Seventh Eye serves as the seat of the inscrutable Dr. Low's criminal network (as discussed in Pathfinder Adventure Path #47: Ashes at Dawn). This incongruous building, with its pagoda-inspired architecture, houses not only a restaurant, but also a market selling exotic foreign foods and goods and a school offering lessons in Tian philosophy, language, culture, and history. On the highest floor of The Seventh Eye are Dr. Low's private quarters, supposedly of magnificent exotic decadence. Beneath lies chambers that house the workings of myriad criminal undertakings - laboratories for drugs and poisons, dungeons for kidnapped victims and slaves, storerooms for smuggled goods, vaults for stolen loot, workrooms and armories for planning crimes and equipping criminals. Tunnels running through Caliphas' undercity connect The Seventh Eye with Traitor's Drop for easy disposal of bodies.

• The East Docks are the smaller of Caliphas' docks. Here, the dockhands are rougher, the water fouler, the cargoes less lucrative, the captains shadier, and the shadows deadlier. Being further away from Castle Mashir and the Harbormaster's watchful eye, the East Docks also have a higher level of crime. Dr. Low's business interests have the two slips closest to The Seventh Eye and the Ashheap on permanent reserve.
  

Chris Nichols

In preparation for a Pathfinder campaign based in Ustalav, I wanted to get a firm grasp of Caliphas in mind. On reading the article in Pathfinder Adventure Path #47: Ashes at Dawn, however I found that none of the city districts were labeled on the map.

So, I decided to make an expanded map with districts, a few missing locations from other Pathfinder products, and some new locations to flesh the city out. It's just a mock-up in MS Paint, but so far I like it.

Here's the modified map of Caliphas:

• Caliphas, The Fog-Haunted Capital

There are still some things that need to be added - a hospital, stockyards, a lighthouse, a label on the collapsed area in Ashtown. I'm quite open to suggestions for further locations as well.

The idea is to make Caliphas feel like a living city, serving as the PCs home base. The PCs will be new hires working under Diauden, the prince's advisor, as agents of the Bureau of Special Affairs.

Chris Nichols

Do dreamers in Golarion (at least those who dream deeply enough) reach the same regions of the Dreamlands as the dreamers of Earth? True, there is overlap with Leng and Kadath, but what of dream-places more closely attuned to humanity? Do Golarion's dreamers find themselves in the regions of Celephaïs, Dylath-Leen, Ulthar, Oriab, Ilarnek, and so forth, or have the collective dreams of Golarion created new regions further afield?

hellharlequin wrote:

Giant vultures(Huge CG Mountain/desert guardian with a dry Laconic wit)

Yeah, carrion birds get a raw deal. Ravens get romanticized every now and then, but the poor vulture?

Player: What do you mean he's CG? He's a vulture!

Vulture Guardian Guy: Ooooh! So now I'm the badguy! Guess you want dead bodies bloating and festering in the sun after you've looted them, spreading disease instead of letting someone get on with the circle of life in peace.

Player: ...well...no...

Vulture Guardian Guy: Okay then. ......so, you gonna eat that? points at dead party member/follower/BBEG

Yes! Though in my case, I want a hyena agathion in this role, with a big grudge against Lamashtu. Scavengers are a very important part of the ecosystem, but they always get cast as villains. And hyenas are awesome.

As you've said, we need more Dark Is Not Evil trope monsters.

I'm pretty sure that FC1 contains some subtext that allows careful readers to piece together the names of some of the demon lords who captured the Malgoth, but I don't think any of them were the names you mentioned from the Eric Boyd source (which I assume was the Savage Tide adventure). In any event, the clues in FC1 were, I think, in the Wells of Darkness section as well as in another section about a hunting ground layers, but I'll be damned if I can remember specific details.

Having finally gotten the relevant back-issues of Dungeon and Dragon in the mail, I can safely say that the Eric Boyd article in Dragon #357 is the only source that definitively names the demon lords who fought the Malgoth (given as Ansitif the Befouler (also called Ansitif of the Shining Void), Cyndshyra of the Seven Torments, Felex'ja the Tiger King, Ixinix the Lord of Blackwater, Qij-na the Shattered, Rhindor'zt the Black Prince, and Wejindhastala the Tempest).

None of the demon lords involved are actually named in the Shadows of Istivin/Wrath of the Abyss trilogy.

Ansitif is mentioned as the Malgoth's foe in Fiendish Codex 1... maybe the hint relates to the four demon lords who escaped the Wells of Darkness?

Chris Nichols

CNichols wrote:

I've got one of these worked up myself. If it isn't a problem, I'll post a simplified version listing just the demon lords, their areas of concern, and their Abyssal layers to the thread.

James, would that be OK?

Chris Nichols

Go right ahead!

Cool! I'll post these in blocks of ten, just to make things easier for myself. Here we go...

--

Demon Lord / Areas of Concern / Layer / Sources

Abbadon / anarchy, locusts, havoc, famine / The Bottomless Pit / Book of Fiends

* Abbadon is the father of Deskari, who is striving to replace Abbadon. Possibly, the Bottomless Pit is the Grand Abyss (Layer 4) or a part of it.

Abraxas / magic, forbidden lore (Pf 18); magic words, arcane secrets, talismans (FC1); magic, occult lore, dangerous secrets (BoF) / Pleroma (Pf 18, BoF); Death's Reward (17) (FC1) / Pathfinder 18, Fiendish Codex 1, Book of Fiends, Monster Manual II (1st ed)

* Abraxas is covered extensively in Pathfinder 18 and the rest of the Second Darkness Adventure Path, as well as in Book of Fiends. Presumably there will be further detail in the second Book of the Damned. Pleroma is probably another name for Death's Reward (Layer 17) (or the name of a major geographical feature therein).

Adimarchus / insanity / Occipitus (507) / Fiendish Codex 1, Shackled City Adventure Path (Dungeon #116)

* Fallen celestial; probably dead following the events of the Shackled City Adventure Path.

Ahazu / night, abduction / The Wells of Darkness (73) / Fiendish Codex 1, Savage Tide Adventure Path (Dungeon #148), Book of Fiends, Monster Manual II (1st ed)

* Vestige; see also the 'Ahazu Ascendant' Continuing the Campaign option for the Savage Tide Adventure Path in Dungeon #150

Ahrimanes / wanderers, exiles / Ahriman-abad (452) / Fiendish Codex 1, Monster Manual II (1st ed)

* Apparently Ahrimanes was mentioned in some articles for Dragon Magazine by Gary Nolian and listed as a female there in; I don't have access to these at the moment

Aldinach / sand, scorpions (Pf 18); transformation (FC1) / Sea of Whispering Sands (Pf 18); Pazunia (1) / Pathfinder 18, Fiendish Codex 1, Book of Fiends, Monster Manual II (1st ed)

* Differing versions appear in Pathfinder 18 and Fiendish Codex 1. See discussion in the thread above.

Alrunes / protection, sisterhood / - / Fiendish Codex 1, Monster Manual II (1st ed)

* There's very little information on Alrunes, so there's lots of room for development here. (See above for a possible description of Alrunes.)

Alvarez / inquisition, torture / Torturous Truth (57) / Fiendish Codex 1, Faces of Evil

* If they aren't actually the same being, Alvarez and Azidahaka (Book of Fiends) are certainly implacable enemies, each accusing the other of harboring lawful tendencies.

Alzrius / fire, destruction / Conflagratum (601) / Fiendish Codex 1, Hellbound, Polyhedron #135, Dragon #270 (possibly)

* Alzrius seems like a demon lord that's ripe for further development. For instance, what is his relationship with other fire related demon lords like Flauros and Kardum? Or with cold related lords like Kostchtchie and Aseroth?

Anarazel / adventurers (FC1); fear, bravery, material wealth, adventurers (BoF) / The Emessu Tunnels (79) (FC1); The Caves of Chaos (BoF) / Fiendish Codex 1, Book of Fiends, Monster Manual II (1st ed)

* It might be interesting to develop NPC adventurers and adventuring bands sponsored by Anarazel. The Caves of Chaos is probably another name for the Emessu Tunnels. (What does Emessu mean?)

--

Of course, all of these demon lords could use a full Demonomicon style write-up, with information on stats (possibly using the demon lord template from Dragon #359), appearances, goals, cults, minions, and realms, including thrall PrCs, demonic initiate info, and thaumaturge obediences (for those who don't have them from Book of Fiends).

Lots of stuff for enterprising DMs to develop!

Chris Nichols

Howdy.

I really love the demon lords presented in Pathfinder #18, but I'm not running a Golarion based game at the moment. What I am doing is compiling and expanding on the material in Fiendish Codex 1 and the Demonomicon articles (and Book of Fiends and whatever else seems fun). So, I'm looking to integrate the Pathfinder demon lords back into the standard 3.5 era Abyss (and any Golarian gods that would logically dwell in the Abyss on the Great Wheel).

Heck, any ideas on integrating Pathfinder planar stuff back to the Great Wheel would be cool.

Here's some of the basic ideas:

* Abraxas (Pathfinder) is Abraxas (FC1) is Abraxas (Book of Fiends). Pleroma is another name for Death's Reward.

* I have absolutely no idea how to reconcile the very different versions of Aldinach in FC1 and Pathfinder #18. Maybe the FC1 version is what the Pathfinder version evolved into?

* Andirifkhu is Shaktari's daughter.

* By an interesting coincidence, parts of the names of Andir(ifkhu) and (Sifk)esh add up to the loumara lord Sifkhu, implying some sort of connection.

* Baphomet (Pathfinder) is Baphomet (FC1). The Ivory Labyrinth is another name for the Endless Maze.

* Cyth-V'sug is an obyrith (as are all the demon lords listed as qlippoths). Also, he is Zuggtmoy's father.

* Dagon (Pathfinder) is Dagon (FC1). Ishiar is another name for the Shadowsea.

* Deskari is the son of Abbadon (Book of Fiends), and thriving to replace him entirely.

* Flauros (Pathfinder) is Flauros (Book of Fiends).

* Haagenti (Pathfinder) is Haagenti (FC1) is Haagenti (Book of Fiends). Cerebulim, the Hermetic Horizon is another name for Garavond.

* Jezelda is the implacable enemy of Abyssal powers Eshebala and Daragor.

* Jubilex (Pathfinder) is Juiblex (FC1). The Undersump is a specific underground region of Shedaklah.

* Kostchtchie (Pathfinder) is Kostchtchie (FC1). Skyscar is another name for the Iron Wastes.

* The much, much cooler Pathfinder version of Lamashtu takes presidence over the imprisoned FC1 version. While she was at one point imprisoned in Torremor, Lamashtu escaped long ago and ascended to godhood. She actively wars with Pazuzu. She is a deadly rival of Yeenoghu.

* Mazmezz is Obox-ob's sister (broodmate?).

* Nocticula (Pathfinder) is Nocticula (FC1), but generally not Nocticula (Book of Fiends) save for some details. The Midnight Isles are the primary geographic feature of Darklight; Ablinikarn, the Evershifting Vale is the interior region of one the isles and the seat from which Nocticula rules. Like Shami-Amourae, Xinivrae, and Lynkhab, Nocticula is one of Malcanthet's rivals.

* Orcus (Pathfinder) is Orcus (FC1). Obviously.

* Pazuzu (Pathfinder) is Pazuzu (FC1). Shibaxet is a gigantic earthburg floating within Torremor.

* Shax (Pathfinder) is Shax (Book of Fiends).

* Socothbenoth (Pathfinder) is Socothbenoth (FC1) is Socothbenoth (Book of Fiends). He hates Graz'zt for rivaling his prowess as a seducer, but also secretly desires him.

* Zevgavizeb is the father of Laogzed, possibly with a lost female aspect of the World Serpent or other reptilian goddess.

* Zura wars with the vampire god Kanchelsis.

And here's some other thoughts on things Abyssal, including a few questions for Mr. Mona and/or Mr. Jacobs, if they have a moment.

* Ahrimanes is called Chief of the Cacodaemons in FC1. In the context of FC1 and 3.5 D&D what exactly is a cacodaemon?

* In the Demonomicon article in the final issue of Dragon Magazine, Ardat's entry makes no mention of her other area of concern - secret and failing marriages. Is there a particular reason for this? What lore might be added to Ardat's write-up to reflect this?

* Do all demon lords have an associated thrall prestige class?

* A description of Alrunes: Alrunes appears as a ghostly figure of an achingly beautiful elven woman, floating a foot or two off the ground, in the center of a cloud of mist. Her ears are exaggerated far beyond those of mortal elves, stretching to long, thin points a full 16 inches from base to tip. A complex rune is drawn upon her brow; more runes appear and disappear within the surrounding fog. Beneath her feet, the ground rolls and boils, as rocks thrust from the surface, new plants burst to life, and ghostly snakes crawl forth. The only color interupting the ghostly milk-white of Alrunes form are her eyes, which glow electric blue. Alrunes cradles a large, thick scroll in one arm. This decidedly unghostly item is Alrunes weapon, its seemingly endless length wrapping around foes or slicing them with razor-sharp edges, and also serves as a spellbook, containing all of Alrunes knowledge of magic, protections, runes, plant lore, the names of her cultist sisters, and many other secrets.

* A description of Cabiri: Cabiri appears as a moon-like orb floating high above the ground. Many eyes of various sizes and hues pock its nauseating orange surface, shifting aimlessly. A sonorous, many-toned voice issues from a puckered, lamprey-like mouth on one side of the globe.

* A description of Laraie: A shaggy green centaur with four arms and a back covered in porcupine quills. His head resembles a fleshy jack-o-lantern, glowing from within with eerie green light. He bears two mighty compound bows, one on each side, and a quiver of many-colored arrows. He leaves a trail of sizzling hoofprints in his wake, wisps of green vapor rising from them.

* Rhindor'zt, the Black Prince, is the father of Rhyxali and Graz'zt. His name is evidence ([Rhi]dor'zt for [Rhy]xali, and Rhidor['zt] for Graz['zt]). While the mating of Pale Night and Rhindor'zt alone brought Rhyxali into being, the birth of Graz'zt was somewhat different. Following the defeat of the Malgoth, Rhindor'zt retreated to Pale Night's embrace to recover. However, instead of tending to Rhindor'zt's wounds, Pale Night bound the Black Prince as a vessel for a vast darkness, an unknown and unfathomably powerful entity, that had come to sire Graz'zt upon the Mother of Demons. The terrible mating destroyed Rhindor'zt, and the son that was born of the betrayal stole the title of Black Prince as his own. (See the Demonomicon article for speculation on the nature of Graz'zt [i]true[\i] father.)

* A description of Volisupula: Volisupula appears as a flensed humanoid dressed in a long skirt of flayed skin. Each leg ends in a knot of snake tails that Volisupula slithers forward upon. Volisupula has a single breast on the left side of her chest, and her gut is slit open, a flensed serpent emerging from her gut. Trailing detached sleeves of flayed skin gird Volisupula's arms and his hands are four-fingered with long sharp claws. Volisupula's skinless face is fiendish, but largely human, with pure black orbs rolling wetly in her eyesockets. She bear six horns - two of a goat above her brow, two of a ram above where her ear would be, and two of an antelope from just behind the crown of her skull. The skinless tail of a snake extends from the nape of Volisupula's neck, long and lashing, edged with dagger-sharp rib bones. A crown of gold, platinum and silver, encrusted with many gems and wreathed in blue flame, floats above Volisupula's head. Volisupula wears dozens of necklaces, rings, bracelets, and other bits of jewelry, many of are magical in nature. [I choose to make Volisupula a hermaphrodite because FC1 lists Volisupula as the Flensed Marquesse (the feminine form of marquis), but does [i]not[\i] list her as one of the female demon lords.]

OK, I think that's everything for the moment. Hopefully some ideas about Pathfinder and the Abyss will get stirred up and maybe some questions answered.

Thanks,

Chris Nichols