| D6-shooter |
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Got my own pet theory. Aroden's existence as the God of Humanity involved the expectation that he would lead all of humanity into a golden age that would last for centuries, if I recall. However, perhaps it seemed to him - being a god, and thus more aware of things to come - that at the end of the prophesied period for the Golden Age of Humanity, things would decline. Think of it: centuries, perhaps even millenia of relative peace and prosperity for all of mankind across all of Golarion. And, by implication (to my thinking) no new discoveries, no need to hone society against ills from within and without. In short, the coming of the Golden Age would sew the seeds of its own undoing. Humanity would eventually become complacent, and as above, note that the period of prosperity came packaged with an expiration date.
This is the way I've always considered it: Aroden knew that if he brought the world into this Golden Age, humanity would be unprepared to deal with the horrors coming from Beyond and from within at the end of the grace period that he could grant, the likes of which would render the whole Golden Age a mistake. Bound by fetters of fate and prophesy that even he could not easily resist, he went to the only resident deity with Prophesy in her portfolio: Pharasma.
He made a pact with her on the eve of the prophesy's fulfillment: In order to undo the prophesy, it would require her to sacrifice that aspect of her portfolio, and would also require him to sacrifice his very being. Believing that, in the long run, this would be the best thing for Humanity, he went through with it.
Pharasma lost access to much of her powers of prophesy (a fact jealously guarded by the very highest among her faithful), and Aroden lost his life. The Age of Lost Omens, and the disappearance of Aroden, are - to my mind - the result of assisted suicide. Humanity, without its patron deity or the powers of Prophesy to lead them, would be forced to face the darkness alone, and thus either learn to conquer it or be conquered by it.
The Golden Age of Humanity quietly promised strife afterward. By trading his life to allow the strife to come first, he offered humanity the best thing that he could: A chance to establish an Age of Heroes, and to prove themselves worthy of it.
That's my interpretation of events, at any rate.