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Tabsagal was invented by me and included in the Pathfinder Society article way back in Pathfinder #1. :) It has not been forgotten! We may even return there in a big way some day. It's certainly one of the most interesting and historically important locations in the Windswept Wastes, if not all of Casmaron. Kudos to Brinebeast for dredging this stuff up! These types of minor references are very, very helpful!
I've currently placed them northeast of Qadira, which makes a bit more sense once you see some edits I've made to the mountain ranges around there. Imagine a wall of mountains to the east of Qadira, with an opening to the south which leads to "Mishyria" and "Midea," which take up the coastal lands to about the point where Kardaji Bay dips to the south. The Parchlands are north of "Mishyria", and are themselves surrounded by mountains. East of the eastern mountains are the lands of the Windswept Wastes (Ninshabur, etc.), which extend east all the way to the Castrovin Sea.
So I didn't think I could be interested in Casmaron, having been turned off when I saw "100 mahajanapadas and 1000 gods" for Vudra and deemed it excessive. I must say though, this thread (and of course Erik Mona) makes some persuasive arguements. It'd be nice I think to eventually have some Lost Omens book about it, to expand and shine some light on the region like Tian Xian is. Though of course it has some steep competition, as there even still parts of Garund and Avistan that could use the attention. Nevertheless, this is exciting! Hope to one day see more in some release. With Mythic Rules announced for War of Immortals, it's not entirely unreasonable to think that will be the case someday. I appreciate the sentiment! Also I want to make really really clear that we have NO Casmaron Lost Omens book in development, and my current project is more an attempt to gather all of the lore we have already leaked out and try to make sure that it fits to a cohesive plan, so that when we finally DO schedule a Casmaron book, that critical research phase will have already been completed. Until that happens, it's frankly impossible to slate a book like this in, because the pre-work is just too intense. Frankly, this is the kind of info-gathering/connection-making task that I enjoy working on in my free time, so as the person who invented most of Casmaron originally and the person who has been loosely tracking its development from the beginning, it makes sense for me to take the lead on gathering what we already know. Now, that's not to say there is an infinite timeline before we actually use some of this stuff. This sort of framework also makes "drop-in" adventures, scenarios, and other development a lot more possible, because it'll be less likely to get some obscure fact wrong, or close some door we'd prefer to leave open for future development (and so on). As I said above, this project kicked into high gear for a short piece I wrote for a book that will be coming out in 2024, and there will be a substantial use for it in 2025, about which I am sure you will be hearing a great deal in short oder. :)
Hey Erik, while you are looking at Casmaron, please don’t forget the Panotti. I haven't figured out how they fit in just yet (need to re-read that old module, for starters!), but thanks to this thread I have flagged them for further investigation. Really appreciate folks finding little references like this. It is extremely helpful!
Let's check in with one of my favorite threads. Since the last time I posted here in July, I've moved myself and all my stuff across the country from Seattle to Minneapolis. I've had my Casmaron map and notes with me the whole time, and have been doodling, note-taking, and thinking about it all along. A few weeks ago, when I finally found and unpacked the right boxes, I started delving into this again more seriously, especially leading up to and following my small Casmaron-related freelance chunk for an upcoming Paizo project, which I turned in about a month ago. I wanted to check in and offer a few updates on where my head's at and where things are going. For starters, we're leaning very heavily on the ancient world for cultural parallels and inspiration. This means not just a general embrace of the Persian elements of the Kelesh heartland, but also a look at the various cultures absorbed by and incorporated by it over the millennia. That last word carries a LOT of weight in this part of the world, because we're talking about almost 10,000 years of things happening, with frankly a lot of what we know (or what is implied) taking place during the Age of Legends, without a specific year rooting it to part of recorded history. Even though it feels like I have made a ton of progress connecting dots, seeking out obscure references, and so on, it's VERY MUCH an evolving picture, drawn for now in fairly broad stereotypes to make sure that the cultures and enthography make sense, particularly when it comes to human ethnicities. So we know a lot of "right now" place names (Zelshabbar, Ayyarad, Khattib) and the Qadira book gives a lot of hints about how it might all fit together, but some stuff I feel like I am starting to "know" is more general than specific for now, or rooted in Golarion's ancient past and thus more foundational than anything that sheds a ton of light upon the current situation. For example, I'm very much in favor of converting the mainland coast east of Iblydos from the northern jungles of Khattib (as suggested by the crude world map) to more of a stand-in for Canaan, Phoenicia, and the Levant. So there should be non-Khattibi and non-"Greek" humans there, and it's important to figure out where they come from before we figure out "the deal" with the modern incarnation of those states. So right now that place is called "Canaan Coast," and as we continue to layer on detail and extrapolate throughout the _long_ history of the region, the specific details will become more clear. Incidentally, I've currently got the mountain region east of that coast as an expy for the ancient Hittites, but we'll see how it all lands on the other side of the process. I can confirm that those southern jungles ARE Khattib, and thus the southeastern extent of Kelesh rubs right up against Vudra. I'm also placing the original homeland of the susianams on one of the islands off the coast of Khattib proper--it seems obvious that these folks worship Oathos, who is also said to be worshipped in Khattib. My current take on Midea is somewhat different than Morhek's, from the map posted a few comments up. With Khattib in the southeast jungles and "Canaan Coast" to the immediate east, I see that south central coast of Kelesh being the most likely spot for Midea and Mishyria, which I see as colonies of "Ancient Iblydos" (think Minoan Crete) who eventually grew into their own Mycenae sort of situation before eventually being conqured by and absorbed into Kelesh proper. I don't think it was the author's original intent, but the "Aishmayar culture" that originally inhabited this region (and founded Katheer even further west) probably _is_ this Mycenae-type Hellenic culture. I liked the idea suggested in this thread that the Tzorehiyi inhabit the Whistling Plains, which I'm putting east of Galt and Taldor, on the other side of the mountains from the Windswept Wastes and the ruins of Ninshabur. So we're gonna do that. That also gets them out of the Grass Sea so they cam be distinct from the kara people (to whom they are related), which is probably for the best. It also adds a little interest to the "between maps" part of Taldor's Eastern frontier, which is certainly in the best interest of that nation, which can use more interesting places to adventure and more adventure hooks in general. Incidentally, did you know that a bunch of emigrating Galtan nobles virtually run one of the most important cities in Iobaria? I thought that was pretty cool! Anyway, still lots do develop, lots of dots to connect, and lots of revisions up ahead, but I wanted to swing by and thank everyone on this thread again for your interest and enthusiasm. :)
Spent most of the day tracking Casmaron lore yesterday, as a bit of a reward for myself after months of ceaseless packing so I can send most of my stuff across the country in anticipation of a big move. One of the things holding us back from more intense development on Casmaron (other than the issue that we have lots of other stuff we want to do that is further along) is that we don’t really have a proper map for it even within Paizo. Casmaron has always been a “we’ll get to it later” sort of place to date, and with that being the case it has actually been quite helpful for development purposes to have large swaths of “blank slate” to allow for future development. The “vast” desert known as the Parchlands, for example, plays a fairly important though minor role in the Steange Aeons adventure path, but it never existed in anyone’s conception of the continent. That’s great for “I need a desert over here” kind of development, but years later fitting something like this into the map is a bit of a puzzle. Add to that the fact that tidbits are, almost 20 years after we made it up, spread out over tons of sources and are often fairly small contributions in nature, and things can get a bit murky. Then there are treasure-troves of information like Qadira: Jewel of the East and Distant Shores, which drop all kinds of info and implications but provide nothing helpful in the way of actual maps, and you’ve got a bit of a puzzle. Fortunately, I like puzzles. So I’m finally, at long long last, working on a proper Casmaron map. This IS NOT for a project we are currently working on (though a bit of Casmaron writing _is_ on my docket this month), but such a tool IS a requirement for future development. For an “undetailed” continent, there really is a great deal of content, and until we do this the risk of stepping on each other’s toes grows more and more significant. A couple of observations: 1) I think it’s possible to identify or extrapolate _most_ of Kelesh’s satrapies, largely from the ethnicity and religion sections of the aforementioned Qadira book. 2) I’d eventually like to do some draft maps by age, because Casmaron’s history is _DEEP_, and involves lots of interesting ancient cultures. It is broadly also more heavily influenced by ancient history thematically than Medieval or early modern history, which I personally find very exciting. 3) I’d really like to spend some time soon staking out the Iblydos side of this. The setting would really benefit from a Minoan Crete analog that could speak to stuff like Mycenae and add some depth to the history of Kelesh along the continent’s southern coast. My current take is that some of those early coastal Keleshite satrapies were probably originally tied up with this earlier pre-Greek “Minoan” culture. I wonder in particular about spots like Midea, Mishyria, and the original lands of the Aishmayar cities. Lots of opportunity here. 3) The jungle land of Khattib, sandwiched between Midea/Kelesh and Vudra, is very ripe for additional development. I think there’s room for some jungle trimming along the northwest coast of this area on the big world map to create some room for some riffs on Canaan and the Sea Peoples cultures of the Bronze Age Collapse era of our own history. Still kind of noodling this, but the potential is there. 4) When you start mapping this to that giant (low-detail) Golarion map, the Grass Sea and Karazh is very centrally located on the continent, leaving HUGE swaths of eastern Casmaron entirely blank except for a lightly penciled word “Kaladay” over it. The same is definitely true of the region north and northeast of the Castrovin sea. Not ALL of the nations of Casmaron should riff on real human ancient cultures, and there is a TON of room on the existing map for purely creative “original” kingdoms, which I find quite exciting. I’ll be tinkering with this for a long time. Much to consider….
I've been reviewing this thread recently for... reasons, and I wanted to chime in here and say that Voradni Voon was active in south-central Casmaron, where he threw down several cities before venturing to the Isle of Kortos. If we ever get to developing Casmaron in a serious way, it would be fun to delve into this a bit. Centaurs are of course prevalent throughout Casmaron, but I can confirm that minotaurs also exist far from Iblydos.
Here is a direct link to the ORC License Seminar at Gen Con this year. I am not yet certain if the panel will be recorded on video, but we'd love to see you if you are at the show and have questions about the license!
I would have liked to have seen something about the seemingly infinite growth of the attribution section. I feel like that's going to be a bit problematic as time goes on. It was only marginally problematic when you had to also reproduce a 900-word license, so we're hoping that by not having to do that in the future, folks with larger attribution sections will still come in with a smaller license footprint than they had under the OGL.
I cannot say I’m pleased with the removal of alignment. I understand many have misgivings about it but that’s a massive change to the lore of the Great Beyond. I’m having flashbacks of 4th Edition. We don't plan to change the structure of the Great Beyond, so if the alignment aspect underpinning the organization and various interrelationships between the planes is important to you, don't expect any major changes to the lore that will frustrate you.
I suggest attending Jason's livestream this afternoon as well as our panels at PaizoCon (especially), which will go into greater detail on specific changes. Yes. Different streams.
Dumb question that doesn't matter just curious. If Player core 2 replaces the apg why are 4 core classes iconics on the cover instead of the 4 apg classes? These are mock-up covers, and will be replaced when the new final covers come in. Watch this blog in the coming days for an early peek at what they will look like!
With all this remaster announcement and ORC license stuff nearly behind me and a clear writing schedule ahead I do think I might get back to working on it soon, though. Of course, we'll then have to find an appropriate slot, etc. I haven't given up on it yet! :)
Will this make an early access at Gencon? No, but the books will have been sent to the printer several weeks before and it's not inconceivable that we may have some printer samples to display at Gen Con. Would certainly be very cool.
I suspected the alignment part would generate some conversation. I'm sure Jason will go into this a little deeper in today's stream, but just because we are removing the classic nine-alignment grid does not mean we are abandoning the idea of certain creatures being "good" or "evil" in a cosmic sense. The significant majority of Pathfinder rules regarding alignment hinge on that aspect, so expect the remastered books to cover this in a way that doesn't wreck the champion or demons, for example.
We announce new products roughly 10 months in advance of when they come out, with new ones rolling out every month. The best solution is to watch product solicitations as they come out, and take a look at the prices. We're not raising prices on everything, but I wouldn't be surprised to see huge books like that come with a higher asking price next time around.
The Absalom book has a short section on sports on page 44. The game of ruk, from Katapesh, is a team sport involving knocking a sand-filled ball through a series of rings. Deskata is a sort of urban parkour race increasingly popular in the Puddles.
This is a result of a continuity error in PFS scenarios, wherein an identical character was introduced years apart, with different names. The original events are (if memory serves) from the interactive special event "Grand Convocation 4712," where she appeared under a different name we have since retconned to match Sarnia. Her original name was Kamarina Blakros.
Imrizade is simply the twins' oldest sister. They are not triplets. When Imrizade fled from Absalom, she left Michellia holding the bag.
Are minotaurs native to the Isle of Kortos? In that they have inhabited the island since the era of the First Siege, yes. They were brought to the island from Casmaron by the warlord Voradni Voon in the early decades of Absalom's history, and have inhabited portions of the island ever since.
Leafing through a friend’s copy after reading that lovely fiction piece from the blog, and I’m a little disappointed to see that both Jalmeri characters in the book are unrelated martial artists. I hope we can see a little more variety in the future. Fair! One of those NPCs was added very late in the game as a new watch captain, which accounts for at least a bit of parallel development there. Without him, there'd be only one Jalmeri character, though, so I'm not sure that's much better! There are lots of Vudran characters you could pretty easily modify to have Jalmeri connections, however, so with a bit of elbow grease not all is lost. ;)
I call it Absalom, city of Lost Omens, and the cover goes with that because we didn’t want to repeat Lost Omens there. It is, none the less, in the Lost Omens line, so it gets catalogued that way on the website. Call it what you want. :)
Seems strange to make this so long after the original release. Are the contents the same? Contents will be in line with the most recent print edition. I’m almost all cases (at least for now) that’s still the first, but it’s conceivable that we will have a reprint with changes before we get to the Special Edition. In that case we will go with the most recent standard edition printing.
Very nice. Are we going to see the entire Lost Omens line be deluxified now? I'd prefer deluxe versions, but if it is going to be sporadic it will look weird. Yes, we intend to do all of them monthly starting in July until we catch up, and then plan to release them day and date from that point forward if they sell well enough. People have been asking for these from the start, and since we are so proud of the Lost Omens line and it is doing so well, we figured let’s give it a shot!
Faux leather covers with a metallic ink process to make it shiny and a bound-in ribbon for marking your place. Limited edition, about $20 more than the regular price on account of premium materials. Game content is exactly the same.
It's this. The mistake I made with the Absalom book is in dwelling too much on a very sensitive topic. Yes, the PFS plotline helped by removing legal slavery from the city, but I should have just let well enough alone, mentioning that it had happened in the timeline and then moving on to any of a countless number of other evils. Instead I wanted to flesh out the context more, and make the change a more holistic part of the setting while still giving a few illegal baddies for people to kill. The thing is, with this topic, that's too much. People just hate it in the setting period. We really should not have put it in there in the first place. Trying to deal with "phasing it out" within the context of the story adds fuel to the fire and makes people even more uncomfortable. It's not worth it. So while I suspect the word may come up a time or two in the future, we're just not going to be covering it going forward. A few in-production items might reference it still, but it's no longer going to be a notable part of the Golarion campaign setting. If you want to write a big adventure where people burn Okeno to the ground to have it all make sense within the fiction of the campaign world, you are free to do so. But we are not going to.
Got email about poster map being added - it only seems to have been added to the File per Chapter download (or at least, I've re-downloaded the single file version 4 times and I don't get the 8-panel map in the zip file or the pdf). I would also ask someone to check the resolution of the map download, which looks amazing zoomed out or at 100% zoom, but that's probably the best resolution to view it at, which makes it less useful for looking at small areas (such as individual districts, let alone individual blocks). We're looking into this and will likely update the file next week when we get back to the office (metaphorically speaking...).
I'm going off memory and on my way to a meeting, operating on my increasingly failing memory rather than notes, but I think the aspect of "kill someone and take their Cornucopia and now you're on the High Council as a city leader" was probably not overwhelmingly popular among the folks involved in this decision.
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