Ixal's page

So I recently discovered the Unmitigated Pedantry world building resource (great site) and their article about polytheism in which they specifically call out the D&D (and Pathfinder) style religion as negative example

The tl;dr version:
Everyone knew that all gods are real, so only worshipping one does not make sense. Instead you performed regular rites in order to keep all of those deities happy and also when you want to strike a bargain with a specific deity.

That sounds like an interesting concept, although it would require some rewrites to the clergy of each deity and possibly paladins.
Has someone played with a more polytheistic interpretation of the pantheon and how did it go? Or just has some idea about rites for each deity (is there a 3rd party product or some alternate class which does something like this?)

Or do you rather prefer the current system where people devote themselves to one deity and if yes, why?

As we are soon getting a (maybe) pirate or criminal AP I wonder how people handle travelling from Near Space or the Vast to the Pact System. Does the 1d6 travel time only apply when you are going to Absolom Station and you have to spend another 1d6 days when you go somewhere else in the system (and also have to deal with Absolom authorities if you don't jump away fast enough) or do you let the PCs go to any location they want when coming from the outside directly?

Is there an overview what fleets are active in the pact system (or at least based in it or operated by an organization within the pact)?

Obviously each planet has its own fleet, probably even several if they are not unified like Castrovel.
And then there are different churches (with the Church of Iomedae being especially heavily armed with T18 dreadnoughts).
And then there are Hellknights, Knights of Golarion or the Skyfire Legion which have their own line of ships.
Or the Overwatch fleets from the stewards.

But who else is out there? When you read the descriptions of the ships in SOM you can make a lot of money selling T15 Battleships (Starhive Vespinar) and even "budget-conscious police forces" are in the market for such ships (Norikama Valkyrie. I do not want to see what well funded police forces use).

Has the Devestation Ark AP some information on that?

So as a spinoff to my question about the population of the pact system the question of the political landscape of the pact system and how much influence each planet has came up (well, I skirted the issue and thought, why not make a thread about it?)

As with population the lore we have is pretty vague. We do know how the individual planets work, more or less, but the details about the pact world government was left out. So this is also more a "how do you envision it for your campaign" discussion as a resource for others than a definitive list.

And to be honest, I do not have a defined political system for my version of Starfinder yet, so writing things down is also a bit of a help for me to get it sorted.

For now I will ignore the fine details of how the politics work in the pact system like how many delegates each planet has etc. and look at more basic things like how much say would the individual planets have in my opinion (and feel free to disagree or bring up things I missed). After all, there is also soft power involved which might make planets more or less important than they would be based on their delegate numbers.

Sun
-- Just a protectorate without voting right
+ Religious symbol
+ Point of contact with the plane of fire

Being a protectorate without voting rights of course severely limits the political importance of the sun. It does have an increased importance when it comes to diplomatic matters and if it can leverage or even stir up Sarenrae worshippers its voice will be heard despite its status

Aballon
++ Major manufacturing capacity
++ High population count
+ Birthplace of a part of Triune
+ Planetary government
- Mostly robotic inhabitants

Aballon would be one of the most important planets, maybe even the most important one, in the system with the political power to match it. I only added robotic inhabitants as a negative as it might breed some resentment among the biological inhabitants of the system that robots are de facto deciding what happens. But that depends on how egalitarian the setting is. Also, machines likely have a very different thought process than biologicals which might also cause friction.
The question is how much do the Anacites use the power they have

Castrovel
++ Earth sized garden world
+ Manufacturing capabilities by necessity (war)
- Undeveloped

With Golarion missing Castrovel is the most hospitable, earth like planet in the system which could give it a lot of influence because of population alone. The problem is that large part of the planet is undeveloped by design which means it is far below the potential it has.

Absolom Station
++ Starstone location
+ Humanities "home"
-- Tiny population

Absolom station certainly has vastly more influence than it should have, being a single space station. Normally I do not think it would have any say at all if it were not for the starstone and the effect it has on drift travel. And with it being the adopted home of humanity (despite humans being much more numerous elsewhere) they likely lobby pretty hard that it has a say in interplanetary politics. Still at the end I think this only goes so far and Absolom is just a minor voice in the system, even when it likely thinks (and behaves) as if it is much more important

Akiton
- Small population
- Desolate
- Disjointed leadership
+ Past industrial importance

Akiton is a small, barren planet with a few city states who will likely have trouble to form a consensus on interplanetary politics. The previous thasteron rush which brought prosperity to Akiton might still have political effects in the form of old regulations and rights which favoured Akiton and were not repealed once the thasteron industry went bust.
Still in my opinion Akiton would be the cranky old man of politics which insists on ancient rights but no one is paying attention to it for longer than they have to.

Verces
++ Development
+ Global government
+ Stewards
+ Population

Verces would be another one of the power houses of the pact system much like Aballon. A earth sized planet, although with the problem of being locked, would still result in a higher population compared to places like Akiton. And it was already an spacefaring society in the times of Pathfinder. That means that the planet is very well developed with a corresponding high manufacturing capability.
And while the Stewards are supposed to be neutral, the fact that they come from Verces certainly also increases the importance of the planet even more.

Idari
-- Tiny population
- Hardly any manufacturing capability
+ Diplomatic connections to the homeworld

I am amazed that the Idari even has the status of a voting member considering that its about the size of a small city with no redeeming qualities except serving as a diplomatic channel back to their homeworld now that drift travel exists. Still in my opinion giving them voting rights was likely a political compromise and probably annoys the heck out of protectorates like the Sun or the Diaspora.

Diaspora
-- Protectorate
-- Lawless
- Disjointed leadership
+ Population?

Another protectorate with not much rights. The Disapora also has the problem that it has no structured government and is known for its lawlessness and being a haven for pirates. As such it probably has next to no political influence and is the problem child of the system. The only upside it might have is its population. It might not have a big population centre, but all the small outposts over the huge area it covers might add up. The question is if the other members of the pact recognizance and acknowledge that.

Eox
+ Military power
+ Manufacturing capability
-- Distrusted

Eox imo likely has less official influence than it technically should have. It is also a ancient spacefaring race and even thought the planet is devastated it still seems to retain its manufacturing capability, mainly because they don't care much about the devastation anymore. And even with the defection of large parts of the fleet (officially?) it likely remains one of the primary military contributors to the system. The reason Eox is not more influential is that they are undead and thus mistrusted. But I guess that suits them just fine as the Sages are content to do things unofficially instead through proper political channels. A bit like Russia maybe.

Triaxus
++ Earth sized garden world
+ Manufacturing capability
+ Population
-- Disorganized leadership

If Eox would be the Russia of the system, Triaxus would be the EU. Technically they would have huge power. The planet is the only fully developed earth type planet of the system as it does not have the disadvantage of being locked like Verces nor that it purposefully leaves its nature untouched like Castrovel. So it has the potential to surpass them in population and development. The problem is that it has a very disorganized government. You have many megacorps which certainly do not cooperate for the greater good and on the other side you have many different nations and city states in the allied territory which do not seem to be able to agree on much. And then there is Ning which pretty much has adopted the stance of Switzerland and not to have an opinion on anything.
So by the time Triaxus has formed an opinion on a interplanetary issue that issue has very often already been decided on by the other members or has changed and the whole process has to start again.

Bretheda
++ Population
+ Manufacturing/technological capability
+ Multiple planetary bodies
- Nonstandard lifeforms

Another political powerhouse of the system. Bretheda actually covers multiple planets which alone would give it a lot of clout it also has a huge population and a well developed technological base. The capabilities of the Barathus to merge into biological supercomputers also supports that. I added the nonstandard lifeform because I can imagine that because of the very different way they live the thought process of Barathus is very different from most other pact world inhabitants which would cause friction, same with the Anacites.

Apostae
- No natural resources
- Small population
- Distrusted
+ Potentially dangerous

To continue with the real world analogies, Apostae would be more like North Korea. They are distrusted and do not have much traditional power in the system both militarily because of its small size or economically as it lacks natural resources. The only reason people pay attention to it is because no one knows what slumbers beneath the surface which only they have access to. So the only influence they have would be limited to making demands while making a poker face

Aucturn
-- Protectorate
- Inhospitable
- Hard to reach
+ Dangerous

Aucturn is also just a protectorate which is understandable as no one sane would have an interest in ruling this place nor would you really trust a person who does.
The only reason the system might pay attention to this place is again because of the potential danger it might pose. But that danger is more abstract than in the case of Apostae

So with that, this would be my ranking:

Aballon
Bretheda
Verces
Triaxus = Castrovel
Eox
Absolom Station
Akiton
Apostae
Sun
Diaspora
Idari
Aucturn

Have you noticed if any items, abilities, races, etc. published in recent books have the potential to affect older APs by making them more easy or even derail them completely?

Things I can think of.

Inspired by the "how common are solarians" question, how big do you think the population of the Pact System is (in your campaign).

Population means anything recognized as sentient/sapient which is granted rights and protected by law.
Maybe excluding Anacites or listing them separately as they would likely inflate the number a lot.

For comparison, Earth currently has nearly 8 Billion people on it.

Mechs are not supposed to take part in normal combat and instead have special mech combats.
One way to avoid that organically is to have adventures in places normal mechs can't go. The problem is that the size category of huge does not prevent that.

1. PCs can be huge normally. There are powerarmor which make you huge. By locking out huge mechs you also lock out huge powerarmors

2. You have the possibility of large characters, thus many places should allow them to function normally. This also means that mechs can squeeze into such places. They will be less effective, but still very powerful

3. Baleful Polymorph can reduce the size category of a creature. That can be used to make a mech large sized which can then function just like a large character.

A very basic, but important question. Are mechs considered creatures for spell targeting?

If not many damaging spells would not work on them as they either directly target creatures or only damage creatures.
On the other hand, this would also mean spells like Baleful Polymorph, Build Trust and Borrow Corruption would work on them.

While most threads in the playtest are discussing the intended use of rules, lets talk about the unintended uses, a.k.a exploits.

What type of possible exploits have you noticed with the mech rules, even if they are just theoretical and depend on GM interpretation?

One thing would be if a character has a huge power armor, thus is the same size as a mech to use the mechs build points to make a level appropriate weapon for himself.

I have complained a lot that in my opinion Starfinder ignores its SciFi side too much and is too much fantasy.
But lets try something more constructive.

Which modern concepts do you think could be implemented in a Starfinder game (and how) and which ones should be avoided?

With modern concepts I mean things like everyone have an ID and having to go through immigration when arriving on a new place, so less anonymity compared to fantasy.
And of course gun laws, permits (guns, vehicles, etc), weapon registries which might raise some eyebrows when the PCs have looted weapons which according to the database belongs to someone else.

Or modern police forces which is organized and well equipped and also performs forensics meaning that the PCs are far less likely to get away with shooting places up, no matter how justified they are. This is of course coupled with video surveillance, etc.

You are of course free to add other things you think could or could not work in Starfinder.

While reading through the thread about themes people like to see in APs I started to wonder what type of stories people wanted or expected to see in them.

With type I mainly mean two things, morality and scope.

Morality in most (all?) APs is absolute. The PCs are on the indisputably good side and are fighting against the indisputably evil side. Some APs turn this around but the morality of each side is still very clear.

With scope I mean what is at stake in the adventure. Most APs are either directly save the world, or at least prevent worldwide catastrophic consequences.

Do you want or even require the APs you play to have this kind of scope and morality? Heroic good guys saving the world? Would you play an AP which is more shades of grey or has a much lesser scope? Why or why not?

The Azlanti Star Empire spans multiple solar systems, but most if not all of them are in the vast.
Now because of the unique way travel works in Starfinder this would mean that travel between two system within the empire would take the maximum of 5d6 days.

That does sound kinda lame and makes the Azlanti look a lot more handicapped than a BBE Empire should be. On the other hand it would give them a reason to look for worlds in near space which are faster to reach, making conflict between them and the pact worlds more likely.

So how do you handle it? Are the Azlanti really this handicapped (which also includes the PCs when they adventure within Azlanti space) or do they have a way to shorten the travel times between their systems somehow?

A semi spinoff from the wealth thread.

How do you think the average person in Starfinder lives? What are his working conditions (and job options), how does he live, what is his general living standard, what sort of services can he use (health insurance, etc) and so on.

In my opinion the SF material is very silent on the civilized parts of the setting and the rules do not really help in creating a sensible world.

So lets brainstorm how the non adventuring parts of SF look like.
Of course as big as the Pact Worlds are it is hard to generalize, so please always state what planet, race or region you mean.

I would like to hear some experiences with redeemer champion. Specifically about how serious the player takes the redeem part of the tenets. Does it get in the way often (in APs or self made adventures)?
Have you seen a redeemer champion to also taken one of the oaths and how does he reconcile the must redeem tenet and must slay oath?

From what I read everyone can take the test if they want. But is that really true?
Sure some drunken adventurer can take it, but on the other hand so far only humans ascended.
Of course that might be just coincidence or means the starstone only works on humans. Still, what about the other races? Sure elves and dwarves can probably try. What about goblins now that they are PC races or Iruxi? Can a centaur or gnoll take the test if he wants? Can a red dragon approach Absolom and demand to take the test?

Ignoring the Sci-Fi elements in Numeria Golarion seems to be a Sword&Sorcery setting. Yet when flipping through the Lost Omens book several illustrations give a quite different vibe.

For example one of the pictures about Absolom shows 100 Gun first rates which based on the paint scheme were inspired by the 18th century HMS Victory. So not only come they from a completely different timeframe than what Pathfinder usually uses it also makes one wonder how advanced guns are and how far they spread.
Speaking of guns, the one used for the Sun Orchid Oasis picture (Golden Road) is also quite advanced and wouldn't look out of place in a "Laurence of Arabia" setting.

The Shining Kingdoms are a strange case as the first picture shows renaissance knights charging a dragon which is what you expect from sword&sorcery, the next few pictures though show characters who would fit more into the time of the french revolution or later (the final blade certainly enforces that).

So, how much of that is because of liberties taken by the artist and how much is canon?

When looking at the world maps in the Pact Worlds book I always had a little trouble to comprehend the scale of them. To me they looked more like regional maps than world maps.

Thus I decided to overlay a real world map for comparison.
I be upfront, it didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped. I might work on it a bit more in the future (suggestions how to improve them are welcome).

I used maps found on ArtStation, drawn by Damien Mammoliti and of course copyrighted by Paizo
https://www.artstation.com/damie_m

For the world map I used a Gall-Peters projection for accurate sizes found on Wikipedia.

I did not find maps for all planets, just Akiton, Triaxus, Castrovel and Aucturn. But as the diameter of the last one is not fixed I could not make a map comparison.
When someone has a legal source for maps of the other planets like Verces please comment and I will make another map for it.

I would have liked to embed the pictures here, but according to a quick google search this is not possible on this board, so you have to make do with links.

So for comparison, here the real world map I used:
https://i.imgur.com/ZGgApQp.jpg

Akiton (half the diameter of earth, so only a quarter the surface area)
https://i.imgur.com/DZ0sZzb.png
Overlay
https://i.imgur.com/BPRlQCq.jpg

Castrovel
https://i.imgur.com/6pbldda.jpg
Overlay
https://i.imgur.com/ZDBgu73.jpg

Triaxus
https://i.imgur.com/pyHu154.jpg
Overlay
https://i.imgur.com/omDpOU2.jpg

What equipment, including fusions, magical items and armor upgrades, have turned out to be absolutely essential for you so that you do not want to go without them?

No matter if the items are just "that good" or because your specific campaign, build or group composition makes them useful.

So when the PCs starship has a tracking weapon they have a free and never ending supply of high powered (or even nuclear) explosive devices.

Can someone come up with a good explanation that doesn't sound too much like DM fiat as for why those can't be used as makeshift bombs, either by detaching the warhead and adding a normal detonator to it or just delivering the entire thing to whatever they want to go away and blow it up with a regular timed explosive?

This hasn't come up (yet), but I want to be prepared for things like this.

Also, am I the only one who thinks that giving the PCs a free, endless and legal supply of nuclear devices is a very bad idea?

I am looking for additional ideas how to create adventures in modern/futuristic cities in Starfinder and would like to know if you have done any?

If yes, how did it go? Were there restrictions (laws) in place that prevented the group to carry whatever they want? And how did you handle the police and other official services?

So with starship combat having some room for improvement, I wonder what type of starship combat you think would fit Starfinder the most.

On one end there is the Star Wars single seated fighter combat. Spaceships would not have that much utility, but everyone gets his own ship and has things to do in combat. The downside is that everyone has his own ship and should know how to use it.

A step up from that you have Star Trek shuttle combat (for example DS9 2x21). The ships are two or three seater and have a little bit of utility besides combat. The combat itself is also a bit less WW2 fighter engagement with a bit less focus on positioning, but it is still important. But it might be a bit hard to make comprehensive rules for how the ships are assigned to the group.

Then we have The Expanse style small ships for a single group of people which imo is what Starfinder is now. The group has one ship and everyone controls one aspect of it.

The final category would be Star Trek capital ships. Those ships have a crew which opens up more things for the PCs to do when not directly involved in the ships operation like providing aid. Also the crew can fill any position the PCs can't cover and there can also be some adventures on the ship. But not everyone might like having to deal with an NPC crew and at times it can feel a bit impersonal.

So, what would be best for SF?

Inspired by the discussion about space combat in the APs I started to wonder what people put into the extension bays of their ships and how much use those modules get, like how often have you actually hauled tons of cargo to make a cargo bay useful and stuff like that?

I ask because most bays look to me like they were well meant but are rather useless unless the GM makes this one extension bay important this one time in the campaign.

Whats your opinion of the space combat in the APs?

From what I have seen so far most space combat in APs is a chance to earn more XP, but beyond that do not matter much. No matter if you win or lose the outcome is basically the same, maybe with slight alterations. The enemy disables you and is then driven off or you are forced to land and the adventure proceeds like normal with maybe an additional encounter after landing.

One one had it makes space combat easy to ignore if the group is not suited for it, on the other hand if feels rather disconnected.

So for the most part adventures in Starfinder are similar to what you encounter in Pathfinder, at least when you follow the APs. Players explore ancient ruins, fight wildlife or assault enemy "dungeons".

But there is one kind of adventure you can run in Starfinder you can't run in Pathfinder, or at least would look very differently when you do. Namely, urban adventures.

The difference to pure fantasy settings is that in Starfinder you are often moving in a highly organized society with an equally organized law enforcement which has access to high tech equipment.
This is a unusual setting for PCs compared to most other D20 fantasy settings where they can get away with a lot, either because laws are loose and enforcing them is so problematic that the PCs can often break them without anyone noticing.

The Penumbra Protocol is one adventure with takes place in such a high tech, highly organized city and is in my opinion a prime example of how not to do it, treating buildings in the middle of the city like a dungeon you can crawl through without anything happening.

So what are the differences and problems PC can encounter? Keep in mind though that those are not universal and GMs might decide to ignore many or all of them to keep the game rolling, especially when the urban adventure is an one time exception and the PCs are not prepared to bypass them. Also, not all of those things apply everywhere. Some cultures for example would value privacy so much to not use cameras and so on.

- Laws regarding weapon and equipment
Nearly every society will have laws regarding weapons. Some might allow sidearms, some might be completely free of weapons. Either way, heavy weapons, power armor and maybe even long arms are probably not allowed.

- Social norms
Even when weapons are technically allowed, social norms will still prevent them to be carried around into many areas.

- Surveillance
Here the problems really start. Unlike in fantasy environments PCs can never be sure that they are unseen. In a scifi setting you are most likely to have cameras everywhere, often running facial recognition or even AI supported crime detection in real time.
And it is not just visual surveillance. As soon as gunfire is heard you can bet that someone calls emergency services and it is only a matter of time till law enforcement arrives.

- Networking
Unlike in fantasy setting the PCs are not anonymous. Their birth and citizenship has been registered and they most likely have a passport, there are records of their education, spending habits, licenses for weapons and other restricted equipment, etc.
Coupled with camera surveilance that means that they will be easily identified when they come to the attention of law enforcement who can then easily check where their starship is docked and impound it etc.

- A living environment.
Modern cities are highly dynamic. People commute to work, go shopping, get entertained, etc. Not so much a problem for PCs but it influences the adventure design.
I mainly only mention this because of the Penumbra Protocol

- A law enforcement that has teeth.
The biggest change to a fantasy setting, law enforcement in a scifi city has access to a lot of high tech equipment, infrastructure and also numbers which means the PCs will be outgunned, outnumbered and even if they fight off one police squad they are not in the clear. Instead that raises just the response level.
The police is also networked and quite fast in their response to bigger events like firefights.
That means that as soon as something like that is reported the PCs are on a clock and would do best to not be there when the police arrives.

So what does that mean for urban adventures? Mainly that the PCs have to be subtle and that there is a time limit as soon as fights and other big crimes happens.
This not only requires a different way of playing from the players, but also a different adventure design from the GM.

The main thing is that you can't have a traditional dungeons in a city (unless you are in a very remote part) where the PCs enter and explore it as they go. Instead the exploring part has to be done before actually entering the building by getting access to schematics, bribing informants etc.
That way the PCs should find out where their objective is and depending on how good they are were other goodies are. Goodies can either be treasure or a way to delay a law enforcement response by allowing the PCs to penetrate deeper before they have to fight.
And most importantly, not only should the PCs get XP for discovering things before they go in, they should also get the vast majority of XP and other rewards for going in, fulfil their objective and get out as fast as possible instead of getting penalized for not searching every locker and air duct for treasure.

As I said above, the players have to try to be more subtle, but also need to have the possibility to be subtle.
That includes having a safe haven where they can be safe unless they screw up and can store their heavy equipment.
They also need a way to move unseen in the city of they want to or erase their tracks. Using Computer/Hacking is obvious, but that should not be a mandatory skill. Other options include using disguises, bribing officials or having a powerful backer who takes care of this problem within reason if the GM wants to avoid the hassle.

Also, PCs can and should be able to expoit the society to help them. A forged document should get you far and why carry problematic items with you when you can make or steal a delivery drone to deposit it somewhere you can easily get it once you are past security?

One important thing is that also the enemies are limited by the same rules. Companies have layered defences, starting with being nonlethal and only switching to lethal once you penetrated into the facility. And anyone attacking the PCs also won't have all the heavy equipment they want (or there is the chance for the PC to notice that something is wrong and someone brings heavy equipment with them). And the police will also represent a time limit for the NPCs, so either they will get reckless or flee if the PCs can hold out long enough.

So while trying to imagine how triaxian cities would look like I started to wonder how large dragonkin actually are. After all as integrated as they are nearly all buildings would likely be dragonkin sized with some if them even having space for actual dragons.

The book says 15-20ft. Which seems awfully large and making them tower over most normal 1 story buildings. Good luck playing Against the Aeon Throne with a dragonkin this large.

Then I noticed that the description say 15 to 20 feet long and not heigh. Imo thats a very weird way to measure a bipedal creature which dragonkin are supposed to be in my understanding. After all you don't measure the tail for Vesk.
Still, if one assumes that the tail is 1/3 if the length it would make them 10 to 13 feet tall, a imo much more reasonable number.

Then there is the question if how upright they actzally walk. The art in Starfinder shiws them as completely upright while in Oathfinder they seem to be more bend down. And there is still the question why their length is measured and not their height as if they were quadrupled.

So how do you think dragonkin look like? Hiw upright do they walk and hiw much soace do they need to walk normally? Do you simply extrapolate the 3rd dimension from the combat spacing, making them 10x10x10 blocks and leave it at that or do you require 15ft. or even the full 20ft. ceilings for them to walk normally? (either as pure flavor or even mechanically to not be considered squeezing?)

I have recently looked at the sample settlements in the Pact Worlds book and it seems to be that the population numbers in Starfinder are universally low, sometimes comically so.
For example Zo the "Hub of spaceflight" of Triaxus has a population of 19.000 while the largest city on Castroval has not even a million inhabitants.
Thats a better village and a medium sized city. For comparison, Singapore has a population of 5 million and Dubai one of 3 million.
Is it really intended that nearly all places in the Pact Worlds have a population density of Kansas or are the writers still stuck thinking in (pseudo)medieval numbers?

Also, if you assume sensible population numbers (and even if you don't and take low numbers for everyone), what would that mean for the overall demographics especially in relation of the core races?

Normally humans are the most populous race but in Starfinder they would be rather rare considering that their main planet vanished (unless you also count the Aeon Empire). All thats left for them is one barely habitable dustbowl they share with 3 other sentient races and a space station. There are probably not even a billion or even 100 million humans in the system.
From the way it looks to me there are probably more Elves and even Dragonkin in the Pact System than humans.

Kasatha would be downright rare with the population of a single colony ship spread over the whole system. Unless there has been an undocumented, huge immigration from their home system to the Pact Worlds, despite them having failed to actually colonized anything, there are probably not even a million of them there.

From the core races the only really populous would be Androids (mass produced for some time), Lashunta (Have their own continent on a habitable world, although the population example is extra low balled) and Vesk (although most of them in the Veskarium, how many are in the Pact Worlds is unknown)

Funnily enough though the most populous races should be the NPC/Alien Archive races. Verthani would at least match, if not surpass the Lashunta population and Ryphorians would be the most numerous humanoids as they seem to be the only ones who have a whole habitable planet for (nearly) themselves, even if a third of them have to live under the claw of dragons. Even with the long seasons, Triaxus would support billions of inhabitants. And when you take the demographic of Zo as normal, one third of those billions would be Dragonkin, making them more populous than many core races. Thats even true when they only make up 10% of the population and not 30%.
But even Ryphorians would be outmatched by Anacite and Barathu.

Has there been an official word on the population and demographics and on the extremely low numbers in the Pact Worlds book? And if not do you follow those numbers which mean that even the greatest cities on the planets are just large towns or do you increase the population numbers to "make sense" for advanced societies?
And if yes, how does the demographic in your setting look like? Who are the majorities and who the minorities? Do you elevate humans back to be the most numerous default to match Pathfinder or is someone else the "face" of the Pact Worlds?