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Have any bones been (or can any bones be) thrown our way about Iomedae, beyond what's in the description of Falcon's Hollow?
I'm thinking of starting a game with a mission from her church to the town, and it would be helpful to know something about her church -- her domains, if nothing else.
Thanks.
LG Goddess of valor, rulership, justice, honor
Domains: Glory, Good, Law, Sun, War
Favored Weapon: longsword
Have any bones been (or can any bones be) thrown our way about Iomedae, beyond what's in the description of Falcon's Hollow?....I'm thinking of starting a game with a mission from her church to the town, and it would be helpful to know something about her church -- her domains, if nothing else.
It's also been mentioned that Erik designed Iomedae. His description was...
"Think Joan of Arc meets Jesus and you're half way there. As Mayaheine is to Pelor or Zagyg is to Boccob in Greyhawk, so is Iomedae to Aroden, a god whose death 100 years ago cast the empire of Cheliax into disarray. Aroden was the last of the Azlanti, the first humans, and thus was a god of culture and wisdom dating back millennia. Now that he is gone, his servant Iomedae has inherited most of his religion and goals, but she has a long time to go before she's as powerful as her deific sponsor."
James also indicated that Iomedae doesn't have a very large presence in Varisia. Rather her worship is concentrated elsewhere in the world of Golarion...and with Falcon's Hollow being located on the opposite coast, that makes sense. However, this doesn't mean a PC cleric of Iomedae couldn't make a run at the Rise of the Runelords campaign, of course. Just that there isn't much of a "home base" temple located in the Varisian frontier. If you're staying around Falcon's Hollow, though, you should be good to go. The town already has a temple to Iomedae.
My two-cents,
--Neil
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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*Just an idea - once opened, discard if crap*
I believe there is an organization - the Knights of Iomedae. Since Iomadae is prevalent in Falcon's Hollow, you could use a questing knight(s) of that order, sent to Varisia on some type of mission.
A stranger in a strange land.
Or even better, the character in question was the squire of a Knight of Iomedae that was sent on a quest, and the knight died in Varisia, leaving the squire pennyless and alone.
So, even if not prevalent, you can always import minor elements of something. If you're stuck on using Iomedae, it can be done.
I believe there is an organization - the Knights of Iomedae.
That hasn't been established as a certainty yet. Though James alluded to the idea that a wandering knighthood dedicated to Iomedae could certainly exist, the idea mostly sprang from the DM who's playtesting Burnt Offerings right now. He's got a paladin follower of Iomedae in the group and invented a knighthood to assist with his backstory.
DMs are free to do the same in their respective games, but it will be interesting to see if a knighthood dedicated to Iomedae does eventually make its way into the pages of Pathfinder or one of the Game Mastery modules. It seems like a no-brainer to include something like that for a deity with her portfolio...
--Neil
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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There would certainly be several orders of knighthood dedicated to Iomedae. The center of her worship has shifted from the Inner Sea region (which borders Cheliax, Andoran, Taldor, and Qadira on the northern continent) far north into a chaotic land filled with demons and fiends, where crusading knights pilgrimage to do battle in Iomedae's name.
As I said, there would be several organizations of crusader knights involved with this mission.
--Erik
There would certainly be several orders of knighthood dedicated to Iomedae. The center of her worship has shifted from the Inner Sea region (which borders Cheliax, Andoran, Taldor, and Qadira on the northern continent) far north into a chaotic land filled with demons and fiends, where crusading knights pilgrimage to do battle in Iomedae's name....As I said, there would be several organizations of crusader knights involved with this mission.
Have you cooked up any official names for these crusading knighthoods yet? Say, something along the lines of the knighthoods from Greyhawk, perhaps? Knights of the Glorious Blade? Suns of Valor? Shieldwardens of Justice? Anything sound good? Too campy drawing entirely on Iomedae's portfolio? What say ye, Sir Knight?
--Neil
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There would certainly be several orders of knighthood dedicated to Iomedae. The center of her worship has shifted from the Inner Sea region (which borders Cheliax, Andoran, Taldor, and Qadira on the northern continent) far north into a chaotic land filled with demons and fiends, where crusading knights pilgrimage to do battle in Iomedae's name....As I said, there would be several organizations of crusader knights involved with this mission.Have you cooked up any official names for these crusading knighthoods yet? Say, something along the lines of the knighthoods from Greyhawk, perhaps? Knights of the Glorious Blade? Suns of Valor? Shieldwardens of Justice? Anything sound good? Too campy drawing entirely on Iomedae's portfolio? What say ye, Sir Knight?
--Neil
Ooh...I'll throw in for the Suns of Valor. I like that one. Nicely done.
I'll throw in for the Suns of Valor. I like that one. Nicely done.
I'm kind of partial to that one, too. But I fear the "sun" motif may be more appropriate for Sarenrae than Iomedae.
Is there any major connection between these two deities, Erik?
Aside from the similar naming style (both end in a Greek-like "ae" suffix) and their access to the Sun domain, the two gods seem very similar in their outlook as well. Sarenrae's belief in honesty and redemption would have to play well with Iomedae's focus on honor, valor, and justice. Are they sisters? Allies? Or just acquaintances?
I would also imagine that Shelyn could factor into the equation with Sarenrae, too...with "love" being the primary factor in "redemption." Seems like these three ladies have the potential to make a cool triumvirate in the pantheon. Or, at the very least, they seem to have a lot of mutual goals and principles.
--Neil
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Ok, what if Iomedae also has a secret society of knights dedicated to her, forwarding her causes, and working good in general? They could have "cell members" on every continent - to keep an eye out for things that affect Iomedae or are of interest to her. Why should the bad guys have all the secret society fun?
These guys could bear some kind of mark, and hold positions of power - or better yet, are unassuming cabinet members to those with power (like a powerful merchant lord's personal scribe, or a King's messenger, etc. etc.)
They could be called something like "The Sword and The Scepter" - kind of a cloak and dagger take on knighthood. Like the way the Knights Templar are rumored (and fictionalized) to be now.
There are the normal orders of Iomedae's knights, then there are these guys - a change from the charging knight on the back of a white horse.
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Creative Director
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While I can't say much about the development of Iomedae, since she's Erik's project... Sarenrae is very much one of my creations (she's been the primary deity of good in my homebrew campaign for a couple decades).
While Sarenrae and Iomedae are certainly similar, they're not necessarilly related. Sarenrae's not particularly fond of law, for example—many of her priests find law to be too stiffling and actually an impedement to good. At the same time, Sarenrae certainly has a few paladin orders working for her... but they're more of a fringe group in her church.
Think of Iomedae priests as crusaders and Joan of Arc type characters, and Sarenrae priests more like the classic D&D priests—they're very much anti-undead, healers, and to a certain extent peacekeepers rather than soldiers.
If you're familar with the deities of the Forgotten Realms, Iomedae is probably the most like Tyr, while Sarenrae's more of a cross between Lathander and Eilistraee.
If you're familiar with the deities of Greyhawk, Iomedae's a VERY close analong to Mayaheine, while Sarenrae's more like Pelor with a little bit of Kelanen thrown in.
What are the parallels between Seranrae and Kelanen? I get the other comparisons, but this one really stumps me.
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There would certainly be several orders of knighthood dedicated to Iomedae. The center of her worship has shifted from the Inner Sea region (which borders Cheliax, Andoran, Taldor, and Qadira on the northern continent) far north into a chaotic land filled with demons and fiends, where crusading knights pilgrimage to do battle in Iomedae's name.
As I said, there would be several organizations of crusader knights involved with this mission.
--Erik
Seems like you guys have a pretty good idea of what the world looks like. Any chance of you lifting the veil on the rest of the world any time soon? Like showing the outline of the world with the original graph paper map you talked about in the very first blogpost?
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Creative Director
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What are the parallels between Seranrae and Kelanen? I get the other comparisons, but this one really stumps me.
Sarenrae's ties to Eilistraee/Kelanen are pretty much the fact that her priests treat their scimitars with holy revenance. The act of fighting with a scimitar is as much a form of art as it is a form of combat. So, just as Kelanen & Eilistraee have a certain amount of arty swordfighting sword dancing element to their faith, so does Sarenrae and her faith (but with scimitars).
Another way Sarenrae and Iomedae are different: Iomedae's priests are genearlly into the full armored knight scene. Sarenrae's priests are more about the lightly-armored mobility style fighter.
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Creative Director
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Seems like you guys have a pretty good idea of what the world looks like. Any chance of you lifting the veil on the rest of the world any time soon? Like showing the outline of the world with the original graph paper map you talked about in the very first blogpost?
Eventually, yes. But not for many months, I would think. We want to give the modules and Pathfinder a chance to settle into their niches first, and don't want to overwhelm the market with too much Paizo Power at once.
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I kind of like that approach. It gives you a while to really get the feel of each new place, one at a time.
The problem I had with FR, for example, was that there were so many interesting places - all at once, you couldn't choose one or get to know anything overly well. There were umpteen novels and products being released every month on something different.
I like Varisia as a frontier land, with the bare mention of other continents out there. It gives you something to look forward to in the future. I also like the use of 6 core gods for Varisia, with others being worshipped elsewhere.
You can do a lot with a little, and it gives you a chance to explore with some depth.
I kind of like that approach. It gives you a while to really get the feel of each new place, one at a time.
I think it's an excellent way to push a new generic setting.
A setting with a fairly significant twist on things (say, Eberron) can use this twist as the selling point.
A generic setting pitched with a setting book that has giants menacing the hills and mountains, wood-dwelling archer elves, hordes of orcs, and dwarves that are gruff but steadfast miners is in danger of being passed over with the comment of "nice, but I already have FR/Greyhawk/my generic vaguely-defined PHB-implied homebrew". As far as I understand, this is the main concern which is stopping wizards from going ahead with Greyhawk stuff.
But giving people adventures that take place in Falcon's Hollow, and letting them play paladins of Iomedae, and fight cultists of Rovagug, means that when they get the chance to learn more about those, they will already be attached to them. They will be learning things about their characters' hometown, and their characters' personal faith, and their characters' enemies, rather than about some generic village, generic LG paladin god and generic Evil war/destruction god.
This is how I got interested in Greyhawk. Playing (and to an extent reading) Dungeon adventures got me interested in places and people that showed up in them.
Sarenrae's ties to Eilistraee/Kelanen are pretty much the fact that her priests treat their scimitars with holy revenance. The act of fighting with a scimitar is as much a form of art as it is a form of combat. So, just as Kelanen & Eilistraee have a certain amount of arty swordfighting sword dancing element to their faith, so does Sarenrae and her faith (but with scimitars).
Another way Sarenrae and Iomedae are different: Iomedae's priests are genearlly into the full armored knight scene. Sarenrae's priests are more about the lightly-armored mobility style fighter.
OK, what I really need now are options (feats, alternate class features, PrCs, or what have you) that let clerics of Sarenrae trade some of the default cleric's tankishness for some wuxia sworddancer goodness!
... say, would you be interested in submissions along these lines? ;)
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Creative Director
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Feats and stuff for Sarenrae worshipers... and feats and stuff for ALL of the various faiths in our world, will eventually see the light of day. We can't do it all at once. Sarenrae's not even that high on the list (Desna's first, then Lamashtu, and then a few more).
We'll get to it eventually, though.
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RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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Feats and stuff for Sarenrae worshipers... and feats and stuff for ALL of the various faiths in our world, will eventually see the light of day. We can't do it all at once. Sarenrae's not even that high on the list (Desna's first, then Lamashtu, and then a few more).
We'll get to it eventually, though.
James, have you guys given any more thought to "special" domains only available to certain members/sects of a given God/Goddess?
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James, have you guys given any more thought to "special" domains only available to certain members/sects of a given God/Goddess?Yes. I'd like to do this, and I probably will, and the first of them will most likely show up in Pathfinder #2.
Very cool. I'll be looking forward to it.
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Oh good, there is some additional information on Iomedae out there. My RotRL game is starting in about a week and one of the players has her heart set on The Lady of Glory. She's playing a beautiful dwarven maiden of Janderhoff who flees her powerful suitors for a life of glory. The old 'society girl gone rogue' story, except she's a paladin.
Has a holy symbol been mentioned? If not we're going with a red silhouette of a young woman on a silver/white field. Striking when enameled on a shield and easy to draw in blood ;)
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Has a holy symbol been mentioned? If not we're going with a red silhouette of a young woman on a silver/white field. Striking when enameled on a shield and easy to draw in blood ;)
Check out the most recent blog post...
"Iomedae: Elegant longsword with a circular sunburst behind the sword's hilt."
No depiction yet. But it's coming eventually.
--Neil
Has a holy symbol been mentioned? If not we're going with a red silhouette of a young woman on a silver/white field. Striking when enameled on a shield and easy to draw in blood ;)Check out the most recent blog post...
"Iomedae: Elegant longsword with a circular sunburst behind the sword's hilt."
No depiction yet. But it's coming eventually.
--Neil
Not sure if anyone plays (or played) Battletech, but that image made me think of the House Davion symbol. Or the Swordsworn faction symbol from the Mechwarrior CCG.