It seems the Japanese names thread spread out into a bunch of threads about Japanese fantasy roleplaying, ninjas, etc.; I'm hoping we can discuss the Mesoamerican/North American fantasy land to appear in Golarion.
When I was a kid, I loved Mesoamerican stories about conquistadors and the search for the Seven Cities of Gold. I read all I could. The ruthless conquerors, the Mayans, the Incas, the Jesuit missionaries, the explorers - all of it fascinated me.
When Nickelodeon started showing "The Mysterious Cities of Gold" (apparently a French cartoon?) when I was a kid, it was like a dream come true.
If some day in the future, Paizo wrote an Adventure Path all about the search for the Cities of Gold (there happen to be seven, which seems like a recurring number in Golarion), it would be like a dream come true all over again.
I realize the Adventure Paths will usually remain standard fantasy 'cause that's what people are interested in. But perhaps after 6 or 7 of them, people will be looking for something different. One can only hope...
Sidenote: Forgotten Realms had something inspired by Mesoamerica - Maztica - but it wasn't particularly good. My hope is that Paizo will be able to do a lot better.
According to Mr. Jacobs the North American analog is called Arcadia. I was wondering why, as Arcadia seems to me to be Greek.
We had a thread along these lines at the beginning of the Savage Tide AP. You will find many on these boards with your same interests. I took a history of precolonial Mexico course once in college and was fascinated with the Aztecs. The STAP discussion was concerning the Olman and their culture - a Greyhawk mishmash of the Mesoamericans. I was amazed at some of the posters' depth of knowledge.
Sounds piratical to me, for complex and silly reasons.
"At the end of the journey, all men think that their youth was Arcadia." --Goethe
"We will never surrender. We will never beg aid from others. And we will never fight under any other flag!" --Captain Harlock
According to Mr. Jacobs the North American analog is called Arcadia. I was wondering why, as Arcadia seems to me to be Greek.
They're probably geology dorks like me. The Arcadian Orogeny (Devonian period) produced the Appalachian Mountains in eastern North America.
According to Mr. Jacobs the North American analog is called Arcadia. I was wondering why, as Arcadia seems to me to be Greek.
The word "America" is Italian in origin and was originally applied to the landmass by a German cartographer. How is that different?
You could also make the same argument for countries like Germany and Egypt. The citizens of those respective countries don't call their countries by those names, despite what the maps say...
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The modules are our testing ground. If a particular niche module sales well the guys in charge of Pathfinder might just take note.
Great strategy. It gives you all a lot of room to experiment without committing to a 6-month endeavor.
I, too, would like to see some explore-the-new-worlds type adventures, with vague, coastline-only maps and tid-bits about what lies across the oceans (or on the moon!).
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The word "Cajun" is an aphetic variant of Acadian. There is some dispute over the origin of the term Acadia; some suggest that it came from the name of the ancient Greek region of Arcadia; others suggest that it is a derivation of the Mikmaq Indian word cadique, meaning "a good place to set up camp."
from Wikipedia
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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We definitely have an area set aside for this type of stuff, and the "new world" is referenced several times in the Pathfinder Chronicles Gazetteer I'm writing with Jason Bulmahn. It's not part of the focus area of that book, though, and for the time being it's in the "something we'll get around to" pile.
I can say that there will be missionaries in our mesoamerica analog, but they will be MISSIONARIES OF THE DEVIL.
Well, the princes of the nine hells that is.
We've got at least one hot proposal on an adventure set in this region, and I wouldn't be too surprised to see it happen within a year or so.
--Erik
I can say that there will be missionaries in our mesoamerica analog, but they will be MISSIONARIES OF THE DEVIL.
Well, the princes of the nine hells that is.
--Erik
Very cool. I hope they're from Cheliax. I already love to hate those guys.
The threat of potential mass conversions to the Prince is something that has to be taken very seriously.
Not the Church of Asmodeus and Chelish Conquistadors?I can say that there will be missionaries in our mesoamerica analog, but they will be MISSIONARIES OF THE DEVIL.
Well, the princes of the nine hells that is.
I know the old “necromancy means never having to say goodbye” saw and all, but necro’ing a thread from 2007?!
-TimD
We've got at least one hot proposal on an adventure set in this region, and I wouldn't be too surprised to see it happen within a year or so.--Erik
Woah, did we ever see this adventure Erik 'promised'?
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According to Mr. Jacobs the North American analog is called Arcadia. I was wondering why, as Arcadia seems to me to be Greek.
Arcadia is a term often used to describe a Utopian pastoral or natural state, which may be consistent with pre-colonial America (harmony with nature attributed to native cultures).
It was also the name that Giovanni da Verrazzano (for whom the NY bridge is named) gave to the coastline from Virginia to New York.
Woah, did we ever see this adventure Erik 'promised'?
We did, but it was so incredibly awesome, it blew everyone's mind, broke the internet, memories were wiped, and all records erased in order to preserve what remained of humanity's fragile sanity.
Woah, did we ever see this adventure Erik 'promised'?We did, but it was so incredibly awesome, it blew everyone's mind, broke the internet, memories were wiped, and all records erased in order to preserve what remained of humanity's fragile sanity.
Woah. What a wild ride. Again please?
I personally would love to see an Arcadian-based Kingmaker campaign.
So much open land to explore.
Uh, the Arcadians live there. And just because they don't have the same concept of land possession as you do does not mean you can just walk in there and start some genocidal land grab.
Oh, wait, that's not Golarion. I was thinking about something else.
I personally would love to see an Arcadian-based Kingmaker campaign.
So much open land to explore.
Sounds like an excellent idea! Kingmaker was the first AP to truly sell out, right? People love sandboxing... and an entire unexplored (in the PF literature sense) is perfect for that!
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The Devs have generally frowned on the idea of treating Arcadia as a place to colonize, and Adam Daigle specifically has called out that Arcadia is just as advanced as Avistan from a technological and population perspective.
Those interested in Arcadia should also check out this thread, which has a wealth of ideas and references!
Those interested in Arcadia should also check out this thread, which has a wealth of ideas and references!
Thanks for the shout out. I've been out with a kidney stone for a couple weeks, so designing the bestiary I want to do has been put on hold. But, I'm recovering and I'm taking the bestiary out of the back burner by the end of this week.
Inspired by 1421: The Year China Discovered America by Gavin Menzies, I wonder if a nation, or nations, from Tian Xia crossed the Okaiyo Ocean and explored the coasts of Arcadia. Perhaps a fleet of five hundred foot long junks made from the finest teak under the command of Imperial Lung Wa's loyal eunuch admirals. Their mission to "proceed all the way to the end of Golarion to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas."
Perhaps Imperial Lung Wa established colonies on the west coast of Arcadia, explored the east coast of Arcadia, and/or circumnavigated Golarion. Perhaps the Tian-Shu people inter-married with the native Arcadians?
Perhaps we might even imagine a "land bridge" connecting Tian Xia and Arcadia or even Sarusan and Arcadia? The migrations of peoples and creatures from Tian Xia to Arcadia?
We might also imagine ships from Casmaron?
Further, we might also imagine the Golarion equivalent of the "Polynesian Triangle" in the Okaiyo Ocean.
Funnily enough, I am running a Caribbean-inspired setting that has a similar concept. In it though, the fleet is more Okinawa inspired with some Korean and Chinese aspects in it.
The Devs have generally frowned on the idea of treating Arcadia as a place to colonize, and Adam Daigle specifically has called out that Arcadia is just as advanced as Avistan from a technological and population perspective.
Oh, I completely agree with that. That is why I qualified my "unexplored [area]" in the Pathfinder _literature_ sense. Historically, some Native American civilizations were in fact well in advance of contemporary European ones before first contact, and it would be best to celebrate that in its fantasy counterpart. And I'd want the PCs to be either indigenous to the area, or be otherwise rooted in the cultures of Arcadia, with regional feats & traits as with other APs. Just as Varisia is being re-settled, millennia after the collapse of Azlanti civilization, surely there would be similar areas where earlier Arcadian civilizations had long ago abandoned areas ripe for re-settlement.
There is, however, still so much left to detail in the "old world" Inner Sea, and many want more detail on Tian Xia (sp?) before this. I'm big on pleasure-delaying, myself, and wouldn't mind Paizo putting off developing Arcadia for a couple more years, in order so that they could do it richly, deeply, broadly, fantastically...