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While the country as a whole and its government lean strongly towards being Lawful Evil, there is absolutely no preclusion against good individuals coming from it or even trying to help the nation return to its former, pre-Asmodeus-worshipping, state. Here's a post from the blog that I think may help address your question.
How Do I Play a Paladin in Service to Cheliax?
Thursday, July 10, 2008Good question! We're hearing this one and others like it on the Pathfinder Society messageboards, so we thought we'd use today's blog to give you a sneak peak at the Chelax section of the Pathfinder Society Player's Guide soon-to-be-released here on paizo.com. All of the base classes will be covered in the final Player's Guide. Below we've included just a few of the classes folks are having a hard time imagining as non-evil Chelish faction members.
Chelish Pathfinders
Since House Thrune rose to prominence, reclaiming the past glories of Cheliax and re-establishing their footholds across the world has been their primary goal. Chelish armies amass in the ruthless homeland, and their agents push far and wide seeking to expand the diabolic empire's influence. Chelish culture is widely popular, and their fashions show up in most nations across Avistan and Garund. House Thrune places a high priority on discovering the relics of the past and controlling the revelation and interpretation of historical finds. The noble houses of Cheliax encourage the populace and even their own scions to join the Pathfinder Society and seek treasures of ancient power to bolster the empire.
Barbarians: Cheliax is built on law and order. The empire runs smoothly with the help of its infernal allies, and they tolerate no disruption to the nation's workings. Barbarism does not thrive among the devil-bowing culture of Cheliax. Still, there are blood pits in Westcrown where men become beasts to the deafening roar of the crowd and the hot spray of an enemy's blood. Cheliax's most fierce battle-raging warriors are cultivated from slaves who earn a place in the military only after brutal escapades in the blood pits. Other conscripts in the army of Cheliax are drawn from captured Shoanti of Varisia who sometimes pledge their loyalty to House Thrune and join the Pathfinder Society in the empire's service.
Druids: Cheliax's colonial holdings of old inspired several orders of wardens dedicated to safeguarding the majesty of the natural world. When House Thrune seized control of the crumbling empire, they bent these earthly wonders to their own infernal uses and even today most of the empire's natural resources are ruthlessly hewn and sent to the new capital at Egorian for whatever sinister purposes House Thrune sees fit. A few of the druidic orders of old persisted, doing their best to stem the burning of the land, and convincing the noble houses to slow their voracious ravaging of the landscape, lest the resources run dry. The Black Wardens survived by dedicating themselves to Asmodeus dogma, claiming they grow the trees to stoke the fires of his dark glory. Other orders like the Sisters of Oak maintain their vigil over the landscape with no official ties to the Church of Asmodeus, but doing so sometimes creates friction between their order and the government of Egorian. Still as the country's natural resources wane, the government of Cheliax cannot afford to eradicate these druids, and are forced to form tenuous agreements with them in order to save their nation's landscape from utter destruction.
Monks: Monastic orders abound in Cheliax, most steeped in martial arts once trained in the smoldering depths of the Nine Hells. The coveted martial arts of devil kind are now practiced by the Chelish in secret sects and monasteries all over the empire. Several of these orders are attached to the Chelish legion, and in particular the martial art of Hamatulatsu, learned from barbed devils, is practiced by monks in military service. Other orders include the Sidaal Thram, an order of glaive wielding martial arts masters who wear long bears braided with barbs and blades, as well as the spiked chain wielding Order of the Razored Shackle, who wrap themselves in the kyton's chains and engage in horrifying self mutilation as part of their path to excellence.
Paladins: Paladins are a rare sight in Cheliax. Before House Thrune rose to power, the shining servants of Iomedae and her slain patron Aroden rode throughout Old Cheliax. Some are still there and do the best they can to serve her glory in a nation much overshadowed in darkness. They see it as their divine duty to bring the empire back to a path of temperance, or at least to balance the evils of their homeland. More than a few paladins of Aroden still believe their god will return someday to bring the nation back into the light. These paladins remain to herald his return, and hold on to the burning idea of Old Cheliax, a sprawling empire whose glory was a beacon in a dark and savage world.
Joshua J. Frost
Director of MarketingNicolas Logue
Organized Play Coordinator
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Can a Chelish PC not be evil?
Short answer? Yes.
The noble houses turned to devil worship, but Cheliax was Orthodox Arodish for hundreds of years. Just because the nobs in their fancy castles have taken to be pegged by Erinyes with strap-ons doesn't mean Joe Farmhand is going to give up going to Big Book of Aroden study on Sundays.
To take an example from real life, Queen Elizabeth I was a protestant, but many of her subjects remained Catholic. And that was okay with Elizabeth, as long as they weren't trying to kill her for being a heretic.
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Just because the nobs in their fancy castles have taken to be pegged by Erinyes with strap-ons
O.O
To take an example from real life, Queen Elizabeth I was a protestant, but many of her subjects remained Catholic. And that was okay with Elizabeth, as long as they weren't trying to kill her for being a heretic.
On the other hand, when Queen Mary was in charge she was perfectly willing to have people killed for not (claiming to) being Catholic.
Course, all that means is that Farmer Joe will have to hide his Big Book of Aroden and lie about loving Asomodeus in public.
Creative Director
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Although Cheliax is currently ruled by devil-associated folk... the bulk of Cheliax's people are not evil. The Council of Thieves Adventure Path (debuting in Pathfinder #25 next Gen Con) is set entirely in Cheliax, and should serve as a great window into how this nation works.
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Although Cheliax is currently ruled by devil-associated folk... the bulk of Cheliax's people are not evil. The Council of Thieves Adventure Path (debuting in Pathfinder #25 next Gen Con) is set entirely in Cheliax, and should serve as a great window into how this nation works.
James, I have to say that I cannot wait for the Council of Thieves Adventure Path. AP #4 doesn't sound quite up my alley so I may cancel my subscription for that one, but I will definitely be back for Thieves.
Ryn, who has too many adventures to run, and has to find time to work so he can buy them
mmmmm....
moral relativism.
I am pleased.
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Who's worse? The Archfiend, the Cenobite, or the Great Old One?
There's only one way to find out: go and pick a fight with each, and later return.
Actually, that's not a good way, either. They have views on picking fights with them.
Make someone else (three someones elses) pick fights with those. Then examine their remains afterwards.
And there's more: Irrisen with its abundance of witches; the Worldwound with its abundance of demons, and pure abyssal corruption; Geb with its undead; Ustalav with its, well, undead, too, and also other horrors.
There's lots of flavours of evil, and Golarion's got most of it. It's like ice cream and Japan.
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Not to mention the Darklands with its....things. Numeria with some sort of techno-conspiracy. Galt with its eternal revolution with the guilotine as the only real ruler. The remains of Azlant with aboleths, gillmen, and skum.
In short, where can't you get a villian from?
Not to mention the Darklands with its....things.
Yeah. The birthplace of unspeakable horrors.
In fact, the Unspeakable Vault (of DOOM) would be right at home there.
Yum yum yum!
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Molthune. It's too lame to have villains.
In short, where can't you get a villian from?
Lies! Molthrune is the perfect place to have a villainous general who wishes to purge rebellious thoughts at all cost. It can have sinister fey plotting to bring anarchy to the whole province. You could have hobgoblin mercenaries turning on their human commanders, hoping to carve out territory for themselves.
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I really wanted to make a villainous character from Razmiran, a masked 'priest' who use Bardic magic or even Adept magic to pretend to be a Cleric of the Living God, but the whole notion of the masked clerics being mind-controlled or whatever didn't seem to sit well with being a playable character...
Definitely another source of badness. Travelling troupes of benevolent seeming fellows, enthusiastically preaching the good word of the Living God, passing out free healing magic (using the above Bard / Adept means) and encouraging those they treat to take up a pilgramage to the blessed land, where the God in the Flesh sits waiting for them.
As far as I know, they don't "waste" "their" healing magic on "infidels".
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As far as I know, they don't "waste" "their" healing magic on "infidels".
Oh sure, but I wouldn't let that stop a perfectly good character idea. NPC class Adepts should, if anything, be even more common than Clerics in the general population, which would make 'healing magic' almost as readily available to the Church of the Living God as it is to any other priesthood.