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1.) Agents of Cheliax are keeping the red revolution going in Galt to keep people always worrying about what it would be like if there was no order.That one might even be really true, or, whatever force *is* keeping the red revolution going, might have eated any Chelish upstarts who showed up to stir the flames for their own propoganda purposes...
Kobolds are all a kind of dragon larvae. Any kobold that lives over 100 years forms an egg-like chrysalis and is reborn into a dragon. When a small or larger dragon dies its body spawns one kobold per size category larger than tiny. All dragons are.That's partially true in my world, where wyrmkin kobolds are hatched a couple times a year in groups of three to seven from unfertilized dragon eggs, and either end up serving 'mom,' or being driven forth to become free-range kobolds, or are eaten, depending on how much (or little) 'mom' wants more wyrmkin servants this season...
Having the eldest kobolds cocoon themselves and turn into real dragons never occured to me, but I love it! (Some sort of 'epic progression' available only to kobolds.)
dood, that's almost the same as my world! Kobolds are the fawning servants and spies of dragons, and come into the world en masse when hatched from an unfertilized dragon egg at the females magical behest.
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I'm having trouble thinking of others, especially others that might spoof some of the better-known conspiracy theories of our time. Any ideas?
There's a section header that starts a two-page spread on page 56 Rule of Fear, it reads "Conspiracies."
Other headers on that page include "The Anaphexia" (as featured in Prince of Wolves, "The Harlequin Society," "The Old Cults," "he Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye," and several others.
She might also be interested in the Sleepless Agency, detectives based out of the town of Thrushmoor.
As an aside, my character in James's "Shadow Under Sandpoint" game, Styrian Kindler, has a similar shtick. He showed up in Sandpoint after traveling from Caliphas to investigate reports of the Sandpoint devil, which has a ton of stories about it in Pathfinder #1.
Can you tell this is a topic near and dear to James and my hearts?
And Wes's character turns out to be a derro clone, which is surely a conspiracy in and of itself!
Right, Wes?
actually, when you consider what even a moderately powerful alchemist or necromancer can do, the potential for creating powerful conspiracies to rule a country isn't all that far fetched.
dear god...thing things one could do with a 'lesser simulacrum' spell...
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Democracy in Andoran, diabolism in Cheliax, revolution in Galt - they're all part of a very long-term plan by a millenia-old secret society (founded by Aroden, accoding to their own histories, or by gillmen, according to their detractors) attempting to alter the societies of the Inner Sea along Azlanti lines and join them together as a new Azlanti Empire, ruled by a new pure Azlanti race created by breeding the Azlanti-blooded. The death of Aroden has caused a split in their ranks, however, between those who hope the breeding program will produce a worthy heir to his power and those who seek to reawaken the lost Azlanti gods.
drunken rumor off the shackles: some Azlants escaped their homeland's destruction and now live on the continent of ARcadia.
well it could be a contreversy
I'm not so sure that'd be conspiracy theory. I could easily see some of them migrating to that continent after starfall smashed their continent.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Here's one.
Some Azlanti escaped to Castrovel. There they changed. Some have returned and walk among us, possessing strange powers and searching for descendents to spread their new nature to.
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While Andoran citizens may believe themselves to be free, they are actualy ruled by loyal Chelaxians who see the value of Taldan land, but do not wish to incur the wrath of several other countries in the Inner Sea when they start a war.
Freedom-loving citizens of Andoran will assault Taldor, while the rulership and anything of value is shipped back to motherland Cheliax.
Elves are not protective of their borders in the forest just to protect the trees. They are protective for what they have unleashed there, and are yet unable to recapture.
The Starstone is actually the egg( stole this one from earlier in the thread, but changing it a bit) of Rovagug. When it hatches, the beast inside will have full mental control over any and all who have become deities through the Starstone.
Aroden isnt dead, he just went home...back to Azlant, I mean.
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Wow, more thread necromancy!
Random conspiracy;
A long time ago, a loose alliance of gods imprisoned Rovagug. Both Abadar and Asmodeus had something to do with fashioning the prison, and both Abadar and Asmodeus have vault / key / lock associations. The stories are sometimes unclear, because Abadar, after pushing Asmodeus into the prison after Rovagug and secretly taking over as Prince of Hell, didn't always get his stories straight. To be fair, he was under a bit of pressure at the time. (If Asmodeus, a god of lies and trickery, had pushed Abadar in instead, and usurped his deific position, you can be darn sure the cover stories would be impeccable.)
Asmodeus has been gone for millenia, and only Dispater and Mammon know that they are actually serving Abadar now...
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Goblins aren't nearly as stupid and cruel as they seem. In their villages they discuss art and philosophy and love books, but they are paid by an enormous purple golems to act like special-school drop outs in front of humanoids.
I think this is my favorite so far...
Pharasma knows what happened to Aroden but refuses to reveal it. Obviously she murdered him.
And she is not actually the nemesis of undeath, but the most important source of undead. Being animated though Pharasma is in fact far worse then by Urgathoa. Oh, and she is a drow vampire.
All gods are nothing but personae of Nethys.
There are no vampires or werewolfs or "aliens" in Ustalav. It is all just a cover up for blasphemous magical experiments.
Desna is not one of the good gods, but rather a spy for some powees from the Dark Tapestry.
Shelyn is a perverse sadomasochist. "Zun-Kuthon", however, is nothing but a meat (or whatever the gods are composed of) puppet controlled by her so she can still pretend to be good and nice. The true Dou-Bral has no controll over his body since Shelyn decided to turn against her family.
We are all controlled by horrible beings from beyond. To them, our entire existence is nothing but a game, and everything is just for entertainment, including death.
The Aspis Consortium isn't really just a bunch of merchants: The Consortium uses its considerable influence to start wars between nations (so they can sell arms to both sides), cause famines (to sell food to the starving at inflated prices), and bring about "natural" disasters (to sell building materials and the provide mercenary soldiers to affected areas). They have infiltrated all of the governments in the Inner Sea region and nudge decisions to favor their financial ends at the expense of everyone else.
[Hey, sometimes conspiracy theories are true!]
There is a secret brotherhood of spontaneous spellcasters who feel that learing magic "by rote" is cheating, and only those born with "the gift" are the true arcane spellcasters. This brotherhood seeks to destroy colleges of magic and tries to collect spellbooks for burning. Any sorcerer could be a member!
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Pesh are the tumorous fruits of a vast starspawn entity that crashed into the desert of Katapesh (back when it was a lush verdant area) aeons ago, and buried it's burnt, blackened suppurating form into the soil, tainting the land and causing much of the native life to die off.
Those who eat the fruit of the 'pesh plants' (connected by thread-like roots to the vast entity below the earth) grow addicted to the chemicals, yes, but also are fed visions as it's fungal growths seep into their bodies and brains, and make them subject to the will of the slumbering thing beneath Katapesh.
Those who practice 'Pesh Magic' will someday be the sightless mad high (oh, so very high) 'priests' of the new religion that will sweep Garund and points north and east...
The Pactmasters are suspected by some to be former pesh addicts so warped and made inhuman by their long condition as to have to hide their twisted and mishappen forms from the sight of the masses, but the truth is that they were never human at all, and are the alien growths of the fallen starspawn itself, spun into humanoid form, with highly refined liquid pesh for 'blood.'
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Are you running an Adventure Path or a homebrew campaign?I'm running the Kingmaker AP. I'm sticking with Golarion as the setting. I'm leery of revealing anything about the overarching plot of Kingmaker and its final villain, even couched in guise of a nutty conspiracy theory.
Therefore, I'd like some true-ish theories from elsewhere around Golarion for fun.
Thanks for the ideas so far!
Well, there IS a good seed-bed for conspiracy theories in Brevoy that's only tangentially related to Kingmaker's events in that it kicked off the political tension that causes Rostland to send the PCs to the Stolen Lands in the first place: The Vanishing. The sudden and unexplained disappearance of every member of the Rogarvia family. There were no signs of forced entry, poison, or even of violence. It's as if the entire royal house just somehow spontaneously ceased to exist. Given the mysterious nature of the Rogarvias and their founder, Choral the Conqueror, as well as how quick the Surtovas were to step in to fill the power vacuum, this is practically begging for wild conspiracy theories.
Also, the observatory city of Skywatch closed its gates almost exactly at the same time as The Vanishing, so she could speculate on that too. Nobody ever comes out of the city, and no one's been able to get in and see what's going on, at least none that have ever returned. Divination magic just gets static for lack of a better term.
While these are important locations in Brevoy, their origins and truths are beyond Kingmaker's scope, so you don't need to worry about conspiracy theories spoiling the Adventure Path's plot.
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Random conspiracy;
A long time ago, a loose alliance of gods imprisoned Rovagug. Both Abadar and Asmodeus had something to do with fashioning the prison, and both Abadar and Asmodeus have vault / key / lock associations. The stories are sometimes unclear, because Abadar, after pushing Asmodeus into the prison after Rovagug and secretly taking over as Prince of Hell, didn't always get his stories straight. To be fair, he was under a bit of pressure at the time. (If Asmodeus, a god of lies and trickery, had pushed Abadar in instead, and usurped his deific position, you can be darn sure the cover stories would be impeccable.)
What no one save Abadar knows:
Asmodeus neither created nor was pushed into the prison, Asmodeus IS the prison that keeps Rovagug held firm. Abadar fashioned the godcage with the most unique material in all the planes that he knew could never be broken or would ever yield: Asmodeus' pride.
Wow, more thread necromancy!
Random conspiracy;
A long time ago, a loose alliance of gods imprisoned Rovagug. Both Abadar and Asmodeus had something to do with fashioning the prison, and both Abadar and Asmodeus have vault / key / lock associations. The stories are sometimes unclear, because Abadar, after pushing Asmodeus into the prison after Rovagug and secretly taking over as Prince of Hell, didn't always get his stories straight. To be fair, he was under a bit of pressure at the time. (If Asmodeus, a god of lies and trickery, had pushed Abadar in instead, and usurped his deific position, you can be darn sure the cover stories would be impeccable.)Asmodeus has been gone for millenia, and only Dispater and Mammon know that they are actually serving Abadar now...
That may be all true, but no-one ever noticed that Abadar was in turn supplanted by Norgorber. Even the Archdevils don't know about that.
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Geb and Nex were best of friends, all the time.
Legions upon legions of their 'apprentices' (who would themselves be considered master mages in any other land) met on the field of battle, losing their lives in an endless state of 'war' between the two nations, weeding out the weak and pruning the ranks of those whose power and ambition was growing to become a threat to their masters.
Great amalgamate beasts came from the fleshforges of Nex to test their might against the cobbled-together bone-and-spirit abominations of Geb, as each refined their craft, and testing them against each other's creations, each raising their art to its pinnacle in this way.
The creation of Arazni served as a breaking point in their centuries old friendship, as Nex felt that Geb was spending too much time catering to the mad whims of his new wife, and, truth to told, he grew somewhat jealous, shuttering himself away to engage in more esoteric research into the construction of demiplanes. By the time Geb's 'honeymoon was over,' he turned to find that Nex had left the mortal planes entirely, and left no forwarding address.
Rumors that Geb killed himself out of despair are purple prose, at best. Furious that she was second in Geb's affections to his old rival/friend, Arazni throttled Geb in their bed, only to be frustrated by his stubborn refusal to leave this world, not because of any desire to be revenged upon her, but, even more maddeningly, to her eyes, out of a lingering desire to remain behind, in case his old friend Nex resurfaced...
The Hellknights aren't merely keeping law and order in Cheliax. Each existing order holds a key that controls part of a barrier erected around the nation. It allows the devils to flourish while keeping the corruption of the demons and daemons at a minimum.
So long as House Thrune continues to give them leave to operate unhindered in the nation, they'll keep the barrier up. Also, Hellknight prisoners rarely escape their jails because they aren't in jail - their souls are drained in rituals to power the barrier.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Rovagug, The Rough Beast, and Lamashtu, Mother of Monsters, worked together to create the Spawn of Rovagug. Lamashtu has a supply of his "seed" that she has been using to create the Spawn. Since the Spawn would drastically wound her during childbirth, she has created a surrogate, the Fleshwarren demiplane. The birthing canal is linked to the Pit of Gormuz. The Gods want the people to believe the Pit is the real entrance to his prison to deceive any cultists. Even now a new Spawn is gestating...
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Varisians aren't native to Golarion, but were brought here many centuries before the rise of Thassilon by their butterfly goddess. Rumor has it they weren't humanoid, when they first arrived, but spun themselves into cocoons, and emerged looking as they do now, the only evidence of their true nature lying in their dark, dark eyes, as dark as the lightless places between the stars where their ancient homeland lies abandoned.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Not really a hardwired conspiracy theory, so I'll spoiler it. Been watching BSG and playing in the Wiki.
Despite no divine magic, they are able to perform miracles, healing, curing, etc. Perhaps the strangest thing is that the gods are silent on the truth of their statements, nor are any of their followers ever found on the river of souls or in the boneyard. Are they called to somewhere else when they die? Or are they simply consumed in some greater daemonic plan?
"What's the difference between a cult and a religion? About 2000 years."
Geeze, what is it that makes people want Andoran democracy to fail so very much?
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Geeze, what is it that makes people want Andoran democracy to fail so very much?
Where's there's chaos, there's a place for adventure. And that is why a secret organization of powerful adventurers foments chaos across the globe, so that there will always be something for adventurers to do.
1. Padishah Empire of Kelesh has a satrap state called Critauri that has been in revolt for over 60 years. Lord Ogsen, from his capital city of Sevarax, takes after his late father and defies the Empire and has continued his father's revolt for independence. Critauri is 80% Casmar, and 17% Kellish, 2% Taldan, and 1 % Tian. The Padishah Empire has isolated the satrap state so knowledge of its existence is not known to the rest of world and knowledge that the Empire cannot reign in a mere satrap state is kept under wraps.
2.Sarusan is inhabited by not only dark-skinned humans that build reed boats, but by a group of half-human/half-dwarves that build small city-states in the continent-wide desert in the south of the continent.
These bald half-men built their nations out of obsidian, stone, and wood with little metal at all. Maybe it's due to the fact that rust monsters plague the land.
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Half Elves are, more accurately, 'quarter elves.'
The so called 'Elves' of Golarion are pale shadows of their elder selves, who are as to them, as Noble Drow are to 'common' Drow, both more elegant and refined, and with innate spell-like abilities.
The 'Elves' of Golarion will never admit that they are thin-blooded lower caste members of their people, and the few of the 'elder blood' who walk the world, such as Queen Telandia, rarely leave Kyonin.
...
Nex has a burgeoning underclass of gnomes, who work as assistants and apprentices, librarians and researchers, spell component merchants and laboratory craftsmen. Indeed, it's the rare Arclord of Nex who doesn't have a half-dozen gnomes overseeing all aspects of his research, his home, his vassals, his business dealings, etc.
It's almost as if they secretly run the place...
The gnomes themselves laugh riotously at such nonsense, and return to their duties. On certain nights, they gather in rooms their 'masters' know nothing of, places both extra-dimensional and illusory in nature, and share the information that keeps the nation running, 'adjusting' the plans of their 'masters' as necessary to keep everything ship shape and operating smoothly, even, if necessary, 'adjusting' one of the masters themselves, by arranging for a terribly tragic bit of the wrong component to be used in the wrong line of oh-so-very-dangerous research.
Accidents happen, you know. Not as often as you'd think, from the number of lines of research that end catastrophically, but they do happpen.
For the gnomes know the real secret, that Nex himself was a gnome, and only assumed a human form so that the other wizards he attracted to his fledgling nation would take him seriously.
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Geeze, what is it that makes people want Andoran democracy to fail so very much?
The fact that it is an unjust abomination against the proper order of things. What perverted worldview causes you to wish the victory of mobs and chaos?
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Contributing to the thread:
The Church of Cayden Cailean produces exquisite ales and wines. Beverages of all kinds, all of the greatest potency and with the most extraordinary effect on mortal minds. The Cult of Norgorber produces drugs and poisons. Liquids of all kinds, all with the greatest potency and the most extraordinary effect on mortal minds. Determining where one upstart god's works begin and another's end is actually quite difficult. Cayden is little more than another mask for Norgorber, and an effective one at that. Through the Church of 'Cayden', Norgorber has introduced agents all across Avistan. Agents whose minds are now reliant on the drugs within the potent wine of Cayden Cailean.
For the gnomes know the real secret, that Nex himself was a gnome, and only assumed a human form so that the other wizards he attracted to his fledgling nation would take him seriously.
Or that's what the gnomes are led to believe, the ACTUAL truth is that Nex truly was a human with protean blood that sought and recieved power from none other than Yog-Sothoth itself!
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I'd take the gnome idea and use it for halflings in Cheliax. The ruling caste has become so dependent on them for labor, they wouldn't know what to do without them.
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The nobles of House Thrune have been engaged in a sort of breeding program for the last generation, marrying various Hellknights and soldiers of burlier-than-normal stature, even some of less-than-noble blood, which, in any lesser placed house, would be a bit of a scandal.
Their latest crop of young nobles are indeed longer of limb and more physically robust than is typical of Chelish nobility, and tend to dress to flaunt their physical traits. Other noble houses very quietly whisper that they pollute themselves by striving for such physical advantages in their youth, rather than a focus on erudition, keen wit and charm, but the new generation certainly doesn't seem to lack for *that* either...
Mainly because they are all of them, from an early age, possessed by devils, and the entire devil-court of Thrune is being bred to be nothing more than attractive and hearty meat-puppets for the *true* fiendish rulers of Ergoran. They care not if the young nobles they inhabit can spell their names or name their ancestors back five generations, only that their bodies are hale enough to survive the fiendish appetites of their possesors.
Abrogail Thrune has been so possessed almost since birth, by Glasya, daughter of Asmodeus, and a nascent arch-devil in her own right.
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Aroden is;
That whole post was awesome.
I'm working on some Aroden stuff for my personal campaign, and it's a hoot to see how you address some of the mysteries behind the character (who I made up).
The real fun thing is that you actually know what happened to him. :)
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1. The Aspis Consortium is actually controlled by the same Decemvirate that controls the Pathfinder Society. They pit the two organizations against each other for show and to distract their gullible members, but the Decemvirate always wins no matter which side succeeds.
2. The Riddleport Gate is actually a time portal built by ancient Azlanti prophets who foresaw the Starfall. There are historical records of a vast Azlanti fleet entering it one year before the Fall, but no one knows when they might emerge...
3. The elves are actually just the vanguard of a vast interstellar empire. Sovyrian is only one of hundreds of worlds they control. the only thing that's stopped them from conquering Golarion is that the planet has also been invaded by their main galactic rivals: the halflings.
Trinite,
I really like #2
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Arodan died, either willingly or unwillingly, in order to prevent the rise of Asmodeus as ruler of the Universe. Asmodeus would be in a more powerful position had Aroden been slain latter.
Milani, Goddess of Revolts and Revolutions, killed Arodan. Iomedae found out....after the fact.
Goblins have secret cities in the sewers of Kaer Maga.
Abrogail Thrune has been so possessed almost since birth, by Glasya, daughter of Asmodeus, and a nascent arch-devil in her own right.
Oh I like. I really really like.
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[Inspired by the 'gods and sex?' thread and it's current topic of what Erastil thinks of non-traditional marriage.]
Erastil is the god of home and family and marriage and children.
He himself has no home, no family, no marriage and no children, and he wishes for none of his followers to suffer as he suffers.
Ever since Curchanos died, he's been uninterested in pursuing another relationship, and he's only 'recently' been Lawful Good (being a somewhat earthier and more wild and unrestrained sort of god, 'in the day'), in opposition to his lover's killer, the Chaotic Evil Lamashtu.
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[Inspired by the 'gods and sex?' thread and it's current topic of what Erastil thinks of non-traditional marriage.]
Erastil is the god of home and family and marriage and children.
He himself has no home, no family, no marriage and no children, and he wishes for none of his followers to suffer as he suffers.
Ever since Curchanos died, he's been uninterested in pursuing another relationship, and he's only 'recently' been Lawful Good (being a somewhat earthier and more wild and unrestrained sort of god, 'in the day'), in opposition to his lover's killer, the Chaotic Evil Lamashtu.
That, Is,
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[Inspired by the 'gods and sex?' thread and it's current topic of what Erastil thinks of non-traditional marriage.]
Erastil is the god of home and family and marriage and children.
He himself has no home, no family, no marriage and no children, and he wishes for none of his followers to suffer as he suffers.
Ever since Curchanos died, he's been uninterested in pursuing another relationship, and he's only 'recently' been Lawful Good (being a somewhat earthier and more wild and unrestrained sort of god, 'in the day'), in opposition to his lover's killer, the Chaotic Evil Lamashtu.
Another thing I really like about this one is that, given what else has been written about Curchanos & Desna & Erastil I see them as having been possibly some kind of equal-love-triangle which pretty much imploded with Curchanus' death. Both the other parties feeling in some way guilty & blaming the other (& themselves) for not preventing it. Not enough bad blood to hate each other, but just enough guilt & recrimination to drive each other away, when together might have done much to heal each.
Which then starts getting me thinking about Shelyn & how that might affect her...