Of course, if dead people can be made not dead, then, presumably, so could dead gods.Only if they want to though!
Which would beg the question: Why would Aroden not want to come back?
Anything that might destroy a god, may not leave anything to ressurrect. After all if the gods manage the afterlife, where is there for THEM to go if they die. The answer may be ... non existence, especially if dieties only live on through the belief of mortals.
So Pantheons can rise and fall depending on how the mortal cultures that worship them prosper... or fail to. So if a culture goes totally extinct, it's gods go with it.
That said, if there are still a few worshipers of Aroden then he might be considered on "life support". However his "return" being missed is probably pretty hard to come back from, seeing as it dissolved his organized faith. He'd need a pretty big miracle to combat that perception.
More than likely, if Gods are measured by the number and faith of their worshippers, a returned Aroden would be very weak, and probably would have a different portfolio. Perhaps he would become a God resurrection, faith against all odds, and new beginnings.
I am also fond of describing Aroden to newbs as "Strider-Jesus".
As in "Strider-Jesus was a no-show for his second coming, and the Diabolists stepped in to impose order in the ensuing chaos."
What can kill a god, well the other gods are NOT talking.
Not exactly something you want to become common knowledge...
Of course, if dead people can be made not dead, then, presumably, so could dead gods.Only if they want to though!
Which would beg the question: Why would Aroden not want to come back?
Would it undo some heroic sacrifice?
Or is there something that would make him actually prefer to hide in death?
The TV reception is better here. And I get broadband internet access.
It's really quite simple..
The Age of Prophecy was manufactured by the Deceiver.
Aroden was duped by the Deciever into thinking he was the god of prophecy.
The Deciever murdered Aroden just as he was about to ascend to true power
The Deciever took Arodens power allowing him to become a diety
The Deceiver no longer needed the power of prophecy to dupe people so he destroyed it.
Deceiver=Asmodeus
YMMV
The Deceiver no longer needed the power of prophecy to dupe people so he destroyed it.
Nah! Old Asmo, he wouldn't throw stuff away that could be useful again in the future. I can see this guy having a huge attic, with lots of things covered with cloth, waiting to be useful again.
Browsing strongly discouraged - you never know what you might unveil: Some ex-archfiends, Dou-bral's old, cheerful clothing, the key to Rovagug's prison (on a big key-ring of unlabelled keys, all of which quite portentous), his attempts at diabolical haiku (I am so evil/More evil even than Geb/He is so jealous), his naughty list....
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A nice twist on the whole "bring Aroden back" story could be that bringing him back requires the aid of a god that the players would be comletely oppossed to. What if restoring Aroden meant that you had to seek out Asmodeuses help to do it? What would he ask for in return? Is the cost worth the return? All fun ideas to contemplate.
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They knew that the prison wouldn't hold Rovagug forever, but that it would at least address the situation and give them some breathing room.
The time had come. The prison was breaking down, and a novel solution was found. One of it's creators had to bind *all* of their power into the prison, sacrificing their divinity. The power of a god, to contain the fury of a god. Sarenrae, Asmodeus, Abadar and Aroden were among the gods who originally constructed the prison, and knew that it would take a divine sacrifice to keep the Beast locked away, but it was Aroden who made the choice for them.
Who better to build a wall around the god of savagry than the god of civilization? City walls are built to keep the wild things out, and the people safe, but this wall keeps the wild thing in, and the world safe.
But, known only to Pharasma, while Aroden-the-god is 'dead,' Aroden-the-man has been reborn, and has chosen the unlikely goal of being the only being to ascend to godhood *twice,* using the power of his own Starstone...
They knew that the prison wouldn't hold Rovagug forever, but that it would at least address the situation and give them some breathing room.
The time had come. The prison was breaking down, and a novel solution was found. One of it's creators had to bind *all* of their power into the prison, sacrificing their divinity. The power of a god, to contain the fury of a god. Sarenrae, Asmodeus, Abadar and Aroden were among the gods who originally constructed the prison, and knew that it would take a divine sacrifice to keep the Beast locked away, but it was Aroden who made the choice for them.
Who better to build a wall around the god of savagry than the god of civilization? City walls are built to keep the wild things out, and the people safe, but this wall keeps the wild thing in, and the world safe.
But, known only to Pharasma, while Aroden-the-god is 'dead,' Aroden-the-man has been reborn, and has chosen the unlikely goal of being the only being to ascend to godhood *twice,* using the power of his own Starstone...
That's not bad....
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They knew that the prison wouldn't hold Rovagug forever, but that it would at least address the situation and give them some breathing room.
The time had come. The prison was breaking down, and a novel solution was found. One of it's creators had to bind *all* of their power into the prison, sacrificing their divinity. The power of a god, to contain the fury of a god. Sarenrae, Asmodeus, Abadar and Aroden were among the gods who originally constructed the prison, and knew that it would take a divine sacrifice to keep the Beast locked away, but it was Aroden who made the choice for them.
Who better to build a wall around the god of savagry than the god of civilization? City walls are built to keep the wild things out, and the people safe, but this wall keeps the wild thing in, and the world safe.
But, known only to Pharasma, while Aroden-the-god is 'dead,' Aroden-the-man has been reborn, and has chosen the unlikely goal of being the only being to ascend to godhood *twice,* using the power of his own Starstone...
I am going to steal that. Now, are the PCs trying to help him, or stop him?
That's not bad....They knew that the prison wouldn't hold Rovagug forever, but that it would at least address the situation and give them some breathing room.
The time had come. The prison was breaking down, and a novel solution was found. One of it's creators had to bind *all* of their power into the prison, sacrificing their divinity. The power of a god, to contain the fury of a god. Sarenrae, Asmodeus, Abadar and Aroden were among the gods who originally constructed the prison, and knew that it would take a divine sacrifice to keep the Beast locked away, but it was Aroden who made the choice for them.
Who better to build a wall around the god of savagry than the god of civilization? City walls are built to keep the wild things out, and the people safe, but this wall keeps the wild thing in, and the world safe.
But, known only to Pharasma, while Aroden-the-god is 'dead,' Aroden-the-man has been reborn, and has chosen the unlikely goal of being the only being to ascend to godhood *twice,* using the power of his own Starstone...
It isn't, except that Aroden ascended to divinity after Rovagug had already been imprisoned for multiple millennium. He wasn't involved in that original battle at all.
Conceptually however, it is a neat idea, I agree.
Personally, I've always liked the idea that Aroden is irreversibly dead, as that's key to what makes Golarion feel like Golarion to me. It's that setting where the Golden Age was destroyed, and the Big Damn Hero of the world was slain. The future is uncertain, unwritten, and may well be very bad, unless the player's prevent it.
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I think I read this idea somewhere before. I believe they way they presented it was that another, currently nameless, god had sacrificed himself initially when Rovagug was slain. But now, the prison is weakening, and another sacrifice was needed. So Aroden, being the noble soul that he is, decides to make the sacrifice himself.
I really like the idea of Aroden being reborn. I think the twist I would add is that the players aren't completely sure if he is or isn't until the very end. Maybe something about losing his divinity unhinged his mind? But by becoming a god again, he would be whole.
I can see WarriorPoet's side, too. Golarian is a world with a lost Golden Age. And Aroden being completely gone is a big part of that.
But, it's your world, so make it what you want it but.
I really like the idea of Aroden being reborn. I think the twist I would add is that the players aren't completely sure if he is or isn't until the very end. Maybe something about losing his divinity unhinged his mind? But by becoming a god again, he would be whole.
Maybe it has been narrowed down to the player characters. Though. they are unaware of it, of course. And the course of their adventures it to try and divine which of them is the reincarnation of the divinity.
Greg
PS: I like Aroden staying dead too.
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Now I wonder about the (ingame) practical consequences of worshipping a dead god: I guess, they still follow all the formal aspects of worshipping, but can they offer more than prayers and some mimicry of divine magic (via wands or staffs or rods; and who provides them)?
Thank you in advance for your answers,
yours A.S.
That's close to how I'd figure it. They're using what resources they have left of the old days that they can no longer renew through their own power. They might get some donated resources from the church of Iomedae, perhaps, even as Aroden worship continues to be folded into his inheritor's fold.
Aroden's church could also be a hotbed for heresy: Miraculous shows of divine power granted to some clerics could be the work of other entities trying to subvert Aroden's followers for their own purposes. Makes me wonder about inquisitors of Aroden and Iomedae working in the area; they could be busy rooting out those who would defile the dignity of that church's final days and Aroden's memory.
A couple of things to consider:
-We have seen dead gods come back. The most significant being the return of Bane. In Bane's case he planted a "divine seed" in his son Iyachtu Xvim. Some time after Bane's death he burst forth from the corpse of his son. This was witnessed in the dreams of every Xvim worshipper which resulted in a rapid conversion of priests of Xvim to Bane (although in this case it was more like coming home). Maybe something similar is going on with Iomedae?
-Assume for a moment that Aroden is the God Emperor. Someone could have foreseen the dark future under his rule and chosen to act. Or as mentioned earlier in this thread, perhaps Aroden himself.
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-Assume for a moment that Aroden is the God Emperor. Someone could have foreseen the dark future under his rule and chosen to act. Or as mentioned earlier in this thread, perhaps Aroden himself.
I agree. I think this was tied to stopping Asmodeus contract on Golorian. Think about a world ruled by Aroden and then see him replaced Asmodeus, with Cheliaxian values the norm everywhere.
By 'breaking' the contract with his own death, whether volentary or not, we have have Cheliax rather then a world empire with Asmodeus eventually in charge.
One of players in the campaign I'm currently running is playing an Inquisitor of Aroden. He was raised in a small, secluded and isolated community that still worshiped Aroden, and is currently on the mission to discover why people stopped worshiping him. His zeal and conviction are actually strong enough that he -is- able to cast divine spells, though it is debatable whether Aroden is granting them or they simply happen through absolute strength of his faith.
Now that you mention it, he does play the Inquisitor quite a bit like a WH40K Imperial / Space Marine Inquisitor...