Earthfall wasn't just a single meteorite striking Azlant - there were multiple impacts(1). In which case, I would expect there to be multiple impact craters across Golarion, especially as there hasn't been an intervening glaciation to wipe them all away. So where are the equivalents of Meteor Crater(2) on Golarion?
(1) City of Seven Spears mentions "the impacts of countless falling stars
upon Golarion"
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_Crater
Reference this map.
The primary strike was in Azlant, which used to be a continent. Arcadia, Garund, and Avistan all took hits from secondary strikes. The Starstone is one such secondary strike. I doubt that Paizo has (or ever will) defined all the strikes, and this conveniently lets any DM place a crater anywhere it's needed for a storyline...
I would think large impact craters would result from the Starfall event, and large impact craters are notoriously hard to spot from the ground, being tens of kilometers in diameter. Without access to satellite imagery or at least a flying city, how would the PCs be likely to recognize one if they stumbled upon it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_impact_craters_on_Earth
After only 10,000 years the craters won't have eroded significantly but many will be covered by vegetation or water, and in any case if you're inside the crater and its rim is beyond your visible horizon, you will have no idea you're inside one.
Apparently the larger craters also tend to be "complex" craters rather than nice simple bowl shapes.
If I am "seeing" it correctly, you can see one on the Varisian map, as the ring of the Stoval Plateau...
If I am "seeing" it correctly, you can see one on the Varisian map, as the ring of the Stoval Plateau...
The Storval Rise is a pair of arcs, suggesting a pair of overlapping craters to me. But these would surely have to be much older than the Earthfall event, to allow time for the Malgorian Mountains and Iron Peaks to uplift within the bowl and crossing the rim, right?
Actually this brings up a bit of confusion I've had before: the Inner Sea was created when the Starstone impacted, the Starstone being an outlier from the meteorite group that destroyed Azlant. The only part of the Inner Sea that looks remotely crater-shaped is the eastern end, surrounding Absalom. Were lowlands west of Absalom flooded from the Obari Ocean as a result? That I can see. But I thought I'd read that the flooding came from the Arcadian Ocean.
Now, I can see megatsunamis from the Azlant disaster washing over the western edge of Avistan and Garund to flood existing lowlands. But I don't see the Starstone contributing to flooding from that direction if its own impact created the "Bay of Absalom" area.
I would think large impact craters would result from the Starfall event, and large impact craters are notoriously hard to spot from the ground, being tens of kilometers in diameter. Without access to satellite imagery or at least a flying city, how would the PCs be likely to recognize one if they stumbled upon it?
People can fly.
Without access to satellite imagery or at least a flying city, how would the PCs be likely to recognize one if they stumbled upon it?People can fly.
You're right. I'd initially dismissed that because generally speaking, people can't fly very high or for very long. A 10th L caster can enable a creature to fly for 10 minutes. Say that creature can ascend straight up for 7.5 minutes at a rate of 30'/rd. You reach a maximum height of 2250'. You take another 5 or 6 rounds to look over the terrain at the height of your flight. Now you spend just shy of 2 minutes decending at 120'/rd.
For 5-6 rounds, you have a circular horizon at a distance of about 64 miles radius, that radius rapidly growing and shrinking every few seconds as you ascend and descend. Plenty of viewing area for large impact craters, if you already happen to be very close to one, and you either have a pretty good idea of what to look for or are in terrain where the crater hasn't been largely obscured by vegetation or other terrain features.
I maintain they still won't be easily found in most cases, but you're correct: satellite imagery and flying cities might be useful but are not necessary for this.
Creative Director
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Actually this brings up a bit of confusion I've had before: the Inner Sea was created when the Starstone impacted, the Starstone being an outlier from the meteorite group that destroyed Azlant. The only part of the Inner Sea that looks remotely crater-shaped is the eastern end, surrounding Absalom. Were lowlands west of Absalom flooded from the Obari Ocean as a result? That I can see. But I thought I'd read that the flooding came from the Arcadian Ocean.
Now, I can see megatsunamis from the Azlant disaster washing over the western edge of Avistan and Garund to flood existing lowlands. But I don't see the Starstone contributing to flooding from that direction if its own impact created the "Bay of Absalom" area.
The western and southern reach of the current Inner Sea was already a pair of giant bays in the pre-Earthfall days. Those bays expanded significantly with Earthfall, connected to each other via the large central crater. The island of Absalom didn't exist at that time—that entire island was raised from the bottom of the sea at the same time Aroden raised up the Starstone itself back at year 1.
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Creative Director
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A 10th L caster can enable a creature to fly for 10 minutes. Say that creature can ascend straight up for 7.5 minutes at a rate of 30'/rd. You reach a maximum height of 2250'. You take another 5 or 6 rounds to look over the terrain at the height of your flight. Now you spend just shy of 2 minutes decending at 120'/rd.
Using the fly spell, sure. But there are other methods a character can fly. Taking 10th level spellcasters as an example, you have air walk at 4th level providing a minimum duration of 70 minutes. And then you have overland flight at 5th level providing a minimum duration of 9 hours.
Then, of course, there's wind walk at 6th level... you need to be 11th level to get that one, of course, but that lets you fly at 60 mph for a minimum of 11 hours.
Needless to say that you can use flying allies or mounts to fly as well.
So there's a LOT of ways that folks can fly and see topography from the sky in Golarion.
People can fly on hot air baloons (Tian Xia) and people can fly on the backs of Dragons, and there is a flying Citadel...
That is I am assumeing that Tian Xians would have the know how for hot air craft...
Earthfall wasn't just a single meteorite striking Azlant - there were multiple impacts(1). In which case, I would expect there to be multiple impact craters across Golarion, especially as there hasn't been an intervening glaciation to wipe them all away. So where are the equivalents of Meteor Crater(2) on Golarion?
(1) City of Seven Spears mentions "the impacts of countless falling stars
upon Golarion"(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_Crater
In about 20 years an asteroid of similar size will strike the Earth. The governments of the world know about it and are making preparations to save a chosen percentage of the population. This is not a movie or TV special.
The western and southern reach of the current Inner Sea was already a pair of giant bays in the pre-Earthfall days. Those bays expanded significantly with Earthfall, connected to each other via the large central crater. The island of Absalom didn't exist at that time—that entire island was raised from the bottom of the sea at the same time Aroden raised up the Starstone itself back at year 1.
Oh, right. I could have wiki'd Absalom and refreshed my memory on that last point. D'oh!
Still not clear on the pre-existing bays, though. The central crater would be the round area around Absalom. Is the "southern reach of the current Inner Sea" what the Golarian map has labeled the Obari Ocean?
And was the giant bay at the western end of the current Inner Sea open to the ocean only at Aroden's Arch (somewhat like the Black Sea?)
In about 20 years an asteroid of similar size will strike the Earth. The governments of the world know about it and are making preparations to save a chosen percentage of the population. This is not a movie or TV special.
Dude! Wrong planet. Jeesh! That is for planet P475G1.
Sorry folks! Nothing to see here! Move right along!
you know, it wont be canon or anything, but if you want an interesting spot to put a impact crater, put it sopmewhere in Cheliax or somewhere on the western continent, and place a city built in it from edge to edge.
suprisingly enough, somewhere in europe, there is such a city.....
That'd be Nordlingen, in Bavaria.
http://planetoddity.com/beautiful-bavarian-town-of-nordlingen-built-in-a-me teorite-crater/
The soon-obsolete Campaign Setting (p.157) describes the fertile "Crater Lands" in lowland Tian Xia. I always thought they were linked to Earthfall.
There's a meteor crater in Second Darkness somewhere.
Second Darkness Spoilers:
And I always thought Absolom was the central peak uplift of a complex crater and was impressed at the little sprinkling of geology put into the mapmaking, like an easter egg for science types. Now that I hear it was just raised by a guy I'm sad.
I always thought Absolom was the central peak uplift of a complex crater. Now that I hear it was just raised by a guy I'm sad.
I hear Aroden was a complex guy, though. :)
Yeah. No one could understand him but his woman.
a meteor the size of a baskey ball would still provide enough force to cause a huge crater.
a volkswageon sized one would cause enough damage to cuase a few years of darkness......
Only if fired from SF mass drivers or had exceptional speed prior to impact.
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Creative Director
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a meteor the size of a baskey ball would still provide enough force to cause a huge crater.
a volkswageon sized one would cause enough damage to cuase a few years of darkness......
Only if fired from SF mass drivers or had exceptional speed prior to impact.
Ah, the memories. I remember when I was developing "Children of the Void" spending quite a long time on sites like that one, and getting semi-obsessed with the whole concept of craters and the like.
And even earlier, back in the Dungeon magazine days, where we had an adventure that started with a meteorite strike large enough that we were justified in illustrating a mushroom cloud in a D&D adventure. Good times.
Also check creators names. It made me check spelling of Ross surname here on the board :D