So, I'm definitely liking the way Paizo is shaping up Golarion; however, I was wondering / hoping if there's any chance we may get some sort of distilled book on dead civilizations / cultures of Golarion? Enough of them are referenced throughout the various materials, but I reckon it should make a great sourcebook to distill and elaborate it it all into a standalone.
I'd enjoy this a lot. Maybe not a full 64-pager on each civilization, since necessarily a lot of that would be the subject of future APs and such and you can't put it out there yet, but one 64-page book detailing what's know to sages about each fallen civilization, along with a representative site from each and a few adventure seeds? I'd love that.
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We had a long article about Thassilon in the first Pathfinder adventure, "Burnt Offerings." And we sprinkle in information about places like Thassilon, Azlant, and other lost empires pretty often in our Adventure Paths. The recent "Lost Cities of Golarion" has a fair amount of information about these ancient empires, and the upcoming "Inner Sea World Guide" has four pages about the topic (including a map of where these empires were at their height).
As for a full-on book about the ancient empires... nothing in the works yet. It's unlikely, since revealing bits and pieces of those ancient civilizations in the context of adventure paths, modules, and campaign setting books is a really fun way to also simulate the in-world discovery of the past as well.
I hope the World Guide has info on the ancient Siv.
Is there any listing of ancient civilizations of Golarion?
Aboleths, Vault Builders, Serpentfolk, Cyclops, Azlant, Thassilon, prefall elves, ancient Osirion... what else?
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Creative Director
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Is there any listing of ancient civilizations of Golarion?
Aboleths, Vault Builders, Serpentfolk, Cyclops, Azlant, Thassilon, prefall elves, ancient Osirion... what else?
There's four pages of ancient civilization information, and more than that scattered throughout the book as well.
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I hope the World Guide has info on the ancient Siv.
The fact that I'm not sure what you're talking about here indicates to me that there's not anything at all about the ancient Siv in the World Guide.
(Yes, it's true—some Golarion elements are so obscure that I don't recognize them by name on sight...)
As for a full-on book about the ancient empires... nothing in the works yet. It's unlikely, since revealing bits and pieces of those ancient civilizations in the context of adventure paths, modules, and campaign setting books is a really fun way to also simulate the in-world discovery of the past as well.
Can we get a sequel to "Lost Cities" and "Dungeons of Golarion" called "Ruins of Golarion"? ;)
I hope the World Guide has info on the ancient Siv.The fact that I'm not sure what you're talking about here indicates to me that there's not anything at all about the ancient Siv in the World Guide.
(Yes, it's true—some Golarion elements are so obscure that I don't recognize them by name on sight...)
It's in PF #2 under origins of the lamia matriarch:
In the days of the ancient Siv, the Shrine of the Fateless was among the world’s most respected oracles ...
I find it to be one of the most interesting hints.
And the Lions of Siv artifact is displayed Magnimar's museum
Maybe cause of Sivanah it's so obscure ;)
There's four pages of ancient civilization information, and more than that scattered throughout the book as well.Is there any listing of ancient civilizations of Golarion?
Aboleths, Vault Builders, Serpentfolk, Cyclops, Azlant, Thassilon, prefall elves, ancient Osirion... what else?
I somehow doubt that list of ancient civilization goes for four pages ;)
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I hope the World Guide has info on the ancient Siv.The fact that I'm not sure what you're talking about here indicates to me that there's not anything at all about the ancient Siv in the World Guide.
(Yes, it's true—some Golarion elements are so obscure that I don't recognize them by name on sight...)
It's in PF #2 under origins of the lamia matriarch:
In the days of the ancient Siv, the Shrine of the Fateless was among the world’s most respected oracles ...I find it to be one of the most interesting hints.
And the Lions of Siv artifact is displayed Magnimar's museum
Maybe cause of Sivanah it's so obscure ;)
Ah. That explains it.
In the early days of Pathfinder, when we were building the Inner Sea region at the same time we were building the first few adventures, we often had to make up new locations completely out of the blue. "Ancient Siv" in this case is a region that we just never did much of anything with, and it kind of faded back into obscurity. I suspect that if we DO do something with it in the future, it'll be connected, somehow, to Iblydos, which is our fantasy Greece analogue, and is located far to the east as part of Casmaron.
It has nothing to do with Sivanah though.
That's great, I had a few suspicions about Iblydos.
Is there any listing of ancient civilizations of Golarion?
Aboleths, Vault Builders, Serpentfolk, Cyclops, Azlant, Thassilon, prefall elves, ancient Osirion... what else?
Ghol-Gan, Koloran (cyclopes in Iobaria), Sarkoris, Lirgen, Shory, Yamasa, Jistka Imperium, Tekritanin League, Tar Taargadth
Ninshabur, Kaskkari, Iblydos in Casmaron
A few unnamed ones:
matriarchal society south of Geb (in Pathfinder 1)
Coastal Cairns culture (predates human settlement in NW Lake Encarthan, in Seekers of the Secrets)
horse-lords of Nidal
ancient Varisian realm
sphinx empire that predates humanity (Pathfinder 15, under Maftet ecology)
And the oldest human group in Mwangi, can't remember the name ...
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Creative Director
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Is there any listing of ancient civilizations of Golarion?
Aboleths, Vault Builders, Serpentfolk, Cyclops, Azlant, Thassilon, prefall elves, ancient Osirion... what else?
Ghol-Gan, Koloran (cyclopes in Iobaria), Sarkoris, Lirgen, Shory, Yamasa, Jistka Imperium, Tekritanin League, Tar Taargadth
Ninshabur, Kaskkari, Iblydos in Casmaron
A few unnamed ones:
matriarchal society south of Geb (in Pathfinder 1)
Coastal Cairns culture (predates human settlement in NW Lake Encarthan, in Seekers of the Secrets)
horse-lords of Nidal
ancient Varisian realm
sphinx empire that predates humanity (Pathfinder 15, under Maftet ecology)And the oldest human group in Mwangi, can't remember the name ...
That matriarchal society in southern Garund is called Holomog (this is revealed in the new Inner Sea World Guide, which has a half page of info or so about southern Garund).
Coastal cairns and horse lords are probably just barbarian tribes.Ancient Varisian realm is Thassilon. Before Thassilon came along, it was wilderness inhabited by a territorial people (Shoanti) and a nomadic people (Varisians) who didn't build big long-lasting structures.
The sphinx empire is still in the mystery zone.
That matriarchal society in southern Garund is called Holomog (this is revealed in the new Inner Sea World Guide, which has a half page of info or so about southern Garund).
Thanks James, the new campaign setting book turns out to be a nice improvement in all areas.
Ancient Varisian realm is Thassilon. Before Thassilon came along, it was wilderness inhabited by a territorial people (Shoanti) and a nomadic people (Varisians) who didn't build big long-lasting structures.
The sphinx empire is still in the mystery zone.
Ah, I confused something from the History of the Varisians by Samrilla Deslee (in Pathfinder 7), thought they had a kingdom before Xin arrived. And that they are related to the Vudrani who claim their dynasty is 50,000 years old.
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Creative Director
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Ah, I confused something from the History of the Varisians by Samrilla Deslee (in Pathfinder 7), thought they had a kingdom before Xin arrived. And that they are related to the Vudrani who claim their dynasty is 50,000 years old.
Varisians are pretty fond of metaphors and stretching truths.
And the Vudrani are all about overestimations.
And the oldest human group in Mwangi, can't remember the name ...
There was the culture responsible for the lost city of Ird, which is suggested as being the last remnant of the original Mwangi civilization pre-Starstone. Artifacts occasionally turn up in sites linked to the Terwa (Bloodsalt) and Rastel cultures which are literally on opposite sides of the expanse, so that parent culture might have had a rather large footprint. Artifacts also show up in Arzikal which is one of those places that nobody really has much business going because Kho is possibly safer.
Very little concrete is said about them, but it could easily be inferred that it wasn't anything pleasant given where relics show up like Rastel (fiend worship) and Arzikal (omgwtf *SMASH* *silence...*).
There are also the nameless ruined cities in the foothills of the Parinarus Wall (off the southern edge of the map.) and the massive blue steel gateways blocking the mountain passes south. Those date prior to the fall of the Starstone, but the culture responsible isn't named in the text (you could infer it to be that parent culture, potentially warring with someone or something off the south edge of the map).
Mysteries and open questions are fun.
That's the one, my friend has that book, the most inspiring to me were the Lergeni. The Plateau of Leng and the Eldest from the First World equally so. In a way I hope that the mystery in Numeria is never resolved.
The Vault Keepers, are they humanoid or worm-like?
Another mystery, if there was Azlant, does that mean that Lemuria is sunken somewhere, Vudra? Or was that some unnamed serpentfolk realm.
Thassilon is of course Thule (j/k)
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Creative Director
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The Vault Keepers, are they humanoid or worm-like?
Another mystery, if there was Azlant, does that mean that Lemuria is sunken somewhere, Vudra? Or was that some unnamed serpentfolk realm.
Thassilon is of course Thule (j/k)
We haven't revealed much about the Vault Keepers' shapes yet.
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Before Thassilon came along, it was wilderness inhabited by a territorial people (Shoanti) and a nomadic people (Varisians) who didn't build big long-lasting structures.
The sphinx empire is still in the mystery zone.
From PF1, I thought that both the Shoanti and the Varisian were castes made by the thassilonian to work for them, not that they were pre-existent groups. I guess that Shoanti were brought from Garund to be a military caste and to control the providers, who were the truly aborigens of Varisia, and who were gathered and settled to made them work in the basic fields.
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Creative Director
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From PF1, I thought that both the Shoanti and the Varisian were castes made by the thassilonian to work for them, not that they were pre-existent groups. I guess that Shoanti were brought from Garund to be a military caste and to control the providers, who were the truly aborigens of Varisia, and who were gathered and settled to made them work in the basic fields.Before Thassilon came along, it was wilderness inhabited by a territorial people (Shoanti) and a nomadic people (Varisians) who didn't build big long-lasting structures.
The sphinx empire is still in the mystery zone.
We were still working a lot of things out with Pathfinder 1, but yeah... the Shoanti and the Varisians were already there when Thassilon came along. They were pretty primitive tribes though—Thassilon did indeed bring them "civilization."
Shoanti aren't from Garund. In fact, there's not a lot of Azlant stuff going on in Garund at all (which is actually one of the main plot points of the Serpent Skull adventure paht).
