The title pretty much sums it up. I'm curious if there might be anyone noteworthy from story or song that Iomedae would have journeyed with prior to her becoming a goddess?
I checked the wiki page but didn't see anything other than her 11 acts, and did not find anything within them that was helpful. If she didn't adventure with other famous heroes then that's fine, but if she did it would be helpful to me in my campaign to know whom that might have been. Thanks!
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The title pretty much sums it up. I'm curious if there might be anyone noteworthy from story or song that Iomedae would have journeyed with prior to her becoming a goddess?
I checked the wiki page but didn't see anything other than her 11 acts, and did not find anything within them that was helpful. If she didn't adventure with other famous heroes then that's fine, but if she did it would be helpful to me in my campaign to know whom that might have been. Thanks!
Anyone else smell a campaign seed?
It's fluff for a bit of historical significance for a campaign plot point. I just thought it would be neat to include more than one legendary hero in the backstory.
Fluff-wise I don't think there is anything about significant companions.
That's what I was afraid of. I may have to do some timeline checks to see who her contemporaries might have been at the time and just say they worked together towards this end. I want this to have been a "powerful band of heroes" who assembled to take on this challenge, rather than one powerful hero with a supporting cast of "adventurers-that-time-forgot." Thanks!
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Unlike Cayden and Norgorber, Iomedae actively worked for the dude who dragged the Starstone up from the depths, and, it seems to me, was groomed for the event. I suspect that it would detract from her legend if she had a team of famous and exemplary heroes known to have fought alongside her.
Her story seems more 'legendary tasks of Hercules,' and less 'tales of the Argonauts.'
It makes sense that there *would* have been heroic allies who traveled with her, even if she did have Aroden stacking the deck in her favor as he cleared the path for her ascension, but it's possible that part of the necessary process of building up her legend is that the legends of her allies needed to be downplayed a bit...
Nothing in Lawful Good says that she couldn't be a gloryhog who has deliberately obscured the names and legends of anyone who helped her get where she is today, but it's probably more likely that she wouldn't approve of that sort of thing, and that other forces, or even sheer coincidence, conspired to obscure the name of her former allies.
It would seem likely, given her current status, that former 'party members' who remained on good terms with their Paladin-turned-goddess (and were amenable to the idea), might now be celestials in her service, not quite at 'Empyreal Lord' status, but unique individuals somewhere above garden-variety deva or archon, turned into 'saints' of the church of Iomedae.
It depends pretty much on what you want for your plotline;
1) She did it all alone. She leveled up pretty fast, not having to split the experience four ways. :)
2) She had a party, and they are now saints / outsiders in her church.
3) She had a party, and, by coincidence or design, their names have been forgotten. Some of them, or their descendents, or their unquiet spirits, might be a bit sore about this little particular...
4) There is no four.
5) Iomedae, the Burning Hate, is not what she appears, and she 'inherited' her old boyfriend's position the Klingon way, by stabbing the trusting old fool in the back. Anyone who helped her get to where she is now is dead and buried, as she's the goddess of glory, not the goddess of *sharing* the glory.
In absence of any suggestions, I'd randomly say that she had three other regular companions, and that they were the same as the three iconics who travel with the iconic Paladin, Seelah. A Ranger, a Wizard and a Bard, not necessarily of the same races (indeed, since she followed a predominately human diety, likely her lifelong companions would have been predominantly human, as well). Something particularly distinctive or memorable (such as an all female group of companions, or her being married to one of them, or one of them being a half-dragon) would likely have warranted some sort of previous mention, so it seems more likely that barring some sort of sinister attempt to erase their histories, they wouldn't have had anything quite that memorable about them, making it more plausible for them and their legend to have been innocently overshadowed by miss shiny special powerful princess.
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5) Iomedae, the Burning Hate,OH GOD.
I was never able to look at Pelor the same way after that thread.
Yeah, it was cool. Tongue-in-cheek stuff mostly, but fun.
The funnest controversies are the ones that nobody *really* believes, but enjoy speculating about.
My pet D&D conspiracy theory is that Sehanine Moonbow is Lolth 2.0.
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Heh, which raises some questions about Corellan. Always did wonder about that guy.
On the subject of pet theories, and tying it back to the thread...
Aroden was open minded enough to accept non-humans into his fold. He had nonhuman clerics after all. And with Iomedae he had an individual of amazing promise and potential, even if she came from rough material.
When her true potential began to show, he took steps he felt were necessary to help her realize her destiny and tie it further with that of humanity. After all, she exemplified humanity...in spirit at least. She just needed "fixing", to make her complete and perfect.
She doesn't remember any of that of course. Aroden knew she would be conflicted, knowing the truth of what she once was, so he took care of it. She never asked for that blessing, but it was for her own good. Hers and humanity. At least Aroden was certain of it. She had dedicated herself entirely to his cause after all. Surely she would have been grateful for it, if she remembered.
Because it simply would not do for the Inheritor to be a half-orc.
Admittedly that might make Aroden a bit too creepy.
I think Set hit it on the head when he said Iomedae is more like Hercules' tasks than Jason and the Argonauts. I understand that most of the legends about her center on what she did, but what I was hoping to find would be some legendary contemporaries of hers that might have assisted in this one-off encounter.
About the only thing I could find was Geb (since he absconded with Arazni's body in that time frame), and that just didn't seem to feel right to me. So, while I couldn't find any true legends to round out the quartet, I am using a figure from my homebrew historical past (Ulizmila, who is a grand-daughter of Baba Yaga) and throwing in two homebrewed heroes (a Kellid hero and a dwarven high priest of Torag).
I wouldn't mind using some of the heroes who helped defeat the Whispering Tyrant, but beyond Arazni and Iomedae I couldn't find any to speak of. Were there any great wizards or sorcerers of repute involved? /salute!
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I think that's your best bet, just make stuff up to fit your campaign.
Unlike, say, the Forgotten Realms, or Greyhawk, who have Circles of Eight or Chosen of Mystra running around the setting setting rules or influencing events or ruling nations, Golarion is more of a '*you* are the heroes of legend!' kind of setting.
There are mythic figures, like Jatembe and Geb, but, for the most part, they are long-dead or ascended to other planes or no longer actively playing a significant role in the setting.
Even such behind-the-scenes movers-and-shakers, such as the Decemvirate of the Pathfinder Society, or the Pactmasters of Katapesh, tend to remain nameless and faceless.
With the death of Aroden, a bit of a traditionalist historical 'everything was better in the golden age' god, and the breaking of the Age of Omens or whatever, I think that there was a deliberate design choice with Golarion to focus less on the great mythic heroes of the past, and more on what the PCs are doing to change the world in the new, uncertain present.
That being said, this creates some fun opportunities. One of the mostly-forgotten companions of Iomedae could be discovered during this plot point, and his/her descendents said to hold the key to X, or some item that the champion carried that is needed, or whatever, only to find out that the death of prophecy makes this information, accurate when it was originally predicated, no longer accurate, and requiring the PCs to scramble to find an alternate way to beat the bad-guy or stop the portal from opening or whatever in the climactic final encounter, when the 'prophecied' mcguffin or 'destined' person turns out to be utterly ineffective (and perhaps even get disintegrated or casually snuffed after failing to do whatever it was supposed to do).
As long as there is an option to beat the bad-guy or close the portal, using the resources the PCs already have, the failure of the mcguffin to 'fix' everything could suggest that the prophecy that says that the mcguffin was the 'only thing' that could work is *also* null and void. The big bad whatever it is *isn't* invulnerable to anything but the Sword of X or the Bloodline of Y, it's just real tough, so you'll have to, in the words of Hans Gruber, hit it again.
And so, after side-questing to find the Sword of X or the last person of the Bloodline of Y, the PCs end up saving the day on their own, as the Sword of X or Bloodline of Y turns out to be a red herring.
The ancient destined legacy lies in tatters, and the only 'legend' that was needed was that being forged by the PCs.
Fate is dead. Long live those who make their own!
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I think Set hit it on the head when he said Iomedae is more like Hercules' tasks than Jason and the Argonauts. I understand that most of the legends about her center on what she did, but what I was hoping to find would be some legendary contemporaries of hers that might have assisted in this one-off encounter.
About the only thing I could find was Geb (since he absconded with Arazni's body in that time frame), and that just didn't seem to feel right to me. So, while I couldn't find any true legends to round out the quartet, I am using a figure from my homebrew historical past (Ulizmila, who is a grand-daughter of Baba Yaga) and throwing in two homebrewed heroes (a Kellid hero and a dwarven high priest of Torag).
I wouldn't mind using some of the heroes who helped defeat the Whispering Tyrant, but beyond Arazni and Iomedae I couldn't find any to speak of. Were there any great wizards or sorcerers of repute involved? /salute!
Mentions "The Taldan general, Arnisant" as the one who finally was able to defeat him w/ the help of the Shield of Aroden. but no further Details are listed.
I stumbled upon General Arnisant myself after posting the comments above, but thanks for linking that wiki article Solarious. I've struggled to find a list of heroes that could have assisted (ala Jason and the Argonauts), but I think I've come up with a fair list of things that are (or could be) relevant to my homebrew version of Golarion.
Ulizmila is a character that is referenced in one of the published Paizo modules (the precursor to Crown of the Kobold King perhaps?) and I have turned her into something of a legend. This should help that legend grow a bit!
The wiki article also mentions a priest named Niedevis who assisted with the Shining Crusade and slew a creature in Lake Encarthan that was causing havoc among the crusaders' ships. I may use him for my dwarven high priest, since I know nothing else about Niedevis other than that blurb. I know the dwarves of Kraggodan took part, so I'll have him be a hero from there.
The Kellid barbarian will be a figure of legendary strength and guile, something akin to Conan.
In the end, it is up to the heroes to stop the jabberwock from being summoned in the first place. This is all fluff, but I really like historical fluff. It puts things in perspective and links the present with the past ("walking in the footsteps of giants" and all). Thanks for the suggestions and assistance!