What do YOU think is in Sarusan? (world building)

[CorvusMask]

Thought I would make solar system thread next to have more advocacy for really obscure parts of settings? Well I wanted to do this one first instead xD I kinda thought of reviving the "101 things in Sasuran" thread, but I realized that wouldn't be right place for this type of long post

So we already know for sure there won't ever be Sarusan book because Sarusan is the "GM's safe from published content zone" in the setting, I do hope though that like in travel guide, we will get more amusing tidbits at rest of the world wondering whats up with Saruran(it helps the continent to feel less disconnected from world even if paizo can never directly touch it :D)

Assuming paizo never goes back on the gm zone concept, I honestly kinda wish that if paizo ever does Galaxy Exploration Manual style world building book for pathfinder that that is where they release high definition version of Sarusan's map and tells us "use advice of this book to go wild" xD We already know from global map that Sarusan's map exists, so I just usable version of it I could use in roll20 games. Maps are biggest reasons I rarely do homebrew campaigns in large scale tbh ^_^; Seriously even blog post for HD Sarusan map would be nice x'D

Also fun thing for world building Sarusan is that we know actually something about it to make educated theories:

Quote from Lost Omens World Guide:

The smallest and most mysterious of Golarion’s continents lies south of Tian Xia’s Valashmai peninsula, isolated from the outside world by vexing currents and powerful storms. According to legend, the continent was once connected to Tian Xia by a land bridge and inhabited by an empire called Taumata, before the gods shattered the bridge into the archipelago known today as the Wandering Isles. Yet while the archipelago remains inhabited by the nautical Tian-Sing people, whose appearance suggests descendance from unknown Sarusan cultures, even their legends of the shrouded continent are scattered and fragmentary. In their songs and the records of lost empires, Sarusan is a wild and mysterious land where giant mammals long extinct on other continents still roam immense frozen deserts and dense woodlands. Those few modern expeditions that venture near the shores speak of forbidding cliffs lined with smooth monoliths, while those who land and venture into its interior invariably disappear. What’s more, those sailors who do return home often mysteriously forget the details of their voyages shortly afterward, suggesting that the continent’s isolation may not be completely natural.

Aka what we know is that

1) ancient world did have connection with Sarusan and back then it presumably wasn't as isolated

2) there are likely humans in Sarusan

3) there are smooth obelisks on shores of Sarusan, that might be serpentfolk related(as serpentfolk obelisks are all around world or at least from crown of the world to Sarusan based on their ecology article. Its kinda funny article btw because it isn't written from perspective of all knowing narrator and it has lot of speculation)

4) its geographically very isolated and hard to travel to, so most people don't even have chance to enter the continent

5) its not "Fantasy Australia" in sense that once Paizo realized that would mean they just told Astralians they won't have representation in the Golarion, they moved Australian related fauna(so yay for marsupials not being stuck in Sarusan) and myths to other regions, but its still in older campaign setting books considered alien to rest of modern Golarion so its still Golarion equivalent of "wow these animals here are extremely weird as continent has been isolated for such a long time!"

6) almost nobody returns from there and those who do forget what they saw.

So yeah that is quite plentiful material to do your own world building for :3 I'll tell me own world building extrapolations next

I want to imagine that Sarusan being isolated geographically goes to ludiriculous degree. Continent is surrounded by storms and currents and if ship somehow sails to near continent, there isn't good shore to land on because of reefs and continent being surrounded by sheer cliffs. Might be bit of over kill to have thick mists on top of that so you don't even see what is there well, besides mysterious obelisks ;D Even magical transportation like teleportation isn't safe because you don't seem to be able to teleport to continent from another location just by knowing its direction. And presumably once you do get in there, you can't teleport out immediately. Any possible darkland entrances to under Sarusan collapsed when landbridge did, and for all we know maybe vault builders didn't build vaults under it so maybe Orv layer doesn't even exist for Sarusan. Memory erasure thing makes things more complicated because its clearly supernatural, but its unknown why and what causes it. Same as its unknown why people don't return from there often. Is it because they don't want to or because they can't?

Second thing I assume for my theories is that there are several, human and non human, advanced, possibly ancient, nations in Sarusan. Mostly because it would be bit boring if Sarusan was just wilderness death world that nobody remembers what is there and I believe Sarusan should be self contained as campaign setting and still provide wide variety of adventuring there. So there definitely should be multiple high magical nations with metropolises and diplomacy going on with each other. Plus idea of ancient advanced civilization trope that never collapsed is school. Maybe they could be more humble remnants of Taumata, maybe something that existed before Taumata or something that formed after its collapse. Splinter of Serpentfolk COULD exist there, but to be honest Serpentfolk were driven from surface long before Taumata and other human empires. Them having left signs of having existed on Sarusan is most likely just because serpentfolk had spread almost everywhere on surface(there were speculations of them having spread to even other planets and planes) so they would have left mark on Sarusan long before geographical and supernatural isolation started.

Those two assumptions give me three possible interpretations of what is up with my version of Sarusan :3

a) that the isolation is enforced by people on Sarusan. This is my least favorite option because it overlaps with Osibu's themes, but regardless of whether Sarusan is utopia on Golarion or not that you don't want to return from, one logical assumption is that nobody returns from Sarusan (and with their memories intact) because advanced local empire don't let them leave to keep Sarusan isolated from rest of the world. I also would prefer that entire continent isn't isolationist, so another reason why this isn't exactly my favorite take :p Bit too much of "we are advanced isolationist elves who are too good for everyone else" trope for me.

b) that the isolation is enforced by divine curse or some other outside power. Admittedly my favorite idea here because it would provide an overall "goal" for people inside nation to work to counter this effect and provide conflict between groups who want to get rid of it and who don't want to end isolation. Either way, idea here is that nobody can leave Sarusan even if they want to, at least without great effort. Its just as hard to leave country as it was to enter it and you lose your memories once you do.

c) that isolation is completely "natural" effect to continent. Bit of mundane boring answer, but basically the supernatural memory effect is "just how it is" and nobody can do much about it. Its basically just the geographical nature of Sarusan and people live with it, making it the continent of extreme isolation.

But those are just my own conceptual takes on Sarusan :3 I want to hear other people's theories and homebrew on what is there. (and Paizo please give us map of the continent in hd xD)

[PossibleCabbage]

Spaceport that lets you go to Starfinder if you want.

[CorvusMask]

PossibleCabbage wrote:

Spaceport that lets you go to Starfinder if you want.

Do they also have telephone reception and internet? :D

[The Raven Black]

Note that the Taumata empire was on the landbridge. Not on Sarusan itself.

Isolation theory : side effect of either the deities' wrath or of what caused their wrath.

Pet theory : the latter. Sarusan and Taumata had advanced time-manipulation technology and were trying to master all of time, up to creation and beyond.

This technology is now broken and those who travel to Sarusan actually arrive in another time period, or several. Maybe travelling between locations there is also travelling to other time periods.

The forgetfulness is the mists of time forcing the brain to readjust.

Maybe the origin of the Gap starts there.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

Whether Paizo ever officially admits it or not Sarusan is definitely Fantasy Australia in my headcanon. Although without the history of colonialism of real Australia.

I imagine a land steeped in Primal and Occult magic, where Divine and Arcane magic take a back seat. A land where the Serpentfolk thrive, but over the centuries due to their own politics and infighting are no longer a monolithic evil empire, and now there are serpentfolk colonies and nations that run the gamut of alignments. Interestingly some serpentfolk have evolved colourful feathers along with theirs cales.

There are tons of micronations of humans, iruxi, kobolds, halflings, grippli, tengu (magpie and parrot style), anadi, beastkin, ifrit, oread, suli, sylphs and undine plus some new ancestries and lineages unique to the land.

The furry and secretive Yowie who prefer a nocturnal lifestyle. The desert adapted scorpionfolk known as the djaril.

The land itself is alive in a way similar to the Forest of Spirits north of Minkai, full of spirits and a living breathing thing, that those who live upon it must be custodians of. If mistreated, the land itself has been known to birth powerful Primal Dragons as agents of repair or vengeance.

Megafauna are the norm, huge mammals, and dinosaurs roam the land.

In recent times there have been meteor strikes, and these meteors are potent sources of arcane magic which has sparked something of a resource rush in some regions of Sarusan, but are these meteors leeching poison into the land?

The meteors have been refined to create fuel for powerful vehicles of war, and in some regions warlords vie for power and control of the weirdstone doing battle from their vehicles of war.