| HappyDaze |
After reading the Azlanti entry from Humans of Golarion, I'm left to wonder if I'm reading it correctly.
I gather from the last few paragraphs (before the Gillman discussion) that there are still some living humans that are ethnically Azlanti. They are not the original pureblooded Azlanti (those from the Inner Sea World Guide that get the +2 to all Ability Scores), but they have the physical characteristics (purple eyes, high hairlines, etc.), cultural leanings (like no surnames), and they start knowing the Azlanti language in addition to Common.
The existence of descendents with a strong enough identity to claim Azlanti heritage seems to conflict with statements made in there that the ethnicity is "functionally extinct" found in the same product.
So, do small communities of modern Azlanti (not the original pureblooded type) still exist in your Golarion?
Mikaze
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Nope. At least, none with the "+2 to everything" mechanics.
To be honest, nothing has come up that would require those stats to ever be presented, but if it did, I would also be giving that bonus to the Mwangi progenitor ethnicity and any other ancient "First Men". Otherwise it just comes across too much like those old "lost master race" notions from the turn of the 19th/20th century.
Even then, I'd probably ditch it, because giving it to all of the first humans just shifts the reason I dislike it to another scale: They'd be inherently better in every way than the other races of the setting(elves, dwarves, etc.). And I hate the Humans Are Special trope just as much as I hate the Elves Are Just Better trope.
As for modern Azlanti communities still being around, minus the "pureblood" bit, I suppose, but they're all gillmen.
Mikaze
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Sorry. I don't apply the suggestions as written. Small communities here and there along coastlines might exist, born out of mingling between gillmen and local human populaces, but they just combine some of those Azlanti features and cultural norms with whatever's local. Those folks tend to identify more with their human heritage(Varisian, Garundi, etc.) than Azlanti, which has passed through their partial gillmen heritage.
The only folks that sport all of the expected Azlanti featurs and cultural aspects would be some(not all) gillmen tribes.
doc the grey
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Actually I think that you could have "modern Azlanti" floating around out there (as in ones without the buffs). I always assumed that from what they said in things like inner sea guide that they are around just in incredibly small pockets and rare in the extreme. I would think of them as pockets of Azlanti that survived earthfall because they were away from azlant at the time and had a large enough population to allow them to sustain themselves for a long time without interbreeding with the locals. Problem is that after 10,000 years their numbers and bloodlines would be so small that by now they would either have no more real azlanti to breed with or would have to resort to inbreeding. Also the lack of the +2 to all their stats would makes sense due to the millennia of time they have been separated from the whole of azlanti teachings and cultures, the weakening of bloodlines in general (they aren't getting much genetic diversity) and from what little interbreeding they would have had to done with locals to not lose themselves to inbreeding. In mine I would assume that even in the largest cities like absalom or katapesh their are maybe a dozen individuals that could count as "genetically azlanti" and all of them would probably related and most likely the only other azlant's they have ever met which plays into the whole "effectively extinct".
| HappyDaze |
I'm left wondering if the modern Azlanti ethnicity as presented in Humans of Golarion is intended to represent a minority of Chelaxians and Taldans that still boast enough Azlanti traits (both genetic and cultural) to be be a distinct subgroup. Having the genetic traits show up on occasion isn't too hard to explain, but having the culture represented strongly enough that the Azlanti language is spoken by all members (even those of low intelligence) and that cultural norms (not taking last names, being individualistic, stuck on the past, etc.) have been established with the modern Azlanti would imply to me that this minority would have to consist of more than a few isolated individuals (there's no internet for language and culture exchange in Golarion).
Going back to what I was saying, perhaps the odd child born of Chelaxians and Taldans that boasts strong Azlanti markings is fostered to the local Azlanti family groups or, at the least, married in when possible. So, while effectively extinct on the macro-scale, they could still have small but thriving enclaves (Azlanti ghettos) within the major metropolises of Golarion.
doc the grey
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Not really man, I would say to look at how minority cultures are handled in the real world. Where I come from we have a history of German Catholics that showed up and eventually dominated the area and a lot of neighborhoods carry names from their old countries and during their times were little pieces of the culture they came from. A good example I can think of is Native Americans through the years of colonial expansion and into the modern day. Think of like a family of native Americans living in Maine or say china (to be a lot more distant) they may have the internet, phones, and mail to contact others from their culture but they are really still quite alone and incredibly unique within the surrounding culture. You at best would still feel very different from the cultures surrounding you (especially in this example with azlanti) and at worst you may see something where they are like hermits with strong connections to their family and the culture they came from but hesitant to outright fearful of the peoples surrounding them. Also remember that the azlanti didn't really have a high opinion of other cultures and races as compared to their own (kind of why the aboleth dropped the meteor on em') and would probably have sought as little interaction with them as possible in an effort to "preserve the azlanti way" so to speak.
| HappyDaze |
The old Azlanti did interact with the local cultures enough to form the Chelaxian and Taldan ethnic groups, so obviously some of that will bleed back into the 'modern Azlanti' of Golarion.
I'm also not proposing that the modern Azlanti come from long lines of somehow hidden or isolated pureblooded Azlanti. I'm actually thinking that the modern Azlanti ethnicity is more recent (by Golarion standards) and has been composed of those Chelaxians and Taldans that have shown strong traces of Azlanti blood. They have gotten together and reinvented the ethnicity (this would also go with the heavy traditionalism and classicist views common to the ethnicity). Over time, they have actually intermarried with others showing strong traces of Azlanti blood, and now show more strongly many of the physical characteristics as described for the Azlanti ethnicity.
In my own games, the death of Aroden has reinvigorated the Azlanti heritage, causing some children born to Chelaxians and Taldans over the last century to more strongly express the physical traits of the Azlanti ethnicity. These have become the core of the modern Azlanti ethnicity.
Please note that I'm taking about regular human game mechanics for these modern Azlanti, NOT the Pureblooded Azlanti from ISWG that have the boosted ability scores.
doc the grey
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I follow you man but I would think that most Chels or Taldans claim azlanti blood when given half the chance as they are thought of as the preferred genealogy and the one that the most pride is taken in when they speak of their heritage. For me though I think it would be entirely possible to still have those bloodlines floating around that would be genetically azlanti but wouldn't have the huge mechanical bonuses. We've actually seen some stuff like that happen in the real world the one example I can think of off hand is that of the Jewish population that was discovered in africa in the last 20 years or so. They were black jews, had the jewish bible, and were found to be genetically jewish but no one knew they even existed till then and I think the azlanti would work out like that. They would be hidden up and have been trying to live their lives the azlanti way for the longest time but have been slowly dying out do to the hardships of the normal world compounded by the low amount of viable mates in their surrounding areas which by now would render them with a population soo small that they no longer have enough to keep the species going which would make them effectively extinct as of now. Think Krogans from mass effect about 500-1000 years down the line in that they would be around but are dying too fast and have too few viable members to continue the race.
| MMCJawa |
Distant Worlds also mentions the existence of an Azlant prison colony on the moon, and that at least some colonization of Akiton also occurred, so you could have some "lost" Azlant civilization off of Golarion. If you wanted a big bad in the model of the Therns from Barsoom, a long lost secretive Azlant colony would be a good choice.
I would imagine that within the fragments of the Azlant continent, there might also be the occasional isolated Azlanti village, but I would imagine that they would have lost all the advantages from Azlant civilization (Connect them with Morlocks and we can finally get Pathfinder Eloi!)
| Icyshadow |
I'm left wondering if the modern Azlanti ethnicity as presented in Humans of Golarion is intended to represent a minority of Chelaxians and Taldans that still boast enough Azlanti traits (both genetic and cultural) to be be a distinct subgroup. Having the genetic traits show up on occasion isn't too hard to explain, but having the culture represented strongly enough that the Azlanti language is spoken by all members (even those of low intelligence) and that cultural norms (not taking last names, being individualistic, stuck on the past, etc.) have been established with the modern Azlanti would imply to me that this minority would have to consist of more than a few isolated individuals (there's no internet for language and culture exchange in Golarion).
Going back to what I was saying, perhaps the odd child born of Chelaxians and Taldans that boasts strong Azlanti markings is fostered to the local Azlanti family groups or, at the least, married in when possible. So, while effectively extinct on the macro-scale, they could still have small but thriving enclaves (Azlanti ghettos) within the major metropolises of Golarion.
This makes sense if you ask me.