So as I wind down Kingmaker I want to revisit The Asylum Stone. I have an idea for a story arc but it involves the Peacock Spirit and a Priest in Stasis that gets reawakened.
I'm looking but I'm not finding much and most of my older stuff is in dead tree form only.
Is or was the Peacock Spirit an evil deity?
If so always evil or turned evil with the decline of Thassilonian morality?
What was the favored weapon?
Is it totally dead? For this story the answer would be no.
I know it was a mystery cult but the lack of info seems to make this a serious mystery.
I'll just make it up if need be but at least 2 of my regulars are becoming Golarionphiles (sp?) and I'd hate to get trumped by superior search Fu.
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Oh man, so much reading back to do for this, because this gets pretty complicated when you take the Peacock Angel, Melek Taus, into account. S/He's MIA too. (the only info available on that is in Great Beyond, IIRC)
If they were related/or even one and the same, the Peacock Spirit/Angel was definitely good at some point. I think there was some talk about hte Peacock Spirit possibly changing because of Thassilon, but I'm not certain. Similarly, I always thought Lissala was LN until it was clarified some time back that she was always LE.
That's all I've got off the top of my head at the moment.
Mods, disregard the flagging and feel free to delete my post.
Haha peacock looks racy in little blue letters late in the morning?
Thx Mikaze you remember more than I do already.
I don't recall a Peacock Angel analogue is that from an Azlanti reference? Im missing the last 3 Serpents Skull AP issues. It's what pushed me to actually subscribe, I knew I'd missed something.
I have Great Beyond, somewhere. I need to clean my office.
The Golariopedia doesn't have much, but suggests an extremely lawful god of magic, with a monastic following rather than Nethys more all-inclusive approach.
http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Peacock_Spirit
I'd suggest going with a LN deity who gives access to the Law, Strength, and Rune domains and has Unarmed Strike as favored weapon.
That's where I'm at currently.
I like the Unarmed Strike thematically but I use monk NPCs a bunch and especially in Kaer Maga. The last story arc involved the Brotherhood of the Seal civil war.
Maybe a war fan.
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Okay, quick details on the Peacock angel:
Also called Melek Taus, sharing the name with a rather interesting figure from a very interesting real world faith, the Yazidi. Of note is that other faiths, which frequently misunderstand what the Yazidi actually believe, identify Melek Taus with Lucifer/Satan, which has led to the Yazidi's frequent persecution over the centuries. It's well worth reading up on, and there may actually be something there being played with thematically here, reflecting the misunderstandings and warped perspectives that have targetted this figure in real life.
The Peacock Angel is referred to as definitely female. I can't recall offhand, but wasn't the Peacock Spirit referred to as male? Not that this prevents them from being one and the same if you want to roll with that concept.
She has a big, beautiful keep in Heaven that has been abandoned ever since her disappearance. It's in perfect shape, but no one lives there. It's completely abandoned.
Most of her followers and those that knew her don't believe she's dead. It's currently assumed that she was either wounded in the Maelstrom and still recovering or that she was imprisoned.
That's it for the facts, but going back to the Peacock Spirit, which I'm not as fresh on as far as memory:
Wasn't there some detail on the Peacock Spirit being a fallen or rebel angel somewhere? Perhaps Thassilon or some related entity/group captured Melek Taus and corrupted him/her into what became known as the Peacock Spirit. Or maybe s/he was never actually fully corrupted.
Then again, maybe they're just separate entities that aren't related at all. Can't help but imagine there's some sort of connection going on ther though.
Seriously, this is one of those itches that has been begging to be scratched for years. Too many theories capable of being spawned out of this. ;)
That's where I'm at currently.
I like the Unarmed Strike thematically but I use monk NPCs a bunch and especially in Kaer Maga. The last story arc involved the Brotherhood of the Seal civil war.Maybe a war fan.
According to the wiki page the Peacock Spirit had a order of knights, so a more martial weapon wouldn't be out of line.
How about a Temple Sword?
Cool, late night reading.
I typed the word Peacock into the wiki search and got a couple of hits but not much new.
Yeah I need this itch scratched. For some reason the Peacock Spirit is just more interesting than all of the other vague divinities that have been hinted at.
Well according to the wiki, the Peacock Spirit grants no subdomains. The only others are Razmir and Aroden. So it may be a truly dead religion.
I don't think the Peacock Angel has been mentinoed outside Great Beyond actually.
brb, I actually have that book near me
http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/front-page4466.php
http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/front-page4540.phpIf the Thassilonian Peacock Spirit and the the archons' Melek Taus the Peacock Angel are indeed the same individual is up to you, but I strongly hinted at a non-traditional fall from grace for the latter, and the above two links put a little more into that notion. But it's intentionally not overtly answered one way or the other.
Either way, what little we have on the Thassilonian divinity is seriously amazing stuff. Here's hoping we'll see more.
That's freaking awesome Todd.
I can use the Peacock Spawn most definitely.
I've stayed up all night with the real life inspiration for Melek Taus, a figure I'd never encountered before. I may swipe some of it for the Peacock Spirit needs, and I think I'll make the connection for the 2 to be joined in some way if not the same being.
I'm really hoping for more stuff on the Thassilonian entity. I got another teaser with the Sech Nevali insert in Lost Civs this month.
Who should I pester for this I wonder?
Also Children of Malignant Symetry, that's Qlippoth level awesome. I'd like to see more of that as well.
Thx guys now I've got some work to do.
Contributor
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Melek Taus (or Tawus) also finds his/her way into Arabic Jinn-summoning (which is the equivalent of Western Goetia).
There he is identified as Damriat (Dimiryat) or Tamriat (Maymunah, who figures in the Thousand and One Nights, is Dimiryat’s daughter); this figure being known as al-Tawus, the Peacock, guardian of treasure, who is sometimes said to be pious (i.e., a Muslim).
His master is said to be Al-Mudhhib, or Abu ‘Abdallah Sa’id, ruler of Sunday, the Gilder, a Kafir Jinn, who is overseen by the angel Kamtam.
Here's a thought, assuming the Peacock Spirit is merely lost somehow, or weakened to the point it doesn't have clerics, how about a secretive, or even unknowing priesthood composed of oracles?
Say that where ever it is it doesn't have steady or frequent enough contact with this plane to grant spells daily to clerics, so instead it forces "packages" of power through whatever barrier it's dealing with.
When these packages find a host they grant him/her visions and powers, but also damage their fragile mortal bodies somehow (the curse).
In this scenario, Heavens, Lore, and possibly Flame are the most appropriate Mysteries, though depending on where the Spirit is stuck, Dark Tapestry could work as well.
In this thread,
Lissala was always intended from the start to be an evil deity, as was Minderhal and the Peacock Spirit. (Although whether or not the Peacock Spirit was actually a deity or not is a secret we haven't yet revealed.)
and
And as for the Peacock Spirit... during his/her/its heyday, that's what he/she/it was worshiped as.
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The Golariopedia doesn't have much, but suggests an extremely lawful god of magic, with a monastic following rather than Nethys more all-inclusive approach.http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Peacock_Spirit
I'd suggest going with a LN deity who gives access to the Law, Strength, and Rune domains and has Unarmed Strike as favored weapon.
You've linked to the old wiki project which is very rarely updated. The new link to that page is Here. The current page has references to 11 sources compared to the wikia page, which only lists 5