1) they are all in prison together ... work together to escape and survive.
2) they all work for the Pathfinder Association and are assigned to work together
3) randomy hired by NPC to do a job
Ask them to make up the back story. Just say "come up with a back story that makes you sure to stick together; bonus xp/gear/money for a good back story"
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Nirmathas seems like a good starting point.
For the half-orc: It shares a border with the Orc stronghold of Belkzen to the north and has lots of work for mercenaries as it is at war with Molthune to the south.
For the Cleric: With the nation of Lastwall and spirits among the woods it isn't unlikely to find celestial blooded people here and there.
For the Monk: So its quite far from Nagajor, the Nagaji homeland, but this can work out to a fascinating backstory. As for the Gnomes the forest culture and traditions of Nirmathas seem perfect for Gnomish life so both adoptees have a home.
For the Sorcerer: There is a place called the Marching Springs where lots of water outsider activity is present so its perfect.
Anyway, there is a lot to do in and around Nirmathas, as I mentioned its at war with Molthune, the main Nirmathi force is made of seperate guerilla militia so it'll be easy to find jobs all over. Varisia, land of adventure is to the north-west, to the east is the evil shadow-country of Nidal, Lastwall and Belkzen are north and north-west (lots of animosity between the two) and Lake Encathen provides travel to the rest of that area of Avistan. They could meet by being a part of the same small militia and have to build it up to a great army or something.
So you can sandbox them, set them up on Rise of the Runelords in Varisia or throw them all over the world in your own campaign. I hope this helps.
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The Monk and the Cleric could easily have grown up in the same Gnomish village and be childhood friends.
Assuming they are willing to do mercenary work (and most PCs are), they could've just got done with their first job: an uneventful one as caravan guards (possibly ending up back at their home village), during which they met and befriended the Fighter. Alternately, he may be working as a town guard, bouncer, or other appropriate job in said village...or have done so for long enough to be friendly, anyway.
The Sorcerer is clearly from far south (Catfolk being native to Garund), and thus seerms a good character to meet the rest during whatever inciting incident occurs in the first session...or might even be hired/recruited by the PCs, knowing they need an Arcane Caster (if they plan to go adventuring).
For locations, Nirmathas is fine, but the River Kingdoms are a classic adventure location, and the Lands of the Linnorm Kings are both a rich thematic background, and somewhere where a creature of Tian extraction makes sense. Both also have largish First World connections and Gnome populations as well, and also significant water-based ties.
On the Aasimar thing, I'd allow it. If you're worried about the two +2s thing, just add another -2 to one stat of the player's choice or, reflecting some Tiefling stuff, ditch their spell-like ability. Either will mostly balance things out. That's what I do.
In terms of Traits, mechanically, Reactionary and Indomitable Faith are possibly the ideal combo mechanically, and suggest a very persecuted background, which is both fun and apropriate for a Half-Orc. This does necessitate picking a religion, of course.
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Do any of the players have any character concept details that could be shared? Personality, background, goals, etc?
Also, is this in any setting in particular? If it's Golarion, there's always Absalom and any of the major metropolitan areas around the Inner Sea, but Poncho-Ninja's suggestion of Nirmathas really presents a lot of opportunities right out of the box. Plenty of work for mercs to go 'round, and one of the neater things about neighboring Molthrune is that they have full blown regiments of monstrous armies loyal to the state, with certain kinds of nagas among them. Those nagas of Molthrune may very well have imported Nagaji slaves or even loyal servants long ago, and your Nagaji might be someone who has left them(or been taken away) for any number of reasons.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the current war between Nirmathas and Molthrune is meant to be a very "gray" conflict, with plenty of good and bad on all sides(though Molthrune pretty much is the aggressor). If the players are up for it, this could lead to some very painful and powerful drama, especially if there are people they care about on both sides of the border.
carfolk
#$%^ING AWESOME
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Put it on them to come up with their background.
Start with the Fighter and ask that player to provide two things off the top of their head: 1) How they know the Cleric and 2) Why are they looking for the Idol of Azul-Khara, or some other mildly valuable treasure item, it doesn't even need to be magical.
Then move on to the Cleric and as that player: 1) How they know the Sorcerer and 2) what are they going to do about the goblin attacks south of town that he/she heard about.
Then the Sorcerer and then the monk. Each time give them a lead that is specific to them, their "Starting Quest" if you will. We've adopted this method for why our players know each other and it works famously. It has the side benefit of automatically injecting something the group can work together to accomplish right away. Maybe the goblins mentioned above are in a ruined temple that has a scrap of information in the main hall about the Idol of Azul-Khara. They're just a raiding party right now and the group learns that goblin raiders just attacked a caravan near the old temple. Make sure they're brief about their answers, no more than a couple of sentences each and take good notes because some of these little on the fly questions can lead to full blown stories when you're pressed for time or running out of ideas.
About the aasimar, that is a personal thing. We've found that with 20pt point buy and no modifications to the race things run just as smoothly as with a core group taken straight from the main rule book. It has been our experience that point buy pretty much trumps any benefit to stat bonuses anyways, so the character gets the race/class combo they want.
Aasimar should be fine. Honestly they are really not that more powerful than other Pathfinder core races.
As for how they met, they could all have been members of an army or militia and had fought a small war where they learned to work together and trust each other/became friends.
Now they are mustering out and are deciding what to do next.
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They all took Home Ec together?
Perhaps they start off not knowing each other. They just happen to be in the same place at the same time when the stuff starts to go down, and are thrown together by circumstance. Just like Curley - he was a victim of coicumstance!
Then this motley group must learn to work together as a team. . .but, if an NPC is in trouble, if no one else can help, maybe they can hire. . .
Which brings to mind: maybe they were sentenced together for crimes they didn't commit, and promptly broke out of a maximum-security stockade together and into the underground. Now they're wanted by the law and need to work together. . .
Ask them to make up the back story. Just say "come up with a back story that makes you sure to stick together; bonus xp/gear/money for a good back story"
This.
Let them talk to each other about how they've met. The creativity of 4 people is greater than one and none of them feels like you took charge of their character to shoehorn them in.
They met in a tavern, obvii.
Asking the players to make up their own backstories is a very solid way of beginning the campaign.