I'm working on a campaign idea that takes place in a "Modern" day Golarion, the year 9063 AR. To set Golarion on the path away from magic and toward technology, I've created the device of an Astral Conjunction causing a 4500 year magic wane. This would begin in 4713, and would be very gradual, completing in approximately 500 years and leaving Golarion without ANY viable magic for the duration (haven't decided what to do about items).
So, to help me start figuring out what would happen in the history, I'd like some opinions on who would be most effected by loss of magic, and what nations/areas would most likely gain dominance as a result.
Look at our world's history. Most of the starting areas have some real world analogues. Extrapolate forward fro the Middle Ages... I'm not familiar enough to state a lot about Golarion. I think they have a French Revolution themed country iirc. Forward to Napoleon, back to monarchy, back to a republic... stuff like that. What level of technology are you planning on?
Magic in Golarion being the force it is, I'm doubtful the "future" would play out there the same way it did here, real-world analogues notwithstanding.
For example, Thuvia is described as having an economy almost entirely reliant on production of an alchemical age-stopping formula. What happens when that stops working? No more income.
(I've already worked this bit out; in a desparate move, Thuvia tries to conquer neighboring Rahadoum. This fails thanks to a Rahadoum alliance with Osirion, and the two nations essentially split the Thuvian lands between themselves).
I'd like to try to have a somewhat logical plan for how things move forward as magic slowly diminishes, based at least partially on the level of reliance on magic in current Pathfinder lore. Problem is, I'm only so knowledgable on Golarion. I'm hoping some people will pipe in who have a very strong knowledge of current lore to help get me started.
... Start with: why did the gods let that happen?/why the gods couldn't stop it?
The gun manufacturers in the Mana Wastes would become some very rich individuals if they were canny enough to ramp up production and supply the right people with the right equipment. I had an instance like this in my homebrew campaign's past where the gods died off and the planes were ripped asunder. During this time magic became erratic for a few decades and firearms came to be more common. Following/during this period almost all of the dragons were wiped out or forced to flee.
Which leads me to my big question, what about those magical animals that are so dreadful?
An easy way to figure out how nations will be affected would be to open up your Inner Sea Guide. If you don't have one, it might be useful to obtain one. Then you can just flip through, taking little notes about obvious problems that certain countries might face and use that list as a good starting point.
Magic plays roughly the same role in Golarian society as technology plays in ours. Nations would collapse.
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Guns would be more readily available.
'Magical creature' type creatures would Die off
Numeria and Alkenstar wouldbe much more powerful
The magical rifts in woundworld would close, allowing the pallies to fight other evildoers
Think the black plauge.... no "remove ____" spells means the main way most people know how to heal is gone. Alchemists and herbalists would be a much stronger part of society. Many millions would die of sickness that they no longer know how to treat, as they never researched 'normal' remedies for
1) Guns would be more readily available.
2) 'Magical creature' type creatures would Die off
3) Numeria and Alkenstar wouldbe much more powerful
4) The magical rifts in woundworld would close, allowing the pallies to fight other evildoers
5) Think the black plauge.... no "remove ____" spells means the main way most people know how to heal is gone. Alchemists and herbalists would be a much stronger part of society. Many millions would die of sickness that they no longer know how to treat, as they never researched 'normal' remedies for
1) probably.
2) Or they would just lose their magical abilities? (maybe this would vary case by case)
3) Alkenstar yes, Numeria would have an harder time since they are run by wizards and the like (the lost of magic might affect their abilities to do what they do)
4) pallies would "disappear/stop existing" almost along with it.
5) some yes, some no; some diseases would either stop existing or become less potent, but diseases and poisons would still increase the dead toll.
Thanks for the suggestions. I came to some of the same conclusions visa vi magic beasts becoming normal or dying off, undead dying off, etc.
I'm jumping quite a bit into the future, and magic will once again be increasing/returning. I'm planning on having a USA (United States of Arcadia); A cold war perhaps just finished with Cheliax (I know Cheliax is not a Russian analog, but I don't want to just copy Earth, I want the current global situation to be a unique setting, albeit with some similarities to Earth). So the PCs will really have any class available to them, and will be rediscovering undead, magical beast, and magical items in a modern setting.
Any more suggestions about what nations would fall and which ones might come to dominate would be very helpful.
Having read up on Alkenstar, I think I'll have them develop assembly line technology first, making them a powerful distributor of firearms. While too small to actually wage war on larger nations, whoever has a steady supply of firearms (especially as they become more advanced) will have an advantage on the battlefield, and will have a chance to sway history.
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Andoran would be crushed as, without magic, slavery becomes far more enticing as a means to get big things done.
Rahadoum will likely be one step above the rest (except for Alkenstar of course) as it has already learned how to live without divine magic. And its philosophy of No Gods will be far more attractive in the face of all the Gods abandoning their charges (no more spells, no more outsiders).
The trade with Tian is likely to disappear for a long long time.
Yes, I was planning on Rahadoum becoming a major player. Not sure about Andoran; I guess it would depend upon their strength of arms, what sort of alliances existed, and what sort of weapons they could get.
Note that some of the advanced parts of Golarion have renaiissaince level technology. Without some sort of artifical GM limit in 4000 years it would be like 5500AD-6000AD on Earth or there abouts.
Gunbs won't be commen, nukes, planes, and maybe blaster pistols/lasers would be along with spaceships even without some form of warp/hyperdirive. Unless hteres been some sort of apocalypse like the SHannara books (a nuclear war?).
A camapaign could be post apocalyptic or dark ages with magic starting to return.
Yeah, I've shortened the wax/wane cycle significantly. It's now only about 600 years total, so I will be much closer to modern era.