Petitioners of Pharasma / Boneyard inhabitants and Pharasmin aesthetics


Lost Omens Campaign Setting General Discussion

Silver Crusade

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Okay so Bestiary 2 has stats and descriptions for petitioners by alignment. Admittedly these are general in description and not really tailored specifically for Golarion's deities, but the Neutral version certainly seems calibrated for Pharasma.

Bestiary 2, Available In Fine Stores wrote:
Purgatory (Neutral): The “dead” appear as animated skeletons but are not undead—in time, they can earn the right to become aeons. They gain DR 10/bludgeoning and immunity to cold.

While we could probably safely assume that in Golarion "aeon" can be replaced with "psychopomp" where Pharasma's faithful are concerned, this description didn't really click with me. I mean I loved Grim Fandango as much as anyone else and the aesthetics of Dia de los Muertos are awesome. But it didn't quite work for me in terms of Golarion's cosmology and keeping the dead of the Boneyard relatable with the living.

But then I remembered an artist that practically live in Dia de los Muertos mode 24/7. Sylvia Ji. (Possible NSFW!)

Example Uno

Example Dos

Example Tres

Imagine the cities and streets around Pharasma's realm populated by people that look like that naturally. Its easy to imagine certain Pharasmin sects rocking that look in turn. Maybe some of the more humanoid psychopomps pick up some of it too, or maybe it's the other way around and they originated the look?

Just really strongly considering adopting that aesthetic for the Boneyard now, or at least some neutral afterlife area in another setting.

On the other hand...given the romanticized motifs in the art...maybe this could be the aesthetic of Naderi instead, or as well?

edit-links fixed

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

See Adventure Time "Death in Bloom" for another idea ;-)

Silver Crusade

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:
See Adventure Time "Death in Bloom" for another idea ;-)

I have so much Adventure Time to catch up on. :)

[ooc]Google Image searches[/i]

GAH!

realistic AT fanart almost always winds up incredibly unsettling


I'm still trying to decide whether or not I want to make the Plane of Shadow look like a Black Velvet painting, myself. Expressly, fetchlings already try to decorate themselves with bright, neon, colors, so all it would take is a little changing-around of fluff...

Silver Crusade

Maybe patterns like that show up centralized around connections to other planes, possibly themed to whatever plane is involved? Man, now I'm imagining roads through the shadow plane being marked that way, to help keep people on the path. Or by predators to draw them from it...

I have to admit though, that "We traditionally cosplay as Death from The Seventh Seal" look fetchlings have going in the ARG has already taken root in my headcanon, I think. :)


Mikaze wrote:

Maybe patterns like that show up centralized around connections to other planes, possibly themed to whatever plane is involved? Man, now I'm imagining roads through the shadow plane being marked that way, to help keep people on the path. Or by predators to draw them from it...

I have to admit though, that "We traditionally cosplay as Death from The Seventh Seal" look fetchlings have going in the ARG has already taken root in my headcanon, I think. :)

The best part is that with the Shadow/Material Plane dualism, we can have it both ways!


few examples

(I use them mostly for the Dustmen, but it could work for the petitioners and psychopomps)

Example Example Example Example Example Example Example Example Example Example


I actually rather dislike the fluff behind Aeons. In my opinion, they are better as ancient inhuman outsiders, kind of like the Qlippoth are for the Abyss.

Petitioners could still become Aeons, however it would be limited to those who people who in life were dedicated to maintaining balance between opposing forces. Most people however are neutral because they don't have strong opinions about something, not because they actually embrace neutrality as a life style choice

Silver Crusade

Numerian wrote:

few examples

(I use them mostly for the Dustmen, but it could work for the petitioners and psychopomps)

Oh man. This, this, and this would work especially well as psychopomps, playing into their mask theme very well. That last one presents some very interesting possibilities... :)

Really love the design on the hooded figure in this one too.

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