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Like the title says — compared to other gods who represent/rule universal concepts such as fire, nature, luck, and the like, is Aroden, the god of one little race only found on one tiny planet in the Material Plane really that big a deal? And gods have died before- it seems like Aroden's only real significance to most of the other gods is the fact that he ascended to divinity in the way that he did and that he died without any apparent reason, which makes them uneasy.
Seriously, on the cosmic scale, why should anyone but humanity care about Aroden?
Well, in theory the Gods may well have a web of alliances, so the loss of even a single god could well upset the balance as these shift after his death (Archduke Ferdinand, anyone?). Could his death mean theres now an empty seat at the table? Whose candidate will fill it?
And who will suffer the fallout?
Specifically, he's important to Humans in the Inner Sea Region, which is what Pathfinder currently focuses on in Golarion.
It's kind of that story, "Well, if he can accomplish that, I could do almost anything!"
In the Grand Cosmic Scheme of things, maybe James Jacobs will say he's not even a big deal in an area as close as Vudra.
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Humans are (through concurrent evolution, travel, or other reason) found on at least two planets in the Pathfinder universe: Golarion and "Pathfinder" Earth.
On both planets humans are the dominate species (well, after cockroaches).
The (cue bugle music and deep voice) DEATH OF ARODEN (fades to -oden-oden) is one the of the central conceits of the setting.
As to the other races, you got me. I'm not sure the average elf, dwarf, goblin, or orc cares about the death of Aroden. For that matter, after a 106 years, I'm not sure the average human does either.
Aroden died so that we could have an age of uncertainty. Which is way more fun to game in.
Creative Director
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Like the title says — compared to other gods who represent/rule universal concepts such as fire, nature, luck, and the like, is Aroden, the god of one little race only found on one tiny planet in the Material Plane really that big a deal? And gods have died before- it seems like Aroden's only real significance to most of the other gods is the fact that he ascended to divinity in the way that he did and that he died without any apparent reason, which makes them uneasy.
Seriously, on the cosmic scale, why should anyone but humanity care about Aroden?
That's a good question.
That said... since our core campaign setting is humanocentric and since the death of Aroden is the biggest single event that drives most of our themes and storylines and the like for the Inner Sea Region... THAT'S why he's got such an inflated presence in the game.
If we were to shift our focus to another part of the world, or another world... then the Aroden elements in our printed products would fade or vanish, but at this point he's got a LOT of inertia and intrigue built up in the community, so even if WE (Paizo) stop talking about him, I suspect it'll be a while before WE (the internet community at Paizo) stop talking about him.
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History works that way sometimes.
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Let's not foregt that Aroden made the Kessel Run in 5 parsecs
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Worth noting that Aroden's death and the failure of prophecy were certainly linked... if only because they happened at the same time... but one did not necessarily actually cause the other...
Curse you, Correlation! Stop giving us that come-hither look and furtively pointing at Causation!
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...and lets not forget that little blue planet called Earth.
Yeah, but that one's mostly harmless.
To be honest...I prefer the implication that something caused the death of prophecy, which in turn led to the death of Aroden.
Has anyone backtracked to figure out what happened on Earth the year Aroden died?
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It would have been 1906, if you go within the normal 'current year' math. What happened that year?
Alternatively, if Rasputin Must Die! was merely travel in space and not time, that complicates the answer. That would mean 4713 AR is 1918 AD, which means 4606 (Aroden's death) was 1811. What happened that year?
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It would have been 1906, if you go within the normal 'current year' math. What happened that year?
Ecuador-Columbia Earthquake was notable.
San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was notable.First audio radio broadcasts of entertainment and music ever made to a general audience.
... and, of course, that was the year Robert E. Howard was born!
More fun info on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1906
Alternatively, if Rasputin Must Die! was merely travel in space and not time, that complicates the answer. That would mean 4713 AR is 1918 AD, which means 4606 (Aroden's death) was 1811. What happened that year?
New Madrid Earthquake was the most notable thing I saw, but ran out of time and have to run.
More fun info on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1811
-TimD
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The last of the Mamluks were killed by the Egyptian ruler Mohammed Ali at the Citadel Massacre;
the future George IV of England became Prince Regent as his father was deemed too insane to rule;
Honoré Flaugergues discovered the Great Comet of 1811;
The various South American independence struggles all come on in leaps and bounds;
There are luddite uprisings throughout north and central England;
The forces of Tecumseh are defeated at the Battle of Tippecanoe;
An earthquake near New Madrid causes the course of the Mississippi to reverse for a while;
and Napoleon's armies are being pushed back towards the French borders.
Wait. Numeria killed Aroden? I knew that country was no good!
Some suitably epic events in 1811 then :P
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I look at this way. One of the biggest human empires (after the Dark times) in in the slow process of falling apartt. His death throws a question into the 3 other human gods that followed him. Hell, it raises the question about the absolute power of the gods themselves.
Remember, his return was to signal a new golden age.
That's ruined. Suddenly he Runelords are waking up. The Worldwound is spewing out more demons than usual, Westcrown is reaching it's peak of decline, etc.
His death triggers the series of events over the last few centuries that start all the APs. Sure, all of this doesn't happen at once, but it's like dominos. Someone or something benefiteed from his death. Now we are seeing the reaction play out. It will take centuries and dozens of APs to reach some sort of balance.
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Ya, but in trope terms Aroden was a load bearing god. He's not the trigger for EVERYTHING. But in terms of world impact his death set up and allowed a lot of things to happen that normally HE would have dealth with. (Or at least his church.) I imagine if he was still around the Runelords returning would have gotten his attention. Same goes with Baba Yaga disappearing. Etc.
His attention was very focused on the norther coast of the inner sea. Unlike other gods who seem to be a bit focused else where. His heir is trying her best, but I can't help but thinking she's a bit overwhelmed picking up the pieces.
Which gives the PC's ample oppertunity to save the day.
tl:dr - It's not him being here, but his absence that is important.
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That's ruined. Suddenly he Runelords are waking up. The Worldwound is spewing out more demons than usual, Westcrown is reaching it's peak of decline, etc.The Worldwound began at or around Aroden's death. It's not that it's spewing out more demons than usual, it's that it exists at all.
Possibly. It depends on correlation/causation, or lack thereof.
Forest vs Trees issue. You are fixating on the little stuff. Bigger picture happened here. Aroden was guiding the bigger picture, now no one is at the rudder of fate.
One other thing to remember is when some of the other gods died (like the one lamashtu killed) it was either so far back in time or in the case of the two azlani gods that died to stop earthfall from obliterating everyone. The people that normally would have noticed were busy dieing.
I think one of the reasons we have so much info is 1) its the most important deific modern event and 2) he's a pretty big deal to the most important race on the planet.
I think its just further compounded by golarion being rovagugs prison.
Also that Aroden's death was so sudden and seemingly out of nowhere. And we still don't know if the gods themselves know who or what was responsible.
Although if the death of prophecy was what caused Aroden's death, and not vice versa, it raises interesting possibilities. Perhaps Aroden's godhood was so tightly wound up in his prophecy, that removing prophecy from existence took out enough of his power to damage him and render him vulnerable to attack...
I like to think of the various deitys as brands. Each brand attracts its own loyal clientele. Aroden just happens to be the Studabaker of Golarion. The brand was hailed for its prophecy the direction the automobile industry would take, then the brand died, destroying that prophecy, and only a few loyal fans are still around.
I was joking with the idea Aroden was murdered in Earth by Friederich Nieztche until it was reveal the current year in Golarioverse Earth is 1918.
My feeling on the cause /effect (of arodens death and the death of reliable prophecy)
Perhaps both the failing of prophesy and arodens death are not cause/effect, but both symptoms of another problem. Perhaps the power of prophecy is linked to the starstone, and the power of the Starstone is failing...
If prophecy has truly failed on Golarion, then shouldn't spells like Augury and Divination be nonfunctional as well?
If prophecy has truly failed on Golarion, then shouldn't spells like Augury and Divination be nonfunctional as well?
They aren't. Or rather, they're "iffy" at best (90% accuracy), and rather "short range" - half an hour to a week, depending on the spell. They're also common. Prophecies, on the other hand, were previously ironclad, and foretold things well, well in advance.
It seems like pre-Aroden all such spells were either more accurate (or completely accurate) or else there is a different category of "non-spell things" called "prophecies" that came as a direct gift from Pharasma.
It's worth noting that Prophecy "stopped working" (or at least Pharasma didn't warn people of a super-disaster) once before, sort of, and drove most of the prophets completely insane: Earthfall. Huh. Look at that. The Starstone was involved then, too.
Correlation's a bit of a tease, isn't she?
EDIT: More information on the failure of Prophecy related to Earthfall can be found as spoilers and for-the-GM-background information in the Serpent's Skull Adventure Path, by the way. Buy it! It's a great read, even if it isn't the strongest AP. The ending looks to be spectacular if you can get to it.
His death triggers the series of events over the last few centuries that start all the APs. Sure, all of this doesn't happen at once, but it's like dominos. Someone or something benefiteed from his death...
Paizo killed Aroden. XD
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I thought that would link to an ">>Ask *Aroden* ALL your Questions Here!<<" thread.
You might say then that you got... Fer-rolled.