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I've been reading about the Ancient Greek Hero Cults, cults dedicated to ancient heroes, based around shrines where offerings were made to the heroes in gratitude or propitiation, recognizing that the hero either achieved something great in life, or died in a spectacular way, and in either case in doing so they achieved a level above that of other men, but less than the gods. (As examples of some of the heroes who had cults built around them, we have both the mythical Achilles, and the historical Alexander the Great.)
Evidence of this kind of cult can be seen in the shrines dedicated to those who attempted yet failed the Test of the Starstone, and the people who leave offerings at these shrines and those who dedicate themslves to maintaining them. These are a wonderful example of hero cults, either written that way intentionally by Paizo or just happily coincidental.
The original ancient Greek idea of the Hero was someone who was more than mortal but less than a god, liminal bengs who existed in a state above the rest of humanity. This is exactly what the Mythic Rules are for, to model these kind of people, and I am very, very happy with the way the rules were handled.
I've been thinking: with the Divine Source poweravailable at 3rd Tier, it is possible to have Hero Cults devoted to still living heroes, rather than being limited to the Ancient Greek model of only dead heroes. Hero Cults could build up around the greatest adventurers of Golarion, (sort of like the Hero Deities of Oerth/Greyhawk, like Kelanen.) And these cults could actually have real Clerics who gained magic fromthe heroes to whom they were dedicated, even though the levels of spells they could cast would be fairly limited until their Hero got to a high Tier. But for Paladins or Rangers dedicated to a Hero rather than a Deity, the lower levels of spell access wouldn't even really be that much of a hinderance.
I just thought it would be very interesting if some of the highest level adventurers on Golarion had dedicated Hero Cults build up around them, as stories of their deeds spread throughout the world, perhaps even by way of Pathfinder Society reports. Some of these Cults could even take the form of adventuring societies dedicated to a famous adventurer, even seeking to recreate his or her exploits. The Pathfinder Society itself could almost even be seen as this type of organization, if only the Decemvirate were of Mythic rank and had the Divine Source power, in which case there could be Society Clerics who gained their power from devotion to the Pathfinder Society itself.
I guess I don'treally know where I'm going with this, except to just throw it out there for discussion. I have been thinking about this ever since I got my copy of Mythic Adventures and digested the rules and realized how well they modeled the Greek Ideal of the Hero, and how well they could be used to model a Living Hero Cult. I think it would be a very interesting idea.
Anyone else agree? Disagree? Or think I'm just babbling? What do you think?
I like the idea myself, and could actually see a campaign revolving around one such cult.
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There's something similar in Absalom's Shrine of the Failed. It's a record and place of worship of the many who've attempted the Test of the Starstone and failed, whether they died taking it or simply didn't achieve godhood through it, emerging from the Cathedral with great wealth, but as mortal as they were when they went in.
It states that the people who venerate these failed deities don't have divine magic, however.