To my knowledge; all still a mystery.
And this is one area of the world that I actually try to keep up on.
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What is awesome about these mysteries is that they DONT give you the answers in canon. That means every single GM who runs Kingmaker gets to answer these riddles in their own fashion.
I will agree that for a kingdom mirrored after Game of Thrones setting, the dearth of settlements in Brevoy is a bit disappointing. What I would really love is a Brevoy campaign guide or even a players guide, with more details. I love that they captured the River Kingdoms, but I think they missed a golden opportunity to do the same for Brevoy around that time.
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Yeah, more writeup than a small section in the back of an AP would be nice as far as how the different religions, noble houses, political factions, etc relate. Also, more details about Surtova being made king as far as what might stop him would be nice. All in all, that is a LOT of stuff to imagine up on top of everything else in Kingmaker. :)
You may just have to wait Major. I'd be dumbfounded tha JJ doesn't have an Aldori book laying about half formed in his mind and I vaguely remember that Skywatch had a good many Aldori in residence at the time of the vanishing. The River Kingdoms are a good place for the next sandbox AP so you may not have to wait to long.
A full resolution isn't likely though unless there is an AP that directly involves the Vanishing.
Like zagnabbit said, they typically release information these days on different areas when they have an AP in that area. So if you want more info on Brevoy, you gotta shout loud and proud for a Brevoy AP (which would be AWESOME).
If you notice, the recent 3 area campaign setting books have been Worldwound (Wrath of the Righteous), Osirion (Mummy's Mask), and next is Numeria (Iron Gods).
They leave mysteries around to make sure you keep craving the info, then when they answer your questions, they give you more crumbs to keep you drooling.
And expensive..
I'm totally down with more Brevoy stuff even though at this point it will contradict my own in house stuff.
Aboleth can pretty much live in a giant jug of wine, so freshwater is easy.
For my own campaign. I set the Issian Noble houses up as standard Cavaliers with access to any order. The Aldori are fractious with several different Schools and the Mivoni and Restovi having only limited contact and some major trust issues. The actual Swordlords, the big dogs, do communicate fairly regulaly. Rhe Tiger tribes are unusually rough. They make regular Kellids look like etiquette coaches.
Also the Lake of Mist and Veils is a good spot for a Linnorm or a dragon.
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In my game.
The listed Houses are Issian. The Issian houses are varied in their outlooks however. They are also OLD. Theyve been around for a long time. Ethnically the Issians are a mix of Ulfen/Iobarian(a distinct ethnic group) with some proto Kellids mixed in.
The Aldori are NOT nobles. They are proud of that fact. The Aldori is a meritocracy. The best man wins, and they are incredibly competitive in a friendly rivals way among each other. This is not to say that hereditary structures don't exist but it's not how the Aldori as a whole operate. There is no hereditary transfer of title, and property that is clearly Aldori as opposed to personal can't be willed to an heir that hasn't earned it the hard way. The various "Schools" compete for prominence. The Swordlords encourage all of this rivalry as it leads to a stronger Sword Pact.
The Restovi Aldori are the heirs of the survivors of Chorals conquest. They rightly would have been hunted into extinction if it had not been for the cleaver politics of Choral's daughter Chaera, who offered the remnants of the Aldori peace on condition of obedience. With that peace came the requirement that they would aid in the new nation's defense but also continue to serve as the regional masters in old Rostland. So in effect they retained most of the privileges they had before but the lands that had once been the property of the Aldori were now the private estates of House Rogarvia, administered by Aldori in service to Rogarvia. The Restovi were given a carrot though, no Issian House would be awarded lands in Rostland and the Aldori would not be placed in a subservient role. This is why the fortress of Skywatch was manned by Aldori, House Rogarvia used the Aldori of Restov for most important functions, especially defense.
Under this structure the Restovi Aldori have spent the last 200 hears rebuilding their numbers, power and influence. They retain control over the lands of House Rogarvia and are keenly aware that with No heir to Rogarvia, House Surtova and the other Issian Houses would very much like to carve up old Rostland and it's fertile plains as new land holdings. This is where the Kingmaker AP starts off.
The Mivoni Aldori are similar but they do have hereditary structures in place. Effectively these are the Rostlandic Noble Houses in Exile. They fled when Choral the Conqueror had clearly won the war in Rostland. They took with them the youngest Aldori candidates and those older masters who could pass on the traditions. They took a large portion of the Aldori related population with them when they fled. The Mivoni still hold the old "House System" in place. Currently I have 17 houses of the Aldori in and around Mivon. They also operate Schools like the Restovi but these schools are frequently under a house's patronage. The Mivoni houses however are not lead by a Hereditary Master but by the most accomplished member of the House.
To some of the younger Restovi, the Mivoni exodus in front of Choral is considered cowardice. The Mivoni find that the surviving Restovi essentially became collaborators with House Rogarvia, which in turn prevented them from reconquerimg Rostland. This leads to the friction between these 2 groups. The various Swordlords in both regions have been working towards mending these old grievances, which with the passage of two centuries has become easier.
In our Kingmaker campaign it was soon clear that what the Swordlords wanted was not a buffer state but a protected trade route that the Aldori could use to ship the abundance of Rostland's agriculture South to Mivon where the Mivoni could use their large fleet of merchant vessels to distribute. House Surtova opposed this since it meant that the valuable Rostlandic grain was bypassing the Capitol at New Stetven and avoiding their own merchant fleets. It just wasn't practical for House Surtova to move on the Border Kingdom until they had cemented control of the throne in Issia first. The other Issian Houses were not exactly keen on a Surtovan monarch and not necessarily willing to go to war with the Aldori who were rightly only attempting to protect Rogarvian Holdings in the South.
The Tiger Nomads were relatively small groups during this, but with the Aldori pulled back from the Western Marches, New Stetven and it's environs became plush targets. They started actively raiding the West of Brevoy for the first time since Choral conquered the country.
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There are back elements in Kingmaker that just don't make sense, politically.
The Aldori are world famous as warriors. Their only loss is to Choral, who conquerors Issia with an army of 200 Iobarian warriors. Then uses the Issians to conquer Rostland, which had been keeping the Issians at bay for 100s of years at minimum. So for Choral to pull this off he had to have more on his side than a couple of Dragons, 200 berserkers and a, finally unified, Issian army.
My conjecture is that the Aldori had started to become complacent and had adopted the Noble House system that the Issians had adopted and their Taldan forebears had so valued. This was one of the things that Sirian Aldori and his successors had avoided. Since even the best genetic line drops a bad apple and the real advantage to a system of hereditary nobility is the concentration of power in as few hands as possible. Thus the Aldori had allowed their numbers to drop, largely relying on their reputation and destabilized neighbors for security. Choral took advantage of that.
In a more contemporary fashion, the Swordlords of Restov make an unprecedented push for opening up new lands. The 4 expeditions move out over what is a huge area, nearly the size of Rostland proper. Noleski Surtova let's this happen without any direct involvement. In fact the entire AP can be played with almost no interference from Brevoy beyond the initial setup. So Surtova has to be busy in Issia for most of the campaign.
Also Mivon and Restov are the only places in all of Avistan with any significant population of Aldori, that we know of. Those cities are only separated by a few hundred miles, but there is no active route between them. That struck me as odd. There's even a river that runs from Mivon to Restov it's blocked from direct traffic because of waterfalls, but those falls are concentrated in a fairly small area. There's no portage set up in that spot. The Shrike could be one of the region's most important trade routes but it's not.
Fort Drelev is sitting in a strategically important spot but it's not as advantageous for the Aldori as it is for Brevoy and the Issians. Surtova may have been more interested in this spot than the Kamelands (which is the least farmable dry soil in the Stolen Lands).
Varnhold is clearly as escape route for the Restovi, if Surtova goes to crush the Aldori. It protects the pass across the Tors of Levenies, which would allow the Aldori to repeat the exodus of the Aldori after Choral's conquest. This is a last resort thing I'd guess.
The Iron Wraiths, the adventuring company sent towards Pitax as the 4th expedition is an awkward move for the Swordlords. Pitax has been in an on and off war with Mivon for 2 centuries(that's cannon), maybe longer. The Pitaxians aren't likely to be friendly with the Aldori even if those Aldori aren't friendly with the Mivoni. Pitax has a relatively new King though and he's an unknown for the Swordlords.
So my theory is that Baron Drelev is an Issian Noble, hand picked for his ties to the Issian Houses as an example of how the lands to the South and West are ripe for colonization. The Iron Wraiths are also largely Issian in outlook. In this, the Swordlords put the most important and experienced colonial leader out to the West, away from their real prize of an open Shrike River waterway. It also assuaged any Issian alarm at the colonial push and has the added benefit of keeping Pitax busy with matters closer to home.
None of that really impacts Kingmaker, as written, but it makes some things run smoother in my mind. Kingmaker is a very popular AP, and it has the advantage of running slow with lots of side quests and extras if the DM wants. That unfortunately means that it's one of the most likely APs to get recycled and new stuff on Brevoy while desired, will complicate ongoing campaigns. Kingmaker is set up to run Aldori characters without Aldori complications as it is currently and I have a feeling it will stay that way for the time being. So new stuff for Iobaria, Brevoy and the Aldori will probably wait for a new AP set in the region.
Oh I'm not discounting the massive tactical advantage that 3 full grown Reds bring.
When looking at the Aldori Archtype, Swordlord PrC, and their feats it's clear that the Aldori theme is that any one Aldori is more than a match for 3 or more skilled opponents. It's not the dragons that I discount it's the human Iobarian Elites and Issian regulars that that were of lesser threat.
For my own game the title of Aldori requires both swearing the Swordpact and access to the Aldori Dueling Mastery feat. So for me the 600 Aldori lost at the Valley of Fire were at least 3rd level Fighters, most were higher than that. An adult Red could seriously damage that force, 3 could annihilate it with a combination of surprise (the Aldori knew of only 1 dragon) and terrain (the couldn't break away in the valley). They got outmaneuvered. I still want the Aldori to remain the preeminent warriors in Avistan however. One loss doesn't dispel that, especially when that one loss is the only event I know of in Golarion with multiple Grown Dragons coordinating with ground troops.
I don't think we will get a recycled Kingmaker, I do think Skywatch and the ruins of a Cyclopean Empire are fertile ground for an AP however. At some point they are going to explore Casmaron, and the only detailed map we have of Casmaron is Old Iobaria and the North Shore of the Castrovin Sea, the next AP that goes "off the map" may very well start or end here.
That's basically how it's remembered.
The vaunted Aldori never had a chance.
Although their descendants have quietly researched ways to combat dragons, just in case those skills are needed.
Home Feat.
Aldori Sword Mastery
You have Mastered the intricacies of the Aldori Dueling Sword. It is an elegant a terrible tool in your hands.
PREREQUISITES:
Aldori Dueling Mastery, Weapon Focus (ADS), Weapon Specialization (ADS), Exotic Weapon Profeciency (ADS)
BENEFIT:
When wielding an Aldori Dueling Sword you gain a +2 bonus on your CMB with Weapon based Disarm and Sunder maneuvers and as a CMD against such maneuvers. You do not provoke AoO with these maneuvers, as if you possess the Improved Disarm & Improved Sunder feats.
When using Combat Expertise you gain a +1 bonus to hit. You may apply the bonus to AC to weapon damage instead.
When wielding an Aldori Dueling Sword as a two handed weapon the Crtitcal threat range is increased to 18-20 and the Critical modifier becomes x3.
You're right. The ability to be awesome at defense is thematically cool but not the best choice mechanically for the average PF game.
Okay, rewriting this since it got misposted...
When it comes to Choral, my group ruled he was eaten by the Tarrasque. I actually had it written as him being kidnapped by the First World and used as part of a ritual for them to invade. The group looked at that, shook their heads, and said, "Nope. Tarrasque."
Naturally, they blamed me for the Tarrasque...
Lol. The CR 25 Dragon with his own personal army wasn't enough huh?
Of course not. I was wanting to send them into mythic levels, and the dragon barely cuts an opening challenge ^^
The mysteries spoken about here aren't really addressed, but I figured I'd mention The Liar's Blade as a source of information about Brevoy and the Lake of Mist and Veils (above, beside and beneath). I found it quite entertaining and it's received many decent reviews.
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I am still holding out hope that Paizo decides to create a "Game of Thrones" AP where players get involved in Brevoy and eventually end up as its rulers. As popular as the Game of Thrones series is on HBO and as popular as Kingmaker is in Pathfinder, I think that going back to the same area again would not be a bad idea. There are still a ton of mysteries and Brevoy itself is a very captivating stage.
There is room for a whole new ruleset of political advantage and dealing as well as a set of spycraft rules. There would be room for intrigue on several levels in the political area as well as skirmishes and mass combat. Could be their most popular AP yet :)
That's basically how it's remembered.
The vaunted Aldori never had a chance.Although their descendants have quietly researched ways to combat dragons, just in case those skills are needed.
If I remember right, in the Pathfinder Player Guide for Dragonslayers it does specifically mention that the Aldori Swordlords and the nobles of southern Brevoy are indeed doing this in canon. They would be delighted to serve as sponsors and patrons for would-be dragonslayers.
I found that mix and matching the Aldori works better. We have a lot of variant feats for them now though.
And the art is likely grounded in modern Swordmanship where the recovery is much faster on a 2 handed grip.