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Ahoy, fellow Pathfinders!
I'm not as familiar with Golarion lore as I'm sure some of you are, so I'm hoping you can help me figure out the precise timeline for the AP background. I want to have all my details on-hand to help anchor my players (pretty much all new to PF and Golarion) in the world, and it would help to have the dates ready for when they're needed. Right now I'm a bit frustrated flipping around in "The Half-Dead City" and finding very little that's solid—and no mention at all of what year it is "currently"!
So the main question: what year is it currently on Golarion?
Here's what I've got so far for the general timeline (SPOILERS, OBVIOUSLY).
* Wati founded: -1608 AR
* Hakotep I rules Osirion: "over 6,000 years ago"
* Plague of Madness strikes Wati: 2499 AR ("over 4,000 years later")
* Wati lies abandoned: "for over 450 years"
* Church of Pharasma reclaims Wati: 2,953 AR, "over the next 30 years"
* Present Day, generally: "over the next 1,700 years ... and today" [= 4683 AR?]
* Khemet III opens Osirion's tombs to exploration: "7 years ago"
* Present Day: ???
* Present Day: ???
The real official answer is "whenever you set the campaign," with all of the other "X years ago" dates keying off that. (This is doubly so for later adventures in an AP, since timelines for individual groups can be highly fluid and completely unpredictable.)
A slightly less real "official" answer would be "at some point circa 4707-4714 AR," the "present" day for Golarion since the line began.
Unofficially, however, if you want a specific date to key off of, you might go with 4714 AR. Golarion sourcebooks advance the timeline in step with their year of publication*, so the simple formula to work out the "present" in the Inner Sea is (real-world year +2700 = Absalom Reckoning).
* (keeping in mind that specific adventures don't happen until you as the GM say they do)
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Thanks guys! Sorry if my post was a bit grumpy in tone—I was writing up my recap of the first session for my players and a bit frustrated that I couldn't fill out the "Our adventure begins in the year [XX] in Wati, the Half-Dead City" opening sentence. :-)
The second session just wrapped up nicely. They're getting gloriously jumpy after that welcome-to-tomb-raiding arrow trap! All new/newish players, so I'm hand-waving rules here and there and dropping just enough healing resources for them (the tomb's tough at lvl 1!), but they're loving the atmosphere and the oh-****! reveals. Can't wait for that sarcophagus! :-)
I've also been trying to nail down specific dates for the backstory, and in my latest pass over all the books, I've run into an apparent contradiction in Pyramid of the Sky Pharaoh.
Page 57 states that Hakotep took the throne in –1653 AR after his father was killed; however, on page 7 of the Slave Trenches of Hakotep, it was already established that Hakotep was pharaoh in both -1660 AR and in -1655 AR. My guess is that the -1653 AR date was a typo, and that it was supposed to be -1663 AR. The other dates could have been the wrong ones, but if you move that five year segment to be after -1653 AR, it conflicts with the date of -1649 AR that is given on page 6 of Osirion, Legacy of Pharaohs as the date that construction on the Slave Trenches began.
I've looked for any posts that already address this, but with no luck. Has anyone gotten an official confirmation/clarification/correction for the conflict yet?
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I've also been trying to nail down specific dates for the backstory, and in my latest pass over all the books, I've run into an apparent contradiction in Pyramid of the Sky Pharaoh.
Page 57 states that Hakotep took the throne in –1653 AR after his father was killed; however, on page 7 of the Slave Trenches of Hakotep, it was already established that Hakotep was pharaoh in both -1660 AR and in -1655 AR. My guess is that the -1653 AR date was a typo, and that it was supposed to be -1663 AR. The other dates could have been the wrong ones, but if you move that five year segment to be after -1653 AR, it conflicts with the date of -1649 AR that is given on page 6 of Osirion, Legacy of Pharaohs as the date that construction on the Slave Trenches began.
I've looked for any posts that already address this, but with no luck. Has anyone gotten an official confirmation/clarification/correction for the conflict yet?
The two dates "set in stone" are Hakotep's reign beginning in -1653 AR, and the beginning of the construction of the Slave Trenches in -1649 AR.
Unfortunately, that means that the dates in the Adventure Background of "The Slave Trenches of Hakotep." That's totally my fault - I must have temporarily forgotten that negative years decrease as they go forward and increased them instead.
So here's the official clarification:
-1653 AR: Hakotep I takes the throne.
Change -1660 to -1653: Osirion was on the brink of war when Hakotep took the throne.
Change -1655 to -1650: Two Shory cities fly to Osirion's border in a show of dominance.
-1649 AR: Construction begins on the Slave Trenches.
I've also been trying to nail down specific dates for the backstory, and in my latest pass over all the books, I've run into an apparent contradiction in Pyramid of the Sky Pharaoh.
Page 57 states that Hakotep took the throne in –1653 AR after his father was killed; however, on page 7 of the Slave Trenches of Hakotep, it was already established that Hakotep was pharaoh in both -1660 AR and in -1655 AR. My guess is that the -1653 AR date was a typo, and that it was supposed to be -1663 AR. The other dates could have been the wrong ones, but if you move that five year segment to be after -1653 AR, it conflicts with the date of -1649 AR that is given on page 6 of Osirion, Legacy of Pharaohs as the date that construction on the Slave Trenches began.
I've looked for any posts that already address this, but with no luck. Has anyone gotten an official confirmation/clarification/correction for the conflict yet?
The two dates "set in stone" are Hakotep's reign beginning in -1653 AR, and the beginning of the construction of the Slave Trenches in -1649 AR.
Unfortunately, that means that the dates in the Adventure Background of "The Slave Trenches of Hakotep." That's totally my fault - I must have temporarily forgotten that negative years decrease as they go forward and increased them instead.
So here's the official clarification:
-1653 AR: Hakotep I takes the throne.
Change -1660 to -1653: Osirion was on the brink of war when Hakotep took the throne.
Change -1655 to -1650: Two Shory cities fly to Osirion's border in a show of dominance.
-1649 AR: Construction begins on the Slave Trenches.
Ah, everything will work out just fine, then. Thanks for clearing it up!