Is There A Golarion Location Like The Gardens of Bomarzo?

[Neal Litherland]

I was reading the history of The Gardens of Bomarzo, and it sounds like something out of an RPG. A nobleman lost his wife and for decades he carved sculptures of dark wonder all over the castle grounds, many of them left unexplained. Wars were fought, and these strange stone statues endured. Some of them, like the Mouth of Orcus (not even making that up) are built with such cunning acoustics that they can make whispers reach the ears of people far away.

Has anyone come across a location like this in the country-specific guides?

(also, if this place sounds just as awesome to you as it does to me check out the full description here.)

[Ms. Pleiades]

The wonderful thing about Golarion's campaign setting is that things are just open enough for people to include these things on their own initiative That said, I think this kind of location would go really well in either Cheliax or Taldor. Alternatively, to go with a Taj Mahal-esque backdrop, it could be done in Jalmeray, but the cultural baggage of that setting would detract from this idea rather than add to it by leading players to immediately think of the Taj Mahal.

[Zhayne]

Do you want there to be? Then there are.

[Neal Litherland]

Zhayne wrote:

Do you want there to be? Then there are.

Creating my own would be no big deal, I was just curious if there was published material that had drawn on it for inspiration. The way Galt drew on revolutionary France, or how Andoran pulled its imagery from American politics and patriotism.

[Kalindlara]

How ancient are we talking? It reminds me of some of the Ancient Jistkan ruins from Lost Kingdoms...

[Neal Litherland]

Kalindlara wrote:

How ancient are we talking? It reminds me of some of the Ancient Jistkan ruins from Lost Kingdoms...

The actual gardens are a few hundred years old, but there's nothing that says we can't make them older.

[Ms. Pleiades]

You could make the gardens as old as Ancient Thassilon and put them in Varisia. Now that's old.

[Neal Litherland]

Ms. Pleiades wrote:

You could make the gardens as old as Ancient Thassilon and put them in Varisia. Now that's old.

I like this plan. This is a grand and glorious plan *rubs hands together and cackles an evil-DM cackle*.

[Ms. Pleiades]

Be sure and pick a thematic Thassilonian sin and occupy the garden with thematically appropriate enemies!

[Bellona]

Or a statue/grotto for each sin, with appropriate monsters/traps in/near it.