|
So where does magic on Golarion come from? Is it just the ability to bend the laws of physics, or to tap into laws of physics beyond those that we in RL understand? If so, why isn’t there magic everywhere, across the whole universe? We know that Golarion and Earth exist in the same universe, so why is there magic there but not here? Could be that the laws of the universe vary from place to place – and they probably do to a certain extent – but I don’t find that a very satisfying answer, to just say “because that’s the way it works there.”
Instead, let’s think about what else we know about Golarion, what else we know makes it special, unique, in the universe.
Rovag.
That sure as hell makes it unique. (Note: I suppose there could be other “cages” in other corners of the universe, but there can’t be that many of them.) A group of very powerful gods invested some major energy, maybe even some of their divinity, in caging the Rough Beast. There have to be some residual, ambient effects of that.
Like what?
I imagine seeping magic from the bindings, or maybe even from Rovag itself, could cause/explain any of the following:
• Mutations, both magical and mundane. More mutations would result in more freakish creatures, dire beasts, “abominations” even. Many might be unique creatures (probably sterile and/or living short, tortured lives), but some would more stable and recurrent. More mutations would also mean a faster rate of evolution, too, with population-wide changes taking generations rather than millennia. Maybe Lamarkian genetics even work here.
• A faster mutation rate could also mean more diseases and plagues. Some might wipe out whole societies and keep re-setting the clock on civilizations, and some might just leave victims… changed.
• More tolerant DNA (or whatever genetic material exists on Golarion). In RL, sometimes two very closely related species can interbreed, but mostly DNA from two different species is just too different to stick. But anyone who’s ever perused a Monster Manual or Bestiary knows that, on Golarion, there are hybrids everywhere. You can’t throw a rock without hitting a ½-this-½-that. I mean the ½-dragons, the ½-giants, the ½-orcs, the ½-elves and so on. Somehow the magic of Rovag and/or the Cage seems to help hold unlike DNA together, and sometimes even to generate new, viable true-breeding species.
• Chimerics. Maybe all the human-headed lions and bird-headed snakes and goats with wings are the result of magical experiments gone awry or ancient curses, or maybe the emanations of Rovag and the Cage are enough to allow freakish non-blended hybrids (ew!) or for bits of genetic material to jump from one creature to another through close proximity, like super viruses (meaning that tribe of folks living around too many scorpions didn’t have to do it with scorpions, their babies just started being born that way!).
• Sentience. Seems like half the creatures in the Bestiary have near-human-level intelligence, if not higher. How’d that happen? Could be lots of cases of parallel (hastened) evolution, especially if it’s necessary to keep up with your newly self-aware neighbors. Or it could be something almost like a spontaneous Awaken effect – as Rovag stirs and pushes its consciousness out, sometimes dumb beasts are touched and changed, their minds suddenly clear (or crazed).
• Fluctuations in natural laws and physics. Reactions that worked yesterday, or last year, don’t work the same way anymore, or not in certain places (“Wild Physics” zones). Science struggles to advance because of inconsistencies and dead-ends.
• Magic. Normally, altering reality and bending the laws of physics are the providence of the divine, but on Golarion, mere mortals can sometimes learn to shape the world to their will. It’s an inexact science (magic is a fickle thing), and all but the greatest wizards leave nothing more than fleeting marks on the world – what is the power of even an archmage compared to that of a god, after all? – but it’s more accessible to mortals on Golarion than almost anywhere else in the universe. More than wizards, the saturation of magic in the environment leads to men, women and beasts who are naturally plugged into the arcane and use magic as easily as the breathe.
• Weak boundaries between the planes. The Cage traps Rovag in the Material Plane, but it may wreak havoc the walls that separate this dimension from the next. Creatures and manifest zones from elemental planes, outer planes and even the farthest reaches of the universe may leak through, tainting landscapes and adding templates to creature and bloodlines to sorcerers. (I also like the idea that certain kinds of magic – Dimension Door and Teleport – weaken the Cage by tearing little tiny holes in the fabric of Reality.)
• Visitors. Being unique in the universe (and unique in the multiverse), Golarion attracts visitors from across the galaxy and planes, beings who want to study Golarion and the phenomenon of “magic,” who want to tap into its power, guardians who want to make sure Rovag stays in its cage, and madmen (and madwomen… and madcreatures) who want to set it free…
Just clap your hands, believe, and pass the bat guano. Try not to think too hard about what's in the middle of the world, and worry about that sweet paycheck we'll get for melting off some poor schmuck's face!
*falls yet again*