Aroden and the human nations


Lost Omens Campaign Setting General Discussion

Shadow Lodge

Where there any humanocentric nations that worshiped Aroden? How many of them existed, even if they did not worship Aroden at the time of his death?


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Actually, "most of them" is kind of the correct answer, at least in central/southern Astivan (except for Nidal and Druma).

Once, Taldor basically ruled everything from its own borders across to all of Cheliax, and Absalom and pretty far north. As Taldor was literally the civilization that Aroden started on his own after the Age of Darkness, they were pretty devout and spread that devotion to everywhere they conquered.

Even after Taldor more or less fell into decline due to sheer decadence (and Aroden abandoned them for the more faithful Cheliax) Taldor remained relatively faithful to Aroden. Cheliax itself proceeded to reconquer the area that was once part of Taldor, and some even more than that, again, bringing and reinforcing the worship of Aroden (their patron god) wherever they went.

What this means is that Galt, Taldor, Andoran, Isgar, Mothune, Cheliax, Nirmathas, Lastwall, and probably Ustalav (though I'm unclear on that). For that matter, he was likely honored in Sarkoris, prior to the Worldwound incursion. It seems like the River Kingdoms and Brevoy always kind of did their own thing, though, as did Varisia.

In Garund, it gets a bit trickier, and, though he was probably acknowledge and honored (especially in the Northern/Inner Sea nations), it seems to be that he was never as powerful or popular there. While he was certainly revered in Sargava (to the point that a cleric of his is still the baron thereof), I'm uncertain if the Qadira empire acknowledged him, while Katapesh seems to have been bound up in the faith of Sarenrae, and Osirion had its own gods. Nex, Alkenstar, and Geb seem to be secular (though not anti-religious); while the Mwangi Expanse, (formerly not) Sodden Lands and Shackles all had their own religion; and Rahadoum was definitely atheist (well, misotheist) by the time Aroden died. Thuvia has no record of anything, but, from context, I'd guess that either they were mostly caught up in the Northern-Garundi Sarenrae worship (though probably honoring Aroden), or even Osirion's pantheon... but that's just a guess.

Jalmeray and Vudra likely just incorporated him as "one of the gods" - so nothing in particular.

I'm unsure if he was even known in Casmeron (outside of "that blasted god of the heathen Taldans), and it seems unlikely that he was widely worshiped in Tian Xia, from context-clues.

Hope that helps!

EDIT: for formatting

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