What if....No one could remember Aroden as well.....

[Herald]

What if the only thing about Aroden that could be remembered that there was a god of humanity, but Iomedae succeeded that deity and that individual's name is lost to antiquity...

Would that make the whole "Gap" thing more mysterious to Pathfinder players?

I'm considering using this in my game.

[Michael7123]

I'm almost certain Aroden was alive at a point before the gap started, so having there be even less information on him now would also be interesting.

This also reminds me of something else I need to do.

[Claw-o-form]

I like this quote from starfinder page 430.

"On some worlds, however, scholars use the preexisting local calendars for events before the Gap. Those researching the cultures from Golarion, for instance, sometimes uncover documents referring to dates in ar or “Absalom Reckoning,” a measurement believed to have been used for nearly 5 millennia, starting with the ascension of a now-dead and mostly forgotten god of humanity named Aroden."

[Claxon]

I think it's more mysterious that memory before and after the gap can be crystal clear (members of long lived races could have been adults before the gap and still after) but even they don't know what happened.

It's all clear up until a certain point, and then poof.

People remembering or not remembering Aroden doesn't really make it more mysterious for me.

Claw-o-form wrote:

I like this quote from starfinder page 430.

"On some worlds, however, scholars use the preexisting local calendars for events before the Gap. Those researching the cultures from Golarion, for instance, sometimes uncover documents referring to dates in ar or “Absalom Reckoning,” a measurement believed to have been used for nearly 5 millennia, starting with the ascension of a now-dead and mostly forgotten god of humanity named Aroden."

Aroden had been dead for a while in Pathfinder too, so it's nothing new.

[Azih]

the mostly forgotten is though. RIP Ozymandias, uh I mean Aroden.

[David knott 242]

My headcanon says that, during the Gap, somebody actually solved the mystery of Aroden's death despite a conspiracty by all of the deities to keep the details of that incident secret. Once that secret was discovered, the gods decided that they needed to wipe the memories and records of anyone who knew that secret and the proceeded to do the same with any memories or records that would permit that secret to be learned again.

It turned out that there was some incontrovertible evidence in the matter on Golarion that could be concealed only by removing Golarion itself from the known universe.

[The Gods Must Be Crazy]

Aroden's importance to Starfinder seems like it should be somewhere between that of Ydersius and Acavna in Pathfinder.

[Zaister]

Claw-o-form wrote:

I like this quote from starfinder page 430.

"On some worlds, however, scholars use the preexisting local calendars for events before the Gap. Those researching the cultures from Golarion, for instance, sometimes uncover documents referring to dates in ar or “Absalom Reckoning,” a measurement believed to have been used for nearly 5 millennia, starting with the ascension of a now-dead and mostly forgotten god of humanity named Aroden."

The most interesting quote here is "used for nearly 5 millennia" which implies that it's going to go out of fashion rather soon, seeing it's already been used for 4,717 years, which you would not be far off to call "nearly five millennia". Intriguing.

[Azten]

I don't think the gap actually is mysterious though. Just like Aroden, Paizo knows exactly what happened. It's not a mystery, it's a fundamental part of the setting we'll never get to find out because they think it'll stay exciting forever that way.

[Zaister]

Azten wrote:

[...] it's a fundamental part of the setting we'll never get to find out [...]

That's exactly what makes it a mystery.

[Goth Ellicoth]

Zaister wrote:

Azten wrote:

[...] it's a fundamental part of the setting we'll never get to find out [...]

That's exactly what makes it a mystery.

I used to read mystery novels and enjoy them, then I realized the author knew all along who did it, so they weren't actually mysteries. Now I just read poetry about death.

[Mike Lindner]

David knott 242 wrote:

My headcanon says that, during the Gap, somebody actually solved the mystery of Aroden's death despite a conspiracty by all of the deities to keep the details of that incident secret. Once that secret was discovered, the gods decided that they needed to wipe the memories and records of anyone who knew that secret and the proceeded to do the same with any memories or records that would permit that secret to be learned again.

It turned out that there was some incontrovertible evidence in the matter on Golarion that could be concealed only by removing Golarion itself from the known universe.

Maybe Aroden escaped whatever prison he was in and finally returned to Golarion. His long delayed promise to start a golden age of humanity. The other Gods didn't want humanity running rampant and said "sure, you can have your golden age on Golarion, but you don't get to do it around here." Poof off to a pocket dimension sealed away at the end of the universe.

Is Rovagug an active deity in Starfinder? Maybe he managed to escape so they got rid of the entire planet and wiped memories to prevent anyone from finding out what happened to it - and letting Rovagug out from his new prison.

[Herald]

Claw-o-form wrote:

I like this quote from starfinder page 430.

"On some worlds, however, scholars use the preexisting local calendars for events before the Gap. Those researching the cultures from Golarion, for instance, sometimes uncover documents referring to dates in ar or “Absalom Reckoning,” a measurement believed to have been used for nearly 5 millennia, starting with the ascension of a now-dead and mostly forgotten god of humanity named Aroden."

Hence the "What if...."

[Voss]

Azih wrote:

the mostly forgotten is though. RIP Ozymandias, uh I mean Aroden.

Is it? I never got the impression PF people spent a lot of time or thought about Aroden. A few Historians and iomedeans who feel a bit guilty for taking over his old churches, but to most folks there isn't any relevance.

[Herald]

Voss wrote:

Azih wrote:

the mostly forgotten is though. RIP Ozymandias, uh I mean Aroden.

Is it? I never got the impression PF people spent a lot of time or thought about Aroden. A few Historians and iomedeans who feel a bit guilty for taking over his old churches, but to most folks there isn't any relevance.

There are the Knights of the Ioun Star, and more than likely a few mystery cults, but not on a whole lot of people.

I just thinking that it might have been a neat Easter egg if Aroden was totally missing in any way shape or form from the setting.

[Azih]

Voss wrote:

Azih wrote:

the mostly forgotten is though. RIP Ozymandias, uh I mean Aroden.

Is it? I never got the impression PF people spent a lot of time or thought about Aroden. A few Historians and iomedeans who feel a bit guilty for taking over his old churches, but to most folks there isn't any relevance.

Well the city of Absolom and the Starstone itelf are pretty large reminders in 'contemporary' Goalarion of Aroden. Heck one of Iomedae's most common titles is still 'The Inheritor'. I mean he's not very relevant at all, but he's far from mostly forgotten.

[Voss]

Hmm. I don't really think of Aroden and the starstone, just the paladin, the drunk and norgoburgerbargobader.