|
An athletic woman walks forward in a brusque, no nonsense manner. She speaks in a thick Russian Ustalavic accent. “Greetings, I am Talea Torv. I am seeking Aroden. So what if he is dead? Others have come back from the Boneyard, so can he. I am sure I find him somewhere.”
_____
So I am finally starting to build my only Scarab Sage character, a skald from Ustalav who is a fierce Arodenite and a neophyte hopeful trying to get initiated into the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye. She has been a GM Baby for nine adventures now, but I think that it is time that I actually, you know, play her... So. I need to do character research.
Can you folks connect me to the best source material you have found on Aroden so far? As a Scarab Sage character and a professional research assistant, Talea would have been one to do some research. I would love to at least know about Aroden what she does.
I have read the Article on Aroden in the Pathfinder Wiki (and followed it to an article in Humans of Golarian) and the article on the Harbingers of Fate cult in Occult Mysteries, but I would like to dig arround more. I am happy to read Player Companions, Pathfinder Tales and any other Campaign Setting or Background Material that will help me to dig a bit more into Aroden and his faith, and enrich my roleplay of this character.
If there are PFS adventures that reference Aroden and the cults surrounding him, I would be interested in those as well.
The Confirmation
Kortos Envoy
Sky Key Solution
Can you help guide me to good Aroden material?
Hmm
Venture-Captain, Minnesota
|
Yes, the starstone is central to the Aroden mythos. Having Absalom be both the home of the society and the starstone makes it a very attractive place for Talea to head.
I should clarify that what I am looking for here is not so much what happened to Aroden (because, really, that is the central mystery of Golarian) but how Aroden was worshipped before he disappeared, and for ideas on how to roleplay an Arodenite in modern Golarian. Talk about faithful! The Harbingers of Fate are Arodenites, but they’re pretty unhinged. I’d like a slightly less apocalytic viewpoint for Talea, and I’m looking for insights and advice.
Hmm
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
|
The Almas Lodge is set in an old cathedral of Aroden. So is the Chelish embassy in Absalom and the House of the Immortal Son opera in Oppara.
In general, seasons 0-2 made many more references towards Aroden. After that it petered out a bit. I guess if company policy is not to give away anything, there's a limit to how much you can advance the Aroden plot...
You may also find some scraps in articles about Iomedae, Milani and Tar-Baphon.
|
Venture-Captain, Minnesota
|
One of the more detailed sources would be AP#100 which has a special section on Aroden's Faith written by Erik Mona.
Oh, I will have to look for that one!
The Society does get to meet the Harbingers of Fate, of course, for a notable encounter.
Yes, I GMed that one. Great fun.
Hmm
|
|
Yes, the starstone is central to the Aroden mythos. Having Absalom be both the home of the society and the starstone makes it a very attractive place for Talea to head.
I should clarify that what I am looking for here is not so much what happened to Aroden (because, really, that is the central mystery of Golarian) but how Aroden was worshipped before he disappeared, and for ideas on how to roleplay an Arodenite in modern Golarian. Talk about faithful! The Harbingers of Fate are Arodenites, but they’re pretty unhinged. I’d like a slightly less apocalytic viewpoint for Talea, and I’m looking for insights and advice.
Hmm
5-13: Weapon in the Rift has a really nifty puzzle that revolves around some cool information regarding Iomedae, who was his Herald before Aroden died and she attained her own apotheosis.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The old Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting (the 3.5 book, not the shiny new PF one) has a bit on Arodenite dress. It seems to involve a lot of hats:
Formal raiment in the church still echoes the elaborate costuming popular when the church's center was in Taldor, with multilayered costumes and tall hats and helms supposedly designed in the fashion of the ancient Azlanti, with colors appropriate for the priest's national colors. Temples are usually elaborate buildings slowly falling into disrepair or being converted to temples of Iomedae.
There's a two-page spread on Aroden's religion in Humans of Golarion which repeats the hat thing, and has a number of other juicy details.
AP 100 is the most authoritative entry on Aroden, though, and subsumes most (but not all) of the previous lore into its entry. It, however, doesn't mention the hats. It makes it feel incomplete.
|
|
One of the more detailed sources would be AP#100 which has a special section on Aroden's Faith written by Erik Mona.Oh, I will have to look for that one!
The Society does get to meet the Harbingers of Fate, of course, for a notable encounter.
Yes, I GMed that one. Great fun.
Hmm
I got so excited playing that thinking we were going to get to resurrect Aroden in some fashion or see the birth of a new god of humanity.
|
|
I know of at least two oracles locally who are descendants through many generations of Aroden the Last Azlanti. It's not commonly known that he fathered children before his apotheosis, and that his bloodline has been preserved through the ages. (Not official lore, or course, but a nice RP hook for a Seeker Oracle who has "found" where his Ancestor mystery powers come from!)
|
I know of at least two oracles locally who are descendants through many generations of Aroden the Last Azlanti. It's not commonly known that he fathered children before his apotheosis, and that his bloodline has been preserved through the ages. (Not official lore, or course, but a nice RP hook for a Seeker Oracle who has "found" where his Ancestor mystery powers come from!)
If the guy has living descendants at all, then probably literally every human from Golarion is one.
|
|
I know of at least two oracles locally who are descendants through many generations of Aroden the Last Azlanti. It's not commonly known that he fathered children before his apotheosis, and that his bloodline has been preserved through the ages. (Not official lore, or course, but a nice RP hook for a Seeker Oracle who has "found" where his Ancestor mystery powers come from!)If the guy has living descendants at all, then probably literally every human from Golarion is one.
Perhaps future Starfinder geneticists will be talking about "Mitochondrial Aroden".
(yeah, I know, I know. It's not like there's an equivalent female in Pathfinder to reference.)
|
|
My dear child,
I, too, share your devotion to Aroden. You simply must attend Father Basri’s services at the Basilica of the Last Man in Oppara. We are not alone in our conviction that Aroden shall return. Many believers remain in distant Sargava.
Personally, I feel his absence is a challenge to Taldor to return to its former might. It is my hope that in these coming times the power of the Crown will strengthen and all our problems will be sorted.
Gardez la foi!
Venture Captain Ceredwyn Isaroviel de Galt, le Marquis d”Isarn
OOC: the old Pathfinder Companions “Taldor, Echoes of Glory” and “Sargava the Lost Colony” have some info re Aroden including the religion trait Devotee of a dead god. Also, the Player Companion “Faiths and Philosophies” has a blurb under the dead and fallen gods section.
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
The old Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting (the 3.5 book, not the shiny new PF one) has a bit on Arodenite dress. It seems to involve a lot of hats:
Formal raiment in the church still echoes the elaborate costuming popular when the church's center was in Taldor, with multilayered costumes and tall hats and helms supposedly designed in the fashion of the ancient Azlanti, with colors appropriate for the priest's national colors. Temples are usually elaborate buildings slowly falling into disrepair or being converted to temples of Iomedae.There's a two-page spread on Aroden's religion in Humans of Golarion which repeats the hat thing, and has a number of other juicy details.
AP 100 is the most authoritative entry on Aroden, though, and subsumes most (but not all) of the previous lore into its entry. It, however, doesn't mention the hats. It makes it feel incomplete.
It doesn't mention the hats because it doesn't have to! The opening illustration shows a bunch of clerics wearing big hats. :)
|
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I know of at least two oracles locally who are descendants through many generations of Aroden the Last Azlanti. It's not commonly known that he fathered children before his apotheosis, and that his bloodline has been preserved through the ages. (Not official lore, or course, but a nice RP hook for a Seeker Oracle who has "found" where his Ancestor mystery powers come from!)
In Pathfinder lead designer Jason Bulmahn's home campaign, in which I play a cleric of Iomedae, there is very definitely at least one "son of Aroden" running around the Nirmathas region, so if that's not canonical, it's pretty darn close! :)
The old Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting (the 3.5 book, not the shiny new PF one) has a bit on Arodenite dress. It seems to involve a lot of hats:
Formal raiment in the church still echoes the elaborate costuming popular when the church's center was in Taldor, with multilayered costumes and tall hats and helms supposedly designed in the fashion of the ancient Azlanti, with colors appropriate for the priest's national colors. Temples are usually elaborate buildings slowly falling into disrepair or being converted to temples of Iomedae.There's a two-page spread on Aroden's religion in Humans of Golarion which repeats the hat thing, and has a number of other juicy details.
AP 100 is the most authoritative entry on Aroden, though, and subsumes most (but not all) of the previous lore into its entry. It, however, doesn't mention the hats. It makes it feel incomplete.
It doesn't mention the hats because it doesn't have to! The opening illustration shows a bunch of clerics wearing big hats. :)