Honestly I've kinda been wanting the same thing. Some of the new lore spins out of events in PFS scenarios as well it seems and I really never looked at any of those in 1e. Now I really miss those lore episodes James Jacobs did fairly often on Fridays!
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I have played or run three complete adventure paths and know the changes that they wrought on Golarion.
The adventure was mostly to stop Varisia from being conquered, so it preserved the status quo. The one big change in Varisia was that the lost city of Xin-Shalast was discovered in the Kodar Mountains in the north. That city became a known adventuring site.
The overall plot of the adventure path was to put Ameiko Kaijitsu, secretly of the imperial Amatatsu clan of Minkai, on the Jade Throne of Minkai. A secret cabal of oni had wiped out the imperial families in Minkai itself, so Ameiko, or maybe her half-sister Amaya, was the last surviving true heir to the throne.
In the 2nd module, Night of Frozen Shadows, the party wiped out the Frozen Shadows ninja clan in Kalsgard in the Land of the Linnorm Kings. That was a hidden clan, so few people noticed.
In the end, the corrupt Jade Regent of Minkai was dethroned and Ameiko became the new empress of Minkai. The oni leadership was exterminated, but smaller bands of oni can still be found in Minkai.
However, Numeria has lead by the barbarian monarch Kevoth-Kul, who after conquering and uniting the barbarian tribes of Numeria was drugged into docility from ingredients added to the immortality potion brewed by the sinister Technic League. The Technic League was more interested in monopolizing the alien technology scattered across Numeria than ruling the country, so Numeria mostly remained ruled by the local barbarian tribes and town governments.
The party defeated the Technic League. The description in the Lost Omens World Guide leaves Numeria on the brink of drastic change because of this: "Recently, however, the Captain of the Technic League died under closely concealed circumstances. Brave souls whisper tales of a strange new goddess arising from the core of Silver Mount following the captain’s demise, but the truth of these rumors is unknown. What is certain is that the Technic League fell into squabbling, murderous disarray within weeks. The survivors largely fled Starfall, and the Black Sovereign, freed from their control, has begun to break fitfully free from his addiction. Many fear that if he regains his senses, Kevoth-Kul will resume his campaign of conquest across Numeria. Since most Numerians have grown accustomed to semi-independence and no longer trust their tyrannical, unstable ruler, this is not a welcome prospect."
In addition, the party had the opportunity to raise the android Casandalee to not only the status of an Iron God, but up to full godhood. That adds another god of technology to the pantheon.
My own party took over the Technic League and changed its mission from hoarding technology to teaching it. Under their influence, 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century technology will start to spread out from Numeria.
I began running the Ironfang Invasion adventure path. We are still in the 1st module, Trail of the Hunted, but information from the Lost Omens World Guide tells me where it went.
The Lost Omens World Guide shows that she succeeded. The map on page 37 shows the country Oprak in what had been Nirmathi territory. However, Phaendar is in Nirmathas, so apparently the Ironfang Legion was not able to hold all the territory it invaded. The Oprak entry on page 44 hints that war with Oprak may break out again.
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Neither Second Darkness nor Strange Aeons has any really public events in them. We never quite finished Mummy's Mask, but I don't believe it had any large, on-screen effects, either.
The other big ones I haven't seen covered would be -
The Triune god was created, which is also a strong part of the Starfinder setting.
Kintargo and the surrounding countryside rebels against Cheliax, and successfully secedes, becoming the country of Ravounel.
Something about some of the Runelords staying. Haven't finished this one, so been avoiding details.
The Big T finally broke out of his prison, and created a whole new undead country right in the middle of a bunch of other lands.
I'd really like something like this too! Perhaps even make a video on it.
I agree with GM1's points on keeping things pretty general, so here's my crack at RotR with more detail, definitely more than previous posts (and background given it's the first AP):
Millennia ago, the ancient Runelords ruled over the Thassilonian empire with an iron first, but the Age of Legends, and their empire, would soon come to a close. The sky itself fell in the great calamity of Earthfall, and the Runelords sought desperately to use every ounce of magical resources available to them to find ways to survive the cataclysm!
As the world shudders from the Earthfall, and the Age of Darkness begins, no Runelords appear to have survived, and Golarion slowly moves forward through the ages.
Now, nearly 10,000 years later, in 4707 AR and the Age of Lost Omens, the small city of Sandpoint celebrates their yearly Swallowtail Festival, when a band of goblins attack!
A group of adventurers step up to save the town, and soon find themselves involved in something far bigger than they could have imagined, stopping not only goblins, but much more sinister murders. Even the once-peaceful stone giants from the nearby Storval Plateau have united under a mysterious force to raze Sandpoint to the ground!
Our party stops threat after threat, all the while following a strange symbol of a seven-pointed star. Signs continue to point to the long-dead Thassilonian Empire. The party learns that at least one Runelord has indeed managed to survive, and is trying to fully return to this world: Karzoug, the Runelord of Greed!
Armed with the knowledge they need from the ancient Runeforge, the party travels deep into the Kodar Mountains, finds the hidden city of Xin-Shalast, and defeats the evil wizard of greed before he can rise to reclaim his former empire! But is he the only Runelord to survive, or are there deeper evils that have only begun to stir?
Something like that? Too much detail? I tried to go more for a proper summary rather than a simple "this is how the larger state or the world may or may not have changed".
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I'll just chase Phntm888's summary with a few editorial notes- but I'm going light on any spoiler tags that 2nd edition books give away anyhow, since this in the PF2 forum.
Rise of the Runelords- The big changes to the setting this ushered in were largely dealt with in 1st edition. Thassilon wasn't just some hazily-recalled myth, Xin-Shalast was rediscovered. This far down the line, it does indeed seem like this one didn't change much, but that's only because we've been living with the changes for longer than Pathfinder has been its own game.
Curse of the Crimson Throne- Nothing to add, except that Cressida taking the throne is sort of a "we can't predict what every group did, so this is a safe status quo outcome to put in place for future setting development" choice.
Second Darkness- The big "change" here was that surface-dwellers outside of Kyonin became aware of the existence of Golarion's drow. Prior to these events, they were a well-kept secret, at least among non-Darklands civilizations. In terms of other changes to the setting, Kyonin "opened up a bit," although that's been somewhat retconned since they were always meant to be fairly friendly.
Legacy of Fire- The whole game here was to prevent major changes to the setting, so...
Council of Thieves- Hell's Vengeance sort of presumed the bigger changes to the setting that were possible here didn't actually happen.
Kingmaker- There's a new River Kingdom. Saying too much more one way or the other would basically run afoul of what is the most Sandbox AP Paizo has put forward.
Serpent's Skull- The second edition canon fallout is the (evidently gonna stick!) death of the Gorilla King, and the subsequent splintering of the kingdom he held together.
Jade Regent- Minkai has a new ruler, and Sandpoint is a little less lively for her absence.
Skull and Shackles- Tessa Fairwind becomes Hurricane Queen (because, much like Cressida, she's a suitable table-neutral NPC choice rather than an impossible to accurately predict or reflect PC) and the Chelish Navy takes one on the chin, forcing them to be a little more circumspect with maritime rivals. This plays a minor role in the fall of the colonial state of Sargava, due to disrupting existing structures in the Shackles.
Shattered Star- Magnimar gets dinged up a bit, and the legacy of Thassilon gets a little more wide renown.
Reign of Winter- Irrisen gets a new and more broadly benevolent ruler (that's a really low bar, of course), although as of yet, the country as a whole doesn't appear to have changed all that much.
Wrath of the Righteous- Actually Baphomet is fine, presumed to have survived. Deskari's toast, though, and so is the Worldwound. The demon-infested ruins of Sarkoris are a long way from safe.
Mummy's Mask- Much like Rise of the Runelords, this is more to do with the long-vanished past coming back to haunt the present, and the changes are more about awareness than anything too terribly mechanical.
Iron Gods- Not Triune, but a part of it, arose from this AP- Casandalee, who gets a writeup in the new Big Book of Deities, lucky her!
Giantslayer- Not many developments I can think of, and those that were, got overshadowed by subsequent events.
Hell's Rebels- Ravounel calves off of Cheliax.
Hell's Vengeance- Very much about maintaining the status quo, noteworthy mostly for acknowledging the removal of the shadow monster problem from Westcrown but otherwise basically burying Council of Thieves' more exuberant possible outcomes under an avalanche of plot.
Strange Aeons- No major setting changes. That's kind of the goal, since the alternative is pretty nasty!
Ironfang Invasion- The canon fallout of this is the new Hobgoblin nation of Oprak.
Ruins of Azlant- There's some colonization going on in the titular ruins, and some strengthened ties between some undersea and surface cultures, but nothing too concrete.
War for the Crown- Taldor has a new Empress, and some of the more.... stick in the mud traditionalist elements of its elite have been de-fanged.
Return of the Runelords- This is basically where New Thassilon comes from.
Tyrant's Grasp- Bye-bye, Lastwall. Plus, there's now a big necromantic crater on the Isle of Kortos, the Isle of Terror is a lot, er, livelier than it's been...
Carrion Crown:
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Mummy's Mask- Much like Rise of the Runelords, this is more to do with the long-vanished past coming back to haunt the present, and the changes are more about awareness than anything too terribly mechanical.
There's actually a few big changes to Osirion here. There was a natural disaster in the form of falling pyramids and now the fallen pyramids are swarming with monsters, which causes its own problems, and these two issues have provoked the Ruby Prince to legally close off the tombs of Osirion from being explored, so doing so is now illicit and illegal (even if its necessary to deal with the fallen pyramids full of monsters).
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Iron Gods- Not Triune, but a part of it, arose from this AP- Casandalee, who gets a writeup in the new Big Book of Deities, lucky her!
There's actually quite a bit of fallout (no pun intended) from this AP for Numeria's internal situation, though it doesn't look all that much different from the outside. The collapse of the large, monolithic oppressor organization has, as it usually does, led to a whole bunch of smaller, individual oppressor-wannabes scattered across the area, and something just a step away from civil war has broken out between the would-be inheritors of the Technic League legacy. This is complicated by the freeing of the Black Sovereign, who was kept basically pacified by the League's manipulations. He's feeling his strength again, and might want to go a-conquering himself sometime soon.
Yay, Golarion history! I'll have to look through the APs that I have when I get home, but it looks like everything's been covered pretty thoroughly regarding the OP.
Well, if we've gotten all the major consequences out of the way, maybe we can focus on smaller stuff that isn't necessarily a result of the main conflict, but maybe happens at some point during the AP. I'm not one to turn down lore!
That will be a bit tricky to talk about without spoiling events in the Adventure Paths. In case you want to play or run them.
I know this is already a heavy spoiler thread, but that's getting into really specific stuff.
