So recently my partner and I have fallen in love with the fey demi gods of the Eldest. Their character (a tricksy theif rogue) worships the Lantern King and ever since we started including them in our stories it seems like fey and fey deities keep cropping up more and more.
Ragadahn became the center of worship for my dragon inspired kobold instead of the more popular Apsu. The Lost Prince made an iconic figure for a gnome struggling through the effects of loss and the bleaching. A Lore Oracle who was cursed by Magdh after they drank from her Pools of Reflection.
The Eldest have been a lot of fun to build characters around but I find myself craving more resources and advice to properly portray them. Currently my bible is First World Realm of the Fey and it has been a great help for providing structure and context for a lot of the Eldest and how they interact with the world.
Are there an short stories, scenarios, or APs that are worth looking into to further flesh out this pantheon. I have heard that the later parts of Kingmaker (video game) feature the lantern king himself! Is that worth purchasing and looking into?
Thank you anyone who responds to help and thank you James Sutter (and all the writers and editors who helped) for making such a wonderful cast of gods!
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Pathfinder's fey elements seem to have gone a little under-loved compared to other aspects of the setting. I'd welcome seeing more of them, if only to try and understand the hype.
There was a Pathfinder 1e supplement all about the Fey (including lore about all of the Eldest). While the mechanical parts won't translate over to 2e, the lore should be usable no problem.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
If you're looking to institute a running joke in your games, remember that there is absolutely nothing that cannot be ascribed either directly or indirectly to Ng's grand designs, and that not explaining any of it ever to anybody is holy to Ngians.
Also the Lantern King has "explain a joke" as anathema, which is perfect.
The upcoming Kingmaker rerelease will likely also integrate some Eldest fun.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
There was a Pathfinder 1e supplement all about the Fey (including lore about all of the Eldest). While the mechanical parts won't translate over to 2e, the lore should be usable no problem.
Yes, Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The First World, Realm of the Fey, I believe. That's probably the best source of information on the Eldest that I can think of. Pathfinder Player Companion: Legacy of the First World has some too, but IIRC, that's got more mechanics, which would all be 1e.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Thank you everyone for responding! Work has been swamped as of late but I am glad to hear I am on the right track.
Thank you in particular to @Rysky for that tale on Shyka, thoroughly enjoyed a little bit of iron-y in my diet.
I have my eyes glued to the pathfinder Kingmaker release slated this year.
My greatest wish for the Eldest is maybe to see the pantheon expanded on at some point. I hope to maybe get a good aligned Fey deity. I think the closest is Shyka, who while Neutral tries to perserve or create the best timeline overall if I recall some of the lore I've found.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'm not so sure about a good aligned Eldest, since it's hard for me to reconcile "kindly" with "fae". Like even the ones who aren't hostile are still weird and alien and have a sense of humor cultivated in a place where death is a minimally inconvenient novelty. At no point should you really see them as "on your side".
Since the First World exists separate from the River of Souls, it probably makes the most sense to view the Eldest as primarily concerned with things that are totally unrelated to alignment. So like Shyka isn't interested in "the best timeline" they are mostly interested in the preservation of an orderly progression of time; more "time cop, keeping anybody from messing with the timeline" and less "prevent disasters for the greater good."
Perhaps The Eldest would be the wrong place for it too close to a place to the world without death. But that being said good aligned fae do canonically at least exist in golarion, most naiads and dryads tend to have Gs in their alignment. I also don't think alien and altruistic/good have to be mutually exclusive. That being said Azatas and agathonian empyreal lords occasionally scratch the itch I am looking for, but not white. They will have to do if we never get a good aligned fey diety on their level.
Creative Director
|
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
We made a very conscious choice to not include any good-aligned Eldest in the pantheon. There's certainly room to expand them, but the pantheon has been in print for years, so newcomers to the list will need reasons why they haven't been mentioned before.
Personally, I like the fact that there aren't good Eldest, because it helps to make the First World feel dangerous and unsettling and spooky. It also appeals to my preference of avoiding forced symmetry in game/world design.
Doesn't mean there's not room for a fey-themed deity outside of that pantheon, of course! And as folks mention, there's a lot of fey-adjacent themes in Desna, the elven deities, several of the Azata empyeral lords, and even Shelyn.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
If you want an Eldest who is secretly benevolent, no one can really say for certain what Ng is or isn't up to.