I need to know all there is about Arazni...

[meeko]

Hello beautiful people, long time no post.

I have taken on the GM duties once again, and I have decided to run something fun and challenging for a group of players with mixed knowledge of Golarion and Pathfinder/ttrpgs as a whole.

The elevator pitch of the game is: Evil Cult Kingmaker. The players are whispered to by the Demigod Arazni, she has recently escaped the clutches of Geb and plans to solidify her freedom.

I'de like to know everything there is about Arazni, specifically HOW she escaped. I've read snippets that somehow Tar-baphon helped her in some way and it was explained in an adventure path? idk and that's why I'm here, I think I have exhausted all the wiki and hardback knowledge there is on the subject.

So far my plan for the campaign is a 3 act structure with and overarching goal. Arazni Wants to become the new god of Humanity, the god they deserve. First she wants revenge on the knights of Ozem, by claiming the current Gravelands/Lastwall. that will be the goal of players levels 1-7ish. Then the players will be tasked with finding the remaining parts of her phylactery and destroying them, allowing her to be reborn as a true Demi God/God (7-15ish). Finally she will exact her revenge on Tar-baphon and Geb all at once... by rallying humanity toooo, to something I haven't decided on yet. the plot can go many ways at this point and the players can take it even further so I'll leave that for the time being.

So yea, that where I am coming from and why I want the info. If Tar-baphon and Arazni are in good standing then it could make sense as to why he would allow her to slowly take hold of the Gravelands while he reforms from his phylactery. If not then things will be more tense but my players will by it either way. I want to make this game as true to Golorian as I can, more for myself than the players really.

Thanks in advance, I hope everyone is having a great winter, or as we are seeing in Oregon and early spring!

Cheers!

[keftiu]

Tar-Baphon and Arazni are diametrically opposed; that story is the entire Tyrant’s Grasp adventure path. It also seems like Arazni already has ascended to full godhood in the aftermath of that narrative; we haven’t heard anything about her physically walking Golarion anymore, and she’s listed alongside plenty of other gods in Lost Omens: Gods & Magic. It’s also worth noting that she grants spells to Chaotic Good followers - she’s Evil because spite and revenge is her thing, not because she wants world domination.

I also would say; taking the Gravelands would be pretty far beyond level 7 characters, given that an entire major faction (the Knights of Lastwall) is dedicated to that task and is so far on the defensive.

If you want to be as canon-compliant as possible, read all of Tyrant’s Grasp, and potentially also wait for Book of the Dead (with significant portions of the in-setting text being written by Geb) and Lost Omens: The Knights of Lastwall (for your setting of choice- and, I suspect, some Arazni info) to release in the next two months.

Good luck!

[The Raven Black]

I could see a triumvirate of Milani, Iomedae and Arazni taking the place of Aroden to guide Humankind on a better path of Good for all beings.

It would definitely need heroic PCs and a danger of apocalyptic scale to even make those three work together.

[Kasoh]

Artifacts & Legends also contains the stats for the Blood Stones of Arazni, the canopic jars that contained her organs, essentially.

Arazni does feature primarily in the Tyrant's Grasp AP, adventures 1-4, mostly.

The new Lost Omens book about important monsters has a legend about Arazni and Aroden in it, fighting one of the creatures.

Undead Unleashed mentions her or Geb. The Mythic locations book has her 1st edition stat block. Tyrant's Grasp also has a stat block for her.

If you go to her Pathfinder Wiki page, you can see the sources they used for the article, so looking up those will also be a good start.

[meeko]

Would anyone be able to give me a TLDR on what happens with her in Tyrants grasp? I really don't want to buy an AP just to find this tidbit of modern Lore.

I've read everything I can on her from the wiki, my PF1 gods and magic, the Lost omens world guide, LO gods and magic, as well as the tidbits I could glean from legendary figures.

[meeko]

keftiu wrote:

Tar-Baphon and Arazni are diametrically opposed; that story is the entire Tyrant’s Grasp adventure path. It also seems like Arazni already has ascended to full godhood in the aftermath of that narrative; we haven’t heard anything about her physically walking Golarion anymore, and she’s listed alongside plenty of other gods in Lost Omens: Gods & Magic. It’s also worth noting that she grants spells to Chaotic Good followers - she’s Evil because spite and revenge is her thing, not because she wants world domination.

I also would say; taking the Gravelands would be pretty far beyond level 7 characters, given that an entire major faction (the Knights of Lastwall) is dedicated to that task and is so far on the defensive.

If you want to be as canon-compliant as possible, read all of Tyrant’s Grasp, and potentially also wait for Book of the Dead (with significant portions of the in-setting text being written by Geb) and Lost Omens: The Knights of Lastwall (for your setting of choice- and, I suspect, some Arazni info) to release in the next two months.

Good luck!

yea the part about them fighting does throw a wrench into my plans. maybe ill have the PCs statrt in a major or semi-major city, grow the following and then strike out once they gather power.

[Kasoh]

meeko wrote:

Would anyone be able to give me a TLDR on what happens with her in Tyrants grasp? I really don't want to buy an AP just to find this tidbit of modern Lore.

I've read everything I can on her from the wiki, my PF1 gods and magic, the Lost omens world guide, LO gods and magic, as well as the tidbits I could glean from legendary figures.

My best recollection without rereading the books:

So, Arazni hates Tar-Baphon and hates Geb. Geb keeps her prisoner (A Wizard 20/Mythic 8 Lich mind you). The Knights of Ozem who tried to retrieve her body were turned into Graveknights by Geb and they act as her jailors effectively, under the pretense of 'Guards'. Also of note is that Geb has hidden Arazni's Soul Cage from her. She doesn't know where she'll end up if she gets destroyed.

Arazni is looking for a way out. She has a connection to Tar-Baphon (I can't recall if its a metaphysical sort or if she just has good intel--Level 20 wizard, either is possible.) So she gets wind of Tar-Baphon's newest insane plan to conquer Golarian and become a God and finally get noticed by Aroden-Sempai.

So, she shows up and shepards the PCs of Tyrant's Grasp for a bit, taking a bit of liking to them. She clues them in on why things are the way they are, but mostly she's using the PC's connection to Tar-Baphon's superweapon to get Baphy in close. Cuz she's gonna kill him. Or Die Trying.

So, Arazni calls out Tar-Baphon and they fight. Its a good match up because as an undead, Arazni is immune to a lot of Tar-Baphon's specialty spells, and she has a keen understanding of how he fights.

Tar-Baphon, pushed back, uses his desperation move--He triggers the Superweapon again, vaporizing himself (Or he contingincies out, can't remember) and Arazni. Arazni takes a moment to protect the PCs of Tyrant's grasp by teleporting them to her homeland where they can solve the mytery of the superweapon and finally defeat Tar-Baphon's mad scheme. This may have been done out of fondness for them.

That's the last we see of her in the AP. We learn a bit more about her past and history with Aroden.

So, Arazni's plan seemed to have been to get blown up by Tar-Baphon and use that resulting explosion (which contained the history of magic she and Aroden worked on together) to...escape. She either Did Tar-Baphon's gag one better (Trick your foe into destroying you so you can become more powerful than he could possibly imagine) or expected to die just to end her miserable life, or something else. Her motives were unclear.

What we do know is that she did not reform in Geb. Her portfolio as a deity expanded a bit and she is out there granting spells and being a total boss.

[Yakman]

The Raven Black wrote:

I could see a triumvirate of Milani, Iomedae and Arazni taking the place of Aroden to guide Humankind on a better path of Good for all beings.

It would definitely need heroic PCs and a danger of apocalyptic scale to even make those three work together.

ridiculous.

humanity already has the god it deserves, and he has FOUR names...

[Sibelius Eos Owm]

Yakman wrote:

The Raven Black wrote:

I could see a triumvirate of Milani, Iomedae and Arazni taking the place of Aroden to guide Humankind on a better path of Good for all beings.

It would definitely need heroic PCs and a danger of apocalyptic scale to even make those three work together.

ridiculous.

humanity already has the god it deserves, and he has FOUR names...

That's odd... Don't remember Cayden's other two names coming up...