| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Just as the title says. I’m not saying that Ydersius need necessarily to get his ‘head back in the game’ but I would like to see the return of Serpentfolk as a menace- at least within the darklands as well as Garund. We also don’t have nearly the amount of bestiary options in 2e necessary to create a hombrew campaign with snakefolk as the primary antagonists.
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
You’re in luck - there was a whole lot of noise over Serpentfolk taking over the niche of the Drow and becoming one of the main Darklands antagonists a few months back!
Strength of Thousands also had some Sekmin action going on.
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
There are certainly other snake-themed gods who can take Ydersius's place, or join a wider serpentine pantheon, now that he's even deader-but-still-not-dead (seriously at this point Aroden has no excuse). There's Nalinivati and Ravithra, but they are already patrons of Nagaji and Nagas and there's been no suggestion that either species are related to, or have any interest in, the Sekmin serpentfolk. There's the war god Diomazul, who takes the form of a many-armed cobra with each arm carrying a sword, or the multi-headed Asura Ranas Vritra and Rytara. Given her portfolio, a few might appreciate Dhalavei the Ebon Destroyer as a patron of infiltrators. And there's the winged ouroborous psychopomp usher Teshallas - serpentfolk live a long time, but death is inevitable and there's no need to annoy the forces on the other side. I doubt any serpentfolk would deign to respect any especially human god, and especially not the Ascended although they might try infiltrating a cult of Norgorber to turn its malevolence against human society. And there's the serpentine Elder God Yig - he's explicitly noted NOT to be worshipped by serpentfolk as of 1e, an enemy of Ydersius who got bored and left Golarion after Ydersius was killed by Savith, but with Ydersius extremely not-dead-yet a few might consider worshipping his old foe.
And I think there's a suspicious coincidence that the setting includes Apep, also known as Apophis, and the caste of degenerate serpentfolk are called Aapoph. A ghost drow worshipper of Nyarlathotep was hinted to have manipulated Qadira into invading Osirion in the first place, but with the removal of the drow from 2e perhaps that was just a legend that sprung up, and the truth was that the serpentfolk had a hand in it? From my memories of Serpents' SKull, there was a serpentfolk cult of Nyarlathotep, so you could keep Nyarlathotep's role in Ancient Osirion's fall, just replacing who his agents were. The Black Desert is littered with cities that look suspiciously like Ancient Osiriani architecture. Those were recently established as originally belonging to the xulgaths, at least by the time Aroden found them, but perhaps they were originally ruins left by an even older empire the xulgaths moved into? If I were thinking syncretically, the rivalry of Ydersius and Yig could be compared to the enmity between the cults of Apep and Wadjet, neither of which faded like the other gods through the Keleshite Interregnum.
Sorry, Osirion is my hyperfixation. Returning to the subject of other "serpentfolk," I think it would be interesting to frame how Nagas, Nagaji and Vishkanya think of the Sekmin (if they know). If the Sekmin exist as a dreaded legend, a name whispered with terror, does it make acceptance of other people with snake-like features across the Inner Sea more difficult? Has Sekmin had any contact with Nagajor in Tian-Xia, or would the Sekmin resent any other serpentine species that aren't themselves? Personally, I'd prefer the Sekmin to remain unplayable because Paizo already has playable serpentfolk that it would be quite interesting to explore the tension between - a Nagaji might try empathising with the Sekmin, seeing a kindred species destroyed by human imperialism, but the Sekmin might see only a perversion of what they represent - the dominance of snake-kind over the primitive apes, rather than coexistence. The Azlanti may not have been especially good, but in this one very specific case they were unambiguously the lesser evil.
|
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Just as the title says. I’m not saying that Ydersius need necessarily to get his ‘head back in the game’ but I would like to see the return of Serpentfolk as a menace- at least within the darklands as well as Garund. We also don’t have nearly the amount of bestiary options in 2e necessary to create a hombrew campaign with snakefolk as the primary antagonists.
Before PF gets around to really diving deep on the Serpentfolk, Green Ronin's Freeport setting and adventures have some decent ideas for how to use them in a setting.
Good to pillage ideas from, at least, even if written for PF1/D&D3.5. (Such as evil serpentfolk clerics and sorcerers manipulating cults of humans, bands of degenerate serpentfolk, drug-addicted underclasses and street gangs, occult scholars delving into forbidden texts, calling up (or actually reviving!) long-dead serpentfolk from the ancient past when they ruled the continent in Lovecraftian style, etc.)
One of my favorite stories had them basically retell a Lovecraft story, only using a drug to cause humans to dream of ancient cities, and their bodies be temporarily inhabited by the minds of ancient serpentfolk, seeking knowledge of the future, to try and A) undo the calamity that felled their ancient empire, B) set up for it's eventual rebirth in our time. (A variation on The Shadow Out of Time, only with sinister serpentfolk using drugs and magic to enter the minds of future-people instead of Great Race of Yith.)
One thing I liked was that there *weren't* a dozen different sub-types of serpentfolk. They manipulated and used other races and creatures that already existed in the setting, filling a sort of 'mind flayer-y' role.
Love the idea. Really hope they manage to take the slot of the drow. I really dug the PF take on intellect devourers, too. Superintelligent creatures that aren't humanoid are always a plus.