|
Though I'll admit there's problems with all of them. Gods & Magic describes the core 20 as the 'most influential in the inner sea region'. Yet all of them are pretty regional. Arazni is important in Geb (and lastwall?). Brigh in Absalom & Numeria, Milani in Cheliax & Galt, Besmara in the ocean, and Lissala in Varisia. Outside of those zones, it's smaller pockets of faithful. None of them have continent-spanning impact.
Though to be fair, Norgorber, Lamashtu, Irori, & Rovagug are also pretty niche in the amount of people that follow them.
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Arazni seems a poor choice for joining the core 20. I would expect someone more important to more of the people in the setting and without portfolio overlap. Brigh is the first that comes to mind, and Milani second. After that I'd have put Besmara or Lissala on even footing with Arazni.
On the contrary, I would say Arazni's followers consisting of "the abused who yearn to reclaim their dignity and independence" is something that transcends all cultures, social classes, species, and geographic separation, since there are abused people all over (and a significant portion of them are mad about it.) She instructs the oppressed to be mad about it, and to seek freedom and revenge (in that order) but to be smart about it, like Arazni was.
On the other hand Brigh mostly appeals to inventors, Milani to revolutionries, Besmara to pirates, and I'm not sure why anybody would follow Lisalla. Arazni is probably 1a of the minor deities since she potentially appeals to SO MANY people.
In PF1 he was kinda the ultimate nasty. He set up a trap in the City of Golden Death module for Aroden (who wisely didn't go there). He got to kill Arazni because Aroden didn't want to face him. And eventually Aroden dies and who's the most likely suspect?
Then LO:Legends comes along and we have Jatembe, Baba Yaga and Sorshen all back and going kinda "shrug" about him. (That book has a bit of Elminster syndrome.)
I doubt Tar-Baphon killed him, since when Tar-Baphon was a living being, Aroden killed him. Even though Tar-Baphon was resurrected into a Lich, and killed Arazni, I don't think Aroden was around or even alive by then.
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I still have the suspicion that she might arise from the shadows to take on Aroden's mantle of God of Humanity.
Will she also be taking on his mantle of “God of solving exactly half the problem” as my Extinction Curse party have dubbed him, albeit with much more profanity?
Presumably she'll stop hiding from being the patron of the Crimson Reclaimers after this.I still kinda wonder if Crimson Reclaimer's patron is something new because again not sure what would be point of hiding it if its just Arazni being tsundere "no, I wouldn't help you crusaders, idiot"
In the one either Paizocon/Gencon (cave remember which) in a Q&A panel someone asked "who is the patron to the Crimson Reclaims?" to which the Devs said what amounted to "It's Arazni. It's so clearly Arazni. I mean, maybe some other gods got involved since then, but like, Arazni is definitely the main one."
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
In PF1 he was kinda the ultimate nasty. He set up a trap in the City of Golden Death module for Aroden (who wisely didn't go there). He got to kill Arazni because Aroden didn't want to face him. And eventually Aroden dies and who's the most likely suspect?
Then LO:Legends comes along and we have Jatembe, Baba Yaga and Sorshen all back and going kinda "shrug" about him. (That book has a bit of Elminster syndrome.)
Each case makes sense.
Jatembe spent the last few years imprisoned on Akiton. I doubt that he was around when Tar-Baphon broke loose and rebuilt his power. Jatembe isn't the type to charge in guns blazing unless he must. The Magaambya is reaching out to the rest of the world. I think he's building on that behind the scenes, and Tar-Baphon's going to run into some enemies he's not faced before when the time comes.
Baba Yaga could have divinity if she wanted it, but she sees it as a trap. Therefore, she thinks that anyone deliberately chasing it is a fool. Tar-Baphon could do what she did, conquering planets and playing on the level of divinity without being bound by those rules. He's even a lich, so he doesn't have to go to great lengths to prolong his life. But no, he has to chase after a false promise of power and turn himself into Urgathoa's lapdog to do it. (Don't think for a moment she guards his soul cage out of the goodness of her heart!)
Sorshen is probably watching the situation very carefully. If he takes Belkzen, he could very easily move on Eurythnia. Her army can't stand up to his. She could take him directly, but right now she couldn't put him down permanently. He doesn't have that problem in regards to her. She's probably ready for a fight in case he decides to pay a personal visit to Urgir, but she's not going to move against him otherwise until the inevitable alliance is ready to strike.
She does like working through capable agents. ^^
She does like working through capable agents. ^^
Yeah, she did not become the longest-surviving Runelord by getting personally involved in fights when it wasn't completely necessary. That's what adventurers are for, for goodness sake!
Here’s a thought … why not look at a ‘known’ future god list? We know, for example, that Desna and Iomedae make it to Starfinder. But who didn’t?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Because we know that list means nothing wrt the Pathfinder timeline. The Starfinder Nocticula is a demon lord and was never redeemed. The gap is a in-setting continuity error between the games and there are no guarantees one to the other.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
SF2 might synchronize some of those though.
They can if they want, but they always could have done that without a new edition. The whole point of the gap being the source of continuity errors is so the SF team and the PF teams don't need to run things past each other for story developments or setting books.
SF2 might synchronize some of those though.They can if they want, but they always could have done that without a new edition. The whole point of the gap being the source of continuity errors is so the SF team and the PF teams don't need to run things past each other for story developments or setting books.
Makes sense. I just thought they wouldn’t make a huge change like offing Besmara or something.
We've explicitly been told several times to not look to Starfinder for hints on this.
Again - it's a separate timeline, Nocticula didn't ascend in Starfinder, the two pantheons are not linked.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
In PF1 he was kinda the ultimate nasty. He set up a trap in the City of Golden Death module for Aroden (who wisely didn't go there). He got to kill Arazni because Aroden didn't want to face him. And eventually Aroden dies and who's the most likely suspect?
Then LO:Legends comes along and we have Jatembe, Baba Yaga and Sorshen all back and going kinda "shrug" about him. (That book has a bit of Elminster syndrome.)
Its not really Elminster syndrome but more an issue that Tar Baphon is kind of a badly written character as it really didn't even make any sense in 1e either.
In PF1 he was kinda the ultimate nasty. He set up a trap in the City of Golden Death module for Aroden (who wisely didn't go there). He got to kill Arazni because Aroden didn't want to face him. And eventually Aroden dies and who's the most likely suspect?
Then LO:Legends comes along and we have Jatembe, Baba Yaga and Sorshen all back and going kinda "shrug" about him. (That book has a bit of Elminster syndrome.)
Its not really Elminster syndrome but more an issue that Tar Baphon is kind of a badly written character as it really didn't even make any sense in 1e either.
Yeah, it seems like his motivation as a mortal was to kill Aroden because he finds his ascension to godhood a cowardly means to do so, which isn't very compelling since later he simply takes the powers of the Runelord of Necromancy for his own. And him turning into a Lich doesn't really add or change anything there; at best, we can argue that he now serves/commands the Whispering Way cult, but it doesn't really align with his goals either, which are also poorly defined at this point.
Honestly, having him be the benefactor for one of my groups of PCs is also tenuous, but I'm having it work as more of a behind-the-scenes approach, since it seems direct confrontations have not worked out well for him in the past (loses to Aroden, kills Arazni who still ascends to godhood anyway, gets beat by a bunch of nobodies who should have died by the Radiant Flame), and he hasn't really tried the subtle approach yet.
Random thought...
What about Nex? Like, currently, the tension between Geb and Nex is starting to rise... and at the same time we have a goddess hit the big time who has real, personal reasons to hate and despise Geb, with a remnant of old-school Araznists fleeing persecution who also have real, personal reasons to want revenge on that country. How is Nex likely to react to this? I mean, would Nex be willing to take in an Araznist Vampire if that Vampire was eager to share as much damaging information as they could on their country of origin? Sure, they wouldn't be wanting to give it away for free, but as a source of intel on an ancestral enemy, this is a rich vein to mine.
I'm wondering what the Church of Arazni in Nex is going to start to look like, as things settle.