What kind of being was Aroden?

[Arkat]

As we all should know, at first he was a pureblood Azlanti human.

Then stuff happened and he raised up the Starstone and became something more than human.

My question is what did he become?

When he pulled the Starstone up from the bottom of the sea, did he, for all intents and purposes, take the Test of the Starstone and become a "living god" (demigod in Paizo-speak)? Did he then do some "stuff" to ascend to "full deity" status?

Or, did he ascend straight to full godhood after raising the Starstone thus skipping over that demigod rung?

On a related question, what was he when he fought Deskari's avatar at the Lake of Mists and Veils? I'd imagine by that time he was a full-fledged deity but you'd figure he would have had no trouble dispatching a mere avatar. So easily done that I'd think he would have thought it wasn't worth his trouble.

Any ideas or theories?

P.S. Sorry if this question has been asked and answered before.

[Jerdane]

Not sure about the first part, but I strongly suspect he was a full-blown deity by the time he killed Deskari's avatar because that happened over 4000 years after he ascended and under 300 years before he died, so you'd figure he'd have reached the peak of his powers by then...

[Gisher]

Arkat wrote:

...

When he pulled the Starstone up from the bottom of the sea, did he, for all intents and purposes, take the Test of the Starstone and become a "living god" (demigod in Paizo-speak)? Did he then do some "stuff" to ascend to "full deity" status?

Or, did he ascend straight to full godhood after raising the Starstone thus skipping over that demigod rung?
...

According to the PathfinderWiki, the Starstone raised itself, Aroden created the cathedral and test to isolate it, and then other gods granted him divinity.

Quote:

Over 5,000 years after the destruction of Earthfall, Aroden—then still a mortal—was called to the Inner Sea where the heart of the ancient alghollthu weapon still lay. It erupted from the waves as an entire massive island, topped by a unique gem made of celestial materials, alghollthu magic, the blood of the goddess Acavna, and the scar tissue of the planet itself: the Starstone. Aroden used his magic to keep it from ever being misused again. In response, the gods elevated him to become one of them, and the Starstone has served as a vehicle to attain divinity ever since.

It looks like they got that information from Mythic Realms.

[Arkat]

Gisher wrote:

Arkat wrote:

...

When he pulled the Starstone up from the bottom of the sea, did he, for all intents and purposes, take the Test of the Starstone and become a "living god" (demigod in Paizo-speak)? Did he then do some "stuff" to ascend to "full deity" status?

Or, did he ascend straight to full godhood after raising the Starstone thus skipping over that demigod rung?
...

According to the PathfinderWiki, the Starstone raised itself, Aroden created the cathedral and test to isolate it, and then other gods granted him divinity.

Quote:

Over 5,000 years after the destruction of Earthfall, Aroden—then still a mortal—was called to the Inner Sea where the heart of the ancient alghollthu weapon still lay. It erupted from the waves as an entire massive island, topped by a unique gem made of celestial materials, alghollthu magic, the blood of the goddess Acavna, and the scar tissue of the planet itself: the Starstone. Aroden used his magic to keep it from ever being misused again. In response, the gods elevated him to become one of them, and the Starstone has served as a vehicle to attain divinity ever since.

It looks like they got that information from Mythic Realms.

Looks kinda like Aroden's raising the Starstone from the depths to me...

https://preview.redd.it/njjde1koc4o71.png?width=1280&format=png&aut o=webp&s=c39e48723584e6769fe46a5e0e64e72586be356d

[keftiu]

We know Aroden did a lot of adventuring alongside a mortal Arazni, which to me feels more like hero-god stuff than being a full divine - though obviously, he did ascend later.

[Arkat]

Gisher wrote:

Arkat wrote:

...

When he pulled the Starstone up from the bottom of the sea, did he, for all intents and purposes, take the Test of the Starstone and become a "living god" (demigod in Paizo-speak)? Did he then do some "stuff" to ascend to "full deity" status?

Or, did he ascend straight to full godhood after raising the Starstone thus skipping over that demigod rung?
...

According to the PathfinderWiki, the Starstone raised itself, Aroden created the cathedral and test to isolate it, and then other gods granted him divinity.

From the Lost Omens World Guide, pg. 7:

Quote:

1 AR - Aroden, the Last Azlanti, raises

the Starstone and the Isle of
Kortos from the depths of the
Inner Sea, becoming a living
god. Absalom is founded.

So Aroden was a demigod after raising the Starstone.

I'm guessing that raising the Starstone from the bottom of the sea was the "test" the Starstone gave him and that since he did that successfully, Aroden "passed" it.

The two questions that remain, for me anyway, are what did he do to complete his ascension into full deityhood, and when did it happen? I guess I'd like to know where it happened, too.

[Garrett Guillotte]

Gisher wrote:

Arkat wrote:

...

When he pulled the Starstone up from the bottom of the sea, did he, for all intents and purposes, take the Test of the Starstone and become a "living god" (demigod in Paizo-speak)? Did he then do some "stuff" to ascend to "full deity" status?

Or, did he ascend straight to full godhood after raising the Starstone thus skipping over that demigod rung?
...

According to the PathfinderWiki, the Starstone raised itself

The Starstone article should be updated. The Aroden and Starstone Isles articles state that he raised it. So does the cited source of Mythic Realms, which the PathfinderWiki text mischaracterizes to suggest it was spontaneous.

Mythic Realms pg. 16:

Mythic Realms wrote:

Centuries later, Aroden, last of the Azlanti, was called to a young sea, where the heart of the lost aboleth weapon lay forgotten. He meant only to raise it from the water, but it burst from the depths as an entire island

Or, in other words, Aroden raised the Starstone and it brought the island with it.

[Garrett Guillotte]

Arkat wrote:

I'm guessing that raising the Starstone from the bottom of the sea was the "test" the Starstone gave him and that since he did that successfully, Aroden "passed" it.

Same paragraph of Mythic Realms also covers this.

Mythic Realms wrote:

Aroden was the first to use this Starstone to gain the attention of gods, and in return for setting a guard against its misuse, he was elevated among the divine.

He wasn't rewarded for passing a test, he was rewarded for devising it.