Question about SF 2E deities

[Tim Emrick]

I noticed that the lists of deities for the Avatar spell (page 222) and the list in the Deities section of Chapter 8 (page 245-249) do not match up exactly: Desna, Iomedae, and Sarenrae only appear under Avatar, while Lambetuin, Lissala, and Meyel only appear in Chaper 8.

Are Desna, Iomedae, and Sarenrae no longer considered core deities? (I did notice that the new list numbers 20, same as the core deities in PF2.) These three were all fairly prominent in 1E, so I'm curious about the explanation, if any.

If those three are still available as deities, should we be using their Player Core entries for relevant character options? At the very least, favored weapons would need to be updated.

[Kerrel]

I have the same question, but after all this time and no one answering, it gives me a bad feeling. Maybe they'll say something in the Master Core, but I have no idea. Or in a future supplement, but it would be very strange if such important deities weren't mentioned from the beginning.

There's also no information about the Burning Archipelago, the birthplace of the Sarenrae cult. I think it would be terrible if they removed those deities without a logical explanation. Iomedae and Sarenrae are the quintessential good deities.

[Perses13]

By the time this thread was started this question had already been answered elsewhere.

Thurston Hillman's response wrote:

Related to the Core 20 discussion: we changed it up, because the spotlight on deities is just different this edition. The change there doesn't mean that Sarenrae is less powerful or important to people in the setting, just that she's not as "in focus" by the metaphorical camera that we have for stories we want to tell this edition.

I've seen others hope for a Divine Mysteries style book for Starfinder and I think that would be a great spot to talk about these three deities in Starfinder.

As for the Burning Archipelago, did the Galaxy Guide not mention it? That's really where I'd expect it to come up.

[Xenocrat]

If it’s not an important story location under any of the GG chapter categories (and I can see why it wouldn’t be) then cutting it makes sense.

It’s never been a full Pact World, it’s a low population protectorate like many of the gas giant moons.

[Kishmo]

The Burning Archipelago doesn't come up in Galaxy Guide, but, there is some stuff to do with Mataras, the Pact Worlds' star.

Spoiler for Dawn of Flame, SF2 Society Season 1 Plot Stuff:

Noma, a bubble-city deep within the sun, was first discovered during the events of Dawn of Flame. The city is filled with robots that are similar to, but also different from, the anacites of Aballon. Both in-game and IRL it's never confirmed, but, most believe that the so-called "protocites" of Noma are, like anacites, a left-over from the First Ones. So - it could come up, throughout the course of Season 1.