
Arina Tikhonova |
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The mightiest mythic lich might bind a fearsome and nearly immortal creature to serve as its soul cage, or a majestic fortress, or even an entire island.
— War of Immortals, p. 172
Let me entertain you.
Tar-Baphon died in 896 AR and spent 2,307 years rebirthing as a lich. That's quite a while. It was always hinted (and later stated) that he used Aroden to strike him down to ascend as a lich.
I think nothing was ever said about when TB gained his mythic powers up until War of Immortals. Which goes as it is commonly believed that the Whispering Tyrant tricked the god Aroden into killing him as a mortal so he could siphon some of Aroden’s power into creating his soul cage and allowing him to become a mythic lich.
So, Aroden buried Tar-Baphon's corpse (what a gentleman!) on the Isle of Terror, later to be reburied by TB's followers either just somewhere around Lake Encarthan or at the place of TB's birth (which is still somewhere around the lake). Which, I suppose, was an order (or else why dig your master up when he's already buried in his headquarters).
When he rose as a lich, he supposedly came from the west, as he first took Adorak, then swept across Ustalav to the cities like Ardis and Carrion Hill.
And that's where the mystery begins.
At least half a dozen Pathfinder books mentions or describes Tar-Baphon as being able to reach across space and whisper directly into an ear eager to listen.
1. To-be lich Socorro, disciple of the Whispering Way, first heard Tar-Baphon in Carrion Hill, Ustalav, even BEFORE Tar-Baphon rose as a lich:
This stalking of the streets might have continued in secret for a lifetime, yet in 3203, Socorro began to hear whispers in his head, the words of a new messiah risen again after thousands of years of slumber. And Socorro listened.
Thus it was that when the Whispering Tyrant finally revealed himself, binding the orcs to his cause and sweeping across Ustalav, Socorro was ready.
— Pathfinder Adventure Path #48: Shadows of Gallowspire, p. 70-71
2. Hymmir Urath, a ghoul, first heard strange and terrible whispers echo in skull like sour winds after consuming a body of a failed lich in a cairn lost in the wilds and rising as a ghoul (Pathfinder Adventure: Crown of the Kobold King 2e, p. 82; these whispers lead to help the BBEG Drazmorg and we know what Drazmorg did)
3. Adivion Adrissant, the BBEG of Carrion Crown Adventure Path, first heard Tar-Baphon in Ustalav after spending years on secrets of lichdom, when his delving, both scholarly and arcane, bore strange fruit: whispers from beyond death, a verse spoken from the spaces between death and the afterworld that formed the formula to an undying apotheosis, which Adivion dubbed the Carrion Crown (Pathfinder Adventure Path #48: Shadows of Gallowspire, p. 7).
4. The PCs of the Carrion Crown AP, p. 19-20, the Tyrant's Whispers haunt. The book stated implicitly that it's not a mere haunt but a focal point
for the Whispering Tyrant to impose his foul thoughts and ill will on trespassers on this unholy ground. Needless to say, Tar-Baphon is sealed away up until 4719 AR, so his influence is seeping upward from beyond the Great Seal.
5. Gildais, though probably not. It seems to be magic rather than whispers.
At the Whispering Tyrant’s psychic prompting, Gildais traveled to Vigil and recruited a crew of expert thieves, the Six Wise Crows.
- Pathfinder Adventure Path #139: The Dead Roads, p. 78
6.
Yet Tar-Baphon's power is limited, give or take, to the borders of Ustalav.
But as Ustalav was founded long after his death, it doesn't have to do anything with the actual borders — but more like with the land itself.
And that's where this comes in.
Similar to the path of becoming a lich, the route to becoming a genius loci varies somewhat with the individual.
— Pathfinder Adventure Path #102: Breaking the Bones of Hell, p. 66
Tar-Baphon's path to becoming a mythic lich involved digging a portal to the Void in the middle of his island, luring in a god, getting killed by the said god, draining some of his power into creating (hinting the soul cage was not created up until or even after the moment of TB's death) a soul cage and then rotting for 2,000 years during which, I suppose, he was psychically poisoning the land and maybe fusing some of his essence with it. Then he started getting into peoples' heads even before he digged himself from the dirt.
In the weeks and months leading up to a genius loci’s manifestation, its spirit influences the heart of its targeted land with visions and haunts, giving those who dwell there advance warning and a chance to stop the materialization before it completes.
— Pathfinder Adventure Path #102: Breaking the Bones of Hell, p. 66
So Tar-Baphon started his vile whispers from beyond the grave, is known to talk to people all across Ustalav, Lastwall and some parts of Belkzen and was influencing people while being imprisoned underneath the Gallowspire (like Hymmir Urath and Adivion Adrissant), even though no means of direct communication worked.
For the inheritors of this scarred age, Virlych bears more than just the wounds of history, for within its crumbling womb sleeps the architect of that dread epic, a deathless obscenity whose dreams still seep forth to poison the world.
— Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Rule of Fear, p. 34
Definitely a Cthulhu-inspired thing! This is not the only mention of Tar-Baphon's psychic "dream" influence upon the world above.
Today, cultists both living and dead attend to the whispers and dreams of their imprisoned master, working dark magic and slinking forth into the world to again prepare it for the Tyrant’s coming.
— Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Rule of Fear, p. 62
The greatest evil sleeps in the ruin of Gallowspire. There, below the former court of the necromancer-king, lies the undying remains of the Whispering Tyrant himself, locked away by the magic of heroes and deities. Although bound within his prison-tomb, the lich-lord’s dreams still seep into the land, tainting minds and inspiring fanatics like the necromancer cult known as the Whispering Way.
— Pathfinder Adventure Path #43: The Haunting of Harrowstone, p. 90
While probably not being a genius loci, Tar-Baphon has some fun similarities to it that may be nice for a GM to explore. And while his soul cage is rumoured to be kept safe by Urgathoa, he's not into bowing to any deities, as we know... So why not transform an entire land into it? It's certainly going to be difficult to destroy a land, not even starting on the countless victims this endeavor may cost.
So whatever Tar-Baphon's soul cage is, and wherever he keeps it, I hope we'll finally know when time comes for an epic mythic adventure. While I doubt it will be Ustalav, I bet it actually might turn out to be the Isle of Terror.
P.S.
Typically, a new genius loci can influence a region with a radius in miles equal to the CR of the original manifesting entity, but in the case of Barzillai Thrune, the association with a demigod and the influence of an artifact (the Book of the Damned) has magnified this area considerably.
— Pathfinder Adventure Path #102: Breaking the Bones of Hell, p. 66
Tar-Baphon was CR 26/MR 10 in "Tyrant's Grasp". After running Wrath of the Righteous I'd dub him CR 30. And you know what has a 30-mile radius of a funny coincidence? :D
Yeah, the Isle of Terror.

Oh, Deer Lord |
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When I saw that line about an "entire island" serving as a soul cage, my mind instantly thought, "Tar-Baphon's soul cage is the entire Isle of Dread." I'm glad others have had the same thought, it did almost seem worded to make you have that thought.
You'd expect Urgathoa to have hidden it in some impenetrable fortress in the Astral Plane, but the best place to hide something is in plain sight. Your typical high-level party could breach an Astral fortress, but it would almost be harder to destroy a 30-mile geographic feature with anything short of Wish.
Thanks for a fun and informative write-up!

Ravingdork |

Does Azaersi still have that thing from Ironfang Invasion that could have fipped all of Nirmathas upside down, like flipping a coin? Can we retarget it? Asking for a friend.
If you flip Tar-Barphon's soul, will he turn to benevolence? #unintendedconsequences

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I dunno. I read the Well of Night thing or whatever it is as some sort of controlled black hole.
Like, his soul cage exists beyond the event horizon. It cannot be recovered and destroyed.
Your solution is more interesting though.