The Song of Silence and the Whispering Way

[Perpdepog]

In Player Core, p. 85, the borai "Beliefs" section refers to "the Song of Silence," a philosophical outlook "... which teaches that undeath is the ultimate goal of life and that one’s mortal life is simply a trial run for undeath."

Is this the Starfinder incarnation of Pathfinder's Whispering Way? They have some pretty serious overlap--both are interested in undeath as the next stage of existence, even if the Song of Silence is much more chill about how one gets there. Their names also both evoke the idea of sound, or rather lack there of, and, ya know, they're also both alliterative.

Are there any other references to the Song of Silence, or of the Whispering Way, folks know of in earlier Starfinder lore? I'd be interested to find out if my hunch is correct and the Song of Silence really is the evolution of the Whispering Way or not.

[Christopher#2411504]

The wiki says:
"The Song of Silence is an ancient philosophy of undeath, and is credited by the Bone Sages of Eox for teaching them the secrets of lichdom."

[The Raven Black]

Likely the Song of Silence came first.

And I thought I read somewhere that the Whispering Way was imported from Eox in Golarion's ancient past.

[Perpdepog]

If you can track down that info I'd love to see it. The Whispering Way being extraterrestrial sounds super cool.

[Perpdepog]

Looks like the Whispering Way did come first, after all, at least according to GM Core.

Song of Silence, pg. 203 wrote:

The Song of Silence is a modern remix of the ancient Whispering Way that once spread on Lost Golarion. It teaches that Pharasma's judgment is a revolving door leading to an eternal cycle of suffering, and the only way out is undeath. The Song of Silence is prevalent on Eox, where dying mortals beg undead gurus for a surefire shot at immortality.

[The Raven Black]

Thank you. Maybe I mixed things up.

But I have had for a very long time this idea/memory of the Whispering Way originating in Eox, though I cannot remember where I saw this.

Interesting about the Silent Song being modern. IIRC Eox was already a planet of undead long before Golarion's age of Lost Omens.

[The Raven Black]

Perpdepog wrote:

Looks like the Whispering Way did come first, after all, at least according to GM Core.

Song of Silence, pg. 203 wrote:

The Song of Silence is a modern remix of the ancient Whispering Way that once spread on Lost Golarion. It teaches that Pharasma's judgment is a revolving door leading to an eternal cycle of suffering, and the only way out is undeath. The Song of Silence is prevalent on Eox, where dying mortals beg undead gurus for a surefire shot at immortality.

Interestingly, according to StarfinderWiki based on the 2017 CRB:

"The Song of Silence is an ancient philosophy of undeath, and is credited by the Bone Sages of Eox for teaching them the secrets of lichdom."

Note that the existence of the Bone Sages on Eox was already a thing when Golarion was in the Age of Lost Omens and that the destruction they survived was stated as having happened "ages ago".

Extremely interesting lore change between the PF+SF1 and SF2.

[The Raven Black]

PathfinderWiki (so, Age of Lost Omens on Golarion) does mention the Song of Silence BTW:

"The Song of Silence, also called the Great Change and the Undying, is the Eoxian art, philosophy, and practice of lichdom, which its undead people consider to be the key of their existence and revere in an almost religious manner. The center of the philosophy is the twenty-story-tall Church of Silence near Orphys, which contains libraries devoted to necromantic practices."

[hjgz89]

The Song of Silence is pubicly known, discussed and debated. People know where to go if they want to know more about it.

The Whispering Way is secretive, with it's secrets and teaching passed on from teacher to student only. It's a Mystery Cult, so they're a lot more selective with how they allow to join.