From the start of Golarion as a campaign world, there have been lots of mysteries and lose ends scattered everywhere. I know much of it was done like that on purpose to have all sorts of hooks for all sorts of campaigns.
Over time, as we learn new lore, it's possible that some of these mysteries have been definitively resolved. Not everything, of course.
But what, if any, has?
From the start of Golarion as a campaign world, there have been lots of mysteries and lose ends scattered everywhere. I know much of it was done like that on purpose to have all sorts of hooks for all sorts of campaigns.
Over time, as we learn new lore, it's possible that some of these mysteries have been definitively resolved. Not everything, of course.
But what, if any, has?
We know who the Peacock spirit is.
At least two of the metal spheres on the Plane of Air have been revealed to contain denizens originally from the plane of Wood and Metal respectively.
We now know the identity of Norgorber and his origins.
We now know have a better understanding of the relationship between Aroden, Arcadia, and the starstone. (aroden sucks btw).
We also now know the origin of mythspeaking in Iblydos.
These are just a few from the top of my head.
We know the actual purpose of Mengkare's Glorious Endeavor.
We have a pretty good idea what was under Gorum's armor.
If we assume the Godsrain novel is cannon, we know what caused the Eye of Abendego.
That's just from the few things I've read.
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We know one way that big computer project on Aballon might end up: merging with Brigh and Casandalee to become Triune in Starfinder's timeline. I've always liked that follow-through on the dangling plot hook from PF1e's Distant Worlds became so core!
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Aroden *sucked* by the way. Fixed it for you. ;)He was never meant to be a good guy. If he were we would have made him lawful good and not lawful neutral! ;-P
I suppose the real question is whether he was "not a paladin" LN, "OG religious hero don't question him" LN, or "Golarion's Homelander" LN.
Creative Director
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I suppose the real question is whether he was "not a paladin" LN, "OG religious hero don't question him" LN, or "Golarion's Homelander" LN.Aroden *sucked* by the way. Fixed it for you. ;)He was never meant to be a good guy. If he were we would have made him lawful good and not lawful neutral! ;-P
He was the god (among other things) of humanity. ALL of humanity. Including the warts and gross parts. He's also dead now, so he got his comeuppances.
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He's also dead now, so he got his comeuppances.
Is it really a comeuppance if Aroden went to Pharasma and asked her to kill him as a god but let him live as a man (hermit) again in some remote part of the world like that little bitty island southwest of Mediogalti Island? You know...the island almost immediately to the west of the Eye of Abendego?
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Creative Director
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He's also dead now, so he got his comeuppances.Is it really a comeuppance if Aroden went to Pharasma and asked her to kill him as a god but let him live as a man (hermit) again in some remote part of the world like that little bitty island southwest of Mediogalti Island? You know...the island almost immediately to the west of the Eye of Abendego?
That's your explanation, not mine (mine exists but I won't be sharing it), so it's up to you to decide there, I guess. (That said, what I can confirm and what we've already confirmed is that he is dead—he's not "secret alive" as a human somewhere.)
We know what's under the black ice at the Crown of the World.
We know who/what caused the Worldwound (and it wasn't another effect of Aroden dying).
We know where Old-Mage Jatembe has been.
We know the origins and issues with the Quest of the Sky.
We know why Sandpoint has been so "interesting" over the years.
We know more details about why Earthfall happened. (and why the Azlanti in general, not just Aroden, *sucked*)
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We know why the Red Revolution in Gault was begun, and who created, or at least controlled, the Gray Gardeners.Neither of these was a mystery, the explanations were just changed from broadly satisfying to broadly unsatisfying.
How were they broadly satisfying before?
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That's your explanation, not mine (mine exists but I won't be sharing it), so it's up to you to decide there, I guess. (That said, what I can confirm and what we've already confirmed is that he is dead—he's not "secret alive" as a human somewhere.)
Ok. Please tell me some more about the Hermit on that island, then.
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He was the god (among other things) of humanity. ALL of humanity. Including the warts and gross parts. He's also dead now, so he got his comeuppances.
"Aroden is very much like Tsukiyo. Tsukiyo is a god who is good, but was once dead. Aroden was a god, and is now dead. Good."
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Creative Director
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Ok. Please tell me some more about the Hermit on that island, then.
That's your explanation, not mine (mine exists but I won't be sharing it), so it's up to you to decide there, I guess. (That said, what I can confirm and what we've already confirmed is that he is dead—he's not "secret alive" as a human somewhere.)
These boards are not my favorite place to give "free lore drops" these days, alas, since that way too easily turns into continuity traps and confusion when folks assume that posts I make here are official additions to the game. It's a tough lesson I've had to learn, that I don't really have the luxury of idly speculating or generating lore in public forums like this without it backfiring somehow down the road. On top of that, it's a personal time-management decision—by not doing this, I can keep myself from distracting myself away from my day job. In effect, time I spend creating new lore here "for free" is time stolen from myself when I should be creating new lore for publications.
Additionally, these days my official responsibility is on the adventure side. Luis Loza is the creative director on the lore side, and I don't want to step on his toes by creating new content like this.
SO... sorry I can't tell you more. As far as I know... there's NOT much more about this fella yet, since a lot of the content we create is meant to spur the imagination of the reader. That's for sure complicated by the fact that anything we publish could eventually turn into something more official.
For stuff like this, the best bet is to ask on forums like this one or on Reddit or wherever—ask fellow gamers if they have any notions or ideas, or can list more obscure publications that speak more to the topic. That not only keeps me out of the equation (and prevents me from accidentally giving the implication that I'm speaking from "on high" with new lore that is meant to be canon), but potentially gets you faster and more accurate and more interesting answers since there's so many voices out there just beyond my own.
Same with Norgorbor's name. The fact that the secret ceased to be interesting or valuable was so very clever. No notes. 10/10.
Where was this reveled? What is it?
Gorb!
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Same with Norgorbor's name. The fact that the secret ceased to be interesting or valuable was so very clever. No notes. 10/10.Where was this reveled? What is it?
This was the plot of the Curtain Call AP (which is great fun).
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Creative Director
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Pathfinder is bigger than one person's vision. It's been this way from the start.
A core strength of the setting is how we've increasingly worked to get more than just a few voices in there to build the world. And as the demands of the job have grown along with the amount of content we produce, shifting duties like this not only opens doors for other people to help build the world and brings more creativity into the process than one person alone could ever manage... it's also more than a single person's worth of work.
AKA: By splitting the duties of creative direction for Pathifnder between myself and Luis, we get to have personal lives beyond work and don't burn out as a result of having more work than can be responsibly done by one person.
Even bigger AKA: Luis is amazing and his contributions to Golarion have elevated the lore in more ways than I can quantify in a single post here.
