Divs are still fiends as of MC2, but otherwise I'm hoping for a little of all of the above. The excerpt Eleanor read in that livestream seemed to be a bit of golden-road folk religion, which is always fun flavor.
There's a lot of ambiguity around Spirits in the setting. A couple states in Tian Xia World Guide list "Spirit worship" among their religions, but little detail is given on that aside from a brief blurb on "The Way of Spirits" under Philosophies. We've got monster stats for Kami, but how does that integrate with culture? What the hell is the deal with "Spirit Guides" and how specifically do they relate to Sarkoris and God Callers, or with other regions?
I'm really looking forward to this one. Fantasy tends to deal with religion in a very top down manner; these are the big psudo-Abrahamic capital-g Gods. But all those Venerated Ancestors and River Gods and Folk under the Hills give a setting a much more lived-in feel.
I'm glad to be getting a book that talks about what spirits are. It was vague in PF1, and continued to be vague into PF2 even as things like undead got much more fleshed out, so having a book talking about it at length will be nice.
Having different perspectives from different societies' practices will be interesting and probably avoid spirits being placed in too small of a box.
I'm hoping that the seasons theme that seemed to come up in the player options a bit doesn't overwhelm the spirit aspect.
I still confused about book. What EXACTLY it would describe? Low-religion folk practics like ancestor worship, nature and animal spirits and so on? Or about some Spirit World, something akin to First World, but for spirits?
Things I would expect to see in this book:
Rivethun: The dwarven spiritual which is very animistic and regards even the dwarven deities as just powerful spirits; honestly to me it comes across as something like Dwarven Shintoism.
Covenants that worship spirits: There are a number of covenants mentioned in divine mysteries that call out spirits of places. Good Neighbors mention household spirits, Light of the Everlasting Flame mentions fire spirits, Waves of the Boundless Sea mentions water spirits etc.
Information on the Forest of Spirits: It is in the freaking name. so I would be shocked if there is nothing about the forest of spirits.
The pathfinder wiki mentions the following things as spirits that I can see being talked about.
- Spirits of air and the clouds communicate with mortals non-verbally.
- Animists use spiritual magic to bond and communicate with an undefinable range of typically incorporeal spiritual entities called apparitions that can include human and animal spirits who have not yet succumbed to undeath; manifestations of locations, memories, and events; and other forms.
- Anito and kami of Tian Xia are often referred to as "nature spirits".
- The aesir monitors known as einherjar are sometimes referred to as spirits.
- The Dragon-Lotus Drum of Hwanggot binds the spirits of those who use it into service after their death. Such spirits are not souls that can be captured or resurrected, and the Drum releases them only after they fight battles on its behalf.
- The Rivethun tradition among dwarves teaches that every object and environment contains spirits with which they can communicate and attune themselves. These spirits in turn empower these dwarves' magic and ally themselves with the dwarves as necessary.
- Tales of Old-Mage Jatembe and the Ten Magic Warriors speak of the Empress of Stars, a ghost described as a spirit who once protected the city of Kin.
- Elementals are often described as being animated by elemental spirits that represent natural elemental phenomena. Elemental spirits of places, such as large bodies of water, can be manifested through ritual magic.
- Exemplars can channel their own spirit through their ikon toward different powers and benefits. Certain exemplars can draw upon the spirits of all past and future rulers for guidance and channel their authoritative presence. Others can call upon the spirits of combatants who died in glory or travel to the "world of the dead" through their ikon's connection to it.
- Loci spirits can form from accumulations of superfluous psychic energy combined with positive emotional resonances.
- Magical spirits can enter small hyenas to become the familiars of kholo.
- Nature and ancestral spirits might ally themselves with hag covens in pursuit of vengeance.
- Nature spirits commune with iruxi masked mummers.
- Ossumentals of the Slave Trenches of Hakotep are undead remains animated by elemental spirits.
- Rakshasas are spirits of unholiness manifested as corporeal beings.
- Skin shifters can shapeshift through the blessings of wild spirits.
- Incorporeal undead are sometimes generically referred to as "spirits".
- Incorporeal beings of the Forest of Spirits are sometimes known simply as "spirits".
- Spirit guides, such as the Trickster, are spiritual entities.
- Void spirits, sometimes channeled by users of occult magic.
- Yakshas are ancient, divine spirits who were banished from the First World to the Universe and take corporeal form in the presence of positive emotions and a need to protect a wilderness area.
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We did have a few specifics confirmed in the Paizo Live: two Animist aparitions and three feats with a summer theme, as well as a new Druid order that had something to do with flowers and maybe mourning? (The audio had issues, so I'm hoping I got both of those correct.)
Presumably, it'll have some focus on various creature-families now categorized as spirits: asura, rakshasa, possibly divs.
Seems like a decent place to get a remastered Beastbrood versatile heritage.
Same thought; and since this book isn't regional based I hope beastbrood is more general in who can take it
Rival Academies implied there might be a new Rakshasa heritage, a character describes themselves as a "Janavata," a rakshasa who's given up their evil nature and been reincarnated as a mortal with animalian traits. Whether this exists alongside a new Beastbrood Nephilim lineage or replaces it I can't say. The latter might be defunct with Rakshasa being spirits instead of fiends now, but the same is true for Asura and faultspawn have been remastered (thought Asura being spirits seems to have been a last minute decision, given WoI explicitly refers to them as fiends and Battlecry! includes them in the army of fiends Incarnate spell, even using the legacy name for the specific creature that got changed in MC2 only four months later).
Considering Remaster rakshasa aren't fiends anymore (they're spirits), I suspect a beastbrood heritage would be like Hungerseed - a separate versatile heritage, rather than a Nephilim lineage. (I would be interested in a lore change such that playable rakshasa that have reincarnated into an initially weaker form as part of shedding their assigned role as the villains, because that's a fun idea and also ties into mythical heroic rakshasas - like, if the dang Ramayan is allowed to have heroic rakshasa, so should Golarion!)
And unlike asuras, who only got moved over in MC2, rakshasa made it into the first Monster Core, so they've had their spirit actor thing established earlier.
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The what now?!?
**Reads the link**
Oh hells yes, I entirely missed that and its right up my alley! Hopefully will help with the tautology of "a spirit is a creature defined by its spiritual essence" in Monster Core and how all of that links in to the River of Souls.
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I'm curious and excited! Spirit is one of those English words you just can't get away from to describe whole casts of mythical and folklorical creatures