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Hey all! In a thread a few weeks back I was thinking it'd be neat if we could compile a list of all the various myths and lore drops regarding the Age of Creation. Then I realized that I probably had access to enough resources that I could at least make a start at something like that.
But first, what this is not—this is NOT an attempt to prove which stories about the Age of Creation are canon, or even debate which are 'the most canon'. While I feel that it is possible to arrive at some sense of "what really happened" by reading between the lines, the fact of the matter is that many of the stories directly or indirectly contradict one another, or show biases both obvious and subtle.
While I have found what I feel is a fairly representative sample, I don't remember every book in which I've read something about the Age of Creation, and there's plenty I don't happen to own and don't have another way to access. Feel free to drop in with any other references you can find—just mind not to reproduce large chunks of lore text.
I'll start with one of my favourites that I reference, which is also easily available for free online!
PS - I wanted to mention, between when I started this project and now, before typing this post, I realized that PathfinderWiki's page on the Great Beyond actually specifically compares the two biggest sources I'll mention below. Even so, I think it's valuable to draw together a handy reference of sources not listed there, so on I go
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In particular I want to reference two specific stories: the Three Fears of Pharasma (3F) and the Rage of Creation (RC). There are other myths set during the Age of Creation, but while they're just as good, they're more personal in scope where I'm most concerned here with significant cosmogonic events. Three Fears begins with the story of Pharasma as the Survivor, while Rage of Creation caps off the final days of Creation.
The Beginning - In these myths, Pharasma is the first deity on scene in the new reality, riding atop the 8-sided Seal—described as both gravestone and foundation stone—adrift on the Maelstrom. At this point, there seems to be nothing but the Seal (inscribed with text in ‘every language’), the Maelstrom, and debris from the old reality. Pharasma has no memory except that she is the Survivor of something, but as she steps off the Seal and it grows with her, she fears something vast and hungry lurks beyond.
Pharasma's First Walk - As she walks a deosil (clockwise) spiral around the seal, it continues to grow with her, causing the rest of the planes of the Outer Sphere to from, including the Spire which grows straight up out of the Seal (3F/RC).
The First Gods - In response to Pharasma's walk, the Seal births the first divinities of this new reality. It's not explicit if they were born in the order they're listed, but it's also worth noting that there is one deity for each of the premaster alignments, starting with the Speakers of the Depths, Desna, Sarenrae, Ihys & Asmodeus, Achaekek, the nameless Bound Prince, and finally an unknown entity heavily implied to either have become or been devoured by Rovagug after travelling in the direction of that hungry presence from before(3F).
Creating the Universe - Time passes after the First Walk, during which the Inner Sphere at the heart of reality remains a blank slate (RC). The gods erect the First World as a testing ground, and then eventually turn their attention to the Universe. Here they notice there are already other entities lurking and sleeping in the darkness, but decide to just work around them (RC). The gods each add something to creation in the same order as before—the Speakers remove themselves (providing “what aid they could”), Desna lights the stars while Sarenrae chooses which will become life-bearing suns. Ihys and Asmodeus work together to create the first mortal frames, and Achaekek stands guard at the edge of the Spire. The Prince waits to welcome death, and Pharasma touches the "source of the River of Souls" to start it flowing. Rovagug then climbs the Spire, cracks the elemental shell, eats seven worlds, and is driven back with minimal fuss (3F/RC).
The War in Heaven - Life eventually grows complex enough for sapience to arise (not counting things 'from elsewhere' like the xiomorn or alghollthu) and mortals discover faith and free will (RC). Ihys encourages free will, while Asmodeus condemns it, triggering a schism that results in a war (described elsewhere as the War in Heaven). The war finally ends when Asmodeus betrays and kills Ihys on a nameless planet. While no one is looking, Rovagug sneaks back in the Universe and resumes feasting, starting with that same nameless world (RC).
The Rage of Creation - Rovagug feeds unchecked, during which time Groetus rises above the Boneyard, the Bound Prince becomes the first Rider of the Apocalypse, and Achaekek becomes a mindless beast. Eventually, Sarenrae notices and leads a coalition that imprisons Rovagug within Golarion at great cost. Officially, the caging of Rovagug is considered the end of the Age of Creation (RC).
While the next most logical resource comes in the Concordance of Rivals, I feel like it may be interesting and educational to see where things started and how the lore has evolved since then. What follows is undoubtedly the earliest published lore I’ve found on the origins of the multiverse.
PS note that the headers I’m using are purely to group like-concepts together with an evocative name, not necessarily the way they’re actually presented in-book
The lore in this book is not presented in the form of a story or myth told in-universe, but much of the information is still couched in uncertainty and I think it’s still fair to regard things through the lens of a “best understanding so far”
The Origins of the Planes – The origins of the planes are shrouded in myth and mystery, but a few things are generally agreed by scholars: That the Universe (called Material Plane then, of course) is relatively young, and that the Maelstrom existed long before it, and may only be the local tributary of a multiversal sea. Many agree with the genies’ claim that the Elemental Planes are also older than the Universe, but some speculate they arose together. Creation’s Forge and the Void are probably either eternal or created by some unknown originating force.
The Nature of Souls – Many myths claim that this or that god created souls, but while the gods have created many mortal species, the gods know very little about the origins of souls, which seem to grow naturally in Creation’s Forge. Meanwhile, although Elementals don’t technically have souls the way mortals do, their core spiritual makeup acts basically the same. Outer Sphere beings on the other hand mostly arise from mortal souls, albeit some breed conventionally and others rise spontaneously. Interestingly, while most “Outsider” families are assumed to be made of soulstuff, nevertheless some predate mortal life altogether, and apparently not even the gods can explain.
Early Days of the Multiverse – The sceaduinar believe that their capacity to create was stolen from the Void somehow in a primordial theft, and that the dual energy planes were originally meant to work together to create the planes—although neither they nor the jyoti are willing to say more about it. Meanwhile, axiomite legend tells that they actually didn’t originate from the Maelstrom but arrived from ‘somewhere else’. Finally, while Axis was still young and forging agreements with Heaven & Hell about its role in the multiverse, a chorus of proteans arrived to demand they cease expansion. When Axis refused, they unleashed a tide of demons on the city, leading to the creation of the first axiomite constructs (once called “Inevitables”) to defend order from chaos.
Published earlier the same year as the Windsong Testaments, this book technically builds on lore first introduced most of a decade earlier, in the three volumes of the Book of the Damned, but I didn’t want to wait to cover such a substantial and influential source of lore.
The Beginning (again) – In this story, the wreckage of the previous reality consists of a cloud of aimless quintessence, a fragment (the Seal), and the Survivor, contemplating the mistakes that lead to the previous cycle’s destruction. Each ‘mote’ that exists today is said to trace back to previous realities, and Pharasma’s first act is to stir the quintessential dust into a whirlpool and spin it “like wool about a spindle” (confusingly the tool in the picture more closely resembles a distaff), and then stretch the vortex into a flowing shield between the Seal and Those Who Remain—eldritch beings who have “always lived beyond the multiverse.” A cold void grows within where life will one day exist.
The Condition of All – Pharasma decides not to shape life directly, and instead churns the “astral expanse.” The light of the Seal bounces across the shell and creates sparks that “one day” might become new life while astral storms collide and grow until one forms into a being whose very movements threaten to tear reality apart. After a brief communication, this being splits itself off into miniature vortexes which repair the damage (i.e. aeons) and go on to monitor the balance. Finally, two motes emerge from the Seal; the First.
The First – In continuity with the Book of the Damned, the First are Ihys and Asmodeus, who grow stronger and faster than their later kin. Together they create entire galaxies of mindless mortal minions from the Seal’s power, until one day Ihys channels some of himself and creates the first independent life. The invention of sentience kicks off an age of creation among the gods.
Formation of the Outer Sphere – Pharasma watches as the shell is slowly transformed as both mortal and immortal emotions course throughout reality in this cycle of souls. Pure order crystallizes first into an archipelago, then a blank continent around the base of the Spire, forming the Axis of creation, while compassion and malice gather into the seeds of Heaven and Hell. This thickening shell radiates out from the Spire to the point where it eventually threatens to smother the turbulent maelstrom. While Pharasma waits out the imbalance of order and chaos, life arises from the shell-realms, born from the concentrated emotions. Angels, axiomites, proteans, and qlippoth form and begin warring with one another.
(Two of these families are given a bit more detail:)
Back as the First were experiencing their first steps and first feelings, nonsense thoughts and broken ideas whirled across the shell to form into ephemeral beings. Eventually, some coalesce with enough willpower to sustain themselves as proteans, whose cavorting stirs the waters of the shell into the Maelstrom. Meanwhile, when Asmodeus and Ihys’ autonomous creations start developing cities and civilization, the blank plain of Axis reshapes itself into the Eternal City around the three crystalline shards of the Godmind that formed within the Maelstrom. Clouds of ‘arithmetic dust’ coalesce in the light of the Godmind into the axiomites, who set about studying and defining creation.
War In Heaven – While some gods are enticed to see what lies beyond the Seal, Asmodeus and Ihys remain enthralled with their worshippers (described as ‘free-willed’) until one day Ihys has the idea to release the souls of his followers to go where they might, disrupting the system. This act sparks war between the brothers and their supporters—the Maelstrom surges back to life and shatters the stable realms, while fiends learn to prey upon the scattered motes.
The Chaos War – Promptly after Ihys releases the souls, a group of proteans arrive to issue an ultimatum to Axis to cease expansion. They are refused, and a day later attack alongside a horde of demons who surge up from cracks in the ground. The invasion fails thanks in large part to the primal axiomite constructs, many of whom are destroyed in the process.
The River of Souls (& Antipode) – Forced to act at last, Pharasma leaps from her tower into the Maelstrom and gathers the scattered quintessence into a river which she rides back to the Seal and weaves into a barrier to protect the Seal from further abuse. Then she gathers the flocks of souls spilling out from the War and brings them to her Spire. Ihys' death death ends the worst of the fighting and he is the first to be judged and sorted to his final rest.
The War of the Titans – In the wake of Ihys’ death, the titans, created by the gods to help create the multiverse, rebel against their masters. Axis takes this rebellion as a threat to cosmic stability and ultimately prevails, bearing new scars and ruins.
The Ravages of Rovagug – The third and so far final existential threat to Axis was when Rovagug rampaged during the Rage of Creation. Even though the city was ready, the assault was the worst disaster the city has seen, until a coalition of gods drew the Rough Beast away and sealed it within the Dead Vault at Golarion’s core.
I have notes for a small number more resources I wish to cover, namely the three volumes of the Book of the Damned, but I figure here is a good place as any to open the field.
Other books I have notes on include the First World, Realm of the Fey, Planar Adventures, and a tiny excerpt from Rage of Elements.
Meanwhile, from the wiki I see there is another book also titled Book of the Damned which I don't know anything about, so that may include some fascinating lore. I know there are supposedly stories from when Asmodeus was a mere empyreal lord and I haven't found any of those in my search
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At this point, there seems to be nothing but the Seal (inscribed with text in ‘every language’)
Well that's embarrassing. I meant to edit that placeholder text with the actual wording from Three Fears. What's actually going on with the inscription on the Seal is a lot more interesting and mystical. Rather than in every language, the Seal inscription is "carved in such a way that all would understand regardless of language or intellect."