Azlanti

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Pathfinder Chronicles: Campaign Setting
Azlanti
Azlant, the first great empire of
man, sank beneath the sea 10,000
years ago. The shattered remnants
of its once-graceful architecture perch
precariously atop the slivers of land that
still remain of the island continent,
vast mazes of crumbling rock that form
a wall across the treacherous Arcadian
Ocean. Here and there along the Inner
Sea, and infrequently inland far from
modern cities, a ruin of some forgotten
Azlanti outpost lies at the heart of a
trackless forest or the edge of a forlorn
coastal cliff. Today, there is no more
Azlant. The god Aroden was the very
last pure-blooded scion of that onceproud
race, and with his recent demise
the line is now extinct.
And yet the Azlanti live on in culture,
spirit, and song, a lost race whose
inf luence has not yet faded. Taldans
and Chelaxians both proudly proclaim
Azlanti blood as the foundation of their
stock, with some (falsely) claiming to
be pure descendants of the ancient empire. These folk view
their Azlanti origins as the source of traits like intelligence,
grace, magical aptitude, and beauty, using the connection as a
major point of distinction that sets them above other races.
Language: Ancient Azlant
Favored Regions:
Absalom, Azlant, Cheliax, Taldor, Andoran, Varisia, Nidal
Favored Deities:
Humans claiming Azlanti blood often favor Aroden, last scion of Old Azlant. Since
his death a century ago, some have turned to Iomedae or other common gods, but
these are devotions of convenience rather than cultural choices. The death of the Last
Azlanti renewed interest in the forgotten ancient deities of the original Azlanti culture,
but only a few fragments (of an often disturbing nature) have thus far come to light.
Names:
Today, Taldan.s and Chelaxians with Azlanti blood tend to favor the naming conventions
of their current culture, but those wishing to strengthen their connection to past
glories often adopt names discovered in ancient Azlanti manuscripts, wall inscriptions,
or the few scant bits of history and art that survive to the modern day. Azlanti names
usually begin with vowels, and neither males nor females adopt surnames. An Azlanti
must make his one name important enough to last in memory and history.
Male Names:
Alamander, Akorian, Arioch, Erodel,
Ellismus, Iogorian, Illsmus, Ixiolander,
Olhas, Othollo, Ostarian, Ureste, Udhomar
I once saw an Azlanti wizard at
a carnival in Daggermark. I lost
three sailors to a rug merchant in
Okeno whose Azlanti patterns
beguiled the simple-minded into
snares of ancient origin. Even the
ship’s cook calls himself Azlanti
on account of his pale skin and
dark hair. The true Azlanti died
out millennia ago, yet these men I
have known keep their culture and
tradition alive through the ages.
And in this sense, the Azlanti
will live forever.
—Justin Tolbar, Pathfinder
Female Names:
Aswaithe, Amesducias, Aliandara,
Estrude, Emalliandra, Iomestria, Iaome,
Ommarra, Oviento, Udarrin, Ulionestria
The exact nature of Old Azlant’s
culture eludes historians, but certain
elements of the empire’s art continue
to thrive in the modern day. Genuine
Azlanti jewelry commands high prices
in the markets of the Inner Sea, and each
new discovery can trigger new trends
among the high society. The intertwined
patternwork of Old Azlanti artisans lives
on among weavers, stonecarvers, and
tattooists, and the Azlanti high copula
architectural style inspires most of the
monumental structures of Andoran’s
visionary masonic orders.
The ancient Azlanti were a regal,
beautiful folk with handsome features
and an aloof demeanor. Their skin ranged
from olive to pale white, with uniformly
dark hair approaching black. Azlantis
were known for expressive brows and
slightly receded hairlines resulting in a
sort of widow’s peak. Today, humans still
identify these traits as Azlanti, whether or
not the connection is genuine. Only one
physical characteristic—a deep purple color in the eyes—is
seen today as absolute proof of strong Azlanti heritage.
The blood of Old Azlant lives on not just in the sunlit
kingdoms of regal Taldans and Chelaxians who cling to it in

memory of past glories, but also in the darkened depths of the
world, where the inbred survivors of lost Azlanti colonies chart
new histories unrelated to the high ideals of lost centuries.
These forgotten degenerates f led below Golarion’s surface
in the dark days of the Earthfall, and while their extreme
xenophobia and isolation have kept their stock undiluted over
the millennia, relentless incest has reduced them to mutated,
cannibal savages.
The subterranean remnants of timelost Azlanti colonies on
Avistan and Garund retain only the base physical trappings
of humanity, having long ago descended into animalistic
cannibalism. They remember only the barest scraps of their past
glories, and many of their widespread, isolated communities
have lost even the art of language. In certain cases, inbreeding
resulted in terrible mutation. Such creatures are, essentially,
monsters, and make for poor player characters.
Perhaps the truest claimants to the glories of Old Azlant
are the reclusive aquatic humans known in civilized society
as gillmen, the so-called Low Azlanti who have manipulated
the politics of Absalom since the city’s foundation and who
are rumored to have the ear of the ruling council of Andoran.
When the ancient Azlanti rebelled against the aboleth masters
that raised them from barbarism and doomed their continentkingdom
to extinction, countless thousands plunged into the
turbid waters of the Arcadian Ocean. Most drowned, but some
few found succor with their undersea aboleth enemies. For
reasons that remain occluded to this day (but which surely
have nothing to do with compassion), the aboleths rescued a
small fraction of the drowning humans, warping their f lesh
to help them survive in the aboleths’ uncontested undersea
realm. Caught somewhere between merfolk and the humans
from whom they descended, the Low Azlanti emerge from
the depths occasionally to serve the mysterious agenda of
the aboleths, dwelling in a permanent fashion only in a poolladen
embassy in the town of Escadar, off the Isle of Kortos.
The Ancient Azlanti tongue has been lost for centuries,
known to modern scholars only in its fragmentary written
form. Certain Azlanti terms and elements of grammar
survive as the foundation of the Taldane language, known
across Avistan and Garund as Common. Only the mysterious
seafaring elves of the Mordant Spire speak Ancient Azlanti
f luently, barking aristocratic orders to explorers investigating
the ancient ruins they claim as their own.
Much of what is known about the culture of Ancient Azlant
is conjecture based upon artifacts or fragmentary historical
records rescued from ruins more than 10,000 years old.
Modern humans claiming Azlanti descent often attempt
to cloak themselves in the trappings of the fallen empire,
thus attaining some measure of its greatness. Because the
remnants of Old Azlanti art discovered to date often depict
regal robes of crimson or deep green, modern Azlanti tend to
garb themselves in finery of those hues. Likewise, slavery is
known to have existed in the lost empire, so modern Azlantis
Characters: Azlanti
The Legacy of Old Azlant
The enigmatic gillmen are close enough to humans that they
can pass as such (for a time) without fear of detection. Physically,
they resemble their ancient cousins, with the characteristic
expressive brow, pale skin, and dark hair. They almost always
have bright purple eyes, and three slim gills mark each side of
their necks, near the shoulder. The gills allow the Low Azlanti
to breathe underwater as well as on land, and instantly mark
them as outsiders among those who know where to look.
To date, all known gillmen serve the unfathomable schemes
of the reclusive aboleths, but the control seems more akin to
the effects of a geas or dominate person spell. Unless the gillmen
go against the orders of their aboleth masters (which are often
unknown to them, masked in the form of hidden memories
triggered by key events), they are free to act as they wish. In
a campaign, these orders are wholly up to the GM, meaning
the player of a gillman character cedes some elements of selfcontrol
when it best serves the story of the campaign.
A gillman PC is a human character in all ways save that he
loses the normal bonus feat entitled to a human at 1st level as
well as the normal bonus skill points at all levels. Instead, the
PC gains the following abilities:
Amphibious (Ex): Gillmen can breathe both air and water.
Sleek Swimmer (Ex): Gillmen gain a Swim speed of 30.
Water Dependent (Ex): A gillman’s body requires constant
submersion in fresh or salt water. Any gillman who spends
more than a full day without fully submerging himself in
water risks internal organ failure, painful cracking of the skin,
and death within 4d6 hours.
Skills: A gillman has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check
to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. He can
always chose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted
or endangered. He can use the run action while swimming,
provided he swims in a straight line.
see the ownership of a servant class as part of their ancient
birthright. Such attitudes are not popular in abolitionist
Andoran, which fashions itself after Old Azlant in architecture
and many elements of philosophy. Here, as elsewhere, those
with the strongest claims of Azlanti blood are often members
of the old guard, more interested in tradition and honor than
in blazing new trails or embracing modern ideas.
Elves tend to distrust humans of Azlanti heritage,
remembering the battles of ancient days before the fall of the
Starstone, when the aboleth-backed scions of Azlant toppled
the great cities of the elvenfolk and forced the race to abandon
Golarion through interplanetary gates. Despite the passage of
10 millennia, the elves have not forgotten the transgressions
of the past. Many, especially among the mysterious seafaring
elves of the Mordant Spire, still hold a potent grudge. For their
part, Azlanti humans tend to look down on nonhumans even
more than they do their less genetically gifted human cousins.
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