Pathfinder Chronicles - Gazetteer - Asamnet

and criminals. Thieves and cutthroats abound here, and
more than one guild of dubious character operates from
the slouching, unsteady buildings of the Puddles.
Surroundings: The landscape surrounding Absalom is
littered with 31 major ruins, the so-called “Siege Castles” that
are all that remain of failed attempts by foreign armies and
power-mad sorcerers to take the city by force. The immense
and weirdly beautiful Spire of Nex is located 10 miles
north of Absalom and remains a popular adventuring spot
thousands of years after it was abandoned by its influential
master. Other Siege Castles include the treacherous El Raja
Key and the Red Redoubt of Karamoss.
Absalom also counts two smaller settlements under
its banner. Diobel, a popular port on the western shores
of Kortos, serves those wishing to bring illicit goods to
Absalom by avoiding its watchful harbormasters. Escadar,
on the small island of Erran just north of Kortos, is home
to a sizable garrison and a f lotilla of war galleys stationed
to patrol the waters north of Kortos and watch for
invaders or pirates.
Andoran
BIRTHPLACE OF FREEDOM
Alignment: NG
Capital: Almas (76,600)
Notable Settlements: Augustana (54,200),
Bellis (4,800), Carpenden (10,600),
Falcon’s Hollow (1,400), Oregent (22,700)
Ruler: His Excellency Codwin I of
Augustana, Supreme Elect of the Free
Peoples of Andoran
Government: Fledgling democracy
Languages: Common
Religion: Abadar, Erastil, Iomedae,
Aroden, Cayden Cailean
In the opening years of the Age of Lost
Omens, the death of the demigod Aroden
threw empires into chaos. Mighty Cheliax,
greatest of human kingdoms, fell to
savage wars of assassination and plunder.
Pretender after pretender sought to seize
the Chelish Throne, and the kingdom’s
outer provinces looked toward the
heartlands with dread. When peace came
to Cheliax, it came at a terrible price. The
meticulous and evil House Thrune held
the empire in its grasp and, with the help
of diabolical servitors bound by magic
and fell contract, this new aristocracy
demanded obedience from the old.
The furthest dependencies of Cheliax
remained isolated from the madness
Gazetteer: Nations
pouring from the new capital of Egorian, and slowly slipped
from Thrune’s talons. Closer to the capital, nobles whose
families had been loyal to Cheliax for centuries faced an
impossible choice. In Andoran, the greatest and most
cosmopolitan of Cheliax’s holdings, the nobles reluctantly
submitted to the rule and whims of the scheming devilmasters,
betraying their nation and igniting a political fire
that burns brighter now with each passing year.
Andoran got its start 3,000 years ago as the westernmost
marchland of Old Taldor, a vast wooded plain populated by a
curious, peaceful folk in awe of their more civilized eastern
neighbors. The seemingly endless timber from the Arthfell
Forest fed a growing shipyard at Augustana, and soon
Andoran became critical to Taldor’s navy and exploration
of the seas beyond the Arch of Aroden. Andorens settled the
disastrous Sun Temple Colony on Azlant, and their ships
were among the first to reach the shores of central Arcadia,
establishing strongholds that serve the nation to this day.
At the behest of the inf luential Chelish King Aspex
the Even-Tongued, Andoran abandoned its ties with
Taldor in 4081. The move came just as the armies of
Qadira—traditional enemies of the empire—crossed
Taldor’s southern border in a brazen invasion.
Vastly weakened and beset by decadence,
Taldor could not fight on two fronts at
once. It ceded Andoran, Cheliax, and a
half-dozen other states without a fight.
For centuries, it seemed Andoran had
made the right choice. Trade thrived
under the kings of Cheliax, and the
merchants of the nation’s towns and
cities grew more and more powerful,
rivaling the hereditary nobles. Orc
raids from the Five King Mountains,
trouble with druids and fey in the country’s
noticeably dwindling forests, harassment
by pirates on the open sea, and native
uprisings disrupting colonial operations
in Arcadia were constant threats, but life
in Andoran remained mostly peaceful and
free from upheaval.
The trouble in Cheliax in the wake of
Aroden’s death threatened that peace.
The nation’s margrave and his relatives
in the ruling class capitulated to the
demands of Cheliax’s new diabolical
queen in the interest of keeping things
peaceful. They judged correctly that
most of their citizens preferred to avoid
the bloodshed that had drowned the
heartlands, but incorrectly assumed
they would trade safety for servitude
to the pawns of the Nine Hells.
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