Pathfinder Chronicles - Gazetteer - Asamnet

Pathfinder Chronicles
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however, the outside world came crashing in with the
arrival of Choral the Conqueror.
A rowdy, terrifying warlord with uncertain ties to the
folklore of the region’s original Iobarian inhabitants,
Choral arrived astride a black unicorn on the shores of
Needle Lake with a few ragged mercenaries and barely 300
mounted knights, announcing the foundation of a new
nation called Brevoy. By Choral’s decree, all the lands from
Restov to Port Ice would follow his commands.
Nearly everyone in Rostland and Issia ignored the
proclamation, of course, but within a few months tax
collectors from Choral’s settlement at New Stetven
appeared among the farmers of western Rostland, forcing
the swordlord Estruan Aldori to dispatch an army to deal
with the upstart. Choral’s forces lured the Aldori legion
into the river canyon south of New Stetven, where Choral
unleashed his hidden allies. Two enormous red dragons
appeared atop the canyon, bathing the entire valley f loor
in a deadly fire that left few survivors. History records the
resulting battle as the Valley of Flame, and somber songs
recounting the defeat remain a popular part of the folk
culture of the River Kingdoms, Brevoy, and Mendev. After
destroying the army, the dragons proceeded to Rostland
proper, where they initiated a brutal campaign of fire
and blood that reduced a once-proud nation to ashes.
Within a handful of days, the Aldoris had no choice but
to surrender.
When word of Rostland’s fall reached the Surtova lords
in Port Ice, the river pirates immediately surrendered to
Choral and his “dynasty” of hirdsmen and sycophants,
who proclaimed themselves part of “House Rogarvia,”
a new aristocracy superior to the lands’ former rulers.
Choral’s dragons withdrew from the campaign, appearing
in later years only to seize the fortress of Skywatch, an old
observatory in the Uvall Hills, from a handful of Aldori
loyalists. Choral himself vanished only a decade after his
mysterious appearance, leaving his Rogarvian heirs three
centuries to rule a populace terrified of the return of the
Conqueror and his legendary red wyrms.
The Rogarvians rigorously enforced law and order,
relentlessly taxing the people of Brevoy to establish a series
of roads connecting Choral’s nation to the River Kingdoms
of the south and the tradeways of central Avistan. New
Stetven f lourished, even if most of the benefit went to
its brutish rulers. The country of Brevoy, if not all of its
people, prospered.
Then, in 4699, 300 years after Choral’s proclamation
of rule, the nation underwent another sudden, dramatic
change. Every member of House Rogarvia present within
Brevoy’s borders simply vanished on the same winter
day. Turmoil ensnared Brevoy until Noleski Surtova, the
wily old descendant of Issia’s pirate kings and the ruler
of Port Ice, seized power and proclaimed himself King of
Brevoy. The event didn’t go over well with the remaining
Aldori partisans in the region, but intermarriage between
the Surtovas and the Aldoris and worry of a Rogarvian
return stayed their hand. An uneasy truce between the two
ancient rivals holds to this day, but tensions continue to
build, and old Aldori blades bear new polish for the first
time in centuries. Something is about to break in Brevoy.
Meanwhile, the old fortress of Skywatch, long a bastion
of Rogarvian power, mysteriously cut itself off from the
rest of Brevoy on the same day the nobles disappeared,
refusing to allow anyone, even supply caravans, into or out
of the settlement. So far, no message sent to Skywatch has
received a reply, and divination magic cannot penetrate its
ancient walls.
Cheliax
DIABOLICAL EMPIRE IN DECLINE
Alignment: LE
Capital: Egorian (82,100)
Notable Settlements: Brastlewark (3,500 gnomes),
Corentyn (13,400), Kintargo (11,900), Ostenso (14,200),
Pezzack (4,800), Senara (5,200), Westcrown (114,700)
Ruler: Her Infernal Majestrix, Queen Abrogail II of the
Thrice-Damned House of Thrune
Government: Imperial bureaucracy headed by inf luential
noble families (such as Thrune and Elliendo)
Languages: Common, Infernal
Religion: Diabolism, Erastil, Iomedae, Aroden, Zon-Kuthon
When the great god Aroden died, a part of mighty Cheliax
died with him. For centuries, the orthodox clergy of
humanity’s greatest deity prepared for the advent of a
1,000-year reign in which the Last Azlant would once
again manifest on Golarion and lead his chosen people to
victories that would rival the ancient triumphs of the Age
of Destiny. Instead, disastrous storms wracked the whole
planet for 3 weeks, shaking the faith of the people of Cheliax
and casting its government into chaos. When the rain and
wind finally relented, the ruling family of Cheliax stood
bereft of its centuries-spanning mandate from heaven, and
the kingdom fell to infighting and civil war.
After three decades of anarchy, an alliance of diabolic
spellcasters wrested control of the bloody capital at
Westcrown from brigands and installed the greatest of
their number as Abrogail I, infernal Majestrix of Cheliax.
Abrogail’s armies, often with the support of carefully bound
devils from the depths of the Nine Hells, soon quelled
dissent in the empire’s heartland, gaining the new regime
a measure of respect and legitimacy. Few among the godsfearing
citizens of Cheliax approved of their fearsome
methods, but wherever the diabolists installed themselves,
the opportunistic savagery of the last generation soon
ceased, and a dark peace embraced the kingdom.