Pathfinder Chronicles - Gazetteer - Asamnet

most compelling records to the Grand Lodge in Absalom for
consideration by the Decemvirate. Periodically, the masked
leaders of the society collect and publish the greatest exploits
into new volumes of the Pathfinder Chronicles, which they send
back to their venture-captains in bulk for distribution to field
agents. Whenever a new volume of the Pathfinder Chronicles hits
the field, dozens of adventurers f lock to the sites described
therein for further exploration and adventure.
Although they belong to the same society, individual
groups of Pathfinder agents often find themselves at crosspurposes
in the field, particularly if each team reports to a
different venture-captain. Competition between Pathfinders
rarely results in outright battle, but certain agents aren’t
above collapsing passages, triggering ancient traps, or selling
out their rivals to hostile natives—all in the name of friendly
competition, of course.
Player characters in a Pathfinder Chronicles campaign
need not be members of the Pathfinder Society in order for the
organization to play a critical role in their adventuring lives.
Although the volumes of the Pathfinder Chronicles themselves
are intended only for the eyes of Pathfinder agents, there are
unaffiliated adventurers, crooked scholars, and ambitious
antiquarians who track down stray volumes and use them as
maps to adventure. Even the oldest volumes, whose subjects
have been plundered again and again, often contain hints
leading to undiscovered treasure. Beyond the books, the PCs
might also encounter a rival Pathfinder group in the field,
setting up the society as lifelong antagonists or allies.
The inner Sea and The age of
LoST omenS
The Pathfinder Society bases itself in Absalom on the
Inner Sea. To the north is the continent of Avistan, seat of
once-mighty empires like Cheliax and Taldor, and site of
the ruins of Lost Thassilon in Varisia. South, across the
wide waterway of the Inner Sea, lie the secrets of Garund,
a sprawling continent of arid deserts and fecund jungles,
where the mighty pharaohs of Osirion emerged from the Age
of Darkness to chart a new destiny for humanity.
The crumbling remnants of countless lost civilizations
abound upon Avistan and Garund, drawing explorers and
adventurers from all corners of Golarion. Some of these
nations fell in the cloudy days of prehistory, like the lost
continent of Azlant and the mysterious terraced pyramids
of the Mwangi Expanse. Others collapsed in recent memory,
as occurred in the so-called Sodden Lands along the edge of
the Eye of Abendego, a permanent hurricane off Garund’s
western coast.
The Eye appeared a century ago, at the birth of the current
era of mankind’s history, the Age of Lost Omens. Until
a century ago, the destiny of humanity was guided by an
ascended mortal known as Aroden, the last survivor of Old
Azlant, first of the great human kingdoms of antiquity.
Gazetteer: Introduction
In the early days of recorded history, Aroden walked
Golarion among his people. When Azlant sunk beneath
the sea, a victim of its own pride and arrogance, Aroden
ventured to Avistan. There he raised the Starstone from the
depths of the Inner Sea, helped to found both Taldor and
Absalom, and protected his people from the depredations
of horrific villains such as the wizard-king Tar-Baphon and
the nigh-unstoppable Spawn of Rovagug. Then, thousands
of years ago, Aroden departed Golarion, vowing to return
on the eve of mankind’s greatest triumph.
The Last Azlanti’s powerful church in the empire of Cheliax
traced this prophecy to a specific day just over a century
ago. With great ceremony and circumstance, thousands of
clerics of Aroden and the Chelaxian nobility who supported
them gathered in a vast ceremony at the Chelish capital of
Westcrown, eager to see their deific master manifest in the
f lesh to usher in a new age of triumph.
Instead, terrible storms darkened Golarion’s skies, and
the assembled clerics lost all connection to their god. For
3 weeks, winds and waves ravaged the world, drowning
coastal nations and casting governments into ruin. In the
north, Golarion shifted slightly in the direction of the
infernal Abyss, granting terrible demonic forces control
over a widening region of the world. The Eye of Abendego
remains as the greatest physical aftershock of Aroden’s
apparent death, but the psychological scars upon humanity
will take centuries to fully heal.
Perhaps worse, Aroden’s disappearance shattered one
of the most reliable prophecies humans had ever known,
shaking their faith in the solidity of the future. Since this
tragic event, no significant prophecy has come true in any
way, leading scholars to name the current era the Age of
Lost Omens.
This uncertain world serves as the backdrop for your
Pathfinder Chronicles campaign. It is a world 100 years
from catastrophe, a place of overwhelming danger with an
unknown future.
It is a place in need of adventurers willing to make that
future their own. So polish your swords and armor and
ready your most potent spells.
Your new campaign world awaits!
USing ThiS Book
This book provides a broad overview of the Inner Sea region
of the world of Golarion, the official campaign setting
of Pathfinder and the Pathfinder Chronicles adventures,
sourcebooks, and Adventure Path campaigns published
by Paizo Publishing. It’s a handy resource for players and
game masters looking to f lesh out the world beyond a given
adventure, and it contains hundreds of compelling hooks
leading to even greater adventures. Paizo will fill in some
of these blanks as the years go by, but others are here for you
to explore in your own campaigns.
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