Pathfinder Chronicles - Gazetteer - Asamnet

Yet bandits and pirates are far from the only perils
that haunt this ancient land. In many areas, Varisia
remains a true wilderness, claimed by deadly predators
and ferocious humanoids none too eager to share their
territories with the advance of humanity. Along the coastal
reaches, hundreds of goblin tribes dwell in sea caves and
thistle-thick woodlands, bickering among themselves
until leaders strong enough to unite several tribes at once
take hold. Further inland, ogres and trolls hold court on
rugged mountaintop and in deep forest glen, yet the true
lords of the wildlands are the giants. Descended from the
slave castes of ancient Thassilon, giants of all types call the
true wilderness reaches of Varisia home, and their periodic
forays and raids against humanity make for constant and
brutal reminders that this realm is far from tame.
Other creatures dwell in the darkest corners of Varisia
as well—monsters in some cases left over from Thassilon’s
rule, tales of whom frighten even the giants of the land.
These include mighty dragons, the cannibal spirits
known as wendigos, sinister and capricious fey, pockets
of scheming lamia-kin, and even sinister explorers
and pilgrims from other worlds whose eldritch corners
brush unwholesome and unwelcome against parts of this
haunted landscape. And against this menacing backdrop
broods an even darker evil, for the ancient lords of the
land are said to exist still, dead but dreaming, awaiting
the time for their return to rule over lands once theirs.
Should these all-but-forgotten runelords rise, Varisia
could be but the first of Golarion’s nations to fall.
Worldwound, The
EVER-SHIFTING DEMONIC WARLAND
Alignment: CE
Capital: None
Notable Settlements: Drezen (unknown), Dyinglight
(unknown), Iz (unknown), Storasta (unknown), Gundrun
(unknown), Undarin (unknown)
Ruler: None
Government: None
Languages: Abyssal, Hallit
Religion: Demon-worship
A century ago, the death of Aroden transformed the culture
and politics of the Inner Sea nations. His death knocked
Golarion out of metaphysical alignment in the direction
of the Abyss, a nightmare realm in the Great Beyond
screaming with wicked souls and vicious demons.
In the north, strangeness first emerged in the barbarian
nation of Sarkoris, a sprawling scrubland north of Numeria
known for its fierce painted warriors and bizarre witchery.
Sarkorian mystics spoke of ascendant chaos, a thinness
between this world and the next. Strange, ravenous
creatures stalked the Northmounds, long a site of mystery
Gazetteer: Nations
and ill-tidings. Soon, utter foulness consumed the entire
region, centered around the Worldwound, a mile-wide
cosmic blight limned in black f lame southwest of the
barbarian city of Iz.
The physical world itself becomes more unpredictable
as it approaches the Worldwound. Terrain changes before
the eyes, shifting form with a torturous deliberation that
seems to cause pain to the earth itself. Foul creatures spew
from the madness at the center of the blight, monstrosities
from the depths of the Abyss. These vile creatures quickly
overran the remains of poor Sarkoris, scattering its people
and spreading the legend of an insidious taint in the
north. Since then, the lands of the Worldwound have been
the exclusive realm of demons and those who serve them.
The upheaval of Aroden’s death brought focus to a vast
library of esoteric writings and minor myths about the
Last Azlant, and much that was once considered fringe
theory or unlikely folk story has come to be regarded
with higher authority. One particular tale of a stillmortal
Aroden relates a journey to the distant north and
a struggle against a foul cult dedicated to the demon
prince Deskari, Lord of the Locust Host and usher of the
Apocalypse. Aroden, it is said, drove the cult of Deskari
into the Lake of Mists and Veils and forever locked the
north from demonic inf luence. When Aroden died, his
protection fell from the land of Sarkoris. Adherents
of Aroden and his servant Iomedae the Inheritor thus
believe it is their responsibility to pacify Sarkoris and
seal the Worldwound.
To this end, the pontiffs of those religions called
the First Mendevian Crusade, as well as the three that
followed. Zealous followers of the Inheritor from
throughout Avistan travel up the Sellen River to Mendev
in an attempt to support the crusaders, but aside from
constructing a tenuous hedge to keep the demons from
spreading further south (for now), little progress has
been made in purging the land of demons, who seem to
grow in number with each passing month.
Nor is the malign, almost sentient chaos of the
Worldwound content to stay within its carefully
proscribed borders. The northern crusader city Drezen
formerly stood within the borders of Mendev, but in
4638 the wardstones protecting it faltered under demonic
assault, and the whole city fell under the inf luence of
the Abyss. Tens of thousands of pilgrims and warriors
drowned in the demonic wave that followed, depleting
the armies of Mendev and necessitating the calling of the
Second Mendevian Crusade.
Today, the warriors of Mendev engage in the noble
Fourth Crusade against the demons of the Worldwound.
Throughout Avistan and the world, men and women of
strong character and boundless ambition look to the
darkness of the north with purpose and determination.
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