Setting & Campaign Information

The ancient Azlanti were, according to contemporary accounts, a regal and aloof people with noble features and haughty attitudes. They had dark hair, usual black while their skin tone ranged from olive to pale white. They were also known for having prominent brows and high hairlines. One unique feature of the Azlanti was that some of them had purple colored eyes.

The Azlanti are the precursors to all human civilization. The ancient empire of Azlant, from which the Azlanti gain their name, was the first human empire and covered all of the continent that now bears their name. Little is known of the actual Azlant culture as most of it was destroyed when the continent of Azlant sunk in to the ocean as a result of Earthfall. It is known that the survivors of this lost civilization sought refuge along the coast of the newly formed Inner Sea, eventually creating the nation of Taldor. The history of the Azlanti may be lost to time and the Arcadian Ocean but the Azlanti now form a shared history for many of Avistan's current civilizations.

Again due to time and the collapse of Azlant into the Arcadian Ocean little is known of ancient Azlanti culture. What is known is the effect that Azlanti culture has had on modern culture. Both Taldans and Chelaxians aspire to the mysterious Azlant culture both claim to be direct descendants of the ancient Azlanti in both blood and spirit.

Though pureblooded Azlanti have not been seen for thousands of years, the Azlanti race gave rise to numerous offshoots, some more human than others. The most prevalent are by far the Taldan and Chelaxian ethnicities, while the group closest to the original Azlanti phenotype are the aquatic gillmen. Some Azlanti also fled into the Darklands, where their degenerate descendants became the dark folk, morlocks, grimlocks, and mongrelmen.

The Chelaxian people come from the merging of two different people, the ancient Azlanti whose blood, they proudly claim, still runs strongest in modern Chelaxians, and the northern Ulfen. They tend towards dark eyes, dark hair and pale skin. Their pale skin is the main difference between Chelaxians and their Taldan rivals, who also claim descent from the ancient Azlanti. Chelaxians favour rich clothes that allow them to show off their wealth and stature but that rarely become as ludicrous as the fashions of Taldor.

The Chelaxian people once boasted one of the largest empire in modern Golarion. Their empire rose as Taldor's empire waned. They once controlled the lands now known as Andoran, Galt, Molthune, Nirmathas and distant Sargava and Varisia but their influence extended north as far as the Lands of the Linnorm Kings and as far south as the Napsune Mountains in Garund. This empire was shattered by the death of Aroden and the rise of diabolism in Cheliax thanks to House Thrune. The break up of the empire of Cheliax has robbed the Chelaxian people of their shared heritage. Now half a dozen separate nations strive to create their own future some still under the influence of infernal Cheliax others as newly independent nations.

The Chelaxians as a people are often renowned for their more negative traits and are thought of as arrogant, ruthless and ambitious. There are positive traits generally associated with Chelaxians as well, including being organised, intelligent and cultured. Apart from their legendary wrath there is little else that is true of all Chelaxians as they are now split across such varied regions. A Chelaxian living in Andoran has vastly different values to a Chelaxian living in Cheliax or Galt.

The Garundi boast dark skin, sharp cheekbones, broad shoulders and premature bright white hair. They normally favour colorful clothes that are practical and beautiful regardless of how far from Garund they are. Garundi in far off lands try to incorporate traditional clothing into their outfits. Since temperatures can vary so much they tend to dress in layers to make it easier to adapt their clothing as appropriate.

The Garundi people are thought to have originated in the south of Garund and migrated north although no one knows when exactly this migration occurred. It was certainly in some past ancient time as Garundi are responsible for several ancient civilizations including ancient Osirion, Jiskta and the Tekritanin League. Since then their history has been no less illustrious. They are the founders and main inhabitants of nations like Thuvia, Rahadoum and the Grand Duchy of Alkenstar. The Garundi have also migrated throughout southern Avistan. The massed waves of emigration from Garundi have now been over for centuries and now the Garundi people can be found across the face of Avistan.

The Garundi are renowned as a friendly and helpful people whose culture is based around the clan. A clan consists of between fifteen and twenty families. Within the clan there is a complex hierarchy, rarely well understood by those outside of it. There is also a complex hierarchy amongst different clans that inhabit the same area. There are old customs covering how clans treat each other when they meet. Due to the migratory nature of Garundi clans, this is quite a common occurrence. Any clan entering another clan's area are treated as honored guests for the first month of their stay. After that the new clan must either move on or pay heavy tribute to the dominant clan of the community. If the new clan can continue paying this tribute for an entire year then they are accepted into the community at the lowest social level.

Pure blooded Keleshites always have black hair and almond eyes although the tone of almond can vary. They favour lighter clothes to help keep them cool in the desert heat and their clothing also tends to be loose-fitting to help keep the wearer cool. Their clothing is often heavily embroidered as a form of decoration and display of wealth. Similarly both genders often wear a lot of jewellery made of gold or silver. Headdresses, veils, and turbans are all common items of clothing to help keep the stinging sand out of eyes and hair. Many Keleshites who live in the deep desert tattoo black or dark blue beneath their eyes to ward off the sun's harsh glare.

The history of the Keleshite people is the history of Qadira and the lands that stretch beyond into Casamaron itself. While many Keleshites live outside of their homelands in places as diverse as Absalom, Katapesh, Osirion and Nex, Qadira and Casmaron will always be the homeland of the Keleshite people.

Most Keleshites speak Kelish, the language of their homeland. The Keleshites are great lovers of luxury and the palaces of Katheer are renowned for their opulence. One of the favored pastimes of the rich is horse racing with wealthy Keleshites paying thousands of gold pieces for prize horses. The Keleshite civilization owes much to the genies of the desert who they claim taught them much of what they know of magic, agriculture and civilization. Despite the wonders of their homeland, Kelshites posses an insatiable curiousity about the rest of Golarion which drives much of their trade with far away lands.

Keleshite culture has views on gender roles that much of Golarion find odd. Female Keleshites are treated like princess or priceless jewels as it is they who will give birth to the next generation. The line of inheritance also goes through women rather than men. Keleshites claim that this stops the constant male fighting that is so common in many of the kingdoms of Avistan and Garund. The men, on the other hand, have to earn their place through whatever means they excel at. When questioned about this approach, Keleshites point to the long lasting nature of Qadira as proof of how well the system works. Although, in truth, the back-stabbing of the women of Qadira and the lengths to which the men will go to ensure a desirable match are just as ludicrous as the conflicts of the rest of the world.

The appearance of the Kellid people is sculpted by the landscape in which they have to survive. They are generally lean in physique as the land does not produce enough to allow Kellids to get fat. They also normally have very dark hair. Kellids tend to dress in primitive clothing made from leathers, furs and hide. Their exact style of dress tends to change depending on the individual tribe and the local climate. One item of clothing unique to the Kellids is their Zoic fetishes, small charms made out of bundles of twine hair and stone that are often enchanted with powerful druidic magic.

The Kellid people have inhabited the lands of the north for as long as anyone can remember. Despite this their history is not expansive as they do not write their history down. While they remember much of their history through their oral tradition it can be hard to separate history from myth and allegory. One part of Kellid history that is still fresh in the mind of many is the fall of the Kellid kingdom of Sarkoris. This nation was the first country to fall victim to the ever expanding Worldwound. It was according to historical accounts a strange land of witchcraft and painted Barbarians.

Kellid culture like the Kellid people is shaped by its harsh surroundings. It is a primitive culture that focuses on tribes and tribal loyalty. The language of the Kellids, Hallit, is a coarse language with no written form. Most Kellids are distrustful of magic due to being beset by the magical threats of the Worldwound and the witches of Irrisen. Kellids value strength bravery and cunning over the book learning of the weaker southern peoples. Despite this disinterest in education the Kellids are not a stupid people; it is just that their situation allows little room for learning that does not aid in their struggle for survival. The two main gods of the Kellids are Gorum and Desna though many also believe in animism and some Kellids in the Realm of the Mammoth Lords even worship the giant god Minderhal.

The appearance of the Mwangi people mainly depends on which subgroup they belong to. The four main ones are Zenj, Bonuwat, Mauxi and Bekyar. There are certain generalities that are true of all the varied Mwangi. Their skin is always dark, varying from dusky through grey to coal black skin tones. Their hair is always black though it is worn in a variety of styles. Their is no one Mwangi style of clothing as it varies with the tribes and their location.[2]

Though their history varies from tribe to tribe, the Mwangi people share one aspect of their history so old that almost none can remember its actual nature. The Mwangi are descendants of what must have once been a vast empire. Huge ruins of ancient fortresses and temples still dot the forested interior of the Mwangi Expanse. Little is known of whatever this ancient kingdom was and the modern Mwangi do not like to approach these ancient ruins as they feel some strange pull from them. The Bekyar people in particular are know for their fear of these ancient sites. The oldest of these ruins is the city of Mzali where a mummified king of this ancient civilisation has returned to life and now wants to reclaim the lost empire's former glory.

There is not one one united Mwangi culture but rather many. Each sub-culture has its own set of beliefs and traditions. If one thing could be said to unite the various Mwangi cultures it is their preference for inter-linked tribal structures. However, even this is not universal as this practice is not seen as much in the Mauxi people of Thuvia. The four main subgroups are described below.

In addition, opinion is divided as to whether the Caldaru and Lergeni of the Mwangi Expanse are related to one of the other sub-groups, separate sub-groups in their own right or not actually part of the Mwangi peoples at all.

The Zenj are believed to be the most common of the Mwangi, living in hundreds of small tribes in the jungles and savannahs of the Mwangi Expanse. Some of the tribes live in villages alongside the region's many rivers, whilst others are nomadic herders who graze their cattle or goats in the Expanse's grasslands and hills. The jungle tribes tend to be patriarchal, whilst the savannah tribes are matriarchal. The two types are on friendly terms, but tend not to intermarry. They tend to follow an ancient tradition of totemism. Zenj are below average height, with slender, muscular frames and wiry black hair. Their simple clothing is made from animal hides or plant fibers.

The Bonuwat are seafarers, and as such are often the group most encountered by the outside world. The Mwangi found in ports such as Bloodcove or the Shackles tend to be Bonuwat. They are excellent fishermen and sailors. They worship a janiform of Gozreh and Desna which they call Shimye-Magalla. Bonuwat are of average height, with wide mouths and swarthy or dusky skin. Their hair is often straight and they favour colourful, exotic clothing such as vests and baggy pantaloons.

The Mauxi are native to Thuvia and speak Osiriani as well as Polyglot. The ruling caste of Thuvia includes some Mauxi. They are withdrawn and taciturn. Most deny any connection to the other Mwangi, but some of the younger ones do hearken back to their tribal ancestry and copy the dress of other Mwangi groups. Mauxi are tall, with straight hair and ashen skin.

Least known of the four major subgroups, the Bekyar live in southern Garund, from Desolation Cape to Sargava are prominent slave takers and traders. . Bekyar are extremely tall—many of them reaching seven feet in height. Their skin varies in color from dark brown to black and they wear their wiry hair long, often in elaborate coifs.

They are known to be demon worshipers, primarily following Angazhan, Dagon and Zura.

The Shoanti are generally dark-skinned with chiseled features. They often decorate their faces in bright warpaint, and tend to adorn themselves in clothing and jewelry taken from the animals that they share the wilderness with including skins, furs, feathers, horns, bones and teeth. The specifics depend on the particular tribe, and which animals they venerate as totem spirits.

Unlike the true human ethnicities, the Shoanti–who are not technically an ethnicity, given their minimal impact and limited presence in the world as a whole–didn't exist until after the destruction of Thassilon, when they, the combat caste of Thassilon's enslaved populace, ended up having to fend for themselves in the Age of Darkness which followed. This group consisted of equal parts Varisian, Ulfen, and Kellid and their language is a combination of all three as well as the Thassilonian language into one unique tongue called Shoanti, after the people.

For thousands of years the Shoanti lived in relative peace with the Varisians who shared their lands. Their primary conflicts were with the wild beasts of the region, raiding orcs from the east and barbarians from the north, and the harsh landscape itself. When the Chelaxian Empire expanded into southern Varisia through Bloodsworn Vale in 4406 AR, the Shoanti found themselves facing a new enemy: colonizers from the south. The battles between the people of what would become Korvosa and the Shoanti raged for decades, finally ending in 4488, but the bad blood sown between the two peoples has remained even until today.

Despite their common heritage, the seven tribes (or "quahs" in their native tongue) of the Shoanti are quite different from one another in terms of traditions, beliefs, and overall world-views. In most cases, loyalty to one's tribe is paramount in the life of a Shoanti, but what this means is specific to the individual clan.

Lyrune-Quah (The Moon Clan): The Lyrune-Quah are said to be among the best archers of the Shoanti people. Traveling under the bright Storval moon, and hunting by the illumination of the stars in the vast Varisian sky, members of the Moon Clan recognize that a well-aimed arrow is as effective, if not more so, than a whole band of raging brawlers.

Shadde-Quah (The Axe Clan): One of the few Shoanti clans who utilize permanent homes, the sea-cave-dwelling members of the Shadde-Quah are noted divers and fishermen. The Axe Clan plays a vital role in protecting Varisia from seaward invaders from the west, defending their homeland in a way completely different than their land-locked brethren.

Shiikirri-Quah (The Hawk Clan): The Shiikirri-Quah, of all the Shoanti tribes, possesses the strongest animal affinity. Ever learning from the beast with whom they share the land, the Hawk Clan is perhaps the most peaceful of the quahs, and they serve as the emissaries between their people and the Chelaxians in the south.

Shundar-Quah (The Spire Clan): While the Shiikirri are skilled diplomats with outsiders, members of the Shundar-Quah act as go-betweens among the other Shoanti clans. Their primary ambition is to see the Shoanti unified as a single people, despite the differences that separate the seven quahs.

Sklar-Quah (The Sun Clan): By far the most xenophobic of the Shaonti clans, the fierce members of the Sklar-Quah are almost constantly at war. Whether they fend off the orcs from Belkzen or the Chelish invaders of the south, the Sun Clan has learned to use the heat and fire of the Cinderlands as much as a weapon as it is a hardship for themselves.

Skoan-Quah (The Skull Clan): Life among the Skoan-Quah revolves around death. Whether they are fighting against undead, acting as guardians for the deceased among all the clans, or tracking the oral history of the Shoanti people, the enigmatic members of the Skull Clan are an enigma which sometimes troubles even the most understanding of their fellow Shoanti.

Tamiir-Quah (The Wind Clan): Members of the Tamiir-Quah are among the most territorial of the Shoanti people. The Wind Clan makes its home in the mountains of northern Varisia, and may the gods help anyone who threatens these areas.

Taldans are naturally gifted and generally possess a pleasant appearance. Their skin is a natural bronze tone and their hair is normally dark brown and naturally flowing. They gain their natural appearance from their mixed ancestory of ancient Azlanti and Keleshite blood, though between the two they are proudest of their Azlanti heritage. Taldans always cloth themselves in only the latest and most fashionable clothes they can afford. The Taldan style is imitated across the inner sea but few can match the Taldan flair for high fashion. Men normally sport a well trimmed, nicely groomed beard while Taldan women within Taldor wear large, elaborate wigs passed down the generations as family heirlooms.

The history of the Taldans is long and illustrious. Taldor was originally created by refugee Azlanti as a place to easily trade with what is now modern day Qadira. From these beginnings Taldor grew well beyond its current borders. Through exploration and conquest it brought civilisation to much of the Inner Sea and at one time the nations of Andoran, Cheliax, Galt and Lastwall were all under the banner of the empire of Taldor. This is all a distant memory now. Taldor no longer has any holdings or vassal states outside of its borders. Still the Taldan people dwell on their past, as proud and arrogant today as ever they were at Taldor's height.

Taldan culture is obsessed with only one thing—Taldor. Taldan culture is incredibly insular and is only interested in events within Taldor as they view all events outside of Taldor as inherently dull and uninteresting. They have a similar view of anyone who isn't Taldan, seeing them as inescapably provincial and inferior in breeding, education and interest. There is however a reason for this cultural arrogance. As one of the oldest, longest-lasting civilizations in Avistan, Taldor has had millenia to perfect its crafts and artistry, making it a desirable place to learn one's trade.

While composed of many different ethnicities which foreigners find difficult to differentiate between, the people of Tian Xia do have some features in common. First, they are generally smaller in stature than the average Avistani or Garundi human, with men rarely standing above five and a half feet tall, and women rarely rising much taller than five foot. There builds are generally smaller as well, especially members of the Tian-Dan and Tian-Sing ethnicities, who are often viewed as emaciated. Tian people generally have black or very dark brown hair, regardless of ethnicity. Occasionally Tian are born with pure white hair, which is viewed as a sign of greatness. The eye color of the most populous Tian ethnicity, the Tian-Shu, is brown, and so it is the most common eye color amongst the Tian in general. Eye color varies between the different ethnicities of Tian Xia, and the Tian-Min of Minkai boast the widest range of eye colors within the ethnicity.

The history of the Tian culture is the history of an entire continent on the opposite side of the world from the Inner Sea, and as such, not much is known outside their own lands. It is known that the civilization of the most numerous people of Tian Xia, the Tian-Shu, has existed since before the fall of the Starstone, and is reckoned to be seven thousand years old in its current form. Tian Xia has seen the rise and fall of three great empires in recorded history, the most recent empire having collapsed a mere hundred years ago, leading to a revitalization of the various cultures of Tian Xia.

Tian culture is likewise a mystery to most non-Tian. It is known that they value genealogy, and most noble Tian are able to trace their ancestors back at least a few dozen generations. One Tian-Shu king even claims to be able to trace his lineage back eleven thousand years. The Tian gained their knowledge of genealogy from the dragons, who are known to obsess over their lineage. Tea culture is another unique facet of Tian life, as the Tian take their tea very seriously. Tea is prevalent in all walks of life and all levels of society in Tian Xia, and it is more popular than alcohol in much of the continent. It rose to prevalence around four thousand years ago, when it was first drunk in the royal courts.

The Ulfen normally boast physiques larger than the average human with men normally standing no less than six feet. Ulfen have pale skin and their hair is usually either blonde, straw brown, or red and is normally braided by both men and women, although women's braids tend to be more elaborate. Their clothing is tailored for their cold enviroment, with fur being a commonly used material. They decorate their clothes with jewelry made out of horn or ivory and bronze and silver.

The Ulfen people have been renowned for their abilities as raiders. Many people living along the western coast of Avistan boast a little Ulfen blood in them. This spirit is far from gone. In recent years (4704 AR) the Ulfen Linnorm king, White Estrid, even managed to smash through a Cheliaxian blockade at the Arch of Aroden to sail victorious into the harbour of Absalom, displaying the daring Ulfen spirit.

There was a time when all the Ulfen people were part of the same nation, the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. Fourteen hundred years ago, the Lands of the Linnorm Kings stretched from the west coast of Avistan all the way to the borders of the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. Within this land lived all the Ulfen people until the coming of Baba Yaga. In 3313 AR, in less than a month her hoard of blue-skinned trolls and cold Fey split the Ulfen people between the free Ulfen of the Land of Linnorm Kingdoms and those enslaved within the new kingdom of Irrisen.

Ulfen culture puts a high value on appearance despite the Ulfen reputation for savagery. The Ulfen of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings are sailors, traders, and occasionally raiders whereas the Ulfen of Irrisen are more raiders. The role an Ulfen is expected to fill depends on his or her gender, though the majority of Ulfen are farmers and labourers. Male Ulfen are most likely to become rangers or priests of deities like Torag, Erastil, or Gorum. Most have a sense of adventure as the frozen lands of the North do not generally foster the timid. Women are often druids or priestesses of Desna or Torag. A small number of women also become Wind Sisters, Ulfen maidens who have tamed an aerial mount use it to fly from isolated settlement to isolated settlement. They also form the first line of defence against aerial threats.

The dark-skinned Varisians enjoy brightly colored clothing and jewelry, preferring gems over coins. Their vibrant natures are matched by their outgoing personalities, which in turn is matched by their comely looks. Varisians favor scarves of all sizes and colors, but some hold special significance. Most notable is the family scarf, or kapenia. Children receive their kapenia upon maturity; to own one is to be an adult. These long, heavy scarves display elegant and complicated embroidery that is incomprehensible to most outsiders. To Varisians, though, the scarves show their family trees. By tracing the loops and whorls of a scarf, a Varisian can trace a person’s history back through her mother and father, her siblings, grandparents and great-grandparents, as far back as the family possesses knowledge.

Varisians had a homeland once, but they fled in the wake of a terrible cataclysm. Where that cursed land was,
and what cataclysm prompted their exodus, remains to be seen. A handful of prophecies suggest that the Varisians wait
for a sign that the time has come to return to their home—suggest as well that the sign will come in the form of a hero, possibly an angel, sent by Desna herself. Though they are now largely nomadic, the Varisians believe that they once came from a land devastated by some sort of great tragedy. Many Varisians cling to the belief that their people will one day be led to a new land, one perhaps divinely appointed.

Tales about Varisians circulate endlessly. To ordinary folk, the colorful travelers who never settle but flit about like butterflies over the land seem fascinating, but also just a little frightening. A traveler can sit down in any tavern in Golarion and overhear a story about the Varisians—how they never build towns or sow crops, how they live in the wagons that carry them over the land, how they sing and dance for money, how they dress in bright colors and cover their bodies with jewelry and intricate tattoos, and how a Varisian once robbed someone’s uncle’s wife’s brother’s best friend in an elaborate scam.

Although Vudrani are among the most accepting of all humans in regards to skin-tone variations, they do prefer those with a natural coloration the fairskinned Avastani might call “tanned.” Whenever possible, Vudrani don luxurious garments of the finest cloth, favoring loose-fitting garb appropriate to the warm clime of their homeland. Vudrani women tend to wear brightly colored saris and wrap their heads in beautiful scarves. Gold jewelry, including piercings of the ears, nose, and eyebrows, are common. Married women of all castes adorn the center of their foreheads with dots of colorful pigments (usually red), and unmarried women of wealthy families frequently attach small jewels or other decorations to the same location using gum resins. Vudrani men adorn themselves with knee-length kilts or loose pants tied with silk at the waist and ankles, as well as simple shirts tied closed in the front. Men not of the powerful bhuridhana or rajah castes rarely wear any decorative jewelry, while men of those high castes festoon themselves with golden baubles and massive jewels.

The Vudrani come from distant Vudra, an immense and powerful empire made up of several nations collectively known as the Impossible Kingdoms. The aff luence and stability of the Impossible Kingdoms support a large population. Despite its aff luence, though, the Vudrani people do not content themselves with sitting idly by. Exploration—for the purposes of trade, conquest, or pure curiosity—has put the people of Vudra on nearly every continent of the world. Vudrani merchants are known as trustworthy and fair business partners and purveyors of exotic wares.

Vudrani culture remains stable thanks to the people’s strong belief in the role of birth, which in turn draws itself from religious texts that def ine human existence in a series of castes. According to Vudrani beliefs, a person’s caste depends on the actions of her previous lives. Someone of a low caste only recently earned the right to be born as a human, while those of the highest castes are celebrated as examples of what good deeds over multiple lives can do for a soul. The ultimate goal of all this rebirthing is to serve the gods as an Anucara (“follower”) in Nirvana.

Within the Inner Sea region, Vudrani tend to keep to themselves on their island colony of Jalmeray, although brisk trade with Katapesh, Quantium, and Absalom sees them frequently visiting those important ports. Agents of the Isle of Jalmeray often go on diplomatic missions throughout the region, but they are trusted in few courts outside Absalom. Most Vudrani encountered in the Inner Sea region belong to the padaprajna, kezavazresthin, or atanapratta castes, giving the people of Avistan the impression that all Vudrani are warriors, merchants, or explorers.

On average, dwarves stand about a foot shorter than humans, and tend to be stockier than even the burliest halforcs. They weigh about 100 pounds more than they appear (due to their strong skeletons and tightly packed musculature). Most dwarves wear their hair long, and male dwarves pride themselves on the length and condition of their beards. Traditionalists festoon their beards with elaborate braids, small battle trophies, or beads commemorating important events in their lives. Shaving a dwarf ’s beard is a terrible insult to the dwarf, his ancestors, and their gods.

Dwarven dress, as with all physical objects dwarves craft, favors function over form, but is never plain. Decorations serve practical purposes, such as fasteners, padding, reinforcements of seams, or the integration of pockets and tool-holding loops. The clothing of wealthy dwarves and those whose toils require a minimum of demanding physical labors (such as gemcutters and jewelry crafters) stretch the definition of functionality with some of their clothing, but even their fanciest outfits bear numerous pockets, loops, and attachment points—frequently made of gold, silver, or other soft but beautiful metals.

Dwarven history begins deep below the earth, where the first dwarves mined and smithed under the watchful eye of Torag, the Father of Creation. In the late centuries of the Age of Darkness, following the dictum of a series of ancient mandates handed down from a prophet of Torag, a relentless subterranean migration of dwarves called the Quest for Sky scattered hordes of orcs and goblins in a series of genocidal wars. After several unsuccessful centuries of toiling ever upward to reach the surface in an era marked by increasing war, the dwarves lost sight of their goals and splintered into numerous factions. These factions expended much of their energy battling one another and their orcish foes and spent little effort on the Quest for Sky.

After nearly 2 decades of these civil wars, the great general Taargick reunited the dwarves with the skilled combination of diplomacy, plain speaking, and judicious use of military subjugation. Taargick declared himself king of the dwarves and named his kingdom Tar Taargadth. Under Taargick’s leadership, the dwarves completed their push to the surface and established themselves as custodians of civilization across Golarion with the founding of the Sky Citadels.

The 10 glorious Sky Citadels of the ancient dwarves still stand today, some in ruins, others inhabited all too brief ly by their tragic architects. When the dwarves emerged upon Golarion they encountered numerous horrors of the Darklands they had driven before them. Tar Taargadth battled its ancient foes for millennia, waxing and waning in power and inf luence as the centuries passed. Even as dwarven power f luctuated, so too did the relative strength of the orcs and goblinoids. Unfortunately for the dwarves, at a point of ebb in their strength, orcish power surged, leading to a vicious assault on dwarven holdings. Under the overwhelming attack, the centralized government of Tar Taargadth collapsed, isolating the individual Sky Citadels and lesser cities across the world.

Most strongholds survived the savage onslaught, notably Janderhoff in isolated Varisia and Highhelm along the southern coast of Lake Encarthan. The lairds of defeated citadels f led to Highhelm in their shame, establishing the region around the mountains as the seat of the Gathering Council, the governing body of far-f lung dwarf kind that convenes every 2 centuries. Over the millennia these conferences have grown more contentious and distrustful, with dwarves aligned to the ancient kingdoms both living and dead feeling increasingly ill at ease with one another.

The deposed monarchs of the fallen Sky Citadels established their rag-tag clans in the craggy fastness of what became known as the Five Kings Mountains. War, both among themselves and against the still-extant orcs hounding their borders, edged the dwarves toward decadence and defeat. After nearly 800 years of inf ighting, though, the Kalistocracy of Druma negotiated a hard-bargained peace among the dwarves with the Kerse Accord.

Despite the constant warring, dwarves look back on the era of the Five Kingdoms as the high point of dwarven civilization. In the millennium the Five Kingdoms flourished, dwarven engineering, art, and mining advanced or evolved more than in any other era of equal time. In the lifetimes of the original five kings, the dwarves carved into five peaks the images of their founders, the least of which stands more than 250 feet tall.

Dwarven perspective tends to change with the climate. The rosy-cheeked warrior-skalds of Kalsgard in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings and the squat, hairless contemplatives of Osirion’s Ouat caste might share a common ancestral
blood, but their cultures are strikingly different. In this era of human and gnome and even elven cultural inf luence, what it means to be a dwarf remains more f luid than ever before, and the whitebeards of the oldest dwarven halls fear this disparity as a sign for what it is—the impending extinction of dwarf society.

Yet some aspects of dwarven culture show little sign of changing. Smithing, f ighting, and stronghold-building have always been major parts of dwarven society, ever since Torag first breathed life into the earliest dwarves. The Creator God’s inf luence on dwarven culture guides and drives all of dwarf society, and most dwarves believe that, should they ever slacken their efforts, Torag will abandon them.

Elves are slighter and taller than humans. They have long, pointed ears and eyes dominated by pupils so large as to fill most of the eye. Most elves keep to wild natural places, where over time they take on aspects of their environment. They live in harmony with local life cycles; knowing and using local plants as food, medicine, dyes, and aids in magic; and typically wear garments that blend with local flora.

In cultured lands, elves bedeck themselves in the finest clothing, always aware of the latest fashions. Elven style values aesthetics from the simple to the bewilderingly complex, favoring free-flowing hair and unencumbered movement. Elven garments tend to be soft to the touch and of a single hue or subtly blended colors. Elves tend to avoid bright red, orange, and yellow shades in their clothing, hair dyes, and furnishings. The seldom-seen (by races other than elves) high elven nobility of Sovyrian are known for their unearthly grace of movement, and their raiment of otherworldly beauty.

Elven society peaked thousands of years before the rise of humankind, and elves clashed constantly with humans as the latter clawed their way toward civilization. Despite superior skill at arms and in magic, the elves could not prevail against the endless tides of savage human warriors.

Never a fecund race, the outnumbered elves knew they must ultimately surrender the world to their barbaric cousins. As their numbers dwindled, the wisest elves turned their attention to a series of interplanetary gates created in antiquity to explore the many worlds of Golarion’s star. On the eve of the Earthfall, most elves abandoned Golarion to its sad fate, departing through the gates to the mysterious haven of Sovyrian, the legendary homeland of the elves.

Thousands of elves returned to Golarion from Sovyrian in the middle of the Age of Enthronement, causing great tumult throughout Avistan. These elves resettled many of their old holdings, taking up arms against human warlords who refused their ancient claims of sovereignty. Beneath the great elven city of Celwynvian, in Varisia’s Meiriani Forest, the elves came upon the descendants of those who had stayed behind.

Unsure of the true nature and powers of these vicious drow and facing mounting losses in battle against them, the harried elves collapsed the tunnels below Celwynvian and abandoned the haunted capital. The elves crossed Avistan in a great procession to the ancient elven kingdom of Kyonin, on the far shore of Lake Encarthan. A few elves journeyed elsewhere, traveling west along the island chains of Varisia to raise the Mordant Spire on the edge of the known world.

The elves then became an ephemeral presence in Golarion, dwelling in secluded forest kingdoms or isolated island homes. Families of elves tentatively emerged from these strongholds to dwell more openly. Elves now thrive in many places they once lived, whether or not the current rulers of those lands accept their timelost sovereignty.

Most elves become intensely uncomfortable when in close contact with stone and lifeless things, and feel more at ease when surrounded by the growing world. Many dwell in tree homes, in “bowers” walled and roofed in interwoven living plants (often on the banks of tiny brooks or around the rising of a trickling spring). Many city-dwelling elves introduce strong-scented living plants (notably those useful as herbs and medicines) and bowls of rainwater into their living quarters. Many elf beds—and almost all places where injured or sick elves go to sleep—are of moss-covered earth.

Elves might appear carefree to others, and they do love to laugh, play pranks, try things on a whim, and upon occasion recklessly disregard dangers or consequences. It is a mistake, however, to view elves as thoughtless or uncaring. Most elves make friends easily, value them highly (but see it as wrong to try to lecture, guide, or steer their lives, decisions, and deeds), and both love and indulge in lust (tenderly, but apart from love) with elves and non-elves.

Elves consider themselves failures if they do wrong to friends (although their non-guiding natures might well be seen as “fair weather” friendship or even disloyal by nonelves) or if they act without honor. Honor, to elves, is keeping one’s word (which is why many elves speak glibly but avoid clear, specific promises), providing for the best outcomes for family and kin, keeping all bargains, and—after all of these paramount bindings—following guidance from the gods.

At about 3 feet in height, gnomes are slighter and taller than half lings. Their ears are humanlike, but their highly mutable facial muscles allow for disturbing grins and their oversized eyes emphasize their often disproportionate expressions of emotion. With skin, hair, and eyes of varying, often vibrant colors, gnomes look the most alien and out of place of all of Golarion’s common races.

Despite generations of visionary gnomish research, the exact nature of the dire affliction known as the Bleaching remains a mystery. The race’s scholars believe it is tied to the events of the exodus and insist that the mortal world lacks the animus to nourish a gnome’s sophisticated spirit.

The Bleaching manifests itself as a blanching of skin, hair, and eye color during early adulthood. From there on, the complexion
of the gnomish body is tied to the experiences she alights upon. The more shocking and vivid a gnome’s life, the more vivid she herself becomes and the longer she lives. In contrast, a lack of excitement causes a fading of color and is accompanied by depression and the dulling of curiosity, heralding the beginning of a vicious spiral that leads to insanity and death.

Once an ancient and immortal race of fey, the wily gnomes of present Golarion are transmuted and displaced. They still cling to the era of agelessness they left behind as they emerged from Golarion’s progenitor, the First World, and stepped into the alien and hostile reality of the Material Plane. The f irst records of otherworldly gnome trailblazers scouting the land date back to the Age of Anguish, but to this day, the reason for the race’s exodus remains a mystery. While the stocky, wrinkled talespinners of the oldest gnome enclaves claim that their unmatched curiosity drove them to exploration, the eldest dragons and reclusive aboleths speak of a devastating catastrophe wrecking the gnome’s fey realm in a ref lection of the destruction brought upon Golarion by the Starstone. Some sages even suspect that the race f led its homeland solely to wash suspicion from its mischievous hands.

The shadowy First World was a place of wonders for the gnomes. Ageless life and never-ending pranks were sources of continuous delight. Uprooted from this ancestral home, the race never cured the spiritual wound the separation caused, resulting in an affiction known as the Bleaching. When born, a young gnome’s skin, hair, and eyes are vibrant in color and remain that way during his first years. From adulthood on, these features are subject to radical change depending on the individual’s experiences. Gnomes who exist in an unchanging environment see their colors pale and their sanity wither, while those with a knack for the new remain lively and vibrant.

During the gnomes’ first, mad dash into the new world, the strain of the Bleaching and the loss of their once innate ability to manipulate shadows and space allowed Golarion’s dangerous denizens to take countless gnomish lives. Had it not been for the retention of their cleverness and nonlinear genius throughout this attempt at frenetic exploration, the gnomes would have been destroyed in the era of their diaspora. Most who survived did so by forming enclaves, where gnomes uncharacteristically banded together for mutual protection. Sages tell that some embraced the maddening touch of the Bleaching and used it to warp their minds and bodies into dangerous forms capable of defending themselves. The descendents of these curmudgeonly misanthropes are called Lonely Ones by the gnomes, while humanity refers to them as spriggans.

Today, gnomes are most common in the hills and forests of Avistan, where they built their first enclaves and managed
to find some measure of peaceful coexistence with the natives. The largest of the gnome cities is Brastlewark, the legendary capital of the Gnome King within the borders of Cheliax, most lawful and stable of all gnomish settlements. Other important settlements include the elusive Shay Citadels of Irrere near Holgrim, the welcoming and boisterous community of Thom in the River Kingdoms, as well as Katapesh in Katapesh and Quantium in Nex. Additionally, gnomes occupied important positions in the courts of Ancient Osirian pharaohs, and earlier editions of the Pathfinder Chronicles contain hints of a debased spriggan society inhabiting a monolithic stone city in the Mwangi Expanse. Beyond the enclaves, many gnomes constantly roam the land in search for new borders, physical and mental, to explore.

Furthermore, gnomes tend toward eccentric pursuits and are attracted to objects that help to “anchor” them to Golarion and delay the Bleaching. Besides collecting stories and friends, they favor mechanical gadgets, riddles, flamboyant
outfits, nicknames, perfumes, and other complex and distinct items and mannerisms. Sometimes these affectations turn into an obsession with weird and useless items like rusty blades, spoons, knots, and other hodgepodge.

Throughout their lives, most gnomes have many intimate relationships, but they rarely engage in long-lasting ties. Lifetime bonding or marriage is extremely rare. Usually, a gnome family is loosely organized (if organized at all) and the vigorous children are taught the ways of life by the community until they are grown enough to learn from their own experiences.

Unsurprisingly, the gnome language is a motley conglomeration of words from other languages. Conveying their ideas through voice was a novel concept the race started to pick up upon their arrival. Immediately, they took sounds and words they fancied and assigned random meaning to them to forge a language of their own. The result might be the most irritating language to learn, and someone overhearing a conversation in Gnome is likely addled by the strange use of familiar words.

Halflings stand just shorter than gnomes but make up for what they lack in stature and strength with bravery, optimism, and skill. The bottoms of their feet are naturally covered in tough calluses and the tops often sport tufts of warming hair, allowing for barefoot travel. Most have almond skin and brown hair with hues that tend to darken ncloser to the Inner Sea.

Forever living in the shadows of their taller kith and kin, halflings dress in whatever styles suit the human culture in which they dwell. Half ling slaves tend to dress slightly better than their free cousins, especially in Cheliax, as their owners tend to use the half lings as status symbols.

Halflings themselves take nothing for granted, and always keep their eyes open for the next opportunity to survive and even thrive. This impulse often casts them as servants, with half lings attaching themselves to human families or institutions as a matter of symbiotic survival. In devil-tainted Cheliax, such servitude often comes in the form of slavery. Here, halflings are known as “slips,” and Chelaxians treat them with scorn and contempt.

Halfling slaves are less effective than humans but last longer, maintaining an unparalleled optimism and willingness to endure. They rarely revolt, seldom struggle overmuch, and get along with the master’s children. Only their physical weakness keeps halfling slave costs reasonable, but even then they exceed nearly every other race in value.

Despite their close involvement in many facets of human society, halflings have a tendency to be ignored and underestimated. Their ability to blend into the background, be it at a social gathering or into the comforting shadows of a dark alley, is unparalleled. They know when to bend with the wind, but when they have the chance to seize a grand pile of gold or fame they never let the opportunity pass by. Often blamed for putting themselves into danger, the small folk simply cannot resist the temptation of a new adventure, a daring heist, or the lure of the unknown.

Fortunately, their superior sense for danger allows them to survive these hazards and has granted them the reputation of being exceptionally lucky. It is no surprise that superstitions revolving around luck and fate have become common among half ling-harboring lands, and some cultures even assign mystical value to the small folk. Rich Katapeshi traders hire half ling servants almost exclusively in an attempt to benefit from their luck (and their aptness at illicit trade), and many children’s tales feature exceptionally lucky half ling heroes.

Being lucky is second nature to nearly all halflings, andwhile many demystify their successes with tales of superior reflexes, unmatched skill, or inscrutable cunning, a few halflings stand out by an unmistakable lack of luck. Instead, these individuals seem to bring mischief and bad luck to adversaries, and as a result they are avoided or even feared, especially among cultures heartily embracing superstitions. Halflings themselves believe this occurrence to be a rare blessing of Desna, and children bearing this gift are often ushered into the study of magical arts.

Due to these attributes, and in contrast to their stable and altruistic communities, halfling society has a hidden, darker side as meaningful, developed, and important as the face maintained for the unassuming public. Almost all half lings possess a strong opportunistic streak that is most prominent during their younger years. During this time, many stray from the rules of the community and involve themselves in the disdained affairs of thievery, subterfuge, adventuring, and vagabond life. They often join guilds and try their hands at various professions or seek out other halfling settlements so as to mingle with different cultures.

While humans are considered to be the building blocks of Golarion’s society, halflings are the mortar that reinforces these communities by sustaining a common sense of purpose that supercedes the individual’s need.

In most human communities, a small percentage of halflings forms a subpopulation with various interests that seems to be immersed and absorbed, merely dabbling in the community’s affairs. In truth, the halflings benefit from the techniques, approaches, and protection their symbiotic society offers them. In return, they use their positions, interspecies knowledge, and constantly growing inf luence to stabilize society, avert conf lict, and maintain a prosperous balance of power.

Despite their curiosity-driven wanderlust, halflings possess a strong sense of house and home that develops over the years. A halfling takes great pride in his domicile, often spending above his means to add to the common comforts of home life.

Due to their homogenous communities, many halflings refine and differentiate their social lives by joining groups and societies of interest that often serve as open and legal fronts to the infamous shadowguilds. Most of these organizations are intercultural and geared toward older participants, revolving around trade, art, or diplomacy. Despite these economic and peaceful trades, however, a newly founded elitist duelist league continues to quickly expand. The league teaches fast, dexterous fighting styles with undeniable roots in the back alleys. Its techniques possess a certain panache that turnseven the most unassuming halfling into a bladewhirling dervish. This approach appeals to the younger generations, who desperately long for a flirt with danger.

Half-elves stand taller than humans, yet shorter than elves, and have pointed ears. They retain the lean build and comely appearance of the elves, though their ears are less pronounced. Their skin, while fair, takes its color from their human lineage. Their appearance can vary widely, depending on which of their lineages is the dominant. This variance can often lead to social stigmas, as the more human-looking half-elves are more-easily accepted in human society, and vice versa.

Of all the common races, elves and humans have the longest bond. In ancient times, the elves warred against their feral human cousins, eventually abandoning the world to human brutality on the eve of Earthfall. Many elves remained in the isolated parts of the world, and as humans developed society, art, and magic, the elves watched from the shadows. In time, they reached out in friendship to the developed humans, and old enemies became friends—even lovers.

Half-elves have no ancestral homeland and seldom gather in groups composed explicitly of their race. Instead, they usually try to f it within either human or elf society. They generally thrive in human communities, where they frequently become artists, bards, or entertainers. Despite this warm welcome, many half-elves avoid mixing with their human cousins, for foremost among the racial gifts granted to them by their elven progenitors is a long natural life. Half-elves often survive 150 years or more, and must watch as three or more generations of their human friends wither and die before their eyes. The older a half-elf grows, the more likely he is to be overcome by melancholy and nostalgia, speaking wistfully of lost friends from simpler times. Many half-elves avoid this sad fate by seeking succor in full-elven communities, where they are the short-lived ones. Elves look upon their half-human spawn with an equal measure of pride and pity, and the elves’ natural haughtiness and self-centered natures ensure that halfelves are truly outsiders no matter where they dwell.

Half-elves, however, struggle not just with seeking acceptance from others, whether of human or elven blood (or from other races), but also with understanding themselves. Half-elves are often social chameleons, adapting their habits of mind and behavior to the most dominant inf luences around them, either the prevalent culture or even a single charismatic individual. While they are masterful at ingratiating themselves with others on a superficial level, they are able to quiet their inner turmoil merely by aping the styles of others. It is difficult for halfelves to transcend this identity confusion and establish complete and fulf illing identities and destinies all their own, but those rare ones who do can become extraordinary leaders indeed, able to command loyalty and unify disparate groups under their banners.

The physical beauty of half-elves masks a complex and conflicted internal psychology, as the human and elven elements of their psyche do not combine harmoniously. The dilated temporal perspective of their elven lineage leads to languorous predilections at war
with their humanistic verve, adaptability, and precocious impulsivity. This combination of the closed mind of the elves and the open mind of humans places half-elves in a delicate and often brittle mental dynamic. This leads some unfortunate half-elves into depression and even madness.

Half-orcs vary in appearance more than most other races, ranging from more orcish features such as greenish skin and protruding lower tusks to near human with little more to distinguish them as half-orcs than prominent noses, jawlines and brows. Some of the offspring of orcs and human however have dominant human traits making them appear as if they were completely human. Regardless of facial appearance, virtually every half-orc has a stature far larger than that of the average human, and the influence of their orc lineage is almost always visible in their physical size and strength.

Half-orcs have existed in Golarion since the first battles between orcs and humans in the dying days of the Age of
Darkness, when the Quest for Sky of the ancient dwarves pushed the brutal orcs from their subterranean homes to the surface world. In that moment, defeat erupted into victory as the orcs easily subjugated the fearful, sickly humans of the benighted world. Orcs ravaged central and northern Avistan for centuries before the rebellious humans and their dwarven and half ling allies, emboldened by the sun’s return, cast their new masters from their gruesome thrones, shattered their kingdoms, and drove them into the desolate wilderlands. The orcs still claim their “ancestral” lands, vowing to return “with the rising of the dark.”

The deep interior of the Kodar Mountains hides ramshackle cities teeming with orcs, while the Menador range—cleared of orcs in the early days of the Age of Enthronement—once more echoes with savage wardrums. The Hold of Belkzen takes its name from
the greatest of orcish heroes, and its oftsquabbling warbands and tribal armies represent the largest open gathering of orcs and half-orcs on Avistan, locked in endless raiding with Lastwall and Varisia. From Cheliax in the south to the Hold of the Mammoth Lords in the north, the bloody promise of orcish vengeance and slaughter is ever-present, and wherever orcs march hand-in-hand with conflict, half-orcs can be found.

Farther from these strongholds, in the cosmopolitan cities of the Inner Sea and Garund, such orcish terror is of little concern, and half-orcs often enjoy lives relatively free from bigotry and suspicion. Many have settled in Absalom, forming a powerful faction within the church of Norgorber, as well as in the open-minded cities of Nex, where they seek peace and asylum. Others, however, have brought the fell reputation of their orcish heritage to Garund and the southern reaches as pirates, press gangs, and slavers in Katapesh and nearby lands. The most notorious is the Pirate Queen Imesah, who emblazons the yellow sails of her halfdozen galleys with her black ensign of elephant tusks crossed beneath a crowned skull.

Half-orcs often find it difficult to shed their savage natures and adapt to the world of humans. Impatient, impulsive, greedy, prone to violence when frustrated, and often none too bright, half-orcs nevertheless embody the full range of human emotion and imagination. They tend to feel (or at least express) their emotions far more severely than their human half cousins, crying loudly when sad or lonely and laughing boisterously when happy or amused. Those half-orcs who dwell in human societies often voice their moods at the top of their lungs, making it easy to tell just how a half-orc feels at any given moment.

Across the many nations in which they dwell, half-orcs venerate all the common chaotic deities, but most who practice even intermittent worship of a god tend to bend knees to Gorum, Our Lord in Iron. Gorum exemplifies battle, the half-orc’s lot in life, and strength, what many consider to be the half-orc’s greatest blessing. Many half-orcs assume he is one of them and that he remains ever hidden in iron to keep that truth from the weak humans who worship him. This belief continues to spread thanks to the teachings of the orcish warlord-turned-proselytizer named Naellk.

A decade ago, Naellk beheld an icon of the Lord in Iron carried into battle by war-priests of Gorum. Naellk saw himself reflected in the spike-armored warrior with burning red eyes, and in that moment had an epiphany. Born in the cosmic instance when primal orc and ancient human first mingled their blood in the dust of the battlefield, Gorum was no human god at all. Gorum, the Lord in Iron, was the first and perfect half-orc, no dull-witted slave or hideous outcast, but a devious, fierce, and proud warrior from birth. Enraptured, Naellk called upon Gorum for victory and his army shattered the enemy forces arrayed against him. Taking the captured icon as a trophy and a sign of Gorum’s favor, Naellk declared himself the Proclaimer of Gorum. Denounced as a blasphemer and heretic by both human Gorumites and traditional orcish shamans, Naellk’s ideas nonetheless spread throughout Belkzen and across western Avistan.

Since the spread of Naellk’s teachings and subsequent surge in the already widespread worship of Gorum among halforcs, the ways in which half-orcs interact with one another, with orcs, and with humans continue to subtly shift. While those who chose to embrace the savage side of their heritage and live among the orcs were already more predisposed toward leadership than their full-blood relations, given their greater ability to plan ahead and utilize advanced tactics in battle, their perceived value has continued to grow, giving rise to new organizations and increasing the value of female human slaves. In the savage Hold of Belkzen, for example, half-orcs have f locked to the banner of the most famous of their kind, Hundux Half-Man of the Murdered Child. As Hundux’s reputation has grown and spread, halforcs eager to serve under one of their own have traveled from all over Avistan to join his ranks, giving the Murdered Child Clan the highest percentage of half-orcs of any tribe in Belkzen. Despite its members’ relative lack of physical
strength, the Murdered Child’s greater organization allowed it to easily take and hold the valuable Belkzen stronghold of Wyvernsting. With his comparatively well-trained core of warriors, Hundux has little to fear from other tribes in the area, and many whisper that he’s now set his sights on the one chieftain in Belkzen whose power rivals his own: Grask Uldeth of the Empty Hand, ruler of the fallen dwarven Sky Citadel called Urgir. Though half-orcs are still grudgingly welcomed in Urgir for the time being, the tempers of orcs are quick to ignite, and before long Belkzen may find itself embroiled in a full-scale race war.