Taking 20 Podcast - Ep 121 - Lore Series - Earthfall on Golarion

Episode Date: April 17, 2022

Earthfall on Golarion, much like the Cataclysm on Krynn, set the stage for the world that was to come for both good and for ill.  At first glance this appears to be just another massive comet strike but there is so much more going on behind the scenes.   Tune in to learn more about this world-shaping event.   #Pathfinder #Golarion #EarthFall

This week on the Taking20 Podcast. Thanks to the sacrifice of two Aslanti gods, the impact of the meteor was devastating, but not world-ending. For the better part of a thousand years, Galerion existed in what was known as the Age of Darkness, with very little sunlight reaching the planet's surface. But Akavna's and Amaznin's sacrifices were not in vain. Well, I thought this was appropriate. Meteors. What do you call a meteorite that misses the planet? A meteorong. Is this your first time listening? If so, welcome.

Please be prepared for a mix of highbrow research and lowbrow dick jokes. For my longtime regular listeners out there, do you like the podcast? I hope so. It takes quite a bit of work to put together. If you do like it, please consider making a one-time or regular donation to keep it going at ko-fi.com slash taking20podcast. Every dollar donated goes right to cost, such as hosting and audio production. In the Pathfinder canon, Earthfall was when a swarm of meteorites impacted Galarian in the year negative 5293 Eridan Reckoning, which is approximately 10,000 years ago in the

published Adventures and Adventure Paths. The impact of this event cannot be overstated. The surface of the world was forever changed. Multiple empires were destroyed because of it. The technological, economical, and political impacts are still being felt throughout the world. It's still shaping adventure paths that are being released today in Pathfinder 2nd Edition. I'm sure you're familiar with the old joke that when the DM is sick of the adventuring party's shit, they'll just say, okay, rocks fall and everyone dies. Well, imagine that on a planetary scale. That was Earthfall.

Earthfall was the result of an impact of pieces of meteor that hit Galarian and choked out the sun for a thousand years. For reference, the impact that killed the dinosaurs left a crater 124 miles wide on Earth. Earthfall left a hole about 300 miles wide that oceans rushed in to fill, creating the map of Galarian that we recognize today. To understand the impacts of Earthfall, we need to rewind the clocks a little bit and look at what Galarian was like before the impact. As a warning, there is no way to discuss this topic without spoiling some plot points in the Ruins of Aslant, Carrion Crown, and Second Darkness adventure paths, not to mention various

other Pathfinder adventures and novels and so forth. So if you want to avoid all spoilers for these adventures, please check out one of my other episodes and thank you for listening. Second warning, like most lore episodes, this one's probably going long. Please accept my apologies because there's a ton of shit to cover. Pre-Earthfall Galarian looked considerably different from the world we Pathfinder GMs know and love. Let's start with the geography. For those of you who have never played in the world of Galarian, many of the adventures revolve around a region of the world known as the Inner Sea. This region bears a striking resemblance to the Mediterranean Sea of Earth,

with multiple nations using the waterway as a lifeblood of tourism and trade. We crusty Pathfinder veterans who have grown accustomed to this region of the world were very familiar with the map with the city of Absalom as the quote-unquote center of the world on the island of Kortos. But before Earthfall, the Inner Sea didn't even exist. What was there was a large land bridge between the continents of Avistan and Garund, and there was a large lake where the eastern side of Avistan and Gurund, and there was a large lake where the eastern side of the inner sea resides today. Not a lot is known about this area of the

world, as much of the history of that time was wiped out by Earthfall, and a lot of the relics lie at the bottom of a sea. Oh, that smells like a possible underwater campaign. I may need to get to writing as soon as I get done. So Earthfall created the Inner Sea region, but that's not the only major change that occurred to the surface world. Earthfall wiped out an entire continent called Aslant. This continent was in the middle of the Arcadian Ocean between the continents of Arcadia, Avistan, and Garund. This continent contained a human empire that had technological and magical capabilities that eclipse anything found on Galarian today. More on them in a moment. Now, after Earthfall, where there was a giant landmass, there are only pockets of islands

containing a diverse set of flora and fauna. Some insane mask-wearing mordant spire elves. Oh, and a contractual dictatorship paradise run by a gold dragon called Hermia, but we do not have time for that right now. With the massive physical changes that came to the surface of the planet, political changes inevitably followed. We are used to an extremely politically diverse world of many kingdoms on Galerion, including the devil-worshipping Chalaxians, the fledgling democracy of Andoran,

and the anti-religious nation of Rahadum. By contrast, empires before Earthfall were much bigger and there were fewer of them. Before Earthfall, there were primarily two large human civilizations that dominated the Inner Sea region, Aslant and Thassilon. Let's start with Thassilon. sea region. Aslant and Thassilon. Let's start with Thassilon. This is a nation that was founded because an Aslanti named Xen dared suggest that humans could learn something from other races. For that, the mystic rulers of Aslant said, get the fuck out. So Emperor Xen traveled to modern day Varesia and founded his own nation of Thassilon, bringing an advanced nation to the people who lived there. He set up important lieutenants that would eventually become the runelords, each specializing in a school of magic

and focusing on one of the seven virtues of rule—charity, generosity, humility, kindness, love, temperance, and zeal. He gave each of these lieutenants part of the empire to rule. Eventually, these seven runelords would depose Xen and impose their own versions of rule, which were more akin to the seven deadly sins, greed, wrath, pride, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth, the exact opposites of the seven virtues upon which the nation was founded. Over the coming centuries, the once powerful nation would fall into petty infighting, decadence, and cruelty. The seven runelords emptied the nation's coffers to build ever more outlandish monuments to themselves. By the time Earthfall happened, the nation was all

but destroyed anyway. But the seven runelords saw that it was coming and many of them used powerful artifacts called runewells to lock themselves and some of their servants away in demi-planes or to relocate to other planes of existence to wait out the collision and the massive damage that would be the result of it. Once Earthfall happened, the nation of Thassilon was largely destroyed with only some artifacts remaining for years until a few adventure paths happen and the re-emergence of some of the runelords of old. Meanwhile, the previously mentioned

nation of Aslant consisted of a vast empire of near-mythical-strength humans that took up the entire continent of Aslant. Wait, the nation of Aslant was on the continent of Aslant? Well, that's just convenient naming. Next you'll tell me they spoke Aslant was on the continent of Aslant? Well, that's just convenient naming. Next you'll tell me they spoke Aslanty or something. What, they did? That's just damn lazy. Anyway, Aslant was the first nation of humans, founded well before Thassilon, and contained magical and technological wonders.

They had researched the depths of magic and technology that the world still hasn't been able to match. They had machines that were servants, scouts, defenders, and workers, and they were a hybrid of technology and magic. They created the magical Ioun stones, little gemstones that were always known that can orbit a user's head and provide some benefit depending on the type of stone, but further exploration has revealed that some of these devices are the equivalent of hard drives, computer CPUs, and even soul gems like those found in Skyrim. They created ships of living wood, buildings with rock-hard transparent ceilings, and magically treated stone, even telescopes that they could use to view the farthest reaches of space. Not only were they technologically advanced, their magic was very powerful as well, with artifacts that still survive to this day,

that provides everything from bonuses to knowledge and wisdom, to even some that can make you a more effective leader. As powerful as the Aslanti were, and believe me, they were, they owe their entire civilization to a mysterious group of undersea aberrations called the Algothu. Most common Algothu that you run across are Aboleths. If you rewind the clock a few thousand years, the Aslanti were just a bunch of cave-dwelling or nomadic humanoids who had very limited technology, probably close to Stone Age humans. The evil ocean-bound Algothu were fond of genetic manipulation. For reasons lost to time, they meddled with the Aslanti and set them on the road to becoming a civilization with farming, cities, and eventually magic and advanced technology. Now for those of

you that don't know, Algothu and Aboleths look like three-eyed fish. They have a very limited capability of existing outside of the water, so they rely on mind control and telepathy for creatures that live on land to do their bidding outside of the oceans. That being said, as the Aslanti advanced, they no longer felt that they needed the Al-Ghulthu anymore. They began ignoring them entirely and finally even believed that they were superior to the ocean-bound creatures. If there's one thing Aboleths can't stand, though, it's to be disrespected. So they responded in a completely reasonable and rational manner. Did the Algolthus send a representative to the Aslanti to talk it out? No. Did they send a lengthy complaint letter to the Galarian version

of the United Nations? Nope, not that. Did they get into a hair-pulling fistfight at the local natatorium? No, not even close. They took the very rational response and decided to crash a meteor into the planet, killing everything living on the surface, because that's how Aboleths roll. I know that's my first choice. Someone says something mean to me, disregards my opinion, or dull parks at a restaurant? Time to destroy their house with a meteor pulled from the depths of space. Look, all I'm saying is, if you could call a meteor to smite your foes, wouldn't you do it at least occasionally? The thing is, the magic of the Al-Golthu could reach into the far reaches of space, and they found, quote,

the body of a star made of poison and metal, end quote, that they could hurtle at the planet to destroy all life on the surface. Meanwhile, they would be happy and healthy at the bottom of the ocean. They could wait out the devastation and reseed life on the planet as they saw fit from the slaves that they kept below the water. So they did. They used their magic in a ritual to steer the rock to a collision course with Galarian, and life would have been utterly destroyed, except someone intervened. Bruce Willis and a team of experienced oil drillers somehow skipped right through NASA astronaut training and went right to a let's-fly-a-space-tuttle onto the asteroid. No, wait, that was a movie. The Aslantes worshipped a goddess of battle, and more importantly, the moon.

She was named Akavna. She figured out what the Al-Golthu were up to, and moved the moon effectively, herself, into the path of the world-ending rock. The impact shattered the moon and the meteor into thousands of slower-moving pieces, slaying the goddess in the process. Akavna's love was the Aslanti god of magic named Amaznen. When she sacrificed herself to save the world, he realized what the Al-Gulfu were doing and sacrificed himself to render the Al-Gulfu's magic inert, which slowed down the shards even more. Thanks to the sacrifice of two Aslanti gods, the impact of the meteor was devastating but not

world-ending. The impact of these thousands of shards of the moon and of a poisonous rock sent plumes of dust and smoke and ash up into the atmosphere. In the remote continent of Tianzha, volcanoes erupted from the impact, further adding to the particulate matter choking out the sun's rays. For the better part of a thousand years, Galerion existed in what was known as the Age of Darkness, with very little sunlight reaching the planet's surface. But Akavna's and Amaznin's sacrifices were not in vain. but Akavna's and Amaznin's sacrifices were not in vain. Life found a way to survive, both the impact and in the hostile world that remained behind.

Eventually, the clouds did part and Galerion was changed forever. Humans were weaker than they once were, no longer as strong as their ancestors, but they survived. One of the few living Aslantes, Aradin, led a group of survivors into modern-day continent of Avistan, where they settled and tried to rebuild human civilization. They also sought to preserve as much of their Aslante culture as they possibly could. Now, if you're saying, wait, the name Erodin sounds familiar. That's because Erodin became known as the last Aslanti and eventually became a god himself. A god who died under mysterious circumstances and whose death ended the age of prophecy on Galarian,

but that is for another time. But what about the other races and ancestries, Jeremy, you humanocentric racist? Okay, first off, that was uncalled for. Secondly, I'm getting to them right now. And thirdly, you can argue that even though Earthfall was caused by the Al-Gulfu, it was the Aslanti hubris that brought it about. That's why I started with humans first, ass. I don't often argue with myself, but when I do, the gloves come off and I don't give a fuck about my feelings. There were other civilizations on Galarian besides the humans. The elves were warned by the residents of the Mordant Spire that the disaster was coming.

Wait, haven't we heard that name before? Like the same Mordant Spire where the crazy elves live today? Yep, the very same ones. Most of the elves used the, and I am going to mispronounce this, Sovereign Stone to leave Galarian for their home of Sovereign on the planet Castorvel through magic portals. They did not return to Galarian for 8,000 years. Most of the elves left, but not all of them. Some of them remained and retreated underground and eventually became the drow of the Darkland. The dwarves had not yet emerged on the surface of the planet.

They were at home in the Darklands when their god Torag gave them a prophecy. When the ground shakes beneath your feet, you should press upward towards the surface. Earthfall shook the planet to its core, and the dwarves viewed that as, yep, that's the sign, and began what they would later be called the Quest for Sky. They pushed upward for more than 300 years, displacing the orcs in front of them and driving them before them so both civilizations reached the surface of Galarian in at least eight locations on the planet. The dwarves built massive cities of stone called the Sky Citadels at these locations

to mark the point in history and places on the planet where they first emerged. But not all dwarves believed in the prophecy, and some of them remained underground the entire time. These dwarves became the duergar, or dark dwarves, who still reside in the Darklands today. There was another group of humans called the Keleds. They were groups of nomadic people who lived in northern Avistan, where it's really, really cold. They survived earthfall by retreating into their caves and largely remaining there until they were driven out by the orcs, who were driven out by the dwarves, who only took the actions they took because Torag said they should. Next, for our purposes, are the Cyclopes, or Cyclopses if you prefer.

They had two major civilizations at the time, and the largest of which was the nation of Golgon, where the Shackles, Mediagalty Island, and the Eye of Abednego are now. The entire civilization had been in free fall since the war with the underground serpent folk. They predated the Aslanti and had once been the home of oracles, engineers, and wise leaders, but by the time of the impact, they had largely abandoned their civilized ways and become cannibalistic shadows of their former selves, nowhere near as powerful, losing much of their magical and technological prowess in the process. Foreseeing the nation's decline, though, some of the Cyclopes immigrated to the island of Iblidos,

who peacefully coexisted with the humans living there, and even warned them to prepare for the impending doom, directly leading to the island's survival, but not without damage, as Earthfall destroyed some of the human cities on the island. Other Cyclopes migrated to the nation of Koloron, which is in modern-day Ioberia, where they remained for an indeterminate period of time. It's believed that they were wiped out by earthfall, but no one really knows. Wait, I almost forgot the serpent folk that I mentioned earlier. They had an empire called Secomina that spread in the Darklands across multiple continents. They had survived the Azlanti onslaught, they had survived the Cyclopean invasions, and chose to hibernate during earthfall and immediately afterward.

There were so numerous that a layer of the Darklands took on the same name as their empire, but they hibernated and slept as the drow and even some undead settled in the layer of the crust named for them. Many of them still sleep in the town of Severin Nagati, otherwise known as the City of Coils. There were other races that were affected by the destruction, including the Gugs and various underwater cultures like the Scum, but I'm kind of running out of time here. If you think just a thousand years of darkness and the displacement of a bunch of ancestries is the limit of the destruction caused, you'd be wrong. In what I would officially file under the heading of Just Dessert Al-Ghulthu miscalculated the damage that would be caused by Earthfall

and the subsequent earthquakes sent their civilization into a period of decline. Suck on that, you malicious, weird, manipulated, third-eyed, fish-monster bullshit artists. Wow, that was more angry than I thought it would be. And the impacts just keep on coming. See what I did there? Double use of the word impact to mean the collision of the meteor and having a strong effect on something? Huh? Huh?

Wordplay. Among the detritus plucked out of space was a comet containing the remnant of a trapped great old one named Xamondor. This was unwittingly brought to Galarian by the Al-Golthuz ritual, and the sentient infestation came to rest at the bottom of an unknown lake somewhere on Galarian surface. Xamondor awakened after the impact and has been slowly infecting the world in the millennia since. But not all is gloom and doom at this point. Part of the rock that rained down on Galarian on that day was

a fragment of a gemstone. This mythical stone came to rest in the inner sea, and there it remained for 5,000 years until Erodin, yes, that Erodin, the last Aslanti who was still alive, was called to the inner sea where the heart of an ancient Al-Ghulthu weapon still lay. It erupted from the waves as an entire massive island topped by a unique gem made of celestial materials, Al-Ghulthu magic, the blood of the goddess Avkavna, and scar tissue of the planet itself. This became known as the Starstone. Aroden used his magic to keep it from ever being misused again, and in response for his doing so, the gods elevated him to become one of them, and the Star Stone has served as a vehicle to attain divinity ever since. Aroden then founded the city of Absalom, placed the Star Stone in the

heart of the city, and let the city grow around it. It is said that if you want to become a god, all you have to do is touch the stone. That's it. Just a little brush of the fingertips and bam, you're a god forever. Never mind the fact that only three have ever successfully done so and that there are, if cover artists to be believed, dozens of dead bodies around the star stone who got oh so close but still failed. So in summary, because the Ogolothu got all cloaca hurt, they destroyed a continent, split another, wiped out a few

civilizations, drove others into caves. They condemned the world to a thousand years of darkness and brought a great old one to the planet to slowly corrupt it to its will, all because the Azlanti weren't being sufficiently deferential to them. But without them, we wouldn't have the Galarian we know and love. The surface would be a lot less diverse. Humans would be even more racist. There'd be no test of the star stone in case your character ever wanted to become a god. Eh, you know, you can't crack a planet without breaking a few omelets. Wait, no, that's not the saying. Wordplay! There's so much more that we could get into,

but I am completely out of time at this point. Wait, I almost forgot about the god Zon-Kuthon returning to Galarian in the Age of Darkness because it's technically fulfilled... Too bad we're out of time, past Jeremy. You'll have to save all that crap for another episode. No, wait, the rise of New Thassilon, the Viper Wall, demons on the moon, what actually happened to the Aslanti...

Don't make me choke you. I said you're out of time, okay? No, okay, time to take a nap now. Tune in next week when we'll talk about that important concept, failing forward. Yes, harder! Wait, what? Um, if you'd like to hear more about these topics or have a piece of lore you'd like to hear more about these topics

or have a piece of lore you'd like to learn more about, please send me a message to feedback at taking20podcast.com or reach out to me on various social media outlets or my KO-FI page. Keep going, don't let up now. Before I go, though, shut up, I want to thank our sponsor, Meteors. Keep an eye to the sky for Meteors

if they've had too much to drink. They love to go streaking. That's a good one. This has been episode 121, continuing the lore series all about Earthfall and Galarian. My name is Jeremy Shelley, and I hope that your next game is your best game. The Taking 20 Podcast is a Publishing Cube Media Production. Copyright 2022. References to game system content are copyrighted by their respective publishers.