Taking 20 Podcast - Ep 164 - Lore Series - Death of Gods and Aroden

Episode Date: February 26, 2023

In a lot of game worlds, deities can't die.  They always existed, exist, and will always exist.  But what if that wasn't true.  What if one or more deities in your game world died, left, or otherwise weren't available?  What would happen to their followers and your world as a whole?   Resources: Pathfinder Wiki (Aroden) - https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Aroden   #pathfinder #deities #openrpg #opendnd #aroden #dnd #dungeonsanddragons

This week on the Taking20 Podcast. One of the prophecies that was made was that Aroden was supposed to return in the year 4606 AR, marking the beginning of what humans thought would be the Age of Glory. But instead, when that event came, a series of calamities struck Galerion. Wherever you happen to be, thank you for listening to the Taking 20 Podcast, episode 164, all about the death of gods, focusing on the Pathfinder deity, Aroden. I want to thank this week's sponsor, Matryoshka Dolls. You know, those little Russian nesting dolls.

I really don't like them. They're just all so full of themselves. If you haven't donated to the podcast, please consider doing so at ko-fi.com slash taking20podcast. This podcast survives because of you, and I know many of you assume someone else will donate. I don't like begging, but when looking at my download numbers, I get about 45 listeners a day. If just one day's worth of my listeners, 45 people, donated only $5 just once a year, my costs would be covered and probably allow me to produce even more content. If you've already given this year, by the way, thank you so much, but I would just ask that if

you get any enjoyment or information out of this podcast, please consider a small one-time donation to keep it alive. Today I'm going to look at a specific piece of lore from Pathfinder's World of Galarian, The Death of the God Erodin, and expand on it a bit to give you some options to think about when a deity dies in your world. Before I get started, let's get one thing out of the way. In the vast majority of popular game systems, the deities don't have stats. You can't just march up to their home on another plane with the great sword of go fornicate yourself and slay the deities don't have stats. You can't just march up to their home on another plane with the great sword of go fornicate yourself and slay any deities.

They are so far beyond what mortals are and are capable of that at least in my games, I eliminate that as a potential cause for deity's death. Mortals can't go up there and just stab them to death. If you want to rule differently in your game, go with the gods, my friend, stab them to death. If you want to rule differently in your game, go with the gods, my friend, and have fun. However, in my game, deities can kill each other, but rarely do so. They're immortal, and very few of them want to risk complete destruction because of a personal slight 500 years ago. Why kill an opponent when you can steal their followers and humiliate them very publicly? Finally, a deity can choose to die, but very few make that choice unless it's a sacrifice for some much, much greater good.

However, in the world of Galarian, there was a god that died, Erodin, the god of humans, and the results were... catastrophic. Let's have a quick lore refresher on Erodin. Much of this was covered in episode 121, so go back to that episode if you want Earthfall covered in much more depth. Erodin was a skilled, lawful, neutral human blacksmith from the ancient, humanocentric civilization known as Aslan. He was so skilled that he was asked to forge a sword that he was to give to the one he considered worthy of being the new Emperor of Aslan. After forging the sword, he gave it to himself. So, okay, you may say he has a touch of ego. I don't think the choice was made out of evil, though, just arrogance more than anything else.

Not long after keeping the sword, Galarian was struck by an event called Earthfall, which was a worldwide cataclysm brought on by the Aboleths. Many species only survive thanks to the sacrifice of two gods, a Kavna, the goddess of the moon, and a Maznan, the god of magic. These two gods sacrificed themselves to keep Earthfall from being a planet-genociding event. At the time of Earthfall, humans on Galarian were much stronger and more capable than humans of quote-unquote modern times in Pathfinder. They had higher average stats, were more capable with magic and engineering, and made some of the wonders that the world continues to use today. Aradin survived and led a group of stragglers from their shattered

homelands east to the bordering continent of Avistan, where there were some Azlanti colonies. There, he re-established human civilization, but in a much weaker state. It became eventually the nation of Cheliax. Aroden continued to grow in power, saving the human civilization time and again, sometimes with devastating effects on those who bore the brunt of his ire. While his fellow Azlantes grew old and died, Aroden remained young, having become immortal through some unknown method. He was the last surviving citizen of Aslan, earning him the nickname Last of the First Humans and another nickname, The Last Aslante.

Now, when I say he was the last to die, it's because he was the last to die by several thousand years. He used his considerably growing power to protect his adopted civilization, even questing into the abyss at one point to kill the demon lord Abderneggan, who had been ravaging Aslanti colonies for centuries. He also ventured into the great beyond and returned with a personal mandate to chart man's destiny. He was able to perform miraculous feats, the most famous of which was the raising of the star stone. One of the fragments of the rock that fell at Galerion during Earthfall was

the star stone, which landed in what is now the inner sea. He raised the entire island of Kortos, including the star stone, from the bed of the ocean and established the Starstone Cathedral at the center of the city of Absalom on the newly formed island of Kortos. This moment became the beginning of the Absalom Reckoning Calendar, or AR, that's still in use on Galarian today. For this miracle, I mean the raising of the star stone miracle, not creating a calendar miracle, Aroden was elevated to godhood and became god of the human culture, innovation, and history.

He remained involved in human affairs, but gradually became less and less involved and began removing himself as early as the 4th century AR, focusing his divine works on the plane of axis. Now let me correct something I said earlier. 4th century AR, focusing his divine works on the plane of Axis. Now let me correct something I said earlier. When I said he was the god of humans, he was a god of humans only, and the other ancestries and species could straight up go fuck themselves. He believed in humans first and only. Humans should be the masters of the planet. He was a human supremacist and, if we're being honest, kind of racist. He made decisions for the planet that would primarily benefit humans. For example, he

ventured into the lowest levels of the Darklands to steal five life-giving orbs, basically artificial suns from the Zolgasts or Troglodytes that lived there, and brought them to the island of Kortos to make the land more fertile since, you know, humans needed them and fark the troglodytes. These orbs made it possible to grow plants in the Darklands, but he left one behind, thinking arrogantly, oh, that'll be plenty for those troglodytes. Gradually, the Zolgaths became more irradiated, more feral, less intelligent, eventually becoming the troglodytes we know today. Besides being the god of humanity, Aroden was also the god of prophecy, and many of

his followers could predict future events with alarming accuracy. One of the prophecies that was made was that Aroden was supposed to return in the year 4606 AR, marking the beginning of what humans thought would be the Age of Glory. But instead, when that event came, a series of calamities struck Galarian. First of all, all prophecies ceased to function or be accurate at all. Eridan's followers lost the ability to predict the future. Instead of the Age of Glory, Galarian became the Age of Lost Omens, which if you know anything about Paizo's lore books, they all have titles that begin with Lost Omens blank.

The World Guide, Gods and Magic, Impossible Lands, Knights of Lastwall, and ten others. Because Galarian is currently in the Age of Lost Omens. At the appointed hour of Aroden's return, the planet was wracked with three weeks of storms and earthquakes felt all over the planet. In the Arcadian Ocean, a storm thousands of miles wide, known as the Eye of Abendigo, formed and is still swirling in the same spot today. The country of Lurgan, known for their astrological philosophy and oracular ability,

and the relatively primitive but agriculturally advanced nation of Yamasa were drowned under the ocean, and the last vestiges of the Cyclopean Empire of Golgon that had become degenerate cannibals by this point, falling from their lost noble ways, was mercifully washed from the surface of the planet and believed to be completely destroyed. Areas that were at the heart of a continent suddenly were wracked with torrential rains in a slowly encroaching ocean, destroying countless lives and dramatically affecting entire sections of the world in ways that are still being felt today. At the end of three weeks of storms, Aroden's clerics reached out to their god and heard nothing. Absolute dead silence. No spells

were given each day. No requests for information were answered. No displays of power were forthcoming. It's like he was just gone. And Aradon has not been heard from in the 150 years since. Not long after that, the World Wound, a direct portal to the Abyss, opened in the nation of Sarkoris, and demons poured through by the thousands, then tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands. You know what? It stayed open until some brave adventurers did something to close the wound in AR-4713. Closing this wound reduced the influx of demonic beasts in the world,

and if you want more details on that, you'll need to play through the adventure path Wrath of the Righteous, and I am not going to spoil that for you because it is fun. Meanwhile, back where the humans had established the nation of Cheliax, the throne to that country fell into a legitimacy crisis because the kings had previously been able to say that they were king by prophetic divine right. But you know what? Prophecy's dead. No one knew who the king was supposed to be, and the nation fell into civil war. Now, of course, the nation is ruled by devil-worshipping halfling slavers. In the lands of the Linorm kings, oracles, seers, and witches died as the force of Eroden's death smashed their prophecies and their life forces along with it. The death of the deity leading directly to the death of some who had given their

lives for the ability to prophesy. Everyone assumes Aroden died in 4606, but no one really knows for sure, and no one knows how if he did. If the gods know, and you'd think they would, they have not provided that information to mortals. Is Aroden truly dead? Did he venture out beyond the multiverse? Did he become a mortal to save Galarian in some way? Is he stuck in the drive-thru at his favorite fast food place? This is one bit of lore that Paizo leaves for each GM to decide what happened in their version of Galarian. Did he die fighting Rovagug? See episode 150 for more about that apocalyptic beast. Was he slain by Asmodeus? Did he just nope out and decide to ignore those he had shepherded for so long?

Unknown. Now you may be thinking, that's neat, Jeremy, but I don't fucking play Pathfinder. I run games in Dungeons and Dragons, or Blades in the Dark, or Mork Borg, or Cyberpunk. At face value, you probably won't have an Eredin in your world. Okay, that's fine. But here's what I want you to take from this lore. Eredin's death, the death of a single god, mind you, was an absolute calamity on Galarian. Millions died of various species due to earthquakes and storms and drowning and famine and disease. It's been decades since that happened and the world

still hasn't recovered. If you have a custom home-written world or if you're playing in another game system's default world, I want you to ask yourself something. What would happen if a deity died? The god of luck, the goddess of the harvest, the god of fire, magic, merfolk, technology, any other deity who has domains that they control that you care to name in your world? What would happen if suddenly that deity went dark and no longer exerted any control over their domains or care for their followers? You have options. It could be like Eridan, a calamity for the world. Storms and tempests and wars, dogs and cats living together, you know, mass hysteria. It could be nothing. Literally nothing. The clerics no longer receive spells and can no

longer commune with their deity and that's it. Sure, there'd be some short-term turmoil here and there as people try to come to grips with the fact that the god that they'd been worshiping just disappeared and they had real visible, palpable effects on the world, and now they suddenly don't. There'd likely be confusion, fear, doubt, and followers would probably leave in droves. Most likely other gods would take up the void in the pantheon or belief system. Like in Aroden's case, his lawful good herald Iomedae had taken the test of the star stone in the year 3832 and had become a goddess herself. Upon his death, many of Erodin's followers flocked to her temples and that's why she's sometimes called the inheritor. By the way, Iomedae's attitude

towards humans was very different than Erodin's. Whereas Erodin believed in humans' superiority, Iomedae is more worried about humans' potential. She is one of the most popular goddesses on the planet for a reason. 3. The death of a god could have an effect only on whatever they have domains over. Imagine the god of the sea dies, and one-third of the creatures in the sea suddenly die in grief of their dead patron. Imagine the goddess of weather passes away, and weather goes absolutely bonkers for a day, a week, a month, a year, a century, or whatever,

until another deity can exert control. Or if we want a horrific example, the god of death dies. People lie suffering with grievous mortal wounds or horrific diseases or other awful ways to shuffle off their mortal coil, but they just don't. They can't die. Hospitals fill up. People commit murder only to have their victims stand back up with a scimitar sticking out of their chest. Are they undead? Do they have memories of their life? Do they still eat? Thus, the week of suffering begins for all beings in your multiverse until the deities sort everything out and the natural cycle of life and death resumes. Four, the death of a god can mean that protection measures break down that surround your world. The aliens can now descend from the heavens, killing as they go.

The deity of the sun is now free to attempt to boil the surface dwellers alive to bring about the return of their subterranean worshippers. Or fifth option, finally, the death of a deity could be just a mild inconvenience for them, and they don't really die, they just go to sleep and reincarnate. They'll reform over the next few days and just deal with the aftermath of not being present in the world for 72 hours when they finally reform. The last thing I want to say about this topic is that great adventures can be found when a deity dies. Unless you decide the death of a deity has no effect on your game world whatsoever, the upheaval caused by the sudden void of the celestial or infernal realms can make for great adventures.

Saving people from storms or other fallout from the deity's death could make for a fun campaign. At high levels, venturing into the planes of existence to find evidence of the deity's fate could make for a fun extraplanar or spelljammer type adventure. There's so much more I haven't even touched on about Aroden's life. Like he sat back and watched his first herald, a Razni, get bound by magic, forced to fight his most powerful enemy, the lich Tarbafon, get slain, raised as a lich herself, and then forced to marry a necromancer and kept against her will for about a thousand years. Oh, and her Iomedae, by the way, was a Razni's herald before she became Eredin, so that's a little bit problematic as well.

There's another story about how Eredin was granted access to a tree that was the source of leyline magic in the nation of Sopotl. He placed part of his soul into the tree to make himself more powerful. Didn't ask, hey, is that okay? Nope, just did it. And when he died, so did the tree and the entire Sopotl civilization. No spoilers, by the way, but the entire Extinction Curse adventure path revolves around cleaning up one of the messes from Aroden's shitty decisions. Worst of all, by the way, if one of the stories I found is true,

and to be honest, I can't find it in official lore, there's a story that he abandoned his rabbit familiar how many. Abandoned it! Who abandons their familiar? I mean, what a monster. Genocide is one thing, but to leave your intelligent familiar behind? God, that's almost unforgivable.

There's no official Pathfinder rule that I can find that states what happens if someone does that. But there are lore stories about familiars going insane when their master dies. Being immortal and lonely, or most tragically, pulling a whole flower for Algernon thing and gradually reverting back to animal intelligence. I think my point for this section is that if Aradin isn't really dead, and if he ever comes back, he owes a lot of people of various ancestries and one rabbit a huge apology. In many game systems and game worlds, deities are truly immortal.

They cannot be killed or harmed by non-deities. However, there are times where deities, believed by their followers to be deathless and eternal, can die. Base a series of adventures around the calamity of a deity dying. Use those turbulent times to change your world in some way. Make your big damn heroes try to be heroic in the face of world-shaping cataclysm,

and I bet you and your players would have fun doing it. If you haven't already, please subscribe, like, and rate this podcast wherever you found it. Also, if you know of someone or a company that wants to be a sponsor and reach hundreds of RPG listeners each week, please have them reach out to me by DMing me on Facebook or Instagram or email feedback at taking20podcast.com. Tune in next week when I'll be talking to DMs about giving your players the time and resources to savor their victory. Before I go, I want to thank this week's sponsor, Matryoshka Doll. Did you hear about the Russian nesting doll that robbed the

bigger doll? Turns out it was an inside job. This has been Taking20 Podcast episode 164, Death of the Gods, focusing on Eridan. My name is Jeremy Shelley, and I hope that your next game is your best game. The Taking20 Podcast is a Publishing Cube Media Production. Copyright 2023. References to game system content are copyright their respective publishers.