Pathfinder Society

Introduction

“As to your life and limb, I make you no promises, novice. Rest assured, you shall never succumb to boredom and your feats and exploits will be sung and scripted for the common folk to marvel. The time to find your path is at hand.”

—Venture-Captain Alissa Moldreserva

Absalom

ALIGNMENT: N

CAPITAL: Absalom (303,900)

Notable settlements

Diobel (4,850), Escadar (11,700)

Government

Grand Council composed of representatives from several major noble houses and religious groups. The greatest of this council, called the primarch, enjoys a wide range of powers.

Languages

Common, Osiriani, Kelish

Religion

Abadar, Iomedae, Aroden, Norgorber, Cayden Cailean, Nethys, Sarenrae, Calistria, Shelyn, Irori

NOTES

Absalom is the most famous of all cities, and takes pride in being one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the known world. According to myth, Absalom was founded by Aroden himself when the Last of the First Humans raised the Starstone from the ocean depths and left it in its current resting place at the heart of the city. It is thus a living part of mythology.

Absalom sits in the largest natural harbor on the Isle of Kortos in the eye of the Inner Sea. This allows the city to control dozens of major shipping lanes and makes it a critical stop on any voyage across that sea. The confluence of mercantile, strategic, and religious influence in Absalom earns its title: “City at the Center of the World.” Of course, it also attracts would-be conquerors, many of whom have unsuccessfully assaulted the city throughout history. The ruins of dozens of siege castles litter the grounds outside Absalom’s walls, and its harbor is so choked with the masts and moldering hulls of sunken warships that safely reaching the city’s docks requires the steady eye of a paid pilot.

When Aroden dredged the Isle of Kortos from the depths of the Inner Sea and founded Absalom, he called the wise and brave from nearby lands to inhabit the new land and bade them protect the Starstone from all who would relocate it. Nobles, merchants, and adventurers particularly those from Osirion, Thuvia, Cheliax, Andoran, Taldor, and Qadira, settled in the city. The city’s culture draws heavily from all these lands, and many of its noble houses identify themselves closely with elements from those nations. The common folk represent an even wider array of cultural influences, from Mordant Spire elves to Tian traders to travelers from other planes. As a result, food, song, and clothing from nearly every corner of Golarion can be found here if the visitor knows where to look. It is said with some seriousness that it is impossible to look out of place on the streets of Absalom.

For additional information on Absalom, consult the Inner Sea Primer hardcover.

Where Are You From?

People from Andoran are known as Andorens, use Andoren items, and speak Common.

People from Cheliax are known as Chelaxians, use Chelish items, and speak Common.

People from Osirion are known as Osirians, use Osirian items, and speak Osiriani.

People from Qadira are known as Qadirans, use Qadiran items, and speak Kelish.

People from Taldor are known as Taldans, use Taldan items, and speak Common.

Factions and Your Homeland

Though a big chunk of faction affiliates originate from their countries, you are by no means required to be from the same country as the faction you are loyal to. Ulfen barbarians in service to Qadira, Vudrani monks in service to Andoran, Mwangi Wizards in service to Cheliax, and so on are all possibilities. Don’t let these factions shorten the list of locales you could call home.

The Pathfinder Society

On Golarion, the Pathfinder Society is an organization of explorers, vagabonds, sages, and treasure hunters determined to plumb the depths of the darkest tombs and collect relics and lore from bygone ages. They travel the world braving traps, monsters, assassins, dangerous natives, and worse, all in order to discover the secrets of the past and to advance understanding of Golarion’s many cultures. Some Pathfinders are dedicated explorers who risk life and limb in the pursuit of ancient lore or lost relics. Just as many Pathfinders are little more than feckless mercenaries, glory hound adventurers, and gold-hungry tomb raiders. Regardless of their intentions, every member shares one common dream: to contribute to the Pathfinder Chronicles, printed editions of lore coveted by the Society wherein only the most impressive finds and bravest exploits of the Pathfinders are immortalized. Pathfinders also follow a loose code that governs their actions: Explore, Report, and Cooperate (more on this later).

Pathfinders are a diverse bunch of scoundrels and wanderers. Beyond their adventures as Pathfinders, they often find themselves mixed up in the murky politics of Absalom and the five nations who seek to control the City at the Center of the World from behind the scenes.

The Pathfinder Society on Golarion

The Pathfinder Society has existed since the founding of Absalom 400 years ago. Its history, fraught with the daring exploits of brave heroes, has long enchanted the populace of the Inner Sea. Members include treasure hunters, explorers, tomb raiders, historians, and vagabonds who roam the farthest reaches of the world seeking lost relics of world-shattering power and answers to riddles older than the gods. These heroes brave vine-choked jungle ruins, ascend snow-capped peaks, and comb sun-seared desert sands in search of buried tombs and monuments of bygone ages.

Upon the completion of a particularly notable discovery or journey, society members send a record of their exploits to their venture-captain superior, who in turn reviews it for accuracy before forwarding the manuscript to the masked leaders of the Pathfinder Society, the cryptic Decemvirate, an inner circle of 10 experienced Pathfinders who guide the Society’s activities. This guidance is quite subtle, allowing individual Pathfinder agents to believe they act of their own accord when they are actually doing the bidding of the Ten.

The Society recognizes no formal bylaws, but adherence to a general code of behavior is expected of all members, and reports of activity in contrast to this code are grounds for removal from the organization. The three most important member duties are as follows:

Explore: Pathfinders are expected to further the knowledge and reputation of the Society by traveling to distant lands, unearthing forbidden secrets, and piecing together the secret history of the world. Agents are encouraged to travel uncharted lands in search of ever-more-fantastic mysteries.

Report: In the course of their adventures, Pathfinders are expected to keep detailed journals, maps, and accounts of their exploits. At the conclusion of a successful mission, the agent sends a copy of his notes to his immediate superior, a regional venture-captain, who makes a full analysis (often involving divination). Especially noteworthy exploits make their way to Absalom and the Decemvirate, who compile the best tales into irregularly published editions of the Pathfinder Chronicles, which make their way back to venture-captains for distribution to Pathfinder agents in the field.

Cooperate: The Society places no moral obligations upon its members, so agents span all races, creeds, and motivations. At any given time, a Pathfinder lodge might house a fiend-summoning Chelaxian, an Andoren freedom fighter, an antiquities-obsessed Osirian necromancer, and a friendly Taldan raconteur. Pathfinder agents are expected to respect one another’s claims and stay out of each other’s affairs unless offering a helping hand.

The Pathfinder Lodge

Most Pathfinders wander the world in search of riches and adventure, settling down only long enough to plan their next caper or fully exploit an ancient ruin of its treasure and secrets.

But another class of Pathfinder exists, a group unknown to the populace at large yet integral to the success of the organization. These are the venture-captains who manage regional affairs and their at-times-considerable cadres of cohorts, retainers, menials, and guardians. Venture-captains generally station themselves in Pathfinder lodges, unassuming locales meant to house the paperwork, plans, and infrastructure of the society while also occasionally serving as temporary residences for wandering Pathfinder agents. The Grand Lodge of Absalom stands alone among its fellows. Unlike lesser chapter houses in towns throughout the continent, which often mask their purpose behind facades of commerce or domesticity, the Grand Lodge wears its affiliation proudly. The Glyph of the Open Road, so often hidden in a map’s compass rose or a book’s embellishment to show the covert approval of the Pathfinder Society, blazes above the gate of a sheer-walled redoubt at the heart of Absalom. The wall circles seven sturdy fortresses that date back to the city’s founding, perhaps the estate of a long-dormant noble house or the one-time bastion of a forgotten government. For the last 400 years this has been the stronghold of the Pathfinders, the seat of the Decemvirate, and the legendary repository of the order’s treasures and legends.

The Pathfinder Chronicles

Lesser scholars and tomb-robbers unaffiliated with the Pathfinder Society are crass villains who contribute nothing to the greater understanding of the world, selling off their treasures without bothering to record the stories behind them or further understanding of lost races, cultures, and times. This is what sets the Pathfinders apart. The Chronicles, gathered over centuries of daring work, records the Society’s exploits and shares them with the entire organization. Most volumes come packed with maps, trap diagrams, and detailed explanations leading to highly profitable and extraordinarily fragile locales. Common treasure-hunters, bizarre cultists, and wealthy artifact collectors do their best to acquire copies of the journals, and a multi-volume set can often fetch thousands of gold pieces in the right markets. It is the burning dream of every Pathfinder to someday see their own exploits immortalized in the ultra-exclusive pages of the Pathfinder Chronicles.