Editing Golarion (section)

==Nations of Golarion==
===Absalom===
[[File:PathfinderExplained.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Golarion (or at least the parts that matter) in a nutshell.]]
Mecca meets [[Sigil]] in the middle of the ocean, with a culture more like Medieval Rome mixed with Venice. 10,000 years in Golarion's past, a fuckhuge magic space rock called the Starstone struck the planet, creating the Inner Sea in the process and destroying Azlant, home of the Glorious Azlanti Master Race. The last of the Azlanti, Aroden, lifted the stone out of the Inner Sea 5,000 years later and used its magic to become [[Emperor|the God of Humanity in living flesh,]] founding the city-state of Absalom on the island where he dumped the thing to protect it from others who wanted to pull the same trick. It's still there, in the heart of the Ascendant Court, and anyone who survives the Test of the Starstone can use it to become a god too. (Thousands try every year; only three have ever succeeded, including [[Lulz|one guy who took the test on a drunken dare and can't remember how he did it.]]) As everyone has a stake in keeping the number of crazy gods around to a minimum and the island is strategically located in the middle of the Inner Sea, Absalom has become the effective center of civilization in Golarion's western hemisphere, with a complete clusterfuck of races and nationalities walking the streets to wheel and deal. Other areas of note include the Cairnlands, the slightly-haunted graveyard for all the dumbasses who tried and failed to invade one of the most important places on the planet, and the Ivy District, which is where all the whores are and where everyone goes to [[Diplomacy|stab each other in the back.]]

===Alkenstar===
Fuck yeah [[Murlynd|guns in your fantasy setting.]] Alkenstar is in the middle of a giant non-magical desert formed by a war between its magocratic neighbors, Geb and Nex, so they had to tell [[Medieval Stasis]] to shove it and learn engineering to stay relevant. Almost all of Golarion's gunpowder-based weaponry is produced by Alkenstari engineers, and they like to keep it that way so they can continue to charge out the ass for them. This is so your GM has an excuse to veto firearms. Despite what you'd expect from a desert nation that shits firearms, they're ''not'' particularly friends with Andoran, maintaining scrupulous neutrality and being situated in Golarion's equivalent of northeastern Africa.

===Andoran===
Fuck yeah 'Muricans. When Cheliax shat the bed, the nobles of Andoran went along with their new devil overlords in the interest of not becoming a fucking bloodbath like Galt or Cheliax itself. Andoran's burgeoning merchant class had other ideas and whipped up a revolution two years later, using Galtan philosophy (as if the American Revolution parallels weren't fucking obvious enough) to fuel the fires and inventing democratic socialism and the welfare state from whole cloth. As expected of fantasy Americans, they also practice cultural imperialism, actively exporting their radical ideology and disrupting the Inner Sea's slave trade. This makes them less than popular with the rest of the world. Their patron divinity is a [[Guardinal|celestial eagle-man.]]

Adventures (including those for Pathfinder Society) on the other hand paint a different view entirely. There it's a massively corrupt land ruled by unfettered monopolies with a senate that's little better than aristocracy. The only checks to their power are increasingly unhinged extremists who would push the nation into another Galt.
[[File:Pathfinder 2e explained.png|thumb|right|Now for [[Pathfinder Second Edition|the Second Edition]]!]]

===Belkzen===
Stupid dumb [[Orc|greenskin]] scum. When Golarion's dwarves took their expedition/holy war out of the Darklands, they pushed the orcs ahead of them. The dwarves eventually pushed them back into a shitty little valley in the continent's north, but not before a [[Grimgor Ironhide|strong and ambitious orc warlord]] named Belkzen managed to capture and ransack a [[Dwarf Fortress]] that he rechristened Urgir, the closest thing to a capital city they have. Naturally, the Hold of Belkzen has since collapsed into a fuckpile of semi-nomadic tribes with friendly names like Broken Spine, Gutspear, and Murdered Child constantly wrangling with each other for territory. The current holder of Urgir, Grask Uldeth of the Empty Hand, has discovered the value of trade with less beefy races, and your average PC can walk the streets in relative safety... most of the time. Other locations of note include the Brimstone Haruspex, where orc clerics huff volcanic gas to predict the future, and the Foundry, where and I quote: [[Mekboy|"crazed orc engineers known as Steeleaters remain neutral in order to sell their bizarre siege weaponry to all sides."]] <span style="color:green">'''Green really iz da best, innit?'''</span>

===Brevoy===
Stuck all the way in the upper right corner of the map, this land is cold, forested and the country is on the verge of collapse. [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Supposedly some dragon or dude with a dragon showed up, conquered everyone and his line has ruled for years only to disappear one night and now the various noble houses vie for control.]]

Anyway, Brevoy is divided into a few regional areas, each ruled by a noble house who have their own outlook and goals, as well as a [[Greyhawk|somewhat independent city of adventurer swordsmen]]. The northern nobles are loosely allied against the equally loosely allied south and, in an attempt to build power and prestige enough to keep the calm, the newest king has sent [[Adventurer|adventurers]] south to found a new kingdom, [[Just As Planned|preferably a weak one that they can conquer in a weekend war.]]

===Cheliax===
[[File:Cheliax_flag.png|right|thumb]]
Motherfucking '''DEVIL [[Nazi|NAZIS.]]''' I mean, shit, their flag has a fucking swastika on it, modified ''just'' enough to keep German fa/tg/uys from [[/pol/|getting arrested.]] They were the biggest big cheese since Azlant until Aroden died and the noble houses turned the empire into a clusterfuck resembling a [[Crusader Kings]] game gone bad. House Thrune, fortunately (for them), [[Devil|had some friends in low places]] and leveraged their foul magic to slaughter their way through a 30-year civil war and put Queen Abrogail on the throne. Now the people of Cheliax have to deal with a government that worships [[Asmodeus]] as a state religion, regularly employs bound devils in its armies, [[Chaos|and ''really'' likes putting spikes on things.]] Anyone who doesn't support the new order is at risk of getting ratted out by his neighbors for profit and the villages "live in fear," but for the most part people live as they always have. And yes, they ''do'' make sure the <s>trains</s> carriages run on time and have a huge standing military. You know, just in case the swastika wasn't big enough of a hint.

===Druma===
[[Star Trek|Ferengi]] in a fantasy setting. Their religion (which they claim is just a set of divinations, even though it acts exactly like a real-world religion complete with all kinds of weird social stipulations) literally directs them to make as much money as they can, bling themselves the fuck out, favor each other over <s>goyim</s> unbelievers in business dealings, and eventually buy out the entire world. [[Chaotic Stupid]] robbers beware, that unassuming gem convoy is also blinged out with enough contingency spells to flash boil a dragon, and if the magic doesn't get you, the equally pimped-out guards will. Contrary to expectations, ''not'' dwarven, though there is a substantial dwarven minority because of their role in getting the Five Kings Mountains to stop killing each other and the absolutely retarded amount of gold and gems on their land. [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|For them, heaven is humans-only]] (Or was until their setting book came out, which retconned that away.)

Said setting book (Druma: Profit and Prophecy) explores the social stipulations and ideology of the Prophets further, revealing that their strange behaviors and hoarding of wealth are all in preparation for a ritual which will allow them to dodge the afterlife entirely and live on in a tricked-out demiplane until their tombs are robbed.

===Five Kings Mountains===
When the dwarves forced their way to the surface, they popped up here mostly. Over the course of the Quest For Sky (the aforementioned holy war to the surface) they built up a fuckton of [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|grudges]] with each other that mutated and merged over time, and after an exceedingly long and generic history the Five Kings Mountains are in a situation similar to the real-life Holy Roman Empire; there are far more than five dwarf polities there, and none of them can be considered "kings." Otherwise they're your standard awesome as fuck fantasy dwarves. Funnily, are neighbors with the elves and the Ferengiboos, as well as the not!Americans.

===Galt===
'''VIVE LA REVOLUTION!''' Galt was at one time a Chelish holding, but after Big Daddy Asmodeus got his fingers in its contingency of [[Neckbeard|poets and philosophers]] started writing screeds about how shit House Thrune was and if someone like that could rule by divine right, then divine right was a crock of shit. Because Galt is just the high school history version of France during the Terror, this idea spread like wildfire and anyone who was even remotely related to the Chelish leadership was put to the sword. Modern Galt is a continuously shifting crab-bucket of revolutionary governments, each one falling victim to the next based on the shifting whims of the mob. One neat wrinkle is that the guillotines used to execute yesterday's news (the ''final blades'') trap the souls of those they kill, simultaneously preventing resurrection and keeping the soul from getting stolen by (or sent to, if the victim was evil) Hell. Dwarf players should take note of the town of Azurestone, which is built around a holy site of Torag and is kept relatively insulated from the anarchic clusterfuck.

===Geb===
Fuck yeah [[Lich]] King (actually a ghost king, though there is a Lich Queen ruling in his stead, since the ghost king is mildly senile (edit: said Lich Queen was destroyed in an AP and is now wandering around without a body somewhere on Golarion (edit: she's a goddess now, and she hates her worshippers' stupid guts))). Originally part of ancient Osirion until they exiled a cocky necromancer named Geb, so he started his own kingdom with [[meme|blackmagic and hookers]], also named Geb, and got into a multi-century pissing match with the wizard Nex, who ruled the nation of Nex. This war fucked both countries, turning Geb into an undead wasteland and the southern portions of Nex into a desert where magic doesn't work.

===Hermea===
[[Council of Wyrms]]: The Nation. An island in the sea between Cheliax and Varisia ruled by a gold dragon who is instituting some "[[communism|Glorious Endeavor]]" to perfect humanity. Has had literally 0 info put out about it except that it kinda exists... '''UNTIL SECOND EDITION''', where it turns out that said Great Wyrm is using eugenics to form the perfect weapon, powered by perfect souls, to kill an avatar and save the world. A plan so perfect that he doesn't need to ask anyone's permission about it. Enter the player characters...

===Irrisen===
Cold as a witch's titty, and boy are there witches here. Founded by [[Baba Yaga]] after a month long war, she locked the land in perpetual winter then promptly fucked off, only returning every 100 years to kidnap the current queen and install a new daughter on the throne. Formerly part of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, they are still [[butthurt]] about losing the territory. Was a major focus for one of the adventure paths and had some sourcebooks written about it. Basically it's a Russian's nightmare of every single cruel icy fey imaginable, witches be fucking everywhere (and they rule the place) and there is a secret police with lots of spies. [[Furry|There is also a transforming worg waifu that half the fandom creamed their pants over.]]

===Isger===
Cheliax's bottom bitch. Only notable because their flag has a barely-disguised swastika on it. A glorified trade-route between Cheilax and other wealthier nations, such as Druma, keeping the trade roads secured is the main priority, leaving the rest of the nation to suffer. Isger is used to suffering, though, as large swaths of the country were recently fucked in a war with raiding goblin tribes from which they still haven't really recovered. Its like Marvel Comics Switzerland in WW2 where it became a puppet of the Reich and is usually given over to Hydra if they aren't given Bavaria or some other southern territory in Great Germany.

===Jalmeray===
Little India. Originally ruled by Nex it was given to a Vudran explorer because Nex liked the cut of his jib.

===Katapesh===
Slavers and drug dealers ruled by a mysterious, eldritch race called the Pactmasters. Its basicaly Oman before OI MATE DO YOU HAVE A LISCENCE FOR THOSE BLACKSLAVES, GUNS, OPIUM AND HOOKERS!

===Kyonin===
Typical elf kingdom. Been fucked over by a demon who has blighted a huge swath of the south.

===Lands of the Linnorm Kings===
Vikings and nasty animalistic dragons called [[linnorm]]s. If you can actually kill a linnorm they'll crown you as one of their kings.  Killing a linnorm subjects you to the linnorm's death curse, which does bad things to you until you die.  Notably, actually uniting the Lands of the Linnorm Kings involves killing the biggest, meanest linnorm, and ''his'' death curse causes you to [[Lucius the Eternal| become him]], so have fun with that.

===Lastwall===
Crusader state that fights a constant battle against both [[Orc]]s from Belkzen and [[Vampire]]s from Ustalav. No longer exists thanks to the transition between editions thanks to [[That Guy|a certain Lich named Tar-Baphon.]] What a swell guy…

===Mendev===
Another crusader state, this one fights the demons from the Worldwound. Its queen is over 100 years old but looks to be early middle aged due to a youth potion they buy from Thuvia.

===Mendiogalti Island===
Island of assassins who venerate a giant red praying mantis god. They can and will murder anyone but sitting monarchs.

===Molthune===
Fantasy Prussia. Recently lost their northern lands to a bunch of Robin Hood wannabes. Makes the criminally stupid decision of hiring [[hobgoblin]] mercenaries because they have an unhealthy obsession with outdoing Cheliax in the whole empire-building thing. GOTT MIT UNS!

===Mwangi Expanse===
The centre of the continent of Garund with a lot of cultural diversity that nevertheless went a bit unexplored in favour of tired pulp tropes and evil demon gorillas. After the [[Midgard]]'s awesome [[Southlands]] shamed all the other white faggots in this hobby doing not-Africa bad, this got amended with a whole setting book and accompanying adventure path. It turns out that the locals don't like the demons either, and having the setting's most powerful school of magic is kind of important. Put bluntly, [[Ethnic Fantasy|it's less racist now]], and actually replaced the Chult shit with fun shit. This shift is justified in the lore by prior adventurers having been idiots mostly going there to kill stuff which is not, perhaps, unreasonable.
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===Nex===
Originally part of ancient Osirion, at some point it became its own nation called Nex ruled by the [[wizard]] named Nex. Real creative bunch, these wizards. As is natural for a nation of wizards they have royally fucked up their lands in a massive magic war with Geb, to their south, almost single-handedly making the nation of Alkenstar in the process. After Nex just completely fucked off one day, the war pretty much went into a stalemate because Geb didn't even want to fight anymore if he wouldn't get to kill Nex.

===Nidal===
Client state to Cheliax that worships the Goddess of Love's twisted big brother. They are basically Clive Barker's Cenobites (think BDSM people who love hard piercings and spiked chains) plus 1984.

===Nirmathas===
A wooded area that told Molthune to fuck off. Basically this is Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest.

===Numeria===
[[Conan the Barbarian|Conan]] meets [[Expedition to the Barrier Peaks|science fiction]], so expect super buff barbarians throwing spears at giant robot scorpions with plasma cannons for stingers. Hard core as fuck.

===Osirion===
Literally Egypt if the [[Mummy]] movies were documentaries. The capital is built in and around a giant beetle shell, there are pyramids everywhere filled with mummies and treasure, adventurers from all over the world go there [[Indiana Jones|to protect the artifacts]], and it once had [[Historical Empires|one of the largest empires in existence]] before being taken over by foreigners.

===Qadira===
Fantasy Turkey/Arabia. Have warred with Taldor and for a while ruled Osirion. May or may not be on the verge of a civil war. Is actually the westernmost holding of an even larger Persia-inspired empire called Kelesh.

===Rahadoum===
A country so fucked over by decades of war between three churches - ironically, one of them was the church of [[Sarenrae]], who is the local Goddess of [[Paladin]]s - that divine magic and worship is outlawed. This no-doubt displeases the gods but they [[Tzeentch|continue their machinations in secret via espionage]] courtesy of hidden [[oracle]]s, [[clerics]], and even [[angel]]s.

===Razmiran===
Previously part of the River Kingdoms, broke off a few years ago because said "God-King" converted a bunch of idiots. A nation of Scientologists and home of the "false priest" archetype for sorcerers.

===Realm of the Mammoth Lords===
Ever want a low fantasy caveman game that still fights witches, giants, demons, [[dinosaur|prehistoric megafauna]] and more? Go here.

===River Kingdoms===
A vast territory of constantly rising and falling petty kingdoms, it's likely if it ever united it would be one of the most powerful nations in the Inner Sea since its comparable to Taldor and Cheliax in size, but they prefer fighting amongst themselves. All neighboring countries claim some bit of it but can never hold it long due to various reasons. Banditry is massively common and is expected by the populace, some even take up banditry as a bit of part-time work between their normal lives like fishing and farming. Has its own unspoken code called the "Six River Freedoms" which basically amount to:

#Say whatever you want, but don't be surprised if a Half-Orc punches you in the face when you call their mother uglier than a mountain troll.
#If you swear an Oath you keep it or you die, no exceptions.
#No one can block the use of the rivers or land travel or charge tolls other than in wartime. However if you get attacked whilst travelling them you're on your own.
#Within their realms all who are there are bound to whatever local laws exist.
#Slavery is utterly prohibited, and even wizards can get their ass bitten if they summon a creature in view of commoners.
#As long as you give the victim a chance to defend their belongings, you're allowed to steal and conquer their stuff. However if you steal their stuff and they don't get a chance to block it you're treated as a common criminal.

Basically Anarcho-Monarchists of the setting, but with more rivers. Also the home of the Kingmaker AP module, which let players build their own kingdom. Similar in concept to the Border Princes of Warhammer Fantasy.

===Shackles===
Pirates of the Caribbean. "Ruled" by the Hurricane King, every island and small stretch of land is claimed by some pirate or pirate group.

===Sodden Lands===
Previously consisting of two small kingdoms that thrived on prophecy, when Aroden died and prophecy pretty much failed followed by a massive hurricane that would make Katrina look like a small breeze, they collapsed and this is now just ruins and swampy, marshy lands. So yeah, Louisiana on a bad day.

===Taldor===
Has overtones of the Byzantine Empire. Stagnant, decadent, corrupt. The grand prince hires vikings as bodyguards. Once rules much of the world but has become a shadow of it's former self.

===Thuvia===
Barely held together because the small cities in this realm produce the single most sought after magical item. No, not girdles of gender-swapping. I swear to... No, they make a potion that reverts the drinker to the prime of life. Consume it often enough and you basically can be immortal. Only a few batches are made each year and the prices are exorbitant.

===Ustalav===
I vant to zuck your blood! [[Ravenloft|Take every fantasy gothic horror trope and dump it here.]] You got [[vampire]]s, [[zombie]]s, [[werewolves]], [[lich]]es, [[hag]]s, voodoo, [[Cthulhu]], [[witch]]es and everything else. [[Castlevania|Here, EVERY night is a horrible night to have a curse.]]

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===Varisia===
This is the main setting of the main setting. Vast wild lands, a few small cities at the edges, massive ruins to explore, [[goblin]]s to kill, gypsies and more. Most of the adventures paths either play completely here, start here or at least have ties here.

Varisia also had a massive overhaul done to it when Pathfinder updated to its second edition. Very descriptive. It would be appriciated if someone was to edit this.

As of second edition, Varisia still seems to be the place for adventuring groups to get their start, and indeed Sandpoint is listed as being famous for having been the place where several legendary parties got their start. 

Politically, it’s been Balkanized by an invasion by Cheliax which displaced the Shoanti - who were already coexisting uneasily with the native, nomadic Varisians - into the northern, harsher reaches of the region.

===Vidrian (formerly Sargava)===
Technically a colony to the devil-worshipping assholes in Cheliax, Sargava was effectively independent thanks to the massive fuck-you hurricane and pirates to the north. The local Mwangi people were little better than slaves and may have been plotting to overthrow [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution the colonists].

As it turns out, they did just that. The locals had to fight off a bunch of pirates first, but Sargava successfully became Vidrian and kicked out the colonists.

===Worldwound===
Aroden, god of humans, made a lot of enemies in his day before he died. One was a giant insectoid demon lord. When he bit the bullet about a hundred years ago, the demon lord saw his chance and tore open a new gaping hole into the world to fuck. In constant war with Mendev and for the most part leave Numeria and the Mammoth Lords alone because why would you fuck with alien tech and guys who fight on mammoths? This owes a clear debt to Iuz in [[Greyhawk]], especially as [[Carl Sargent]] detailed it; to the point one town herein is named "Iz".