Azlanti

The Azlanti are now little more than a memory: an ancient, near-mythical progenitor of all human civilization native to the lost empire of Azlant. The last true, pure-blooded Azlanti was one of the most famous humans of all time: the god Aroden. He dragged the Starstone from the depths of the Inner Sea at the beginning of the Age of Enthronement. He later became the patron deity of the greatest human empires in the Inner Sea region: Taldor and Cheliax.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Another popular way people today adopt Azlanti culture is by giving themselves or their children the archaic names found on artifacts, wall mosaics, or manuscripts. Azlanti names almost always begin with a vowel and never include a surname. Popular male names include Akorian, Olhas, and Ureste, while females are called Iaome, Ommarra, or Ulionestria.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

The Azlanti people spoke a language also known as Azlanti or Ancient Azlanti. Even though it hasn't been actively spoken for millennia, its linguistic legacy is carried on in such languages as Taldane, Polyglot, Hallit, and Varisian.

Common Dress Code

Little or no actual clothing from Azlant has survived the millennia, but depictions of Azlanti dress can sometimes be found painted on ancient walls or artifacts. These depictions show that deep green and crimson were popular colours among the nobility. This palate is often followed by those wishing to be perceived as having a strong Azlanti heritage.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

The ownership of sentient humanoid creatures is known to have been a common practice among the Azlanti. Many people who claim Azlanti ancestors, therefore, see slavery as their natural birthright. This is not the case in Andoran, where the practice is considered anathema to the country's democratic and egalitarian values, even though Azlanti culture and design are otherwise still a prominent part of Andoran culture.

History

The Azlanti are believed to have been Golarion's first advanced human civilization. The ancient empire of Azlant, from which the Azlanti gained their name, covered all of the continents in the middle of the Arcadian Ocean. The rise of Azlanti culture was brought about by the interference of the alghollthus, an even older race of aquatic creatures fond of genetic manipulation. They took the early cave-dwelling and nomadic humans of Azlant and set them on the path to a complex, centralized, and agrarian civilization.
The Azlanti culture flourished for thousands of years but eventually began believing themselves superior to their alghollthu masters. In payment for their disloyalty, the alghollthus drew down a massive meteorite to destroy their intellectual progeny. The resulting apocalypse became known as Earthfall; it destroyed Azlant, killed most Azlanti, and sunk the entire continent to the bottom of the ocean.
Some survivors sought refuge along the coast of the newly formed Inner Sea, eventually helping to found the nation of Taldor. The history of the Azlanti may be lost to time, and the Arcadian Ocean, but their cultural influences can be seen in many of the Inner Sea region's current civilizations.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Azlanti Descendants

Several other species are said to descend from the Azlanti, although this connection cannot be known.

• Gillmen: Also known as the Low Azlanti, these amphibious creatures long ago took to living below the sea. They maintain a connection to the surface world through their presence on the Isle of Kortos, especially in Escadar and the neighbourhood of Gilltown in Absalom. They are said to have the best claim for being the true sons and daughters of Old Azlant.
• Dark folk: Descendants of Azlanti who fled the destruction of Earthfall and descended into the Darklands, they can be divided into two related species, the dark stalkers and the dark creepers.
• Mongrelman: These degenerate descendants live in the Darklands realm of Nar-Voth.
• Morlock: In an insane drive to maintain racial purity, these Azlanti descendants eventually devolved into the bestial Morlocks. They now dwell primarily in the Darklands realm of Sekamina.
• Munavri: Many of the sea-borne ships and vessels that survived the initial destruction of the Earthfall were taken by the alghollthus through the subterranean water column known as the Braid and, from there, into the Sightless Sea of Orv. These Azlanti managed to avoid the degeneration that claimed their fellow survivors in shallower parts of the Darklands and evolved into the albino, telepathic Munavri race.
• Some Chelaxians and Taldans carry small amounts of Azlanti blood, giving rise to certain typical Azlanti physical traits such as violet eyes or widow's peaks. Such characteristics are generally highly sought-after.

Azlanti Today

Even though the Azlanti as a pure-blooded ethnicity are long extinct, there exists a very small possibility that a true-blooded member of that ancient line still exists today, perhaps in a powerful magical sleep or as part of a very secret and distant community of their kind.