Saga Lands
The northwestern reaches of Avistan boast vast woodlands, towering mountain ranges, sweeping deserts and tundra, and sprawling swamplands, yet not all is wilderness. Kingdoms, clans, and free cities alike can be found throughout this far-flung stretch of the Inner Sea region, each with its own traditions and legends. Indeed, the stories that come from this part of the world truly are the stuff of legends, as one might expect of a region known as the Saga Lands.
The story of the Saga Lands begins well before Earthfall, when a band of exiles from the ancient nation of Azlant fled eastward and gathered here. Under the leadership of a man named Xin, these exiles founded the empire of Thassilon, which swiftly grew in power. It wasn’t long before Xin’s self-appointed governors, seven specialized wizards known collectively as runelords, turned against their king and assassinated him. The runelords then each seized control of one of Thassilon’s nations, and in time they came to view each other as enemies. They enslaved giants to build staggering monuments, commanded dragons and monsters as specialized heroes and guardians, and ruled cruelly over the Varisian and Shoanti people whose land the runelords had claimed to build their empire.
When Earthfall came, it devastated Thassilon as it did other parts of Golarion, yet the runelords had foreseen the looming catastrophe. Each developed their own solution to escape death from the apocalypse, but none of them appreciated the magnitude of the coming devastation. Though they had hoped to emerge from their shelters in the aftermath, they instead remained locked away for millennia, neither alive nor dead.
In time, the legacy of Thassilon faded, and the rule of the runelords was remembered in oral traditions as something more akin to parable than actual history. The lands once dominated by the runelords were reduced to wilderness in which the survivors from Earthfall built up their own societies, while explorers and settlers from southern regions constructed cities over the ancient ruins. Today these lands host a wide range of peoples and cultures. In the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, the right to rule and lead raids is determined by one’s ability to defeat a powerful linnorm dragon in combat. East of this, in the nation of Irrisen, generations of witches descended from a legend hold the reins of rule, and winter is a constant presence. The Realm of the Mammoth Lords occupies the northeastern portion of the Saga Lands, past the reaches of the ancient Thassilonian empire, and is home to valiant warriors who ride megafauna into battle. In the southern extent, the frontier realm known as Varisia, once the heart of Thassilon itself, has seen new sagas to rival any that have come before.
In recent years, Varisia and Irrisen alike have seen tumult and change. In Irrisen, the cycle of rule by a cabal of winter witches has been disrupted, and none can say where the land’s new queen aims to take her country. Meanwhile, Varisia has witnessed the rise of Thassilon’s runelords from the forgotten past. Heroes stepped in to first defeat one runelord, and then most of the other runelords who followed.
Type
Subcontinent
Included Locations
Nations
- Irrisen
- Land of the Linnorm Kings
- New Thassilon
- Realm of the Mammoth Lords
- Varisia
Peoples
- Azlanti
- Dwarven
- Elven
- Goblin
- Gnome
- Kellid
- Shoanti
- Taldan
- Tien
- Ulfen
- Varisian
Languages
- Common
- Dwarven
- Elvish
- Goblin
- Gnomish
- Hallit
- Jotun
- Shoanti
- Skald
- Thassilonian
- Tien
- Varisian
