Grand Lodge
The historical and administrative heart of the Pathfinder Society is the Grand Lodge, a sprawling stronghold that encompasses seven sturdy stone fortresses, the largest of which is the soaring, five-towered white palace of Skyreach. All seven fortresses and their extensive grounds are ringed by a tall stone wall and are accessible only by a single massive gate decorated with the Glyph of the Open Road. This gate almost never closes, as Pathfinder agents stumble and stride through its doors at all hours.
Most Pathfinder Society business is conducted in Skyreach, and its greatest conclaves are held in the Great Hall, where an eclectic assemblage of captain’s chairs, divans, cushions, rugs, and hammocks spreads out around the Atlas Tableaux, a 20-foot square table that holds a detailed illusory map of the Inner Sea and its surrounding lands. As new information about regions is sent in by venture-captains, the map is updated to match. Above it, the ceiling is also clad in illusion, showing the sky above Absalom as if it were night, with astrological markers indicating the locations of constellations and celestial bodies. The Society’s Decemvirate leaders can dismiss the illusion with a word, revealing an intricate skylight that admits natural light, but the Great Hall is usually sheathed in false twilight and illumined by enchanted wall sconces and table lamps.
The overall appearance of both Skyreach’s Great Hall and the entire Grand Lodge itself is chaotic in the extreme, mirroring the inclinations of the Pathfinders who built it. The Pathfinder Society accepts members of any morality, age, ancestry, or creed, so long as they do not violate the Society’s ethos. If an initiate makes it through training and passes the challenge of Confirmation, or a truly exceptional individual warrants the rare honor of a field commission, that person becomes a Pathfinder. Accordingly, venturecaptains and their operatives often come into conflict with one another, sometimes as friendly rivals competing for the same prize, but occasionally as real enemies divided by bitterer and more profound conflicts. Not all Pathfinders are heroes, and not all of them want to be.
Not all of them are strong supporters of Absalom, either. While the Pathfinder Society has a venerable history in the city, and its members are widely recognized by their wayfinders, Pathfinders do not command the level of admiration that one might expect given the Society’s stature in Absalom and the achievements of many of its members. Most people are more likely to look to the district guards for help, or to widely respected faiths such as Abadar’s or Iomedae’s, before they would think of turning to the Pathfinder Society. This is, in large part, because the Decemvirate and the Grand Lodge’s guards try to eschew district politics, which can be perceived by local citizens as apathy or even outright malice, as the Pathfinders tend to get wrapped up in political events despite their best efforts. Worse yet, the Society is powerful enough that few institutions could ever hope to challenge them. This, plus the fact that bad actors have sometimes manipulated the Society to cause harm, has created a public perception that the Pathfinders consider themselves above the law not only abroad, but in Absalom too.
Thus, over the years, the Pathfinder Society has brought many and varied disasters onto their neighbors, and has not always been as responsive to Absalom’s needs as its citizens might hope. While the Society generally tries to make amends for the most obvious catastrophes, a bag of gold is poor payment for the loss of a leg, a friend, or one’s childhood home and the beloved pets inside. And, while the Society does often rise to answer major threats to the city, this is small consolation when the cause of that threat was some Pathfinder’s unwise provocation of an ancient power or theft of an ill-understood artifact.
The result of these unfortunate events has been, in part, the rise of community organizations opposed to the Pathfinder Society, of which the Peacebuilders’ Alliance is the fastest-growing and most influential. While rumors persist that the Peacebuilders are financed by the Pathfinders’ rivals, such as the Aspis Consortium, these rumors—some of which are propagandized by Pathfinder agents themselves—are mostly untrue. A few of the Peacebuilders are cynical opportunists, and some are indeed paid operatives, but most members are local citizens who have seen or suffered some hardship for which they blame the Pathfinders. Indeed, their supporters reportedly include Lord Omrys Ahnkamen, a onetime defender of the Pathfinder Society who now believes the Society is too much of a trouble magnet to tolerate within Absalom’s walls.
For now, the disputes have been controlled. The Peacebuilders, true to their name, have mostly sought to enhance community safety by demanding closer oversight of Pathfinder activity within the city, taxing its endeavors to finance a compensation fund, and imposing a duty on the Society to disclose, mitigate, and provide restitution for any harms they might bring to Absalom. The Pathfinder Society, however, has resisted these demands. While apologizing for past harms and claiming to respect the citizenry’s needs, the Society has also argued that the Peacebuilders’ restrictions are unreasonably onerous and might endanger its agents. In light of the Pathfinders’ persistent suspicions that the Aspis Consortium and other enemies have infiltrated the Peacebuilders, these arguments may not be unfounded—and may prove impossible to resolve peacefully.
Most Pathfinder Society business is conducted in Skyreach, and its greatest conclaves are held in the Great Hall, where an eclectic assemblage of captain’s chairs, divans, cushions, rugs, and hammocks spreads out around the Atlas Tableaux, a 20-foot square table that holds a detailed illusory map of the Inner Sea and its surrounding lands. As new information about regions is sent in by venture-captains, the map is updated to match. Above it, the ceiling is also clad in illusion, showing the sky above Absalom as if it were night, with astrological markers indicating the locations of constellations and celestial bodies. The Society’s Decemvirate leaders can dismiss the illusion with a word, revealing an intricate skylight that admits natural light, but the Great Hall is usually sheathed in false twilight and illumined by enchanted wall sconces and table lamps.
The overall appearance of both Skyreach’s Great Hall and the entire Grand Lodge itself is chaotic in the extreme, mirroring the inclinations of the Pathfinders who built it. The Pathfinder Society accepts members of any morality, age, ancestry, or creed, so long as they do not violate the Society’s ethos. If an initiate makes it through training and passes the challenge of Confirmation, or a truly exceptional individual warrants the rare honor of a field commission, that person becomes a Pathfinder. Accordingly, venturecaptains and their operatives often come into conflict with one another, sometimes as friendly rivals competing for the same prize, but occasionally as real enemies divided by bitterer and more profound conflicts. Not all Pathfinders are heroes, and not all of them want to be.
Not all of them are strong supporters of Absalom, either. While the Pathfinder Society has a venerable history in the city, and its members are widely recognized by their wayfinders, Pathfinders do not command the level of admiration that one might expect given the Society’s stature in Absalom and the achievements of many of its members. Most people are more likely to look to the district guards for help, or to widely respected faiths such as Abadar’s or Iomedae’s, before they would think of turning to the Pathfinder Society. This is, in large part, because the Decemvirate and the Grand Lodge’s guards try to eschew district politics, which can be perceived by local citizens as apathy or even outright malice, as the Pathfinders tend to get wrapped up in political events despite their best efforts. Worse yet, the Society is powerful enough that few institutions could ever hope to challenge them. This, plus the fact that bad actors have sometimes manipulated the Society to cause harm, has created a public perception that the Pathfinders consider themselves above the law not only abroad, but in Absalom too.
Thus, over the years, the Pathfinder Society has brought many and varied disasters onto their neighbors, and has not always been as responsive to Absalom’s needs as its citizens might hope. While the Society generally tries to make amends for the most obvious catastrophes, a bag of gold is poor payment for the loss of a leg, a friend, or one’s childhood home and the beloved pets inside. And, while the Society does often rise to answer major threats to the city, this is small consolation when the cause of that threat was some Pathfinder’s unwise provocation of an ancient power or theft of an ill-understood artifact.
The result of these unfortunate events has been, in part, the rise of community organizations opposed to the Pathfinder Society, of which the Peacebuilders’ Alliance is the fastest-growing and most influential. While rumors persist that the Peacebuilders are financed by the Pathfinders’ rivals, such as the Aspis Consortium, these rumors—some of which are propagandized by Pathfinder agents themselves—are mostly untrue. A few of the Peacebuilders are cynical opportunists, and some are indeed paid operatives, but most members are local citizens who have seen or suffered some hardship for which they blame the Pathfinders. Indeed, their supporters reportedly include Lord Omrys Ahnkamen, a onetime defender of the Pathfinder Society who now believes the Society is too much of a trouble magnet to tolerate within Absalom’s walls.
For now, the disputes have been controlled. The Peacebuilders, true to their name, have mostly sought to enhance community safety by demanding closer oversight of Pathfinder activity within the city, taxing its endeavors to finance a compensation fund, and imposing a duty on the Society to disclose, mitigate, and provide restitution for any harms they might bring to Absalom. The Pathfinder Society, however, has resisted these demands. While apologizing for past harms and claiming to respect the citizenry’s needs, the Society has also argued that the Peacebuilders’ restrictions are unreasonably onerous and might endanger its agents. In light of the Pathfinders’ persistent suspicions that the Aspis Consortium and other enemies have infiltrated the Peacebuilders, these arguments may not be unfounded—and may prove impossible to resolve peacefully.
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