Golarion: The Extinction Curse

4720 AR

The Azlanti Empire was the most magically and technologically advanced human culture that ever existed. Their architectural styles have been copied from ruins of their civilization for centuries, and the few artifacts that surface in the markets around the Inner Sea region draw amazement from adventures and scholars alike. Unfortunately, with great power comes great ego, and their arrogance put them against their godly masters, and, in retribution, their masters called down the cataclysmic event known as Earthfall. This event drowned the empire and sank much of its continent beneath the sea, and few of their people managed to survive its devastation.   One of those survivors was Aroden, the last living Atlanti. A powerful human in his own right, his exploits granted him immortality, and over the more than 5,000 years since Earthfall, Aroden formed cities, fought other-worldly armies, and gained a following of people that numbered in the thousands. And after that, he dove deep into the Inner Sea, to the ruins of Azlant at its very bottom, and found the Starstone. This shard of potent magic was but a fragment of the stars that fell, and when Aroden contacted it, this alien artifact assailed him with phantasmagoric visions, subjected him to a series of deadly martial trials, and posed exhausting moral quandaries that challenged his limits more than any of the arduous experiences he had ever endured.   But endured he did, and rose from this test a living god. His first divine act was to raise the Startone and the mass of land on which is had lain, pulling it from the bottom of the sea to form the Isle of Kortos, also known as Starstone Isle. His second was to create the Aeon Orbs, five orbs that enhance the fertility of the island. It was along this island’s coastline where Aroden then established the city of Absalom.   In the centuries to follow, Absalom grew into one of the largest cities in the world, and Aroden’s legacy grew alongside it. As the millennia passed, his attentions increasingly turned away from the concerns of the Inner Sea’s inhabitants to otherworldly matters beyond mortal ken, but prophecy spoke of a time when he would return to Golarion and lead humanity triumphantly into an Age of Glory. As the time of Aroden’s return drew near, entire nations undertook monumental preparations to welcome him back to Golarion.   But that time came, and instead of their god returning, Golarian was wracked by storms for three weeks. When that storm passed, all cleric of Aroden found themselves disconnected from their god, and all, mortal and immortal alike, assume that Aorden is dead. The Eye of Abendego, a permanent hurricane located in the southern Arcadian Ocean, remains even today as a reminder of that moment.   And with Aroden’s death came the death of prophecy, for since then, no major prophecy has come true. In the year of 4606 AR, the Age of Lost Omens began, and it continues to this day.   Our tale begins not on the Isle proper, but on its smaller sister island, the Isle of Erran. There lies the city of Escadar, a city-sized military outpost for the naval operations of Absalom. The city holds many vices for stressed soldiers and bored sailors, from fighting rings to brothels, gambling deans to drug houses. From drinking holes to circuses. And one circus in particular.   The Circus of Wayward Wonders began less than a year ago, when several performers of another circus, Mistress Dusklight’s Celestial Menagerie, fled the abuse their and broke out on their own. Led by their ringmaster, Myron “the Thunder” Stendhal, they left the city of Escadar to avoid the wrath of their former ringmaster and ventured across the island to make their own way, performing for small crowds and practicing for their big break.