The Oracle of Life

Golarion as Envisioned by GM:

I built my Golarion with an anthrocentric perspective, though the campaign pursues a storyline focused on Kyonin.  I've taken what I understand of history and anthropology and imagined how Golarion should look.  Mine is a low-magic world. 

 

Literacy is 10% in most human civilizations, with most of the literate concentrated in major urban areas.  School is for the privileged.  Most people farm and live within walking distance (5 miles) of their town, village, or hamlet.  The greater the distance from the Inner Sea, the smaller the towns.  Once beyond 60 miles of the inner sea, areas become wild and seldom travelled, with the exception of navigable waterways and major tradeways, which support capillary-like towns and villages within 5-10 miles of them.

 

Disease is the leading killer of humans.  Warfare and monster attack (combined) are next.  And warfare has been all too common in the middle nations that once belonged to Cheliax and Taldor.  As a result, humans have little awareness, nor need for history or geography.  Most humans are concerned with producing enough food for winter, with getting enough gold to buy remedies for diseases they or someone they love have contracted (or are likely to contract), to buy new tools and lumber to keep their homes from falling apart.

 

Life is difficult for almost everyone unfortunate enough not to be born wealthy.  Everyone works hard to produce basic goods and services for the survival of those in the communities around them.  Most trade is local, with goods generally made within a few miles of where they are sold.

 

Humans are suspicious of other races, especially the Elves.  Half-Elves and Half-Orcs who are raised in human societies are generally accepted as human in their local community, but not always.  Gnomes overcome racial prejudice and suspicion in general by being gregarious, and halflings by hard work and good humor.  All of these non-human races are uncommon in human society (except in Cheliax as slaves); Golarion is a human world as far as humans are concerned.

 

Human Arcane Magic Prejudice

Within most of the human cultures, Arcane casters are feared at best, outlawed or criminalized at worst.  The Party must be cognizant to conceal the presence of arcane magicians in their midst, though the strange ways of travelling bards are oft overlooked in the name of entertainment.  Elves, Half-Elves, and Gnomes generate more suspicion from humans because these races are known to have higher acceptance of Arcane practices in their homelands.  Dwarves generate less suspicion, with Half-Orcs often stereotyped as incapable of practicing, let alone mastering it.

 

Among Elven and Dwarven cultures, magic is a tool like any other, and Arcane magic is appreciated as the art that it is.  There is no need to conceal their capabilities as there will be in human societies.  They are aware of the human prejudices and typically conceal themselves when traveling.  Non-humans with Arcane talents are twice as likely to appreciate the need for discretion in using magic (therefore you will see little of it in the open) where humans are concerned.  The more powerful effects of damaging spells, the more obvious the spell effect will be to human senses (GM’s discretion, though I try to be consistent). 

 

Note that the campaign will start in the River Kingdoms (ish), where Arcane magic prejudice is generally known to be low.

 

Human Divine Magic Attitude

In Human cultures, Divine magic is familiar and safe.  Almost every village is large enough to support a church or temple, and thus has a Divine caster of some sort near the center of its workings.  Nearly every child has had Cure Light Wounds administered to him at some point in his or her life, for a broken bone or a severe laceration.  In smaller settlements, Divine spells beyond level 2 are rarely seen (which contributes to the prevalence of disease).  As settlements grow in size and the number of deities served increases, the more likely higher level spells will be seen, but spells of level 5 and above are unseen in all but the largest cities, or are wielded by a noteworthy local in some out-of-the-way place.

 

It is an acceptable avenue toward power and influence for a human being to wield Divine casting power.  However, when Divine casters reach the power to cast spells of level 5, they are usually well known, and often in positions of power in their region, either famous or infamous.  These humans are often as mistrusted as Arcane casters of lesser power, or (sometimes and!) they have developed, in the process of acquiring their Divine power, organized political adversaries. 

 

Magic Items

There is no magic item shop in my Golarion.  Because the party will represent the interests of Kyonin, where magic items are more common, an avenue for players to acquire magic items is avaialble.  I like my players to give me an idea what they're hoping to acquire, and the story will somehow manage to make things happen.  Magic items will be available during the course of the campaign, as treasure and as quest reward.  Potions and scrolls of level 1 and level 2, particularly of a divine nature, will be much more easy to acquire.