The Isle of Erran

From the earliest days, the Isle of Erran was a place set apart from the domain of mortals, kept sacrosanct as a personal refuge for Aroden and his most trusted devotees. It’s said that Erran holds more secrets than all volumes of the Pathfinder Chronicles combined, as the isle’s northern forests contain hundreds of tombs and monoliths unrelated to Aroden or his religion. Absalom’s navy frequently uncovers these ruins as they cut down sections of the forests to obtain lumber for ship construction, and they often hire adventurers to explore their strange discoveries.

Escadar

In ancient times, Escadar was the site of an important Arodenite monastery called St. Sarnax, the training academy and esoteric library of the Knights of the Aeon Star, an order of holy sword-mages who accompanied Aroden in the uncertain days before his ascension. Although the island’s northern reaches remained reserved for Aroden’s exclusive personal use for centuries after his last appearance in Absalom, St. Sarnax and its small port community remained open to Aroden’s clergy, with many visiting to consult ancient Azlanti manuscripts not recorded in Absalom’s Forae Logos library. Only three elderly Knights of the Aeon Star remain today to maintain St. Sarnax, but the white marble monastery still shines as brightly on the southern shores of Escadar as it did in Aroden’s day.

Five centuries ago, Absalom fortified the harbor at St. Sarnax as headquarters for the city’s mighty navy, naming the expanded settlement Escadar after a hero of the Pirate Siege. Scores of warships crowd Escadar’s harbor, from which they set out on regular missions escorting merchant ships, hunting pirates, or patrolling the nearby seaways. When in port, sailors mix in Escadar’s numerous barracks, saloons, gambling dens, and drug parlors. Escadar also features the House of the Cresting Wave, an embassy of the Low Azlanti, who dredge treasures from the sea to hock in the city’s modest public markets.

ARODEN: LEGACY OF A DEAD GOD

While the church of Aroden no longer functions as a religious order, the church of Aroden as a political institution still lives on a century after its god’s apparent death. With nearly 5,000 years of dominance in Absalom’s civic and religious affairs, the presence of the Last Azlanti and his clergy is felt everywhere in Absalom, from the Founding Laws Aroden inscribed upon giant stone tablets to create the city’s government to structures like Azlanti Keep that are said to have been constructed according to his specific design.

ARODEN