At this point in the design process, we already know a few things about our adventure. We know it will take place in northern Mendev, in the Village of Thir, where orichalcum was found. We also know that the village was created by a paladin dwarf named Adaril Godstan, and that she was killed about a year ago. And we know that a dark, evil entity lurks in the shadows. But what exactly is it? This post will answer that question.
When I started writing this Adventure Path, I knew I wanted to use Orichalcum. In Pathfinder 1st edition, the metal was called horacalcum, and had time-warping properties. In 2nd Edition, orichalcum has the ability to repair itself automatically. In real life, it would be a memory metal. It is also a skymetal, so its origins are alien.
Knowing that in Pathfinder aberrations are the equivalent of aliens, I opened the Bestiary and looked up high level monsters of this type. We have the Baomal at level 20, but looking up the creature (a two headed dragon turtle) it didn’t do anything for me. So my attention turned to the Shoggoth.
First things first: they’re rare monsters. That alone sets them apart from other creatures. They’re literally aliens, so its presence in the region could be tied to the orichalcum. They’re malevolent lurkers, and sometimes they're worshiped by other creatures. They’re not, however, very intelligent. But they could be, given enough time.
So the Shoggoth was already a strong candidate. I knew that it was a creature from Lovecraft mythos, so I did a quick search on it, and found out that they use five-point architecture. Five was already a proeminent number on the campaing. Five factions. Five members of the Company of Dawn. Five Modules.
With all that in mind, I’d decided to go with the Shoggoth. An evil lurking for eons, growing intelligent and plotting its escape. Then, I needed to figure out its origin.
The Shoggoth came to Golarion in an event akin to the Rain of Stars. It was being transported in an alien meteorite prison composed of orichalcum, holding it in temporal stasis. But the starship was attacked, and its pilot lost control, crashing in what would eventually be northern Mendev. In the crash, the Shoggoth was released and for a time, it roamed the region now known as the Moonscape.
The pilot of the spacecraft, a female Lashunta, survived, and found a group of humans. She taught them magic and science, and learned about the natural spirits. Together, the Lashunta and the Leader of the humans devised a plan to imprison the Shoggoth. They would use a 6-point ritual, using the remains of the asteroid as a focus. The orichalcum would channel its time-warping properties to form a new prison for the creature.
The Leader and the Lashunta, after seeing so much destruction, guided the survivors to the northern mountains. Eventually their civilization’s existence faded from memory, and other creatures came to the region as nature started to heal. But after a thousand years, their descendants came back.
Those humans called themselves the Lassari. Gifted with magical powers and a sharp intellect, they fought over territory with the giants who had taken root. The war was not going in their favor. That is, until they found a strange, red metal – the orichalcum.
The Lassari forged weapons and magic items from orichalcum, and thus were able to fend off and drive the giants out of the region. But by disturbing the orichalcum, they had also tempered Shoggoth’s prison.
Being a prisoner for over a millennium, the Shoggoth knew every metaphorical corner of its cage. So when the Lassari collected the orichalcum, it sensed them. It discovered that it could influence those who used the metal, albeit in no more than a vision or dream. It was, at the time, no more than an all-consuming mass of rage, more intelligent than its kin. And so only whispers of terror and bloodlust reached the Lassari.
The Lassari vanished from the face of Golarion in the following centuries, lost in perpetual civil wars, until they were finally trampled by Frost Giant forces, coming from the south looking for colder places after the sun had returned to Golarion’s sky.
But the Shoggoth had learned. It could make those inferior species eager for more orichalcum. If it made them wage war against each other, they would seek the orichalcum, eventually breaking the chains of its captivity.
So for many centuries the creature has been influencing different species into waging war against each other, but none of the following civilizations had the talent to tame the orichalcum as the Lassari did, so they preyed upon their lost artifacts. Nonetheless, the Shoggoth learned something new in each of its war games, growing more cunning with each installment.
But when the Kellid warriors set in the region, the Shoggoth had a problem. Those warriors refused to use magic, and actively hunted down magic users. If not for this event, the creature would have already broken free from its chains.
The Worldwound was another setback to the Shoggoth. Most of the creatures that it could influence were driven out of the region, and for a century it could do little more than wait.
But the planar rift was closed. People start moving in again. And they wanted the orichalcum.
With a thousand alien mouths, the Shoggoth grinned.