Aroden
| Aroden | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Alignment | Lawful Neutral | |
| Divine Rank | God (Deceased) | |
| Pantheon | Golarion | |
| Portfolio | Humanity, Innovation, History, Culture, Fulfillment of Destiny | |
| Domains | Community, Glory, Knowledge, Law, Protection (Sub-domains unknown) | |
| Home Plane | Axis | |
| Worshippers | Human | |
| Favoured Weapon | Longsword | |
Aroden, The Last Azlanti was the God-Emperor of Mankind in Golarion. Once the greatest swordsmith of Atlantis Azlant in its final years, he survived Earthfall (the resulting fallout of the Aboleth throwing a planet's fetus onto Golarion) and led the survivors. At some point he became an immortal hero king destined to be the last of his kind (this would wind up being wrong, as multiple Runelords outlived him and, as with 2E's time travel shenanigans, two still do.). Eventually he grabbed the Starstone (a shard of the planet fetus that caused Earthfall and killed two gods trying to stop it) and upon touching it became a god himself.
Aroden's divinity would not last forever. After 4606 years of divinity, Aroden was destined to appear before humanity and usher in a new age of glory for humanity. Instead, the world (not just his areas of worship) was wracked by massive storms. After three weeks, the storms (except the Eye of Abendego, an everlasting hurricane) broke and Aroden's clerics were cut off from his divine power and long term prophecy ceased to function.
Aroden is survived by his former herald, Iomedae, and the minor saint Milani, who have both become gods in their own right. Much of the political power and wealth of his church has survived him, though his followers have either converted or died. His portfolio of humanity remains unclaimed, though Starfinder says Iomedae will eventually claim it. One early adventure takes place in his former domain and shows it empty of petitioners with no information on what happened to them given. Milani maintains a small embassy in the crumbling domain.
Unlike Zarus, Aroden to some degree cared about humanity's crossbreeds. The original Taldor book stated he had a surviving, still faithful, Half-Elf archbishop. Milani has "some half-elf and half-orc" worshipers in addition to her more common human worshipers.
Second edition reveals that Aroden's cause of death was murder. He was referred to as "slain" back in A Song of Silver and devs mentioned they had an official version of what happened to Aroden for consistency, so this likely isn't a retcon.