Thassilonian Library

[Skeld]

Documented here are bits of lore the heroes learned while researching in the Thassilonian Library under Jorganfist.

Xin-Shalast

• Xin-Shalast is a legendary lost city, rumored to be hidden somewhere in the Kodar Mountains. Stories hold that Xin-Shalast had gold streets and gemstone buildings, and sat under the gaze of a mountain that could see.
• Xin-Shalast was the capital city of an empire called Shalast, one of seven that composed the ancient empire of Thassilon. Legend holds that Xin-Shalast lay at the headwaters of the sacred River Avah—which Varisian folklore says leads to an earthly paradise sacred to Desna. Unfortunately, no record of where this river may have once flowed exists today, and most scholars believe the river itself to have been destroyed during Earthfall.
• In the final centuries before Earthfall ended Thassilon, Xin-Shalast was ruled by Runelord Karzoug, one of the lords of the Thassilonian Empire. The primary architects of the immense city were tribes of giants, themselves ruled by powerful beings known as rune giants.
• The Spires of Xin-Shalast stand upon the mythical mountain of Mhar Massif. This mountain of legendary proportions pierces the skies above the Kodars, and is said to be the highest peak in the entire range of stupendously inhospitable mountains.
• Mhar Massif is said to serve as a bridge to strange realms beyond Golarion—notably, to the nightmare dimension of Leng. The connections with the nightmare realm of Leng were said to have infused the region around the peak of Mhar Massif with dangerous eldritch and otherworldly energies.

Runeforge

• Runeforge was created as a place where agents of the seven runelords could gather to study magic.
• The runelords wove wards around Runeforge that barred entrance into the complex to any runelord or his direct agents, in order to keep the research within free from sabotage at the hands of an enemy.
• Runeforge’s magical enhancements sustained those within without the need to eat, drink, or even sleep.
• Those who joined Runeforge joined for life. The complex’s constant renewal of air and a magical matrix sustained those within without the need to eat, drink, or even sleep.
• The final project the runelords set Runeforge on was the development of ways the runelords could escape the imminent fall of their empire. Each faction developed a unique answer for its runelord, based upon the underlying principles of that faction’s magical traditions.

Runelords

• Thassilon was an empire split into seven kingdoms. Each kingdom was ruled by a governor known as a Runelord. Each Runelord was a powerful practitioner of arcane magic.
• Each Runelord specialized in one of the seven schools of magic recognized by the sages of the time. Each school was tied to a virtue of rulership, but these virtues were corrupted over time and became known as the sins of rulership.
• The virtues of rulership were: wealth, fertility, honest pride, abundance, eager striving, righteous anger, and rest. The sins of rulership were: greed, lust, pride, gluttony, envy, wrath, and sloth.
• Each point of the Sihedron symbolized a school of magic recognized by Thassilon and had its own philosophy:
  Abjuration - Envy focus on suppressing magic other than their own.
  Necromancy - Gluttony seek to manipulate their bodies in their unending hunger for life.
  Transmutation - Greed delight in transforming things into other things, as well as enhancing themselves.
  Enchantment - Lust gain great personal satisfaction at manipulating others' minds, emotions, and wills.
  Illusion - Pride seek to perfect their own appearance and domain through trickery and illusions.
  Conjuration - Sloth enlist agents and minions to perform their tasks, or create what is needed as it is needed.
  Evocation - Wrath focus on complete mastery of the raw destructive power of magic, and delight in channeling those destructive forces in awesome displays.
• Each point of the Sihedron also symbolized one of the seven skymetals:
  Abjuration - Noqual; a iron-like green crystal
  Conjuration - Abysium (feverstone); a glowing blue-green substance
  Enchantment - Djezet; a liquid metal
  Evocation - Siccatite; can be either very hot or very cold
  Illusion - Horacalcum; a time-affecting metal
  Necromancy - Inubrix (ghost iron); out of phase with reality
  Transmutation - Adamantine (starmetal); extremely strong
• Each Runelord carried, as a symbol of their rule, and powerful magical weapon.

Karzoug

• Karzoug was the Runelord of Greed. He was a powerful man indeed— said to be the most gifted manipulator of Transmutation magic in all of Thassilon, and to have lived for hundreds of years. He ruled a region called Shalast, part of the ancient empire of Thassilon, over 10,000 years ago. Karzoug's weapon of rule was a burning glaive studded with meteoric gemstones.
• Although Karzoug was rumored to be half-Vampire or to have Dragon blood in his veins, he was, in fact, a normal Azanti Human. He was born in the Shalast slave city of Malistoke during the reign of Runelord Haphrama. He initially studied under a demon binder, before being selected as an apprentice to Runelord Haphrama. He betrayed and murdered Haphrama, thereby taking up the burning glaive and his place as the eighth Runelord of Greed. He ruled Shalast for 466 years, until the Earthfall.
• Karzoug’s armies were composed primarily of giants who followed his every command—the giants were ruled by towering monsters known as rune giants, who were themselves runelord pawns. Karzoug counted other powerful creatures as his allies as well, such as blue dragons, eerie denizens from the nightmare realm of Leng, blood-drinking outsiders known as scarlet walkers, and immense lamia harridans who towered over most giants.
• Karzoug focused his magic on the school of transmutation, magic associated in Thassilonian times with the virtue of wealth. Under his reign, though, this virtue of rule became more associated with the sin of greed. Among the runelords, his mastery of greed magic was uncontested, yet in the schools of illusion and enchantment (related to the sins of pride and lust), his skills had atrophied greatly.
• Karzoug was tall and arrogant, with numerous gems embedded into his skin. Some believed that weapons infused with illusion and enchantment magic, known as “dominant or commanding weapons,” would be particularly potent against Karzoug, yet no record of someone attacking the runelord with such a weapon exists within the library.
• Karzoug was tall and arrogant, with numerous gems embedded into his skin. Some believed that weapons infused with illusion and enchantment magic, known as “dominant or commanding weapons,” would be particularly potent against Karzoug, yet no record of someone attacking the runelord with such a weapon exists within the library.
• Karzoug warred with his neighbors, but none more so than Alaznist, the Runelord of Wrath and ruler of Bakrakhan. Between their nations, along a ridge known as the Rasp, Karzoug built immense sentinel statues to watch over Bakrakhan, while Alaznist built towers called Hellfire Flumes to prevent Karzoug’s armies from invading. Citizens of both nations worried that the war between Karzoug and Alaznist would soon escalate to the point where they could bring about the end of the world.

Alaznist

• Alaznist was the Runelord of Wrath. She was an arcane knight and the most powerful wielder of Evocation magic in Thassilon. She ruled a region called Bakrakhan, part of the ancient empire of Thassilon, over 10,000 years ago. Alaznist's weapon of rule was a charred adamantine ranseur impaled with the skull of the very first Runelord of Wrath.
• Alaznist was an Azlanti woman born into nobility and wealth. She first apprenticed with her father, himself a powerful wrath wizard. After surpassing his mastery of magic, she turned to otherwordly mentors to increase her power. When her father tried to warn her against such pacts, she sacrificed him and her entire family to either a nascent demon lord or powerful qlippoth in exchange for greater knowledge. Alaznist then challenged Runelord Thybidos, killing him and taking up his mantleas the Runelord of Wrath. Alaznist was able to defend her rulership against all future challengers, ruling Bakrakhan until Earthfall.
• Alaznist’s armies were composed of hundred of tribes of bugbears, gnolls, goblins, enslaved forest giants, and creatures called wrathspawn. These tribes constantly warred with one another, but were united under her banner.
• Alaznist focused her magic on the school of evocation, magic associated in Thassilonian times with the virtue of righteous anger. Under her reign, though, this virtue of rule became more associated with the sin of wrath. Her mastery of wrath magic was uncontested, yet in the schools of abjuration and conjuration (related to the sins of envy and sloth), her skills had atrophied greatly.
• Alaznist was a gothic beauty with flaming, red hair, often depicted with a furious or scornful - some say insane - look upon her face. Some believed that weapons infused with abjuration and conjuration magic, known as “covetous or charitable weapons,” would be particularly potent against Alaznist.
• Alaznist a skilled practitioner of alchemy, fleshwrapping, and demonology, and encouraged demon worship among her followers. She was well-known for bother her charisma and her mercurial temper, as befits a Runelord of Wrath. Alaznist cared little for spell research or item creation, and instead focused her efforts on the corruption, mutation, and empowerment of her vast legions.
• Alaznist remained in a constant state of war with her neighbor Karzoug, the Runelord of Greed and ruler of Shalast. Between their nations, along a ridge known as the Rasp, Karzoug built immense sentinel statues to watch over Bakrakhan, while Alaznist built towers called Hellfire Flumes to prevent Karzoug’s armies from invading. Alaznist felt confident she was about to triumph over Karzoug and intended to impose a humiliating treaty upon him.
• During Earthfall, nearly the entire kingdom of Bakrakhan sank beneath the waves. As the other Runelords were said to find various ways to avoid the cataclysm, Alaznist was thought to have retreated to an otherworldly refuge accessed through her demesne atop Hollow Mountain.

Miscellaneous Information