Starfinder is Paizo’s upcoming RPG set thousands of years in Pathfinder’s future. The stand-alone role playing game is expected to give gamers a whole new world to play in, and today we present three of the new gods that inhabit the Starfinder universe.
Here is how Paizo describes the upcoming game:
Play alien races both new and familiar as you explore the mysteries of a weird galaxy. Will you be an android assassin fulfilling corporate contracts, or a plucky ratfolk mechanic? The Starfinder line will include both a hardcover core rulebook and key hardcover rules supplements, as well as a Starfinder Adventure Path that provides you with epic campaigns, expanded rules elements, and new monsters to battle. Best of all, Starfinder is designed to integrate easily with the Pathfinder roleplaying game, meaning your power-armored marine can still go toe to toe with orcs and dragons.
Talavet
The Storyteller
LN goddess of community, self-reliance, and tradition
Kasathas are a people steeped in custom, history, and tradition, and their goddess Talavet is no different. In ages past, kasathan storytellers gathered their clans around the fire and taught them the stories of their past, the traditions of their clans, and the history of their people. Legend holds that as they did so, these first stories began to take form, breathed into life and awareness by the blending of ideas and the fundamental magic inherent in language and communication. Thus was Talavet born—not just a storyteller, but the story itself, a god embodying all the tales and legends of the kasatha race. She is communal memory, a representation of the bonds that hold the kasathas—and to some extent all races—together and connect them to their ancestral home.
Talavet teaches that tradition is the most important link in the chain of history that binds a community together and that ancient legends, myths, and stories form the solid foundation of an ordered society. Her followers believe in sharing wisdom for the benefit of all and looking to the past as a guide to the present and the future, but also learning to trust yourself and your own personal traditions when you have only yourself to rely on.
Weydan
The Endless Horizon
CG god of discovery, equality, exploration, and freedom
The deity called Weydan regularly breaks off shards of his divine self and crafts them into avatars—mortal versions of himself in every gender, shape, and species—that can walk unseen among the countless cultures of the Material Plane, free from the responsibilities of godhood and able to experience those aspects of existence denied to omniscient deities. In this way he also teaches the fundamental equality of all creatures—even gods—and encourages his congregation to treat all people well, for even the most grotesque sinner or alien monstrosity might be a secret messiah.
Weydan expounds the virtues of voyaging with an end goal in mind, even if the goal is simply discovery. Exploring the unknown is a sacred process that reveals as much about the explorer as about the star system or world being explored. The universe contains a wealth of wonders just waiting to be discovered, and Weydan takes joy in every discovery his followers make, no matter how small or how significant. Weydan believes in every sentient species’ right to freedom, unfettered by restrictive laws. He regards equality for people from all walks of life as the foundation of that freedom and an essential requirement for a thriving society.
Yaraesa
Lady of Wisdom
NG goddess of knowledge, mental perfection, scholarship, and science
Yaraesa teaches that the core of sentience is the search for knowledge and meaning—the striving to advance one’s self and society through education, experimentation, and learning. Yaraesa is the goddess of this struggle—the constant endeavor to develop one’s mind and reach a state of intellectual and spiritual perfection. Lashuntas attribute many of their race’s early scientific advancements to Yaraesa, claiming that she was once a living scientist who learned everything that could be learned on the mortal plane and ascended to godhood.
Yaraesa’s followers seek to emulate their goddess, hoping to eventually transcend their mortal forms. The path one takes toward this perfection is an individual choice—education, physical exercise, scientific scholarship, and spiritual meditation are all valid enterprises. The simple act of reading can be an act of homage to Yaraesa, and each piece of knowledge or insight gained brings one a step closer to the goddess. Yaraesa bridges the divide between science and spirituality, teaching that the more you learn about the underlying laws of the universe, the more you understand about yourself. Yaraesa teaches that the scientific process and knowledge gained through controlled, replicable, and verifiable experiments are the best way to understand the universe. Where some gods offer knowledge and power as a reward for allegiance, Yaraesa demands that her people figure things out for themselves as best they can.
What are your thoughts on these new gods and goddesses?
Starfinder will release in August 2017, at Gen Con.
