Harbingers of Fate

Harbingers of Fate

(Organization)

Type

Secret

Leader

Lady Arodeth

Headquarters

Absalom

Goals

Restoration of the Age of Glory

Scope

International

Members

Former followers of Aroden

Source: Guide to Absalom, pg(s). 62

The Harbingers of Fate (often referred to as just the Harbingers) were a secret society based in Absalom that was dedicated to bringing about the promised Age of Glory by making the prophecies from the ancient Book of 1,000 Whispers come true.

History

The Harbingers were founded in 4648 AR by Lord Garron, an exiled Chelaxian noble living in Absalom who believed that the disappearance of Aroden and the Age of Lost Omens were a mistake on a cosmic level. He believed that bringing about the prophecies foretold in writings called the Book of 1,000 Whispers would somehow re-trigger the promised Age of Glory and perhaps even bring about the return of Aroden himself. The book's predictions were accurate up to the beginning of the Age of Lost Omens, when like all other soothsaying, they no longer came true. Garron believed that the prophecies told the true history of Golarion as it should have happened. Until his death, Lord Garron actively tried to bring about these prophecies in an effort to jump start the promised Age of Glory, but never achieved any positive results.

His work was continued by his daughter, Lady Arodeth, who used her fortune to hire agents who scour Avistan and Garund for any clues that might refer to one of the predictions. Their methods grew more and more desperate, as the book's final pronouncements were supposed to occur in 4714 AR. With each passing year and each passing failure, the group strayed further from the teachings of Aroden and deeper into desperation and madness. Their goals were not known to the general public, who believed Lady Arodeth to simply be the uninspired inheritor of a mercenary company known as the Band of Blades.

Status

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Following the passage of the final year of the final prophecy in the Book of 1,000 Whispers, the Harbingers of Fate largely collapsed as many of its members turned against each other.

However, the Harbingers and Lady Arodeth remained active, if regressing into a smaller, more obscure group. Arodeth became increasingly desperate for new methods to restore Aroden and the Age of Glory, and in 4715 AR the Harbingers seized control of a time-manipulation artifact known as the Sky Key from the Pathfinder Society. Arodeth sought to use it to draw a version of Aroden from the past into the future, but miscalculated and instead witnessed Earthfall from the Azlanti Empire colony of Lacsuhnollo.

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Arodeth was rescued from this fate and survived these events to remain leader of the Band of Blades. Her inheritance depleted and the Harbingers of Fate all but dissolved, as of 4723 AR she had led the Band of Blades to extort travelers of the Storval Stairs in Varisia.

References

Paizo published an article about the Harbingers of Fate in Disciple's Doctrine 10f.

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.