Apsu

Apsu

(Deity)

Titles

The Waybringer
The Exiled Wyrm
Maker of All

Adjective

Apsan

Realm

Immortal Ambulatory (travelling demiplane)

Alignment

Lawful good

Areas of Concern

Good dragons
Glory
Leadership
Peace

Worshipers

Dragons

Edicts

Seek and destroy evil, travel the world, help others fend for themselves

Anathema

Fail to pursue a foe who has betrayed your mercy, attack a creature without certainty of wrongdoing

Follower Alignments (1E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (1E)

Artifice, Good, Law, Scalykind, Travel

Subdomains (1E)

Archon, Construct, Dragon, Exploration, Judgment, Toil, Trade

Follower Alignments (2E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (2E)

Creation, protection, travel, wyrmkin

Favored Weapon

Bite or quarterstaff

Symbol

Silver dragon above mirror or pool✝

Sacred Animal

None

Sacred Colors

Metallic colors

Images of Apsu

Source: Inner Sea Faiths, pg(s). 16–21 (1E)
Gods & Magic, pg(s). 130–131 (2E)

Apsu is the patron deity of all good and metallic dragons, and one of the oldest gods of the Great Beyond. According to the draconic creation myth, he was one of the primordial dragons who created the solar system and its inhabitants from the chaos of the Universe.✝

History

Apsu battles Dahak.

According to draconic lore, Apsu and Dahak were the two creator-dragons who made more of their own kind, from the chromatic dragons to lesser ones like drakes. When Rovagug rampaged across Golarion, they joined the fight and were able to defeat him, but Rovagug's touch corrupted Dahak.✝ Dahak then vowed to kill Apsu, who declared that Golarion would be their battlefield; the battle between Apsu and Dahak still rages on Golarion.

Home

Apsu makes his home in the Immortal Ambulatory, a demiplane of wandering stars and floating islands that moves about from plane to plane in the Great Beyond. The Immortal Ambulatory can embed itself in different planes, and can often be found in Heaven. Apsu is most often found in the Opalescent Cathedral, which resides on an island at the center of the demiplane.

Appearance

Apsu appears as a regal silver dragon dwarfing the largest great wyrms. His scales sparkle with a pearlescent glow.

Relationships

Apsu maintains strong relationships with good deities, in particular lawful ones like Torag. Sarenrae remembers his contribution to imprisoning Rovagug in the Dead Vault. Cayden Cailean views the coming battle between Apsu and Dahak as a 'good rumble', while Gorum considered it a war where his followers could fight. Iomedae approached him after she completed the Test of the Starstone, seeking to ask him to get involved more deeply in worldly affairs; although a formal alliance is impossible due to Apsu's focus on the battle against Dahak, the two deities still agreed to defend each other, symbolised by Iomedae's gold dragon servant Peace through Vigilance.

Apsu is a member of the Sky Keepers, a pantheon devoted to protecting the weather over the Mwangi Expanse from outside interference, alongside likeminded deities Uvuko and Ranginori.

Apsu and Dahak are arch-enemies, the two having battled countless times across history. They once worked together to imprison Rovagug, but Dahak has no intention of ever doing this again and focuses his entire existence on the eventual final battle against Apsu.

Asmodeus, the only evil deity known to approach Apsu, has offered his services for some unknown reason and price, but Apsu has politely refused every time. It is rumoured that he has offered to weaken both Apsu for Dahak and Dahak for Apsu, making his true intent unclear.

Church of Apsu

Apsu surrounded by dragons.

Unsurprisingly, most of Apsu's worshipers, Apsans, are metallic dragons, although some non-aligned draconic creatures such as primal dragons and wyverns worship him as well. Few dragons practice divine magic, preferring to leave that to their humanoid allies. As Apsu's prime purpose is the destruction of Dahak, few non-dragons take up his cause, although honourable humanoids with an interest in draconic lore have taken up his faith from time to time. They typically wear a gold dragon's foot brooch, or have other custom-made equipment in the shape of a dragon's foot.

Golarion lacks much of a centralized humanoid church of Apsu. The largest congregation of humanoid Apsu worshipers on the planet is known as the Platinum Band, which maintains relatively small centers of worship in Oppara and Absalom.

Apsu is more widely worshiped by humanoids on the planet Triaxus, where he is the patron deity of the Dragon Legion. The Legion's leaders prohibit their priests from revealing Apsu's connection to Golarion, so younger legionnaires would not be tempted to prematurely journey there to help him. Instead, they hope to raise a grand army to offer Apsu when the time comes for him to fight Dahak.

Brass dragons, gregarious in the extreme, generally fill the role as Apsu's servants and diplomats, although few of them could be considered particularly devout. Nevertheless, they always come when they are needed.

The church's religious text is the Draconic Apsu, an epic poem written by the blind gold dragon sage Gunnarrex. Both the first day of the winter solstice and the first day of summer are considered holy days by the church.

Followers

Apsu's herald is Oreganus, a bespectacled celestial silver dragon with the ability to create solid fortifications with his breath.

Apsu's other planar allies include:

• Blameless Flame
• Syrax the Platinum

References

Paizo published a major article on Apsu in Inner Sea Faiths.

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