Aucturn Enigma

A map of Golarion's solar system.

The Aucturn Enigma is a theory connecting the rapid technological and magical advances that occurred during the reign of the Four Pharaohs of Ascension in Ancient Osirion to strange and powerful forces from the planet Aucturn.

The enigma is numerologically tied to the numbers 56 and 11, the astrological conjunction of the planets Golarion and Aucturn with their sun—which occurs every 56 years—the Numerian mineral veinstone, and the phenomena of mind quakes.

Countdown clocks

The countdown clocks of Osirion, also believed to be associated with the Enigma, are thought to have all started their countdown in the year -1498 AR. As of 4714 AR, numerological analysis of time spans since that year had identified a potential zero hour for the clocks in early 4718 AR, the year of the next expected conjunction between Golarion and Aucturn.

Astrological events

One of the past conjunctions of Golarion, Aucturn, and their sun occurred in 4606 AR, the year of the god Aroden's death.

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Doomsday Dawn

The most recent conjunction of Golarion, Aucturn, and their sun was identified as occurring on the 11th minute after sunrise on 5 Sarenith, 4718 AR, and was dubbed the Doomsday Dawn. For most of Golarion's population, however, this day passed with few or no documented events related to the Aucturn Enigma.

This page contains spoilers for the following products: plot events and encounters in Doomsday Dawn, particularly "When the Stars Go Dark".
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In truth, the date was the culmination of a millennia-long plot by the Dominion of the Black to awaken Aucturn as a Great Old One by merging it with Golarion, facilitated largely by the mind quake-afflicted wizard-turned-aberration Ramlock and his Veinstone Pyramid in Osirion.

Notable scholars

The most widely known scholar studying the Aucturn Enigma was the Chelaxian Paracount Imivus, who authored the Aucturn Lexicon and probably died while exploring the demiplane of Ramlock's Hallow.

The Sand Sage is an Osirionologist intrigued by the countdown clocks he first discovered as a youth in Sothis. He is author of Osirion: A History in Four Ages and as of 4714 AR had devoted his life to the study of Aucturn Enigma.

The Chelaxian diplomat Necerion, once stationed in Magnimar, was a secret agent of the Dominion-affiliated Night Heralds cult who abandoned his post in 4707 AR to move to Osirion, gather countdown clocks, and pursue his studies of The Last Theorem. Necerion also recruited the scholar Aeteperax, a disguised green dragon, to the cult.

Dr. Verid Oscilar, once a scholar of Osirionology in the Sincomakti School of Sciences in Rozenport, Ustalav, became convinced of the Dominion of the Black's influence over Osirion and devoted himself to becoming Golarion's foremost expert on the Dominion, and later of the Aucturn Enigma.

References

Paizo published a minor article on the Aucturn Enigma in Occult Mysteries 6–7, and it is the primary subject of the Pathfinder Playtest adventure collection Doomsday Dawn.

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