Countdown clock

The countdown clocks, most strongly associated with Osirion but scattered across Golarion, are a collection of mysterious objects that depicted mathematical patterns of symbols, such as runes or hieroglyphs, which periodically changed in an apparent countdown to a specific point in time: the "Doomsday Dawn" of 4718 AR. The clocks were also associated with the mystery known as the Aucturn Enigma.

History

The countdown clocks were created by Ramlock, an ancient Kellid wizard whose studies of the void between the stars exposed him to mind quakes that corrupted his mind and turned him into an agent of the alien Dominion of the Black before he vanished from the face of Golarion. The clocks are thought to have all started their countdown in the year -1498 AR.

Appearance

Each countdown clock was synchronized with all other countdown clocks. Several were crafted in the form of symbol-bearing gemstones, but some were larger or made of other materials, such as the Amber Chronograph in the Slave Trenches of Hakotep, while others resembled time-keeping devices such as sundials or were etched on walls. The equations that appeared on some countdown clocks were solvable, but their solutions never produced the same answer twice.

Abilities

A map of Golarion's solar system.

Some of the countdown clocks depicted planetary orbits in synchronization with a numeric countdown, suggesting to an untrained eye a relationship to some astrological or astronomical convergence. Attempts to divine information related to a countdown clock via magic produced only vague, contradictory results. The units of time depicted by a countdown clock did not appear to align with any known timekeeping system.

The countdown clocks all seemingly counted down to the date of an astrological convergence between Golarion, Aucturn, and their sun. As of 4714 AR, scholars could estimate the timing only as precisely as early 4718 AR; the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye eventually decoded the clocks and predicted they would elapse at the 11th minute past sunrise on 5 Sarenith, 4718 AR, a date that became known as the "Doomsday Dawn". The time and date fell into the Aucturn Enigma's pattern of events associated with the numbers 56 and 11: the event took place 111 56-year cycles after the countdown clocks began ticking down, on the 11th minute of the 5th day in the 6th month of the year.

While all countdown clocks appeared to interact with magic, some were more clearly definable as discrete magic items or artifacts.

Related items

The Last Theorem, a book purportedly written by Ramlock, contains magical formulas and information that could decode the beginning and ending dates of the countdown clocks. The book's powers are locked away from those who lack the White Axiom.

The Aucturn Lexicon, authored by the Aucturn Enigma scholar Paracount Imivus, is considered the foremost work on the countdown clocks. Imivus is believed to have died while exploring the demiplane of Ramlock's Hallow.

Known countdown clocks

• The Amber Chronograph, a sheet of amber covered in shifting hieroglyphs, was the largest and most well-known countdown clock.
• As of 4707 AR, the Osirionologist known as the Sand Sage possessed a countdown clock.
• As of 4709 AR, a cult affiliated with the Dominion of the Black called the Night Heralds had collected several countdown clocks.
• As of 4709 AR, the Tomb of Tular Seft in Katapesh contained a countdown clock created by Ramlock in the form of a gemstone containing shimmering hieroglyphs.
• In 4713 AR, Arcanamirium instructor Tiberius Groopert acquired a rune-covered gemstone countdown clock in Absalom, where he deduced that it predicted a potential catastrophe. He was imprisoned in the Black Whale upon reporting his findings to then-Primarch Lord Gyr.

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• The treasury of Ahn'Selota contained a countdown clock in the form of a gem bearing a single, constantly morphing hieroglyphic number that floated within a crimson sphere of crystal.

Legacy

The fates of the countdown clocks after the Doomsday Dawn are unknown.