Caligni

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Caligni
Dark folk
Caligni
(Creature)
Caligni
(Creature)

Type
Humanoid
(dark folk)
CR
Varies by class
Environment
Any underground
Alignment
Adjective
Caligni1
Source: Bestiary 5, pg(s). 66
This infobox concerns a specific variant of dark folk called "caligni" in Pathfinder First Edition Bestiary 5. This variant might no longer be canon. See Meta:Caligni.

Caligni2 is both an ancient umbrella term for the humanoids that surface-dwellers call dark folk,3 as well as a word that specifically refers to genetic throwbacks among their kind who more closely resemble their Azlanti ancestors.4

Appearance

Although separated into distinct forms, all calignis share certain characteristics. All are dirty humanoid creatures, although hunters are taller than both skulkers and dancers. Most wear tattered grey or black clothing5 and hide shiny small treasures within them. They have gaunt builds with pale complexions and white eyes.3

History

Calignis are descended from the residents of the Azlanti settlement of Calignos, a trading outpost located in the Mindspin Mountains. Just a day before Earthfall, the seers in Calignos predicted their city's destruction and led their people into the Darklands for refuge. As Earthfall collapsed the tunnels leading to the surface, the citizens of Calignos were forced deeper underground.6

They found the Darklands to be a terrifying and dangerous place, and relied more and more on the power of magic to help in their survival, particularly the magic found in the borders between light and darkness. Their prayers were answered by a mysterious pantheon of demigods known as the Forsaken, who bestowed upon them the Cradles of Night. These artifacts infused the citizens of Calignos with shadowy power, transforming them into a distinct race known as the calignis.67

Unknown to calignis, the Forsaken were planning to draw upon their power in a plan to escape the Netherworld. Before this plan could be put in motion, the Forsaken suffered a mysterious calamity, shattering most Cradles of Night and leaving calignis once again without deities. However, after only a few years, the mysterious owbs appeared and offered their aid in exchange for devotion. Calignis switched to worshipping the owbs, who bred them into specialised sub-races. In time, tales of the Forsaken and the surface were forgotten, and their ancestral home became an object of myth and legend to calignis.68

Ecology

Calignis subsist on rotting meat and fungi, supplementing their diet by being able to absorb light in small amounts and somehow converting it into nutrition.5 Intense light blinds and sickens them, as it overwhelms their ability to absorb it. Upon death, this stored light is released in a single blinding flash.539 This burst was said to have been part of a deal struck with the Forsaken demigods that shaped their underground adaptations; in return, a sliver of their soul's energy would fuel the Forsaken pantheon. However, the Forsaken by all measures disappeared long ago, and caligni soul energy is no longer tithed to them upon death.39

Forms

During the Age of Darkness, calignis split into several morphologically distinct groups, including the intermediary dancers, the more numerous skulkers, and the larger and more commanding hunters.5109

Calignis occasionally give birth to a child with an uncanny similarity to the humans from Calignos, their home before they escaped into the Darklands to avoid Earthfall and were transformed by owbs into specialised subraces. These calignis age at about the same rate as aiuvarins, and their children often do not share this resemblance.11

The birth of a caligni who resembles one from Calignos is celebrated by many calignis, but usually annoys the powers that be in caligni society (whether owbs or caligni hunters). Because of this, such calignis who do not leave their birthplaces tend to suffer an unfortunate accident before adulthood. Such calignis who foresee this seek homes elsewhere in the Darklands or in shadowy Nidal, the only surface nation whose environment is friendly to the naturally light-sensitive calignis, where they can integrate easily into the darkness-worshipping society.1213

The Shadow Caverns in Nidal, which connect to Nar-Voth, are home to a thriving market of caligni infants resembling humans of Calignos, either given up by or stolen from calignis, to be bought and adopted by Nidalese calignis. The children gain families, underground calignis give up a potential source of trouble, and brokers turn a profit.14

Society

New Calignos, the southwestern district of the Nidalese capital Pangolais, is extensively inhabited by calignis who have put in considerable effort to replicate Calignos from what caligni scholars know about Azlanti cities. It is doubtful that the architecture and traditions of New Calignos are authentic to Azlant, but they have regardless become deeply ingrained into the calignis who grow up there.12

Religion

In addition to the caligni history of worship detailed above, some calignis worship Norgorber or Sivanah. Those whose homes lie below the surface-world nation of Nidal might follow that nation's official deity, Zon-Kuthon.15 Worship of Nocticula, Pharasma, and even Desna is not unheard of among those less malign caligni.16

Language

All calignis share a common language also called Caligni, and many also know Sakvroth.39

On Golarion

Calignis live primarily in the caverns of Nar-Voth,5 including the city of Sverspume, famed for its slave market,17 and the hryngar18 metropolis of Hagegraf.19 Although rarer in the deeper caverns of Sekamina, a small section of the drathnelar20 city of Dwimovel is inhabited by calignis,21 while others dwell in the drow22 city of Zirnakaynin.2324 In the Vaults of Orv calignis inhabit the Land of Black Blood.25

Nearer to the surface, a sizeable population exists in the Shadow Caverns beneath Nidal's Uskwood,26 in the abandoned dwarven Zolurket Mines in Katapesh's Barrier Wall mountains,27 and below the island of Antler Rock in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings.28

In Tian Xia

Although less common than in the Inner Sea region, calignis are also present in the caverns below the continent of Tian Xia, especially in the underground community known as Deepmarket below the sprawling metropolis of Goka.29

References

Calignis and dark folk were distinct but related creatures in Pathfinder First Edition. In Pathfinder Second Edition, "dark folk" is instead a synonymous moniker for calignis that calignis find distasteful.

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

  1. 1.0 1.1 Liane Merciel, et al. “Gazetteer” in Nidal, Land of Shadows, 29. Paizo Inc., 2018
  2. The term was used in both singular and plural references prior to the Pathfinder Second Edition Bestiary and Pathfinder Lost Omens updates to the campaign setting. Newer sources use "caligni" for the singular form and "calignis" for the plural form.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Logan Bonner, et al. “Monsters A-Z” in Bestiary, 50–51. Paizo Inc., 2019
  4. Benjamin Bruck, et al. “Chapter 3: Rare Races” in Inner Sea Races, 162. Paizo Inc., 2015
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 James Jacobs & Greg A. Vaughan. Nar-Voth” in Into the Darklands, 23–24. Paizo Inc., 2008
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 James Jacobs, et al. “Introduction” in Cradle of Night, 3. Paizo Inc., 2018
  7. James Jacobs & Greg A. Vaughan. Nar-Voth” in Into the Darklands, 19. Paizo Inc., 2008
  8. Bestiary (2E) 51 does not include the owbs in the story of their transformation, and states that the Forsaken "warped the refugees into tough survivors". This neither specifies calignis being a separate race, nor any relationship with the owb.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Logan Bonner, et al. Caligni” in Monster Core, 48–49. Paizo Inc., 2024
  10. Logan Bonner, et al. “Monsters A-Z” in Bestiary, 50–51. Paizo Inc., 2019 In this source, these forms are referred to as caligni variants instead of dark folk, skulkers are referred to as creepers, and hunters are referred to as stalkers.
  11. Liane Merciel, et al. “Living in Shadow” in Nidal, Land of Shadows, 8. Paizo Inc., 2018
  12. 12.0 12.1 Liane Merciel, et al. “Gazetteer” in Nidal, Land of Shadows, 29–30. Paizo Inc., 2018
  13. In Pathfinder First Edition, "caligni" referred to a rare variant of their kind. See Meta:Caligni for more information.
  14. Liane Merciel, et al. “Threats in the Gloom” in Nidal, Land of Shadows, 50–51. Paizo Inc., 2018
  15. James Jacobs & Greg A. Vaughan. Nar-Voth” in Into the Darklands, 24. Paizo Inc., 2008
  16. Paizo Inc., et al. “Monsters A-Z” in Bestiary 3, 41. Paizo Inc., 2021
  17. James Jacobs & Greg A. Vaughan. Sekamina” in Into the Darklands, 42. Paizo Inc., 2008
  18. Paizo referred to hryngars as duergar until the publication of Highhelm and the Sky King's Tomb Pathfinder Adventure Path.
  19. James Jacobs & Greg A. Vaughan. Nar-Voth” in Into the Darklands, 28. Paizo Inc., 2008
  20. Paizo referred to drathnelars (umbral gnomes) as svirfneblin (deep gnomes) until the publication of Mantle of Gold.
  21. James Jacobs & Greg A. Vaughan. Sekamina” in Into the Darklands, 39. Paizo Inc., 2008
  22. Paizo retroactively removed drow from the Pathfinder campaign setting as part of the Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster Project. A canon replacement for drow in this context might not exist. See Meta:Drow.
  23. Paizo retroactively removed drow from the Pathfinder campaign setting, and in the process also retroactively changed the city of Zirnakaynin into a haunted ruin about which very little is known. A canon replacement for places, people, and events related to Zirnakaynin might not exist. See Meta:Zirnakaynin.
  24. F. Wesley Schneider. Zirnakaynin” in Endless Night, 49. Paizo Inc., 2008
  25. Wolfgang Baur. “The Land of Black Blood” in Descent into Midnight, 53. Paizo Inc., 2009
  26. James Jacobs & Greg A. Vaughan. “Exploring the Darklands” in Into the Darklands, 8. Paizo Inc., 2008
  27. Jason Bulmahn, et al. Zolurket Mines” in Dungeons of Golarion, 57. Paizo Inc., 2011
  28. Matthew Goodall, et al. “The Linnorm Kingdoms” in Lands of the Linnorm Kings, 23. Paizo Inc., 2011
  29. James Jacobs, et al. “Regions of the Dragon Empires” in Dragon Empires Gazetteer, 24. Paizo Inc., 2011