Numeria

This page contains spoilers for the following products: Iron Gods Adventure Path.
You can disable this banner in your personal preferences.

Numeria

(Nation)

Titles

Land of Fallen Stars

Land

Broken Lands

Alignment

Chaotic neutral

Capital

Starfall

Ruler

Kevoth-Kul, The Black Sovereign

Government

Barbaric monarchy

Demonym

Numerians

Adjective

Numerian

Languages

Hallit

Religions

Abadar, Brigh, Desna, Erastil, Gorum, Iomedae, Nethys
Baphomet, Deskari, the Iron Gods

Images of Numeria

Source: Numeria, Land of Fallen Stars
World Guide, pg(s). 29f. (2E)

Numeria (pronounced new-MARE-ee-uh) is a barren, harsh land inhabited by tribes of savage barbarians and corrupted by the strange energies emitted by skymetals and other technological relics that fell throughout the land during the Age of Darkness.

History

Quest for Sky

During the Age of Darkness (around -5051 AR), the human Kellid tribes of north-central Avistan began to emerge from the caves they had been living in since Earthfall. This was brought on by the Quest for Sky, the mass emigration of dwarves from the realm of Nar-Voth to the surface. The dwarves did not drive the humans out directly, rather they pushed the orcs of the Darklands ahead of them, and it was this latter group that pushed the humans from the caves they had been living in.

Rain of Stars

The next major event in the region was the Rain of Stars, which occurred in -4363 AR. Numeria was still a pre-literate, tribal society then, but the event was so dramatic and consequential, that it burned its way into a people's collective memory. That night, the Divinity, a spaceship from Androffa, crashed on Golarion, breaking apart and burning through the atmosphere and falling in pieces across Numeria. Some fragments were the size of a fist, while others were as large as towns. The largest piece, known today as the Silver Mount, fell near the future capital city of Starfall, and the city itself derives its name from this event. The fallen fragments emitted a strange radiation that persists to this day, mutating nearby life.

Tiger Lords

The Tiger Lords were once a mighty Kellid barbarian tribe from the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. Led by the chief Armag, they left their homelands and traveled eastward, warring with the many tribes of the southeastern Numerian plains in -1003 AR. Their eastward march was eventually halted by the Iobarian warlords and centaur tribes of Casmaron. Today, they are a shadow of their former glory, recently led by a man known as Armag the Twice-Born, who claims to be the resurrected spirit of the tribe's ancient warlord.

Pathfinders and exploration

In 4308 AR, Gojan the Sharp—one of the first Pathfinders—petitioned Ontar the Black Sovereign for permission to explore the nation's technological ruins. After 10 years of trials and near-enslavement under Ontar, the Black Sovereign relented and granted Gojan permission. The Pathfinder Society published his findings the next year in the third volume of the Pathfinder Chronicles, which spurred interest in Numerian artifacts. By 4498 AR, fewer than 200 years later, the densest collection of technological items and skymetals at Scrapwall would be fully depleted.

Founding of the Technic League

Agents of the Technic League rule by wielding both magic and technology.

The appearance of a woman preaching opposition to Kellid taboos against technology and recruiting spellcasters to aid her in 4501 AR soon led to the founding of the Technic League. While she was assassinated in 4509 AR by her lieutenant Mulrach-Zeer, the League persisted in its mission to exploit the alien technology and eventually gained entry to the Silver Mount in 4512 AR. It quickly ascended to a position of power in Numeria that continued unchallenged until very recently.

Fall of Sarkoris

Before the Age of Lost Omens, Numeria was a rising power in northeastern Avistan. Considered the largest, most powerful, and most aggressive of the River Kingdoms, many thought that it was only a matter of time before the Numerians would unite several neighbouring River Kingdoms and created eastern Avistan's first true empire.

The death of Aroden and the opening of the Worldwound in the north of neighboring Sarkoris in 4606 AR changed all of this. With an increase in the frequency of demonic attacks from the northwest, Numeria gave up its territorial ambitions and focused instead on protecting its borders. At the same time, thousands of refugees fled across the borders from Sarkoris, fleeing the demonic hordes, but found little welcome among the Numerians.

After this, Numeria became an important waystop for crusaders traveling north to Mendev to fight against the demonic hordes. As thanks for Numeria's support, the crusaders built and donated Castle Urion to then-Black Sovereign Traskind Elf-Eye in 4629 AR.

Rise of Kevoth-Kul

Kevoth-Kul was a warlord of great renown whose massive greatsword cleaved through those with whom he could not reason. He forged strong alliances between many of the Numerian tribes and his followers believed that he would continue expanding their borders. This changed after he conquered the city of Starfall and claimed it as his capital. Here he came under the sway of the Technic League, debased technomancers who sought to unlock the powers hidden within the alien artifacts found in the Silver Mount. Kevoth-Kul even began to consume the addictive fluids leaking from Silver Mount, which turned him erratic and sullen. He abandoned his dreams of territorial expansion, and instead indulged in pleasures of the flesh.

Those who actively opposed the Black Sovereign during this time found that he was still a tenacious opponent, especially when supported by the vast legions of the fearsome gearsmen supplied by the Technic League. These artificial beings appeared a generation before, brought forth from a previously unknown chamber in the Silver Mount, although the Technic League's control over them never seemed complete.

Fall of the Technic League

In 4716 AR, the leader of the Technic League (known as its Captain), died mysteriously and rumors began to circulate that a new goddess named Casandalee had emerged from Silver Mount. Left without a strong leader, agents of the League began fighting each other for control, and within weeks the organization collapsed. League members who survived fled Starfall, and allied themselves with Numeria's other tribal chiefs, supplying them with previously inaccessible technology. This began an arms race among all the chieftains that today threatens to push the nation into civil war. As a side effect of this struggle, technology formerly controlled by the Technic League is jealously guarded and little of it makes its way out of the country. This also means that if a civil war ever does break out, it will most likely be devastating.

The dissolution of the Technic League freed Kevoth-Kul from his decades-long, drug-induced lethargy. Clear-eyed, he surveyed his realm and found that his absence had emboldened Numeria's other warlords, who each claimed their own sovereign territories. It is unclear whether the Black Sovereign intends to take back the lands he lost to the other chiefs, but after decades of making their own decisions, most Numerians are unwilling to take back their former, disgraced ruler.

Government and foreign relations

Numeria is once again ruled by the Black Sovereign Kevoth-Kul, a formerly drug-addicted despot who resides within his capital of Starfall. His control of the nation is spotty at best following decades of neglect. Numeria is also too vast a country to rule effectively with an iron fist. The people of Numeria are fiercely independent and prefer to avoid the gaze of their tyrannical ruler and continue making their own decisions, as they have for millennia. Relations with foreign governments, which under the rule of the Technic League were terribly disorganized, have completely collapsed now that the Black Sovereign is once again in charge.

Geography

A spine dragon and spellcaster face off in the Felldales of Numeria.

Numeria is a harsh land of windswept plains and, while nearly devoid of valuable trade resources, the land possesses its own harsh, rugged beauty. Despite this beauty, the land is naturally barren and only the strong live to survive, and much of it remains irradiated. The land has few large, geographical features: the biggest is the vast Lake of Mists and Veils that forms its northeastern border. The southern region also contains the northern headwaters of several of the rivers that eventually make their way into the River Kingdoms and is also crossed by the Sellen River, which eventually empties into the Inner Sea. To its west lies insular, undead-haunted Ustalav, to its northwest the demon-corrupted wasteland of the Sarkoris Scar, and to the south the eternal war and turbulence of the River Kingdoms. The only (somewhat) stable nations on Numeria's borders are the former crusader nation of Mendev to the north and the kingdom of Brevoy to the east.

Fauna

Numeria is home to a wide range of fauna, both fantastical and mundane. These include aurumvoraxes, bison (in the north), hydras, pseudodragons, river elk, and wendigos.

Economy

Numeria is a land of few natural resources and arable land as it contains large, windswept plains and few forests of any size. Its primary imports, therefore, are foodstuffs along with alcohol and jewelry. It is, however, the largest exporter of skymetals in the Inner Sea region. These seven rare metals were part of the ship that crashed on Numeria's plains during the Rain of Stars. They each have their own distinct properties and are useful in the construction of weapons and various magical artifacts. Of the seven, adamantine is the most common and known throughout the region as "Numerian steel". Other alien artifacts common to Numeria are silverdisks: small, etched metallic disks frequently used as currency. Other Numerian exports include the hides and teeth of its unusual native creatures, with the occasional live specimen as well.

Ancient export of veinstone

In ancient times, the tribes of Numeria exported a type of light-green rock rippled with dark-green fissures known as veinstone. This stone was a particularly popular building material in Ancient Osirion, and the Four Pharaohs of Ascension constructed their true pyramid from it.

Influence of the Mendevian Crusades

The Mendevian Crusades once provided an additional lucrative source of income for the nation, as the Sellen River was the main artery for holy warriors traveling to Mendev from the south. The route to the region was known as the River Road. It began in the Inner Sea and followed the many tangled branches of the Sellen and West Sellen Rivers to the Numerian harbor city of Chesed on the Lake of Mists and Veils. Even though the crusades brought strange faces and foreign ideas to Numeria, the Black Sovereign and the Technic League welcomed them with open arms while overcharging them for even basic necessities to make sure that they left with little more than their fervent faith to battle the demonic hordes of the Worldwound.

Inhabitants

The land of Numeria is not for the faint-of-heart. Above, a Kellid barbarian battles an annihilator robot.

Numeria is a harsh, often brutal land that raises hard, often brutal people. The land's primary inhabitants are humans of Kellid stock who, outside of the large cities like Starfall and Chesed, organise themselves into tribes. While in theory these tribes all owe fealty to the Black Sovereign, outside of Numeria's big settlements and beyond the reach of his armies, life continues much as it has for eons. Raiding is still a popular and lucrative lifestyle, especially into the poorly organized River Kingdoms, although those lands are not defenseless: river pirates often travel up the Sellen and West Sellen Rivers to attack Numerian settlements before quickly retreating back south.

Androids

Like the gearsmen, the sentient, humanoid androids are created, not born. Unlike the gearsmen, they could almost be mistaken for humans if not for the glowing runes and circuits criss-crossing their bodies, or their awkward, stilted mannerisms that make it difficult to relate to others. They are a relatively new people who recently began emerging from the scattered alien ruins of Numeria.

Gearsmen

One of the more unusual inhabitants of Numeria are doubtlessly the gearsmen who once patrolled the streets of Starfall under the control of the Technic League.

Kasathas

The kasathas are a species of tribal nomads from the distant planet Kasath who came to Golarion during Skyfall on the Divinity. Most of them continue to live in Numeria.

Ysoki

Ratfolk, or ysoki as they are known amongst themselves, live across Numeria and revel in the innovating using the alien technology they discover. These ysoki are known as Numerian Tinkerers, and they trade their technological wares and innovative know-how in marketplaces across Numeria. The ysoki have a de facto capital of their own in the settlement of Chitterhome, but few outsiders have ever been allowed to visit.

Other ancestries

Ru-shi dhampir vagabonds from Tian Xia are occasionally drawn to Numeria's technological wonders.

Open deposits of skymetals have given rise to large communities of talos geniekin, distinguished by their adamantine-colored hair or noqual-hued eyes.

Culture

Because of their long exposure to the manipulations of the Technic League, many Numerians who live outside of the major cities are wary and superstitious of both technology and magic.

Religion

Ancient deities such as Gorum and Desna remain popular in much of Numeria, while Nethys was a favorite among the mages of the Technic League. Brigh, the goddess of invention, also has many followers, including a chapel within the chaotic Scrapwall, which also hosts a cult-like gang known as the Lords of Rust who worship a little-known god named Hellion. There is some worship of Abadar, mostly in the larger cities. Erastil has many followers, and the people of Iadenveigh are particularly dedicated to him. Even newer gods like Iomedae have begun to make inroads in the last century thanks to the increasing presence of Mendevian Crusaders. Since the opening of the Worldwound, demonic cults have grown in popularity as well, particularly those of the demon lords Deskari and Baphomet. Numeria's most recent divine arrival is the artificial intelligence known as Casandalee, whose apotheosis only occurred in 4714 AR.

Death and burial

While Starfall's inhabitants bury or cremate their dead much as those of most other cities, more rural stretches of the country follow older customs. Villagers may leave bodies out for scavenging animals to flense, bury their dead in soft soil, or construct deep barrows or build tombs in deep caverns. Loved ones leave keepsakes and tokens with the remains and maintain the deceased's memories through artwork, storytelling, or historical stone cairns.

References

Paizo published a sourcebook titled Numeria, Land of Fallen Stars. The Iron Gods Adventure Path is set in Numeria, and the Iron Gods Poster Map Folio contains a poster map of the nation.

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