Pathfinder Chronicles

The Glyph of the Open Road, symbol of the Pathfinder Society.

For other meanings of "Pathfinder Chronicles", please see Pathfinder Chronicles (disambiguation).

The Pathfinder Chronicles are a multi-volume series of chapbooks published by the Pathfinder Society recounting the most notable journeys and discoveries of the order's membership. While Pathfinders the world over submit accounts of their deeds to their local venture-captains, the books themselves are published by the mysterious Decemvirate in Absalom, and they alone make the final decision about whose adventures grace the Chronicles' illustrious pages. They serve not only as a record of accomplishments, but inspire young and future Pathfinders throughout the world, while increasing the renown of those whose journeys are detailed within.

Copies of the Pathfinder Chronicles are intended for sole consumption by members of the Society, although some volumes have made their way into the public sphere. Indeed, there is a great demand for copies of the Chronicles among the general public, as they recount exciting and hair-raising tales of adventure. Others (such as the Society's rivals, like the Aspis Consortium) scour the volumes to glean information on the location of great treasures or secret magic. The demand is so great, in fact, that reproductions and even counterfeits of the most popular volumes are not uncommon.

History

Members of the early Pathfinder Society met annually for members to share accounts of their travels and discoveries in person, in conventions known as Grand Convocations. However, as the Society rapidly grew and its members' expeditions became more remote and involved, more submissions were sent in from abroad than there were Pathfinders in attendance.

During the eighth annual meeting of the Pathfinder Society, its membership voted to compile and publish selected Pathfinder reports into volumes known as the Pathfinder Chronicles. The first volumes would not be published for another two years in 4317 AR, after resolving disputes over content and funding.

The first volume was published as a pamphlet and sold through its first printing quickly; the resulting attention also drew public attention and new recruits to the Society. It was followed by another volume with a doubled page count, whose first printing also sold out within weeks.

Early volumes featured articles from contributors most capable of paying for the Chronicles' publication, creating an imbalance in which certain prolific Pathfinders like Durvin Gest would be published multiple times, while accounts from other early Pathfinders such as Inali Buvgram and Toriah al-Myran were omitted completely.

Volumes also once included precise details of sensitive information about secret locations, a practice the Society discontinued with volume 9 in favor of focusing more on prose accounts of events and adventures. Unabridged editions are now limited to academic distribution.

The revised focus sustained even greater sales of the Chronicles despite increasingly large print runs, and the resulting income paid in part for the construction of Skyreach and maintenance of the Grand Lodge.

Staff

The first several volumes were collectively selected by Society membership. With the advent of the Decemvirate, selection and approval was delegated to a committee of venture-captains and were accompanied with new criteria for inclusion that required events to have taken place within 2 years of submission and 1 year of an expedition's end. Furani Clayumble was the first editor and publisher of the Chronicles.

All but the most recent copies of the Chronicles are copied by hand, including their text, diagrams, maps, and illustrations. Early volumes were transcribed by indentured criminal servants, a process that the Society has since disavowed in favor of scrivening magic, contractors, and Society initiates.

The Society recently acquired a printing press from Andoran and began mass-producing its newer volumes and reprints of older volumes, a method that some particular fans consider to be inferior.

Publication schedule

New issues of the Chronicles are published irregularly✝ from Skyreach. After the rapidly produced and less regulated early volumes, publication dramatically slowed down during the 45th century AR and remained infrequent until the 4710s and 4720s, in which three new volumes were published within a single decade.

In the Society's more than four centuries of existence, it has published a total of 39 volumes.✝

Other publications

As not all submissions are published in the Chronicles, some Pathfinders choose to pursue other venues of distribution for their accounts, including universities and self-publication. The Society subsidizes some efforts to publish accounts outside of the Chronicles, especially those of Pathfinders who lack the means to publish their works or pursue historically underrepresented subjects.

Structure

Each volume of the Chronicles contains accounts of between four and ten expeditions reported since the last published volume, and a log summarizing other concluded expeditions that the Decemvirate has cleared for public knowledge.

Volume 1

The first Pathfinder Chronicles volume, published in 4317 AR, features an account of Durvin Gest's exploration of the ruins of Lost Azlant. It also detailed the exploits of Selmius Foster in opening the spice trade with Vudra and Gregaro Voth's venture into the Forbidden Jungle.

Gest's discoveries along his journey included a cache of aeon stones and other items now stored in Skyreach's treasure rooms. Voth recounted his story of the exploration of ruins in the Forbidden Jungle, and Foster described racing a faydhaan and an ifrit through a number of challenges.

Volume 2

Volume 2 contained a catalog of the 31 siege castles outside Absalom's Cairnlands by Durvin Gest, a list that remained the most complete reference of them as of 4720 AR.

Other articles featured Gest and Borden Thalian exploring the Mwangi Expanse as he discovered the headwaters of the Vanji River and a fantastic city of jade.

Volume 3

This volume centered around the adventure leading up to and including the death of Selmius Foster on the island of Bhopan by a pack of dog-men, written by his assistant, Adolphus. Volume 3 led to the creation of the Wall of Names, a memorial located at the Grand Lodge that lists the Pathfinders who have died while exploring. It also includes Adolphus' activities after his master's death, which led to the founding of the Nexus House lodge in Quantium alongside the Bhopanese Princess Ganjay.

This volume also contained an account of how Gojan the Sharp endured a decade of tasks for Ontar, the ruler of Numeria, so that he could gain access to a structure built near the city of Starfall and a description of the seven types of skymetal he found on Numeria's plains.

Volume 4

Volume 4 featured another story of Durvin Gest in which he steals a ship named The Silken Purse from the pirate queen Mastrien Slash and piloted it around the southern tip of Garund. He then left Slash as a sacrifice to a matriarchal society he found there.

The volume does not cover, however, how Slash subsequently gained control of this society and invaded neighboring nations. This expansion was stopped by Geb, who turned the army into stone on what is now known as the Field of Maidens.

Volume 5

Writing a Pathfinder Chronicle.

The Decemvirate recalled this volume and destroyed all circulating copies shortly after its publication. It is rumored to have contained details of the events leading to the final disappearance of Durvin Gest. The redaction of the last copy was completed by the then-Decemvirate member Gregaro Voth in 4360 AR. The Repository of the Grand Lodge in Absalom holds the only known copy.

Volume 6

In this volume, Durvin Gest light-heartedly discusses the mighty artifact called the Scepter of Ages and its powers, which he recovered from the ruins of Tabsagal in Casmaron in 4328 AR. He also recounts its near loss to a Garundi bandit noble.✝

Volume 8

This volume contained an account of Ixchit-Atlan, a jewel-encrusted island supposedly 100 miles south of Azlant. Seven Pathfinder-owned ships were sunk in the treacherous seas before it was determined that the island's existence was a hoax.

Volume 9

Volume 9 marked the end of the Society's practice of including sensitive details about secret sites, instead focusing entirely on the accounts of Pathfinders' adventures. The format change resulted in a spike in sales for the Chronicles, while distribution of unabridged editions was limited to academia.

Volume 11

This volume is infamous, due to the fact that the misinformation written by the Pathfinder chronicler Dalania Pontius regarding dragons led to numerous deaths and countless injuries among Pathfinders. The information originally came from the chatty brass dragon Helexa, who it was discovered was prone to exaggeration. The volume was eventually corrected and reprinted, but some original copies are still believed to exist that could fetch a very high price from the right collector.

Volume 13

Volume 13 contains an account of the exploration of the temple of Xanthuun in the Sodden Lands by the warrior mage Escobar Vellian. While searching for the treasures of Ammelon VI under the Gold Phoenix Aviary, Vellian battled hordes of zombies.✝

Volume 14

This volume is the first to use the theme of planar travel. Its stories include a trip to 23 Abyssal realms by Gilray Jandivan, who indexed the demons he found there, 70 risqué songs that Rarick Dell coaxed from a satyr during his decade-long stay in the First World. The third part of this volume is a map of Medina Mudii'a and the Plane of Fire immediately surrounding the city by the famous cartographer Insitha Avari.

Volume 27

Volume 27 contains a collection of previously unknown notes written by the famous Pathfinder Durvin Gest. Published over a century after his disappearance, this volume became very popular upon its release. The largest section of the book is devoted to one of Gest's trips to the Crown of the World, including copious notes on the dangers and battles he faced there. Also included is an article by the Mistress of Scrolls of that time, Andirissa Belathax, concerning the detection, disposal, or circumvention of magical traps.

Volume 36

Shevala Iorae's exploration of the Spire of Nex is the main story in this volume.✝ Using mathematicians to crack a cipher lock on the entryway, her party was the first to set foot in the spire in thousands of years. The other story includes sketches, maps, and indexes of things found when a Pathfinder by the pen-name "Scepter" explored the Gozarin Necropolis in Osirion. Also included is an appendix of Vurano's meeting with many groups of witches in the Realm of the Mammoth Lords.

Volume 38

Among other articles, this volume contains reports of desert exploration in Osirion by Scarab Seeker Ven Lorovox.

Volume 44

In this volume published in 4707 AR, Koriah Azmeren reflects on her travel into the Darklands realms of Nar-Voth, Sekamina, and Orv. The article allegedly confirmed of the existence of the drow, which caused the Winter Council of Kyonin to try and fail to bribe the Decemvirate to recall the volume.

The Darklands article also described singing crystals, which inspired the Pathfinder Kean Vesandil to venture underground in 4708 AR to search for them. Vesandil and his party disappeared; the sole member to return, an assistant, surfaced 11 days later gravely injured and spoke incoherently of a hungering darkness before dying.

In 4723 AR, Azmeren retracted much of her content in volume 44 and admitted that she had intentionally spread disinformation in order to hide the true nature and scope of the sekmin threat in Sekamina. Azmeren's revised account omitted all mentions of any Darklands elves except the Ayindilar, who shared no traits with the drow except for being descended from the elves who fled into the Darklands to escape Earthfall.

The volume's second article is by Magnimarian Venture-Captain Sheila Heidmarch, where she writes about the empire of Thassilon and its relics, with the Shattered Star (created by the legendary Xin) mentioned in particular.

Volume 67

In this volume, Jalden Krenshar describes the grisly fates of those probing Osirion's pyramids, in his forward to the article, "The Veinstone Pyramid". Reference is made to the necropolis of An-Hepsu IV and the Liquid Pyramid of the Pharaoh of Nagas.

Unknown volumes

Certain exploits are known to have been published in unspecified volumes of the Pathfinder Chronicles:

• A recent volume (supposedly written some time after 4706 AR) is said to contain a detailed account by a former priest of the god Nethys on the creation of spellscribed armor. When the author disappeared soon after its publication, some speculated that the crime was perpetrated by those who wanted to keep this previously unknown art a secret. Despite her disappearance, this volume (and the information contained within) is still readily available.

• A volume covered the First World, including a footnote on the Thinlands of Nighthold.

• A volume described a haunted clockwork in a distant chasm that wails in a thousand voices.

• A volume published in 4660 AR contained details about golem-based prostheses in the Napsune Mountains. The devices were looted and the Pathfinders involved had falsely claimed credit for their invention, leading to the article's retraction and ongoing concerns about industrial theft.

• A volume contained accounts of Svala Ice-Rider's expeditions into the Crown of the World.

Associations

• A chronicler wayfinder is a type of wayfinder attuned to the Pathfinder Chronicles and capable of assisting in tasks that require a deeper understanding of lore or history.

• Possession of at least one volume of the Pathfinder Chronicles is required for the formation of a Pathfinder lodge.

References

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