Pathfinder Society

The Pathfinder Society is an organization dedicated to exploration of the world of Golarion. 

Pathfinder Society

Their main headquarters are in Absalom but Pathfinder Lodges exist in many large cities around the world. Each lodge is led by a Venture-Captain, who assigns missions and suggests areas to explore. Pathfinders then submit a report at the end of each mission and the most exciting and illuminating are compiled in the Pathfinder Chronicles, a series of books about the history and mystery of Golarion. While the Chronicles are intended solely for members of the Pathfinder Society, somehow they have become quite well-known to everyone and new editions are highly sought after.

While Venture-Captains are responsible for the day-to-day running of their Lodge, the Society as a whole is run by a secret ten-person group known as the Decumvirate. No one knows who sits in this group or what their ultimate goal is for the Society and the information they collect.

Sheila Heidmarch

Heidmarch Manor, the home of the Pathfinder Society Magnimar Lodge, was established a few years ago by famed Pathfinders Canayven and Sheila Heidmarch. After exploring other areas of Avistan and Garund, they decided to return to their homeland and were given permission to set up the first lodge in Varisia. The notoriety of the lodge has grown as quickly as Magnimar itself. Sheila has sent Pathfinders on dozens of missions in the interest of collecting treasures and information about the Thassilonian Empire. Due to their success, Sheila now has a solid reputation among the leaders of Magnimar and is able to approach them with information important to the city as well as request help.

Besides the dozens of smaller missions, Pathfinders have played a part in three major events in Varisia. When Varisia was threatened by the re-appearance of the Runelord of Greed, Karzoug, after 10,000 years, it was a group of Pathfinders that led the attack on Karzoug’s city of Xin-Shalast and eventually killed him. It is also a Pathfinder, Koriah Azmerin, that has collected and documented the most information about the Darklands and its denizens. More recently, Pathfinders helped defeat Mad Queen Ileosa and her Gray Maidens in Korvosa, after she had killed her husband, the king, and was planning to sacrifice her subjects to attain immortality.

The Pathfinder Lodge is located in the upscale and prosperous Alabaster District. It also lies just north of the Menagerie, which the Heidmarch’s oversee for the city. The Heidmarch’s have built four cottages on the grounds of the manor for Pathfinders to stay in. Each is named after one of the ancient Thassilonian realms. They are named Eurythnia, Bakrakhan, Shalast and Haruka house. Each is a cozy stone cottage with slate-shingled roofs and stained glass windows depicting colorful Varisian designs. The main floor consists of an entry area, a common room with a wide stone hearth, and a den with a desk and writing materials. The second floor contains individual sleeping quarters for up to 8 people. The main house has a meeting room, den, dining hall and library for all Pathfinders to use. Typically, Sheila will meet with Pathfinder groups in the meeting room, which contains a long table and chairs and looks out over the grounds. The Lodge employs a small staff including a cook, maid, two servers, and a sage in the library. Although he has been gone for a short time, normally the gate is guarded by a guardsman named Ebrylis. Dinners are provided for all Pathfinders in the dining room at sunset, if they wish. The cottages are, however, the responsibility of the Pathfinders to keep clean and tidy. Although none of the Brotherhood has need of this service yet, a nearby ostler will stable and feed mounts (or large animal companions) for any Pathfinder, due to an arrangement with the Lodge.

Die Krähe (the Crow)

The Irespan is the largest, and possibly the most impressive, sight in all of Magnimar. The enormous bridge once stretched through the mountains of the Thassilonian realm of Bakrakhan all the way to the capital of Xin-Bakrakhan. It measures 600 feet across with each piling about 200 feet wide and the deck some 50 feet thick. Scholars believe that the presence of giants in the armies of the Runelords necessitated such an enormous bridge. When Earthfall struck, it seems that most of the Irespan collapsed. 300 feet above the Magnimarian district of Underbridge, home to the poorest and most criminal elements of Magnimar, the Irespan overshadows all parts of that district.

When Magnimar was established, pieces of the Irespan that littered the beaches were used in the construction of buildings, due to the preservative magic that still clung to the rubble. However, almost 100 years ago, the then-Lord Mayor of Magnimar had stone quarried direct from the Irespan itself to build the city walls and the Arvensoar. Disaster soon struck, as chambers and hallways were opened that released hundreds of the spider-legged creatures now known as shriexyz. Only the heroics of the adventurers known as the Eyes of the Hawk, led by the twin wizards Cailyn and Romre Vanderale, were able to save the town. Now, tampering with the Irespan, or even building within 50 feet of it, is forbidden by law.

Ten of the Irespan’s pilings remain, although only four support a piece of the bridge, with the rest standing free and rising to varying heights. Each piling is carved with the same stone creature in a multiple of poses, thus giving a name to each piling. They stand as follows:

Shark  Osprey  Salmon  Rat  Harpy

o———-o———-o———-o———-o

Varisian Gulf    ======= IRESPAN ===========   Magnimar

o———-o———-o———-o———-o

Crow  Firepelt   Whale    Gull    Gecko