I love these religion videos. Religion in Pathfinder is so well-developed and varied across the nations. And full of elements I can crib for my own homebrew settings.
What a lovely surprise to see another religion video today! If time spent with inanimate objects can imbue them with souls, then I swear my hours of gaming have caused some of my computers over the years to be possessed by trickster spirits :)
I'm so happy that all this Tian Xia stuff is coming out. My first ever character in PF that I started playing a few months ago is a Fighter from Minkai and all this stuff is helping me a ton to flesh her out.
Minkai isn't quite my first deep dive (that's Hongal) but its my second. You'll get a lot of mileage out of that one too for this character when it drops.
Whenever I think of the monkey king, a "chaotic monk" comes to mind even though it is unlikely. But since they included the "brawler" as a class, I already recalibrated my thinking. Thx for the video!
Lovely video, as always. Your success and passion with such a niche thing (PF2e lore) was one of the things that gave me the courage to start my own channel, so thank you so much for that!
Thank you for yet another informational video. I've gotten both the world guide and character guide for Tian Xia and am quite excited for it all. Your guide will help me fine-tune my concepts yet again. Thank you. ❤
I like that they did with philosoph school. They seem to pull specifice the themes of different school and expand that idea instead of just remixing exist school. The end result you get legalism but not quite. Buddhism but not quite. And one might even say something unique
Well don't forget in remaster alignments are gone altogether! When Remaster has been out for a while I'll probably do some of this before/after content. Likely towards back end of 2025 is my guess.
It feels weird that they Baekho, the White Tiger also known as Baihu in Chinese and Byakko in Japanese, but not Fenghuang, Qinglong or Xuanwu, the other four of the Four Symbols. They're the gods of the directions and pretty much always come as a set. They even have Shizuru as Huanglong, the Gold Dragon and lord of the center who is not one of the Four Symbols, but associated with them to make it enough of a set to make the absences look conspicuous.
I find it curious that older references to Tian Xia regularly mentioned Calistria being a prominent deity in the region, but this year's books make almost no mention of her at all.
I think the Jinin elves brought Calistrian worship with them, so its a bit like Calistria worship in the Inner Sea Region. Its a growing faith among humans but its core following is still elven.
I get asked this a fair bit and usually I say "maybe" and that's a fairly honest answer. That said a more honest answer is that the Realms are not high on my interest list. Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance and Greyhawk always seemed pretty interchangeable to me. Dragonlance was probably my favorite on account of the novel lines, but essentially most of the D&D 'basic fantasy' settings have less specificity than I feel like I want to get really excited about a setting. Just based on the general interest in my audience what I'll probably do is some Starfinder eventually, and then when I'm done with that I might consider some Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 and maybe a look at some more obscure D&D settings like Darksun. I have some very left-turn ideas as well (like a few World of Darkness videos), but also Pathfinder content will see me through most of 2025 anyway, so that's a decision for future Mythkeeper.
@@TheMythkeeper thats probably why there really aren't that many in depth videos on it. You look up a history of a race or country and it's like a 6 minute video. You need to do what's interesting to you! I'll be happy to listen
I talk about Axis in my video on the Heavens, but there is enough material there on the plane of Axis that it could totally get its own dedicated video. I also talk about Axis _alot_ in my video guides to the Aeons and the Inevitables.
@@TheMythkeeper Yes, I've seen those videos as well, but like you, I could see a completely separate Axis video. That plane is endlessly fascinating to me. So many great concepts there from the God Mind to Aroden's former divine realm.
@@pie10101017 A few! I like the weird ones that can be good or evil, depending on how you squint. Minderhal and Hanspur both come to mind. Almost anything from the giant pantheon really. 😅
I'm planning on making a Yaoguai follower of Lady Nanbyo who's a Kineticist...let's uh, let's say he's a pretty devoted fella. I'm hoping he does well! Maybe enough to give the lady a smile here and there.
An interesting thing about the universe of Pathfinder is that despite the fact the gods are demonstably real, an Eastern view of the cycle of reincarnation is false as everyone who dies ultimately faces a judgement of Pharasma
@@adrikstepanov5307 I do! Check out my video on the transitive planes. It talks about the River of Souls. After soulstuff gets judged by Pharasma, they go to outer planes by way of the river, then they become angels and stuff. But then the angels die, and where does the soul stuff go? Back to the forge of creation to become new life!
In addition to what The Mythkeeper said, in Buddhist reincarnation, there's a whole lot of different things you can be reincarnated as including animals, demons, celestial beings and even guardian deities. Pure Land Buddhism specifically even operates with a conception of a Heaven, the titular Pure Land, where virtuous but unenlightened souls can be reincarnated in a world with less suffering than the mortal realm. So while it's a bit of a kludgey stretch, arguably the Pathfinder cosmology is compatible with Buddhist views, just with an incarnation as a celestial or demonic being as a regular and expected part of the cycle following death as a sapient mortal. The thing that's more clearly got an objectively right answer is the creation of the world. Neither the Tian or the Vudran creation myths are accurate, but I'm pretty sure neither are Avistani ones since essentially nobody in setting knows the actual story.
It should be chi not ki. That's a bad instinct on my part because I'm actually Italian and our CH and C rules are the reverse of in English. So ciao is chao and chiaro is kiaro - I do this all the time with fantasy words and its a hard habit to break.
@@TheMythkeeper Ha, I have the same problem since I've lived in Japan for some time now; always trying to pronounce fantasy words with Japanese rules. Anyways, love your videos~
@@erfanashkan5925 yes and no. Not all creation myths are a result of direct divine revelation as explained by clerics of a particular deity. Some are a result of human theorizing. Others are stories that have changed over time as they’ve been recounted over and over. And yes sometimes gods lie or bend the truth for their own reasons.
A little pedantic, but your definition of atheism in our world is incorrect. It isn’t the assertion that there are no gods, but the lack of belief in gods. Atheists usually don’t claim that gods don’t exist, but that we have no reason to believe that they do. LOVE your content, though.
This is probably a personal perspective thing I'm bringing to the table here. I must confess I am an atheist myself, and I would definitely put forward the claim that Gods don't exist. 😆
@ Totally cool! I subscribe to what the big atheist communities like American Atheists define atheism as. Making the claim that gods do or don’t exist requires evidence. If you simply lack belief, that does not require evidence. You’d be in the realm of “I don’t know”. Basically the difference between an agnostic atheist and a gnostic atheist.
As someone doing the 2e Ruby Phoenix Tournament, this is super helpful for me! My Nephilim Human Sorcerer was needing some religious ideas!
Yeah you have lots of options here.
I love these religion videos. Religion in Pathfinder is so well-developed and varied across the nations.
And full of elements I can crib for my own homebrew settings.
What a lovely surprise to see another religion video today! If time spent with inanimate objects can imbue them with souls, then I swear my hours of gaming have caused some of my computers over the years to be possessed by trickster spirits :)
You rock! Thanks so much for the continuous support. Bless those trickster spirits.
I'm so happy that all this Tian Xia stuff is coming out. My first ever character in PF that I started playing a few months ago is a Fighter from Minkai and all this stuff is helping me a ton to flesh her out.
Minkai region deep dive will be the second Tian Xia deep dive to come out on this channel. Lots of great detail coming in that one.
Just shared this with a freind of mine who's a big fan of Asian culture/mythology, gonna for sure make her day. Great video as always 😄
Rock on! Thanks for sharing ♥
I'm excited by this, my first pathfinder character is a Cleric of Tsukiyo from Jinin!
Yes! Nice character!
I was just thinking how awesome a character like that could be! On the 5 year Quest for the priesthood?
as I'm currently working on creating a wandering samurai, theese Tian Xia videos have been immensly helpful.
Minkai isn't quite my first deep dive (that's Hongal) but its my second. You'll get a lot of mileage out of that one too for this character when it drops.
@@TheMythkeeper I can't wait.
Whenever I think of the monkey king, a "chaotic monk" comes to mind even though it is unlikely.
But since they included the "brawler" as a class, I already recalibrated my thinking.
Thx for the video!
Don't forget, alignments are dead! Chaotic monk, totally allowed now
Lovely video, as always. Your success and passion with such a niche thing (PF2e lore) was one of the things that gave me the courage to start my own channel, so thank you so much for that!
You're very welcome! Thanks so much for the kind words!
Thank you for yet another informational video. I've gotten both the world guide and character guide for Tian Xia and am quite excited for it all. Your guide will help me fine-tune my concepts yet again. Thank you. ❤
Thanks so much for the kind words!
I have been looking forward to this and you never disappoint.
You are too kind!
WOOHOO! MY NEW FAVE REGION OF GOLARION!!! 🐉😊
Y'all are so fast on the draw!
been waiting for this one
I like that they did with philosoph school. They seem to pull specifice the themes of different school and expand that idea instead of just remixing exist school. The end result you get legalism but not quite. Buddhism but not quite. And one might even say something unique
Agree, I think they add a lot to the world here
It is such a nice alternative to just straight up god worship.
the way of spirits reminds me of shinto
These Tian xia videos are amaizing
More coming!
Thanks for the video
Thanks for the comment
Ever consider showing the differences between domains/alignments between 1e & 2e, theres some big changes sometimes. Love all your videos!
Well don't forget in remaster alignments are gone altogether! When Remaster has been out for a while I'll probably do some of this before/after content. Likely towards back end of 2025 is my guess.
Lao Shu Po is worshipped by the Wayang too. They revere her for her dominion over darkness/shadows. :D
This is true!
It feels weird that they Baekho, the White Tiger also known as Baihu in Chinese and Byakko in Japanese, but not Fenghuang, Qinglong or Xuanwu, the other four of the Four Symbols. They're the gods of the directions and pretty much always come as a set. They even have Shizuru as Huanglong, the Gold Dragon and lord of the center who is not one of the Four Symbols, but associated with them to make it enough of a set to make the absences look conspicuous.
Yeah I'd be curious how they decided what to include and why
I find it curious that older references to Tian Xia regularly mentioned Calistria being a prominent deity in the region, but this year's books make almost no mention of her at all.
I think the Jinin elves brought Calistrian worship with them, so its a bit like Calistria worship in the Inner Sea Region. Its a growing faith among humans but its core following is still elven.
Does the philosophy of the Way of spirits apply to constructs as well?
For most construct types yes! See my construct video for more details on which have souls and which don’t.
Have you considered doing Forgotten Realms after you finish with Pathfinder? I don't see much deep lore for that
I get asked this a fair bit and usually I say "maybe" and that's a fairly honest answer. That said a more honest answer is that the Realms are not high on my interest list. Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance and Greyhawk always seemed pretty interchangeable to me. Dragonlance was probably my favorite on account of the novel lines, but essentially most of the D&D 'basic fantasy' settings have less specificity than I feel like I want to get really excited about a setting. Just based on the general interest in my audience what I'll probably do is some Starfinder eventually, and then when I'm done with that I might consider some Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 and maybe a look at some more obscure D&D settings like Darksun. I have some very left-turn ideas as well (like a few World of Darkness videos), but also Pathfinder content will see me through most of 2025 anyway, so that's a decision for future Mythkeeper.
@@TheMythkeeper thats probably why there really aren't that many in depth videos on it. You look up a history of a race or country and it's like a 6 minute video.
You need to do what's interesting to you! I'll be happy to listen
I like that Tian Xia rhyme with Asia.
Y'all are so fast on the draw!
It also means “that which is under heaven,” which is an old fashioned term in Chinese for, well, China.
:o different filming location??
Yeah, you'll see that in a couple upcoming videos. I'll be back in front of the stairs again soon though!
If you haven’t done one already, I’d like to see you do a standalone video on Axis.
I talk about Axis in my video on the Heavens, but there is enough material there on the plane of Axis that it could totally get its own dedicated video. I also talk about Axis _alot_ in my video guides to the Aeons and the Inevitables.
@@TheMythkeeper Yes, I've seen those videos as well, but like you, I could see a completely separate Axis video. That plane is endlessly fascinating to me. So many great concepts there from the God Mind to Aroden's former divine realm.
Do you cover the goddess Gyronna in any of your videos?
Gyronna gets loosely described in both my River Kingdoms region video and in my Hags creature feature.
@@TheMythkeeper Do you have any deities that are favorites of yours from Golarion? I've always liked Groetus
@@pie10101017 A few! I like the weird ones that can be good or evil, depending on how you squint. Minderhal and Hanspur both come to mind. Almost anything from the giant pantheon really. 😅
I'm planning on making a Yaoguai follower of Lady Nanbyo who's a Kineticist...let's uh, let's say he's a pretty devoted fella. I'm hoping he does well! Maybe enough to give the lady a smile here and there.
@@goldenbrigain7031 awesome this sounds like a great concept
An interesting thing about the universe of Pathfinder is that despite the fact the gods are demonstably real, an Eastern view of the cycle of reincarnation is false as everyone who dies ultimately faces a judgement of Pharasma
Until you read up on the antipode and realize they're kind of right ;-)
@@TheMythkeeper Did you had the video on it when discussion outer planes?
@@adrikstepanov5307 I do! Check out my video on the transitive planes. It talks about the River of Souls. After soulstuff gets judged by Pharasma, they go to outer planes by way of the river, then they become angels and stuff. But then the angels die, and where does the soul stuff go? Back to the forge of creation to become new life!
In addition to what The Mythkeeper said, in Buddhist reincarnation, there's a whole lot of different things you can be reincarnated as including animals, demons, celestial beings and even guardian deities. Pure Land Buddhism specifically even operates with a conception of a Heaven, the titular Pure Land, where virtuous but unenlightened souls can be reincarnated in a world with less suffering than the mortal realm. So while it's a bit of a kludgey stretch, arguably the Pathfinder cosmology is compatible with Buddhist views, just with an incarnation as a celestial or demonic being as a regular and expected part of the cycle following death as a sapient mortal.
The thing that's more clearly got an objectively right answer is the creation of the world. Neither the Tian or the Vudran creation myths are accurate, but I'm pretty sure neither are Avistani ones since essentially nobody in setting knows the actual story.
@@Terraoblivion Interesting, thank you!
👏👏👏
Yaezhing : My alignment is Lawful Evil
Also Yaezhing : My cleric alignments are Neutral Evil or Chaotic Evil
Ha Ha… what?
😂
Shouldn't the pronunciation of "Kofusachi" end in "chi" instead of "ki"? That's how it would be in Japanese
It should be chi not ki. That's a bad instinct on my part because I'm actually Italian and our CH and C rules are the reverse of in English. So ciao is chao and chiaro is kiaro - I do this all the time with fantasy words and its a hard habit to break.
@@TheMythkeeper Ha, I have the same problem since I've lived in Japan for some time now; always trying to pronounce fantasy words with Japanese rules. Anyways, love your videos~
@@kashimiiro88 😅
I know ryu when i see him lol but i can see why you would use him where you did. He lives a very asetic life
If you know Ryu you should recognize the other guy as well ;-) Yeah, they were totally picked for that reason.
does the fact that there are multiple creation myths mean that some of the gods are lying?
@@erfanashkan5925 yes and no. Not all creation myths are a result of direct divine revelation as explained by clerics of a particular deity. Some are a result of human theorizing. Others are stories that have changed over time as they’ve been recounted over and over. And yes sometimes gods lie or bend the truth for their own reasons.
My only negative note is the pronunciation. Great summary though.
Trying my best, thanks though
Dwarven Pantheon, when?
When I do 5 kings mountains!
All other gods ripoffs of existing mythology. Sun wukong didnt even boterh changing his name
sad, i thought lady nyanbo would be goddess of cat girls
A little pedantic, but your definition of atheism in our world is incorrect. It isn’t the assertion that there are no gods, but the lack of belief in gods. Atheists usually don’t claim that gods don’t exist, but that we have no reason to believe that they do.
LOVE your content, though.
This is probably a personal perspective thing I'm bringing to the table here. I must confess I am an atheist myself, and I would definitely put forward the claim that Gods don't exist. 😆
@ Totally cool! I subscribe to what the big atheist communities like American Atheists define atheism as. Making the claim that gods do or don’t exist requires evidence. If you simply lack belief, that does not require evidence. You’d be in the realm of “I don’t know”. Basically the difference between an agnostic atheist and a gnostic atheist.
@@jordandorry5243 Yep, that's a good callout. I was describing gnostic atheism as opposed to agnostic atheism.