The Riadus Campaign Setting is an alternative to the default setting of Golarion presented with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game rules. Like Golarion, Riadus is a world of magic, monsters and adventure and draws inspiration from several real-world cultures.
As someone who lives in a magical fantasy world, a person from Riadus has a different set of assumptions than someone from modern Earth. The following are some of these setting assumptions to keep in mind as you create your character.
- Riadus is magical. Stories of wizards who can cast spells and pious servants of the gods who can conjure miracles are commonplace, and people know that they are real
- Magic is not commonplace. While there are academies who teach wizards, pious clerics of the gods, druids of the Wild and practicioners of the occult arts, they cannot be found everywhere. Magic shops sell only basic components necessary for spellcasting rather than powerful magical items. Most who possess a magic item crafted it themselves, or stole or traded it from someone else.
- Riadus has some technology. The concept of black powder or clockwork machines are just as baffling as magic to most people. Most technology is limited geographically to where it was developed and is rarely seen in foreign lands.
- Riadus is multicultural. Much like the real world, Riadus has many different nations and cultures all across the globe. Historical explorations and well-trod trade routes have seen people from all over the continents travel to other locales. While immigrants and travelers from other continents may not be common, they’re certainly not impossible.
- Riadus is ancient. The known history of Riadus spans nearly 10,000 years, and that doesn’t include the history that people don’t know about! This long and storied past means that there’s always some new secret or discovery to be dug up by scholars—or some ancient curse or threat waiting to be uncovered and set free.
- The wilderness is dangerous. Civilization, particularly human civilization, separates the mundane from the wondrous for most people of Riadus. The wilderness is filled with vicious animals and monsters; those who wander too far from the roads may find themselves lost in the Wild.
The Calendar
Riadus keeps track of time in a very similar fashion to modern Earth, though the reasoning differs considerably. Unlike Earth, Riadus and it’s surround celestial bodies are geocentric. That is, the globe of Riadus sits at the center of the universe and is orbited by the heavens.
- A day is roughly 24 hours long. Riadus spins on its axis, creating a familiar day/night cycle. The Sun, also called Solaris, orbits Riadus causing the lengh of each day to lengthen or shorten by as much as an hour throughout the year, but this variation rarely has any functional impact.
- A week is 7 days, and a month roughly 30 days. Riadus has two moons, Lumos and Luna. Luna is the smaller and darker of the two and orbits the fastest, going through it’s phases roughly every 7 days. Lumos is larger and bright and its orbit takes between 28 and 32 days. Luna often orbits close to Riadus, though every few years it moves further away and moves beyond Lumos, slowing its orbit to roughly 60 days until it moves back to its usual orbit.
- A year is 12 months and roughly 360 days. Riadus rotates on a slightly tilted axis, and as the Sun orbits the seasons change. One full rotation marks a year.
