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Dragon Empires
Gazetteer
James Jacobs, Dave Gross, and Rob McCreary
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Dragon Empires Gazetteer
A Pathfinder Campaign Setting Supplement
This book works best with the
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook.
Although suitable for play in any fantasy world, it is optimized for use in
the Pathfinder campaign setting.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Races of the Dragon Empires
Regions of the Dragon Empires
Life in the Dragon Empires
2
4
14
48
Credits
Authors
• Matthew Goodall, Dave Gross, James Jacobs,
Steve Kenson, Michael Kortes, Colin McComb,
Rob McCreary, Richard Pett, F. Wesley Schneider,
Mike Shel, and Todd Stewart
Cover Artist
• Wayne Reynolds
Interior Artists
• Rayph Beisner, Dmitry Burmak,
Jon Hodgson, Jim Nelson, Eva Widermann,
and Ben Wooten
Creative Director
• James Jacobs
Senior Art Director
• Sarah E. Robinson
Managing Editor
• F. Wesley Schneider
Editing and Development
• Judy Bauer,
Christopher Carey, Patrick Renie, and James L. Sutter
Editorial Assistance
• Jason Bulmahn, Rob McCreary,
Mark Moreland, Stephen Radney-MacFarland,
and Sean K Reynolds
Graphic Designer
• Andrew Vallas
Production Specialist
• Crystal Frasier
Publisher
• Erik Mona
Paizo CEO
• Lisa Stevens
Vice President of Operations
• Jeffrey Alvarez
Director of Sales
• Pierce Watters
Sales Assistant
• Dylan Green
Finance Manager
• Christopher Self
Staff Accountant
• Kunji Sedo
Technical Director
• Vic Wertz
Campaign Coordinator
• Michael Brock
Special Thanks
• The Paizo Customer Service,
Warehouse, and Website Teams
Paizo Publishing, LLC
7120 185th Ave NE, Ste 120
Redmond, WA 98052-0577
paizo.com
This product makes use of the
Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook, Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player’s Guide, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3,
Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Combat,
and
Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic.
These rules can be found online as part of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document at
paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd.
Product Identity:
The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks,
registered trademarks, proper names (characters, deities, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, locations, characters, artwork, and trade dress. (Elements that have previously been designated
as Open Game Content or are in the public domain are not included in this declaration.)
Open Content:
Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above), the game mechanics of this Paizo Publishing game product are Open Game Content, as defined in the Open
Gaming License version 1.0a Section 1(d). No portion of this work other than the material designated as Open Game Content may be reproduced in any form without written permission.
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Dragon Empires Gazetteer
is published by Paizo Publishing, LLC under the Open Game License version 1.0a Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Paizo Publishing, LLC, the Paizo golem logo, Pathfinder, and GameMastery are registered trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC; Pathfinder Adventure Path, Pathfinder Campaign
Setting, Pathfinder Module, Pathfinder Player Companion, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Pathfinder Society, and Pathfinder Tales are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC. © 2011,
Paizo Publishing, LLC.
Printed in China.
Pathfinder
Campaign Setting:
Dragon Empires Gazetteer
Welcome
to the
Dragon Empires
T
hose who dwell in the Inner Sea region know the
land as a vast swath of mountains and swamps,
forests and plains, nations and wildlands,
where one can expect to encounter a diverse range of
challenges and mysteries. Be it the frontier lands of
Varisia, the urban sprawl of Absalom, the frozen reaches
of Irrisen, or the seemingly endless jungles and savannas
of the Mwangi Expanse, the Inner Sea region presents
an immense amount of opportunity for the curious and
the brave.
Yet the Inner Sea is but one relatively small realm
on Golarion. Other lands exist beyond the borders of
Avistan and north Garund—the sunken continent of
Azlant, the frozen terrors of the Crown of the World,
the ancient nations that surround the Castrovin Sea,
and the mythical land of Vudra all draw adventurers
from across the world. But when seekers of adventure
and intrigue travel as far as one can go from the Inner
Sea—whether having trekked across the polar ice to
the north or endured the trials of an epic sea voyage—
they arrive in a land of unfamiliar traditions and rich
history. A land that stretches from the arctic circle to
the north to well below the equator to the south. A land
more than f ive times the area of the entire Inner Sea
region, from the Linnorm Kingdoms to Sargava. These
are the Dragon Empires.
THE DRAGON EMPIRES
The continent of Tian Xia is a strange and exotic place
to visitors from the west. Here, humans rub shoulders
with fox and bird people, honor is an almost palpable
force capable of deciding the fate of nations, and any
stone or bush at the side of the road could potentially
hide a f iercely protective guardian spirit. But one of the
greatest differences between Tian Xia and the rest of
the world is the way in which dragons interact with the
people of the land.
In most parts of Golarion, including the Inner Sea
region, dragons are recluses at best, and marauders at
worst. The legends and tales of dragons devastating
entire cities, gobbling up legions, and laying waste to
nations are based all too closely on actual events. Even in
the extremely rare cases when dragons seek to interact
directly with humanoids without wreaking violence
on a massive scale, the results are questionable—the
ruler of the island nation of Hermea is a dragon, and
his nation is composed of outwardly happy-seeming
people, yet one does not have to look far under Hermea’s
surface to f ind evidence of trouble and discontent. And
Hermea is the only such example at this time.
This is not to say that dragons never aid humans—
just that, when such aid is given, it is almost always on
a personal level. Dragons rarely, if ever, interact with the
humanoid society of the Inner Sea region on a large scale
other than to oppress or devastate.
This is not the case in Tian Xia. Here, the dragons
that inhabit the land are not the reclusive
metallics, murderous chromatics, or impartial
primals. The dragons of these lands are known
as imperial dragons, creatures inexorably tied
to the balance of nature and civilization,
ancestors and descendants, and heroes and
villains. They do not avoid humanity—they
2
Introduction
1
embrace it. Indeed, several of Tian Xia’s most common
gods may themselves be dragons. But even if these deities
simply prefer the draconic form, the point remains the
same. In Tian Xia, dragons serve as rulers, as advisors,
and as gods. The f ive imperial families of Minkai were
granted the divine right to rule by the goddess Shizuru
in her draconic guise. The nation of Quain depends
upon the magical aid granted by the powerful Celestial
Dragon—aid greatly coveted by its neighbors Lingshen
and Po Li. And in Xa Hoi, the people are ruled by a
sovereign imperial dragon in human form. For these
reasons and more, the lands of Tian Xia have long been
known as the Dragon Empires.
Special Thanks
The Dragon Empires have been a long time coming—we
dropped the first hints of this realm early on, as soon as
the very first installment of the very first Adventure Path,
which featured a certain exiled family from the land of
Minkai. And while we would continue to drop teasers and
tidbits about this continent again and again, it took us
nearly half a decade before the time was right to actually
venture into the Dragon Empires. This book is something
of a big deal for Paizo—in a lot of ways, it can be viewed as
an entire new campaign setting. Yet we specifically chose
to preserve a lot of links between the Dragon Empires
and the Inner Sea region, because in truth, these lands
are fundamentally part of Golarion. Just as an adventurer
can do battle with a Tian sorcerer or adventure with a
quirky tengu rogue in the Inner Sea, an adventurer in
the Dragon Empires can run afoul of a Taldan assassin or
visit a mysterious elven nation. This is on purpose—for
the Dragon Empires are not so much their own setting as
they are an immense expansion to Golarion as a whole.
And this is a good place to call out a few names and
give out some special thanks to two guys who really
helped get the ball rolling back in the dawn of Golarion—
Mike McArtor and Nick Logue. While we were dropping
hints of the Dragon Empires in “Burnt Offerings,” they
were already coming up with entire countries and nations
for the far side of the world. They’re the ones who gave
the Dragon Empires their name—“Tian Xia.” Both have
moved on to other pursuits in life since those days, but
we wanted to take the time to say thanks to them—this
book’s for the both of you!
INSPIRATIONS
Golarion is a fantasy world, yet it is very much inspired
by the real world. In the Inner Sea region, we drew upon
real-world mythology and history to generate nations
like Osirion, the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, Qadira,
Varisia, and more. We did the same when developing the
Dragon Empires.
In the following pages, you will f ind regions, deities,
events, monsters, and people inspired by the myths
and histories of numerous Asian analogs, such as
Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mongolia,
Tibet, Vietnam, and more. Yet as you explore the Dragon
Empires, it’s worth keeping in mind one simple truth.
Tian Xia is not Asia.
For many of the peoples, customs, deities, and regions,
we’ve used real-world mythology and history as nothing
more than a starting point. Just as Osirion isn’t an exact
duplicate of Egypt, neither is Minkai an exact replica
of Japan. You’ll f ind nations inspired by Korean legend
that worship deities drawn from Chinese mythology,
and entities from Japanese folklore living among
societies modeled on Indonesian societies. While in the
real world, you might not expect to see a ninja pop up
in a Cambodian story, that’s not the case in the Dragon
Empires, where the traditions and myths of one region
can signif icantly overlap with those of another. So when
you explore the varied lands of Tian Xia, keep in mind
that while we began with the real world during the
creation of this book, where we ended up is Golarion.
The concept of a Japan-inspired samurai taking up arms
against an Indonesia-inspired undead monster really
isn’t all that outlandish when there are f lying cities and
nations ruled by krakens, after all!
Furthermore, countless movies helped to guide and
inspire the development of the Dragon Empires—far
too many to list here. Instead, presented here are a few
mainstays—“required viewing,” if you will, for anyone
who’s looking for more inspiration on running a Dragon
Empires adventure.
13 Assassins,
dir. Takashi Miike
Big Trouble in Little China,
dir. John Carpenter
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,
dir. Ang Lee
Curse of the Golden Flower,
dir. Yimou Zhang
Godzilla,
dir. Ishiro Honda
The Hidden Fortress,
dir. Akira Kurosawa
The Host,
dir. Joon-ho Bong
House of Flying Daggers,
dir. Yimou Zhang
The Legend of Drunken Master,
dir. Chia-Liang Liu and
Jackie Chan
Master of the Flying Guillotine,
dir. Yu Wang
Once Upon a Time in China,
dir. Hark Tsui
Ong-bak,
dir. Prachya Pinkaew
Princess Mononoke,
dir. Hayao Miyazaki
The Ring,
dir. Hideo Nakata
Seven Samurai,
dir. Akira Kurosawa
Spirited Away,
dir. Hayao Miyazaki
The Warrior,
dir. Sung-su Kim
Yojimbo,
dir. Akira Kurosawa
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