Pathfinder Campaign Setting by Arcane Quill Games
Nexaria is a campaign setting guide for Pathfinder. Come and explore the many lands of Nexaria through this richly illustrated, in-depth guide to a world of titans and magi, blight and blood!
In addition to an extensively detailed gazetteer exploring the realm of Nexaria, this guide also includes rules for new ancestries, unique archetypes and subclasses, legendary magical items, and mysterious creatures. In addition, Nexaria features all-new mechanics for powerful creatures capable of holding their own against entire parties of heroes; items that can be crafted from the environment while adventuring; and a deadly blight that offers incredible power, at the risk of losing oneself to corruption.
The World of Nexaria
The realm of Nexaria is comprised of several diverse regions, each offering unique opportunities for the brave—or the foolhardy.
The Argos Empire dominates the continent, its vast territory encompassing numerous populations and lands that have accepted imperial rule and annual taxation in exchange for protection and security. It is often said by citizens of the capital that not even from the highest tower on the clearest day can the border be seen. Imperial toll roads link towns and cities within Argos territory, theoretically offering safety at a price; in recent years, however, neglect of the toll-road network has stirred discontent among outlying communities, which now suffer the depredation of monsters and bandits.
East of the continent’s imperial heart, the Jeweled Shores stand as testament to the magic and beauty of Nexaria. The region takes its name from the Crystal Seas, an ocean transmuted to beautiful gemstone in shades of azure and emerald, which extends from the Searing Sands of the mainland to fully encompass the Shattered Isles. Northward, the Sword Sea—so named because of the miles-long sword visible in the depths, believed to be a relic of the Titans who once ruled the realm—bathes the Shores, linking them to the frigid northern reaches. The center of the region’s civilization is the Cupric City, the heart of Nexarian wealth and finance, whose opulent buildings and vibrant gardens provide a last touch of color before one enters the Waste Lands.
Separated from much of the continent by forbidding mountain ranges and dangerous ocean waters, the Waste Lands are chilling in more than just temperature, for here the scars of the war between mortal and Titan still lie unhealed after a thousand years. The icy wind carries the last words of fools who ventured into the northern lands, unready for the devastating cold and the horrific dangers. The Waste Lands extend beyond their own shores; vast claws of ice dig into the ocean, creating a deadly maze of fjords and icebergs. At the continent’s farthest extreme lie the Shadowlands, where daylight never comes and all is dark, home to the descendants of those displaced by ancient war. Closer to civilization, the Sothera Desert hides ancient and terrible knowledge, while the Ruptured Vale—where innumerable corpses stand petrified in the moment of their soul’s eruption from flesh—mutely testify to the unspeakable price of mortal victory.
Northwest of Argos is the Enduring Coast, its shores lashed with great waves and white foam by the Unforgiving Sea, its inland regions dominated by precipitous mountains and untamed forests, all inhabited by some of Nexaria’s most deadly beasts. The depths of the Sea are littered with the wrecks of mighty ships, their ancient treasures hoarded by horrors of the deep, while its surface is scattered with islands that hide the horror of Averno, an all-devouring whirlpool said to lead to an unknowable place. The peoples of the Enduring Coast, tempered by nature’s fury as they are, produce some of the boldest and most avid warriors in the realm.
To the west, the Twilit Territories are haunted by the shadows of the past. Whispered rumors and campfire tales tell of spectral apparitions, pacts with diabolical creatures, conjured plagues, and village cults to inconceivable beings. Within living memory, the Territories’ peoples were all but exterminated by a horrific pestilence, with little more than one in a thousand surviving. And then, out of nowhere, the plague vanished. In the time since, a tide of immigrants have poured into the region, eager to claim the abandoned communities; they now serve as underclass to the descendants of those tenacious survivors, who rule their ancestral lands still. The farthest reaches of the Territories are barely explored, but those few adventurers who return tell of the lightning-scarred Stormwrack Peaks, the lethal extremes of the Soulswept Desert, and of the mysterious community of Tholos which lies beyond.
Named for their independence from the Argos Empire and the other powers of Nexaria, the Free Lands are a realm where mortals live in harmony with nature. Only two great settlements stand out from the fields and forests of the Free Lands, and even these metropolitan centers blend urban and natural environment so skillfully that one cannot say where one ends and the other begins. More than any other region of the realm, the Free Lands are defined by a popular folk legend: the Lay of the Titan’s Lover. In the legend, one of the Titans turned against their kin for love of an elvish mortal, fighting to protect the fragile object of their affection. In their fury the other Titans attempted to slay the mortal that had enchanted their sibling, and when the lovestruck Titan intervened, they stripped that one of their divinity and drove them out to perish here. Legend holds that the elvish lover still lives, wandering the secluded glens and singing melancholic laments in memory of the fallen Titan.
Separated from the mainland by the Central Sea the vast island of Nazera is a sea of greens, smothered by a jungle of diverse vegetation utterly unlike that found elsewhere in the realm. Its peoples are as diverse as the foliage; some communities settle in one place, fighting an eternal war against the jungle’s growth, while others move nomadically in search of sanctuary. Vestiges of ancient civilization can occasionally be found amid the conquering roots of the jungle, their glory devoured by nature’s ferocious hunger; rumors persist of vast ruins deep in Nazera’s heart, the last remnants of a forgotten civilization.
History of Nexaria
In the distant past, the Titans, descendants of the primordial creator gods, stewarded the world now known as Nexaria as it grew. Pouring the divine essence from which they were made into the world, they created forests and fields, beasts and birds and fish, and the peoples that now populate the land. The Titan Age is now only dimly recalled as a time of splendor and miracles, with its cataclysms and terrors almost wholly forgotten. Only the Eye of Blight—a scarlet satellite which appears in the sky without following a regular cycle, and whose appearance heralds curious and terrible events in the world below—remains as a reminder of this period.
But Nexaria is no longer stewarded by god or Titan. A thousand years have passed since the end of the great war between the mortals of Nexaria and their Titan creators. The consequences of their defeat at the hands of the first—and last—Emperor Argos endure to this day. Storms of wild magic ravage the land, divine magic is withered without its Titan patrons, and the seas spill into the underworld. Worst of all, memory and history themselves were sundered, and now little is known of even recent eras.
Today, the Argos Empire, now stewarded by an imperial council, continues to expand across the lands. While imperial diplomats make bold promises of protection and security for those willing to submit, few fully trust the Argos Council and its aggressive expansionism. Meanwhile, far from imperial lands, a strange plague known as the Crimson Blight seeps across the realm, corrupting earth, infecting creatures, and warping minds. Only the Vespertine Order, founded long ago in defiance of the Emperor’s mandate against Titan-lore, stands against this spreading horror. The Order scours Nexaria for any scrap of knowledge about the long-lost creators, desperately hoping to find the origin of the Crimson Blight—if not all of Nexaria’s woes—and put an end to the world’s decline before it’s too late.
Ancestries and Heritages
In addition to the common ancestries familiar to Pathfinder players, Nexaria is home to many strange and often unique peoples—some never before seen in other settings—including duskling elves and dwarves, citadine gnomes, half-vampire ashenblood, elemental-touched primogens, and many more. In addition, the all-new ailuren and wulver ancestries premieres in this campaign setting.
Archetypes and Subclasses
The Haunt Inquisitors are a branch of the Vigil Lodge, physicians and alchemists extraordinaire, who battle the monstrous dangers that threaten the world. After becoming a member of one of the covens and taking their first steps down the alchemical path, they obtain a weapon linked to an otherworldly entity, as well as unique combat techniques useful for slaying even the most accursed creature.
The Parent is a patron that communicates through the eldest member of the family, known as the matron, and grants them ancestral powers. Once the matron leaves the family, their head is preserved through a ritual to make it imperishable and continue advising their descendants as a link between The Parent and the new matron.
The powers of The Parent are related to protection, life, and punishment for those who harm those who worship them or family members who do not respect their home.
Magic items and Artifacts
In Nexaria magical objects are rare relics of bygone ages; therefore, magical objects are seen as wonderful, unique, and powerful. (For Pathfinder players, the campaign setting assumes the use of automatic bonus progression rules.) In addition, Nexaria presents rules for specialized artifacts and relics which grow with one’s character, whether as a result of level advancement, discovering the object’s secret lore or the reason for its creation, or through developing a unique bond with the relic.
The Eye of Blight
When the Eye of Blight opens upon Nexaria, its sanguine gaze affects the world in unpredictable ways. Time and space warp and shift, arcane magic becomes powerful yet unpredictable, and creatures—including people—mutate into never-before-seen killing machines. Nexaria presents rules for the Eye of Blight’s appearance, as well as guidelines for creating unique effects of a manifestation.
Crimson Blight
The Crimson Blight spreads across Nexaria, corrupting and warping those it touches. Devastating and difficult to cure, the Blight should be delved into only with great care, for its corruption can stain a soul or even drag it into total transfiguration. But… there is power in this corruption, too, for those courageous or foolhardy enough to risk their very soul and self.
Nexaria Campaign Setting includes an in-depth system for the Blight, including templates to use on existing creatures, giving them new abilities when affected by this plague. Contact with the Crimson Blight, either from the environment or from creatures they face, inflicts the blighted condition on characters. When this condition reaches a certain stage, depending on the robustness of the infected, the Blight will advance on that character. Each advancement will be more dangerous, until the infected one finally and irrevocably—at least so far as Nexaria’s peoples have discovered—transforms into another creature. While treatments have begun to emerge, the only way to access them is through exposure to the blighted lands and creatures, making the cure as dangerous as the disease.
Magic
Divine magic users must channel the vestiges of divine essence in the world to hear the voice of the titans. But the titans do not, or perhaps cannot, answer every prayer. On those occasions, unknown entities may intervene, offering the supplicant power in exchange for strange bargains and offerings. Other spellcasting traditions are sometimes warped by storms of wild magic or the Blight, with spells amplified or rendered completely unpredictable. Additionally, Nexaria includes new mechanics for catalysts, specialized items or foci that help a caster control and channel their magic.
Lead Design: Luis Castro
Writing and Rules Development: Luis Castro
Additional Writing & Development: David N. Ross, Isabelle Thorne, Jesús del Arco, Luigi Lizza, Luis Gimeno Editing: Alex Teplitz, Isabelle Thorne, Lynne M. Meyer, V.J. Harris
Formatting & Layout: Luis Castro
Art Direction: Luis Castro
Standard Edition Cover Art: Alejandro Silva (@alexsilvart)
Special Edition Cover Art: Javier Pajuelo (@javier_pajuelo_art)
Page Border Illustration: Pablo Pereira (@pereira_hurtado)
Interior Illustration: Adrián Ibarra Lugo (@ailustrar), Aesoterik, Agustín Ezequiel Nievas (@agus.end), Alejandro Silva (@alexsilvart), Álvaro Jiménez (@alvarojh.0), Carolina López (@itsberru), Daniel Caballero (@dcaballeroart), David León de la Torre (@davidelo.dibujando), Dean Spencer (@deanspencerart), Denis Bezmaternykh (@denisbezart), Diana Moreno, Diego Lopez (@dcyann), Elena Muñoz (@kyotosparty), Francisco Bautista (@franbautistart), Gunship Revolution, Henrik Karppinen, Iñaki Sendino (@ikanart), Jacob Portillo (@mapaxe12), Julia Fernández (@rheyia_art), Marina Romero Arias (@vespervines), Mario Miravalles (@infocorp), Miren Leyzaola (@mirenleyzaola), Moreno Paissan (@inkcompass.maps), Pablo Pereira (@pereira_hurtado), Ramona (@alderdoodle), The Forge Studios.
Cartography: Moreno Paissan (@inkcompass.maps)
Nexaria Campaign Setting is available through DriveThruRPG in PDF.
Please note: The links in the post above are “affiliate links”. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item the author of this post will receive an affiliate commission.
