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Aasimar

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Aasimar
An aasimar.
(Creature)

Aasimars are the planar scion1 descendants of humans and celestial beings from the Great Beyond.2 They are also referred to generally as angelkin, celestials, or godtouched,3 or by more specific names if their bloodline is known (see Lineages below).

Description

Aasimars often look very human with minor indicators of their unusual ancestry. These differences can span a wide range, but most often are exemplified by an unearthly beauty, hair that shines like metal, strange eye color, or even glowing golden halos. In many cases, an aasimar's beauty is not due to physical traits but rather to a supernatural tendency among others to interpret their features as beautiful or attractive. This heritage can remain hidden for generations and unexpectedly appear in the offspring of two seemingly human parents.

Aasimars also tend to have strong, confident personalities, with minds that are not easily shaken by doubt or misdirection. They are often quite insightful and perceptive, able to formulate coherent and persuasive arguments with little effort.

Like their ancestors, many aasimars have an increased power over light and dark, displaying the ability to see in complete darkness for limited distances and spontaneously generate daylight. They also inherit a strong resistance to cold, heat or fire, and corrosive effects.456

Origins

Most aasimars alive in Golarion today are not, in fact, direct descendants of celestials, but are generated from holy blessings or the leftover energies of holy places.7 If they do descend from celestial beings, their ancestry is at least one step removed from the original introduction of that blood: the child of a union of a mortal with a celestial being is a half-celestial, not an aasimar. Aasimars may be born from the union of the half-celestial with another mortal being. The possibility of an aasimar birth continues to many generations after that union, even when two mortals have children, so long as one of the mortals is a direct descendant of the half-celestial.8 Although half-celestial creatures come in many shapes and forms, aasimars are only born from humanoids.9

Lineages

Though for most aasimars the source of their celestial blood is unknown, there are some who can trace their blood back to a specific type of good outsider and their very personalities may be shaped by this ancestry. These aasimar lineages are as follows:10

Adventurers

Aasimars are usually prized from birth, and their communities ensure that these blessed children are given much encouragement to follow their divine destiny. Aasimars often devote themselves to a church, becoming champions or clerics. Artistic aasimars tend towards a career as a bard.11

Habitat and society

An aasimar in action.

Aasimars are often treated as living miracles. This tends to result in them being outcasts among their peers during their formative years and being given a significant amount of strange attention from the superstitious who look to receive a blessing from the descendant of an angel.5 They are not all benevolent, but certainly tend in that direction.4

Despite their inborn advantages, aasimars can face a number of difficulties in their lives. They often have high expectations placed on them from youth, and envy and resentment from their peers can cause them to face stigmas in their communities.12 Because of their reputation for being generally good creatures, they are sometimes targeted for killing or capture by evil beings, such as black dragons.13 The traits afforded to aasimars by their heritage, such as their beauty, often cause them to be targeted by the slave trade.9

Aasimars, due to their rarity, rarely form true societies. It is rare for more than one aasimar to live in the same town or village, or for an aasimar child to find older members of her species to serve as guides or mentors. Aasimars often live among the societies of their parent species as a result.12

Etymology

The word aasimar in the Common language derives from a combination of the Celestial terms "aasu", meaning "new", and "imarr", meaning "birth". Interestingly, both words in Celestial are derived from the Draconic language.14

On Golarion

Nualia Tobyn, an aasimar cleric of Lamashtu.
For a list of known aasimars, see Category:Aasimar/Inhabitants.

While they have existed on Golarion for thousands of years, there has been a recent increase in aasimar births. This is thought to correlate with the increased numbers of tieflings born in the Hell-influenced nation of Cheliax in the last century.2

Aasimars are more common in settlements which have a larger proportion of natives of the Great Beyond, such as the city of Katapesh in Garund,15 and (in the Inner Sea region) are found in their greatest numbers in Varisia, Lastwall, Mendev, Nirmathas and Andoran.316 Aasimars born in Cheliax and Nidal are often seen as threats by the dark nations' governments, and are often forced to live in secret. Chelish aasimars, in particular, are often mistaken for tieflings and subjected to the discrimination that the other planar race faces.917

Aasimars, especially emberkin, are held in high regard in the Sarenrae-worshipping nation of Qadira.18 Plumekith are also common among the nomads of Qadira's Zho Mountains, who according to legend were once watched over by the aasimars' garuda ancestors. Likewise, emberkin are also common in Rahadoum and Thuvia, due to the high numbers of peris found there.19

While aasimars are relatively uncommon in most of Golarion, they are the primary inhabitants of the Tian Xian nation of Tianjing.20 They are descended from a celestial force that arrived in the region thousands of years in the past to fight a qlippoth invasion, and which passed the rule of the land to their aasimar descendants on their return to the upper planes.1921

References

Paizo published a major reference text on aasimars in Blood of Angels.

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.

  1. ↑ Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Mark Seifter, et al. (2019). Bestiary (Second Edition), p. 263. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-64078-170-2
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Erik Mona et al. (2008). "Characters". Campaign Setting, p. 40. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-112-1
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 James Jacobs et al. (2011). "Races". The Inner Sea World Guide, p. 11. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-269-2
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Jason Bulmahn. (2009). Bestiary (First Edition), p. 7. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-183-1. Derived from creature statistics.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 James Jacobs. (2007). Burnt Offerings. Burnt Offerings, p. 9. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-035-3
  6. ↑ Amber E. Scott. (2012). Blood of Angels, p. 6. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-438-2
  7. ↑ Calder CaDavid et al. (2021). Ancestry Guide, p. 8. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-64078-308-9
  8. ↑ Amber E. Scott. (2012). Blood of Angels, p. 3. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-438-2
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Amber E. Scott. (2012). Blood of Angels, p. 4. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-438-2
  10. ↑ Amber E. Scott. (2012). Blood of Angels, p. 20ff. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-438-2
  11. ↑ Calder CaDavid et al. (2021). Ancestry Guide, p. 9. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-64078-308-9
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Amber E. Scott. (2012). Blood of Angels, p. 4–5. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-438-2
  13. ↑ Mike McArtor. (2009). Dragons Revisited, p. 7. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-165-7
  14. ↑ Mike McArtor. (2007). Dragons of Golarion. Fortress of the Stone Giants, p. 69. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-039-1
  15. ↑ Brian Cortijo et al. (2009). Legacy of Fire Player's Guide, p. 4. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-168-8
  16. ↑ Amber E. Scott. (2012). Blood of Angels, p. 9. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-438-2
  17. ↑ Amber E. Scott. (2012). Blood of Angels, p. 10. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-438-2
  18. ↑ Jessica Price. (2017). Qadira, Jewel of the East, p. 28. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-60125-912-7
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Amber E. Scott. (2012). Blood of Angels, p. 11. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-438-2
  20. ↑ James Jacobs, Dave Gross, Rob McCreary. (2011). Dragon Empires Gazetteer, p. 39. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-379-8
  21. ↑ James Jacobs, Dave Gross, Rob McCreary. (2011). Dragon Empires Gazetteer, p. 15–16. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-379-8
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Ancestries of Golarion
Core ancestries
Uncommon ancestries
Planar scions
Monstrous ancestries
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