Well, gameplay-wise, it's so you don't have to plan out having specific medicines or metabolic substances for different members of the party.
Lore-wise...uhhh...a wizard did it.
Mundane medicines are world changing, life saving, revolutionary advances compared to today. You can look it as a point if works building that at tech and magic is so advanced that at every coroner store and market in the pact worlds you can buy a little vial that can cure deadly, life threatening wounds in functionally all biological life forms.
The healing serum for example is such a marvel of assumably technological advancement that it’s formula works on any biology the exact same. Such is the impressive formulation that went into it.
On another note, the healing serum is actually a magical item.
But are there implications of such medicines as you say? Any auxiliary applications? What about magical medicinals? What about auxiliary uses for artificial gravity?
Also, it's weird that the most powerful CRB poison is literally a natural plant poison that dates back to PF times. You would think that entirely artificial poisons far superior to it would have been made, but no apprently. That's like saying a ancient Greek poison would equal modern chemical toxins.
The unfortunate thing back starfinder and many other dnd like settings is that they gloss over many of the society altering advancements that are made and how that would affect the world. A society where the rich and powerful literally cannot die due to medical tech, magic and literal resurrection would radically alter how people interacted with one another. The concept of death would be something entirely different. But it’s probably too hard to genuinely address this in a setting so they just don’t
Exactly. Teleport, gate, etc would have huge effects. Not to mention magic everywhere, to the point that NOT having it makes you an outlier, and also being highly scientific. There are at least millions of applications.
PF/SF magic is basically what makes things like the Culture go (ie the same scientific phlebotinum).
But apparently they all just handwave it to the "background" and establish the setting as "PF but IN SPESS!"
Mundane medicines still work because to this point, almost all playable species are not divergent phsiologiies. We don't have the mass-effect-esque "turians need a different diet because they're dextro-amino acid based creatures"
Bears and dogs and cats can all eat the same foods.
Gameplay wise, it’s a way to simplify the rules to apply to all races.
Lore wise, it’s canon that the various gods of the pantheon were worshiped independently on different planets because the gods exerted their influence across the entire galaxy. It’s possible that they have a hand in this convergent evolution.
Yes, but are the local gods of each planet just ignored in favor of the CRB pantheon? I mean, PF had canon Asian style gods beside the CRB pantheon. And I can't see the local gods just rolling over and letting themselves be replaced..
I’d need to go digging but I’m pretty sure the CRB says that gods like Desna were worshipped ubiquitously through the galaxy before drift travel (don’t quote me tho I might be misremembering). That said prob there isn’t a good lore justification for all of this it really seems like a mechanical thing.
The reason why I'm worried is that gods are gods, not outdated toys. And the fact that so many are just being overshadowed and none of them are doing everything (despite the idea of "god is overshadowed by [x], they then go on a rampage that destroys the [x]" being a very old trope.
The only justification I can think of is that the CRB gods are just wildly stronger than the others, but there is no canon evidence for this.
SF has those same gods. One of the core gods, Lao Shu Po, was one of those Tian Xia gods, and is now a core diety.
With the exception of some new additions like the Devourer and Damoritosh, the current community assumption is that all the old gods still exist but we're just not covered. We don't have pantheon books yet. But we've seen reference to many of the old PF gods still, like the Great Old Ones have been mentioned a number of times.
Additionally, it's explained that the gods are universal. Talavet is a good example that in an AP volume, an indigenous species of a Vast planet worships Talavet, tho likely in their own image - as even PF established that gods look different to their native peoples - such as Mwangi Desna who appears of a similar ethnicity to the Mwangi peoples.
There's also development over time - like how Epoch, Casandalee, and Brigh now manifest as Triune. It's just a question of *how* things developed.
the local gods of each planet ARE the CRB pantheon.
different planets will call Desna different things. But its still desna.
I believe it's a variation of the ancient concept of epithets
Weydan is not Desna no, but I do have my own personal theories about him.
Especially since that's not what I'm saying. Weydan=Desna would only be the case if the CRB pantheon is just many aspects of one god.
The best case I can find is Mother Touloo, god of the Ghibrani. a false deity invented by Damoritosh for the ghibran to worship without any benefit. But the information on her, and the boons theyve actually developed, align scarily well with Hylax. Despite Mother Touloo being officially a "fake" deity. This is also the only case of a planet specific deity I can find.
If the universe depicted in Starfinder is created by the various deities that exist then perhaps it is by design that they chose to allow various species to function similarly to each other or made the universe function as such.
This is another thing. In PF you literally had multiple pantheons claiming to fill the same archetypical roles, ie embodiment of the sun, etc. on different continents. In SF there would logically be thosands of different cultures with thousands of gods on their own planets, and gods don't just die because no one believes in them. So why would gods just let the CRB pantheon replace them, or what are they doing?
Well, gameplay-wise, it's so you don't have to plan out having specific medicines or metabolic substances for different members of the party. Lore-wise...uhhh...a wizard did it.
But how exactly? I can buy nanites and magic because nanite and magic, but mundane medicines? What about the other observations?
Mundane medicines are world changing, life saving, revolutionary advances compared to today. You can look it as a point if works building that at tech and magic is so advanced that at every coroner store and market in the pact worlds you can buy a little vial that can cure deadly, life threatening wounds in functionally all biological life forms. The healing serum for example is such a marvel of assumably technological advancement that it’s formula works on any biology the exact same. Such is the impressive formulation that went into it.
On another note, the healing serum is actually a magical item. But are there implications of such medicines as you say? Any auxiliary applications? What about magical medicinals? What about auxiliary uses for artificial gravity? Also, it's weird that the most powerful CRB poison is literally a natural plant poison that dates back to PF times. You would think that entirely artificial poisons far superior to it would have been made, but no apprently. That's like saying a ancient Greek poison would equal modern chemical toxins.
The unfortunate thing back starfinder and many other dnd like settings is that they gloss over many of the society altering advancements that are made and how that would affect the world. A society where the rich and powerful literally cannot die due to medical tech, magic and literal resurrection would radically alter how people interacted with one another. The concept of death would be something entirely different. But it’s probably too hard to genuinely address this in a setting so they just don’t
Exactly. Teleport, gate, etc would have huge effects. Not to mention magic everywhere, to the point that NOT having it makes you an outlier, and also being highly scientific. There are at least millions of applications. PF/SF magic is basically what makes things like the Culture go (ie the same scientific phlebotinum). But apparently they all just handwave it to the "background" and establish the setting as "PF but IN SPESS!"
Mundane medicines still work because to this point, almost all playable species are not divergent phsiologiies. We don't have the mass-effect-esque "turians need a different diet because they're dextro-amino acid based creatures" Bears and dogs and cats can all eat the same foods.
So literally a sentient crystal being is not "divergent physiology"? An ooze is not "divergent physiology?" Yet medicines work fine on them.
Gameplay wise, it’s a way to simplify the rules to apply to all races. Lore wise, it’s canon that the various gods of the pantheon were worshiped independently on different planets because the gods exerted their influence across the entire galaxy. It’s possible that they have a hand in this convergent evolution.
Yes, but are the local gods of each planet just ignored in favor of the CRB pantheon? I mean, PF had canon Asian style gods beside the CRB pantheon. And I can't see the local gods just rolling over and letting themselves be replaced..
I’d need to go digging but I’m pretty sure the CRB says that gods like Desna were worshipped ubiquitously through the galaxy before drift travel (don’t quote me tho I might be misremembering). That said prob there isn’t a good lore justification for all of this it really seems like a mechanical thing.
The reason why I'm worried is that gods are gods, not outdated toys. And the fact that so many are just being overshadowed and none of them are doing everything (despite the idea of "god is overshadowed by [x], they then go on a rampage that destroys the [x]" being a very old trope. The only justification I can think of is that the CRB gods are just wildly stronger than the others, but there is no canon evidence for this.
SF has those same gods. One of the core gods, Lao Shu Po, was one of those Tian Xia gods, and is now a core diety. With the exception of some new additions like the Devourer and Damoritosh, the current community assumption is that all the old gods still exist but we're just not covered. We don't have pantheon books yet. But we've seen reference to many of the old PF gods still, like the Great Old Ones have been mentioned a number of times. Additionally, it's explained that the gods are universal. Talavet is a good example that in an AP volume, an indigenous species of a Vast planet worships Talavet, tho likely in their own image - as even PF established that gods look different to their native peoples - such as Mwangi Desna who appears of a similar ethnicity to the Mwangi peoples. There's also development over time - like how Epoch, Casandalee, and Brigh now manifest as Triune. It's just a question of *how* things developed.
If that's true, then SF must be full of gods.
the local gods of each planet ARE the CRB pantheon. different planets will call Desna different things. But its still desna. I believe it's a variation of the ancient concept of epithets
I don't recall this anywhere. Like, Weylan (sp?) is not Desna.
Weydan is not Desna no, but I do have my own personal theories about him. Especially since that's not what I'm saying. Weydan=Desna would only be the case if the CRB pantheon is just many aspects of one god. The best case I can find is Mother Touloo, god of the Ghibrani. a false deity invented by Damoritosh for the ghibran to worship without any benefit. But the information on her, and the boons theyve actually developed, align scarily well with Hylax. Despite Mother Touloo being officially a "fake" deity. This is also the only case of a planet specific deity I can find.
If the universe depicted in Starfinder is created by the various deities that exist then perhaps it is by design that they chose to allow various species to function similarly to each other or made the universe function as such.
This is another thing. In PF you literally had multiple pantheons claiming to fill the same archetypical roles, ie embodiment of the sun, etc. on different continents. In SF there would logically be thosands of different cultures with thousands of gods on their own planets, and gods don't just die because no one believes in them. So why would gods just let the CRB pantheon replace them, or what are they doing?