Pathfinder Regional Deep Dive: Ustalav

[@primarchstar2087]

"Welcome to Esta--- I mean Ustalav gentlemen! I will not lie, the chances of your survival are slim." - Clarethe Iomedar

[@foulwin9719]

Thanks for this. I had to google a quote but came across a lovely bit of lore on Warhammer

[@alatar4188]

Some may even turn against your friends as living coprses, but you have my words i will use my arcane gifts to ensure your bordies are given onto pharasma's boneyard

[@meraduddcethin2812]

As much as I enjoy your religious delving, these nation-by-nation dives are just astonishing in their depth. Undoubtedly the finest content of it's kind out there. Thanks so very much.

[@TheMythkeeper]

Thank you! 🎉

[@wayward11]

God, it is so hard to find chill guys like you. Not overly energetic yet not dull. I'm so glad I found you.

[@TheMythkeeper]

Thank you!

[@NoBudjetFilms]

And a pleasant voice to boot!

[@MarthMarthy]

These deep dives are truly excellent. The density of information makes it engaging without being overwhelming, and the prose and narration make it highly enjoyable to listen to. I think you're one of the first Pathfinder youtubers (along with Tower of Tomes) to cross into making lore videos I want to watch because they're well told, rather than something I want to watch because of it's subject matter alone.

[@TheMythkeeper]

Thanks so much for the high praise!

[@canecodabravura]

Awesome, you are already among the best Golarion lore content creators. I'm running my campaign at Ustalav. Currently im using some content of guns and gears at the Ustalav: Spark and Shadow session.

[@TheMythkeeper]

Awesome! Glad to hear this is some timely content for you. 🙂

[@lkriticos7619]

This seems like a really fun place to set a game. Just a wide selection of horror tropes to draw from and enough variety and bright periods in its lore that it doesn't seem completely bleak. That's a nice background to build an adventure from.

[@p.d.9687]

I'm so glad someone is finally doing real deep-dives into regions and lore. Pathfinder just has SO MUCH excellent lore and history, every time I try to explain it to a new player they ask for extra resources to read or listen to. Until now I didn't have much to give them! Thanks for your work!

[@TheMythkeeper]

You're so welcome!

[@scottwerner279]

Dude I need more of these, I’ve binged all of your deep dives at this point

[@TheMythkeeper]

Every 3 weeks one of my videos will be a deep dive.

[@GrumpyGrobbyGamer]

Thank you for this amazing summary of Ustalav. The rich lore and history make me want to jump into a PF game right this minute!

[@TheMythkeeper]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Chris-fn4df]

Summary? Do you have more?

[@madman_chris]

The amount of depth that you go into in this video is amazing. The community has been lacking this type of content and we are all lucky to have you as a creator. Please keep up the amazing work. It is greatly appreciated.

[@TheRadBaron]

as much as i love the content of these videos, it's the writing that blows me away. the prose here is a perfect match for a region inspired by gothic horror

[@Gubbykahn]

The whole Eye of Dread is an awesome Story and Place for very great Pathfinder Horror Campaigns. Thank you for the Content :)

[@TheMythkeeper]

Thanks! Give me time and I know I will eventually talk about Belkzen, the Gravelands and Razmiran as well. One other video you might consider if you're playing games in the region is the Nirmathas / Molthune video which is also very close by: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sHraiXWcm7-Xg5o

[@dekay1428]

I guess I can thank Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous for tossing me in the Pathfinder lore rabbit hole

[@TheMythkeeper]

Haha! Yeah its a great entry point

[@Nekron999]

Thank you! This video was excellent and on par with your scholarly style! I am about to start The Carrion Crown AP this next week after a two year hiatus. I have been watching/listening to your videos during that time and have a much deeper understanding of Golarion and its inner workings.Thank you again, your videos are all enjoyable to listen to, succinct and very helpful!

[@TheMythkeeper]

Carrion Crown is such a great AP. You'll have a blast.

[@Nekron999]

@@TheMythkeeper Thankee! I am looking forward to running a "classic horror" campaign! I am still reading through Harrowstone, in my research I have heard that the BBEG (Tar Baphon, I imagine) is not super present in the early chapters of the campaign other than appearing through his cult, the whispering way. And thus the story seems a little disjointed. I am scouring the paizo forums to see what clever things have been done to tighten the story up. If you have any insight or advice, I would be grateful to hear it!

[@TheMythkeeper]

@@Nekron999 So ultimately the Whispering Way want to bring back Tar Baphon, but the heroes thwart them. My suggestion to make the story more tight is to have Auren Vrood be the bad-guy throughout the whole campaign. Auren is the guy responsible for the events in Books 1 and 2, and he is confronted and killed by the players in Book 3. Then the villain becomes someone else after Book 4. Easy fix is, have Auren creepily welcome his own death (he's a necromancer) and have him come back as a lich in Book 5 (teasing him at end of Book 4). Make him the BBEG they face in Virlych at the very end of Book 6. Makes for a better narrative overall.

[@Nekron999]

@@TheMythkeeper Wow! Thank you for your time and consideration! I will get to work on flushing Auren out in the story. I appreciate you sir!

[@mathinvitti7954]

Stuff like this is amazing thank you so much for all the work you do.

[@myraevans5270]

Very well put together my hat goes off to you my name is Kenneth from Camden City New Jersey very educational I love the way how you put it all together it was excellent

[@ereviscale3966]

I'm so glad I found your channel, I am sure you will continue to grow !

[@mboatrightED300]

Love that the Dracula equivalent was actually a dragon (given that Dracula means "son of the dragon").

[@Artemisthemp]

This have made me love this area as many of event like Beast of X is Frankenstein monster and the event where a girl vanish is Phantom of Opera.

[@rivogrimm6402]

Thank you for compiling all this information. I'm curious as to the sources you used since I'm attempting to put together a campaign in this region. Having the books would be a huge help.

[@TheMythkeeper]

Hey thanks for the support! Rule of Fear is the best book you're going to find about Ustalav. paizo.com/products/btpy8j5u

[@RicardoPM777]

Excellent video as always!

[@CraigSteinhoff]

Loved this video!!! More deep dives through Golarion please!!! This made want run a game in Ustalav!!

[@enigma-muse]

Love the longer videos! Noticed you include Kingmaker companions in your deities vids - would you consider doing a deep dive into the campaign now that it's out in 2e? Or a regional episode on the River Kingdoms?

[@TheMythkeeper]

Regional deep dive on the River Kingdoms is coming up very soon!

[@Arguments_only]

Thanks for this content! Subscribed! Playing Wotr and listening these, Amazing stuff!

[@TheMythkeeper]

Welcome aboard!

[@LuciaSeelie]

As someone who is currently finishing up the Carrion Crown AP, this deep dive was both enlightening and like a fun trip down memory lane! My party and I really bought into the AP during the Beast of Lepidstadt arc (I think during book 2, unsure as I'm not the GM) and dubbed the lovable monstrosity Bartholomew. When we eventually got to meet Caromarc, we berated him for not giving the Beast a name before allowing him out into the world and for just generally not setting a good example for our Bartholomew. We didn't want the lad to be as bleak and depressing as his creator lmao

[@TheMythkeeper]

That's funny, my players had the exact same experience playing Carrion Crown. The 1st AP was fun, but it was right around the trial of the beast that game really clicked for us and everybody kind of locked into their characters. Carrion Crown remains one of the favorite pathfinder APs.

[@properheresy8880]

I love these it’s great to sleep to and while driving

[@TheMythkeeper]

Hopefully not at the same time 😅

[@hekilightbringer298]

Excelent! Rule of Fear is on of the best Paizo books ever made.

[@Veridiansolar]

I'm currently playing the Kingmaker video game and your videos are great for background immersion.

[@Lcirex]

Found this channel through tower of tombs recommendation and have not been disappointed. I would love to see a vid about famous people in pathfinder be they hero/iconic/villains that might not fit in a region or history vid.

[@TheMythkeeper]

Thank you! I'll add it to the list sir. 🙂

[@acidnine3692]

This place makes Sylvania look happy lol

[@gene108]

If all of Golarion adopted cremation, it’d solve so many problems with the undead.

[@TheMythkeeper]

That's the Nexian policy

[@royalwolf27]

Those in Geb, I see no undead problem.

[@kiba1390]

Great video! I'm having a great time working my way through these. Very small point. The Serpentfolk did have some kind of presence in the area at some point as they fought the erectors of the Star Stelae and scored a pyrrhic victory. Mentioned once in "The Thrushmoor Terror" and literally nowhere else.

[@TheMythkeeper]

Good call out!

[@markgreen4011]

Great content! But I've heard this a couple times in your videos... Demesne = "Deh -Main." Kind of like "domain," but with an E not and O.

[@RollingSoloRPG]

Yessssss! I was hoping ustalav would pop up soon

[@johnlastname8752]

Sounds like the perfect place for a witcher-esque homebrew faction.

[@martinithegr8]

I feel like I should be taking notes.

[@FhtagnCthulhu]

Thanks for these. I am new to the game setting but created a character for PFS from Ustalav. This helped me get the background right!

[@TheMythkeeper]

Happy to help! Thanks for watching!

[@albertcapley6894]

Top notch!

[@wondermuttperez255]

I personally think Nidal is so much creepier than all the undead...

[@mirandaroda5425]

I’m planning to run Carrion Crown & Tyrant’s Grasp after i finish GMing Mummy’s Mask, so this will be super helpful thank you! 😊

[@TheMythkeeper]

Awesome! If you are sharing this with your players be aware that there are some very mild spoilers for Carrion Crown in this. The section on Lozeri in particular discusses events that are resolved in Chapter 3 of Carrion Crown and the section on Vieland I think spoils some info about the Beast of Lepidstadt. All the big picture stuff I think I side-step so hopefully nothing in here that would totally spoil your fun!

[@rosemannjens]

What an amazing video! Subscribed. One question: Where can one get that map? It is so detailed with so much stuff on it. Looks awesome.

[@TheMythkeeper]

imgur.com/gallery/gIguRr4

[@trueKENTUCKY]

thank you kindly sir

[@TheMythkeeper]

You're very welcome!

[@Barthenn]

My group and I began a new campaign a weeks ago of Pathfinder 2nd edition, the area were the story happening is the creation of the DM, but is heavily influence by Pathfinder Ustalav, so I find this video very interesting even if the lore may not be 100% respected at my DM table. It open a sort of windows into these the people of this land and my character was born in that region and raise in a village beyond the border but after some involving some accident connected to my Vampiric heritage (My character is a Dhampir) my character fled to the frontier and now she is essentially in Ustalav. Where her Mother who was transform into a vampire and her maker dwell.

[@TheMythkeeper]

Ustalav is an ideal setting for playing a Dhampir character! Sounds like you've got some great story hooks for your GM to work with.

[@folkengames]

Great stuff! Very helpful. Do you plan to do one of these for Numeria? I'm headed into book5 of Iron Gods with my group and it's become my favorite location in Golarion.

[@TheMythkeeper]

Yes! Eventually I will cover all the nations, but I'm not sure what the exact sequence of these videos will be and there's a lot to cover. You may want to watch my River Kingdoms video since its Numeria adjacent in the meantime.

[@matias9609]

The modern ustalav lore, which books did you refrence? Been thinking of running a game in Ustalav, amd the university sounds like a great start for a campaign

[@TheMythkeeper]

The 1E Rule of Fear book is still the best source for all the Ustalav lore.

[@jakewesterman7294]

I've always been a D&D player but after playing Pathfinder King Maker I became interested in the lore. I've enjoyed your videos and may actually try out Pathfinder to see if I like it better than current D&D.

[@TheMythkeeper]

If you like the world but prefer the D&D game system, its honestly not too difficult to run the adventure paths and just convert to D&D 😀

[@PeteDEN72]

Love this ! I am preparing the Carrion Crown adventure path (1e) for my group. What 2nd edition setting books about Golarion / Ustalav are you referencing to ? I am trying to get hold of the 2e setting books (still using 1e rules), but dont which ones to get.

[@TheMythkeeper]

Start with the Lost Omens World Guide - but honestly if you're running Carrion Crown in 1E you sort of don't want to know what happens in 2E as some of it is spoilers for your campaign ;-)

[@PeteDEN72]

@@TheMythkeeper thx for a quick reply

[@christopherstentz3701]

Good Show!

[@Mouseman54]

Ustalav the land where no one is allowed to be happy

[@TheMythkeeper]

I don't know, I hear some of the vampires are having a hell of a time.

[@namelesssomebody2557]

Überwald. Sir Terry Pratchett’s estate would like to talk with Paizo's legal team.

[@themalcontent100]

That's something when the vampires are your best friends against a lich.

[@alexsolomon7991]

Spookiest Nation.......Geb might disagree with that assessment.

[@TheMythkeeper]

Gebbites aren't spooky to each other. ;-) The difference between Geb and Ustalav, is that in Ustalav the living are still in charge.

[@alexsolomon7991]

@@TheMythkeeper so they think.

[@TheMythkeeper]

@@alexsolomon7991 🤣

[@WiseOwl_1408]

The vapors!!!

[@TheMythkeeper]

🤣

[@DHTheAlaskan]

If you read Prince of Wolves by Dave Gross, The Prince's Wolves hold fealty to a Tiefling called Radovan Virholt who is in self imposed exile from Ustalav to protect The Prince's Wolves and others in Ustalav. Not sure how canon that book is, but it waa. Good read.

[@TheMythkeeper]

Hey cool, thank you for pointing this out. I still haven't read all the novels so there's a little gap there in the MythKeeper knowledge base

[@DHTheAlaskan]

@@TheMythkeeper that's what the community is for, we can help fill the gaps.

[@SinSorrowEU]

Hey, just recently found your videos. Interested in that Geb video, but cannot see it.. says something about membership? I have no clue what that means or how to access it? I have subscribed to your channel. Do I have to click on that ”bell” icon? (I tryly hate it, I dont want my pad nor phone to beep that someone has posted a video as I like to watch them when it suits me) Maybe the video is still rendering? Well, Ill check in a day or two againg. Thanks for thease videos =)

[@TheMythkeeper]

I introduced a youtube membership club a few weeks ago - $4.99/month for early access to the videos. You can click the "Join" button on the channel to join that. Otherwise you have to wait for it to hit the public channel (~4 weeks, as they get videos 4 weeks early). I don't know why KZbin shares the members-only videos TBH, I kind of wish they wouldn't as it ruins the surprise of what's coming. But yes, Geb is about 4 weeks out now, or you can join and watch now!

[@SinSorrowEU]

@@TheMythkeeper ah. Okey. Never seen ”join” button on my iPad KZbin application. So this is new to me. (Still I dont see it). But well, I have patience to wait, as playing my 1st Pathfinder session at summer. Just doing backroud research. For now thinking of a Human Dhampir Scoundrell Rogue with Dandy dedication and noble backround. Maybe from Ustalav, trying to climb sosial ladder into a position of power and maybe influence a city, maybe more. :)

[@SinSorrowEU]

@@TheMythkeeper Now I know why I can see members only video thumbnails (not the video itself): The Geb video is on the Playlist. And when saw this Ustalav video, ofc I wanted to see all videos on this playlist and Geb video is for members only but can see the thumbnail. That Geb video dosent appear in ”suggested videos” like some of your videos do. So the video should not be put in a playlist untill it is for all to see.. but maybe its a good thing, so viewers see what to look for in future or wanting to become a member =)

[@alexandrub8786]

55:35 Curious if the meta reason for the name is the endonym(name in romanian) for Transylvania(even if the pronunciation is not the same).

[@TheMythkeeper]

You learn something every day. Thanks for pointing this out.

[@marcussimoes2909]

a novel about Ustalav: Pathfinder Tales: Prince of Wolves(it´s a "fps" adenture mix with detective noir!) and Pathfinder Tales: Bloodbound ( for fans of vampire hunterD)

[@MrHal457]

Sorry that my only two comments so far are pronunciation notes. Demesne is a French term borrowed by English and is a bit odd. The proper pronunciation is apparently similar to domain. Di-mayn with the i being like in bit. It refers to the lord's directly controlled lands as opposed to the lands he has granted to his subject lords.

[@TheMythkeeper]

Thanks Mr Hal - you're not the first to point this out and I have corrected the pronunciation in some future videos (albeit, not all the future videos... as you'll probably see)

[@MrHal457]

@@TheMythkeeper ah, I have been going through these in a haphazard manner.

[@seekerofarcades4634]

👍nice😑

[@Shadowfoot]

Where did you get the map? It looks amazing.

[@TheMythkeeper]

I put a version of the map up on Imgur a while back with all the elf-gates on it. imgur.com/gallery/gIguRr4

[@goransekulic3671]

A land of mystery, debauchery and dracula. What can I say? Lepidstadt is awesome cool, Caliphas perhaps so too, but overall it's ... too grim for my liking. I changed my mind. :p

[@Simyonovich]

I'm a little confused. Vigil looks like it's not at all close enough to be "along the shores of the lake" but instead along the river that runs down to the lake. Was the location on the map in error or the phrase?

[@TheMythkeeper]

Oops! My phrasing was totally wrong there. Would have been more correct to say: "They eventually settled in a small village on the River Esk" - it is in fact fairly upstream of the lake. Oops! Thanks for catching.

[@alansmith19890]

Listening to this lore vid, I was expecting pipe organ music to suddenly start playing. 😂

[@TheMythkeeper]

If I was better at audio-mixing, then that's for sure what I'd go with

[@ishmiel21]

I feel really bad for the players that went through the Carrie and Crown adventure path just to see everything their characters did be undone in the second edition of the game. That would have really bummed me out. I played through the first two books of Carrie and Crown and they were amazing. That second book is one of the best pre-written adventures I've ever ran. The third book wasn't all that interesting to me into the campaign kind of died, but now since they totally made the carrying crown adventure meaningless in second edition I'm glad we didn't finish

[@TheMythkeeper]

Few thoughts on this that I have. Carrion Crown really was an amazing AP, and a strong recommend from me on all fronts. That said, as for feeling it didn't matter... I disagree. First, I'm not sure that the Tyrant's return means that Carrion Crown doesn't matter. That's like saying the first X-Men movies doesn't matter because Magneto is back again in X2. Beating the Tyrant the first time still matters. Second, the choice to bring back the Tyrant happened in 1E not 2E, in the Tyrant's Grasp AP. Finally, its actually really fun to play Carrion Crown and then Tyrant's Grasp as part of a connected series of adventures. In our game group, our epic Carrion Crown characters turned up to fight against the Whispering Tyrant in Tyrant's Grasp and that made the whole experience really amazing.

[@aaronsalinas3854]

I want to know source. Pretty sure i read in a book that the god was killed and that was part of the ritual to make him a lich in a different way.

[@TheMythkeeper]

Source is in video description

[@aaronsalinas3854]

@TheMythKeeper cool. Also, do you have another way to take money like streamlabs or something so i can circumvented youtube? Lol

[@TheMythkeeper]

@@aaronsalinas3854 I'm really sorry but I don't yet. 😞

[@pensador6953]

aand subscribe

[@kelleylafitte6503]

Ustalav: When Mom says we have Dark Souls at home

[@aaronsalinas3854]

My group blackmailed him to get stuff lol

[@sasha1mama]

"Pal-a-tin-ate", MK. They're palatines, after all. Not platnits. :p Demesne is pronounced "de-mayn".

[@Jo-Heike]

Ustalav does not sound very welcoming to aspiring necromancer. A nation of Pharasma worshipers makes sense considering their location in the eye.

[@Musikrs2]

Slow down the tempo

[@TheMythkeeper]

Thanks for the feedback Musik, will try to get better with the pacing. Thanks for watching. 🙂

[@christopherbrown-cq1dk]

😂

[@HuevoBendito]

Rule. Of. *FEAR*...is a great source. Highly recommend it.

[@TheMythkeeper]

Yes I used that heavily for this video!