Pathfinder Regional Deepdive: Qadira and the Padishah Empire of Kelesh

Welcome back to our Deep Dive series! This week we're looking at Qadira, the westernmost Satrapy of the might Padishah Empire.
▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
0:00 - History of Qadira
21:02 - Government of Qadira
29:10 - Faith in Qadira
34:43 - Plains of Paresh & Capital City of Katheer
46:20 - White Mountains
54:54 - Pashman River Valley
59:33 - Ketz Desert
1:04:08 - Tapur Forest
1:08:43 - Zho Mountains
1:12:11 - Maharev Jungle
1:15:01 - Alavah Peninsula
1:20:59 - Meraz Desert
And don't forget to Like & Subscribe!
CREDITS
The large high-res map I use is not a Paizo official map, but the work of the incomparable Rob McCaleb ( www.artstation.com/robmccaleb ) used here with their gracious permission.
Content for this video came from "Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Qadira, Jewel of the East" by Jessica Price.
If you enjoyed this video, please support Paizo publishing by purchasing this product or others.
paizo.com/products/btpy9nd2
#paizo #pathfinder #golarion #innersea #roleplaying #rpg #history #lore #dnd #Kelesh #PadishahEmpire #Qadira #Katheer

[@spiegel487]

One of the things I love about PF2 is thst their stories aren't all centered around one spot like DnD. Your work helps make that more possible for new DMs. Thanks bud.

[@TheMythKeeper]

You're very welcome and thanks for watching!

[@JamesAdams-nd1td]

I know, right? Ignoring the dozen or so canonical WORLDS DnD has access to, they have the entire planet of Toril but just choose to focus almost entirely on the Sword Coast. What a waste of potential.

[@TheMythKeeper]

@@JamesAdams-nd1td This is so true 😆

[@manuel-dolmo4974]

I hope we get a Casmaron book in the future cause that region contain so many mysteries 🗣🗣🗣

[@Thegenderfluiddinosaur]

With paizos focus on regions outside avistan I wouldn't be surprised if we see this within the next few years exiting times

[@dmeep]

Now i know a lot more about Qadira and the Padishah empire of kelesh

[@TheMythKeeper]

That's always the goal ;-)

[@ghostkai8713]

"Qadiran citizens on the other hand have always believed they exist under the constant threat of annihilation at the hand of Taldan warmongers. The nation perceives its threats as immediate and pressing, rather as conflicts that can be handled over the span of multiple generations", and then I look at the 4000+ years of consistent cultural stasis and border security, and the most pressing scale of war being 'it took one thousand years for minor border skirmishes to become war', and good god does the title of 'angry daughter' feel apt. Pathfinders WEIRD ways of tackling a timeline at times has a strong bite, this is a wildly elongated timeline.

[@TheMythKeeper]

Yeah, 10,000 years of recording history and no skyscrapers is... interesting; even without tech (because of magic) you'd think there would be more way cities like Quantium and way less cities that basically feel like medieval peasant towns. The trick with Pathfinder is to consider the local picture at any given time and not the global picture. If you do that the setting, and indeed the individual adventure, will feel very internally consistent and very thematically appropriate, but if you zoom out to much it starts to feel overstuffed.

[@arch-warlock7409]

LET'S GOOOO, i have always loved middle eastern inspired stuff

[@TheMythKeeper]

Yeah this is a great part of the world. I had a blast doing this one and Katapesh as well, a little earlier.

[@RicardoPM777]

A casmaron lost omens book would be awesome

[@Ceriu]

Meh its better they dont 2E woke new devs tend to rape the lore then claim "lore hasnt changed It JuSt PrOgReSsEd" when they remove shit that offends them.

[@wee3ist]

​@Ceriu you must be fun to play with all that "oh no the Canon for a ttrpg that could be played w multiple settings had slavery abolition happen in them"

[@onogal775]

Huge video! Thanks once more for your amazing work. Kelesh and Qadira are fascinating. Politics just as deep as Taldors, makes you want to play there and throw your players into the intrigues of bustling merchant cities and courts.

[@TheMythKeeper]

Awesome, that's always what I hope for.

[@theprofessional5656]

My man keeps blue-balling me for that epic Absalom deep dive 😂 Kidding, Qadira is much more interesting than I thought. In fact every region guide is keeping me watching - and these are long videos. Great job, you are just a treasure for our pathfinder campaign.

[@TheMythKeeper]

It’s so close now you can taste it though (first Absalom vid is up on my members channel )

[@Ofley_Adventures]

Simply tremendous work. Seriously, thank you so much for your continuous efforts. Your lore videos have inspired me to enrich my own fantasy world and enjoy Golarion tenfold. Have a glorious day everyone! Thanks for the vid.

[@TheMythKeeper]

Thanks so much for the kind words 🙂

[@Pathsfound]

Just reached the 12 month subscription badge 😎 Thanks for the unending stream of Golarion lore

[@TheMythKeeper]

Rock on! I think you may be the first! Congratulations, and thank you so much for the support over the last year!!!

[@athaler2402]

Another outstanding video on a topic I didn't know all too much about! Really hope though Paizo will eventually give us more on the larger Padishah Empire and Casmaron as a whole. Maybe there'll even be a world guide down the road? Well, one can only hope...

[@TheMythKeeper]

Fingers crossed for a Casmaron world guide some day.

[@justinmuze1185]

Top tier information. I would love to see some deep dive videos of maybe the continent of Tian Xia or the nation's south of Geb. Also, do you plan to make a video of Golarion's Mythic history?

[@TheMythKeeper]

Tian Xia content is definitely coming, especially now that the book is out. I'm also planning on doing some other non-Inner Sea non-Tian stuff too, like Vudra.

[@joost9098]

Excellent! Another MythKeeper video. These are so relaxing to listen to. Keep up the good work MK. You are amazing.

[@TheMythKeeper]

Thank you very much!

[@blackma0]

I've been binge watching these videos recently and just started a new Wrath of the Righteous playthrough. I now feel like I'm perpetually the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme, and having some background on the world really does improve the game experience. Like, now I have a better answer for "Who is this Aroden guy, and why does a splinter of his shield turn into the most overpowered gear in the whole game?"

[@TheMythKeeper]

Haha! Right? Makes a difference ;-)

[@TonyMontana-ro9wp]

I've been looking for a video on this region, wonderful to see this posted

[@TheMythKeeper]

Hope you enjoyed it!

[@michaelgabbett4958]

Your work on this channel is incredible! You've without a doubt become the greatest source of Pathfinder lore on KZbin, and I'm really grateful for you. On that note, I was wondering if you had planned to make region guides for Tian Xia? I would also love to see you cover the solar system around Golarion! Thank you for another great learning experience, Mythkeeper.

[@TheMythKeeper]

I have a video about the Oni and the Kami in my religion series that is due out in about 3 weeks (its already on the members channel) that is the first video I made drawing on source material from the new Tian Xia world guide. In terms of Region Deepdives, those are scheduled now, but won't hit the channel until probably August (again a little earlier for members).

[@SpicyRess808]

Your speech is great! Really enjoy listening to your story

[@nickjackson2660]

I would love to see an AP based around war between Taldor and Qadira that could coincide with the release of Battlecry. This could be a really to good opportunity to explore Casmaron

[@TheMythKeeper]

That would be a great tie-in AP for that particular release.

[@drewp8108]

Great storytelling. Thank you for the hard work.

[@trajanfidelis1532]

Was looking forward to this one. Thanks for the video!

[@TheMythKeeper]

My pleasure!

[@DEricTodd]

Sweet, a new drop from the MythKeeper is always cause for celebration

[@Omrikai6594]

Oh Dang, I'm so excited for this - Qadira has been at the top of my must-visit list forever!

[@donovan5656]

I’ve been looking forward to this one.

[@JamesAdams-nd1td]

Wow, Qadira has a lot going on: I love that it’s officially part of Kelsey but is mostly doing its own thing, but not all. While I’ve seen that idea in other settings (most notably Karamiekos in Mystara), the push-pull at play here is kind of unique and a lot of fun. Definitely something I’m adding to one of my (numerous) homebrew settings. I’m vaguely amused that the Qadirian has retroactively linked one of their older gods with Sarenrae romantically but don’t seem to acknowledge her two canonical mates (Deana and Shaelyn). You can read a lot into that about Qadirian culture . . .

[@amiablereaper]

A lot of 1e lore didn't have any quality control. This might be part of it, later retconned like the Cult of the Dawnflower

[@JamesAdams-nd1td]

Possibly, but personally I prefer it as a quirk of Qadiran culture, different peoples imagining their shared goddess in different ways.

[@joshuachapman247]

Awesome been looking forward to this

[@TheMythKeeper]

Hope you enjoyed it!

[@alexandredesrochers1957]

Great!

[@jackmorrison5272]

Awesome. Very useful

[@meraduddcethin2812]

By the Cleansing Light, this is an immense dive and a true jewel in your crown. Just....amazing. Thank you, good sir.

[@TheMythKeeper]

Thank you kindly

[@adamlatosinski5475]

Great video, learned a lot! Regarding a side-topic of the Ninshabur, I imagine they have expanded earlier and much further. Some sources suggests that their armies reached "the states that became the present-day Taldor" (which means that it happened before thire unification by Taldaris), and traces of Nishaburian blood can be found as far west as Isger. Traces of their culture - like the cephalophore statues - can be found as far as Varisia. My imagination is that at the height of their power, the Empire of Ninshabur covered not only the region you marked, but the entirety of Winswept Wastes, northern Taldor, Galt, and possibly more. Their armies definitely were traveling beyond these borders. The Principalities of Taldaris (southern Taldor) remained outside the Empire, possibly thanks to the support of Aroden (not yet a god then). Still the Empire of Nishabur would be a major threat for the young state of Taldor. It only ended in the Year of Tarrasque, who destroyed the capital region of Ninshabur, destroyed Oppara, and moved on to Garund. Taldor managed to recover from that hit, but Ninshabur didn't. The empire fell apart, and its westernmost provinces were eventually conquered by Taldor.

[@TheMythKeeper]

That's a totally reasonable guess actually, and I like the idea of Ninshabur being a bigger part of the overall Golarion lore.

[@VenatorStellorum]

More MythKeeper is always welcome! I recently found out from a review of Paizocon that a surprising entity (not trying to spoil for anyone) is the one who killed Gorum. I think in the past you have covered specific historic events like the death of Aroden, so once we have the full story about the Godsrain might we see a video about that?

[@TheMythKeeper]

Potentially, yes :-)

[@agilemonk6305]

Excellent. ❤

[@TheMythKeeper]

Thank you!

[@ivanivanovic5586]

I was hoping Qadira will be covered (it was often mentioned before), with this one I've watched almost everything(except the war for the crown) here over a few months since I stumbled upon this channel. I'd like to point out, as a historian myself, how kelesh padishah empire, qadira satrapy and taldor empire have a few similarities to ottoman empire(ottoman sultan was refered to as "padishah" too, there was a slogan from mid-18th century "long live the padishah but not the tax", and which also wanted to conquer everything else), ottoman province of bosnia(since it was the western most province of it, its populace was usually in the vanguard of any new war versus and often took the brunt of neighboring empire's forays) and austrian habsburg empire(who often had to defend itself from attacks and raids from neighboring western most province of a rival empire and cross a river(sava in this case) to attack and raid in kind) of our history.

[@TheMythKeeper]

Some great real-world historical parallels you are drawing here

[@albertcapley6894]

New MythKeeper vid dropped!

[@herkles5416]

So a great regional deep dive and one I really want to learn more of. With the release of the Tian Xia world guide, and later the Tian Xia Character Guide. I really hope we can get a similar treatment for Casmeran and its regions of the Kelishite Empire, Vudra, Ibydos, and so on. also I thought that the cult of the dawnflower stuff got retconned; though could be wrong I remember reading that got removed and that James Jacob really didn't like that it got in there in the first place.

[@TheMythKeeper]

Retcon is complicated. The Pathfinder approach seems to be "we won't talk about it in future sources" but not say "here's what happened instead", so when something like that happens I just have to provide the most accurate accounting I can for the events that happened.

[@RicardoPM777]

👏👏👏

[@davidpotts2299]

Nice

[@TheMythKeeper]

Thank you kindly!

[@soturi_]

My most expected video

[@TheMythKeeper]

Yeah! Awesome, there's one for everyone

[@rune5916]

Another Amazing Regional Deep Dive video. This has taught me much about a region that I only knew a few facts about, as well as its visual inspiration. The two tier royal family of inheriting Shahiyans from mothers of royal blood, and the non-inheriting Amers from mothers not of royal blood was a surprize. But with a matrilineal inheritance system and Emperors with multiple consorts it's only natural to spawn a two tiered royal family. Odd details unique to the region/nation are why I love the lore of Golarion, it makes each nation stand out in ways familiar to its real world inspiration and in ways unique to the setting. Unfortunately there isn't more information on the greater Padishah Empire of Kalesh, outside of how it affects or relates to the Satrapy of Qadira. Both in this video and on the pathfinder wiki's. I hope we get an adventure path surrounding the succession crisis spawned by a disowned belligerent prince and his apparently more worthy cousins. That would give us SO much more information on the royals and noble society of the Empire of Kelesh. Something like game of thrones or the War for the crown adventure path. Would I be to greedy if I said I wanted a Lost Omens World Guide on the Padishah Empire of Kelesh? I think you would like one to. There is so much I want to know about an empire that they only show one piece of, its a mouth watering taste of lore without access to the feast just out of reach. Like the origins of the practice of genie binding and how Genie Wishcraft has affected the growth and prosperity of the Empire of Kelesh across its entire history. So I hope Paizo will give us more Adventures and world guides on the continent of Casmeron some time soon. Sorry if this comment turned into an essay, but I still have so many questions about the Padishah Empire as a whole. And I'm looking forward to seeing your next amazing video. Until then may the Mighty Algorithm bless this video with many views. 😁👍Have a Great day.

[@TheMythKeeper]

Hey thanks for the bigger meatier comment here. I also want to see more Kelesh content from Pathfinder, or perhaps more Casmaron content in general. The recent Tian-Xia world guide actually gives me a lot of hope. If that does well, whose to say we won't get a Casmaron world guide with Iobaria, Iblydos, Vudra, the Great Grass Sea, Ninshabur and Yenshabur and so on as well.

[@rune5916]

@@TheMythKeeper We can only hope it will come...eventually. But lets be optimistic. And if we do get it, I hope the capital of the Empire of Kelesh has a magic education center/library resembling the the House of Wisdom from Baghdad.

[@kaisiegfried425]

Excellent video but with all that information we got here it feels the only reason Taldor wasnt Conquered by Qadira by this point seems to be either Plot armor, Or that Avistani are just better at Fighting Wars then Casmirians. At least it feels like Avistan is in a constant level of Low intensiti wars. Especially since no great Empire Remains in Avistan since the fall of the Chelish Empire. Also i just love that they have an institude for interdimensional Trade.

[@jeremiehache8351]

I always wondered... Where did you get the map for Golarian? Because i can't find it anywhere with so much detail

[@TheMythKeeper]

Its a map by Rob McCaleb, who is (I think) Paizo's official cartographer now.

[@jeremiehache8351]

@@TheMythKeeper Oh cool I'll check it out for some inspiration for my campaign... Thank you 😊

[@israelmorales4249]

First of all, excellent video as always. Second, apologies if in the previous video my comments felt somewhat offensive, I just tried to offer constructive criticism...you know about doing the voices. And third, a doubt arose in me, yesterday I was also able to see the video of Taldor and there they mention that in Taldor they interpreted the earthquakes as the citizens of Qadira worshiping Rovagug and here I see just the opposite, this is because I misinterpreted it, or because Does the canon suggest that both nations misinterpreted the situation? Anyway, thanks again

[@TheMythKeeper]

I think they accused each other of worshipping dark gods and blamed each other for the earthquakes, when, you know... sometimes an earthquake is just an earthquake. I actually appreciated the comments about the voices. Especially on that video, I need comments both positive and constructive alike.

[@davdav1370]

Thanks, always makes my day when Deep Dive is released. I'm wondering, do you think you will run out of regions to cover soon, as you covered quite a lot at this point ?

[@TheMythKeeper]

I probably still have a years worth of deep dives to get through honestly 😅

[@davdav1370]

@@TheMythKeeper no wayy :)

[@Schlumpsha]

So close and yet so far from a Pathfinder Regional Deepdive: Vudra and the Impossible Kingdoms video.

[@TheMythKeeper]

Haha, yeah getting closer

[@GB7.7.7]

Please do a THUVIA Deep Dive, I desperately need one for my campaign!!

[@TheMythKeeper]

I'm going to disappoint you here and let you know that Thuvia is one of the very last regions I'll tackle (after some Tian content, after the various Avistani countries that remain). Maybe before Rahadoum? But Thuvia and Rahadoum are both saddled with being fairly central countries that don't have a book out, which means there's a bunch of content just fragmented across hundreds of sources. It's going to be more complicated than most of my deep dives, so I'll hold for a minute in the hopes a Thuvia or Rahadoum primer comes out between now and then.

[@obamabiden]

the second ever ttrpg character i made was actually from qadira, he was a sort of questionably legitimate grandson of the emperor finding out that nobility passes through the female line in kelesh and the royal family is very large actually retroactively makes his backstory much less "oc donut steel" seeming (the game was set nowhere near qadira, so it was explained that he'd been sent to an expensive school in Absalom, who had then "encouraged him to see the world for a time" after he got into some sort of ill-explained YA fiction-sounding incident with a fellow student who was actually a taldan spy and some sort of cult) not coincidentally, this character was nsde shortly after I first discovered the ultimate campaign background generator

[@TheMythKeeper]

Lots of Qadirans in Absalom actually. They're a pretty huge faction there. I'll talk more about that in my upcoming Absalom deep dive video!

[@Briar7862]

Great work! No Neruzavin or Parchlands?

[@TheMythKeeper]

Great callout. Parchlands lie somewhere between the Meraz Desert and the Whistling Plains. Neruzavin is somewhere in there. There are no detailed maps yet of Casmaron but there are a few locations known to be found there. I didn't call out any individual locations in the great Keleshite empire beyond the domains of the various Keleshite cultures, focusing on Qadira because that's where there are actual details provided in the books.

[@a_pet_rock]

I love all your videos. I'm about to play Abomination Vaults and it looks like you haven't done anything on Absalom/Kortos. Is that because it's such a small location or have you just not gotten around to it?

[@TheMythKeeper]

My first Absalom video just hit my Mythwatchers Club channel (you can join it here on KZbin with the join button). They get 4 videos early, so my first Absalom video will hit the main channel in 4 weeks. Its not that its a small location - its that its tremendously dense - so I've been waiting to do it. There will be not 1, but THREE videos all about Absalom/Kortos, so stay tuned for that coming your way soon.

[@evandavies16]

What I would find interesting is how has the Padishah Empire reacted to their goddess rebuking them. It would be kind of interesting to see a civil war adventure.

[@TheMythKeeper]

Sarenrae hasn't rebuked the empire. If you point me to the part of the video that indicated this I can clarify what I meant :-)

[@evandavies16]

@@TheMythKeeper I heard that Sarenrae had rebuked her more zealous followers in the Empire. I thought that would have caused some form of tension. If she has not it would be interesting to see more about the Padishah Empire and more politics between them and other groups.

[@TheMythKeeper]

@@evandavies16 Ah, yes, she rebuked specifically the Cult of the Dawnflower. So far the only broader implication is that this organization dissipated and is no longer active.

[@jasonmcintosh3661]

I was wondering about the placement of Ular Kel. I had thought it would be further south than your map shows. I don't have any sources for 2E, though.

[@TheMythKeeper]

You're probably right. It was a best guess based on the updated world map (which shifted slightly after Rob McCaleb was tasked with doing it) and based on where the Distant Lands book had put it.

[@jasonmcintosh3661]

Thanks for the response. I'm starting a new campaign set east of the Castrovin Sea. This video gave me some inspiration and insights. Your stuff is always awesome. I'll be using your location until they give us some material on the region.

[@TheMythKeeper]

@@jasonmcintosh3661 Thank you sir! Appreciate the kind words here. I'll also try to do more Casmaron content in the future.

[@Rhunzzz]

What I wonder - how does such a large sprawling polity that is so ethnically, geographically, and religiously diverse manage to stay together for so long??? I mean the real-world examples (the Persian Empire and the Islamic Caliphate) were at least united by faith, and they had their wars of succession, dynastic wars, etc.

[@TheMythKeeper]

They are mostly united by faith actually (Sarenrae) but also their leaders are genie-binders and have access to powerful magic that has allowed them to maintain control of the empire even through turbulent periods.

[@louiscarduner3096]

Honesty with all the geopolitical military informations imagine à Total War like game in the setting of galerion

[@TheMythKeeper]

Would be epic, right?

[@louiscarduner3096]

Yeah I mean the développeur already make Warhammer so à lot of work are ready Make

[@beardlesswizard9197]

Do we know if the various groups that composite Kelesh's identity are tied to real-world groups? And in Golarion, are these groups still defined, either through cultural identity if not biological identity?

[@TheMythKeeper]

Answer to first question is, probably, but there are dozens of real-world middle east ethnic identities (one breakdown: www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/1r5vnm/ethnic_groups_in_the_middle_east_7288x5736/ ) so while the writers probably had some specific groups in mind (Pathfinder has always been really good about specificity of design) you'd be hard-pressed to match them based on the descriptions alone. Second question - yes, these groups still exist and are recognized as narrower identity groups within the Padishah Empire.

[@lightblckknight]

Am I the only one not able to find info on "Heartscale" Beastkin/folk?

[@TheMythKeeper]

Check my werewolf video!

[@TeutonicViking]

Padishah empire? I didn't know the emperor of the known universe had a.... colony? on this planet.

[@bryanstephens4800]

Mythkeeper, are you open to a commission for Narration?

[@TheMythKeeper]

Let me know what you're thinking and I'll think about it. I can't afford to pay anyone, if that's the question, this is all essentially a non-money making passion project, but depending on what you're looking to do I might be able to accept some pro-bono work for character voices in the game recaps I'm now doing.

[@bryanstephens4800]

@@TheMythKeeper I meant paying you for Narration for me. I have sent you a message to your Instagram if you want to do Direct Messages or I can post an email here.

[@bryanstephens4800]

OK I might have over replied since I am not sure how replies all work. I meant paying TheMythkeeper to do narration for a project.

[@bryanstephens4800]

I sent you a message on Instagram too

[@TheMythKeeper]

@@bryanstephens4800 Got it and replied ;-)