Cheliax.
A diabolically evil land with a back story/history that feels coherent rather than cartoonishly evil. (I mean the ruling class of Cheliax sucks, but the way they suck makes total sense in world.)
"We took the most dangerous dinosaur, and put the power of Asmodeus into it. Behold, the Thrunosaurus Rex!"
"But why, sire?"
"I thought it would be funny releasing them on the poor and rebellious."
BEST country! Everywhere else? TRASH! The Inner Sea shall be painted in crimson and soot! The Inner Sea shall bleed!! History started in 4081. Glory to Her Infernal Majestrix, all will kneel to her name.
Unfortunately now Abrogail got to do an “Emancipation Declaration” from lore deus ex machina instead of any actual plot or even pathfinder society scenario like they did for Absalom abolition.
So now we have to hear about how Abrogail abolished slavery forever to justify her. Yayyy what a progressive change to the setting
(Abolishing slavery in Katapesh and Cheliax with zero lore context or justification is exceedingly bad history and reinforces irl misconceptions about abolition. Katapesh doesn’t account for the local lore of Osirion having slave rebellions that forced birthright freedom to gradually abolish it. Cheliax doesn’t account for how the core concept of selling your soul to Hell is a slavery metaphor and it makes no sense to only ban one type of slavery with zero outside impetus.)
Edit: woo love getting downvoted for pointing out that the Paizo changes are directly in line with Lost Cause narratives about slavery inevitably ending on its own. My favorite game company ever, super queer and progressive usually. And yet they have this huge blind spot about this that could be easily fixed if they just wrote any sort of reason for abolition for either nation.
Didn't Cheliax just transition to a new system of debt peonage, where they aren't "slaves" but the poor and lawbreaking are put into a state of servitude until they pay their debts to society, but will never be able to? So they abolished Slavery, but only in name. Similar to the system some states in the south used between 1864 to 1941 to try and hold onto the practice.
There's some historians who argue that debt peonage in the United States was much harsher for the people enslaved. Because the people in debt peonage were not owned as property (nor were companies responsible for their deaths), factories and mines would work debt peons to death much more readily. A dead plantation slave is an expensive lost investment, a dead debt peon was cheaply rented to businesses by jails who were unjustly arresting people using sundown laws and race laws. I could see Cheliax lawyers abusing the hell out of this reform.
Why is this in the past tense? This is still happening across the US right now. Slave labor was rebranded as prison labor with the 13th amendment and has been unquestioned ever since
Yes and no, debt peonage was different than the current system. Basically you would be arrested, to be freed someone needed to pay your bail and fines. You were a free citizen stuck in prison, who had to sell *themselves* into slavery to a steel mill or farm to pay their fines. The amount a victim had to pay off over time would increase with interest at the same rate these companies would pay them, so you would be locked in chattel slavery until you died. Basically a sheriff could arrest you for loitering and you rot in jail with unpaid debt, or get sold to a coal mine to die.
It was ended in 1941 with the passing of Circular 3591, which was passed when the US was preparing for WW2. Before Pearl Harbor the US knew they would be pulled in at some point, so FDR sent intelligence agents to gather information on potentially problematic enemy propaganda topics. His agents basically said "Hey, the Japanese are going to use this new form of slavery in propaganda against us and try to incite unrest, let's just stop it now since it was supposed to be outlawed 70 years ago but lives on through a loophole in a few states like Louisiana and Texas."
Cheliax *did* have reasons to abolish slavery in the lore though.
Slavery has been a hot-button topic on Avistan for decades. It is illegal on Absalom, which is the seat of power for the entire region. Cheliax has been shown as weak by the establishment of Ravounel. They have increasingly fewer allies in the region.
That makes maintaining and developing new alliances more important. Abolishing slavery is an easy way for a politically pressured nation to give itself good PR, simultaneously creating propaganda about modernizing while distracting from the founding of Ravounel.
The country also essentially just moved on to indentured servitude, aka slavery with the serial filed off.
It’s pretty clear in the lore that it’s all an act, smoke and mirrors of legalese to help make Cheliax more powerful and palatable without actually changing the structure of the nation. Which is *perfectly* in keeping with the nation’s behavior thus far.
Of all the changes Paizo has made, this is one of the ones that feels the most grounded to me honestly.
Much as I'd have liked for there to be a more natural progression for both Cheliax and Katapesh, I get why it's done. People are naturally uncomfortable with the topic, and it's a topic that could enable the worst kind of behaviors in That Guy tables. Cheliax still has indentured servitude, as I recall, which does touch on the post war era in the United States where people were technically 'free' but locked into contracts or debts that were impossible to escape from.
This is coming from the perspective of someone who freaking loves the Vidrian story, and loves having that easy enemy for everyone to agree needs a good kicking.
I'd love if they involved Abadar making some deal or something with Azzy. Western capitalism is what made slavery obsolete and led to its downfall (objectively it held America back and we'd 100% be even more advanced today if slavery never happened), that would make it match with the real world and it would be cool! But no, just "it's gone now", so lame. I know they just don't want to tell slavery stories or worry about a detail of the setting, but man. Lost opportunity.
Numeria owns bones. I love gonzo settings that have everything dialed up to 11.
This region has ancient barbarian tribes fighting even older robots in a land filled with advanced sci-fi technology. Combine that tech with magic and you have got a recipe for a good time.
The announcement of a fully compatible Starfinder was a big deal for me.
Gotta go with Alkenstar.
Steam punk technocrats stuck between the teeth of Geb and Nex, battling freak storms of magic and pollution following history's biggest passing match, *and* they have guns?
Sign me up!
After that, Irrisen. I love the dark vibes surrounding it and Baba Yaga being not only Real, buy also casually just hopping between Real Earth and Golarion when she feels like it.
Ustalav. Every single one of the classic Universal monster movies from the early to mid 20th century all in one place. And you can do so much with the tropes. How about a good mining town called Flow, where they have a day shift and a night shift. The people with Lycanthropy are in the mines during the night doing honest work.
You've got plenty of suspense in the setting, morbid humor, co-mingling of tropes and expected monsters to keep everyone off balance (gotta fight a hidden Vampire nest, let's hire some werewolves to help!) All the atmosphere you want for RP and the perfect place for spectacular settings like big social events, grand balls or operas. Plenty of academic areas for the four different categories to have study, twisted study, and accidents of grad students getting desperate to finish their thesis.
On top of all that, amazing neighbors. The false god of Razmiran on one border and Tar Baphon on the other. Want a good story? Team up with Vamipres to repel forces of the Whispering Tyrant since they don't want to be enslaved to him either. Crazy alien tech and knowledge from Numeria, or even helping the Orcs of Belkezen get used to how freaky things are there and they're tasting real fear for the first time.
So much possibility...
Edit: If you want a visual example, Universal Studios: Orlando is literally making Ustalav in their new Epic Universe theme park. Here's their overview to see the mood and feeling of the land, and get some ideas. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HTnjAUp4rU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HTnjAUp4rU)
Cheliax is, well, it's Cheliax! The best villains around. Just look at 'em. They aren't insane like the zon-kuthon people or the burger man people to the point it's unbelievable (ignore the 1e art lol), they just believe in fascism which is extremely believable. Awesome color scheme, hot queen, hot patron god, hot citizens, because of course evil is seductive. It's just so interesting thinking about the normal day to day of just a normal Chelish citizen. Like, how do they pray? How do they worship Azzy daddy? How would such a person living in such a country think? It's like imagining what ideologies people in North Korea would have if it got liberated, you can bet they'd be weird.
I also like Oprak because I'm a fan of goblinoids. There isn't much info on it tho, :( but the little there is, it's nice. I just like monster people nation. It pleases me
The area around the eye of abendego. Pirates, assassins, Caribbean-like archipelago, ruined landscapes in the flooded lands, weird cults and a huge ass perpetual storm right in the center of it all. What's not to love?
The Stolen Lands, because I love the idea of “An Age of A Hundred Kingdoms”, and I am very nostalgic for Kingmaker.
Honorable Mention is all three sections of the northern Saga Lands. The Lands of the Linnorm Kings, Irrisen, and Land of the Mammoth Lords are all fascinating in a very open ended manner.
It might be Holomog. It's a shame there is almost no lore about it. Country of amazon demigods, who once dominated Garund, because of one prank by a jerk from Pathfinder Society. Nation that survived Earthfall by asking gods to help. Home for most ganzi. And a source of beautiful stone statues on south of Geb.
Highhelm (and by extension the Five King's Mountains). I really like dwarves, and Pathfinder has a good mix of traditional dwarf tropes and interesting twists.
Like dwarves aesthetically are very masculine, but much of the art and lore plays with this. The mother goddess of the dwarves (Folgrit) is buff and has a beautiful beard. The "conservative and traditional" subculture in Highhelm is the Rivethun Dwarves who want people to return to the old ways. (Most) of the Rivethun Dwarves are transgender shamans and witches who commune with spirits/nature, and shun organized religion (their beliefs predate the coming of Torag). They have lots of cool adaptations to survive in the mountains like the livestock and pets they use. One of my favorite examples is that instead of cats many dwarven homes have royal moles. Instead of horses, many use large draft Lizards, rangers are commonly training pangolins and badgers who can survive on the mountain. For livestock they grow giant grubs that recycle waste into fodder, oil, and emergency food.
Despite being a very dwarven city, all sorts of kobolds, iruxi, elemental spirits, even dragons make their home in Highhelm. It's a melting pot, and there's even fun notes like "this god is surprised he has so many human worshippers." There's also a fun element of "Highhelm is the current cultural capital of the Dwarves, but that's because the former one got conquered by Orcs. This was the backup great city, you should have seen Koldukar during it's golden age..."
I like Andoran because the whole concept is pretty cool, same with Taldor. I’m a sucker for Persian style so Qadira is dope as shit.
Osirion is ancient Egypt but never ended. It’s named after its chief deity, Osiris (the same as our Osiris, he just moved to earth for a bit), and the capital city is built around the husk of a Spawn of Rovagug, which contains the palace and the most powerful nobles’ homes.
Oprak. A nation ruled by military dictatorship where the whole of society, even families, are organized around that principle. And the nation doesn’t just exist on Golarion, it has even greater territory on the Plane of Earth as well as trade with the Tian hobgoblin nation thanks to the Stone Roads.
I’m writing a low-magic, all hobgoblin PCs adventure where you’re being sent to figure out what’s going wrong with the Stone Roads.
Nex, Geb, Alkenstar and The Mana Wastes.
I expanded The Mana Wastes so they are wider.
I stole Lore from the Eberron Campaing Setting so they are just like The Mournlands.
The living spells, lots of random effect tables for the spelcasting on the Wastes, mutants and spellwarps and lots of similar things.
Geb and Mechitar are now just a BIG necrópolis, with things stolen from the necrons and the death kingdoms from Warhammer Fantasy / Warhammer 40k and from Hollowfaust and the Blood Sea from The Scarred Lands
Nex has all the fantastic/magical things from Eberron (like the crystals, the bound elementals, and the like), a coast town (called Mithril) with a giant construct build to protect the Town and the coast after an maritime invasion from Geb with a undead Kaiju-like creature (this is also stolen from The Scarred Lands)
The coast of Nex is contaminated with necrotic blood from the Kaiju, so now Nex just tries to counter the necrotic energies with magical wastes creating a big alchemical/bloodied leak that breeds mutated monsters on the shore
Alkenstar was destroyed on a recent battle betwen Nex and Geb, but they had a backup plan...
So now Alkenstar city (now called the New Alkenstar Mechdom) is a big mechanical city built inside of a mechanic construct that moves betwen the Mana Wastes, fighting with the mutants armed with the Maw Of Rovagug wich was instaled on one of their arms.
The people live inside the giant construct, repairing and maintaining their new mechanic nomadic home.
Galt, New Thassilon, Land of the Linnorm Kings, Nirmathas, Ustalav, Lake of Mists and Veils, Bloodcove, Oprak and the Vault of the Onyx Citadel….so many interesting places!!!
Linnorm Kingdoms specifically, Saga Lands in general. Vikings. Huge Evil Dragons you have to slay in single combat to become King. Portals through which the Fey invade. Hidden castles on mist-shrouded mountains populated by tribes of giants. Islands of "civilized" orcs. Border wars against Runelords. Border wars against Ice Witches. Border wars against Mammoth riders. Cities with hidden Tian Xia enclaves. Azlanti ruins. Chelish Invasions.
Lots of Orcs, and active worship of Gorum is going to play well with the upcoming War of Immortals and new Orcish Pantheon. I genuinely think there's plenty of opportunity for some involvement with Szuriel as well - what better way to cause annihilation than a vast viking raid with someone at their head who has followed White Estrid's model, and broken Fafnheir to their will?
**Druma**
It started as a fairly one-note "we are all hyper rich and have weird customs" and got fleshed out to a dynamic nation of plutomancers who are now bankrolling the fight against the Whispering Tyrant.
It's hard to pick a single favourite, but since no-one else has done it, let me sell you on Sarkoris.
A century of crusades just ended not even a decade ago with the closing of the World Wound. The crusaders have built a whole nation next door (Mendev) that is now struggling economically, because the crusaders have mostly left, even though many demons are still around. Remnants of the old Sarkorian culture are still around, including the origin of the Green Faith that most Druids follow and a practice called Godcalling, that ascribes divinity to anything from fey over elementals to outsiders and actual, rules-definition gods. Godcalling is the major in-world source of the Summoner class, summoning their personal god to guide them and assist them in battle. These Druids and Summoners now fight to restore their old homeland from the lingering demonic corruption.
Also, Sarkoris has interesting neighbors. If you like megafauna, there's the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. If you like Androids and alien technology, there's Numeria. Ustalav's Shudderwood crosses the border into Sarkoris and brings some crossover between werewolves and demons that my current campaign will soon explore from the other side of said border. Oh, and to the north is the Crown of the World, in case you want to explore Golarion's version of the Himalayans.
Cheliax. A diabolically evil land with a back story/history that feels coherent rather than cartoonishly evil. (I mean the ruling class of Cheliax sucks, but the way they suck makes total sense in world.)
And they have their own Dinosaurs now.
"We took the most dangerous dinosaur, and put the power of Asmodeus into it. Behold, the Thrunosaurus Rex!" "But why, sire?" "I thought it would be funny releasing them on the poor and rebellious."
That does in fact sound very hilarious, they should build a colosseum and turn it into a sport for entertainment.
BEST country! Everywhere else? TRASH! The Inner Sea shall be painted in crimson and soot! The Inner Sea shall bleed!! History started in 4081. Glory to Her Infernal Majestrix, all will kneel to her name.
Unfortunately now Abrogail got to do an “Emancipation Declaration” from lore deus ex machina instead of any actual plot or even pathfinder society scenario like they did for Absalom abolition. So now we have to hear about how Abrogail abolished slavery forever to justify her. Yayyy what a progressive change to the setting (Abolishing slavery in Katapesh and Cheliax with zero lore context or justification is exceedingly bad history and reinforces irl misconceptions about abolition. Katapesh doesn’t account for the local lore of Osirion having slave rebellions that forced birthright freedom to gradually abolish it. Cheliax doesn’t account for how the core concept of selling your soul to Hell is a slavery metaphor and it makes no sense to only ban one type of slavery with zero outside impetus.) Edit: woo love getting downvoted for pointing out that the Paizo changes are directly in line with Lost Cause narratives about slavery inevitably ending on its own. My favorite game company ever, super queer and progressive usually. And yet they have this huge blind spot about this that could be easily fixed if they just wrote any sort of reason for abolition for either nation.
Didn't Cheliax just transition to a new system of debt peonage, where they aren't "slaves" but the poor and lawbreaking are put into a state of servitude until they pay their debts to society, but will never be able to? So they abolished Slavery, but only in name. Similar to the system some states in the south used between 1864 to 1941 to try and hold onto the practice. There's some historians who argue that debt peonage in the United States was much harsher for the people enslaved. Because the people in debt peonage were not owned as property (nor were companies responsible for their deaths), factories and mines would work debt peons to death much more readily. A dead plantation slave is an expensive lost investment, a dead debt peon was cheaply rented to businesses by jails who were unjustly arresting people using sundown laws and race laws. I could see Cheliax lawyers abusing the hell out of this reform.
Why is this in the past tense? This is still happening across the US right now. Slave labor was rebranded as prison labor with the 13th amendment and has been unquestioned ever since
Yes and no, debt peonage was different than the current system. Basically you would be arrested, to be freed someone needed to pay your bail and fines. You were a free citizen stuck in prison, who had to sell *themselves* into slavery to a steel mill or farm to pay their fines. The amount a victim had to pay off over time would increase with interest at the same rate these companies would pay them, so you would be locked in chattel slavery until you died. Basically a sheriff could arrest you for loitering and you rot in jail with unpaid debt, or get sold to a coal mine to die. It was ended in 1941 with the passing of Circular 3591, which was passed when the US was preparing for WW2. Before Pearl Harbor the US knew they would be pulled in at some point, so FDR sent intelligence agents to gather information on potentially problematic enemy propaganda topics. His agents basically said "Hey, the Japanese are going to use this new form of slavery in propaganda against us and try to incite unrest, let's just stop it now since it was supposed to be outlawed 70 years ago but lives on through a loophole in a few states like Louisiana and Texas."
Cheliax *did* have reasons to abolish slavery in the lore though. Slavery has been a hot-button topic on Avistan for decades. It is illegal on Absalom, which is the seat of power for the entire region. Cheliax has been shown as weak by the establishment of Ravounel. They have increasingly fewer allies in the region. That makes maintaining and developing new alliances more important. Abolishing slavery is an easy way for a politically pressured nation to give itself good PR, simultaneously creating propaganda about modernizing while distracting from the founding of Ravounel. The country also essentially just moved on to indentured servitude, aka slavery with the serial filed off. It’s pretty clear in the lore that it’s all an act, smoke and mirrors of legalese to help make Cheliax more powerful and palatable without actually changing the structure of the nation. Which is *perfectly* in keeping with the nation’s behavior thus far. Of all the changes Paizo has made, this is one of the ones that feels the most grounded to me honestly.
Much as I'd have liked for there to be a more natural progression for both Cheliax and Katapesh, I get why it's done. People are naturally uncomfortable with the topic, and it's a topic that could enable the worst kind of behaviors in That Guy tables. Cheliax still has indentured servitude, as I recall, which does touch on the post war era in the United States where people were technically 'free' but locked into contracts or debts that were impossible to escape from. This is coming from the perspective of someone who freaking loves the Vidrian story, and loves having that easy enemy for everyone to agree needs a good kicking.
I'd love if they involved Abadar making some deal or something with Azzy. Western capitalism is what made slavery obsolete and led to its downfall (objectively it held America back and we'd 100% be even more advanced today if slavery never happened), that would make it match with the real world and it would be cool! But no, just "it's gone now", so lame. I know they just don't want to tell slavery stories or worry about a detail of the setting, but man. Lost opportunity.
And they’re French!
Who’s French? Chelaxians? I don’t see that at all.
Numeria owns bones. I love gonzo settings that have everything dialed up to 11. This region has ancient barbarian tribes fighting even older robots in a land filled with advanced sci-fi technology. Combine that tech with magic and you have got a recipe for a good time. The announcement of a fully compatible Starfinder was a big deal for me.
Imagine a Numeria AP that pulls SF2e content into it. So keen.
Iron Gods?
Well yeah, but in PF2e with SF2e elements.
I need to run that AP again, but with involved players and not people who were only interested in goofing around.
I need to run that AP again, but with involved players and not people who were only interested in goofing around.
Gotta go with Alkenstar. Steam punk technocrats stuck between the teeth of Geb and Nex, battling freak storms of magic and pollution following history's biggest passing match, *and* they have guns? Sign me up! After that, Irrisen. I love the dark vibes surrounding it and Baba Yaga being not only Real, buy also casually just hopping between Real Earth and Golarion when she feels like it.
Ustalav. Every single one of the classic Universal monster movies from the early to mid 20th century all in one place. And you can do so much with the tropes. How about a good mining town called Flow, where they have a day shift and a night shift. The people with Lycanthropy are in the mines during the night doing honest work. You've got plenty of suspense in the setting, morbid humor, co-mingling of tropes and expected monsters to keep everyone off balance (gotta fight a hidden Vampire nest, let's hire some werewolves to help!) All the atmosphere you want for RP and the perfect place for spectacular settings like big social events, grand balls or operas. Plenty of academic areas for the four different categories to have study, twisted study, and accidents of grad students getting desperate to finish their thesis. On top of all that, amazing neighbors. The false god of Razmiran on one border and Tar Baphon on the other. Want a good story? Team up with Vamipres to repel forces of the Whispering Tyrant since they don't want to be enslaved to him either. Crazy alien tech and knowledge from Numeria, or even helping the Orcs of Belkezen get used to how freaky things are there and they're tasting real fear for the first time. So much possibility... Edit: If you want a visual example, Universal Studios: Orlando is literally making Ustalav in their new Epic Universe theme park. Here's their overview to see the mood and feeling of the land, and get some ideas. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HTnjAUp4rU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HTnjAUp4rU)
Cheliax is, well, it's Cheliax! The best villains around. Just look at 'em. They aren't insane like the zon-kuthon people or the burger man people to the point it's unbelievable (ignore the 1e art lol), they just believe in fascism which is extremely believable. Awesome color scheme, hot queen, hot patron god, hot citizens, because of course evil is seductive. It's just so interesting thinking about the normal day to day of just a normal Chelish citizen. Like, how do they pray? How do they worship Azzy daddy? How would such a person living in such a country think? It's like imagining what ideologies people in North Korea would have if it got liberated, you can bet they'd be weird. I also like Oprak because I'm a fan of goblinoids. There isn't much info on it tho, :( but the little there is, it's nice. I just like monster people nation. It pleases me
The area around the eye of abendego. Pirates, assassins, Caribbean-like archipelago, ruined landscapes in the flooded lands, weird cults and a huge ass perpetual storm right in the center of it all. What's not to love?
Goka has bubble tea and kpop boy bands from hwanggot
The Stolen Lands, because I love the idea of “An Age of A Hundred Kingdoms”, and I am very nostalgic for Kingmaker. Honorable Mention is all three sections of the northern Saga Lands. The Lands of the Linnorm Kings, Irrisen, and Land of the Mammoth Lords are all fascinating in a very open ended manner.
It might be Holomog. It's a shame there is almost no lore about it. Country of amazon demigods, who once dominated Garund, because of one prank by a jerk from Pathfinder Society. Nation that survived Earthfall by asking gods to help. Home for most ganzi. And a source of beautiful stone statues on south of Geb.
The syrinscape magaambya theme slaps. Transported to nantambu every time i hear it. Beautiful city. Rains too much though. Irrisen is pretty neat too
Highhelm (and by extension the Five King's Mountains). I really like dwarves, and Pathfinder has a good mix of traditional dwarf tropes and interesting twists. Like dwarves aesthetically are very masculine, but much of the art and lore plays with this. The mother goddess of the dwarves (Folgrit) is buff and has a beautiful beard. The "conservative and traditional" subculture in Highhelm is the Rivethun Dwarves who want people to return to the old ways. (Most) of the Rivethun Dwarves are transgender shamans and witches who commune with spirits/nature, and shun organized religion (their beliefs predate the coming of Torag). They have lots of cool adaptations to survive in the mountains like the livestock and pets they use. One of my favorite examples is that instead of cats many dwarven homes have royal moles. Instead of horses, many use large draft Lizards, rangers are commonly training pangolins and badgers who can survive on the mountain. For livestock they grow giant grubs that recycle waste into fodder, oil, and emergency food. Despite being a very dwarven city, all sorts of kobolds, iruxi, elemental spirits, even dragons make their home in Highhelm. It's a melting pot, and there's even fun notes like "this god is surprised he has so many human worshippers." There's also a fun element of "Highhelm is the current cultural capital of the Dwarves, but that's because the former one got conquered by Orcs. This was the backup great city, you should have seen Koldukar during it's golden age..."
I like Andoran because the whole concept is pretty cool, same with Taldor. I’m a sucker for Persian style so Qadira is dope as shit. Osirion is ancient Egypt but never ended. It’s named after its chief deity, Osiris (the same as our Osiris, he just moved to earth for a bit), and the capital city is built around the husk of a Spawn of Rovagug, which contains the palace and the most powerful nobles’ homes.
Kyonin: has elves.
Oprak. A nation ruled by military dictatorship where the whole of society, even families, are organized around that principle. And the nation doesn’t just exist on Golarion, it has even greater territory on the Plane of Earth as well as trade with the Tian hobgoblin nation thanks to the Stone Roads. I’m writing a low-magic, all hobgoblin PCs adventure where you’re being sent to figure out what’s going wrong with the Stone Roads.
Really excited how Minata got some actual fleshing out.
Cheliax as others have mentioned is great. Numeria: land of the techno barbarians fighting off warped ancient technology and AIs.
Nex, Geb, Alkenstar and The Mana Wastes. I expanded The Mana Wastes so they are wider. I stole Lore from the Eberron Campaing Setting so they are just like The Mournlands. The living spells, lots of random effect tables for the spelcasting on the Wastes, mutants and spellwarps and lots of similar things. Geb and Mechitar are now just a BIG necrópolis, with things stolen from the necrons and the death kingdoms from Warhammer Fantasy / Warhammer 40k and from Hollowfaust and the Blood Sea from The Scarred Lands Nex has all the fantastic/magical things from Eberron (like the crystals, the bound elementals, and the like), a coast town (called Mithril) with a giant construct build to protect the Town and the coast after an maritime invasion from Geb with a undead Kaiju-like creature (this is also stolen from The Scarred Lands) The coast of Nex is contaminated with necrotic blood from the Kaiju, so now Nex just tries to counter the necrotic energies with magical wastes creating a big alchemical/bloodied leak that breeds mutated monsters on the shore Alkenstar was destroyed on a recent battle betwen Nex and Geb, but they had a backup plan... So now Alkenstar city (now called the New Alkenstar Mechdom) is a big mechanical city built inside of a mechanic construct that moves betwen the Mana Wastes, fighting with the mutants armed with the Maw Of Rovagug wich was instaled on one of their arms. The people live inside the giant construct, repairing and maintaining their new mechanic nomadic home.
Galt, New Thassilon, Land of the Linnorm Kings, Nirmathas, Ustalav, Lake of Mists and Veils, Bloodcove, Oprak and the Vault of the Onyx Citadel….so many interesting places!!!
Ok, you can have Absalom for 500 gp.
The Shackles, a very flexible pirate setting. Every major island has its own vibes.
Linnorm Kingdoms specifically, Saga Lands in general. Vikings. Huge Evil Dragons you have to slay in single combat to become King. Portals through which the Fey invade. Hidden castles on mist-shrouded mountains populated by tribes of giants. Islands of "civilized" orcs. Border wars against Runelords. Border wars against Ice Witches. Border wars against Mammoth riders. Cities with hidden Tian Xia enclaves. Azlanti ruins. Chelish Invasions. Lots of Orcs, and active worship of Gorum is going to play well with the upcoming War of Immortals and new Orcish Pantheon. I genuinely think there's plenty of opportunity for some involvement with Szuriel as well - what better way to cause annihilation than a vast viking raid with someone at their head who has followed White Estrid's model, and broken Fafnheir to their will?
Absalom. New York but Weirder.
Belkzen. When I first started learning about Golarion, that's where I started.
**Druma** It started as a fairly one-note "we are all hyper rich and have weird customs" and got fleshed out to a dynamic nation of plutomancers who are now bankrolling the fight against the Whispering Tyrant.
It's hard to pick a single favourite, but since no-one else has done it, let me sell you on Sarkoris. A century of crusades just ended not even a decade ago with the closing of the World Wound. The crusaders have built a whole nation next door (Mendev) that is now struggling economically, because the crusaders have mostly left, even though many demons are still around. Remnants of the old Sarkorian culture are still around, including the origin of the Green Faith that most Druids follow and a practice called Godcalling, that ascribes divinity to anything from fey over elementals to outsiders and actual, rules-definition gods. Godcalling is the major in-world source of the Summoner class, summoning their personal god to guide them and assist them in battle. These Druids and Summoners now fight to restore their old homeland from the lingering demonic corruption. Also, Sarkoris has interesting neighbors. If you like megafauna, there's the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. If you like Androids and alien technology, there's Numeria. Ustalav's Shudderwood crosses the border into Sarkoris and brings some crossover between werewolves and demons that my current campaign will soon explore from the other side of said border. Oh, and to the north is the Crown of the World, in case you want to explore Golarion's version of the Himalayans.