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Iomedae sounds like an idiot on the subject of immigration, because she's very clearly being an author-mouthpiece. Does she have an opinion on whether or not Cheliax, if they found a way to replicate her journey, should be able to start sending evangelists of Asmodeus over en masse? Or is the point that because she has access to at-will detect evil, she doesn't understand how when dealing with mere mortals, we can't just march her in front of every immigrant and have her decapitate the evil ones, and let the rest pass on through? I wonder what she'd think of a cabal of mortal wizards who started mass-binding souls in order to shove them into whatever Pathfinder's version of Mount Celestia is. Or the Worldwound, for that matter.
Actually, there are a bunch of things I'd want her to run into. In Pathfinder (and in almost every edition of D&D), humans are not sexual dimorphic in ability spread; men are taller and heavier than women in nearly every race, but this does not affect their attribute spread. So, does she have a low-level melee-combatant attribute spread or an actual teenage girl attribute spread? And how does she react to, in the first case, learning that compared to what she's used to, men and women might as well be half-orcs and halflings when it comes to their distributions of upper body strength? If we assume that she has Str 16 (since she's a legendary hero before level-up bonuses and, as a paladin, suffers from Multiple Attribute Dependency) and we use the rather generous PF carrying capacity table, she can lift 460 lbs off the ground, which (as I understand from a casual google) would smash the world record for people in the average teenage girl weight class.
It also sounds like the religion thing is nuanced at least, but I feel like that the world of Pathfinder is ontologically different enough that I don't see her views on religion mapping well enough to ours to have a strong opinion on Jesus as an actual historical figure or actual Outsider with a divine rank. Maybe he was a guy who rose from the dead; that happens more often than not if you die around powerful users of divine magic. Maybe he's a god or a demigod or a name given to another god; the world is aggresively syncretic and no god created the universe, nor actually defines it in any meaningful way; important things like Good and Evil predate the gods and will outlive them, and while gods, even Iomedae's own patron deity, might be deeply important to her, she should know that being a paladin demands that she follow Good first and her god's commandments second, if the two ever collide.
Honestly, I am a little melancholy about the fact that I'm deep enough to the weeds of Pathfinder to find the premise of this story really interesting, but that I also know just from the summary I was given that I'm going to be running heavily into places where the story either warps to progressive shibboleths and loses me as a result. Which is a shame, because I feel like a based author that was willing to respond to questions about America's policy on immigration and secularism by sending a paladin to a cartel-controlled town in Mexico or a fundamentalist-Islam-controlled stronghold in Afganistan would be really narratively interesting.
I also feel like there's a much more hilarious story about weird-ass Underdark radiation fucking up and dropping good ol' Drizzt Do'urden into our world as opposed to Icewind Dale, and have him have to undergo a whole lot of different learning experiences.
ETA: Fucking hell, didn't make it off the first page before getting pissed off again. You know what also doesn't exist in Pathfinder? Acquired immunity. People don't get resistant to filth fever by hanging around in a dungeon repeatedly, because pathogens are not germ-based in Iomeade's world. The correct response to "Let me give you a little bit of unclean taint to make you stronger and teach you to fight it off." is "Back the fuck off, spawn of Lamashtu and Apollyon, I know how potions that heal the sick work and that is not it, you lying bastard." There are also a lot fewer lethal diseases unless you use the optional rules to make diseases extra-lethal, and there's low-level divine magic to help with sick people, and if Iomeade has hit third level herself than she's entirely immune, and that should be part of her understanding of the world.
Part of rationalism is engaging with the world as it is, not as you've been told (or are being told) that it is. This would have been a perfect chance for Iomeade to have expressed a solid opinion and been given the chance to learn that this was not her world (and, as the other people dug deeper, to learn that she was not from their world), but there is no world in which being told about vaccines shouldn't map to one of the many plague cultists fucking with people. Hell, even if Iomeade had seen enough of this world to recognize that things were different here, this should still be a point in which she has opinions, beyond "Really? Cool!"
As others said, this fanfic sucks (this goofy mocking pidgin speak of our heroine alone kills it, author never bothered to look up INT requirements for paladin and DND rules for language learning), but in this case Iomedae sounds realistic.
Medieval person, whether noble or commoner, would see idea of "papers", would see situation where everyone, even the poorest peasant, should carry "papers" at all time and present them in order to travel, work, buy and sell as something from Book of Revelation.
Authentic medieval Iomedae would be horrified to find herself in the time of the Antichrist, but would be also overjoyed that Jesus is finally returning and she will meet him soon.
(well, later, when Iomedae learns about history and finds out that the Beast rules the world for centuries, the world gets more godless, depraved and evil every day for centuries and still there are no signs of Jesus' second coming, she would get really depressed and could begin to doubt her faith)
Of course, Pathfinder is extruded Mos Eisley Cantina style fantasy world as different as possible from actual medieval Europe.
No, I do not want to blame anyone for not wanting to play in realistic medieval setting. (Game Master: The water was refreshing. Your thirst was satiated. Now, roll for dysentery.)
And I want to blame even less modern fanfic writer for not wanting to present realistic medieval opinions on modern society, government, economy, religion, law, justice, war etc...
The world she comes from isn't medieval Europe, it is a world with multiple real gods and roughly medieval technology (plus magic) and standard of living. Iomedae's first contact with people in that world is with illegal immigrant migrant workers who take her in. They are Catholics, what they say about Jesus has some bits that are similar to the background of Aroden, the god she is a paladin of, and she incorrectly assumes they are the same. There is no reason to expect her to have the attitudes of someone from medieval Europe.
Iomedae is fluent in her own language. Her imperfect speech is due to the fact that, having learned Spanish with the migrant workers she is now learning English.
There is nothing wrong with discussing literature, but the discussion would be more interesting if people would read the story before confidently announcing what is wrong with it.
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I don't know when the common understanding became that TTRPG rules are supposed to represent the in-world laws of physics, but that is not what they do and isn't in Pathfinder and never has been, going right back to OD&D. TTRPG rules are there to assist the DM in running the game, that's all. The rules for diseases are not necessarily reflective of what disease is actually like in the world and certainly don't exclude the possibility of things like acquired immunity.
Is germ theory true in Golarion? That's for the DM to decide if it ever comes up, not something to be gleaned from the rules.
Also, more importantly, the setting here is lintamande's fanfic Golarion, which differs in a few ways from the RPG setting.
Iomedae comes from a world where mass immigration and the state capacity to control it don't exist - of course she finds modern mores on it strange and horrible, it would be weird if she didn't.
According to Iomedae, in a later thread following from the one being discussed where she is back in Golarion, germ theory is true in Golarion. Her basis is having learned about it in America, but nothing in the story implies that she is wrong.
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In a game, the rules are reflective of the players' shared understanding of the game world, and when the rules fail to reflect that understanding, they are bad rules.
And obviously the GM can decide things. The GM can decide that Iomedae is a foxgirl in a kinky BDSM relationship with Asmodeus. But that is not reflected in either the rules or the setting documents, and people are quite right to complain that referring to someone who was called Iomeade and differed significantly, and in unannounced and weird ways from what was established.
And, while I'll probably do a whole bit on this later, Iomedae comes from a world where the nation she is from (the Taldoran Empire) actually did mass emigration in an explicitly colonialist way. And, of course, they had to deal with foreign invaders entering their lands as well. I can absolutely buy an Iomedae that sympathizes with the plight both of specific illegal immigrants and of their host nation, and wishes there was a way to both fulfill the law and grant security to the immigrants. But describing border security as evil are not the words of any paladin anywhere, much less the words of a paladin otherwise-fated to be a god of paladins that worships a Lawful-Neutral god of human civilization.
The author could have picked a generic paladin from an unspecified setting, or even a generic paladin from Golarion. They did not. They chose a paladin with a history and her own views. Obviously, the author and the readers have the right to tell me and everyone else "Fuck you, I'm doing it my way, and I'm also making Aroden trans, cope and seethe.", and equally-obviously, I have the right to tell the author that she's doing it wrong, as I have above and probably will again.
And hey, if you want to get into a detailed dive on the established lore of Golarion and its gods and claim that I'm misrepresenting Aroden, Iomeade, paladins, or the Taldoran Empire, please feel free. Hell, if anyone knows if there are PF2e adventure paths or lore books that ret-con any of these topics, I'd be genuinely interested to hear about them.
Iomedae's first experience of Earth was living with illegal immigrant migrant workers, very poor people who treated her well. After she has been discovered by the authorities and made a foster child there is an INS raid on the immigrants and, from what she is told, the result is the adults being sent out of the country and the children being seized. I don't think that makes sense in terms of INS policy, but it is what happens in the story or at least what Iomedae believes happens. Prior to that, all she knows about immigration enforcement is that there is some evil thing called "La Migra" which the people she is living with are afraid of.
Aroden is not trans but Alfirin, in a later thread, very briefly is, using Alter Self to make herself male for a few minutes. For why she does so you will have to read the threads.
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Strictly she is a Paladin of Arazni, who is the herald of Aroden, but I think she might actually see immigration restrictions as evil on Earth for one reason, everyone there is human, and Aroden is essentially the god of human manifest destiny, and that humanity should be as one, she might feel that America as the most powerful nation should indeed be both spreading its influence in order to unite humanity and allowing any human who wishes to live there to do so. In otherwise she might well support America taking over Mexico AND prior to that allowing any Mexican who wants to live in the US to do so. She would probably feel differently about an orc nation for example. Remember at 15 she is just about to join the crusade against the undead hordes of the Whispering Tyrant, a nearly existential threat to human civilization itself. Making humanity strong by bringing as many people under one rule as possible is consistent with both the way Taldor spread and not having the kind of legal system where a human from outside Taldor who wants to live there is going to have many issues doing so.
Aroden is prophesied to (at the point this story is set at least) lead humanity into a golden age, united and strong. Paladins don't have to follow laws that they believe are not just or not good, if your god wants humanity united, any law that prevents humanity coalescing into a united group could well be seen as evil. From a certain point of view of course. America absorbing as much of humanity under its direct influence whether by conquest or immigration seems very much in line with Aroden.
"The Starfall Doctrine is a series of prophecies written in Azlanti that predicted that the god Aroden would return to Golarion in 4606 AR and lead the human race in a millennium of prosperity known as the Age of Glory. He was supposed to lead the world from Cheliax, which he would personally rule and which would also become the pre-eminent nation in the world"
That the human race should be united and not artificially fragmented into smaller nations is pretty on brand. Border security against orcs and undead Good, border security to prevent other humans swelling the ranks of your nation: Evil.
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Vaccinations are actually a thing in Pathfinder so the real sin is that Iomadae would probably know the word itself. And given creating it needs a sample of the disease AND that Starfinder (which takes place in the future of the Pathfinder universe) has actual antibiotics in addition, it seems fair to say that germ theory does indeed work there. It is just there are also magic and direct miracles so vaccinations are less useful, when the local cleric can pray it away.
"A vaccine grants a creature immunity to a specific strain of disease of a level equal to or less than the vaccine's level, and a +2 item bonus on all saving throws against other strains of the same disease. For example, a vaccine could grant immunity to filth fever inflicted by otyughs but would only grant a +2 saving throw bonus against filth fever inflicted by a giant rat. Special: A vaccine is the same rarity as the disease it's designed to prevent, or as the creature who inflicts the disease if the disease itself doesn't list a rarity Craft Requirements: Creating a vaccine requires a sample of the disease in question."
Starfinder takes place in the same universe as Pathfinder (probably; history in Starfinder is weird), but several metaphysical things in Starfinder are different. (Also, you know, practical things.)
Regardless, in both systems, creatures do not have memory T cells; you make the same saving through the first time you get bit by a dire rat with filth fever as the thousandth time, even if it is the same rat biting you. The vaccine is also made with Starfinder hypertech, so I don't know that we can say that it works anything like the conventional term; it might just be some very-narrowly-tailored nanobots that do what a conventional immune system would do, if people had immune systems instead of Fort saves.
I actually checked the SRD, and I found exactly one reference to vaccines in first-party Pathfinder materials: the drug Gossamer Veil (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/afflictions/drugs/gossamer-veil/), which, amusingly, has the following description:
Again, the world of Golarion has entirely different mechanics for disease, but more than that, it has entirely different social institutions, built around gods as observable and present as Elon Musk is in our world. "Why the fuck aren't your priests of Jesus healing the sick, as is normal and natural? What is wrong with them that they can't perform the simplest duty of a good cleric, and channel positive energy to help people?" should be her starting point. And because she is literally the alternate-life of a goddess, she should find alchemical ways of preventing disease sus as fuck, because in a world where you can go to any good cleric and get any conventionial disease cleared as long as you are not actually physically dead, not going to goodly clerics to get that care is sus as fuck, unless you're in a part of the world with unusually low access to goodly clerics?
And you know what people generally don't have the training, infrastructure, and general capacity to do in those parts of the world? Become paladins!
Now, I am just going off of the standard SRD and Archives of Nethys as a backup, so if there is a solid reference to vaccines in Pathfinder proper, I may be missing it, and if you know of one, I'd be happy to hear it. But regardless, even if they worked, they would not work as an extension of how people understand how disease works, because in Pathfinder, barring there being a specific Milkmaid background trait that gives a bonus to pox-related illness, you can't observe "Hey, milkmaids and other people who work with cows tend to get the lesser-in-lethality cowpox and tend to be more resistant to smallpox, I wonder why and if we can replicate this somehow." What there are are people who can fuck around with the wrecked space shit in Numeria and maybe get some stuff partially right, but much more likely, what you have are (as we, ironically enough, do have) demon-affiliated fuckers preying on people's hopes that there is a reliable way to handle disease other than divine magic. (Or, like, alchemists or other use-the-spell-mechanic fuckery.)
I don't think you can assume that lintemande's Golarion is identical to the Pathfinder version, although it is based on it.
Iomedae and Alfirin learn about vaccination in America and I think it is one of the technologies that they attempt to introduce to Golarion in a later thread in the series.
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The vaccine rules I quoted are from the Archives for Pathfinder 2e here:
https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=773
My alchemist was crafting them in a campaign I am in which is how I knew there were rules for crafting vaccines. In order to take some pressure off the cleric if we were already immune to the disease we knew we were going to encounter.
Though they may have been invented post Iomadae's ascension, It seems probable natural immunity exists in some form in world but is just abstracted away ruleswise otherwise. As it isn't fun in game to track if your character should be immune to filth fever as he caught it 6 years ago when trudging through a sewer in Alkenstar and was bitten by a direrat or whatever.
Its also possible the varying dieties of disease alter them every so often to evade natural immunity. That might be my take as a DM. That diseases are viral or bacterial but they also have divine forces creating new variants. Golarion does have Anthrax, Dengue fever, cholera and bubonic plague, malaria and TB for example and they even talk about the lymphatic system so mundane diseases do seem to operate much as we would expect here and given the lymphatic systems purpose it would be odd if humans didn't have the same immune system and thus could get immunity to cow pox or something. Its just not an exciting part of the game system to talk about.
Ah, I haven't touched PF2E at all, so that explains it. I guess it will be really important to find out what actual rules the fic is operating under.
The vaccines look interesting, but also not at all like something that naturally would interact with an immune system; how would they work if the lesser ones only work for 24 hours? Maybe they're just releasing tiny alchemical homunculi into your bloodstream.
Re: diseases being updated, you could presumably slap a bunch of dire rats in an Antimagic Field to detect that and study the effect, which sounds interesting. If you want to run your setting that way, you might have an entire laundry list of effects the gods need to personally micromanage to keep the Prime Material from falling askew, and introduce some interesting effects when adventurers go off-grid themselves.
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That was great! Now I kinda want to see you liveblog the whole thing.
You know what? Fuck it. No idea how long this will last, because I'm also doing something similar for Wheel of Time in meatspace at the moment and my hate-reading time is limited, but here we go: https://robertliguoriwritesstuff.wordpress.com/2023/09/05/well-i-guess-im-liveblogging-now/
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