Reading update and Greater Taldor Remixed

Quick reading update... what I tend to post the most lately, sadly. I finished the slim Pathfinder Companion book Taldor, Echoes of Glory, which I bought in physical form when it was new. I actually have the next two Pathfinder Companion books in physical form which I bought when they were new, Qadira, Gateway to the East, and Cheliax, Empire of Devils. While I know that the themes of a lot of these lands are the whole point, I feel like one of the problems with Golarion as a setting (and one of the main reasons for my Golarion Remixed project, when I get around to making the next update for it) is that the themes are actually too strong; they feel one note and almost caricaturish. Some of them need to be strong; Varisia as a frontier, for instance, or Ustalav as the horror area, Osirion as fantasy Egypt, etc. but I feel like the following themes are borderline ridiculous, and I don't mch like them: 1) Taldor as old-fashioned monarchy characterized by sad, pitiful decline, 2) Cheliax as taken over by devil-worship, 3) Galt as the never-ending French Revolution, and 4) Andoran as crusading Marxist abolitionists and anti-monarchists. Heck, a third of the counties of Ustalav have an anti-nobility bourgeois hierarchy and have the Galt and Andoran themes already built in without it being so over-the-top that it's a joke. 

So clearly that's going to be a major portion of my remix project, to make these elements, to the extent that I end up using them anyway, make more sense, feel more real, and less like a cartoonish caricature. I've kind of hinted at these points before, but let me make them more explicit here in this post. Let me do it dot points style:

• 
  All of the areas that have formerly been part of Greater Taldor and/or Greater Cheliax remain in loose association with Taldor still as a kind of confederacy of sorts; somewhere between Scotland's relationship with England and Canada's relationship with England. They all consider themselves culturally part of Taldor to a greater or lesser degree, and consider each other as allies in times of need, but otherwise operate pretty independently. But, because they all come from the same cultural and legal tradition, their governments and legal backgrounds are more similar than different.
• What is today Taldor and Cheliax remain the anchors of the agreement, and rivalry between Egorian and Oppara remain high, as each jockeys to be the more prominent or prestigious partner. Oppara is more hands-off, preferring the laissez-faire association that currently exists, while Egorian would prefer to centralize and federalize more... in exchange for greater tribute, of course. 
• Andoran is the among the silliest of nations in Golarion as written. Making it a large, prosperous area that operates independently under a Senate of sorts, mimicking the Senate of Taldor (and Rome, for that matter) with Codwin I as, instead of a former Marxist or Jacobin style leader, is a hands-off noble who, due to generations of legal bindings, couldn't have a very active role even if he wanted to. I see him as not terribly unlike King Charles, except if Canada had a separate king. Andoran Remixed was never part of Cheliax, but based on geography, is of course, between Taldor and Cheliax, and frequently serves as a go-between smack dab in the middle of the two rivals. Because of its own strong military and mercantile resources, it's one of the more powerful voices in Greater Taldor, and doesn't feel the need to curry favor with either, and they are in many ways becoming a third pole on the rivalry; only mitigated by the fact that Almas isn't interested in pursuing influence at the expense of Oppara or Egorian.
• Molthune, Nirmathas, Lastwall and Galt are all quieter frontier areas, if you want to call them that, and some of the silliness like Galt's never-ending revolution are to be greatly toned down. The conflict between Nirmathas and Molthune is also going to be less like open warfare and more of an internal issue like The Troubles. These are supported by troops from Taldor, Andoran and Cheliax as needed, but only against outside enemies, not against each other.
• More far-flung colonies, nations or others that have some ethnic Taldoran influence include Sargava, Ustalav, Korvasa, Magnimar, Absalom and others, and while not part of Greater Taldor per se, they are kind of like "junior members" in a mostly symbolic way with Greater Taldor. 
• Cheliax's House Thrune may well be devil worshippers, but not openly, if so. That's more of a conspiracy theory than something confirmed and open, and may well be based on the basalt Gothic architecture style as much as anything else. No doubt there are really bad people in House Thrune, but it's arguable that they are worse than any other noble house in any other nation, necessarily. 

Other than that, I'll probably defer on assigning any specific remix changes until I either get to a setting product that details those countries in more detail, or an adventure path or module that requires me to detail any of it. Honestly, I don't intend to set a lot of stuff in Greater Taldor necessarily, but some of the adventure paths I know for sure take place in Cheliax and/or Taldor. 

• Even Curse of the Crimson Throne is tangentially related, given Queen Ileosa's background as a minor Chelaxian noblewoman, although if I adapt this, any references to Greater Taldor are probably moot.
• Council of Thieves takes place in Cheliax. 
• Serpent's Skull takes place in Sargava, but if I remember correctly, nothing really needs to be changed.The Vidrian Revolution I have absolutely no interest in, but it doesn't feature in any APs or even modules that I can see; it all happened in the background in the update to the setting between 1e and 2e. Most of those updates, honestly, I'm not really in favor of.
• Carrion Crown is in Ustalav, but given that that was even once (briefly) a part of Greater Taldor prior to the Whispering Tyrants's first rule, and that Lastwall was founded specifically by Taldor to fight him, there may possibly be some Taldoran influence here and there to address.
• Hell's Rebels and Hell's Vengeance are both set in Cheliax and strongly feature the devil-worshipping theme of House Thrune. I'll probably need to rework these at a root level to use them in my remixed setting.
• Strange Aeons features a section that travels through Taldor, but I don't think too much of it needs to change.
• Ironfang Invasion features the actual invasion by monsters of a protected member of Greater Taldor, so it may well require some significant reworking in the remixed version too. Again, assuming I have any desire to ever run this anyway.
• War for the Crown is the iconic political thriller AP in Taldor. Of course, it, along with most of the Paizo Golarian as written stuff, is all about installing a progressive grrlboss as the new leader. But it can probably be used even if I change that. The AP, I understand it, is full of all kinds of high magic. Two candidates to the throne are resurrected after being killed, for instance. I'll probably have to change more than just turning Eutropia (or her role, anyway) into a man.
• Tyrant's Grasp is about the fall of Lastwall, and therefore impacts Greater Taldor. Then again, I'm not sure that I'm a huge fan of the meta-story changes in some of these APs as a concept. The reality is that I'd be very unlikely to run them, even as heavily redacted and changed as I do. More likely, I'll simply borrow material from them but in a different context.

A lot of the backstory of these nations is related to their religion, particularly that of Aroden, which was the patron god of Taldor and it's spin-offs, and who's death was a seminal moment in the theme of the whole setting. Given that I don't intend to use Pathfinder's religions, but substitute my own, that also will have an impact on the details of the setting. But my PANTHEON tag isn't quite ready for a major update quite yet.