In with the New

Thursday, October 21, 2010

While working on World Guide: The Inner Sea, we've decided to make a few changes. Golarion's still the same world you've come to know and love, but there's a tinker here and a tweak there that we would have loved to have made in the original Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, and now's the perfect opportunity to get a few revisions out there. We've mentioned a bit about general layout and new maps on these boards in the past weeks, but here's a peek at another update: country flags and symbols. The Mana Wastes, Jalmeray, Rahadoum, and Thuvia, to name just a few, are getting icon overhauls courtesy of artist Jeff Carlisle. Just take a look. While every country isn't getting a heraldic revision, these are just a few we thought needed a bit more flair. Get your first look at all these new symbols and more debuting in the country overviews in Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer before their big release in World Guide: The Inner Sea.

Illustrations by Jeff Carlisle

Wes Schneider
Managing Editor

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Would do the inside covers of the old Greyhawk books proud!


I dig em love the new one for Rahadoum.

Silver Crusade

Mana Wastes is pretty direct and to the point on what it's about. :D


Awesome! Thuvia's is cool!


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

Very cool.


Mana Wastes - Cool

Jalmeray - Neat, it's just an oil-lamp (presumably with a genie in it, but that doesn't show), but a nice-looking oil-lamp.

Rahadoum - Awesome!!

Thuvia - Doesn't look like a meet-up traffic-sign and warning symbols any longer - Also Awesome!!


This artwork looks pretty good although it does not seem like the kind of heraldry or artwork a medieval or even Renaissance based society's flag makers or painters could create. They seem like computer generated pieces of art not something a more primitive artist would create. Now of course I realize Golarian is a magical world but I would still expect the flag making and heraldry making establishment to be relatively mundane.

If you look at real world heraldry or flags you can see the simple (yet still beautiful in some cases) designs that a mundane craftsman could reproduce with cloth or paint brush.


cibet44, I understand what you're saying, but I feel like 1) these hi-res, super-detailed symbols might not be the same as symbols your average flag designer in Golarion would be capable of creating, but rather the ideals they'd have in mind while creating said designs; and 2) I'd have to imagine that even very low-level magic would have a substantial impact on the complexity of art possible in Golarion.


Is the writing on Rahadoum's symbol supposed to represent any particular Golarion script?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

cibet44 wrote:

This artwork looks pretty good although it does not seem like the kind of heraldry or artwork a medieval or even Renaissance based society's flag makers or painters could create. They seem like computer generated pieces of art not something a more primitive artist would create. Now of course I realize Golarian is a magical world but I would still expect the flag making and heraldry making establishment to be relatively mundane.

If you look at real world heraldry or flags you can see the simple (yet still beautiful in some cases) designs that a mundane craftsman could reproduce with cloth or paint brush.

I actually agree with you—but then again, none of these four are intended to be "flags" or "heraldry." And that's actually why we redid these four (among others); not every region in the Inner Sea identifies via a flag, especially regions like Thuvia or Varisia, which are only loosely affiliated groups and thus don't have a single overarching flag. MOST of the nations still have flags, though.

The Rahadoum and Jalmeray symbols are just that—symbols of elements that are key to their society. In the Rahadoum case, it's actually a shield that's been etched with the Laws of Man; the writing on there is not intended to be any one particular Golarion script, but if you had to choose one, it's probably Azlanti.

Grand Lodge

Why must you tease me so with examples from the book. It's bad enough that I have to twiddle my thumbs till the release date.....sigh.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
The Rahadoum and Jalmeray symbols are just that—symbols of elements that are key to their society. In the Rahadoum case, it's actually a shield that's been etched with the Laws of Man; the writing on there is not intended to be any one particular Golarion script, but if you had to choose one, it's probably Azlanti.

And Jalmeray? How is a lamp symbolic of a Vudran colony?

Paizo Employee Chief Creative Officer, Publisher

Because'a genies.

Dark Archive

Erik Mona wrote:
Because'a genies.

Yeah, I absolutely love the rest of them, but I feel Jalmeray's new symbol leaves me a bit cold. I actually prefer the old one to this [technically well-drawn but too simple] profile of a lamp.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8

I'm kind of amused the fake language/Azlant on the shield looks like Semetic languages to me.

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