Leaders in Liberty

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Last week we shared how Season 9 of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guildthe Year of Factions' Favor—is poised to deliver exciting stories to the campaign's factions. The organized play campaigns wouldn't be possible without the efforts of our four-person team, so it makes sense that our faction leaders would also appreciate advancing their respective goals with the help of elite specialists. In fact, several factions already have such a setup, such as how Tahonikepsu leads the Scarab Sages with the assistance of Amenopheus and how Aaqir al'Hakam directs the Exchange with the help of Guaril Karela's rather underhanded expertise. There are some big events in the works for the Liberty's Edge faction, and we want to introduce someone who can play a part in upcoming events and share in the spotlight.

To this end, we've ordered art of this awesome person, illustrated by Tom Ventre and modeled on the physical description of the Bonuwat people along Garund's west coast. Just as we're looking to give Major Colson Maldris some help, we're looking to you for assistance in introducing this new character. That's right—we're hosting a contest.

Include a backstory of between 250 and 300 words that provides insight into the character and their motivations. Submit your entry as email text (no attachments!) to pathfindersociety@paizo.com (Subject: Leaders in Liberty Contest) along with your Pathfinder Society number. Entries must be received by August 30, 2017 for consideration for the contest.

After the deadline, the Organized Play team (and maybe a few other staffers) will narrow down the options and then post a new blog with our top choices for the community to vote on. The winning story will define the character's canon. The winning author will receive $20 paizo.com store credit and a custom avatar on paizo.com. What's more, those who participate in the contest—either by submitting an entry or participating in the voting process—will contribute to the Liberty's Edge faction's goals for the upcoming Season 9 Faction Journal Cards update.

Criteria

  • The character's name must appear clearly in the backstory.
  • The character must be sympathetic to the Liberty's Edge faction
  • The character does not need to be part of the Pathfinder Society organization, but the character could be.
  • The character is not evil-aligned, and the backstory should reflect this.
  • The character should not have an extraordinarily tragic backstory. Both adventurers and the Liberty's Edge faction tend to attract people who have suffered injustices and are amenable to a little gritty heroism, and this character can certainly have survived misfortune. However, please avoid having this character be the subject of a crushing catastrophe, unbroken sequence of tragedies, or pattern of dehumanizing experiences. That's just not the direction we want to take this person.
  • The character should be capable. In game terms, we're looking at someone around level 5-10.
  • You don't need to define the class or level of the character. In fact, leaving a little flexibility on that front is appreciated (but not necessary)

We look forward to reading your stories and making this next part of the campaign your creation!

John Compton
Organized Play Lead Developer

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Tags: Organized Play Pathfinder Society
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Grand Lodge 4/5

Sounds like a fun challenge. Maybe this one will be the winner. Haven't had any luck so far, but I'm not about to stop trying at these kinds of contests.

1/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Is this contest restricted for those who have multiple credits in printed products? Figure I should at least ask. ^_^

1/5

3 people marked this as a favorite.

(If I'm being honest, I'd be doing it almost exclusively for the custom avatar. I've been after a certain one for years - literally.)

Second Seekers (Roheas) 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 ***** Regional Venture-Coordinator, Appalachia

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Sounds Amazing - long has my issue with this faction been that the good Major is a bit....lacking.

I have an idea ruminating but i should ask - is the race locked to human?

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5

Gonna see what I can come up with. So can not do extraordinarily tragic... lets go with dreadful.

1/5 5/5

Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber
John Compton wrote:
To this end, we've ordered art of this awesome person, illustrated by Tom Ventre and modeled on the physical description of the Bonuwat people along Garund's west coast.

I'm *guessing* that would seem to indicate human?

Paizo Employee 4/5 Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Wei Ji the Learner wrote:
John Compton wrote:
To this end, we've ordered art of this awesome person, illustrated by Tom Ventre and modeled on the physical description of the Bonuwat people along Garund's west coast.
I'm *guessing* that would seem to indicate human?

I endeavored to be very careful in writing these criteria. As you may note, there's no mandate of the person's race, class, gender, sexual orientation, preferred pronoun, or the like.

I ordered art of this person as a Bonuwat human—and to be frank, I think we're long overdue for a representative of western Garund. However, a backstory that identifies this person as non-human wouldn't be grounds for disqualification. It is something of a risk, though. Just be sure that if you do deviate from the art's implied human background that the choice makes the narrative notably stronger.

4/5 5/5 **** Venture-Lieutenant, Massachusetts—Boston Metro

Wei Ji the Learner wrote:
John Compton wrote:
To this end, we've ordered art of this awesome person, illustrated by Tom Ventre and modeled on the physical description of the Bonuwat people along Garund's west coast.
I'm *guessing* that would seem to indicate human?

The last time an NPC had weird glowing eyes like that she wasn't human.

Paizo Employee 4/5 Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

2 people marked this as a favorite.
MadScientistWorking wrote:
Wei Ji the Learner wrote:
John Compton wrote:
To this end, we've ordered art of this awesome person, illustrated by Tom Ventre and modeled on the physical description of the Bonuwat people along Garund's west coast.
I'm *guessing* that would seem to indicate human?
The last time an NPC had weird glowing eyes like that she wasn't human.

Aya Allahe certainly has a storied lineage that dips into the celestial.

As for this person, though, the eyes are just about within the norm for Bonuwat people—even if a little on the luminous side.

Inner Sea Races wrote:


The Bonuwat...have eyes of brilliant shades of brown, green, hazel, gray, or blue.

4/5

Yeah, the eyes are a little non-standard for a human.

Liberty's Edge 5/5 5/55/55/5

2 people marked this as a favorite.

I for one welcome our Glowy eyed overlord.

Can't remember the last time Maldris did anything for the cause unless it was covering his keister.


Unusual eyes are easily handled in story I would think.

Liberty's Edge 1/5 5/5

Corvus Cailean wrote:

I for one welcome our Glowy eyed overlord.

Can't remember the last time Maldris did anything for the cause unless it was covering his keister.

Overlord/lady?

Hardly.

Liberty's Edge is about choices, about freedom, about the ability to choose one's own path while gaining Enlightenment and educating others in what it means to be free to do so themselves.

One will grant one the comment about Maldris, however.

He handed me his weapon in on particular instance rather than face a particular situation himself. Disappointing from someone who is supposed to be leading a great organization.

Liberty's Edge 5/5 5/55/55/5

Wei Ji wrote:


Overlord/lady?

I can never tell with humans...

Second Seekers (Roheas) 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 ***** Regional Venture-Coordinator, Appalachia

Just submitted my idea - very excited to see what others come up with.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 ****

Wei Ji wrote:
Corvus Cailean wrote:

I for one welcome our Glowy eyed overlord.

Can't remember the last time Maldris did anything for the cause unless it was covering his keister.

Overlord/lady?

Hardly.

Liberty's Edge is about choices, about freedom, about the ability to choose one's own path while gaining Enlightenment and educating others in what it means to be free to do so themselves.

One will grant one the comment about Maldris, however.

He handed me his weapon in on particular instance rather than face a particular situation himself. Disappointing from someone who is supposed to be leading a great organization.

I remember that situation quite differently. He had a houseful of guests to calm down and lead to safety while he lent a powerful weapon to those fighting outside.

Scarab Sages 5/5 5/5 *** Venture-Captain, Netherlands

I have a few ideas. Lets see if I can put them to paper.

Advocates 3/5 5/55/55/55/5 **** Venture-Agent, Illinois—Chicago

Sounds fun! I just sent in my submission. :)

Paizo Employee 4/5 ** Developer

Doesn't have to be a human as long as they look like one, eih? Must...resist...obvious...terrible idea...

5/5 5/55/55/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.
KitsuneWarlock wrote:
Doesn't have to be a human as long as they look like one, eih? Must...resist...obvious...terrible idea...

FennecSune?

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 ***** Venture-Captain, Minnesota

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Oh? A writing contest! Awesome!


8 people marked this as a favorite.

Obligatory PathfinderWiki plugs!

And if you need help coming up with a name, check out John Mechalas's excellent Pathfinder name generator!

4/5 ***** Venture-Lieutenant, Maryland—Hagerstown

I may have to think on this and submit an idea. Sounds fun.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden

1 person marked this as a favorite.
PFW1-K1 wrote:

Obligatory PathfinderWiki plugs!

And if you need help coming up with a name, check out John Mechalas's excellent Pathfinder name generator!

I just spent quite some time delving here for ideas. Thanks!

1/5

Can we enter more than once?

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/55/5 ****

Finally, someone within the faction that may understand the injustices that have occurred in Qadira! I rejoice that the thought our faction may finally put someone more respectable in a leadership role!

3/5 *

Put something forward, I think it'll make a splash.

Paizo Employee 4/5 Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

1 person marked this as a favorite.
thecursor wrote:
Can we enter more than once?

Let's go with one submission per participant.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

My my, now this is interesting.

1/5 5/5

Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

May we link our creation to other characters in the setting?

Paizo Employee 4/5 Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Wei Ji the Learner wrote:


May we link our creation to other characters in the setting?

You may, though I would caution you regarding deep continuity; a major tie to another character could be positive or negative depending on how it's done and what our plans could be for that other character. For example, a character who has worked with Marcos Farabellus or even was one of his favorite pupils makes for a low-impact connection. Noting that your character is the secret lovechild of Marcos Farabellus and A. X. Adrius of the Aspis Consortium, though, would be a very dramatically risky claim.

One of the first Pathfinder Society open call's recommendations works well here (paraphrased closely): Including some canon in your pitch can be nice, but don't include so much that it's a Frankenstein's monster patchwork of Paizo's intellectual property.

1/5 5/5

Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber
John Compton wrote:

Noting that your character is the secret lovechild of Marcos Farabellus and A. X. Adrius of the Aspis Consortium, though, would be a very dramatically risky claim.

DRAT, my secret plot has been foiled! BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD!

5/5 5/55/55/5

"It's alive, Its ALLIV"

SPLORCH

"I'll get a mop"

Sczarni 2/5 RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

Yes... YES... entering Paizo contests always brings back a certain design thrill I can't find anywhere else. This is a fun starting point for a new character!

Silver Crusade

Sent mine in. An interesting story where the lady has a good family and proves she is a magnificent badass - without any sort of horrible backstory.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
John Compton wrote:
Noting that your character is the secret lovechild of Marcos Farabellus and A. X. Adrius of the Aspis Consortium, though, would be a very dramatically risky claim.

So don't make it a secret, then?


Assuming the image in the blog is the character in question, I'll have to rethink my plan to enter my only Seeker (character #1) as my entry. White hair/grey eyed male from Rahadoum doesn't fit the portrait, and level 12 doesn't fit the criteria.
Rethinking indeed...

Sovereign Court 2/5

Oh darn. I got super excited until I realized the illustration was our general goal. GOT IT!

But we can still submit really any kind of character as long as it meets the criteria but we're encouraged to aim for this section of the world and this illustration.

Can do. I may completely go off the wall. I may also just write the character I wanted to submit as part of this character's backstory! =D That could work well!

Edit: Oh. It isn't our general goal it's just an example? So as long as it's from the region it has a better chance? I like it. Gotcha.

Wait what if we are over word limit by like, 7 or 10? Disqualified or exactly between 250 and 300? wow that's a rough place. But with so many expected entries I can see why!

Are we aiming to make this like a biography, a short story, or just whatever to kind of introduce the character?

Paizo Employee 4/5 Organized Play Lead Developer

4 people marked this as a favorite.

As a reminder, there is only about one week remaining to submit your entries for this contest.

1/5 5/5

Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

Man, 250-300 words is a *tight* window.

*compress compress compress*

Paizo Employee 4/5 Organized Play Lead Developer

Wei Ji the Learner wrote:


Man, 250-300 words is a *tight* window.

*compress compress compress*

For most authors I work with, it's less a matter of writing enough words about a topic and more about paring down excellent ideas into an efficient and fun format. I look forward to reading what you and others have written.

1/5 5/5

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

...ever feel like you've poured your heart into a thing and simultaneously feel like it's all drek?

Yeah, that's where I'm at right now.

*Fingers crossed*

The entry is in the Internets.

1/5 5/5

Just a reminder, about another couple of days at most for submission deadline...

1/5 5/5

Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

Another reminder to folks, deadline is very close! Good luck to other folks what submit a thing!

5/5 5/55/55/5

5 people marked this as a favorite.

looks at word count
looks at word limit
looks at carving knife

*fires up chainsaw*
brum-brum-brum-brum-brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/5 *

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I can't come p with a back story on mine that I feel works for PFS at large, but I'm keeping my idea as a personal character

4/5 5/55/55/5 **** Venture-Lieutenant, Minnesota—Minneapolis

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Submission made. This is my first entry in any Paizo contest of this type.

I hope they get a lot of excellent submissions to choose from!

1/5 5/5

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

Mine was, too. I just hope I didn't push the envelope too hard nor make it too 'vanilla' that it's unremarkable.

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