Meet the Authors of Rival Academies

With the doors finally open to Lost Omens Rival Academies it’s time to introduce some of the amazing authors who brought it to life. Each school had someone responsible for developing its voice and telling its story, so you might get some insights into those inspirations as well.

To kick things off, I’m Landon Winkler. Although a bit of my writing does show up in the Sihedron Spires section for all the Runelords out there, my main role was as Lead Developer on the book. So let me introduce the real stars of today’s show.

Sharang Biswas (he/him)

Hi, Folks! I’m Sharang Biswas, and I’m a freelance game designer, writer, and interactive artist. You might know me as one of the designers of Avatar: Legends, contributor to ENNIE-Award winning titles like Moonlight on Roseville Beach, andKOBOLD Guide to Roleplaying, or as co-editor of Honey & Hot Wax: An Anthology of Erotic Art Games. You might also have heard of my first novella: The Iron Below Remembers! For Rival Academies, I had the pleasure of creating Chiral, one of the three Axiomite Chancellors at the Academy of the Sublime in the Perfect City of Axis. I was particularly excited by this project because my producer Landon Winkler basically gave me a carte blanche to imagine what the school is like. I got to invent its arcane bureaucratic systems, create esoteric areas of research, and visualize the weird architecture of this unusual institution. Plus, I got to toss in some bees. Who doesn’t enjoy bees?! Feel free to connect with me on BlueSky!

Laura Lynn Horst (she/her)

Hi, I'm Laura Lynn Horst! You've seen my work in the recent Lost Omens Divine Mysteries where I focused on the Azlanti gods and Urgathoa. I am so excited for the release of Lost Omens Rival Academies. Working on this latest Paizo project was so fun and I can't wait for you all to enjoy the spoils of our hard work. I hope you all enjoy the Synostosis representative, Zenda Modic. I thoroughly enjoyed writing her.

Zenda Modic. Art by Cagdas Demiralp.

Aoife Ester (she/her)

It’s me again! For Lost Omens Rival Academies, I was tasked with bringing Messida Vost, an NPC who debuted all the way back in a first edition adventure, forward to second edition in her new role as the Acadamae's Dean of Summoning. I think it’s safe to say that of all the faculty they can meet in this book, your players might just find Vost the most abrasive. (Although, who among us hasn’t known a teacher like that?) She does, however, come bearing some ambitious—if dangerous—ideas about how best to solve the Sarkoris Scar’s demon problem. If you end up using her in your game, I’d love to hear all about it on social media (@breadbutt) or Discord (breadbutt_).

Messida Vost. Art by Mirco Paganessi.

Mikhail Rekun (he/him)

Дорогие читатели! My name is Mikhail Sergeyevich Rekun, and I’m a Russian-speaking Ukrainian-American author, educator, and renegade academic. Having plumbed the depths of the Dark Archive, I thought I was safe. But no. There is no safety from academia.

I was responsible for the University of Lepidstadt in this book, because for some peculiar reason everyone looked at the creepy gothic school and immediately went “this is a Mikhail thing.” It is possible I have a reputation. We will politely skip over what sort. In any case, like any proper school, Lepidstadt has its share of secret passages, ghosts, mysteries, crumbling papers, unresolved murders, ghosts, architects who entombed themselves within their own work, hoary old secrets, raven statues, ancient cursed relics, Prof. Nefritius-Sincoth, ghosts, evil books, disappearing rooms, and most terrifying of all—university politics.

Also ghosts. Just, like, so many ghosts.

In the event that you survive your term at Lepidstadt with psyche and/or bank account intact, you may try the post-graduate course at the Luminant Age Campaign Setting, where I happen to be the Creative Director. We have a medical student dissecting angels over there. It's going about as well as you'd expect.

Professor Cheris Nefritius-Sincoth and Tere Athlanere. Art by Mirco Paganessi.

Erin Roberts (she/her)

I’m Erin Roberts, previously seen in books including Divine Mysteries, Firebrands, Highhelm, and Godsrain Prophecies. I currently teach at a university, so I was thrilled to get a chance to be a part of the hallowed halls pages of Rival Academies. I wrote the Academy of the Reclamation, getting the assignment just as I was settling into a writing residency in Homer, Alaska alongside five writers working on reclamations of their own, from memoirs of half-remembered childhoods and stories about the echoes left by those lost to violence to a new work of art made using traditional techniques in an act of cultural restoration. Those experiences lingered as I wrote this section, inspired by the ways we can be shaped by what we’ve lost, take strength from what we’ve held on to, and build toward what we dream of against all odds. Also the delicious snacks. I always write better with snacks.

For more random musings about my writing and other whatnots, you can hear me chatting weekly on the Writing Excuses podcast or find me on BlueSky as @nirele. Let me know what you’re out there reclaiming!

Diarra Romagne and Vil Seral. Art by Anselmi Hyytinen.

Kendra Leigh Speedling (she/her)

Hello, I'm Kendra Leigh Speedling, frequent contributor to Paizo and erstwhile academic—I did a master's degree for library science and loved it, I but staunchly shooed off anyone who suggested I go for the PhD. (For the curious, I went to school in London, did my dissertation on the interplay between libraries and imperialism in 19th-century Britain, and took four months after graduation to stop defaulting to UK spellings.)

Given all that, I was delighted to be asked on for Rival Academies! I did the Cobyslarni section of the book, where I had a great deal of fun working in fey weirdness and shenanigans. Cobyslarni has fascinated me ever since its first mention in 1e, and expanding on it was a dream assignment. My love of libraries definitely influenced the Echo Repository, home of (literally) forgotten knowledge, and the art for Murrou, an awakened emu grad student with excellent sartorial taste, is one of my favorite pieces in the whole book. I hope you all enjoy the chance to explore the school—and maybe even form a pact with Cobyslarni himself!

You can check out other things I've done on my website, klspeedling.com, and follow me on BlueSky @kendrarara.bsky.social!

Murrou and Bofika Nemesan. Art by Anselmi Hyytinen.

Gina Susanna (she/her)

Hi everyone! I’ve been a contributor to Paizo since 2023, and while this is my first book with Pathfinder, I’ve been a writer and storyteller in many forms for most of my life. For this project I had the honor of creating one of the invitees—Nochtli Tlatoa, your new favorite distractible arcane botanist—as well as her luminescent toadstool. I hope you find her as brilliant (get it!) and helpful as I intended! When I’m not writing, I’m working as a therapist by day and an actual play performer and voice actor by night (and you can find more of my work here!). It was an absolute honor to work on this book with such an incredible team of folks—here's to many more!

Nochtli Tlatoa. Art by Cagdas Demiralp.

Tan Shao Han (he/they)

Appropriately enough, I'm writing my author blog for Lost Omens Rival Academies during my commute to teach across several, here's the title drop, rival academies, in Singapore.

As the years murmur one after another, I find myself shifting from ambivalence to acceptance in my academic role. Some of these aspirations and tensions are nestled inside my words; for example, my emotions are echoed within the indulgences and affectations of the narrator's pride, in the section on the Monastery of the Unbreaking Waves.

On Water; a little allegory about the Lessons of Perfection.

The more things change...

As a child, I was neither a competent nor confident student; my grades were poor, and my self-esteem poorer still. I am grateful I was somehow accepted into university, where I found solace in study, reading and listening to voices, present and bygone, sharing and discussing knowledge we've built and lost.

In these voices, I sometimes beheld kindness and wisdom; I can only hope, in some way, to be a similar voice to students struggling amidst today's demands and pressures, in societies often so intensely indifferent and unforgiving.

Appropriate, perhaps, for Water’s Lessons of Perfection.

…the more things stay the same?

(Or do they?)

Art: Insert Swordmaster Ganhil here] Abhaya the Returner and Swordmaster Ganhil. Art by Renan Maurilio.

Esther Wallace (she/her, zhe/zher)

Hi y'all! I'm Esther, and I'm so delighted that I had the opportunity to write for this book. This was my first-ever assignment for Paizo, and I had the joy of writing Aesara Fleethoof! Since Aesara is from Iblydos, I took a lot of inspiration from Homeric epic for her background, character, and patterns of speech. If you ever use her in a campaign setting, feel welcome to tag me on social media and tell me about it—I’m @dungeonministeron Bluesky. I had such a blast writing on this book alongside so many amazing authors, and I can’t wait to dig into the setting and material myself. Cheers to all who helped this project come together!

Aesara Fleethoof. Art by Cagdas Demiralp.

Thanks for taking this quick tour with us and I hope you enjoy Lost Omens Rival Academies!

Landon Winkler (they/them)
Developer, Rules & Lore