My Kingdom for These Authors!

Friday, July 25th, 2025

The Inner Sea is home to a variety of fantastical regions with varying themes. Last month’s Lost Omens Shining Kingdoms gave us a chance to look at the classical fantasy found within the Shining Kingdoms region. From courtly intrigue to valiant knights to deadly beast, the Shining Kingdoms hold the potential for unlimited adventure. Of course, a region like the Shining Kingdoms doesn’t come to life without the help of the authors of this book! So, we’ve taken some time to let the wonderful authors of this book talk about themselves.

Druma Intro, artist Roena Rosenberger; An image of scene in a thriving marketplace. A merchant has a stall selling fancy pets, like lizards and birds. They are showing a potential customer a squirrel on a leash.

Illustration by Roena Rosenberger


Sen H.H.S.

Hi all, Sen H.H.S. here, and thank you all for your support of Lost Omens: Shining Kingdoms! For those of you who don't know me, I'm a Taiwanese TTRPG freelancer (she/her) who has written for Paizo numerous times, from all the way back in pre-remaster Bestiary 3 to more recent works like Tian Xia World Guide and Character Guide, and a couple of Adventure Paths. For Lost Omen: Shining Kingdoms, I had the privilege of writing the section of Taldor. Alas, one does not simply venture into Taldor without wading into the history of the entire southern coast of Avistan, so the work was more challenging than imagined. I hope you enjoy what we managed to compile of existing lore, as well as any new or revised content-- be it items, archetypes, or lore. If you want to stay updated on where you can find my writing next (or currently), you can follow me on Bluesky at senhhs.bsky.social, or keep an eye on my website at https://senhhs.carrd.co. I definitely suggest you keep an eye out during the Gen Con season bec-- *NDArted*


Laura Lynn Horst (she/her)

As a lover of high fantasy since watching my dad perform as Mordred in Camelot when I was 5 years old, I was thrilled to contribute to the lore of the Shining Kingdoms. This is my third publication for Paizo (that I can talk about) and I'm absolutely thrilled with the positive feedback the book has received. I was especially excited to see that my contribution of Ulon being at the heart of a new pantheon (The Tides of Chaos) got turned into a meme! You can't keep a mysterious Azlanti god down. I also contributed to the section on Beliefs of the Shining Kingdoms as well as the 2E revamps to the Goldpebble (who I hope my GM never puts in front of me as I'm absolutely terrified of snakes) and Vovorak in the bestiary. Happy reading all! You can find me on instagram and bluesky: @lauralynnhorst (Insta) @nyxfromstyx77.bsky.social (Bluesky)

 Goldpebble, artist Luis Salas Lastra; An image of large snake with dark scales that resemble river rocks and studded with gold nuggets. It’s flicking its tongue out curiously, smelling its surroundings.

Illustration by Luis Salas Lastra


Derry Luttrell (he/they and this/that)

Hey all! I'm Derry Luttrell. I'm the host of Dice Will Roll, the Queerest Pathfinder Podcast on the Planet, and a writer, illustrator and founder of Team+, the 3pp PF2 publishing group behind bestsellers like Witches+, Archetypes+, and Tian Xia+. Shining Kingdoms was my first writing credit, and I could not be more grateful for it! I was behind the Shining Kingdoms Today section, the Factions of the Shining Kingdoms, and the Beirean Frosthunt monster. Being able to write about the factions in the Shining Kingdoms was huge for me; first and foremost, I had crazy fun coming up with the dragon-slaying dwarven mech-pilots and salesmen in the Steelwrought Striders, and fleshing out groups like the Lion Blades with Sen and Eagle Knights alongside Matt was fantastic. I was able to help bring firearms into Andoran, which I'm so excited about! But the thing I'm most pleased with is the Wylderhearts; I pitched and developed the original idea, which Michelle baked into an incredible archetype later on. The Wylderhearts are a love letter to my own culture, taking heavy inspiration from the Fianna, the faoladh (an Irish analogue to benevolent werewolves) and Cú Chulainn. TTRPG settings often take Irish ideas and tropes without really paying attention to their origin, so being able to make something authentically Irish was really important to me— and the end result really was special. I hope you enjoy playing wylderhearts as much as I enjoyed making them!

Matt Morris

I’m Matt Morris, and I’ve been lucky enough to do freelance writing for Pathfinder and Starfinder for several years now, working with Paizo and a few 3rd-party companies. I'm currently awaiting the launch of my first Kickstarter, a TTRPG called Remnant Years: Tales of a Ruined Land. I was lucky enough to traipse through Andoran for this book, and it was exciting to see what's brewing now in the Birthplace of Freedom. (Turns out: Lots of plot hooks, some Eagle Knights, and a bucketful of internal conflict.) Andoran is a great place for adventure when you want to explore what it means to be good, how to hold to principles in difficult circumstances, and what happens in the generations after revolutionaries become the establishment. I hope you enjoy creating stories there! I keep an up-to-date list of my work on my Paizo profile, and I’m always looking for interesting projects, so feel free to contact me if you are looking for a reliable writer! When not writing, I’m teaching high school English near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Luis Loza (he/him)
Creative Director (Rules & Lore)

Wylderheart, artist Nikolai Ostertag; An image of an elven woman wearing elegant elven armor and wielding a sword. Standing beside her is a tall and thin dog with tall ears and pale white fur.

Illustration by Nikolai Ostertag


More Paizo Blog.
Tags: Authors Community Paizo Pathfinder Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Pathfinder Second Edition
Paizo Employee Digital Products Lead

16 people marked this as a favorite.

Hi, I’m Andrew White, and I missed the deadline to send in this author bio! I’ve written for a bunch of Paizo books over the years, but this one may have been one of my favorites so far because it provided me with the opportunity to take Galt – a part of Golarion that has fascinated me since the first time I picked up the 1st Edition Inner Sea World Guide – and chart a course for its post-Night-of-the-Gray-Death future. And also to finally make it possible to play a headless ghost PC whose animal companion is their own rotting severed head.

I did a bunch of research on the Reign of Terror and post-revolutionary France (turns out it was full of heroic decapitated ghosts followed around by angry little guys made of knives) for this project, but I want to include a special shoutout to the web novellas “The Perfumer’s Apprentice”, “The Secret of the Rose and Glove”, and “The Seventh Execution” by Kevin Andrew Murphy and Amber E. Scott, all of which provided me with a ton of inspiration by expertly capturing the flavor of this uniquely terrible little corner of Golarion. Vive le Galt!

Horizon Hunters

What a cool bunch of talented people.

Scarab Sages

Eager to check out the book with these great authors!

Liberty's Edge

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

THERE I AM GARY THERE I AM


This book is amazing; thanks to everyone who worked on it!


So proud and happy for Derry.
I love my Witches+ book.

And to see what all he got help and pitch for Shining Kingdoms. The Steewrought Striders and Wylderhearts were someone of my favorites

Cognates

2 people marked this as a favorite.

This isn't remotely related to the actual point of the post, but "This/That" are excellent pronouns

Liberty's Edge

7 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
BotBrain wrote:
This isn't remotely related to the actual point of the post, but "This/That" are excellent pronouns

Thank you very much! They're a little awkward to wield, but they strike a really good middle ground between they and it for me, and it scratches my brain in a really nice way.


Thank you to all who wrote, and to the team that took those words and made it into the book we can enjoy.

Grand Archive

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

HUZZAH! All awesome people! Yes! Even you Andrew White That-Missed-The-Deadline! :3

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder Second Edition / General Discussion / Paizo Blog: My Kingdom for These Authors! All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.