Creative Director
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Cool, thanks for the reply James. I figured Rozenport was Ustalav's Arkham, given that it's home to the suspiciously named "Sincomakti School of Sciences," but I s'pose there's room for two homage-towns.
Thrushmoor is more or less meant to be a stand-in for Arkham.The ancient Kellids mostly movied into areas like the Realm of the Mammoth Loards, Numeria, and Sarkoris (which is now the Worldwound), where in time they became the modern Kellids. There are indeed still isolated pockets of them in Ustalav, and some of them DO still worship the Great Old Ones.
Rozenport's probably closer to Kingsport.
Question: There were 16 original counties in Ustalav. Now, 9 form the Soivoda, 3 form the Palatinate, 2 became Virlych, and 1 was annexed by Razmir. That only adds up to 15. Where am I missing the last original county?
Lastwall was part of Ustalav before the Shining Crusade (if I remember things correctly).
On page 10 in the Amaans section it states that there is supposed to be a section for Katapesta in chapter 3, but looking in chapter 3, and everywhere else in the book, i dont see a section for Kavapesta. Is this a typo, or is my copy just missing the section detailing Kavapesta?Quite the opposite. Kavapesta is ONLY in my version of the book. One of the towns I wrote up had to die to fit within the book's 64 pages and that was the one, though sadly that mention apparently survived. Fortunately, much of the information on the city found its way into the timeline and the description of Bishop Ulametria and the Pharasmin Penitence. And before people ask to see the handful of idea drained locations I had written for this, no, I'm not sharing.
So nah. :P
So I take it there's no chance of seeing the write up on Kavapesta in any of the other installments of the AP or anything? Unfortunate. One of my PC's is playing an Inquisitor and follower of the Pharasman Penitence. When I saw the referral in the Amaans description and then realized it didn't make the cut I was heartbroken. Guess I'll just have to soldier on and come up with something myself. As you said there is still a good amount of info scattered throughout RoF. Don't suppose I could convince you to share? ;)
Yup. That cinches it. My time off request form will be completed by week's end. I'm already planning a lovely trip to bed until noon, followed by not reading or writing anything, and maybe a trip to Mass Effect 2.
Good luck with that. I've tried to have a couple of those and they got filled in pretty quick (although strangele enough by the end I was getting bored and ready for work).
The ancient Kellids mostly movied into areas like the Realm of the Mammoth Loards, Numeria, and Sarkoris (which is now the Worldwound), where in time they became the modern Kellids. There are indeed still isolated pockets of them in Ustalav, and some of them DO still worship the Great Old Ones.
Oh wow that's awesome. Thanks for posting that. I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for any Kellid connections in Wake of the Watcher.
How do you get from the north side of the country to the south side? Looking at the map, I'm a little confused. It says many nobles uprooted from Ardis and moved to Caliphas... how?
I'm assuming a lot of trade comes in through Caliphas, and thus that's probably how the PCs first come to Ustalav, but from there, how to do they get to Ravengro, or wherever they're going?
For 2/3rds of the length of the country, you have the Hungry Mountains, then you have an open stretch through Versex, but then it's blocked by the Furrows and the Kingfisher River.
The writeup for Ammas didn't indicate that trade flows through it (or Versex). So how do you navigate this country? Why isn't it two countries, divided north&south?
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How do you get from the north side of the country to the south side? Looking at the map, I'm a little confused. It says many nobles uprooted from Ardis and moved to Caliphas... how?
I'm assuming a lot of trade comes in through Caliphas, and thus that's probably how the PCs first come to Ustalav, but from there, how to do they get to Ravengro, or wherever they're going?
For 2/3rds of the length of the country, you have the Hungry Mountains, then you have an open stretch through Versex, but then it's blocked by the Furrows and the Kingfisher River.
The writeup for Ammas didn't indicate that trade flows through it (or Versex). So how do you navigate this country? Why isn't it two countries, divided north&south?
Bridges, mountain passes? Same thing can be said about the US. App and Rockies Mnt ranges and then the Miss River.
That's because of the unique settlement history of the United States: it was rapidly conquered by a technologically advanced culture without any other advanced cultures to resist it. I speculate that if the Americas had developed more organically, then yes, we'd have a different country along the westcoast than we do elsewhere (like how Portugal formed off the side of Spain).
Anyway, to bring it back on-topic: where are those mountain passes? If they exist, that's cool, but I'd like to know where to put them. Because these are going to be major trade routes, and there's going to therefore be towns or at least watchtowers along them. If there was a massive exodus of nobles from Ardis, that would have left a trail. I'm just curious where it is.
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I am assuming you are going off the map on the inside cover. If so it shows no roads at all. Yet we know it has roads, so the passes and bridges and such are where ever the roads are. I agree in that i wish the map showed stuff like that. I was merely saying i am sure roads, bridges and passes are how the country is connected.
The ancient Kellids mostly movied into areas like the Realm of the Mammoth Loards, Numeria, and Sarkoris (which is now the Worldwound), where in time they became the modern Kellids. There are indeed still isolated pockets of them in Ustalav, and some of them DO still worship the Great Old Ones.Q2: What happened to the anicent Kellids of Ustalav? Based on what I can piece together, Ustalav was originally ruled by primitive people who worshiped the Great Old Ones. However, there seem to be hints that, at some point, they realized the folley of propitiating such awful things, and found some more friendly deities (maybe - I'm not sure on this). Despite being scattered by the Varisians, I figure pockets of Kellids had to survive. What did they do? I know some interbred with Varisians (the swamp people of Sinaria for example), but what of the rest of them? And do they continue worshiping their dark gods?
As a side note, I think the Kellids would make a perfect backdrop for a Pathfinder version of "The Rats in the Walls," wherein a PC slowly learns that his/her ancestors were cannibals who enslaved - and fed on - subhuman Kellids.
Heck, those man-eating ancestors might still be around, given the ghoul love we see in Golarion/Pathfinder.
And thanks for the info on the Kellids and their continuing worship of eldritch abominations. Hmm, given the tendency of such horrors to dwell in the endless night between the stars, and the Kellids living in Numeria, and that fallen starship... I wonder, was the crash entirely an accident?
1) Shouldn't a book title give a hint of what a book is about? I'm pretty sure it's primarily about a country, and not an emotion.
2) Did you receive feedback from certain bookstore owners that stated they were stupid (ie: "I don't like seeing words I don't know in book titles"), or was there some kind of poll somewhere that stated a majority percentage of them were stupid, or what? I don't mean to be offensive, but a word not recognized in a book title is a stupid reason not to order a book.
"What's an Azkaban? I'm not going to carry that book!"
Many bookstore buyers don't like seeing words they don't know in book titles. It makes them order fewer copies. So we generally (but not always) try to avoid that.Am I the only one who wishes these types of books were name in a format like:
Ustalav: Rule of Fear
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Chief Technical Officer
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Did you receive feedback from certain bookstore owners that stated they were stupid (ie: "I don't like seeing words I don't know in book titles"), or was there some kind of poll somewhere that stated a majority percentage of them were stupid, or what? I don't mean to be offensive, but a word not recognized in a book title is a stupid reason not to order a book.
"What's an Azkaban? I'm not going to carry that book!"
You have chosen an excellent example! Note that the title of the first Harry Potter novel had to be changed in the US because Scholastic said they couldn't market a book with "Philosopher's Stone" in the title.
Of course, by the time the second book came out, as long as "Harry Potter" was in the title, she could have called it pretty much anything and it would have sold just fine.
Perhaps someday the "Pathfinder" portion of the title will be a big enough draw that we can use words like "Ustalav" in the title without seeing diminished sales, but for now, we have noticed that when we put unfamiliar words in titles—even the word "Golarion"—we usually get lower initial orders at distribution than we do for other books in the same line that use only recognizable words in the title.
Perhaps someday the "Pathfinder" portion of the title will be a big enough draw that we can use words like "Ustalav" in the title without seeing diminished sales, but for now, we have noticed that when we put unfamiliar words in titles—even the word "Golarion"—we usually get lower initial orders at distribution than we do for other books in the same line that use only recognizable words in the title.
Okay, if your data shows that they are stupid (my word, not yours) then I understand why you're doing it. Being a business, and all.
Would having it (the name of the country, or whatever) be on the cover somewhere, but not part of the official title, be possible? I'm guessing yes, but not worth the trouble?
I'm finding it hard to articulate, but RPG books are meant to sit on a bookshelf, sorted by subject matter, and a country book called Rule of Fear just annoys me a lot. Not enough to cancel my subscription of course, which again, bottom line, you're here to sell products.
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Chief Technical Officer
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Perhaps someday the "Pathfinder" portion of the title will be a big enough draw that we can use words like "Ustalav" in the title without seeing diminished sales, but for now, we have noticed that when we put unfamiliar words in titles—even the word "Golarion"—we usually get lower initial orders at distribution than we do for other books in the same line that use only recognizable words in the title.Okay, if your data shows that they are stupid (my word, not yours) then I understand why you're doing it. Being a business, and all.
Would having it (the name of the country, or whatever) be on the cover somewhere, but not part of the official title, be possible? I'm guessing yes, but not worth the trouble?
I'm finding it hard to articulate, but RPG books are meant to sit on a bookshelf, sorted by subject matter, and a country book called Rule of Fear just annoys me a lot. Not enough to cancel my subscription of course, which again, bottom line, you're here to sell products.
We do occasionally have titles and subtitles, like "Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Book of the Damned—Volume 3: Horsemen of the Apocalypse," but we also don't really like having covers that are full of text.
Still, we do have the upcoming "Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lands of the Linnorm Kings" coming as a retest....
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So I take it there's no chance of seeing the write up on Kavapesta in any of the other installments of the AP or anything? Unfortunate. One of my PC's is playing an Inquisitor and follower of the Pharasman Penitence. When I saw the referral in the Amaans description and then realized it didn't make the cut I was heartbroken. Guess I'll just have to soldier on and come up with something myself. As you said there is still a good amount of info scattered throughout RoF. Don't suppose I could convince you to share? ;)On page 10 in the Amaans section it states that there is supposed to be a section for Katapesta in chapter 3, but looking in chapter 3, and everywhere else in the book, i dont see a section for Kavapesta. Is this a typo, or is my copy just missing the section detailing Kavapesta?Quite the opposite. Kavapesta is ONLY in my version of the book. One of the towns I wrote up had to die to fit within the book's 64 pages and that was the one, though sadly that mention apparently survived. Fortunately, much of the information on the city found its way into the timeline and the description of Bishop Ulametria and the Pharasmin Penitence. And before people ask to see the handful of idea drained locations I had written for this, no, I'm not sharing.
So nah. :P
Sorry, but I think that is pretty weak...not writing anything on Kavapesta in chapter 2 because it will be detailed in chapter 3...then just leaving it out all together. I don't really care what the reason is...the buyer is the one who gets NOTHING on the biggest city in the county. If the author doesn't want to share, then he is as much at fault as the editor. I see nothing humorous in this tease.
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I started to write a pretty irked post about how folks were still harping on the Kavapesta typo in here. Then it finally clicked that that reference replaces what would usually be a description. And that actually is lame. SO!
Kavapesta: The largest city in Amaans and a holy city for Pharasmins, Kavapesta is a somber place possessed by a dour variety of religious fanaticism. The city takes its name from Mother Kavapesta, a Pharasmin missionary and teacher whose sermons on perseverance and suffering laid the foundations for the philosophies today known as the Pharasmin Penitence. After the priestess's death, her followers began the construction of Cryptgate Cathedral, which through centuries of renovations and expansions would become the largest church and monastery of Pharasma in the nation. The effort of constructing this monument and the tombs beneath brought droves of pilgrims to the banks of Lake Divirmis, which the faithful eventually renamed Lake Kavapesta. With the cathedral's completion, the assembled congregation lingered on, hoping to create a community based on the tenets of their faith. This community grew slowly, finally becoming the city known today.
Yet a city needs more than faith to survive, a fact the people of Kavapesta stubbornly defy. The foothills around the city are poorly suited to farming and the lake is tainted by poisonous minerals from the Hungry Mountains. A few mines in the surrounding hills scrape tin and coal out of the earth, though one has to wonder if the coin won from these efforts is worth the lives lost to cave-ins, choking maladies, and more mysterious disappearances. But worst of all are the plagues, the rampant sicknesses that seem to boil up from lake Kavapesta once a generation and burn through the city like a field fire. Scourges like the Whithers, Tol's Voice, and, most fearfully, the Black Breath have killed thousands in their beds, with lesser scares and reemergences occurring every few years. But the people claim that their city is blessed - not cursed like so many visitors say - insisting that each new calamity is a test from Pharasma and an opportunity for the citizens to experience ever greater trials, assuring greater rewards after death.
Kavapesta: The largest city in Amaans and a holy city for Pharasmins, Kavapesta is a somber place...
Awesome stuff, sir. I'm a big fan of all things Pharasma and this is cool add-on material.
A question for Mr. Schneider: I'm having a bit of trouble wrapping my brain around part of the Ustalavan timeline. The timeline mentions a King Ardurras Virholt and his son Prince Ardurras II, both in 3204 AR. Then in 3206 AR, it mentions King Ardurras, the Last King of Ustalav.
Do both of these dates refer to the same monarch, or are these Ardurras I and Ardurras III?
Also is 'Ustalavan' the correct adjectival form of 'Ustalav'?
Curse you Eva Widermann! Driders are not supposed to be sexy!! :)
Curse you Eva Widermann! Driders are not supposed to be sexy!! :)
Huh? I'm not seeing any driders in this book? What are you talking about?
Curse you Eva Widermann! Driders are not supposed to be sexy!! :)Huh? I'm not seeing any driders in this book? What are you talking about?
Maybe we have some cross-thread confusion with the Rivals Guide discussion?
Huh? I'm not seeing any driders in this book? What are you talking about?Maybe we have some cross-thread confusion with the Rivals Guide discussion?
Ah, that's entirely possible.
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That's definitely the case. Grr... stupid sexy drider.
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A question for Mr. Schneider: I'm having a bit of trouble wrapping my brain around part of the Ustalavan timeline. The timeline mentions a King Ardurras Virholt and his son Prince Ardurras II, both in 3204 AR. Then in 3206 AR, it mentions King Ardurras, the Last King of Ustalav.
Do both of these dates refer to the same monarch, or are these Ardurras I and Ardurras III?
Also is 'Ustalavan' the correct adjectival form of 'Ustalav'?
King Ardurras Virholt is the ruling monarch of Ustalav from a time in the late 3100s to the time of his death in 3206. He and his sons Ardurras II and Adamondais are remembered as heroes, who valiantly gave their lives defending their country. Ardurras's bastard son Andriadus is cursed as a betrayer in most places his name hasn't been stricken from records. This time in Ustalavic history is something of a plot point in Dave Gross's Pathfinder Tales novel Prince of Wolves. There's a b#*#~in' picture of Ardurras on page 4, and his doom is further detailed on page 39.
Looks like you've already got the line on the second question.
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Quick question;
The 'Old Chapel' and 'New Chapel' in Thrushmoor do not have a diety listed. Are they churches to Pharasma?
Are there any churches to Desna or Urgathoa, the other two 'major religions' of Ustalav, or do they generally not build chuches (for very different reasons, either 'cause of being wanderers by nature, or being underground, by necessity)?
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I started to write a pretty irked post about how folks were still harping on the Kavapesta typo in here. Then it finally clicked that that reference replaces what would usually be a description. And that actually is lame. SO!
Kavapesta: The largest city in Amaans and a holy city for Pharasmins, Kavapesta is a somber place possessed by a dour variety of religious fanaticism. The city takes its name from Mother Kavapesta, a Pharasmin missionary and teacher whose sermons on perseverance and suffering laid the foundations for the philosophies today known as the Pharasmin Penitence. After the priestess's death, her followers began the construction of Cryptgate Cathedral, which through centuries of renovations and expansions would become the largest church and monastery of Pharasma in the nation. The effort of constructing this monument and the tombs beneath brought droves of pilgrims to the banks of Lake Divirmis, which the faithful eventually renamed Lake Kavapesta. With the cathedral's completion, the assembled congregation lingered on, hoping to create a community based on the tenets of their faith. This community grew slowly, finally becoming the city known today.
Yet a city needs more than faith to survive, a fact the people of Kavapesta stubbornly defy. The foothills around the city are poorly suited to farming and the lake is tainted by poisonous minerals from the Hungry Mountains. A few mines in the surrounding hills scrape tin and coal out of the earth, though one has to wonder if the coin won from these efforts is worth the lives lost to cave-ins, choking maladies, and more mysterious disappearances. But worst of all are the plagues, the rampant sicknesses that seem to boil up from lake Kavapesta once a generation and burn through the city like a field fire. Scourges like the Whithers, Tol's Voice, and, most fearfully, the Black Breath have killed thousands in their beds, with lesser scares and reemergences occurring every few years. But the people claim that their city is blessed - not...
Since I took the time to whine and complain, I also should take to time to express my appreciation at your post, Mr. Schneider! Your response is the exact reason why Paizo rocks it over ALL OTHER RPG companies! Well written...but mostly, the fact that you were willing to respond to address costumer complaints is awesome. Keep up the great writing and thanks for reading our posts.
Dan
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Scourges like the Whithers, Tol's Voice, and, most fearfully, the Black Breath have killed thousands in their beds, with lesser scares and reemergences occurring every few years. But the people claim that their city is blessed - not...
The timeline on page 6 of Rule of Fear refers to the Bleak Breath in AR 4249.
Is one of them a typo, or are they two different diseases? (Its for the wiki; I'm not normally this pedantic!)
There is a mention of the "Shining Son" in the book as one of the great old ones. Is there any other mention in the Pathfinder or Lovecraft mythos regarding this being?
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I love the fact there's a Lovecraft Country inside Ustalav. I like even more the fact it's ruler basically is HPL:
"the middle-aged count was long known for a near-crippling social awkwardness that he transformed into arrogant introversion."
(...)
"Haserton used to apply himself to a rigorous but erratic curriculum
of history, theology, antiquarianism, philology, poetry, and occultism. Refusing to tolerate tutors — considering such instruction beneath his grand intellect — he spent hours daily corresponding with peers and rivals."
And then he turns into one of his characters, dissmissing all of his servants, hiring mysterious foreigners and buying weird books to study them long into the night? Priceless!
Maybe it's just the subject matter but "Rule of Fear" is by far my favorite Pathfinder book after the Camapign Setting itself.
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Question: There were 16 original counties in Ustalav. Now, 9 form the Soivoda, 3 form the Palatinate, 2 became Virlych, and 1 was annexed by Razmir. That only adds up to 15. Where am I missing the last original county?
Good question that has yet to be answered I think. The reply about Lastwall refers to the 2 counties Grodlych and Virholt that became Lastwall and Virlych. There does seem to be only fifteen not sixteen mentioned.
J
I started to write a pretty irked post about how folks were still harping on the Kavapesta typo in here. Then it finally clicked that that reference replaces what would usually be a description. And that actually is lame. SO!
Kavapesta: The largest city in Amaans and a holy city for Pharasmins, Kavapesta is a somber place possessed by a dour variety of religious fanaticism. The city takes its name from Mother Kavapesta, a Pharasmin missionary and teacher whose sermons on perseverance and suffering laid the foundations for the philosophies today known as the Pharasmin Penitence. After the priestess's death, her followers began the construction of Cryptgate Cathedral, which through centuries of renovations and expansions would become the largest church and monastery of Pharasma in the nation. The effort of constructing this monument and the tombs beneath brought droves of pilgrims to the banks of Lake Divirmis, which the faithful eventually renamed Lake Kavapesta. With the cathedral's completion, the assembled congregation lingered on, hoping to create a community based on the tenets of their faith. This community grew slowly, finally becoming the city known today.
Yet a city needs more than faith to survive, a fact the people of Kavapesta stubbornly defy. The foothills around the city are poorly suited to farming and the lake is tainted by poisonous minerals from the Hungry Mountains. A few mines in the surrounding hills scrape tin and coal out of the earth, though one has to wonder if the coin won from these efforts is worth the lives lost to cave-ins, choking maladies, and more mysterious disappearances. But worst of all are the plagues, the rampant sicknesses that seem to boil up from lake Kavapesta once a generation and burn through the city like a field fire. Scourges like the Whithers, Tol's Voice, and, most fearfully, the Black Breath have killed thousands in their beds, with lesser scares and reemergences occurring every few years. But the people claim that their city is blessed -...
wow i was driving me mad searching for this at the book... mr F. i guess u owe us a map and the 2pdf pages as all the cities described in the Rule of Fear as an errata
that will be a nice for me
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A few questions if I may about the Venacdahlia family.
From p13 it seems to suggest that Countess Solismina Venacdahlia is in charge in Ardeal - she gets the same treatment in the book as other county leaders. This begs a few questions:
1. What happened to her husband, Count Olomon Venacdahlia? Is he dead? When did he die?
2. If he is dead, why didn't his oldest daughter become the ruling countess as he had no sons? Under normal European primogeniture laws, Solismina would become a dowager countess with no obvious political power I think (I am no expert and I know Ustalav is not in Europe).
3. Separately from the questions above, was Olomon the ruler at the time Ardis was demoted as capital of Ustalav?
These are detail I know, but I'd like to add the answers to the Pathfinder Wiki.
Thanks
J
Doing a good ol' thread necro to point out a couple errors, mostly with Rule of Fear and the Chronicles' campaign settings depictions of Solismina Venacdahlia.
A.) Solismina Venacdahlia was a loved theatre lady for two decades, as stated in RoF.
B.) In 4648 she married her husband, Count Olomon Venacdahlia.
C.) Solismina is stated as being 65 in this book, which is set in 4711.
D.) After she had her first child, she began to show her age. She blames the birth of her child on this fact.
So, either Solismina was two when she married the count, or there is an age issue here. Assuming that her leading theatre years were a prelude to her marriage, let us say that she is around 30, a generous age to begin "aging." This would put her at around 90 at this time.
E.) In the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Settings, Solismina is said to be nearing her nineties. In addition...
D.) This book was set in 4708.
F.) Campaign settings was released in 2008, Rule of Fear in 2011.
G.) Both books refer to her daughters as "young," Rule of Fear says she looks forward to the "encroaching years" to undermine their beauty.
So, Rule of Fear's details on Solismina better fits the earlier account of her age from Chronicles Campaign Setting. Were she in her nineties now, the years match up for her birth, marriage, decline of beauty. What doesn't match is the age of her children. Either Solismina gave birth in her sixties (which wouldn't fit her age showing just post-birth), there is some flawed history in Ustalav, or there are some inconsistencies.
Lastly, she is described as having "waves of raven hair" despite being portrayed as a brunette.
I only mention this as I created a character whose backstory involves falling in love with Solismina's daughter, Opaline. Checking on the characters later, I noticed these inconsistencies. If Opaline was 60, it would be rather strange for my 18 year old character.
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Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting is 3.5 and not up-to-date. Inner Sea World Guide is the updated for Pathfinder version.
I would go with the Rule of Fear stats, Franti ;)
Fancy seeing you. I had no idea on the campaign settings, shows me for a browser rather than a full reader. Though is it not still lore relevant?
Even so, while that would fix some of the issues, Solismina still has a strange age issue where she should be older than she is stated. Even looking just at RoF, unless she was a theatre starlet for two decades and became married at the tender age of two. The dates just don't line up for being married in 4648, and 65 years old in 4711.
#WhoIsSolismina