Illustration by Mirco Paganessi
Do you know who writes the things you love? While the writers of our Paizo products are always credited in the front and back of the books, a simple name in a byline doesn’t give readers much information on the people who work to bring the setting to life! As a final blog to wrap up our promotion of Pathfinder Lost Omens Impossible Lands, I reached out to the authors of the book with the intent of promoting them, as well as any other personal work they would like to showcase, so that new fans of their work could find other projects, RPG products, websites, livestreams, and more to enjoy!
And if you enjoy something, consider telling the creator about it! Many people have the misconception, born from admiration, that artists and authors are buried in compliments. Sadly, this is often far from the truth, especially in an online era of anonymous and low-effort denigration. Support the things you love, to better let them thrive!
Eleanor Ferron
Pathfinder Developer
Illustration by Yuri Luz Basheer Ghouse
Basheer Ghouse is a Desi Muslim writer, game designer, and cultural consultant based out of San Jose. He worked on Nex for Impossible Lands and has also worked on Starfinder, Spire, Midgard, and other IPs. He is currently developing Guns Blazing!, an indie RPG about international volunteers fighting monsters literal and political in an alternate 1925, and can be found at patreon.com/havocfett.
Michelle Jones
What's up gamers, I'm Michelle Jones and I'm here to provide everything an aspiring Blood Lord needs to get a leg up on the competition. From a quick primer on curses, to magical items that'll give your necromancy a little extra body, if you're adventuring in Geb, then I've got just the thing for you. And uh, be careful around those Stone Sisters, hm? They may look harmless from a distance, but they do not get along well with others. Very cliquish. Just be sure to temper your ambition; you don't want to end up like the Cursed King.
For more adventuring tips and updates about my other work, follow me on twitter @AleshaKills. If you're a Thirsty Sword Lesbian enjoyer, you can find my 3rd-party playbooks at https://aleshakills.itch.io/.
TJ Kahn
Hello everyone, TJ here, and I helped write the Religion section of Impossible Lands! (See, hubby? That M.Div. was good for something!) Plus a few intros.
I'm a BIPOC gay author, dog father of two and teen father of one (only the dogs listen), and together we all live in the Bay Area. If you ever want to catch me, I'm usually at PaizoCons with my Find the Path Podcast friends. I have a children's book coming out this fall, plus some novellas on the way, and feel free to get me gabbing about ASL or Star Wars!
Dave Nelson
I'm Dave. I wrote the ugvashi. Please pet your new pangolin buddies with care, to avoid accidents.
Illustration by Sophie Medvedeva Mikhail Rekun
Приветствую, уважаемые читатели! My name is Mikhail Sergeyevich Rekun, and I wrote a number of pieces throughout the book, though most notably the Ghoran ancestry and the History section, as well as the Introduction, the very first words you see in the book.
History in fantasy is always an interesting challenge, because it doesn't really resemble “real” history very much. People on Earth are crazy, chaotic, and unruly, with societies changing, merging, and falling apart in a matter of generations. Fantasy however adores its grand sweeps and imagined antiquity, and few places in Golarion showcase that as strongly as the Impossible Lands, where Geb and Nex continue a war that in our world would predate the invention of written language. On the other hand, we don't have any immortal wizards roaming around, so one wonders what life would be like if Sargon or Menes still had a say in things.
If strange histories are your thing, I’m also the creative director of the Luminant Age project, a Weird Swashbuckler setting in which history has a tendency to be bitey and aggressive, and Survivors of the earlier age are one of the great boogeymen of the world. If that interests you at all (you know it does), please follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/LuminantA or check out our published products at https://luminant-age.itch.io!
Michael Sayre
Hi, I'm Michael Sayre, a design manager here at Paizo and a contributor to Lost Omens Impossible Lands! I wrote the Bhopan section and most of the accompanying mechanics, the kashrishi ancestry, and a few other things, as well as some additional design and development on the project. Impossible Lands is such an amazing book, I was thrilled at the opportunity to be a part of it and to have my work placed alongside that of so many other talented and creative people. I'm really looking forward to using more of the Impossible Lands in my own future adventures. You can follow me on Twitter at @MichaelJSayre1 for random design insights, video game thoughts, and whatever I happen to think is worth sharing.
Shao Han
I'm Shao Han (绍涵), an academic-turned–game designer from Singapore. This marks the first time I've contributed so much for a Pathfinder Second Edition project. I hope long-time fans and new players alike will find something to enjoy in this book!
I'm especially grateful for the tremendous opportunity to update Alkenstar and Dongun Hold! As a 40-something citizen of a small nation focused on diplomacy and technocracy, I brought in my formative experiences growing up during the Cold War to evoke the tensions of buffer polities caught in the Impossible Lands' uncertain détente and escalating saber-rattling. I've also imagined large-scale, lasting effects of magical war and technological development on the region's societies and politics.
I also enjoyed designing new mechanics for the Impossible Lands: gunslinging options, fleshwarp ancestries and feats, as well as fleshforged creatures!
My personal favorite creation in this book? The existential struggles of the fleshforged skinskitter. OK, wait, no, it's the cats of Dongun Hold. If you've seen social media posts about cats in this book... well... Mewbe you have a feline of what we are kittying in store for you!
You can find out more about my projects (and be subject to my cat-astrophic puns) on Twitter @TanShaoHan!
Illustration by Yuri Luz Ruvaid Virk
Heyo! I’m Ruvaid Virk and I’ve been a freelancer with Paizo for a little over two years now. For Impossible Lands, I got to revisit vishkanyas, which were part of my very first assignment in Bestiary 3, and turn them into a full-fledged ancestry! I also wrote the deity entries for Chamidu and Ragdya, and the bestiary entry for ratajin.
My biggest contribution however was in the Jalmeray section. I split the city of Niswan with fellow author Saif Ansari, and wrote the Introduction, A Day in Niswan, a Year in Niswan, the People of Niswan, Culture, and Locations sections. In the Adventuring in Jalmeray section, I wrote the ceru familiar, new weapons, and the new updates to the Student of Perfection archetype! Being Pakistani, Jalmeray is rather important to me, and being able to see my heritage reflected in these pages means more than I can put into words.
If you’d like to follow me or read more about my work, I’m on twitter at @Darth_Ruvaider, where I mostly retweet things, and occasionally say something of my own. I also hope you check out my spooky scenario Starfinder Bounty #5: Echoes of Woe, and look for me in upcoming projects! Cheers!
Jabari Weathers
I'm Jabari Weathers, and I'm a freelance illustrator, writer, and game designer based in Baltimore, MD. I had the honor of drafting the cities of Ecanus, Quantium, and Oenopion and the wider region of Nex that contains them for Lost Omens Impossible Lands. I hope you dig what I and everyone else have in store for this book. I had a ton of fun working on it! You can find me on twitter @Goblinprincete and my illustration work (and contact for any work) at Goblinprincete.com.
Brian Yaksha
Hello. I am Brian Yaksha, a nonbinary Bihari–Irish American game designer from a rural backwater in the Northeastern United States. I have contributed thoughts and writings toward the asuras, rakshasas, vanaras, and the nature of how colonialism would shift entities born of symbols, now removed from the accepted status quo of folkloric origins. I have also previously contributed an article concerning Ravithra in Pathfinder Adventure Path #161: Belly of the Black Whale, and am known elsewhere in the industry for world-building work on Best Left Buried’s Deeper , Throne of Avarice, and Spoils of the Gorgon Coast; Rakehell; Brinkwood: The Blood of Tyrants; Dolmenwood; and Academies of the Arcane, as well as editing on Putrescent Regnant and CY_Borg. I am fascinated by random generation tables and the emergent narrative design born from such mechanisms. My independent works can be found at goatmansgoblet.itch.io.
A Better Author List? Impossible!
Friday, November 18, 2022
