The stream featured segments interviewing several authors who contributed to the Tian Xia World Guide and Tian Xia Character Guide.
Fri, February 9th. [Woodinville, WA]: As part of a special Lunar New Year livestream today on their official Twitch channel, Paizo revealed more of the content in the upcoming Tian Xia World Guide and Tian Xia Character Guide. These two books are the next two in the Pathfinder Lost Omens line, focusing on Tian Xia: a continent of Golarion inspired by Asian folklore and fantasy.
The project’s co-leads, Pathfinder Senior Designer James Case and Senior Developer Eleanor Ferron, were joined by freelance contributors Grady Wang, Hiromi Cota, and Jeremy Blum. “To make our big Second Edition showcase of Tian Xia as exciting as possible, we knew it would be key to contact writers and designers with a wide variety of experiences from across Asia and the Asian diaspora,” said Case, “Since many Asian cultures celebrate Lunar New Year this weekend (Feb 10), we thought this would be a fun time to kick off Tian Xia’s promotion cycle by looking at just a few of the 26 regions in the Tian Xia World Guide.”
The livestream focused on several regions from the upcoming Tian Xia World Guide: Bachuan was once a nation that suffered under crushing Imperial oppression, which gave way to an equally oppressive revolutionary regime; a charismatic envoy, promises of foreign investment, and the magical return of various time-displaced peoples by a powerful sorceress have now led to an era of cautious change. In the continent’s north, Chu Ye still struggles under the yoke of its oni conquerors, while its human and kitsune rebels are pushed to ever more extreme methods to try to win their freedom. Kwanlai’s native tengu work with the descendants of Imperial exiles to overcome their nation’s poverty, while trying to forge a home from their own squabbling factions. Meanwhile, Linvarre is fresh from declaring independence from their mother nation of Taldor, ready to present its own unique identity to the world at large.
Turning attention to the Tian Xia Character Guide, Ferron revealed the remaining three ancestries. Sarangay are people with the head and hooves of a carabao, who gain power from the magical “soul gem” in their foreheads. Yakshas are spirits that once resided in the mysterious plane known as the First World, and who consider the gods as derelict for abandoning that plane for the current mortal Universe. Finally, yaoguai are aspects of creation that awakened into sapience and assumed an animate form by cultivating power, be they animal, plant, or object. These ancestries join the previously announced samsaran, tanuki, and wayang for a total of 6 playable ancestries, alongside the newly revealed hungerseed versatile heritage, which any player can take to represent the influence of oni magic or blood.
As a special spoiler to close things out, Case and Ferron also showed off the starlit sentinel archetype. Case commented, “We’ve tried to really dig into research and our own experiences to bring a lot of deep folklore cuts to Tian Xia, but we also know there are popular types of Asian fantasy that are a bit more modern.” Ferron added that the starlit sentinel’s abilities, which involve transforming into a costumed magical alter ego, were inspired by the “magical girl” stories found in popular anime and manga.
The Pathfinder Lost Omens Tian Xia World Guide setting book releases April 24, 2024. Its companion book of character options, the Pathfinder Lost Omens Tian Xia Character Guide, releases August 28, 2024.
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