Hardcover copies of Pathfinder’s “Hellfire Dispatches” and Starfinder’s “Galactic Ancestries” books, side-by-side. The former cover depicts a battle on the wall of a keep, with blue-clad Andoran soldiers scaling ladders, while devilish Chelaxian troops atop the wall fire flaming arrows and deploy nasty-looking defensive countermeasures. Two such devices, a square push-plate on a pole with a spike-studded underside and an equally-spiky cylinder on ropes are the main focus of the picture. Both feature ornate embellishments that belie the gruesome purpose to which they are being deployed. The Galactic Ancestries cover features a quartet of alien species featured in the book as they burst through a door within a starship. In the front is a classic goblin, their long ears squeezed up in the fishbowl-style, band-aid-patched helmet they wear. Their rust-colored armor and massive gun (aimed outward towards the reader), have a scavenged, ‘Mad Max in space’ aesthetic. Behind them is a Kasatha, a four-armed, gray-skinned being with red eyes and an elongated head. They wear a red jumpsuit and a mask, and heft a laser rifle in their top pair of arms, aiming off to the right of the page. To their left is an izalguun, a centaur-shaped green creature with a head like a hammerhead shark. They wear gray partial armor, and wield a polearm with a glowing yellow tip; a golden mote circles their head. Finally, in front of them (and left of the goblin), is a bantrid, looking like a blue stalagmite with stubby “wings”. They wear robes with glowing green traceries; the “trackball” the species uses for locomotion is just visible below. They have a staff with a crystal tip across their back, and glow with a blue-green aura. Whatever’s waiting for the group in this corridor, it’s gonna get messy.

Release-day PDFs are wonderful… but there’s still something to be said for having gorgeous physical tomes like these in-hand.
(Both covers by the amazing Mirco Paganessi)
#Paizo #Pathfinder #HellfireDispatches #Starfinder #GalacticAncestries

Lictor Karavex Drovenge, Order of the Line The Drovenge family’s name is well-known in Cheliax, both for its close connections to House Thrune and the number of unfortunate “accidents” that have befallen its members. Perhaps that’s why the forces in Cheliax closest to the wall, who call themselves the Order of the Line, are led by Karavex Drovenge (shrewd male human commander), a minor cousin of the family who most would describe in a single word: forgettable. Those who have seen Karavex Drovenge on the battlefield describe a pale wisp of a man who hardly seems to notice what’s going on nearby, often giving orders through a stifled yawn while sitting astride his mount, his body nearly drowning in expensive armor that overpowers his frame. Still, House Thrune placed him in this position for a reason, and his rapid ascent within his family suggests that his sleepy boredom has all been an act, designed to keep his relatives from putting in the effort to kill him. Now that he’s begun to gather some power, Karavex is starting to show remarkable cunning— not only has he somehow gotten Thrune’s recognition for his invented Order and given himself a lictor title, but his rotating series of code words and use of honesty- inducing talismans has made his immediate retinue nearly impenetrable to rebel groups. Despite (or maybe because of) his policy of having anyone he even suspects of turning on him reassigned to particularly deadly assignments, his troops remain steadfastly loyal."

Karavex Drovenge. A slight, ashen-skinned, human man with short, curly black hair. He's wearing a suit of spiked, silvery plate mail, with scything blades jutting up from the back--it's clearly designed for intimidation value, though the fact that it looks like it's about two sizes too big for the man somewhat undercuts that. A tattered maroon cape hangs from his neck, and a matching sash winds around his waist, secured with multiple leather belts. He's either doing the world's worst job of pretending not to be undead, or the world's *best* job of pretending to be pretending not to be undead. His mouth is open in a wide yawn, and he holds his left fist over it, as though he's utterly bored by whatever he's involved in, and doesn't much care who knows it. He's either extremely dangerous, or laughably incompetent, and given that bio, it's unlikely to be the latter.

Couldn't resist checking out page 66 before bedtime, and comparing his bio (and pic!) with info from those 1E Adventure Paths makes me think there's some *interesting* tea to be spilled on him, likely in #HellsDestiny.
#HellfireDispatches #Drovenge

"Outsiders have also created a handful of false orders claiming the Hellknight name. The most recent of such orders is the "Order of the Line," established by Karavex Drovenge (page 66)"

Hooray, hooray, it's Hellfire Day! (i.e. I got my subscriber pdf for #Pathfinder #HellfireDispatches!)
Flipping (metaphoically) through, I linger on the Hellknight section, and... Holy Callbacks, Batman! I know that surname!
#CouncilOfThieves #HellsVengeance