Fate of Io began as one of my first attempts at game-mastering an RPG. I didn't have any sourcebooks, so the proprietary system I created was very loose and nearly freeform. I started the Fate of Io project in 2001 on a whim, and having the capability to do so. At the time, I was an administrator for the forums at FF9 HQ (an FF fansite), and the Fate of Io project began essentially as a Final Fantasy clone. Since then, we've gone through several iterations of revising the project's operations, both ideologically and practically, and we're currently in the fifth.
Obviously, if you're interested in my work for Fate of Io (and most of it is my work), then there's really only one place to go: www.fateofio.org, the project site itself.