The Phalreans
Intro Page
Originating as a non-conformist school of philosophers, the Phalreans have since become a shaping force in the affairs of more than one world. Named for their philosophical belief system, the Phalre (pronounced fal-REE), they believe in the supremacy of the mind over the body, and the pursuit of mental perfection through discipline and intellectual growth. Famed for their potent magic, it was the Phalreans who created the demiplane known as the Casket of Nightmares, trapping the Werewolves, Decaying Ones, and Ollath inside it.
The strengths of the Phalreans are their spellcasting prowess and positive attitude towards problem-solving. Their weaknesses are their unrestricted thirst for knowledge, and their dangerous ambition.
Play a Phalrean if you want to...
be a philosopher, a guardian, and a shaper of worlds.
do anything that is within the reach of your imagination and your will.
fight against malformed and diseased abominations, once human, cursed by your ancestors' hubris.
be motivated by the tenets of a philosophy that exalts the human mind as the supreme entity.
be divided by competing ambition, rival schools of thought, and hidden regrets.
The Phalreans are not...
History
The Phalreans began hundreds of years ago in the capital of the Kingdom of Torna, in the grounds of a university. A group of young and ambitious philosophers, the crown Prince Reanus amongst them, formulated a theory of life and how it ought to be lived, and called it the Phalre. They decided that the mind was the true self, and that the body was an unfortunate distraction from purely mental pursuits. By aggressively expanding their intellects and mental discipline, they began to gain an unprecedented capacity to exert their own will upon the external world. By channelling this power through a system of symbology they devised, they managed to construct Cartomancy, the most potent magical system in history.
Exhilarated by how right they were being proven by the outcomes of their philosophical experimentation, the early Phalreans (whose numbers were swelling with more and more impressionable young academics) began to perceive themselves as having a mandate; a mandate to act on behalf of the unenlightened. To save them.
The senior members gathered at night to perform the great ritual. Cartomancy at its most ambitious, and most dangerous. The ritual scroll had been written; a spell to liberate everybody in the capital city from the burden of having a physical body, and to ascend as purely mental beings. The ritual's target number, now lost to history, had been calculated, and the cards began to be drawn. Soon, the ritualists were one number short of the target, almost enough to enact the spell as perfect strength. Prince Reanus, it is said, was the next to draw, his hand fidgeting above the deck as his colleagues silently pleaded that he wouldn't draw. Silently, he defied them, drawing the Ten of Circlets, infusing the ritual with vastly too much power, preventing the senior Phalreans from controlling the energies.
Surprisingly, there seemed to be no immediate effect, and the Phalreans thought they may have narrowly avoided disaster.
Not so.
In under a week, a wasting disease took hold of many of the city's population, their bodies decaying slowly and cruelly. The parallels to the intended outcome of the ritual was clear to the senior Phalreans, and when one of their number developed the symptoms, she told everyone what had happened.
As hundreds of decaying citizens were herded into gated off quarantine sections to prevent the spread of the illness, a loud cry went up for the Phalreans to be punished. The influence of Prince Reanus, however, prevented any backlash upon his faction.
Soon after, however, the Phalreans realised that they had to take responsibility for what they had created. The first generation of Decaying Ones had been breaking out of their gated communities and murdering citizens all over the city in a misguided attempt to repair their bodies with parts from healthy humans. More magical research was done, a new and even more ambitious ritual script was prepared. This spell, designed to imprison the Decaying Ones in a prison plane beyond this physical reality, was executed perfectly, and all of the afflicted citizens seemed to simple vanish overnight, much to everybody else's relief.
After this, however, the Phalreans were suddenly banished for their crimes, and the Prince did not exert any influence to prevent this. He lead the Phalreans south, to find new land to build on, creating the first Havens; remote, meditative retreats, perfect for the pursuit of pure philosophy.
Since that time, the Phalreans have met both the Koth and the Tanelim, and have assisted them in imprisoning their own enemies in the prison plane, which has been named the Casket of Nightmares. Every so often, the barriers between worlds grow thin, and the nightmares must be fought back, and every time, the Phalreans are there, refusing to let their greatest success be undone, refusing to let their greatest failure plague the world again.
Beliefs
The Phalreans are named after the Phalre, the philosophical system that unites them as a people. It emphasises mind over matter, cognitive development, and personal growth. The Phalre is summarised with six tenets.
Plenty of Phalrean thinkers have elaborated on these tenets, writing tomes and tomes on their correct interpretation and application, but these texts all reflect the subjective opinions of their authors. Only the Tenets are universal among Phalreans.
The originators of the Phalre devised four symbols, the Circlet, the Quill, the Key, and the Bell, to help concentrate the mind on its own development, and to provide a focus for performing a new kind of magic.
The Circlet
The symbol of the Circlet relates to self-control, mental discipline, and the pursuit of the ideal self. It represents the central tenet of the Phalre; the supremacy of the human mind over bodily concerns. It is a symbol of ones esteem of oneself, of ones respect for ones own mind, and the lifelong quest for mental self-improvement.
It is worn by all adherents of the Phalre, and to not wear a circlet in public is a shocking and outrageous behaviour. To take off ones circlet voluntarily is to show that one is being overtaken by base, physical motivations, and forgetting the Phalre.
The Quill
The symbol of the Quill relates to creativity, language, and skill. It is closely associated with writing, and therefore to art in general, to words and knowledge, and to the precision involved in fine calligraphy. It is connected to the air and sky, and invokes their boundlessness. It represents the infinite imaginative capacity of the human mind, the vastness of memory, and the generative properties of language.
Artists, scribes, and ritualists often display quills on their clothing. To throw off a garment depicting a quill symbolises frustration with an inability to come up with a good idea, or a dislike of a piece of art one has just made.
The Key
The symbol of the Key relates to boundaries, secrets, and problem-solving logic. It is connected to earth and metal, is associated with all forms of engineering and smithing, and is a symbol of the secrets of trades and technologies. It is linked to mathematicians, artisans, and investigators, and represents both the eternal laws of logic and the artificial laws of human societies. It is evocative of the mind's capacity to reason within parameters, to rationalise information, and to produce applicable solutions.
Crafters, naturalists, and ritualists often wear keys as accessories. To throw off a symbolically worn key is a common sign of frustration at being unable to solve a problem, or as a rhetorical device to show annoyance at ones opponent for being closed-minded.
The Bell
The symbol of the Bell relates to authority, rhetoric, and various kinds of expansion. It is connected to both fire and water, and invokes the capacity of both to expand rapidly and destroy what lies in their wake. It is closely associated with leaders of groups and victors in contests. It is also a herald of growth and new endeavours, and when construction begins on a new Haven, a bell is rung before work begins.
Leaders all wear bells as a symbol of authority, and ornate bells are typically given as rewards in competitions, especially formal debates. Ringing ones bell calls those who follow your orders to come to attention, and throwing down ones bell indicates an abstention of responsibility.
The Teardrop
A symbol coined by some philosophers to represent the antithesis of the Phalre's teachings. It symbolises the body's vulnerability to pain, extreme emotions that cloud reason, and self-doubt. It stands for everything that the Phalreans believe to stunt personal growth.
The Teardrop is not worn, and images that resemble a drop of water are avoided in clothing and art. Many believe that even having a symbol for these anti-Phalrean concepts is dangerous, because it grants them power.
Religion
While historically, the Phalreans have been an atheistic people, recently they have been in need of a deity to oversee their dead. For a short time, the Phalrean dead were in the custody of the Knife, but now Juliath, the leader of the Benefactor pantheon with a relationship to construction and builders, has been selected as the custodian of the Phalrean afterlife and, by default, the God of the Phalreans. Many Phalreans regard their relationship with Juliath as purely pragmatic, and appreciate the Benefactor for performing a service but do not revere them as a god. Others, however, have embraced religion, worshipping Juliath openly, especially those who were members of a secretive cult known as the Iron Key.
Culture
Customs
The Phalreans are a cerebral people, but not a quiet one. Debate is one of the principle pastimes of the Phalreans, and its almost rude to greet an old friend without taking them to task on some academic or moral point. Everybody perceives themselves as an intellectual, regardless of whether they also happen to be a warrior or a farmer or a cleaner or whatever else. Aside from Magisters, Archivists, and the more senior Cartomancers, all Phalreans actually must engage in some form of physical work, which they undertake grudgingly and with embarrassment, and the Order of Archivists itself has been jokingly criticised as a home for the work-shy.
The Phalreans seek to live a life of mental discipline and moderate physical abnegation, but like all humans, they have passions and weaknesses. Many Phalreans have a secret vice, such as a penchant for sweet foods, a drinking habit, or even just a tendency to cry sometimes. They tend to keep these things to themselves out of embarrassment, rather than any fear of punishment.
Art
Phalreans love art. From a young age, they are all encouraged to pursue writing, painting, music, tapestry, or other crafts as part of the development of their minds. They particularly favour art that is intelligent and imaginative, favouring it over work that simply requires technical skill, which they view as missing the point of creative expression.
“All Phalreans are writing a book,” is a common saying. Writing, particularly long works, is usually valued above most other forms of art by Phalreans. Most of them can speak at length about the work of fiction, academic text, or philosophical monograph they are halfway through. Musically, many are singers, and they enjoy close harmony music with clever or contemplative lyrics. Paintings and tapestries almost always feature one or more of the symbolic images of the Phalre; circlet, quill, key, or bell.
Marriage and Funerals
Marriages are seen as meetings of minds more than as a way to start a family, although that is obviously a useful side-function. The ceremony is unfussy, and nobody actually officiates it. Instead, the couple gathers their friends and asks if anybody objects to them becoming wed. Customarily, the audience quickly appoints one of their number to be the objector, and they must make as persuasive as case as possible to the couple that they are a poor match, and should not wed under any circumstances. The couple must defend themselves, and work together to make the counter-argument that they are a perfect match. This argument can become quite heated. When the objector finally defers to their argument (unless, of course, they successfully convince the couple not to marry, which has been known from time to time), the pair exchange their circlets in front of the congregation, signifying the marriage has occurred.
Funerals, conversely, tend to be more happy and less confrontational affairs. In death, a person's mind is believed to have been set free from their bodily existence, to live a purely mental life amidst the many planes of existence. Friends gather, talk about the deceased's life, and express gratitude that they have moved onto a better world.
To cry at a funeral is a heinous taboo, indicating ones own lack of commitment to the Phalre, and demonstrating a selfish desire that the deceased be back in the physical world to keep one company rather than living a transcendent new life.
Nation
Politics
Each Haven is governed by a Magister, appointed by ballot of all adult residents. Intelligence, decisiveness, and a talent for words are favoured in potential Magisters. Typically, a Magister is a ritualist, but not always. They typically gather an informal council around themselves as advisors on various topics, in emulation of the senior Phalreans who “governed” their fellows back in Torna. Magisters always carry a bell prominently about their person.
The Order of Archivists, powerful though they are, never permit their members to become Magisters, and rarely serve as advisors to Magisters. The Order is an apolitical entity, and it strives to stay that way.
War
Phalrean warriors are often called Guardians, given that they primarily exist to protect the Havens, and keep the denizens of the Casket out of the mortal world. They learn co-ordinated teamwork and advanced defensive strategies, and develop profound emotional self-control to stay courageous and alert in battle. Some develop the ability to enter a mind-over-matter state called the Silent Trance. This intense form of combat meditation renders the Guardian nearly invulnerable to pain, and capable of withstanding attacks that would normally kill them outright, but they must remain silent in order to maintain their focus on this altered mental state.
Relations
The Phalreans consider their 'allies', the Koth and the Tanelim, to be primitive and backwards in their supplication before gods. The Tanelim, at least, redeem themselves in the Phalrean's eyes for their cultural dedication to discipline, and the ambition demonstrated by entering Hell to slay powerful enemies. The Koth, on the other hand, frequently annoy the Phalreans by their wild assertions that Phalrean ritualists are somehow draining magic out of the world, and by their harbouring of clearly dangerous and insane 'Ganshe' cultists. The Phalreans will fight side by side with Koth against the monsters that dwell in the Casket, but they don't have to like it.
The Phalreans are responsible for placing the Werewolves, the Decaying Ones, and the Ollath inside the Casket, and consider them all to be enemies. However, the Decaying Ones are the original enemies of the Phalreans, they stand for the very antitheses of the Phalre, and they are a constant reminder of the Phalreans' greatest mistake. On the other hand, the Phalreans are fascinated by the magic of the Ollath, and have at least a grudging respect for their intellects. Whispers abound among some portions of Phalrean society that they were premature in banishing the Ollath to the Casket, and that they should instead be learning from these sinister sorcerers.
Magic
The originators of the Phalre used their immense force of will to bind magical energy into the four symbols they devised. Specifically, they created five decks of symbolic cards, each infused with power, for use in magical rituals. This massive undertaking was as much a demonstration of the truth of their philosophy as it was a way to acquire power. Of these decks, one remains intact in the hands of the Order of Archivists. The Order still has most of a second deck, but the absence of several cards means that it can not be used in ritual magic. The other three decks are completely missing.
The decks each contain fourty cards, numbered one to ten, with the symbols acting as 'suits'. In order to accomplish a ritual, a full deck is required, as well as the scroll that contains the details of the ritual. These are both held by the Order of Archivists for safekeeping. A number of ritualists must, in silence, take turns to draw cards from the deck. To accomplish the full effect of a ritual, a target number must be reached. For each ritual, two suits will contribute positively to this target number if drawn, one will detract from it, and one will have no effect. Increasing the number by drawing more positive cards adds power to the ritual, but if the target number is exceeded, card drawing immediately stops and the ritual ends up having dangerous, unanticipated effects.
Several key events in world history have been brought about in this way.
Phalrean magic tends to have large, wide-ranging effects, with little direct combat applicaton. Observers may not speak to or disturb the ritualists whilst drawing takes place, but a common practice is to have a trusted person playing a simple bear on gong or other percussive instrument, increasing the tempo as the perceived threat of drawing another card increases, to deter risky decisions.
The Order of Archivists
This set of scribes and functionaries are the keepers of the ritual scrolls and symbol cards. Chosen for their discretion, care, and encyclopaedic memories, it is forbidden for any of them to train as a ritualist, as it is deemed unsafe for one group to both have access to all the magical resources and to be able to use them at will. Instead, they are responsible for handing out these items to ritualists as they are needed, in a manner decided by the High Archivists. The group's insignia is a crossed quill and key.
[OC Note: The Archivists are NPCs that serve a specific game role. A player character may not be a member of the Order, but may be a former member if they wish.]
Names
Phalreans are known by a professional title, and a birth name. Birth names should be chosen from modern and historical forenames from France and French-speaking countries.
Examples: Magister Gabrielle, Archivist Laurent, Guardian Adrienne.
Costume
Originating as a non-conformist school of philosophers, the Phalreans have since become a shaping force in the affairs of more than one world. Named for their philosophical belief system, the Phalre (pronounced fal-REE), they believe in the supremacy of the mind over the body, and the pursuit of mental perfection through discipline and intellectual growth. Famed for their potent magic, it was the Phalreans who created the demiplane known as the Casket of Nightmares, trapping the Werewolves, Decaying Ones, and Ollath inside it.
The strengths of the Phalreans are their spellcasting prowess and positive attitude towards problem-solving. Their weaknesses are their unrestricted thirst for knowledge, and their dangerous ambition.
Play a Phalrean if you want to...
be a philosopher, a guardian, and a shaper of worlds.
do anything that is within the reach of your imagination and your will.
fight against malformed and diseased abominations, once human, cursed by your ancestors' hubris.
be motivated by the tenets of a philosophy that exalts the human mind as the supreme entity.
be divided by competing ambition, rival schools of thought, and hidden regrets.
The Phalreans are not...
- Robots. Or even Vulcans. Whilst they believe that emotion should not cloud reason, they do not villify it.
- Puritans. To focus on total abstention from bodily pleasures is a physically-oriented philosophy; it privileges the importance of base hedonism just as much as living to excess does. The Phalreans support a moderated approach to physical enjoyment, but never let its pursuit dominate their lives.
- Perfect. Phalreans all seek to become perfect, but none of them are. All Phalrean characters should have gaps in how well they follow their philosophy, just like real people.
History
The Phalreans began hundreds of years ago in the capital of the Kingdom of Torna, in the grounds of a university. A group of young and ambitious philosophers, the crown Prince Reanus amongst them, formulated a theory of life and how it ought to be lived, and called it the Phalre. They decided that the mind was the true self, and that the body was an unfortunate distraction from purely mental pursuits. By aggressively expanding their intellects and mental discipline, they began to gain an unprecedented capacity to exert their own will upon the external world. By channelling this power through a system of symbology they devised, they managed to construct Cartomancy, the most potent magical system in history.
Exhilarated by how right they were being proven by the outcomes of their philosophical experimentation, the early Phalreans (whose numbers were swelling with more and more impressionable young academics) began to perceive themselves as having a mandate; a mandate to act on behalf of the unenlightened. To save them.
The senior members gathered at night to perform the great ritual. Cartomancy at its most ambitious, and most dangerous. The ritual scroll had been written; a spell to liberate everybody in the capital city from the burden of having a physical body, and to ascend as purely mental beings. The ritual's target number, now lost to history, had been calculated, and the cards began to be drawn. Soon, the ritualists were one number short of the target, almost enough to enact the spell as perfect strength. Prince Reanus, it is said, was the next to draw, his hand fidgeting above the deck as his colleagues silently pleaded that he wouldn't draw. Silently, he defied them, drawing the Ten of Circlets, infusing the ritual with vastly too much power, preventing the senior Phalreans from controlling the energies.
Surprisingly, there seemed to be no immediate effect, and the Phalreans thought they may have narrowly avoided disaster.
Not so.
In under a week, a wasting disease took hold of many of the city's population, their bodies decaying slowly and cruelly. The parallels to the intended outcome of the ritual was clear to the senior Phalreans, and when one of their number developed the symptoms, she told everyone what had happened.
As hundreds of decaying citizens were herded into gated off quarantine sections to prevent the spread of the illness, a loud cry went up for the Phalreans to be punished. The influence of Prince Reanus, however, prevented any backlash upon his faction.
Soon after, however, the Phalreans realised that they had to take responsibility for what they had created. The first generation of Decaying Ones had been breaking out of their gated communities and murdering citizens all over the city in a misguided attempt to repair their bodies with parts from healthy humans. More magical research was done, a new and even more ambitious ritual script was prepared. This spell, designed to imprison the Decaying Ones in a prison plane beyond this physical reality, was executed perfectly, and all of the afflicted citizens seemed to simple vanish overnight, much to everybody else's relief.
After this, however, the Phalreans were suddenly banished for their crimes, and the Prince did not exert any influence to prevent this. He lead the Phalreans south, to find new land to build on, creating the first Havens; remote, meditative retreats, perfect for the pursuit of pure philosophy.
Since that time, the Phalreans have met both the Koth and the Tanelim, and have assisted them in imprisoning their own enemies in the prison plane, which has been named the Casket of Nightmares. Every so often, the barriers between worlds grow thin, and the nightmares must be fought back, and every time, the Phalreans are there, refusing to let their greatest success be undone, refusing to let their greatest failure plague the world again.
Beliefs
The Phalreans are named after the Phalre, the philosophical system that unites them as a people. It emphasises mind over matter, cognitive development, and personal growth. The Phalre is summarised with six tenets.
- The mind is the true self, and is superior to the body and soul.
- The mind is the agent of its own improvement, and seeks perfection.
- The human mind is the supreme form of intelligence. There are no gods.
- To develop the mind's capacities is to follow the Phalre.
- Meditation on the lessons of the Circlet, the Quill, the Key, and the Bell will help you reach your ideal self.
- It is possible to become your ideal self during your lifetime, through following the Phalre.
Plenty of Phalrean thinkers have elaborated on these tenets, writing tomes and tomes on their correct interpretation and application, but these texts all reflect the subjective opinions of their authors. Only the Tenets are universal among Phalreans.
The originators of the Phalre devised four symbols, the Circlet, the Quill, the Key, and the Bell, to help concentrate the mind on its own development, and to provide a focus for performing a new kind of magic.
The Circlet
The symbol of the Circlet relates to self-control, mental discipline, and the pursuit of the ideal self. It represents the central tenet of the Phalre; the supremacy of the human mind over bodily concerns. It is a symbol of ones esteem of oneself, of ones respect for ones own mind, and the lifelong quest for mental self-improvement.
It is worn by all adherents of the Phalre, and to not wear a circlet in public is a shocking and outrageous behaviour. To take off ones circlet voluntarily is to show that one is being overtaken by base, physical motivations, and forgetting the Phalre.
The Quill
The symbol of the Quill relates to creativity, language, and skill. It is closely associated with writing, and therefore to art in general, to words and knowledge, and to the precision involved in fine calligraphy. It is connected to the air and sky, and invokes their boundlessness. It represents the infinite imaginative capacity of the human mind, the vastness of memory, and the generative properties of language.
Artists, scribes, and ritualists often display quills on their clothing. To throw off a garment depicting a quill symbolises frustration with an inability to come up with a good idea, or a dislike of a piece of art one has just made.
The Key
The symbol of the Key relates to boundaries, secrets, and problem-solving logic. It is connected to earth and metal, is associated with all forms of engineering and smithing, and is a symbol of the secrets of trades and technologies. It is linked to mathematicians, artisans, and investigators, and represents both the eternal laws of logic and the artificial laws of human societies. It is evocative of the mind's capacity to reason within parameters, to rationalise information, and to produce applicable solutions.
Crafters, naturalists, and ritualists often wear keys as accessories. To throw off a symbolically worn key is a common sign of frustration at being unable to solve a problem, or as a rhetorical device to show annoyance at ones opponent for being closed-minded.
The Bell
The symbol of the Bell relates to authority, rhetoric, and various kinds of expansion. It is connected to both fire and water, and invokes the capacity of both to expand rapidly and destroy what lies in their wake. It is closely associated with leaders of groups and victors in contests. It is also a herald of growth and new endeavours, and when construction begins on a new Haven, a bell is rung before work begins.
Leaders all wear bells as a symbol of authority, and ornate bells are typically given as rewards in competitions, especially formal debates. Ringing ones bell calls those who follow your orders to come to attention, and throwing down ones bell indicates an abstention of responsibility.
The Teardrop
A symbol coined by some philosophers to represent the antithesis of the Phalre's teachings. It symbolises the body's vulnerability to pain, extreme emotions that cloud reason, and self-doubt. It stands for everything that the Phalreans believe to stunt personal growth.
The Teardrop is not worn, and images that resemble a drop of water are avoided in clothing and art. Many believe that even having a symbol for these anti-Phalrean concepts is dangerous, because it grants them power.
Religion
While historically, the Phalreans have been an atheistic people, recently they have been in need of a deity to oversee their dead. For a short time, the Phalrean dead were in the custody of the Knife, but now Juliath, the leader of the Benefactor pantheon with a relationship to construction and builders, has been selected as the custodian of the Phalrean afterlife and, by default, the God of the Phalreans. Many Phalreans regard their relationship with Juliath as purely pragmatic, and appreciate the Benefactor for performing a service but do not revere them as a god. Others, however, have embraced religion, worshipping Juliath openly, especially those who were members of a secretive cult known as the Iron Key.
Culture
Customs
The Phalreans are a cerebral people, but not a quiet one. Debate is one of the principle pastimes of the Phalreans, and its almost rude to greet an old friend without taking them to task on some academic or moral point. Everybody perceives themselves as an intellectual, regardless of whether they also happen to be a warrior or a farmer or a cleaner or whatever else. Aside from Magisters, Archivists, and the more senior Cartomancers, all Phalreans actually must engage in some form of physical work, which they undertake grudgingly and with embarrassment, and the Order of Archivists itself has been jokingly criticised as a home for the work-shy.
The Phalreans seek to live a life of mental discipline and moderate physical abnegation, but like all humans, they have passions and weaknesses. Many Phalreans have a secret vice, such as a penchant for sweet foods, a drinking habit, or even just a tendency to cry sometimes. They tend to keep these things to themselves out of embarrassment, rather than any fear of punishment.
Art
Phalreans love art. From a young age, they are all encouraged to pursue writing, painting, music, tapestry, or other crafts as part of the development of their minds. They particularly favour art that is intelligent and imaginative, favouring it over work that simply requires technical skill, which they view as missing the point of creative expression.
“All Phalreans are writing a book,” is a common saying. Writing, particularly long works, is usually valued above most other forms of art by Phalreans. Most of them can speak at length about the work of fiction, academic text, or philosophical monograph they are halfway through. Musically, many are singers, and they enjoy close harmony music with clever or contemplative lyrics. Paintings and tapestries almost always feature one or more of the symbolic images of the Phalre; circlet, quill, key, or bell.
Marriage and Funerals
Marriages are seen as meetings of minds more than as a way to start a family, although that is obviously a useful side-function. The ceremony is unfussy, and nobody actually officiates it. Instead, the couple gathers their friends and asks if anybody objects to them becoming wed. Customarily, the audience quickly appoints one of their number to be the objector, and they must make as persuasive as case as possible to the couple that they are a poor match, and should not wed under any circumstances. The couple must defend themselves, and work together to make the counter-argument that they are a perfect match. This argument can become quite heated. When the objector finally defers to their argument (unless, of course, they successfully convince the couple not to marry, which has been known from time to time), the pair exchange their circlets in front of the congregation, signifying the marriage has occurred.
Funerals, conversely, tend to be more happy and less confrontational affairs. In death, a person's mind is believed to have been set free from their bodily existence, to live a purely mental life amidst the many planes of existence. Friends gather, talk about the deceased's life, and express gratitude that they have moved onto a better world.
To cry at a funeral is a heinous taboo, indicating ones own lack of commitment to the Phalre, and demonstrating a selfish desire that the deceased be back in the physical world to keep one company rather than living a transcendent new life.
Nation
Politics
Each Haven is governed by a Magister, appointed by ballot of all adult residents. Intelligence, decisiveness, and a talent for words are favoured in potential Magisters. Typically, a Magister is a ritualist, but not always. They typically gather an informal council around themselves as advisors on various topics, in emulation of the senior Phalreans who “governed” their fellows back in Torna. Magisters always carry a bell prominently about their person.
The Order of Archivists, powerful though they are, never permit their members to become Magisters, and rarely serve as advisors to Magisters. The Order is an apolitical entity, and it strives to stay that way.
War
Phalrean warriors are often called Guardians, given that they primarily exist to protect the Havens, and keep the denizens of the Casket out of the mortal world. They learn co-ordinated teamwork and advanced defensive strategies, and develop profound emotional self-control to stay courageous and alert in battle. Some develop the ability to enter a mind-over-matter state called the Silent Trance. This intense form of combat meditation renders the Guardian nearly invulnerable to pain, and capable of withstanding attacks that would normally kill them outright, but they must remain silent in order to maintain their focus on this altered mental state.
Relations
The Phalreans consider their 'allies', the Koth and the Tanelim, to be primitive and backwards in their supplication before gods. The Tanelim, at least, redeem themselves in the Phalrean's eyes for their cultural dedication to discipline, and the ambition demonstrated by entering Hell to slay powerful enemies. The Koth, on the other hand, frequently annoy the Phalreans by their wild assertions that Phalrean ritualists are somehow draining magic out of the world, and by their harbouring of clearly dangerous and insane 'Ganshe' cultists. The Phalreans will fight side by side with Koth against the monsters that dwell in the Casket, but they don't have to like it.
The Phalreans are responsible for placing the Werewolves, the Decaying Ones, and the Ollath inside the Casket, and consider them all to be enemies. However, the Decaying Ones are the original enemies of the Phalreans, they stand for the very antitheses of the Phalre, and they are a constant reminder of the Phalreans' greatest mistake. On the other hand, the Phalreans are fascinated by the magic of the Ollath, and have at least a grudging respect for their intellects. Whispers abound among some portions of Phalrean society that they were premature in banishing the Ollath to the Casket, and that they should instead be learning from these sinister sorcerers.
Magic
The originators of the Phalre used their immense force of will to bind magical energy into the four symbols they devised. Specifically, they created five decks of symbolic cards, each infused with power, for use in magical rituals. This massive undertaking was as much a demonstration of the truth of their philosophy as it was a way to acquire power. Of these decks, one remains intact in the hands of the Order of Archivists. The Order still has most of a second deck, but the absence of several cards means that it can not be used in ritual magic. The other three decks are completely missing.
The decks each contain fourty cards, numbered one to ten, with the symbols acting as 'suits'. In order to accomplish a ritual, a full deck is required, as well as the scroll that contains the details of the ritual. These are both held by the Order of Archivists for safekeeping. A number of ritualists must, in silence, take turns to draw cards from the deck. To accomplish the full effect of a ritual, a target number must be reached. For each ritual, two suits will contribute positively to this target number if drawn, one will detract from it, and one will have no effect. Increasing the number by drawing more positive cards adds power to the ritual, but if the target number is exceeded, card drawing immediately stops and the ritual ends up having dangerous, unanticipated effects.
Several key events in world history have been brought about in this way.
Phalrean magic tends to have large, wide-ranging effects, with little direct combat applicaton. Observers may not speak to or disturb the ritualists whilst drawing takes place, but a common practice is to have a trusted person playing a simple bear on gong or other percussive instrument, increasing the tempo as the perceived threat of drawing another card increases, to deter risky decisions.
The Order of Archivists
This set of scribes and functionaries are the keepers of the ritual scrolls and symbol cards. Chosen for their discretion, care, and encyclopaedic memories, it is forbidden for any of them to train as a ritualist, as it is deemed unsafe for one group to both have access to all the magical resources and to be able to use them at will. Instead, they are responsible for handing out these items to ritualists as they are needed, in a manner decided by the High Archivists. The group's insignia is a crossed quill and key.
[OC Note: The Archivists are NPCs that serve a specific game role. A player character may not be a member of the Order, but may be a former member if they wish.]
Names
Phalreans are known by a professional title, and a birth name. Birth names should be chosen from modern and historical forenames from France and French-speaking countries.
Examples: Magister Gabrielle, Archivist Laurent, Guardian Adrienne.
Costume
- Phalrean primarily wear a mixture of black, and pastel colours.
- For Phalreans, clothes are simple but elegant. Phalrean wear long capes, robes and tabards, in fine fabrics. Thick wools, velvets and silks are all suitable. Cotton is suitable for underclothes, but is thought to be drab. Fabric with a colour gradient is considered very fine.
- Phalreans will decorate their clothes with borders of intricate knotwork or geometric patterns, in metallics or black. Phalreans put a lot of stock in symbology, and will often decorate tabards with meaningful images from the Cartomancy deck.
- Generally, Phalreans wear little jewellery, seeing such ornaments as frivolous, however they do wear metal circlets. Which are believed to focus the mind.
- Phalreans wear their hair back, with occasional small plaits, hair in front of the eyes is considered a foolish distraction.
- Phalrean are similar to Ollath, in that they both wear black, however Phalreans wear pastels and long straight outfits, whereas Ollath where neons and flared clothes.
- Tanelim and Phalreans both wear tabards, however Phalrean tabards will be finely made, and decorated, and in black and pastels, whereas Tanelim are more likely to have an off-white or a grey tabard, with simple symbols.