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Phaeselis: the City of Psionics is inspired by the Ptolus: City by the Spire campaign. It's a pathfinder campaign that is built around a city of Psionicists set in a land that is not unlike Hellenistic Asia.
Long ago, psychically gifted people were persecuted because they had the ability to project their thoughts, read minds, see into the past and into the future, and create things seemingly out of nothing. Persecuted more than witches, these people had to hide during the time of the Great Empires. Then came the great Hellenistic Expansion. Led by a magnificient and beneficient Military Genius called Alexander, the Hellenes conquered the Achmeniads and created an Empire that spanned incredibly far. Alexander, learning of the plight of these gifted children and adults, founded a city just for them.
He called it Phaeselis, the City of the Gifted. To everyone else in the World it became known as Phaeselis, the City of Psionics, the City of the Cursed, or the City of the Damned. Many armies led by Evil men tried to destroy it. Once by an army composed of Magi. In the final confrontation of that battle, the entire population of the City utterly destroyed the army and took the survivors into slavery. And then no one dared to come up against Phaeselis again.
Phaeselis is a campaign built for one reason, and one reason only. To be a City based campaign to be dropped into your campaigns at will and to explore when you are ready to. Inspired by Ptolus: City of the Spire, Phaeselis: City of Psionics is a place dominated by Psionics. A place where the psychically gifted can live in peace, and those with the talent and the will can find adventure.
Come to Phaeselis, the City of Psionics.
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Adventure during the time of the Empire of Alexander the Great! The technology is that of the Greek Empire period. The campaign has been thoroughly researched, and includes not only Hellenes as possible player characters, but Indians, Persians, and more. Play warriors of Greek origin, blessed clerics, masterful wizards, and gifted psions!
Phaeselis is my Tour-de-force Campaign Setting for Pathfinder 1st Edition. In some ways, it surpasses the Golorion setting. As masterfully crafted as Eberron, Phaeselis lets you cross the winds of time to adventure during a time when the world was on the cusp of Industrialization! Follow a Greek Philosophy, an Asian religion, or choose to follow the Gods, or make up a god of your own. Anything is possible! Except for the Gunslinger, guns won't be invented for another 2,000 years. Also more exceptions include the Samurai and the Ninja.
* Pathfinder Core Rulebook
* Advanced Player's Guide
* Ultimate Combat
* Ultimate Magic
* Ultimate Intrigue
* Advanced Class Guide
* Ultimate Psionics
* The Phaeselis Player's Guide, crafted as a guide for creating characters during the Hellenistic Period. It includes information on races and classes, and how they work in Hellenistic times.
* Further reading: GURPS Greece (for GURPS 3rd edition), Historical Reference 6: Age of Heroes Sourcebook for AD&D 2nd Edition. And there are more, but these two are highly recommended.
* Watch: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys for aesthetics mostly. Costume design isn't accurate to the time period, neither is the technology (in one episode, Hercules -- a Bronze Age hero -- makes a steel knife.) Much of the campaign was based on this T.V. show. Also, Alexander the Great, a movie starring Richard Burton. This is a more accurate portrayal of the great hero. Available for 15 dollars on iTunes.
Video Game play: Zeus: Master of Olympus! A city building game available from Good Old Games built on Classical Greece.
This is covered in the Player's Guide on the wiki. But basically heroes can come from different cultures -- as Phaeselis is a polyglot of at least four different cultures. But there are a few guidelines:
* Abilities: 25 point buy
* Traits: 2
* Starting level: 1
* Race: Check the Player's Guide as to what races are available.
* Class: Also check the player's guide as to what classes are available and how they work.
* Divine Byblow: Is possible. If you want to play a child of the Gods, you may choose Aasimar or Teifling as a race.
* Psionics: Phaeselis is primarily a psionics setting. If you hate psionics, I suggest you find another game to play.
* Time Period: The Hellenistic Age (after Alexander conquers the Persian Empire). Iron Age technology.
* Alignment: Try to stay good, since this is a heroic campaign. I want to play all the evil bad guys. No evil alignments.
Dotting in with great interest! I’m thinking of a vigilante playwright!
I see the lizardfolk live somewhere east of the Kaspios (Caspaian Sea analog?); are they supposed to be Scythian analogs, or what is the cultural referent for that.
I see the lizardfolk live somewhere east of the Kaspios (Caspaian Sea analog?); are they supposed to be Scythian analogs, or what is the cultural referent for that.
They are closer to the Chorasmii. Yes, the Kaspios sea is the Caspian Sea analog. :)
I see the lizardfolk live somewhere east of the Kaspios (Caspaian Sea analog?); are they supposed to be Scythian analogs, or what is the cultural referent for that.They are closer to the Chorasmii. Yes, the Kaspios sea is the Caspian Sea analog. :)
As I said, I'm not sure I'll make a character, but I LOVE this setting -- so are the lizard folk sort of like Bactrians where they combine Hellenistic and South Asian influences? Or do you mean more like Sogdians/Turkic nomads?
Okay, I've been reading up on the setting. And I'm rather wary of Phaeselis' rampant homophobia. The wiki refers to gay people as a 'crime against nature', and 'perverts'. It goes into great detail about the city's horrendous laws regarding them. I found the intensity of these parts really creepy.
Normally, I might shrug this off as a historical artifact. After all, gay people do often face such persecution in reality. But the wiki says that Phaeselis' laws are actually an exception. Most of the empire has a much healthier attitude towards same-sex relationships. Alexander forced this one city (his 'personal experiment') to be a bastion of bigotry. And this city just happens to be the one in which the campaign is set. That worries me.
So I suppose my question is: Why did you write the story this way?
That was before I read the Sealed Portion of the Book of Mormon. I didn't change it to be consistent with the setting I had imagined.
In the Sealed Portion, Jesus discovered two of his disciples to be in sexual congress: Timothy and John Mark. Rather than fire lightning bolts, he upholded them both as examples of his disciples loving each other.
In Human Reality, the situation is described as thus: a homosexual remembers his former life as a woman. (same thing with lesbians, they remember their former lives as men). After I read those parts in Human Reality, and the Sealed Portion, I knew that my former beliefs on human sexuality was wrong. A homosexual man subconsciously remembers his past life as a woman, and seeks sexual congress with other men to feel at balance for what he's subconsciously remembering.
I'm sorry if you feel offended. But that part of the setting is based on past beliefs that I grew up on.
As I said, I'm not sure I'll make a character, but I LOVE this setting -- so are the lizard folk sort of like Bactrians where they combine Hellenistic and South Asian influences? Or do you mean more like Sogdians/Turkic nomads?I see the lizardfolk live somewhere east of the Kaspios (Caspaian Sea analog?); are they supposed to be Scythian analogs, or what is the cultural referent for that.They are closer to the Chorasmii. Yes, the Kaspios sea is the Caspian Sea analog. :)
Yes, to your first question. The lizard folk are sort of like Bactrians where they combine Greek and South Asian influences.
Okay, I've been reading up on the setting. And I'm rather wary of Phaeselis' rampant homophobia. The wiki refers to gay people as a 'crime against nature', and 'perverts'. It goes into great detail about the city's horrendous laws regarding them. I found the intensity of these parts really creepy.
Normally, I might shrug this off as a historical artifact. After all, gay people do often face such persecution in reality. But the wiki says that Phaeselis' laws are actually an exception. Most of the empire has a much healthier attitude towards same-sex relationships. Alexander forced this one city (his 'personal experiment') to be a bastion of bigotry. And this city just happens to be the one in which the campaign is set. That worries me.
So I suppose my question is: Why did you write the story this way?
That was before I read the Sealed Portion of the Book of Mormon. I didn't change it to be consistent with the setting I had imagined.
In the Sealed Portion, Jesus discovered two of his disciples to be in sexual congress: Timothy and John Mark. Rather than fire lightning bolts, he upholded them both as examples of his disciples loving each other.
In Human Reality, the situation is described as thus: a homosexual remembers his former life as a woman. (same thing with lesbians, they remember their former lives as men). After I read those parts in Human Reality, and the Sealed Portion, I knew that my former beliefs on human sexuality was wrong. A homosexual man subconsciously remembers his past life as a woman, and seeks sexual congress with other men to feel at balance for what he's subconsciously remembering.
I'm sorry if you feel offended. But that part of the setting is based on past beliefs that I grew up on.
Now that is fascinating -- I also have a degree in religion and I've read a lot about different strands of Restorationism. Don't see much mention of Nemelka and his work on gaming boards.
Now that is fascinating -- I also have a degree in religion and I've read a lot about different strands of Restorationism. Don't see much mention of Nemelka and his work on gaming boards.
I can discuss more in pms, if you like. All I did was tell the truth.
Now that is fascinating -- I also have a degree in religion and I've read a lot about different strands of Restorationism. Don't see much mention of Nemelka and his work on gaming boards.I can discuss more in pms, if you like. All I did was tell the truth.
I PM'd you -- I have a serious academic interest in Mormon Studies, but I don't think anyone else will be able to follow, much less be interested in, this line of discussion :). I know the context and sources of your post, but I doubt anyone else will have heard of Nemelka.
Yes, well. Anyone else?
Yes, well. Anyone else?
Truth be told, as a lesbian-identified anti-binary gay guy, whose best friend is an excommunicated mormon transwoman, yes, I probably fall into the "Anyone Else" category ... or you were asking about the campaign? or both?
Just asking if anyone else would like to apply.