Ruler: Hakir Sethara
Government: Complicated Hierarchy of the living
and dead
Capital: Chiros: (Metropolis, 63,745)
Resources: Precious metals, precious stones, paper,
perfume and cosmetics.
Population: Approx. 2,750,000
Alignment: N, NE, LE, LN
Language: Common
Deities: Belatrix, Cerion, Destine, Kalek, Krayve,
Lohm, Meneon, Mordana, Suulthah
Description: One of the oldest surviving human kingdoms in existence, Phaeros was once a tropical paradise, home to farmers and herders who flourished in the lush landscape. For two thousand years this complicated theocracy was led by the succession of hereditary Hakirs (the title "Hakir" in the local tongue means Wizard King, though historically both wizards and clerics ruled in equal measure), and worship of all of the deities of the pantheon was welcomed and encouraged. Common belief held that the Hakir ruled by divine right, and spoke with the voice of the gods. Such power was a heady thing, and gradually the Hakirs came to believe that they were not simply the voice of the gods, but gods themselves. The priests who once had directed the people in worshiping the gods now led them in worshiping the ruling Hakir, and offering prayers and petitions to the spirits of Hakirs long past.
In 12940, during the reign of Kheol IV, all worship
of the ‘old gods’ was forbidden, under threat of
death. Angered by the arrogance of Phaeros’ mortal
ruler, the gods first sent signs and visions to the
priests who once served them so well. Those who
heeded the divine visions pleaded with Kheol to see
reason, and found themselves facing the headman’s
axe for their faith. Kheol ordered all statues,
monuments and temples to the Raian gods destroyed,
and replaced with those dedicated to himself. Furious
with such blasphemy, the gods bent their anger upon
the kingdom. Flocks of goats, cattle and horses, once
the pride of the kingdom and a major source of food,
became sickly and barren. The weather, which had
been warm year-round, turned bitterly cold, and snow
covered the ground for an entire year. Denied the
least divine gifts, priests and healers were powerless
to cure illness and injury. Those who did not perish
of cold or hunger during that terrible winter faced the
grim task of burying the dead, and the plague that
came from so many bodies left unburied while the
ground was too frozen to dig their graves. Kheol
seized the opportunity to rally his people, claiming
that he had inflicted this punishment to purge the
kingdom of unbelievers, and that those of the true
faith need not fear. In response, the gods sent floods,
fed by the melting snows and further fueled by
torrential rains which drown livestock and washed
away crops as soon as they were planted. For half a
year the waters raged, and when they receded the
land was left a virtual desert. Months of raging winds
followed, which whipped the sands with enough
force to scour bare monuments and wear boulders
down to nothing.
Fertile lands remained only along the coast and the
central river Nephtha, one of the world's largest
rivers, and the population was at one tenth of its
original level. Somehow, in the aftermath, a new
Hakir was crowned, Kheol’s grand nephew Farjan I.
Wiser by far than his recent predecessors, he quickly
demolished the shrines and monuments to the heretic
Kheol and immediately sent emissaries to the great
temples asking for priests to be sent to guide his
wayward people back to the path of faith. While
many of the faiths once again have a presence in
Phaeros, worship of Cerion and Meneon is most
common.
While Phaeros’ rulers have learned much from the mistakes of the past, they retain a desire for lasting power, even into the afterlife. Upon death they are entombed in grand monuments, pyramids towering over the lands omnipresent deserts filled with the tools and treasures of their rule. Although a single Hakir is said to rule, the Hakir of the past often return to their mortal remains to issue edicts, advise the still-living rulers, and occasionally terrorize the populace (some were a bit … less than noble). The people of Phaeros are a hardy, stoic lot who are unfazed by the undead, consider the robbing of tombs to be the greatest crime a person can commit, and dedicate their lives primarily to just staying alive. One of the world's greatest libraries is said to have been lost during the god-storm, buried somewhere beneath the ever-present desert.
Under Hakirs with dynastic ambitions, Phaeros has repeatedly invaded neighboring Zumaer (the Bedouin of Cerrid being too strong an opposition). The people of Zumaer are now little more than slaves, and their country an occupied territory of Phaeros. Physical distance and Amthydor’s disapproval of the Phaeran practice of slavery have combined to limit relations between the two, though some trade agreements exist via House Sahdein.