Oceans: Black Sea
Defining Culture: Tartars
Religion: Unknown
Who to contact: NPC Decemvirate, Isolationists, not open to PCs.

The Phorcys Decemvirate is the least of the Decemvirates due to a sins of a thousand years ago. With the Tritons defeated and the rest of the Atlanteans retreating beneath the waves, the God-King of the Varati offered terms to the Atlanteans that left them unmolested beneath the waves while conceding the surface to the Varati. The Decemvirates accepted the terms, the Tritons to gain respite and the rest of the Altanteans to restructure their society. However, the Phorcys Decemvirate refused the Varati terms and continued to press the war against the Atlanteans without the aid of the rest of their race. The Phorcys were mighty warriors those days and managed to inflict great harm in the continued Varati-Empyrean War. The Decemvirates pleaded with the rouge Phorcys to cease in their conflict..but their actions were too late. The Phorcys approached the Varati under a flag of truce, conspiring to get close to the God-King for a decisive blow. They then struck at the household of Khalid-Atar, causing great damage before being repulsed. The God-King then responded a thousand-fold, summoning all of the Adepts and Magi of his people and beginning a ritual that lasted ninety nine days and nights. It was the greatest release of power that had ever been known as the Ritual raised a horrific volcano in the center of the Phorcys Decemvirate and blasting the realm to nothingness...turning the fair waters of the Decemvirate black with ash and silt that persists to this day.

Culture

The society of the Phorycians has developed around a single principle: hatred for the Varati people. From the day that Khalid-Atar all but destroyed their Decemvirate with a massive volcano, they have been driven by a desire to revenge the wrongs committed against them. Isolated as they are from even the other Decemvirates, details regarding their culture and society are sporadic at best.

The waters of the Phorycian Decemvirate are filled with a fine silt even today, transforming their realm into a nightmarish expanse of cloudy darkness. The people have adapted to these conditions, however, with stronger gills which can handle the silt in the water and larger eyes to help them see in their murky environment. Their skin, too, has become dark and mottled with patterns of gray and black. Occasionally, a child is born with pale skin and bright hair, but such Phorycians are generally shunned and considered a sign of ill-fortune.

Because the waters are so polluted, Water Elementalists are highly prized in Phorycian society. Worship of Pasiphae faded soon after the volcano was spawned, as many Phorycians refused to honor a Goddess who would allow them to be so abused by their enemies. As a result, the waters themselves are worshipped, and those who can not only manipulate them, but also cleanse them of the polluting ash and silt, are revered as quasi-religious figures in their own right. In fact, Elementalists are the only members of Phorycian society who can be elevated to a position of stature, and consequently, children born with an affinity for elemental magic are often taken from their parents and trained to eventually act as leaders for their people.

Though initially scattered by the volcano, the Phorycians have since grouped themselves into one small community, on the very northernmost border of the Decemvirate where the waters are clearest. Men and women are treated as basic equals, since their political structure is based on magical affinity rather than gender, though, given their military past, some Phorycian males consider themselves somewhat superior to females. This is not a common attitude, however.

Before a child is considered an adult, he or she must undergo an arduous ritual known as the Cleansing (with the exception of children gifted with elemental magic, who are exempt from this tradition). The child is sent towards the center of the Decemvirate, where the volcano still rumbles and belches clouds of ash, for a period of five days. In keeping with the Phorycian tradition of military strength, this test is designed to confirm a child's strength and endurance in the lifeless and dangerous reaches of their home. But it is known as the Cleansing because it is thought to remove all childish concerns and immature anxieties from the heart, replacing them with a deep hatred of the Varati which can only be fully realized by visiting the volcano which symbolizes their cruelty and contempt for the Phorycian people. The child must swim to the very slopes of the volcano and retrieve a piece of the obsidian basalt which is found there. If they return - and a full third are lost forever - this piece of stone is Shaped into the medallion which every Phorycian adult wears with pride.

Defined as they are by hatred for the Varati, the Phorycians have a number of ways to keep that hatred burning strong. The most important, aside from the Cleansing, is an annual ritual which marks the fiery birth of the accursed volcano. At some point, soon after the end of the Phorycian aggression, one of their people retrieved a single burning lamp from above and, with the help of Water Elementalists, was able to carry this tiny flame deep into the watery depths. Every year, in a large area cleared of water by the leaders of the people, a raging fire is lit and allowed to burn for three hours. Then, in a ritualistic fashion, the Phorycian people extinguish the flames, thus confirming their own supremacy over their hated Varati enemies. For days afterwards, glorious tales of battle and warfare are told, riddled with promises that one day, the Phorycian people will rise up from their polluted waters and destroy the Varati once and for all. Amidst the darkness of their daily existence, these bloodthirsty promises are all that offer a spark of hope.