Phelim Club

Overview

The Phelim Club was an establishment in Throne City that saw the birth of the Celestial Compact. It was opened in 627 BL by a wealthy adventuress named Veila Tebaiya who had an interest in mystal things. It was a place where the powerful and wealthy with knowledge of astrology and foresight would gather.

From The Celestial Compact by Taramaine Braun

In the Imperial capital, Throne City, one young woman had constructed a certain establishment, the Phelim Club, an extraordinarily exclusive institution. This young woman, a Halfling named Veila Tebaiya, was an interesting sort.

Initially a priestess at the nearby Hill of the Divine Wind, she carried out the Rites of Phelim. Until, that is, she grew bored with that lifestyle. She joined with a passing troupe of traders and explorers and accompanied them to the Outlands. We don't know how, but she amassed a fortune. Veila, now nearing her middle ages, grew bored of this lifestyle as well, and yearned for life in a busy city.

So she returned from the Outlands and made her way to Throne City. There, the fascination with the arcane she had developed in service to Phelim grew when she chanced upon an ill-fated mystic in the city. This mystic pointed out to Veila the constellation of the Nightingale, an arrangement of stars in the sky that his family had discovered over the course of many years. For you see, at that time, the numerous constellations and planets were not universally (if you shall excuse the pun) known for as I mentioned earlier, knowledge was not shared.

Veila was enticed by what she viewed as a beautiful signal in the sky, and there set her fortunes to constructing the Phelim Club in Throne City. She befriended the mystic, up until his unfortunate death two weeks later. But aside from that tragedy, the club opened with a grandiose celebration. It was, as I said, very exclusive. To gain entry to the wealthy, extravagant club, one must first have demonstrated a knowledge of the heavens. Inside was a beautiful establishment where its guests were pampered in luxury, with fine food and dining. Veila generally charged her select patrons very little, if anything at all -- she merely encouraged their gathering.

It was here in the Phelim Club that the Celestial Compact first came into existence, though it has evolved a good bit since its earliest time. One place where the skilled astrologists and seers of the time gathered and socialized, and they all quickly realized the benefit of such. They discussed many things in the club; their trade, the study and observance of the skies and the practice of foresight. Many of the seers there found that others possessed tidbits of information not generally known.

The club members, naming themselves Phelim's Compact, began to spend hours, even days, hunched around tables in the club devising celestial maps revealing the location of many constellations, maps with which they formulated the orbits of the twelve planets and three moons. The Compact quickly applied all the methods members had been using to see the future, and developed a singular, more efficient way.

But astrology, foresight, and magic were not the only things the people of Phelim's Compact discussed. There was another topic of great interest to them all: power. You see, even from their earliest and most primitive, the seers have realized that it is their place to lead. The stars give us the path to the Plane of Probability, the Plane gives us knowledge of the future. It is the destiny of those who can know what will be, to lead those who do not to guide them, to protect them, to lead them to enlightenment. It is the duty and responsibility of those gifted with foresight to lead the world into a better future, one we envision with our gifts. That is our burden.

To achieve that end, the members of Phelim's Compact began to insinuate themselves into positions of power within Imperial society. It was important to ascertain the correct decisions would be made by those in power to ensure a prosperous and beneficial future on the path to enlightenment. Many entered the employ of wealthy nobility, or the influential writers and philosophers of the time.

By now Phelim's Compact was something more than just the elite patrons of an exclusive and wealthy club. They had become a formal (and formidable) organization, that was slowly beginning to develop its own procedures, protocol, hierarchy, and motives. Lacking sanction from the Empire, the club became even more exclusive and restrictive, as its leaders were forced to meet clandestinely in the darkest nights (during the day, the building still served as a social club where a powerful group gathered to smoke their pipes, read books, and discuss current affairs). Some justice officials opposed to the Compact encouraged raids of the club to arrest the, as they called them, dissidents, but supporters of Phelim's Compact managed to prevent such raids from taking place.

Attaining strength and power was an important goal of the Compact, as I've said, but many of its members disagreed quite strongly on the methods with which to accomplish that. They each had their own ideas. But they soon enough became divided into just three separate schools of thought. A poet and entertainer who had been chartered by the Phelim Club to perform wrote the following of said divisions into an Elven satire:

"Fiery-headed and full of flaming passion, the scions of Yavash are quick to make decisions, and make them with little regret for the consequences. They act in the radiant light of the red moon's glare, and believe they should rule in the light."

"Skulking in the shadows of the black moon, these would fellows would opt to remain in the shadows of the throne. They shall safely pull the strings of puppet lords, unseen by all."

"Coldly logical and at the same time as fluid as the icy blue waters so resembling their master Xibar, this lot says moderation is the way to go. Neither of the above is right, and neither are wrong. Dark is light and light is dark."

Though not taken with the humor the satirist had hoped, his remarks about the three moons stuck. The three divisions within Phelim's Compact's hierarchy became known as the Assembly of Xibar, the Assembly of Yavash, and by far the most prominent at that time, the Assembly of Katamba. At this juncture the organization also changed its name to the Celestial Compact, in honor of the stars and moons which gave them their magic and foresight, and also as a tribute to the three Assemblies.

As time passed, more and more members of the Imperial elite saw the benefits to having among their retinue one who could touch the Plane of Probability and see the future. The Compact had been growing in power and influence, and became quite respected within many of the society's circles (it should also be noted that as the Compact grew in influence, so it grew in wealth, and many of its leading members made increasingly substantial donations to the coffers of Veila, the club's proprietor, for her role in all this -- Veila, though possessing no arcane foresight of her own, was a shrewd businesswoman who had devised a brilliant long-term plan at the start). Others saw them as frauds and charlatans who were degrading the honorable ways of the Empire's dawn. More fools who looked down their noses at progress and a better world.

Now, understand, much good came of this growth within the Compact, but there were negative side effects as well. Students came to them, seeking to learn their arts. The Phelim Club, though it had been their home for over fifty years, was no longer adequate to support their needs. And so one of the newly-appointed leaders of the Celestial Compact, one Jares Braun, opened the doors to a marvelous chapterhouse, the Phelim Club Orphanage, under the guise of giving back to society by providing a home a hot meals to the orphaned children of the Empire, many of whose parents had died fighting in the Outlands. In truth, these children were trained in the arts of foresight and celestial magic, though their training was conducted in secret. For you see, it was against Imperial law to teach as a formal institution without Imperial sanctioning (such sanctioning as was held by the College of Elemental Magic). As the Compact's strength grew, so grew the number of its enemies, and it became increasingly clear that in order to survive, the Compact would need true sanctioning. And so the Grazhir Circle set in motion a plan to attain that sanctioning.

Jares Braun, wholly in support of the beliefs of the Assembly of Katamba of which he was a member, selected two more Assemblymen from his order and sent them to a young noble by the name of Ponthilas of House Lucaid. The Grazhir Circle had determined three years prior through its scrying that young Ponthilas would become the next Emperor, the fourth of his name to hold the throne. During the interim, several skilled mages of the Compact slowly, and to the notice of none, influenced the mind of Ponthilas with their magic, making him grow unstable over the course of those three years. It was then that he was approached by the emissaries sent by Jares Braun.

Those mages quickly "cured" Ponthilas, as well as offered him sage advice. They assured him that with their help, he would rule the Empire. I am certain that this all sounds foul, but one must consider all the facts. Ponthilas would take the Imperial throne, whether the Celestial Compact aided him or not, for the Human delegates had no other alternatives. The man was paranoid, with extremely violent tendencies long before the Compact ever approached him. Had he taken the throne by himself, without the pacifying influence his Compact advisors would later offer him, Ponthilas surely would have led the Empire down the path to destruction, making foolish, suicidal decision after another. Therefore, it was fully necessary to employ whatever plan would offer success in order for the Compact to secure a position high in his counsel -- not only to ensure the Compact's survival, but the survival of the Empire as a whole.

The Compact's strategy was successful. When Ponthilas took the throne, he had surrounded himself with a large retinue of advisors from the Celestial Compact, and his advisors guided the young and foolish Emperor in making decisions that would not end in disaster, but betterment. It was a grand victory for the Celestial Compact, for not only was the Empire saved from utter destruction, but the Compact itself was no longer forced to pretend it did not exist. Sanctioning as an official College would surely follow, and the Grazhir Circle submitted its petition.

But the plans of the Grazhir Circle were derailed. The superstitious Dwarven contingent of that time was appalled by what they viewed as evil, a corrupting influence on the entire Empire of the Seven-Pointed Star, a takeover by a hostile group. One overly zealous Dwarf devised a cunning plan that would benefit solely himself... a plan created out of ambition and greed, for he was the likely choice for the Dwarven contingent in five years. This Dwarf, Saranell, approached a group of S'Kra Mur and convinced them that Ponthilas and the Celestial Compact were planning to suppress the S'Kra Mur and impose reparations upon them. Duped by the conniver's plan, the S'Kra assassin forged a q'zhalata.

On occasion, the Compact advisors were unsuccessful in pacifying Ponthilas, and the young man acted quite rashly. Unfortunately, the day they foresaw his assassination was one such instance. Warning him to stay within the palace for fear of his life, Ponthilas scorned the danger and wandered outside, where he was easily killed. As expected, Saranell II took the throne.

The new Emperor quickly rejected the Compact's petition for sanctioning. He had proven victorious then, and it appeared Saranell would attempt to seize the Phelim Club and its orphanage both. Jares Braun quickly thought up a new plan, a last resort... and the rest, as they say, is history. The Celestial Compact brought about the Magical Congress, which resulted in the Lunar Accord being signed. The Guild of Moon Mages was formed, and it received official Imperial sanctioning; Emperor Saranell II was thwarted.

Museum Telescope

In the Museum of Imperial History is a telescope on display in the Fall of the Empire Exhibit.
A well-crafted elaborate gold telescope with small dents along its casing
A small copper plaque notes that this particular kind of telescope is believed to be typical of those owned by members of the Phelim Club.