Phidas Character in Scarterra | World Anvil

Phidas

Phidas Resona

Phidas embodies the divine version of the archetype of the scheming treacherous vizier. He represents the dark side of ambition.   He also represents a victim becoming a bully. His injuries were greater than any of the rest of the Nine during the the Divine Rebellion and Phidas uses his suffering as justification to make others suffer and to take what he feels he is owed.  

Phidas the Mauled

  Some theologians argue that the Nine do not have humanoid or draconic forms in the sense that most peasants envisage the Nine, but most Scarterrans believe that Turoch ripped off Phidas’ face. Phidas took most of Turoch's skin to forge a mask to hide his deformity. Some people say that Phidas walks with a limp, assuming gods walk.   However you measure it, Phidas has never fully recovered from the wounds Turoch inflicted on him. It is widely believed that the rest of the Nine have made full recoveries from their wounds inflicted by Turoch.   Phidas uses the fact that he was more greatly wounded than his siblings as an excuse for why he deserves more power and prestige, but the rest of the Nine do not accept his rationale for why he deserves more power.   In general the Lawful deities have few favored souls and the Chaotic deities have lots of favored souls. Officially, the Masks say that Phidas does not have favored souls because Phidas does not need or want them. Phidas’ detractors speculate openly that maybe Phidas does not have them because he lacks the capacity to empower them. Insert a sexual innuendo here if you want.  There is a small subsect of Masks believed to be heretical by some called Blessed One Seekers who believe that eventually Phidas will have a favored soul and he or she will usher in a golden age for Phidas' faithful.   Greymoria and Maylar have created a lot of new creatures. Phidas has created few if any though he has adopted many of Greymoria's cast-offs. Officially, the Masks say that Phidas does not need or want to create a slew of vanity races, but again some speculate that Phidas cannot create new creatures easily. Insert a sexual innuendo here if you want.   Phidas does not have a lot of active spirits, but he is far from impotent here. At any given time, Phidas usually has more spirit minions than Khemra and Hallisan at least. half-spirit/half mortals connected to Phidas are extremely rare, but they are not unheard of. So far, no half-spirit child of Phidas has manifested the powers of a favored soul.

Divine Domains

Phidas’ Portfolio includes but is not limited to: Defense against the Void, oaths/contracts, commerce, wealth, legal cunning, punishment, contracts, oaths, disguises, pragmatic ruthlessness, protection, protection rackets, life stones, subterranean monsters   The favored spheres of Phidas' theurgists are Crafts, Protection, and Purification.

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Most of Phidas prominent symbols involves masks to some degree hence why his followers are nicknamed "Masks."

Social

Contacts & Relations

Phidas probably gets along best with Greymoria. On the mortal plane, Phidas Masks work with Greymoria's Children often. The Masks really value arcane magic and arcane magic items, but they have very few mages in their own ranks, so they trade with the Children. In return the Masks provide the Children money, supplies, shelter, and in occasionally even legitimacy.   Phidas may pine for Khemra's affections but Khemra doesn’t like Phidas as much as Phidas likes her. On the mortal plane, Masks  often take care of the Keepers' proverbial dirty laundry for a bit of respectability from public endorsements by the Keepers or simply for some gold under the table.   Phidas and Korus don’t work together well, but they don’t fight each other much either. They just focus on separate things.   Phidas finds Nami annoying but not very threatening. On the mortal plane, the Masks generally believe that they are smart enough to convince the Rovers to go annoy someone else. Sometimes they are right. Other times the Rovers see through the charade and make the Masks pay dearly for the insult. Phidas believes while Maylar is more dangerous, he and is minions are easier to trick than Nami.   Hallisan and Phidas are definitely rivals. Their mutual similarities only keep them apart. They compete for influence in the halls of power, they compete for influence underground, they compete for the right to dominate the trade in magical items. The Masks and the Guardians rarely fight physically, but they are nearly always competing politically and economically.   Phidas’ minions rarely fight openly with Mera's minions openly, but they certainly do not get along. The Masks love to provide healing magic in exchange for money and favors, but the Tenders provide their healing magic to the masses for free! It really wrecks the Masks' business model. The Masks try to undermine the efforts and reputations of the Tenders whenever they can do this subtly because it looks bad if they are caught undermining them.   There is no love lost between Phidas and Zarthus. Their minions are at each other’s throats all the time. The Lanterns hate tyranny and they believe the Masks are agents of tyranny, but at this point the reason for their feud doesn’t matter much. The Masks and Lanterns fight each other almost on reflex now. If the two groups are not fighting openly, they are having a cold war. The one thing they agree on is that Turoch is bad. Every sane person is opposed to Void demons but the Masks  and the Lanterns are among the most aggressive demon fighters and they occasionally surprise outsiders by their ability to work together when fighting minions of the Void.

Scaraqua

  In Scaraqua, Phidas is commonly referred to by the name Resona, one of the Sons of the Sea Floor.   Resona is a relative bit player in Scaraqua . Scaraquans frequently lump Resona and Mangcha together as "Sons of Sea Floor" or the "Feuding Brothers." Both Resona and Mangcha are associated with photosynthetic chemical vents that provide food to deep sea creatures and both are associated with crustaceans and shell fish, so they are commonly worshipped by Astakalians.
Divine Classification
god
Alignment
Lawful Evil
Current Location
Church/Cult
Children
Sex
male

Scarnoctis

  I haven’t figured out the details, but Phidas is generally considered an important deity underground.

Articles under Phidas



Cover image: by Me using Nightcafe

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