Pharagos: The Battleground
Encyclopedia
Pharagos: The Battleground was a proposed campaign setting
for the Dungeons & Dragons
role-playing game
, written by James Wyatt
. Though the setting was never expanded and published into a fully detailed setting, it did make an appearance as a three-part feature in DRAGON
, DUNGEON
, and Polyhedron
.
and the githzeri
are descended, before their race was enslaved and altered by the illithid
s. It is not known what they referred to themselves as. In ages past on the planet Pharagos, they had an advanced and peaceful civilization, but the invasion of the illithids led to the enslavement of the entire race. Only a few indescribably ancient ruins of their civilization remain on Pharagos, with little evidence of the nature of their culture.
A small remnant of the all but extinct forerunner rootstock—the descendants of thralls that never managed to escape from slavery—still dwell on Penumbra, the abandoned artificial world created as a capital by the illithids at the height of their vast empire. They are all that remains of their race from before the rebellion led by Gith
. Having reverted to barbarism after the fall of the illithid empire, they retain little knowledge of their own past. Pharagos, the original home planet of the forerunners, has little evidence of their ever having been there aside from a few ruins, and the planet's current inhabitants know nothing of their world's past role in the history of the gith races or the illithid empire.
Pharagos is a lightly populated Earth
-like world, it has three continents and numerous chains of islands. The one remarkable feature of this world is the presence of an immense petrified corpse of a god previously worshiped by the Forerunner civilization before it was crushed by the illithid empire. A vast stony column of forgotten beliefs, it is buried deep in the ground. The current inhabitants of Pharagos have no knowledge of the planet's past, the illithid empire's rule over Pharagos and the origin of the gith races on this world are lost to history. They are unaware that the source of mystical power for their numerous cults comes from the presence of the dead god under their land.
Campaign setting
A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place...
for the Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
, written by James Wyatt
James Wyatt (game designer)
James Wyatt is a game designer and a former United Methodist minister. He works for Wizards of the Coast, where he has designed several award-winning supplements and adventures for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game...
. Though the setting was never expanded and published into a fully detailed setting, it did make an appearance as a three-part feature in DRAGON
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
, DUNGEON
Dungeon (magazine)
Dungeon Adventures, or simply Dungeon, was a magazine targeting consumers of role-playing games, particularly Dungeons & Dragons. It was first published by TSR, Inc. in 1986 as a bimonthly periodical. It went monthly in May 2003 and ceased print publication altogether in September 2007 with Issue 150...
, and Polyhedron
Polyhedron (magazine)
Polyhedron was a magazine which started out as the official publication of the RPGA . Publication began in the year 1981, and the target audience was players of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game...
.
The Forerunners
In the Incursion d20 minigame, forerunner is the term used to refer to the human ancestors from which the githyankiGithyanki
The githyanki are a fictional humanoid race in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. They are cousins to the githzerai. In the Dark Sun setting, they are simply called gith...
and the githzeri
Githzerai
The githzerai are a fictional race of creatures in the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons.Githzerai are extraplanar humanoid creatures that reside on the Plane of Limbo.-Publication history:...
are descended, before their race was enslaved and altered by the illithid
Illithid
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, illithids are monstrous humanoid aberrations with psionic powers. In a typical Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting, they live in the moist caverns and cities of the enormous Underdark...
s. It is not known what they referred to themselves as. In ages past on the planet Pharagos, they had an advanced and peaceful civilization, but the invasion of the illithids led to the enslavement of the entire race. Only a few indescribably ancient ruins of their civilization remain on Pharagos, with little evidence of the nature of their culture.
A small remnant of the all but extinct forerunner rootstock—the descendants of thralls that never managed to escape from slavery—still dwell on Penumbra, the abandoned artificial world created as a capital by the illithids at the height of their vast empire. They are all that remains of their race from before the rebellion led by Gith
Gith
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Gith is the fictional leader of the thrall rebellion that toppled the illithid empire thousands of years in the past, and founder of the githyanki and githzerai races.-History:...
. Having reverted to barbarism after the fall of the illithid empire, they retain little knowledge of their own past. Pharagos, the original home planet of the forerunners, has little evidence of their ever having been there aside from a few ruins, and the planet's current inhabitants know nothing of their world's past role in the history of the gith races or the illithid empire.
The Planet of Pharagos
In the Incursion d20 minigame, Pharagos is described as the lost homeworld of the Forerunners.Pharagos is a lightly populated Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
-like world, it has three continents and numerous chains of islands. The one remarkable feature of this world is the presence of an immense petrified corpse of a god previously worshiped by the Forerunner civilization before it was crushed by the illithid empire. A vast stony column of forgotten beliefs, it is buried deep in the ground. The current inhabitants of Pharagos have no knowledge of the planet's past, the illithid empire's rule over Pharagos and the origin of the gith races on this world are lost to history. They are unaware that the source of mystical power for their numerous cults comes from the presence of the dead god under their land.