Phaendar Hironimus Draft

• 05 April 2025

The legacy of Phaendar Hironimus Draft was one of genius, leading to a meteoric rise to fame, fortune, and power, before an experimental catastrophe lead to a sudden retreat from society. Certainly, the founder of the Laboratory of Spatial Research and one of the six original founders of Destral had a reputation that was larger than life.

An oil painting of Phaendar, displayed prominently in the halls of his laboratory.

Early Life #

Phaendar Hironimus Draft was born in Phovezila to a middle-income family with a history of spellcraft. He had the privilege of receiving an education, and through it developed an appreciation for the philosophy of studying magic. He had a great deal of difficulty and frustration in actually practicing any arcane paths. Later, he became deeply fascinated by The Ancients, and the history of their destruction in the Ancient Wars several decades prior.

In his youth, Phaendar travelled to the mass burial site of these Ancients, curious as to what knowledge could be gleaned. To his surprise, he learned that he was not the only one with such a curiosity. Instead, he was among a group of pioneers in what soon became a gold rush of scientific progress. A small town of like-minded researchers had already settled in the area, churning through the heap of scrap for valuable items.

After some study, Phaendar excelled in tinkering with the technology of the ancients. This earned him a seat at the table with the fledgling Destral's smartest minds, and in short time, a position of power.

Career #

Early Career #

Phaendar, enraptured by the fact that The Ancients fell from the skies, began by studying the ancient's methods of locomotion and communication. He was fascinated by what means these machines appeared, where they came from, and how they had the ability to coordinate strategically across Legere. In his research, Phaendar was the first to discover the series of sensors the Ancients used to communicate with each other across great distances, and used that as a way to speak with another person from a distance. Of course, such a feat was being performed by practitioners of certain Arcane Paths already, but this was an extraordinary accomplishment for non-magic practitioners.

Founding of Destral #

Soon, Phaendar made a name for himself as a scientific wunderkind. In doing so, he found himself in the company of the brightest scientists and engineers in his field. In time, pressure came for the growing town to form a collective identity and establish itself as a unique city-state. The people sought to elect their smartest minds as leaders, and Phaendar was on the shortlist. He succeeded in securing the approval of the people, and Phaendar Hironimus Draft signed the documents to establish Destral alongside Li Huo, Azalea Abernathy, Caroline Constella, Cyrus Isaac Vandervitch III, and Radium Josiah Radcliff as Founder.

Phaendar established the Laboratory of Spatial Research to continue his studies and develop a cohort of equally-focused students. Incredible scientific progress came as fruits of this establishment, and booming economic progress followed.

Research #

Through the Laboratory of Spatial Research, Phaendar lead and oversaw the research of long-range communication, non-euclidean spaces, pocket dimensions, astrological bodies, and even demiplanes. As Phaendar's team grew in size, he developed the habit of leaving projects half-finished in pursuit of his curiosity; leaving the team on their own to get the research across the finish line. A significant focus of the laboratory was on understanding the space beyond Legere. While Phaendar often delegated this research to prioritize the practical, he always took a near-obsessives focus on interesting findings in this field. Findings about the worlds beyond Legere, to what extent they existed at all, was the stuff of daydreams for Phaendar.

Phaendar was personally responsible for the development of the first stable pocket dimension created without the use of Abjurmancy. This device, in the form factor of a small box, was capable of storing personal belongings for retrieval later.

The continuation of this line of research lead to the development of demiplanes, which Phaendar lead the study of. This involved holding open a non-euclidian area in space for a prolonged period of time, which proved very strenuous. Doing so revealed a completely grey space, dubbed "The Empty Plane", in which a traversable demiplane can be formed.

In a close call that nearly cost a researcher his life, it was discovered that openings in the empty plane contain no air. Should a person be trapped inside with no open doorway, they would quickly suffocate. As such, research into synthesizing breathable air for these spaces was performed and achieved.

Another near-miss almost resulted in the crushing of several researchers. Maintaining demiplanes in the Empty Plane requires carefully fine-tuned measurements; and being off of equilibrium will result in a gradual drift from stability, resulting in an avalanche of space disruption. What this practically meant for the researchers was observing an entire corner of the room collapse, and the room suddenly went from a rectangular prism to a wedge! A researcher was thrown from his location, and they all made a hasty retreat. This incident has lead to the theory that the lowest energy state of the Empty Plane is, well, empty. It would shrink to the tightest space possible around the objects it contains, and, ideally, to no space at all.

These workplace incidents, and several others like them in other areas of research, have been raised. However, Phaendar, as well as the other laboratory founders, did their best to stifle conversation about it.

A major focus of research within the laboratory, towards the end of Phaendar's career, was on the study of teleportation. Teleportation was only achievable by some of Legere's most powerful mages; but Phaendar strongly believed that the Empty Plane held the key to making it accessible to the most common of people. If two doorways could open up to the same space within the empty plane, someone would only have to walk from one doorway to the next to travel a greater distance on Legere. However, this came with significant logistical and safety hazards, particularly around fine-tuned coordinates within the empty plane and concerns around stability. At the time of Phaendar's death, this dream had not yet been realized. Sadly, research on the topic had several setbacks after his death.

Personal Endeavors #

Phaendar had several personal projects, which he kept very secretive; except for to a select few. In the second half of his career, these projects took so much of his time that he would disappear for weeks on end, neglecting many of his duties.

Clockwork Beacons - Puzzle Amulets #

Planar Tower #

Research on The Source of The Ancients #

Phaendar spent extensive work on understanding the source of The Ancients. The mystery of their creation remains unknown to most people; and among those who haven’t spoken to a supernatural being, Phaendar discovered the most. The discovery of text written on the components of Ancients lead Phaendar and his team on a race to decode it. The language and alphabet were totally foreign to Legere. A breakthrough came when his apprentice, Belial Ben Hasid, drew similarities to archaic texts found in his home region of the Kaktis desert, which were historically attributed to the Angels. Phaendar and Belial together used this discovery to translate key texts, finding them to be part information such as hard-light emitor, heat sensor, and the like. Though these translations would seem minor, they allowed other research teams to make significant breakthroughs in certain fields.

Phaendar later used this research to acquire knowledge from an encounter in the empty plane, and Belial later used this research to hunt down an ancient relic. These two endeavours are what caused the pair to part ways.

Shortly after these breakthroughs, Phaendar began to have reoccurring dreams:

Only a select few friends and colleagues knew that these dreams resulted in the catastrophic experiment that stole Phaendar's health. And only Phaendar himself, and perhaps the angels, knows how these dreams began.

Relationships with Colleagues #

It is important to note that the Founders of Destral were chosen because they demonstrated scientific brilliance, and not because they were charismatic, excellent speakers, or even likeable. As such, their personalities, hubris, and social awkwardness's caused clashes between one another. Phaendar was also roughly 10 years the senior of most of the founders, which proved to be a generational divide.

Most notably, Phaendar had a poor relationship with Cyrus Isaac Vandervitch III. Cyrus was known for being harsh and vindictive, and several instances of Destrian political disagreements between he and Phaendar became personal when they aught not needed to be. Phaendar's lofty visions were impractical and unfocused according to Cyrus, who often blocked their progress; for which Phaendar resented him and considered him narrow-minded.

Phaendar's relationships with the other founders were more or less neutral, though strained particularly towards the end of his life. Azalea Abernathy, however, mostly through her own effort, maintained a strong and positive relationship with Phaendar until his death. Azalea was the most gentle of the founders, and Phaendar's constant quiet introspection was appreciated, and vice versa. When Phaendar was severely injured in his failed portal experiment, Azalea and her team provided the best care accessible to him during the final chapter of his life.

Phaendar was supported by his trusted butler, Archibald. Archibald maintained the house, scheduled meetings and events, parlayed in politics, and was Phaendar's closest friend. Unknown to most, Archibald was also a very skilled swordsman, and quietly stood guard if a trespasser ever came to the front door.

In his mid-career, Phaendar felt the need to train a successor, and recruited using three special amulets. His first protégée was Belial Ben Hasid. He and Belial built a promising partnership, bonding over mutual curiosities in the supernatural. Belial was very focused on the Angels, and Phaendar supported his research into their connections with the Ancients. However, in their fifth and final year of working together, Phaendar became concerned that Belial was becoming obsessed. It began as a distraction from other promising areas of research, but grew into a constant and compulsive focus. Belial became obsessed with a relic from the deserts near his home of Siman, to the point of being violent if interrupted. A final confrontation and fight resulted in Phaendar barring Belial from his laboratory and personal studies, sending him on his way to find this treasure alone. ^84d118

Later in his life, a second candidate appeared, by the name of Theodore Perry. Phaendar was excited for a new opportunity and thrilled by the promise he showed, and welcomed Theo into his laboratory. Their partnership was tested but strengthened amidst the failure of the fateful portal experiment. After this trial, the two built a stronger relationship, to the point of Theo succeeding Phaendar as head of the The Laboratory of Spatial Research.