Phos

Phos is a nation in the Windrose world. It consists of several floating islands which move across the entire world in cycles of roughly thirty years. As such, it does not border any country. However, in 27 AT, the time of Forgotten Indigo, Phos had just passed the nation of Balean, and during 28 AT, the time of Windrose Everlasting and the latest year shown in the setting so far, it is above the nation of Salve.

Phos is notable for being one of the oldest sovereign nations in the Windrose world, and possibly the only one to maintain the same borders and national identity for thousands of years.

### History

At some point, many thousands of years ago, the land that would become the Phos islands was part of a country that would become Petrichor in the modern era. The prevalent philosophy of this nation at the time was that Magic was unnatural, due to it not being something that everyone possessed. Some figures in positions of power took this ideology to its logical conclusion and began rounding up mages and giving them the ultimatum of exile or death, or in some cases, simply death. In response, these mages conducted some sort of ritual that wrenched massive pieces of land from the southern coast of Petrichor and into the sky, giving the mages a place to escape to.

The ascension of Phos had some immediate environmental effects. The underwater kingdom of Gaal was completely destroyed by the resulting tectonic catastrophe brought about by the ascension, and many Gaalinese fled to seas all around the world. Those that remained had to completely rebuild the country from scratch, renaming it Gaal-Bort. Additionally, Phos's ascension cut off the land that would become the nation of Papillon from the continent, and possibly lead to Papillon's current state as an archipelago.

Since then, Phos has continued on a seemingly eternal course around the world, visiting many lands and taking in many new citizens who sought refuge in the floating country. A notable period of immigration occurred sometime in the relatively recent past, when a large organization of Ice Mages in southern Lancea revolted, and upon defeat, the Emperor of Lancea exiled them to Phos, leading to an increase in Ice Magic among Phos's magic demographics.

### Political Structure

Each Phos island seems to act as their own province in some fashion. It is unknown if there is a higher ruling government of Phos, or if each island acts as its own nation and has simply agreed to federate with the others, similar to Windrose. All the Phos island seem open to trade and travel with one another and the outside world, although some, like Xiphos, are harder to reach than others. Additionally, none of the Phos islands have ever gone to war with one another, likely due to the high threat of one of the islands crashing if they were disturbed by mass combat.

The list of Phos islands is as follows:

* Rozephos
* Gyrophos
* Verdephos
* Anephos
* Ygdraphos
* Necrophos
* Chlorophos
* Seraphos
* Moiphos
* Illiaphos
* Xiphos
* Tarlaphos
* Juliphos

The number of named islands on Phos is thirteen. Notable islands include Necrophos, for having at some point been the capital island, although that may not be the case anymore, and Xiphos, for being the home of The Champion of Noctua, as well as the Phos island that is the most understood.

### Culture

Not much is known about the culture of Phos, and it is likely that each island has its own very unique culture, but some broad concepts are known. The architectural styles of Phos are somewhat inspired by Greco-Roman architecture, and it is possible that other elements of Phosite culture also reflect this. Phos is also famous for being very magically advanced, likely due to the vast amount of cultures Phos interacts with over its cycles of travel across the world.

There is a known tradition on multiple Phos islands of lighthouse keeping on the perimeters of every island, both on the tops and bottoms of the landmasses, to help each island keep track of the other.

### Environment

The environment of each Phos island is unique, and each island regulates its own weather through powerful magic, although Xiphos, which floats much farther in the sky than any other Phos island, has a unique set of environmental pressuress that have rendered the island's surface a mostly uninhabitable desert. A draft of an illustration drawn by Siv also shows that some parts of Phos are able to support large amounts of greenery of some sort.