What if, when you dreamed, you dreamt of some place real? That is the Ring of Telan, the world of Phenom. Telan isn’t merely a dream world – it’s a very real and vibrant world on its own. It’s a world on the brink – on the bring of war … on the brink of adventure … on the brink of the next Dark Season … on the brink of falling apart and drifting off into the void of space.

The World of Phenom

The world of Phenom is not merely a planet. It is a ring of planetoids circling the enormous fiery ball of plasmid … well that’s just it. No one is quite sure what the center of the ringworld is made of. It is so large that even its relationship to the Ring of Telan is a matter of debate. A thick cloud of Ether reaches up from the fiery surface to keep the planetoid ring in place. Its rotation pulls the planetoid fragments with it, marking night and day.

The Ring of Telan is unique among the planets in the Amar system. Arcanists from The Goshen Academy and The Institute of Greater Goshen have observed other planets in the Amar system. Each is unique unto itself, but differs from Telan in one significant way. They are all solid planets. Moreover, the gaseous planets are not fiery like Telan’s core.

The other big difference Arcanists have noted are the Satélites. The Ring of Telan has no Satélite of its own. Every other planet Arcanists have observed does, however. Some have more than one. These Satélites are locked in orbit around their planets just as their planets orbit Amar.

These observations have informed some key theories about the Ring of Telan.

Creation

The question of where the Ring of Telan comes from is heavily debated in Arcanist circles. One major theory, informed primarily by the observation of other worlds, is that the core of the Ring of Telan isn’t a core at all. This theory says that it is a sun, like Amar. 

One theory, put forth by the Goshen Academy, is called the Enxofre theory. It states that one or more planets attempted to orbit around a second sun, Enxofre. The tidal pull between Amar and Enxofre pulled these planets apart, forming the planetoid fragments. Moreover, Amar affected Enxofre itself, causing the sun to expel its mass in a Cataclysm. The Ether emanating from the solar remnant of Exofre kept the planetoid fragments in place, and life eventually formed. 

A competing theory comes from the Institute of Greater Goshen. Called the Cataclysm Theory, it states that the Ring had a different origin. To begin, the fiery plasma ball at the center of the ring is not like Amar at all. It is a part of Telan itself, namely the core of Telan. Part of the basis of this theory is that Ether does not emanate from Amar and that when Ether gets too close to Amar, it appears to dissipate. 

These Arcanists believe that Telan was once a large planet, solid and whole, with a fiery Ether core. Some cataclysm caused the world to break apart from its core, with the Ether holding the fragments of the world in place. 

Geography

The geography of the Ring of Telan, spread across uncounted planetoids, or Isles, is varied. One Isle will be covered with a lush jungle. The next may be a vast desert land. Not far will be a miniature world of molten lava flows and an Isle of ice-capped mountains above it. In addition, some Isles combine biomes, as though two separate, very different planetoid fragments fused together. 

While this geography may seem chaotic, human habitation follows a logical pattern. The Territories make up the bulk of the Ring of Telan, with towns and cities forming on isles that support agriculture, ranching, mining, and steam industry. The spiraling ring is capped on one end by the great Goshen City – a mega city that sprawls across multiple isles – and the Far Reaches on the other. On the outer edge of the Ring lies the Fringe, smaller, unstable isles where Fringers mine Ore.

Phenom, the Table Top Role-Playing Game

Phenom blends fantasy, steampunk, and isekai. Your character may be from Earth, either dreaming into Telan or perhaps finding yourself truly there. Characters can also be from the world itself, having to deal with not only the dangers of the world you live in, but strange interlopers who keep asking “where’s the vending machine?”

We’re currently developing the Phenom TTRPG. The game uses its own system for storytelling, character development, and magic. As you can imagine, it’s a process. The core of the game and the world are in place. We’re currently putting together test materials, fleshing out more of the setting, and applying tweaks from Alpha-testing that we performed at MomoCon in 2024 & 2025.

Keep up with developments by subscribing to the website. If you want early peeks, however, consider becoming a Supporter. You can do that by Subscribing here on the website or join me on Patreon.