The unit of power used in Phoenix Rising is the Pulse, a unit that is roughly equivalent to the amount of environmental power required to cast a cantrip once. A first level spell uses roughly 10 Pulses, and spells of higher level use twice as many Pulses per level (this means that lower-level spells cast as if they were higher-level would charge accordingly.) This does not affect the average caster, but is worth noting when they are interacting with manatech.

Most manatech runs off of Pulses, stored in magical crystals that operate as a sort of rechargeable battery. The conversion rate is not completely efficient, but those with magical talent often make a good sideline as 'battery chargers', renting out their ability to recharge magical items. Some individuals use Drawstones, special conversion units that draw the Pulses they need directly out of the user; mages-in-potentia are often detected by seeing if they can activate a simple prestidigitation-cantrip cleaning cloth or similar domestic object.

While Pulses can be directly used to cast spells, they can also be indirectly used to perform work similar to electricity. A rough conversion rate (for now) is to assume that one Pulse is approximately equivalent to 1000 mAh, the capacity of a typical nickel-cadmium electric battery. (At 1.2 volts, this translates to 1.2 Watt-hours, or 1.2 Watts over a period of an hour, or 4,320 Watts for one second… we can be lazy and say 1 Pulse equals 4 kilowatt-seconds, and call that good enough for now. It means that an appliance that requires 10 KW to run burns 2.5 Pulses per second, or three first-level spell slots every 2 rounds of combat, if you felt particularly silly.)

Ambient magic is the amount of energy drawn from the environment to cast a spell or perform a function. For example, a cantrip only uses 1 Pulse from the end-user (the caster), but also consumes 3 Pulses from the environment. The amount of energy the environment can provide depends on the environment – in a low-mana zone, mana batteries might struggle to perform as they have to do much more work, and recharge slower, while in a high-mana zone, mana batteries last longer and recharge faster.

The following is a condensed version of a lecture one might receive if studying advanced arcanics (a polite way to say “the physics of magic”).

PCF?: An environmental mana level is measured in PCF (Pulses per Cubic Foot). 1 PCF is normal; abrupt changes in this magical 'pressure' can be detected by anyone with proper skills, and scientific equipment can measure this precisely to determine how 'pressurized' the environment is. Burning 100 Pulses of environmental mana in a normal mana area (1 PCF), effectively, creates a dead zone 10 cubic feet by 10 cubic feet in size for 1 round, after which mana stabilizes over time. (Potential arcanists who are fond of fluid dynamics can figure out how this would work in reality, but for gaming abstractions it really doesn't matter most of the time.

Burn Rate?: How much mana is burned from the environment doesn't usually matter unless operating on a mega-industrial scale; it's mostly included for consistency's sakes and because there are pieces of sensory equipment that can effectively determine when a spell is cast by measuring the burn rate compared to the current PCF level. This is otherwise probably mostly fluff.

Failure?: Typically, when someone who is competent at a spell casts it (spells that are part of a trained class), there is no chance of failure except in a dead zone. However, people who don't understand the underlying arcanics behind the magic an item uses, for example, have to check to see if nothing happens.

Backlash?: Characters that are inherently prone to wild surges and similar magical backlashes use this chance instead of their normal chance; otherwise, as above, this is the chance that something will go wrong in a major way when you don't know what you're doing. In addition, when the backlash chance is above 10%, there is a chance equal to 1/10th of the backlash chance of the backlash being catastrophically disastrous for an inexperienced user or wild-surge-prone user, or for a wild surge for normally completely immune individuals, or for a wild surge to spontaneously happen just because. Magic is not a toy, and the understanding of arcanics doesn't encompass every possibility.

Self-recharging items basically utilize an attachment that draws power in slowly from the environment over time. The typical rate of recharge is in Pulses per hour. For example, an item that regains 10 Pulses per hour could cast a first-level spell again after a short (one-hour) rest.

You'll note up above that too much mana, and too little mana, are both considered Very Bad Things. The basic solution for this is to heavily insulate conductive metals, and use them to transmit a constant stream of Pulse, which can be tapped by appliances to effectively generate a normal-mana environment regardless of what's going on outside. However, downed wires can result in heightened mana contamination in the area, which in turn may result in magical accidents.

Aside from providing a consistent environment to cast from, these can effectively provide 'building power' to appliances (in short, the caster -and- environment cost are paid by the wire as long as the connection to the power plant is solid.)

Well… yes and no. Effectively, you are tapping into an extreme-mana source, so you're setting yourself up for disaster of some sort when you try. (You aren't the first student to ask why you can't just hold a live power wire and start throwing fireballs.) There will be pain, there will be burning, and though you can probably grab a wire and cast a quick spell, it has a very good chance of blowing up directly in your face and burning your hand off in the process.

Essentially, machina designed for use in the home is designed to safely handle and convert this massive power source into something that won't kill you. Just as electrical transformers step down electrical voltage, mana transformers step down magical current. This means that while live wires may have a PCF in the thousands, what goes into your house may 'only' be 10 PCF – still enough not to want to stick a finger in a socket, but enough that a properly sized container can disperse this power to a safe level. 10PCF in a 10 cubic foot 'chamber' in the corner of your house = 1 PCF power for your appliances.

At the risk of invoking a trope, it's magical - a wizard did it. It's meant to use mostly consistent rules, without bogging down in fluff unless you really, really wanted to know. In most cases, all you need to know is that some items require 'building power' and don't track power used unless there's a backup crystal or something, and other items require a mana crystal with so much charge in it.

Classes available in 3.5-PR borrow from Pathfinder:

(http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advancedClassGuide/classOptions/index.html)

• Alchemist
• Arcanist
• Barbarian
• Bard
• Bloodrager
• Brawler
• Cavalier
• Cleric
• Druid
• Fighter
• Gunslinger
• Hunter
• Inquisitor
• Investigator
• Magus
• Monk
• Oracle
• Paladin
• Ranger
• Rogue
• Shaman
• Skald
• Slayer
• Sorcerer
• Summoner
• Swashbuckler
• Warpriest
• Witch
• Wizard

Technologies to Know About:

• Mana Crystal: Many inventions of the modern world exist in some form or another in Eio; the biggest difference is that many of them are powered by an anandalite crystal charged with magical energies, which holds a certain number of Pulses based on the crystal's size.
• Drawstone: A device that directly drains Pulses from a user in order to power the operation of the object, a Drawstone is a useful backup feature attached to some items and built into some others.
• Firearms: Yes, this world does indeed use firearms. Essentially, firearms use the Pathfinder Firearms Rules, 'Guns Everywhere' variant, with some modifiers to be added later. Firearms are considered a Simple weapon (anyone can use one), with the exception of certain exotic heavy armaments. Gunslingers gain the Gun Training feature instead of the Gunsmith feature at first level.
• Technology Marches On: The standard D&D equipment list will do for starters, though I will likely be adding things to it, meddling with prices of things due to the joys of mass production, better metallurgy, better living through alchemy, and so forth.

Additional Races:

• Wanderkin: These diminutives look vaguely like a crossbreed between elves and gnomes, given their pointed ears, insatiable curiosity, and generally sunny dispositions, as well as their talents for magic and mischief. They often live nomadic lifestyles, settling only once they have found something they wish to cherish for the rest of their lives.
• Leupaks: These vampiric lizardmen are humanoid in nature (and known as 'citizen leupaks', to differentiate them from various species that are less sociable and civilized), and consume liquids via a muscular clawed tongue that acts as a straw; they prefer blood, but can subsist on other forms of sustenance in a pinch.

Additional Creatures:

• Cybrids: These mechanically enhanced individuals are based on an existing creature that has been subjected to various cybernetic enhancements in the name of science and practicality. Mostly seen only in the big cities, often as custom-grown bodyguards that have received further technomagical enhancements to cover their weaknesses or expand on their strengths.
• Sybacks: These lizardian mounts are used in place of horses by many of the suburban or rural inhabitants of Eio with lesser access to mechanics and wage-mages.
• Sytwones: Winged evolutions of the land-bound sybacks, used for aerial transport over long distances.

Deities Followed:

• To be added…