Phil is your typical nerdy mage. He was raised on a farm before he was discovered by the Ivory Tower as having a very high magical potential. While on the farm, which mostly raised sheep and apples (which explains his preference for cider), but also had cows, the young Phil was often assigned to help watch the sheep and ensure they were safe from predation (wolves were a problem). He'd spend a lot of time looking up at the night sky where his love of astronomy and the night sky began. Even after starting his learning at the Tower, he continued in this interest, turning that, and a growing interest in how magic works, into his major fields of study. He has an older brother who now works the farm (parents deceased) whom Phil visits from time to time to help out. The farm is on land belonging to House Naikl which makes Phil and his brother having fealty to that House.

Even after completing his apprentice training at the Ivory Tower, he hasn't left the area and set out on his own as most other mages do. Instead, he lived, by himself, in student apartments near the Grand Square while doing postgraduate studies in the Astronomy section of the Divination Department as well as some research into magical spells to help the guards in solving crimes. His ambition is to be a powerful Arch Mage some day, using his abilities to explore the Multiverse and discover how it all works and solve all it's mysteries. He is still very interested in the night sky and spends many nights observing and recording the positions of celestial objects. Dabbles in alchemy as well, part of the quest for the Answer of Everything. When not at the Tower, or in his rooms, can often be found in the Great Library. Most of his alchemical research is geared towards the development of glasses for producing better optical lenses as well as experimenting with compounds for tinting and staining glass.

Socially he is rather inept, preferring to be alone with a good book than in the company of others as he finds social situations rather unnerving, the more people around, the worse it gets. He's actually rather shy and awkward around people, especially females whom he considers egotistical and only out for themselves, and will use and then discard as garbage when it no longer suits them - probably because of several rejections in the past ('I wouldn't want to be with you even if you were the last man on earth - loser'). But get to know him better, and he would be a loyal friend.