Archons
Protectors of Mount Celestia and all innocent creatures who are free of the taints of evil and chaos. Archon philosophy typically teaches that it is preferable to enlighten and educate creatures in the right way to live, rather than actively seeking to right wrongs. However, there’s a wing of the Celestial Host who are more militant, and believe in taking the fight to where the sin is happening, in the form of Righteous Crusades.
The race is organised into three Congregations: Crusade, Confession and Compassion, which encompass the three different roles in Mount Celestia: Defending the plane and its ideals, helping to promote the qualities that Celestia stands for, and caring for the beings that call Celestia their home. All of the castes are said to be equally important, although the sly observer will notice that it’s only the Compassionate who get to actually rule the plane. Luckily, archons are a cooperative lot and recognise that without the defenders of the plane and its faith there wouldn’t be anything worth ruling in the first place.
Darker chant talks about crown archons, mysterious beings said to guide even the mighty tome archons.
Here’s the chant on the many diverse kinds of creatures in the archon community…
| Name | Appearance | Purpose | CR [3e, PF1] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Word | A flying glowing bronze-skinned woman, held aloft by a cloud of parchment papers that spread behind her like wings. Each piece of paper has a different rune on it. | Protect the noble concepts such as virtue, goodness and chastity. | 9 |
| Wheel | Among the most terrifying archons to behold, and easily the most difficult for mortals to comprehend, is the wheel archon, so named for its appearance as a flying, armor-plated wheel of fire with eyes on each spoke. | Wheel archons often serve as messengers or harbingers for the armies of heaven, as their stubborn, indomitable natures make them ill-suited for missions requiring diplomacy or tac | 16 |
| Warden | Large humanoid bears with dextrous hands, white silver or gold fur and usually in plate mail armour | Defending the gates of Mount Celestia, also alledgedly scrying on the Prime | 8 |
| Trumpet | Lithe and beautiful, with skin the color of marble, this being hovers upon powerful, white wings and radiates a sense of serenity. | Trumpet archons are messengers, emissaries, and storytellers-embodiments of the virtue of kindness and courage. | 14 |
| Tower [coming soon] | The tower archon is a collosal golden statue with wings of blades. | Towers are formed to create shock and awe in archinic crusades. They are formed from seven legion archons and one sword archon, who are destroyed in the process. | |
| Tome | Tome archons appear as winged humanoids, frequently with the heads of hawks. They carry heavy books of religious law and wear crowns. | The seven tome archons are each rulers of one of the layers of Mount Celestia | 20 |
| Throne | Metal-clad human with golden skin and hair. | Rulers of cities, dominions, principalities and realms on Mount Celestia | |
| Sword | A sword archon appears as a muscular human eight feet in height, with rugged good looks and magnificent feathered wings like a giant eagle’s. It gains its name from its ability to transform its forearms into metal blades sheathed in flame. | Patrol streets of Celestia's burgs and ramparts of the Prime Vallation. They also carry messages from Tomes and powers to lower ranking archons. | 11 |
| Star | Star archons burn with the glory and intensity of a sun, tempered with a cool distance and ancient wisdom. | Embodiments of the virtue of prudence, star archons serve as philosophers and administrators, and in times of war as the tacticians, strategists, and generals of archon armies | 19 |
| Spyglass | Shortish humanoids cloaked in shadow with glowing eyes | Sentinels and spies for the upper planar powers | 3 |
| Sibyl | This winged figure carries a mighty sword and wears robes over its armor. It wears a hood over its head, which cannot conceal that instead of a face it has nothing more than glowing light. | Sibyl archons are the oracles of Heaven, able to draw on the past, present and future to further the causes of law and good. | 11 |
| Shield | Armoured giant with one arm as a sword, the other a shield. Beneath their armour, their skin is steel. | Shield archons defend the fortresses of Heaven against fiendish incursions. | 10 |
| Scroll / Seal [coming soon] | An ornate metal scroll tube, with wings of light, sealed with a wax stamp impression | Scroll or seal archons carry the literal word of powers. Opening the seal without permission may cause the scroll archon to sacrifice itself, causing a burst of force energy. | |
| Ring | A beautiful metal ring set with a jewel, with tiny flittering wings made from light. | A keeper of promises, and can only exist in conjunction with another archon, aasimon or aasimar | 1 |
| Reliquary [coming soon] | Each reliquary archon is unique, but they are frequently carved hollow statuettes depicting pwoers or proxies | Reliquary archons exist to hold and protect the remains of dead powers or proxies. Through the reliquary it is possible to commune with these beings, even if they are deceased or absorbed by the plane. | |
| Preceptor | Humanoid ravens with white robes and glowing eyes | Provide guidance to individuals who are struggling with life-changing decisions | 9 |
| Owl / Wisdom | A wisdom archon appears as a vaguely humanoid owl, more than twice the height of a human. Its plumage is pure white, and a luminous halo surrounds its head. | Patrol the skies, scouts, messengers and spies | 12 |
| Mote | Thousands of golden lights form a cloud, swirling gracefully around one another. Each light in the cloud is a glowing rune no bigger than a thumbnail. | Individually, they are benign and nearly mindless creatures. Swarms of mote archons have a unified personality and a drive to comfort the sick and heal the injured. They are most often found on battlefields tending to injured angels, never hesitating to defend creatures under their care. | 15 |
| Monstrance [coming soon] | Spectacular elaborate frames with emanating rays, which dwell in the holiest of places. | They are able to channel energies directly from powers, to transmute objects and heal the sick, but only have powers while they remain in their sanctified grounds | |
| Legion / Justice | Armoured knights with metallic wings and a flaming blade | Attack troops of heavenly armies, foot soldiers of the Heavens and promoters of peace and justice throughout the multiverse | 7 |
| Lantern | Floating balls of light which can appear as candles, lanterns or will o'wisps | The lowliest of the archons, lanterns are little more than new petitioners, but also serve as infantry and support troops. | 1 |
| Lance [coming soon] | Mounted on flying ki-rin, pegasi or unicorns, the lance archons are knights in full plate armour wielding enormous polearms that give them their names. | The lance archons are the airborne cavalry of Celestia, defending its peaks, skies and seas. | |
| Hound | Powerful muscular humans with hound heads | Soldiers and guardians of the lanterns, Lunia and Mercuria | 4 |
| Horned / Stag | Muscular humans with the head, horns, and legs of a stag | Horned archons are secretive and tireless sentinels and scouts, patrolling the Outer Sphere’s untamed wilds for evil to eliminate and keeping small communities safe from demons, devils, and worse | 4 |
| Harbinger / Herald | A miniature flying metal orrery | Assistants and heralds for greater celestials. Advise mortals on the prime. Sometimes serve as familiars. | 2 |
| Hammer | Stern-looking armoured humanoid with a spiked polearm | Hammer archons are the unstoppable champions of celestial armies, called to fight against paragons of evil and chaos when all hope seems otherwise lost. | 18 |
| Gate | A masked humanoid with wings and armour of gray stone and glowing blue eyes | Stand in silent vigil watching the gates and portals of the planes, especially those to Celestia. | 17 |
| Exscinder | A massive humanoid with burning wings and no mouth | Censors of Celestia, scoring the planes for dangerous and evil texts | 12 |
| Crown [coming soon] | One of seven unique crowns, laurel, thorns, veil, iron, stars, fleur-de-lis and une unknown | The crown archons are advisors to the tome archons, ruling in conjunction with each other. | |
| Codex | A large book with wings of glowing light. | Keeper of Heavenly knowledge | 5 |
| Chalice [coming soon] | An elaborate metal vessel for holding holy water, blessed wine or ambrosia, with metallic feather wings. | The chalice archons are able to bless congregations or armies, bringing good fortune to the faithful en masse. | |
| Censer / Thuribule [coming soon] | An ornate metal vessel pierced with hundreds of holes, for burning incense or perfumes. | Censer archons can be found in holy places in Mount Celestia, where they protect religious sites, ward off evil and can sanctify new grounds. | |
| Bell / Bellringer [coming soon] | Bell archons can appear as a sturdy human with metallic skin and hair, or manifest as a giant brass bell. | Bell archons are only heard in times of strife, where they can sound out warnings, or drive away fiends, or toll to mark the death of a great leader. | |
| Bastion | An enormous rocky figure with four arms and a face of pulsating holy light | Formed in self-defence from nine lantwern and one shield archon. | 20 |
Wait, so Crowns now are advisors to Tomes and not the dubiously existing god-like things?
My (very much non-canonical) take is — sort of, both. I need to spend some time writing this up properly but my idea is crowns archons are still dubiously-existing godlike things (probably hidden away on Chronias), but they manifest a physical crown as a sort of avatar-artefact, which the tome archons can then wear and converse with to receive advice. I’m thinking, an LG creature is hierarchical but also cooperative, so maybe this kind of ruling-in-conjunction thing fits with that vibe. Plus, if a DM disagrees, it’s easy to say the crowns are gods and the tomes wear magic headgear that are unrelated. Plus I have some really cool pictures of crowns to use, and have mined mythology to find crowns that were significant to various cultures. What do you reckon?
Hey, I finally got round to writing up the crown archons…