Faces of Good: The Celestials
Outsiders—the collective name for the natives of the Outer Planes. They’re born of mortal souls, divine mistakes, impossible forges, or just plain up and crawled out of the muck of the plane itself. Each plane has its own perculiar type of being, and often more than one, that calls the place home. And a canny planewalker needs to know their archons from their eladrin, their proteans from their psychopomps, and most definitely, their baatezu from their tanar’ri. But which is which, who, what and why, and wherefore art thou, rilmani? Cutter, you’ve come to the right tout, because I’ve met ’em all* and I’ll lan you the chant on how to spot outsiders, the differences between them, what to call them, and most importantly what not to call them.
—Voilá!
* Not the qlippoth, obviously. Or the obyrith. Alright cutter, I didn’t realise you were keeping count…
And no, nor the kaiju, do I look like a complete leatherhead? Don’t answer that.
A Who’s Who Guide to Celestials
First off, let’s talk about celestials. These are outsiders who belong to the Upper Planes, and by that I mean the five from Celestia to Arborea. (Don’t come for me, Arcadians and Ysgardians, you’ll get your time!) Now they might be all light, but they’re definitely not all sweetness. Each of the Upper Planes has their own flavour of celestial being—eurgh, now I sound like that slaad Xanxost—that embodies the nature of the plane, and then they are further subdivided into different kinds of being based on the philosophical concept they represent So far, so clear? Probably best to delve right into the details…
| MT. CELESTIA | BYTOPIA | ELYSIUM | BEASTLANDS | ARBOREA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archon | Aasimon (Angel †) (*All Upper Planes) | Guardinal (Agathion †) | Animal Lord | Eladrin (Eodath, Azata †) |
Aasimon
Also known as: Angels
Home Plane: Any Upper Plane, any good alignment.
Themes: Angelic beings who embody service, guidance, and redemption. Aasimon typically appear as flawless humanoids, often bearing wings of feather or flame, halos and divine radiant auras. They can be of any good alignment.
Philosophy: Aasimon serve as intermediaries between deities and mortals, prioritising redemption, healing and protection over punitive justice. They operate through persuasion and inspiration, often granting mortals opportunities for redemption. Aasimon may adopt chaotic or lawful leanings, usually depending on the power they represent, but their core identity remains tied to selfless service. They also function as cosmic diplomats and emissaries of divine will, mediating conflicts between powers or other celestial races. Aasimon typically maintain an emotional detachment from mortal affairs, and because of this they can appear aloof. Some graybeards have suggested these hard-working celestials originate from Bytopia, but they spread across the Upper Planes many millennia ago and are now considered to have no particular home plane beyond that of their chosen power.
Paragons: The most powerful of the aasimon are called empyreal lords, or sometimes archangels, and each cutter champions several concept of goodness that they have embodied in their afterlife’s work.
More chant on aasimon coming soon…
Animal Lords
Home Plane: The Beastlands, neutral good alignment, flavoured with chaos.
Themes: Protectors of primal ecosystems, bestowers of totemic wisdom, and paragons of evolutionary perfection.
Philosophy: Idealised examples of specific animal species, the animal lords embody the concept of natural order without ethical judgment. Their preferred forms are as perfect examples of their species, but animal lords will typically adopt the shapes of humanoids when interacting with mortals, and it’s these forms they’re most often associated with. In this case they will have physical features reminiscent of their animal species, but unlike the guardinals, transformed animal lords appear either human enough to pass as humanoid, or animal enough to be convincing as a beast.
Animal lords punish overhunting, overconsumption and ecological exploitation but are indifferent to natural predation within balanced ecosystems. They prefer to communicate through omens, weather and the natural world, and use their shapeshifting abilities to interact with mortals in subtle ways. They are able to control (although they would say persuade) natural animals near them to do their bidding. Animal lords avoid direct involvement in moral conflicts, intervening only when nature’s equilibrium or members of their own species are threatened.
Paragons: Each animal lord is unique, and therefore they are the paragons. It’s thought that there is only one animal lord for each species at a time, but because they are so tricksy with shapechanging it’s hard to be sure. The term ‘lord’ only refers to their status, they can be of any gender. Animal lords also seem to be replaced fairly regularly, as if they are living the natural life cycles of animals. When an animal lord dies, another member of their species assumes the mantle of lord. This might occur smoothly, where the most worthy petitioner is promoted by some mysterious process. But for some of the more aggressive species, when a mighty beast from the Prime dies and their animal spirit reaches the Beastlands, this might even come in the form of a challenge where the victor becomes the new lord of the species.
More chant on animal lords coming soon…
Archons
Home Plane: Mount Celestia, lawful good alignment
Themes: Exemplars of structured order, militaristic discipline, and divine justice.
Philosophy: Archons embody the philosophy that stability and law are prerequisites for lasting peace in a society, and the laws that matter come from divine revelation and religious doctrine. They are varied and unpredictable in appearance, perhaps because their society is organised into militaristic, religious and leadership castes, called Congregations. They proselytise and spread their Good News across the planes through crusade, organised warfare and unyielding adherence to their religious codes of honour. Archons view mercy as secondary to the eradication of evil, though they avoid unnecessary cruelty.
Paragons: Celestia’s society is hierarchical, with the tome archons are at the top of the pile, forming a group of seven rulers of the layers called the Celestial Hebdomad. Other high-ups also exist, such as the empyreal lords who are unique and mighty archons, and possibly an even higher rank of secretive archons called Crowns.
More chant on archons here…
Eladrin
Also known as: Azata†, Eodath, Celestial Eladrin
Home Plane: Arborea, chaotic good alignment.
Themes: Champions of flourishing freedom, rambunctious rebellion, and boundless beauty. Eladrin are often mistaken for elves or fey. This confusion suits them fine, and is understandable, for their entwined history is a complex one and a tale for another time.
Philosophy: Eladrin embody the belief that true goodness flourishes in the absence of coercion. They sabotage tyrannical regimes and nurture mortal artistry, often through whimsical or unpredictable methods. Some eldarin merge this ethos with primal forces, using storms, the land, and music as weapons against slavery and stagnation. Unlike guardinals, they prioritise individual agency over collective harmony, even clashing occasionally with more law-bound celestials. Each eladrin selects a personal style, or Aestetica, which functions a little like an ancestry. Eladrin are incorrigible meddlers, who can’t help themselves but spy on mortals, pull on the strings of fate, and generally Make Things Complicated. While their natural home is Arborea, where they dwell in the forests, deserts, and oceans, eladrin have inserted themselves into the stories of the elves of Arvandor and Olympus of the Greek pantheon too. They also take advantage of the strong connections between the Feywild and the Prime, using the liminal plane as a jumping off point to insert themselves into the affairs of mortals whenever it tickles their fancy. Eladrin are generally considered to be fey creatures by Primes, and Arborean outsiders by planar bloods. If that’s all confusing to you then welcome to the chaotic side of the Great Ring, berk.
Paragons: The most powerful leaders of the race are called tulani, and their Aestetica is one of creative leadership. The tulani are particularly charismatic individuals who embody concepts of freedom and following one’s passions. The rest of eladrin society is (predictably) chaotic and bashers tend to associate themselves with whichever cause takes their fancy at a time. Without the adulation of a sufficient gaggle of cutters, the tulani lose their powers. However, there also exist eladrin who’ve moved beyond this hierarchy and become something truly unique. These bloods are called empyreal lords—and the truly chosen among them are a part of the wandering Court of Stars of Queen Morwell, which spends as much time in the Feywild as it does in Arborea.
More chant on eladrin coming soon…
Guardinals
Also known as: Agathionsâ€
Home Plane: Elysium; neutral good alignment.
Themes: Protectors of harmony and enlightened coexistence.
Guardinals appear as animalistic humanoids, whose personality traits typically embody aspects of the animal’s nature.
Philosophy: Guardinals reject rigid dogma, instead advocating for finding a balance between freedoms and responsibilities. Their animalistic forms reflect their connection to what they see as the primal virtues. The natural state of guardinal society is blissful, but watchful, peace, but they will intervene aggressively against existential threats to their plane, or to mortal communities. They disdain prolonged warfare, favouring swift, decisive strikes. Guardinals also emphasise communal rebuilding post-conflict, distinguishing them from the archons’ focus on pre-emptive discipline.
Paragons: The most powerful paragons of the guardinal race are known as companions, and the most famous of these are the Five Companions, an adventuring party attached to the legendary leonal Lord Talisid.
More chant on guardinals here…
Canonwatch: †from the Pathfinder setting; ‡ Homebrew. Canonwatch: The lore of the celestial races was very much monkeyed around with by successive editions of D&D, generally for the worse in my Planescape-biased opinion, so I’ve made some choices in my head canon to sort this out and integrate Pathfinder lore too. The archons are pretty simple; I’ve just split them into three congregations based on their theme for extra lawfulness and to try and streamline their society a bit. Aasimon (I find calling them angels just a bit icky) are a weird one as they’re any alignment and hard to explain as a coherent single race. I’m tending towards the ‘servants of powers’ angle here although if anyone has opinions I’m all ears. Animal lords are fairly straightforward although distinguishing them from guardinals is important. I’ve tried to emphasise their cyclical and animalistic nature here, whereas the guardinals are very much about personal moral choices, intervention and protection of the underdog. Eladrin are the trickiest one as they were inexplicably morphed from Arborean natives to Feywild natives and then turned into sodding elves by D&D canon. There’s a delightfully salty take on all that on 1d6chan. So we’ve leaned into all of it and embraced the complete chaos it’s left behind… eladrin are any and all of the above as it suits them/the story. Let’s chuck in the ‘azata’ name from Pathfinder and ‘eodath’ from the Manual of the Planes [5e] for extra chaos.
