Myrioi

[ Myrioi ] [ Aura | Avenger | Epariti | Demiourgoi ]

Myrioi

The Perfect Daughters; the Silver Sisters; the Unswayed; the Epariti; the Avengers; the Aurae; the Arcadian Einheriar

Myrioi	Description	CR
Aura ‡	Cobalt blue promoters of weather cycles	4
Avenger	Mithril silver defenders of the Peaceable Kingdoms	7
Epariti ‡	Black and white defenders of Arcadia	10
Demiourgoi ‡	Council of leadership by consensus	4 or 7

Home Plane: Arcadia

Lawful Good holy warriors, a squadron of myrioi are a sight you should hope you’ll never see in Arcadia—for when they’re on the warpath they are an implacable, unstoppable force of blazing silver glory. The myrioi are an outsider race who are born when the spirits of particularly fervent paladins or champions of righteousness are selected by the psychopomps for an afterlife of duty in the armies of Arcadia.

Philosophy

Chant goes there are 10,000 myrioi (MIRRY-oy) at any one time. They are a sorority of silver-skinned warriors, who are ever-ready to take up arms and defend Arcadia from threats. There are three sisterhoods of myrioi, but frankly like many things Arcadian the uniformity they take such pride in maintaining means they can be hard to tell apart. Despite appearances, the myrioi are all individuals with unique names and they seem to recognise one another with no problems. Myrioi are monochromatic, with skin that looks like polished metal, and their wings are so sharp they could cut glass. They are definitely flesh-and-blood though, not constructs or automatons as some berks assume. Some graybeards believe their gleaming plate mail is somehow a part of their bodies. That seems strange to me though, like they are some kind of humanoid beetle? My guess is that it’s just the same colour as their skin. At the very least, being prepared for battle seems to be something of a religious devotion for these beings, and it seems nobody’s ever seen one of these bloods out of their armour.

Law serves Good, Good serves All

—Myrioi maxim

The avenger myrioi, for example, are the living embodiment of cooperation, and their deadly dance is one of choreographed blades, geometrically impeccable combat manoeuvres, and mathematically honed tactical nous. Law in fluid motion, if you will. Watch them fight sometime and you’ll see what I mean—they move like parts of a single organism, each myrioi perfectly synchronized with her sisters. They’ve surrendered personal desire completely to serve the greater pattern that individual ambition simply doesn’t seem to exist for them. They are also steadfast in the defence of their sisters, and their plane. A myrioi has never been known to be bribed, corrupted, or to turn stag on their kind.

Myrioi can be simultaneously your most reliable ally and your most frustrating obstacle, depending on which side of the law you’re standing. They’re friendly enough, when they’re not fighting, but like day and night in Arcadia they are very black-and-white in their thinking, with no room for shades of gray. Basically, if you’re not with them, you’re against them. Myrioi speak with absolute certainty, move with symmetrical precision, and show real concern for others—but they can only act in defence of the plane when their orders allow. Their thoughts are as alien as any fiend or slaadi’s, just pointed in a different direction. Where other outsiders embrace chaos or corruption, these bloods have achieved such harmony that concepts like hesitation, doubt, and remorse simply don’t seem to exist in their mental vocabulary. This makes them frustrating to reason with, and hard to fast-talk or persuade.

The three sacred sisterhoods of the myrioi are each assigned to protect a particular aspect of Arcadian culture. The aurae are defenders of the natural beauty of Abellio; the avengers are protectors of the Peaceable Kingdoms of Buxenus; and the epariti are fierce warriors who devote their existence to defending the sanctity of Arcadia from invasion. The myrioi are guided by a council of their peers called the demiourgoi.

A Few Words about Valkyries

Observant bloods might well notice that the myrioi and valkyries seem to have rather a lot in common. Apart from the obvious law/chaos diametric opposition thing, of course. They’re both legions of female spirit warriors. They’re champions of their planes and defenders of petitioners. They seem to be created by the plane itself from worthy petitioners. Fact is, nobody’s really sure whether they are related—but it seems likely they have been cut from similar cloth, at least. There are even unfounded tales spread by the likes of Magnum Opus that the myrioi in fact originated from valkyries who grew weary of the futility of endless struggle and violence of Ysgard, and set out to find a philosophical home that better suited their mindset. Whatever the truth in that, the myrioi seem to be very at home in Arcadia now—in fact, they’re rarely encountered off the plane at all.

Aurae

Wind Nymphs

Home Plane: Arcadia — Abellio

The first legion of the myrioi are the aurae. They embody the cyclical nature of Arcadia—its predictable weather patterns, its bounteous fields, and its symmetrical landscapes. The aurae are mainly found in the perfect pastures of Abellio, where they live in pastoral hilltop communes shrouded by fog, at the bottom of Arcadia’s perfectly circular cenote lakes, or in cloud castles which rotate around the Orb of Light and Day. Aurae are rarely seen by planewalkers, for they can move through the waters without making waves, flit unseen through the clouds without casting shadows, and dart between fog banks without stirring up the wind—when they so wish. They can also create rainclouds, windstorms and lightning, when it is the right time for them.

The Storm Kings call these beings the ‘wind nymphs’, and treat them as valued servant-subjects. When a Storm King determines the weather in Arcadia should change, they send a missive to the aurae—this might be a flock of doves, or a whisper on the wind, or a message in a bottle cast into the river. The aurae ensure the wisdom of the Storm Kings is enacted, and the sacred patterns of Abellio are maintained. With their powers over air and water, the aurae nurture the perfect gardens, labyrinthine hedge mazes and glittering fountains of the layer.

Although the aurae focus mainly on the rivers, land and skies of Abellio, they are not defenceless when Arcadia herself is threatened. While their sister myrioi the avengers provide the military muscle to stand against invaders, the aurae play their part by manipulating the environment of the plane to cast invaders into cloying fog, drench them with freezing rain, buffet them with fierce winds, or strike them down with lightning.

More chant on the aurae here…

Avengers

The Unswayed

Home Plane: Arcadia — Buxenus

While other celestials might serve particular powers directly, the avengers serve law itself. They answer to the collective legal codes of Arcadia—and you’d better believe they know all the laws of their plane inside and out. This makes them incredibly reliable (some would say predictable) allies and occasionally frustrating to work with, since you can’t appeal to divine authority to change their minds. Avengers ensure that treaties and covenants between the Peaceable Kingdoms are enacted honourably, they enforce the will of the courts, and its punishments, and they they protect the innocent petitioners of the plane.

The Avengers are stationed primarily in Arcadia’s military heartland, the layer of Buxenus. When they are not being called upon for righteous missions, the sisters dwell in convent-barracks where they spend their days honing their battle tactics, choreographing new combat skills, and praying. Their chosen deities are powers of society, order, warfare or protection, like Saint Cuthbert, Astjeret, Astraea, Iomedae and Aengrist. Here’s the dark of it, though—the Avengers are actually the reason Buxenus hasn’t slipped over into Mechanus. By staying focused on laws that serve good rather than just order, they keep Arcadia from losing its heart.

More chant on the avengers here…

Epariti

The Perfect Daughters

Home Plane: Arcadia

These bloods are the mightiest of the myrioi, called upon only when Arcadia is in grave peril. Indeed, they are only seen then too; where the epariti actually go when they have not been summoned isn’t clear. Some graybeards reckon they are manifested by the Orb of Day and Night—others think they somehow exist inside it, and fly out in unison when summoned. Still others think that avengers are transformed into epariti by the Orb, in the same way the moon can change some cutters on the Prime into wolves. Or perhaps they dwell somewhere on Nemausus. In any case, the epariti share much in common with other myrioi; they have metallic skin and ornate armour, which they never remove.

The epariti embody the duality of day and night. When they stand in the light, they appear as if they are made from pure white radiant metal, dazzling and crackling with energy. When they stand in darkness however, they instantly transform into a matte black metallic form, absorbing light and moving as if they are the night itself. They have power over light and darkness, although like their philosophy it’s very black and white—either one, or the other. No room for indecision in between, berk.

More chant on the epariti here…

Demiourgoi

Home Plane: Arcadia

The demiourgoi are a council of fifty aura and avenger myrioi, one representative for each of the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia. These bloods act as a loose kind of government for the plane, although they have no real authority to override any laws or make demands of the Kingdoms, Storm Kings or the Powers of the plane. The council is convened whenever a threat to the plane is perceived, prophesied or materialises, and the demiourgoi debate how to deploy the epariti, the elite unit of myrioi whose role is to defend Arcadia. Despite the fancy-sounding title though, demiourgoi are themselves regular myrioi, serving on the council for three cycles before being replaced and returning to their convents. They have the political power of paragons when convened as a group, but individually, they are physically equal to their sisters.

More chant on the demiourgoi here…

Canonical Sources: Monster Manual V [3e] p8-9 (as Arcadian Avenger).

Other Sources: Jon Winter-Holt. Canonwatch: These celestials are homebrew inspired by based on the Arcadian Avengers from 3e (such a lame name!). I have reimagined them as myrioi, who were a group of warriors from the Arcadia in our world. They were tasked with defending the federation of ancient Greek city states from invaders. Thanks Margarita for pointing the Avengers out to me!