Aestetica of the Eladrin

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[ Aestetica | Paragons | Court of Stars ]

Castes, Promotion and Hierarchy of the Eladrin

Eladrin	Aestetica	CR
Aeolaeka †	Carvers of stone	12
Amori ‡	Lovers	2
Bralani	Desert wanderers	6
Brijidine †	Dancers in flame and lava	17
Coure (Lyrakien †)	Slender gossamer pranksters	1–2
Firre (Raelis †)	Bards and guardians of artistry	10
Gancanagh †	Dashing romantic rakes	4
Ghaele	Secretive knights-errant	13
Goethi ‡	Shadows of the night	8
Kanya † (Lillend)	Inspirers of mortals	7
Laene ‡	Celebrate the underground	11
Litriti ‡	Magic-weavers	13
Mairne ‡	Seventh Sea sailors	5
Noviere (Nualidu †)	Protectors of the waters	5
Prydanu †	Surveyors of skies and waters	16
Shiere	Rangers and monster-hunters	10
Shiradi †	Fighters and athletes	14
Sirocco †	Dancers in fire	8
Thyrlien †	Nighttime moth protectors	4
Tulani	Faerie lords and ladies	19
Uinuja †	Watching over dreamers	15
Veranallia †	Architects of nature	20
Yamah †	Thieves of evil magic	5
Zocteri ‡	Embracers of darkness	17
Paragons	Empyreal lords of the eladrin	20+

“What part of chaotic good you don’t understand, berk? Are you going to ask a tanar’ri what type, class and species it belongs to? Oh, wait, we’re on the Prime, of course you would. I bet you’d even try to summon one as well…

Okay, I’ll elaborate. There are no ‘grades‘ of eladrin. They are ever-so changeable, yes, like the tanar’ri of the Abyss. And like with tanar’ri, those changes are shaped part by the eladrin’s own beliefs, and part by their environment. However, while the demons have to evolve themselves and to lust for power merely to survive in the Abyss, eladrin change to better reflect who they actually are—not to become more powerful, but to become happier, to express their truest form.

Every celestial eladrin is unique—well, so is almost any creature bar the occasional modron clone army, but with eladrin this is more apparent than most. Eladrin pride themselves on expressing their own different looks, powers and personalities. But—again, same as the demons—this doesn’t mean there aren’t similarities between them. In fact, most of the race can fit in one category or another. As is their wont, the Fraternity of Order have neatly boxed them up them into kinds and types, just like they do with other planar races. But I personally would call them different aesthetics. Eladrin themselves use the fancier word Aestetica—but most of them just argue that this categorisation nonsense is meaningless to everyone but the most obsessive of graybeards. The aestetica have been divided by others into ‘lesser’ and ‘greater’, but this division doesn’t reflect their standing the eladrin society or even power level. While the ‘greater’ eladrin might sometimes be stronger than ‘lesser’ bashers, this strength comes from their choice of aesthetic, not the other way around.

So what are Aestetica? Well, while they often coincides with magical powers, it’s not a race, it’s not a form and it’s not a job. It’s more like an approximation, a theme, or a set of shared traits that eladrin prefer. Over time, eladrin may shift their Aestetica or even find a way to merge a few of them together. If they cannot find one that fits, they might invent a new one—and sometimes create a new trend or even something long‐lasting. Some eladrin just renounce Aestetica altogether. After all, every eladrin is unique.

Now let me lann you the chant about some of the most common Aestetica—the majority of all eladrin you’ll find will likely belong to one of those listed here…

Aestetica of the Eladrin

Source: Margarita, loosely based on Monstrous Compendium Planescape Appendix II [2e]; Book of Exalted Deeds [3e]; Bestiary 2 [PF1e]; Monster Core [PF2e]; Jon Winter-Holt