Interesting info about celestials

[Memnoch]

Courtesy of Isidore, a sea elf scholar from Ossa. Long, but very interesting - if you want to know a bit more about those things you're summoning.


There are seven types of aasimon, six of which are actually likely to be encountered by a berk in his lifetime. The seventh, the mighty solar, are each so powerful that only the most powerful of the greater powers is able to create one, since they are without almost without question the most powerful servants of goodness and light that exist in the multiverse. Those solar that do exist serve mostly on the Chronias, the Seventh Heaven of the Holy Mount. The process to create a solar is extremely draining for deity doing the fashioning. A sole planetar, from the hordes and hordes of worshippers, is selected by the deity. The planetar is then instructed to fly into one of the suns of Chronias, at the very top of Mount Celestia. While in the center of the sun, the planetar both receives all the essence of law and goodness from the Holy Mountain while giving it out at the same time as the blinding light of the sun, acting as a living battery and replacing the sun for a brief period of time. After an hour of this, enough to drain the most powerful proxy of law and goodness, the deity infuses the planetar with a portion of its divine essence. As the planetar falls from the sun, drained of all emotion and feeling, it is shaped by the essence of the Holy Mount and its deity into a solar. After a very brief resting time, the solar is ready to serve its power with all the zeal it can muster. Because of this intense creation process, the nature of solar does not seem to include the ideas of 'disobedience' and 'free will' within them. However, chaotic solar have been known to serve the gods of the Greek Pantheon from time to time. It's unknown whether there is more than one way to create a solar, although it makes sense that different gods would have different ways to create these powerful servants. Invariably, however, these solar have either died or simply vanished from the view of mortals, passing on to the most guarded areas of Arborea in their deities' realms. It's said that only a single planetar has proven unworthy during this promotion process. As it fell from the sun of Chronias, burned by the most pure essence of the Seventh Heaven, it became a twisted mockery of the being that it once was. Upon its destruction on the sea of Lunia, it created a large crater in the middle of the sea. The Crater of the Fallen Sun remains still; it is an area of ill omen and dread to the zoveri and the fishermen of Heart's Faith, and dark creatures are said to swim near in the waters near it.

The cliché that the solar are great enough to be gods is true. Perhaps lesser and intermediate powers actually do have the ability to create these mighty servants, but choose not to for fear of being usurped by their servants in the eyes of their followers. Luckily, the solar are either incapable of disobedience or humble to the extreme in the service to their deity. In any event, the solar are not common in any sense and will most likely remain unseen to the eyes of mortals.

The deva are the 'angels' that the wide-eyed Primes often look for upon reaching the Planes, and they're a powerful force for good in the hands of their powers. For some reason, these same Primes seem to think that they'll see them drinking with fiends, but that just isn't the case. Deva are rarely seen just sitting about, and serve as proxies of their powers on missions outside of their power's realms. Those deva that are seen sitting about and not working for their power, like Ziporath the Digger of the Fated, are devas who have somehow fell from the grace of the heavens. The deva are promoted from agathinon and petitioners by endowing the promotee with a small portion of their deity's essence, nowhere near as large as the amount spent in the creation of a solar. The essence serves as a deva's "spark", if one will. The "spark" is the very essence from their power that gives them their powers and identity as a deva.

There are three variety of deva, each of which is created by a power when they have need for a particular type of servant. The movanic deva are often sent to the Prime Material plane as messengers and omens to the worshippers of their deity. They also lead petitioners that are resurrected back to the Prime Material plane. They are created from particularly worthy agathinon or light aasimon, but this is completely dependent on their power's will. Petitioners have been known to be promoted to deva status. Outside of the more lawful planes, the powers promote their followers with little regard to the way that it's done on Mount Celestia (as detailed on the back of the Mount Celestia map in Planes of Law - the editor).

The monadic deva carry out their power's will in the Elemental Planes. Since the Elemental Planes are places where only a few major events will concern the average power, they are much rarer. However, Egyptian powers that reside on the Inner Planes such as Geb and Shu are known to have far many more monadic deva than astral deva in their service. Also, powers have been known to aid the archomentals of good throughout the Inner Planes in their struggles against the Princes of Elemental Evil. The monadic deva are usually created from movanic deva in the more lawful planes, but in the more chaotic planes they are created from whatever is available as needed.

The astral deva, named so because they use the Astral Plane to travel to the Lower Planes and beyond. A few of them take up residence on the Astral itself in a place called Deva's Rock, which serves as a place for Astral travelers to relax from the horrors that the plane holds for the unread. The majority of them, however, are the emissaries of their powers in the Lower Planes, smiting the forces of evil with their powerful maces. They are horrible to behold, for they are the only members of the aasimon that actively travel to the Lower Planes to bring justice to evil. It's said that the astral deva are promoted from monadic or movanic deva on the more lawful of the Upper Planes and that astral deva are promoted from a power's followers whenever need on the more chaotic of the Upper Planes. The creation of the astral deva is one that causes anyone within thirty feet of the new deva experiences extreme emotions related to the power's sphere of influence. For example, those near a deva of Tyr might feel the need to bring justice to the undeserving. These emotions last a week for each power level of the deity (lesser gods instill the feeling for one week, intermediate for two weeks, and greater gods inspire this feeling for a full three weeks). During that time, those affected act as living ambassadors for the message of the god that created the astral deva.

The final variety of aasimon that I shall discuss, though not the most powerful, are the planetar. The planetar are far more common than solar, probably because they are not as powerful. Of course, that doesn't mean that the planetar are thick throughout the planes; they're just more common than the solar, which doesn't say much. Lesser and intermediate gods seem more willing to create the planetar than the solar, because the planetar do not have the awesome power to eclipse them in the eyes of their worshippers. However, the planetar often serves as High Proxies, being the source that followers look towards to dispense the wisdom of their power. They also have been known to lead Upper Planar armies in battle against the enemies of their power. They are created on the lawful planes from worthy astral deva. On the chaotic planes, they are created from whatever of the power's servants has been worthy to receive the form of planetar. The process of creation of a planetar is one almost as draining for a power than that of creating a solar. Of course, only the powers of Mount Celestia are said to use this method. The planetar-to-be is cast into the sea of Lunia where it stays for a hundred and one days soaking in the essence of the seas of the plane. After a hundred and one days, their power imbues them with a small portion of its divine essence, as is the key with all promotion rituals of the aasimon. When they emerge, they have been transformed by the seas of the Mount Celestia into their new forms: those of green-skinned humanoids with large golden wings and crystal-clear blue eyes. They emerge from the sea willing to serve whatever desires that their power may have.

[Lucifer Lord of demons]

Awsome Mem!!!
Great job!!!
How do you do it?!?

(.) (.)
|
( )_____(wow!!!)

But if solars are greated as good things how can their be a fallen sollaar in...spoiler...the throne of bhaal...spoiler...did mellissan create it?

[ 02-08-2002: Message edited by: Lucifer Lord of demons ]

[Azred]

How ironically hilarious that Lucifer should be asking questions such as "how can someone so good become fallen?".

[Memnoch]

quote:

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Originally posted by Lucifer Lord of demons:
But if solars are greated as good things how can their be a fallen sollaar in...spoiler...the throne of bhaal...spoiler...did mellissan create it?

[ 02-08-2002: Message edited by: Lucifer Lord of demons ]

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Some of the celestials have even been spurned by their brethren: having turn from law to chaos or chaos to law or even from good to evil. Cast out from their brothers for their unthinkable actions, they sometimes go off peacefully on their own. Others plot their revenge. And the vengeance of an angry celestial is something that nobody wants to come down upon them.

[DJG]

How...........
Where...........
When..........
How............

How do you get all this stuff Memnoch and where do you get it?

Whoa now i get the bit about moderators spending a large part of their spare time...thanks 4 the talk, i didnt know what the hell a celestial was untill i read the first line..

[Memnoch]

quote:

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Originally posted by DJG:
How...........
Where...........
When..........
How............

How do you get all this stuff Memnoch and where do you get it?

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Trade secret. Though Google *is* a great tool.

I've told you about the aasimon; here's some more useful info about some other celestials. Let me know if you want any more detail and I will try and provide.

Aasimar - Born of the Heavens, the aasimar are as varied as their parents in their methods of goodness... or otherwise. They are mortal, but with the blood of a celestial (the opposite of tieflings, which carry the blood of the Lower Planes).

Quesars - Originally created by the mighty aasimon to be radiant, free-thinking beings infused with life and an unshakable desire to uphold the cause of good, these celestials have since rebelled against the role of servitors to the aasimon and have chosen to walk their own paths of goodness. The elflike quesar are indeed formidable, almost suicidal Warriors of Heaven, but they fight evil on their own terms - not the aasimon's or anyone else's. A quesar thinks nothing of wading into a pack of fiends, using its radiant halo and burning touch to incinerate evil even as it’s being dragged down by fiendish talons.

Archons - Paragons of vitue from Mount Celestia, the archons make it their duty to protect their plane and all those in it who are innocent and free of evil. Their virtuousness is signified by the metal they wear, which parallels the layers of the Holy Mount itself.

Asuras - Fallen from grace, the asuras are creatures cast out by the lawful powers of Mount Celestia that end up wandering the Planes in search of good acts to commit. Former archons or aasimon who still follow the tenets of good but failed to uphold the rule of law, and with their feet bent and deformed on their way down from the Holy Mount, the asuras are those that have been given the divine powers of Celestia and been found lacking. As such, they're usually mentally unstable at best, percieving themselves as saviors of the multiverse.

Eladrin - Freethinkers. Artists. Musicians. The eladrin epitomize that which is Arborea; goodness unchecked by law, but hindered by carelessness and irresponsibility. Native to Arborea, the eladrin revel in the natural beauty of their plane, and assist those who fight in the name of goodness and freedom against the depradations of evil. They believe in the freedom of the individual to choose their own path, and constantly counter the works of the fiendish races against the mortal races.

Guardinals - Purest good, the guardinals of Elysium are free of the shackles of law and can maintain a focused mind free of courage. The most vigilant in the fight against evil, they serve as grand Upper Planar chessmasters, moving their pawns around on the board towards their goal of ultimate victory. Easily mistaken for beautiful, muscular humans at a distance, up close the native race of Elysium shows their heritage - each one displays different animal traits, whether a mane of fur or a beak-like nose. Few in number and seldom unhappy, they're rather peaceful - until they leave their homes. Then they actively seek out evil to confront, and woe betide the errant fiend caught in their path.


And here's some interesting stuff about fiends (people always seem to find fiends interesting ):

Baatezu (Devils) - The scheming baatezu of Baator operate within their own set of convoluted laws, using their rigid structure to aid them in the neverending Blood War against the Tanar'ri. They hope to corrupt mortals through the more intellectual evils, and thus gain more followers and greater power.

Tanar'ri (Demons) - In the infinite layers of the Abyss, where others endure countless torment, the tanar'ri thrive. Driven not by doctrines but by base instinct, they tempt their mortal pawns into the physical vices. These mortals usually eventually end up in the Abyss as tanar'ri themselves, forced to join the wave after endless wave sent at the baatezu to win the Blood War.

Yugoloths (Daemons) - This third, and most ancient, major class of fiends (the baatezu and tanar'ri complete the triad), the 'loths are the despicable mercenaries of the Blood War. They'll work for whoever pays more, the baatezu or tanar'ri, and then betray them to the other side for even more jink. Some, however, suspect that there's a pattern to their betrayal, that they're more than just the hired help. They seem to benefit out of the Blood War more than anyone.

Slaadi - Hailing from Limbo, these giant bipedal frogs seek to change the established order of the planes in order to bring themselves to power. Unfortunately, they lack the discipline and order necessary to create the necessary armies, so they content themselves with scavenging the fields of the Blood War.

Tieflings - Similar to both the genasi and the aasimar, tieflings are also half-breeds of the planes. But where genasi evoke curiousity and aasimar bring smiles, tieflings bring fear, distrust, and hatred, even from others of their own kind. These fiend-blooded ones can't easily be mistaken for a human, as their heritage shows through too plainly, in some way. No two are alike, and they like that just fine.


Ever heard of these two very rare races of planars? They're not quite celestial, and not quite fiend either.

Rilmani - The rarest of the planar species, the rilmani make their homes in the Outlands, at the base of the Spire above which Sigil floats, and Balance is their watchword. They wander the planes, ensuring that the proper balance is maintained between the forces of Law, Chaos, Good and Evil. Without balance, they claim, everything would cease to exist.

Modrons - The orderly modrons are irrevokably tied with their home plane, Mechanus. One likely would not exist without the other. They are an odd mixture of metal and flesh, creature and machine. They have a unique caste system where each rank only recognizes its own rank, those immediately above, and those immediately below as modrons, and the others might as well not exist.

[ 02-11-2002: Message edited by: Memnoch ]