Court of Stars
It is said that in all the four kingdoms, no place is more full of sorrow or joy than the Court of Stars. There dwells Realta, who wears a dress of shimmering motes of light, whose hair is as fire and the darkness of night, whose sword is a ray of moonlight, whose consorts weave the threads of destiny and rage with the desert's fury and the heavens' wonder.
The Court of Stars is a sworn order as well as a place. Every Celestial who remains true to their oath, who stands watch over the night and all the Four Kingdoms, who guards against the dangers of the Hungry Dark and keeps true to their queen, is part of the Court of Stars.
Structure
The hierarchy of the Court of Stars is fluctuating and ephemeral. Decidedly, Realta is in charge, and each member of the court pays obeisance to her. Beyond that, occasionally a formal title will be bestowed upon a favored champion or proven leader, but most of the time these titles are simple accolades and don't formally establish who is in charge of whom.
Roughly speaking, however, receiving any kind of title places you somewhere in the hierarchy. The Court of Stars is not an inherently lawful or organized group, relying on the goodness and determination of its members to inspire them to work together. This lack of formal discipline is part of why some stars fall to earth or forsake their posts--but Realta cherishes this freedom. It sets her champions apart from the mindless and uniform armies of the Kingdom of Shadows.
Culture
Every Celestial is instilled with an inherent appreciation for the value of life. Like the Seelie court of Fey, they cherish beauty in all its forms, but unlike the flighty fairies the Court of Stars takes their duties seriously. They are the vanguard of the Four Kingdoms, standing watch along the walls of creation, a light in an infinite darkness, a bulwark against the greedy and ravenous, a beacon of hope to the lost and weary.
While on duty along the firmament, members of the Court are solemn sentinels. When they return to the delights of their queen's court, they restore their spirits through rest, recreation, and delighting in the beauty and joy of life.
Public Agenda
To defend the Four Kingdoms against the Hungry Dark, and to rescue those stranded within its infinite hunger.
History
Though the Court of Stars did not formally exist until after the Descent of The One Flesh, the seeds of its origins were planted long before, when Erecura died at the hands of Uzhul. Realta, daughter of Vindur and Li-Ban, grieved as she guided the Pearl Moon across the celestial lights of the sky. Her father panicked and allowed his fear to feed his cruelty. Li-Ban raised the seas in wrath against the resurgent Infernals. Realta watched from the very heights of the Firmament, above the Sky Kingdom and the Endless Oceans.
Realta sent her light down to sooth and comfort the wretched mortals, reaching out with her power to help where she could--but the Infernals hounded her, just as they hunted Zeilar the Sunrider, seeking to seize the Pearl Moon and devour its light. Great winged shadows and hungry Fiends pursued her. In defense of her charge, she honed her skills for combat, striking them down with cold bolts of light.
All this time, she contemplated the fate of Erecura and of the Four Kingdoms. A fateful visit from the Dokkalfar Sage in 6862 set the genesis of the Court of Stars in motion. The Sage bore news of a terrible hunger, a nightmare from beyond the Hungry Dark, following the scent of Erecura's blood through the emptiness.
The details to follow are lost in the mists of time, but it is clear that Realta began preparations shortly after this meeting. She knew that danger was coming, and any efforts she made to rouse her father Vindur from his campaign of conquest were in vain. His only response was to redouble his efforts, determined to fortify the Sky Kingdom so no foe would dare enter from above or below.
As Ramius abandoned the mantle of responsibility to study the secrets of the Emerald Tablets, so Realta the Pearl Keeper turned herself towards occult mysteries and the lost powers of the cosmos. In secret from her father she drifted among the celestial lights, basking in their beauty and learning the music that moved them. In time, her understanding transcended the Four Kingdoms themselves, and she began recruiting noble and brilliant souls to join her in preparing for the inevitable.
But the inevitable arrived before she was prepared. Ramius performed the Rites of the Overlord and transformed himself into the King of the Underworld, sealing the fiends and infernals within his domain and bringing the Demonic Imperium to an end. This cosmic shift changed the very laws of Anacra and set Realta's own research back by centuries. So when The One Flesh descended, Realta's guardians were not ready. Her parent Li-Ban tore the lands that will come to be called Tamreon from the earth and struck down the invader, burying it beneath the roots of the ocean and descending to wrestle with it for millennia to come.
To recover from lost time, Realta needed the help and cooperation of her father. She finally sat him down, refusing to accept his paranoid excuses any longer. She urged him to turn from his campaign of cruelty and conquest and aid the world he helped to shape. Vindur's wrath, stoked by the death of his son Boreas long ago, would not be subdued. He screamed at her for being a disobedient child and demanded her cooperation, warning that if she stood against him, she would be punished.
But the needs of the world outweighed the failure of her father, and so Defiant Daughter Realta sowed the seeds of prophecy nontheless. She swept the Celestial Lights from the sky, catching them in a net of her own hair, woven of waves and wind alike, and held them between her hands. With it, she anointed the brave and determined souls she'd gathered over the centuries, imbuing them with the power of the heavens, transforming them into Celestials. When the light was expended and a host of angels stood ready to guard the firmament, she blessed them all and gave them their eternal task--to stand watch along the firmament, guarding its faults and weaknesses, fighting against the greedy, the selfish, the destructive and the cruel who would seek out Anacra's light. In turn, the helpless, the weary, the frightened and the fleeing who somehow stumbled upon The Firmament from without, they would protect and guide to safety.
But even as the power flowed through her hands, in the very act of kindling her children, Realta knew that many would fall, and many would die. She would not compel them or strip them of their personhood as Ramius did to fight the Infernals. No, every celestial would remain free to choose their duty or the delights of the world. But how to replenish their ranks when they forsook their posts or fell in battle? She'd already consumed the lights of the heavens.
So Queen Realta made her final act of defiance. From Vindur's vaults of power, from the secrets of the Emerald Tablets, and from the light of all mortals, she wove a ritual, a prophecy, embedding it into reality: The Prophecy of the New Day. Its nature and precepts remained a closely guarded secret, but when all the conditions were met and the time was right, a mortal champion would ascend, bringing with them the light and power needed to elevate more mortals to the ranks of the celestial host.
Vindur's fury was unquenchable. The Celestial Lights were under his purview, part of his power, and when Realta took them to kindle the stars she weakened her Father and took from him the beauty of the heavens. Worse still, this new prophecy she'd created threatened him directly--each time a mortal became an archangel, it would weaken Vindur's might and stab him through the heart. He turned from her forever and his wrath for all mortals grew. Many terrible wars between giants and mortals were soon to come, and the wrath of the Sky Father could no longer be contained to the Sky Kingdom.
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