Spirits

Divine magic takes a different form in Archestria: the form of spirits, which enrich the world with life, light, nature, and energy.

Elemental Divinity

Spirits typically take on elemental forms:

• Plant spirits inhabit lush forests full of plant life.
• Water spirits traverse the water cycle: they flow through rivers, lakes, and oceans, eventually rise into the sky to form clouds, and later condense into rain to flow again.
• Fire spirits wander warm places looking for kindling to inhabit. They materialize and grow within ignited flames.
• Stone/earth spirits slowly and patiently meander through the ground, packing it tight and holding it together.
• Light spirits travel through the air, materializing in bright places and vanishing when darkness returns.
• Wind spirits are ubiquitous. Larger spirits inhabit windy areas and guide the breeze, while smaller ones float dormantly in calmer skies.

While the vast majority of spirits take on forms of nature and elements, they can manifest as representations of other more specific energies.

Divine Classes

The spirits are the source of divine magic in Archestria; there are no gods or celestials. Divine character classes gain their power from the spirits:

• Clerics channel power from and commune with spirits relevant to their domain.
• When a warrior swears their holy oath to the spirits of the world and becomes a paladin, some spirits attach to them and grant them empowered attacks and defense.
• Druids and rangers use divine magic that involves communicating with, commanding, and empowering nearby spirits.
• Divine subclasses of other classes, such as the Celestial Warlock and Divine Soul Sorcerer, are granted their powers from spirits in some capacity. A Divine Soul Sorcerer might be inhabited by a spirit, while a Celestial Warlock has made a pact with a particularly powerful spirit or group of spirits.

Spirits are typically invisible, but may appear when called, created, or agitated. They are not alive or sentient, although their movements and actions suggest that they have some kind of will and are driven by emotions. Instead, they represent the liveliness of the natural world- they can wander, they can vanish and materialize, and they can be harmed. Pollution and dark magic can harm or corrupt the spirits in an area, leaving the environment scarred or weak.

Elementals

When empowered by magic, called to action or self-defense, or agitated by corruption or profane magic, spirits can group together and become elementals. Elementals are generally chaotic in nature, and will lash out at anything nearby in an attempt to resolve the cause of their pain or anger.
Elementals are a standard D&D creature type. In this campaign, they are formed by spirits.