Living Stars

“A philosopher once asked, "Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?" Pointless, really..."Do the stars gaze back?" Now, that's a question.”

— Neil Gaiman, Stardust

Description

Living Stars are gigantic beings of living crystal inhabiting the Astral Sea.
They are visible from mortal realms as part of their night sky, if the realm has one. The Night sky of Haven shows dozens, hundreds of stars, some closer than others.

Their spherical bodies shine with a powerful inner light and are covered at all times with radiant flames, making them impossible to approach. Objects that approach too close are drawn in and crushed by their immense attraction, even as they are incinerated.
Stars possess an innate ability to manipulate gravity, as well as use the fire of their bodies. They possess an unmatched understanding of arcane magic.

Sleeping Giants
Stars spend most of their lives in a state of half-sleep, only barely paying attention to their surroundings.
This is advantageous for the mortal species' of the brass realms, as these beings would be very troublesome to work around if they were constantly awake.
Even minor actions from a star such as it shifting locations can change the currents leading towards nearby worlds by proximity, nevermind if the star were to wake up and actively use its unmatched power.

Eldritch Wisdom
Due to their sheer size it is difficult to get the attention of a living star. Additionally, stars are unable to speak any known language. If they decide to communicate, it is through waves of gravity and fire - a method near incomprehensible to humans.
Nevertheless, stars are in possession of invaluable knowledge.
Beyond what they know from tens of thousands of years of listening to the whispers of astral currents, the living stars are scholars of strange and alien lore that defies explanation.
It comes as no surprise that when stars speak, religions form around them.

Life and Death of a Star
The birth of a star is a tremendous event, where in a massive flash of heat and light a star-seed will spawn in the astral sea. This supernova will eventually sputter and dim, leaving behind a burning core, a newborn star.
The seed will grow in size over thousands of years. In the beginning these seeds are much weaker than their adult brethren, but are also significantly more active.

If a star were ever to die, its body would shatter in an apocalyptic conflagration of fire, arcane magic and waves of crushing force, proportional to its size and age. Such an event can cut off entire clusters within the astral sea as the area is lit aflame for centuries.
The remains of a star's crystalline body is what is known throughout the realms as Riftstone, a material capable of drawing on Aether millennia after the star's death. Shards of this material are known to rain down on worlds in the form of shooting stars.

History

Living stars were originally created after the death of the Firstborn and were the first living beings ever conceived by the demiurge. As such, knowledge about their origins is sparse.
Dubious sources claim that the stars were made to guide the flow of Aether across the astral, but that they were not intended to have minds, that they were designed to be mere machines.

If so, the living stars have grown beyond their original designs since their time of creation.

Appearance

Living stars have bodies of multi-faceted sphered crystal that shine with a powerful inner light.
Their forms are covered at all times with radiant flames.

The color of these stars can be various shades of red, yellow, blue or white.