Archon
Archons are a race of celestials native to Mount Celestia who embody fundamental goodness and law. Archons were once mortal souls, and form the mainstay of Heaven's eternal war against the forces of the Abyss, Abaddon, and The Nine Hells. They are also protectors of the good and innocent.
Appearance
Archons have no uniform shapes: some look like winged humanoids, others are animalistic or resemble objects. The uninitiated might have trouble recognizing archons as a single group.Ecology
Archons typically arise through three fashions: created by heavenly deities, transformed from petitioners, or emerging from Mount Celestia's quintessence (the substance that forms the outer planes). They rise up through the ranks of the celestial hierarchy, modeling their progress after the metaphysical mountain of Celestia. They are first transformed from goodly souls into lantern archons, but can ascend all the way up to the most powerful star archons. From the start, these souls are helped by more powerful mentors to indulge their desire to see goodness and honesty spread across the multiverse, but particularly the Material Plane.Habitat
Archons build symmetrical, sturdy fortresses on the mountain of Celestia that shine as if just constructed, but can stand for aeons. Surrounding these fortresses are cultivated farmlands and orderly settlements. Because of their tendency to bring the fight to the enemy, archon fortresses can also be found outside of Heaven.Society
Archons understand that when chaos and evil threaten to take over the multiverse, individual desires should be set aside for the greater good. Although sometimes demonised as authoritarian zealots, archons are usually compassionate with fellow good beings and tolerate even lawful evil creatures, only viewing those that follow neither law nor good as irredeemable. On Mount Celestia, they are committed to training petitioners, but also take joy in their friends and work. Described as ideal soldiers, archons easily organise among themselves, each recognising its strength and playing its designated role without complaint.Archons prefer to motivate mortals to acts of virtue and honour, reasoning that this way, when the next threat comes, the mortals will be better prepared to combat it themselves, and know that hasty action might do more harm than good, as their foes often use mortals as bait. Archons often disguise themselves as goodly knights, of the sort legends are written about, in order to inspire those around them. Against direct incarnations of evil, like demons and devils, their actions are less subtle, charging headlong into battle, often in armies thousands strong. During these battles, the celestial armies act with honour, but they are not foolish, and do not sacrifice themselves unnecessarily; archon commanders never send their men into battle without a specific goal in mind. While archons are paragons of goodness, they have little patience for those who do not follow their strict moral guidelines. To an archon, a cruel tyrant does not justify rioting and rebellion to overthrow him; justice and the law must not be abandoned for the sake of goodness otherwise, without justice and the law, goodness cannot prosper. This approach unfortunately sometimes draws them into violent conflict with the azatas, even though archons dislike opposing their goodly brethren. Archons prefer to work with their own kind, and follow the cues of the greatest archons and lawful empyreal lords when they cannot decide what to do. Archons often cooperate with axiomites and devils in crusades against demons and proteans alike, but do not trust them the way they trust their fellow celestials.Language
Archons uniformly speak Celestial, but can also converse in Draconic and Infernal. They also possess an ability called truespeech, which allows them to communicate with any intelligent creature that has a language.
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