Crown Archons and their priests

From: Alex Roberts 


          Powers Template, a la Faiths & Avatars
          This file is copyrighted 1996 by TSR, Inc.  All rights reserved.

The Crown Archons
(Archangels, Glorious Bright Ones, Watchers)
Greater Powers (as a whole) of Mt. Celestia, LG (In the Realms, they 
wield the influence of Intermediate powers instead)

Portfolio: All kinds of goodness; the giving of just and fair laws; wisdom; 
death.

Aliases: None
Domain Name: Chronias (yes, the whole layer)
Superior: None known (Sophia and The Lord of the Spirits are both named, 
	but there's no proof either exists)
Allies: All powers of Mt. Celestia, many of Arcadia, K'un Lun, Bytopia and 
	Elysium, especially Ilmater and Tyr.
Foes: All fiends, and especially the Lords of the Nine and the Abyssal Lords. 
	Shar, Mask, Iyachtu Xvim and Loviatar are singled out in the Realms 
	for special condemnation.
Symbol: No one symbol is used, but the following have seen currency: 
	6-pointed star, scythe, mountain, pair of wings addorsed.
Wor. Align.: Any good, but especially LG and NG. Some LN and a very few N or LE.

The Crown Archons are the legendary rulers of Mt. Celestia. Related to 
the Tome Archons in the same way that the Lords of the Nine and Baatezu 
Nobles are to the Dark Eight, they are said to include Azrael, Raguel 
and Israfel (and Gabriel, Raphael, Michael and Uriel if you so choose). 
Their devotees claim that they are all the forerunners of a coming 
power called 'Wisdom' or 'Sophia' who will show all races how to live 
with good sense and in true harmony.

They are depicted in art as being vast, beautiful angelic creatures. Each 
carries an emblem of their field of interest, ie: A trumpet for Israfel, a 
scythe for Azrael, and a crown of shining stars for Raguel. They are 
worshipped by many races, but have particular popularity amongst humans, 
bariaurs, dwarves, aasimar, (peculiarly) tieflings, and any LG races 
peculiar to your campaign may be interested too. 

Their spheres of interest are specifically:

Azrael: Death and the dead
Israfel: Music, resurrection, hope
Raguel: Stars, the night, travellers

Avatars: The Crowns have no avatars, but instead posess archons and 
aasimons as they need to to communicate their will to mortals.

Other Manifestations

The Crowns sometimes send prophets to tell their chosen people (or 
sometimes others) of their will, although such an event has not occured 
outside the prime for some hundreds of years. (See 'The Church' for 
details of the Realms' latest visitation.)
They also manifest their pleasure or displeasure in natural forces such as 
fire and the wind. And an especially lucky mortal may sprout wings for a 
short time to rescue them from danger.

The Church
Clergy: Clerics, Crusaders, Paladins, Speciality Priests.
Clergy's Align.: LG or NG
Turn Undead: All: Yes
Cmnd. Undead: All: No

All priests of the Archonite faith may choose one of the following bonus 
proficiencies: Languages (Classical common); Planar survival (Mt. Celestia)

In the Realms, these may be replaced by Languages (Thorass) and 
Religion (Any LN or good faith).

Dogma: The Archonites teach that the archons are the purest and truest 
beings in the Multiverse, and that they epitomise a wisdom that is 
beneficial to all. A more detailed discussion of the faith can be found on 
my page. (Address in footer.) The church is divided into three 
groups, which don't overlap a great deal. The Sapient tradition of the 
church teaches that the revelations given to mortals down the ages by 
the archons reveal a coming power or overpower called 'Sophia' who will 
restore the world to order, and they celebrate joyful services in hope 
of her coming. The Penitent tradition teaches that in order to 
comprehend the teachings of the archons, a person must first repent of 
their sins. Penitents tend to go in for confessions and penitential 
seasons of abstinence. The smaller, Militant, tradition, teaches 
that evil must be physically confronted and defeated. It's popular with 
adventurers of a lawful bent.

Day-to-Day Activities: Archonites worship once a week, in 
their temples, which are usually called churches. The churches tend to 
be rectangular in form, with a tower some 2/3-3/4 of the way along 
their length, and an altar below the tower. No physical sacrifices are 
required of Archonites, although charity is encouraged strongly. 
Archonite services usually involve eight or more sung hymns or 
canticles, and a special blessing administered by the priest.

Important Ceremonies/Holy Days: The two most important feasts of the 
Archonite calendar occur at exactly opposite ends of the year. Hopetide is 
the time when all Archonites celebrate the hope they have, through 
revelation in their holy scriptures, that Wisdom, Sophia herself, will one 
day come and restore the world to its senses. The first day of Hopetide, 
Esperance, is preceded by the Quiet Eve, a night of meditation and 
fasting. The actual feast of Hopetide, which lasts for two weeks from 
Esperance, is spent praying, attending celebratory services, with much 
singing of hymns and canticles, and eating traditional foods such as 
chicken and boar. In the Realms, Hopetide occurs on the 15th day of the 
first month of the year (whose name escapes me).

The other great feast of the year, Culpabilitie, is a time for 
worshippers to call to mind their sins and failings in the past 
year and to pray for forgiveness and guidance. During the principal 
service of Culpabilitie, the priest magically marks the back of each 
supplicant with the sign of a pair of wings. The mark is red or purple, 
and covers the whole back, lasting for at least two weeks, and vanishing 
when, after two weeks, the worshipper receives a weekly blessing. The 
imposition of the mark requires the back to be bared, and the worshipper 
usually kneels and leans forward while this is done.

Culpabilitie falls on the 15th day of the seventh month, whose name 
also escapes me.

Culpabilitie is the prinicpal feast of the Penitent tradition, while 
Hopetide is favoured by the Sapient and Militant branches of the church.

Major Centers of Worship: The main churches of the Archonites are the
cathedrals at Excelsior (actually at Monks Higher, two miles outside the
city) and at Yetsirah, and the pro-cathedral of St. Azrael in the Rue
Morgue in Sigil. Other churches are found throughout Arcadia, Mt.
Celestia, K'un Lun, Avalon, Bytopia, Elysium, Arborea and the Outlands.

In the Realms, there are very few established Archonite churches. A
prophet, one Loranna Tekutem (hef/P5 Archonite Sapient/LG) has been
preaching at the Plinth in Waterdeep since the Time of Troubles, but
has no real congregation. A small shrine to Azrael is attached to one
of the cemeteries in Suzail.

Affiliated Orders: None active in the Realms.

Priestly Vestments: An Archonite priest traditionally only wears full
vestments when celebrating services in church. Among the Sapient
tradition, all priests tend to wear white robes with gold or silver trim,
consisting of a white cassock, a cream or white amice and surplice, a
cope, chasuble or tunicle of some seasonal colour (see below) and a white
stole with the ends marked out in the colour of the season. The Penitents
tend to substitute grey or black for white, and do not use metallic trim
outside of hopetide. They also forego the over-robes (cope, etc.) much of
the time, and see nothing wrong with celebrating a blessing service robed
only in a cassock and stole. The Militants wear the same as the Sapients,
but never wear over-robes, always have a red girdle on over everything
except their stole, and sometimes wear red cassocks, particularly on the
feast days of martyrs. The seasonal colours are as follows:

The week up to and including Quiet Eve: Unbleached cotton
The whole of Hopetide: Gold or cream
Hopetide to the day before Esperance: Green
Esperance and three weeks thereafter: Grey
Feasts of archons: White
Feasts of canonised priests: Sky blue
Feasts of martyrs: Red
Feasts of lay saints: Navy blue
Other times: Pale pink

Adventuring Garb: All priests of the Archonite faith wear one or more of
the listed holy symbols about their person at all times, usually on a ring
or around the neck on a chain or cord. When adventuring, they may choose
to wear a tabard with a picture of an archon on if they wish, but this is
not compulsory. There are no hard-and-fast regulations here, but priests
of the Militant tradition make sure they have a red girdle or armband on
if at all possible.

Speciality Priests

The experience progression table for all priest types is found in
Faiths and Avatars: Appendix 1: Priest Group Classes.
Requirements: Wis 14
Prime Req.: The PR rules are munchkiny, ok? No XP award is given for good
scores in this class. The PR, for reference purposes, is Wisdom.
Alignment: LG or NG
Weapons: Archonite speciality priests may only fight with swords or maces.
Armor: Archonite speciality priests may use any armour, but it must be
consecrated by a superior priest when it is first worn, and must be of
excellent quality (double the prices). Also, provocative styles of leather
are frowned upon.
Major Spheres: All, Healing, Wards, Sun, Necromancy (beneficial versions
only), Protection.
Minor Spheres:  Law (Penitent-tradition priests get majot access to Law);
Thought (Sapient-tradition priests get major access to Thought); Combat
(Militant-tradition priests get major access to combat and minor access to
war, but have only minor access to healing). NB: priests may only
subscribe to one tradition. Guardian, Divination, Elemental Air, Numbers.
Magical Items: Archonite priests may only use magical weapons of the types
of weapons they can normally use, items restricted to priests, and items
usable by all classes.
Req. Profs: Religion (Archonites)
Bonus Profs: In addition to their free proficiency for being Archonite
priests at all, speciality priests of the Crown Archons gain the other
proficiency listed as well.

Granted Powers
* Dwarves may be Archonite speciality priests.
* Archonite priests may cast light as the 1st-level priest spell once per
day.
* At 3rd level, an Archonite may cast Mark of the Angels (as the
second-level priest spell introduced below) twice per day, unless the day
is of no religious significance to the Archonites. However, it's
considered unwise to use this power outside the week following
Culpabilitie.
* At 5th level, an Archonite priest may cast cure serious wounds as the
priest spell once per day.
* At 9th level, an Archonite priest may _commune_ with the archons once a
month.

Spells

Second level spell

Mark of the Angels (Alteration)

Sphere: Law
Casting time: One turn
Area of Effect: One person per level
Duration: Special
Components: V,S
Range: Touch
Saving Throw: N/A

This spell is only usually employed when a member of an Archonite church
has made a special confession, or during Culpabilitie. The subjects (who
must be willing) are touched on the back (which must be bare) by the
priest at the end of ten minutes of solemn prayers and canticles. A mark
like a pair of archons' wings appears on the recipient's back, usually in
red. If the recipient is not a faithful Archonite or devotee of some other
good religion, the wings are batlike instead. They remain for two weeks,
and then disappear as soon as the recipient receives a blessing from an
Archonite priest (of any kind). The mark stings slightly, but has no
detrimental game effects, and is worn mainly as a sign of penitence.

This spell, and the following one, are used in religious communities as
means of individual penance. This is not current in public churches,
however.

Fifth level spell

Mass penitence

This spell is identical to the above spell except for its level, and the
fact that the area of effect is ten people per level. Note that this
spell's level restricts it to the Penitent tradition.

It may be observed that the Archonite faith is related to RL
Gnosticism. With this in mind, you may wish to place a small cult of
Archonites in Mulhorand or Unther.

Where the Crowns and Dark Lord were at the Time of Troubles:

Azrael: Spent the ToT living as a hermit in the Spine of the World
mountains, letting everything be.
Raguel: Masqueraded as an eccentric astronomer in Daggerford, and kept
in touch with Selune in Waterdeep for news of Shar.
Israfel: Wandered the woods near Myth Drannor, watching to see what the
other powers did.
The Dark Lord: Unknown. Probably something bad.