Tellus: More Classes from Mage Hand's Press?

Magic Swordsman class from
Bravely Default.

It's been a while since the last Tellus post. The main reason why I haven't worked on Tellus a whole lot is that I consider most of the setting to be 'complete', in so much as having nailed down all the key elements which define the world overall. Everything else would depend on the details of the campaign I'd run with it. All the key information is laid out and easy to digest both for the player and Game Master. That said...

I've got some mixed feelings about 'option bloat'. On one hand I'm all too aware of the damage it has caused to D&D over the years and created this obsession with number crunching and 'builds'. On the other hand, if judiciously used, options can certainly help define a setting a bit more. Given that it is very likely Tellus will be ran with a group that's more focused on a 'modern' mindset I have taken time to gather my thoughts on some Third Party material, namely the entirely new classes by Mage Hand's Press, whose archetypes I frequently link to.

One thing to keep in mind with Tellus is that nothing beyond the core material exist unless I deliberately use it. This is a rule I myself must respect, self imposed as it may be. Things only exist as an option to add to the setting if desired, rather than something which is retconned and crow barred in.

Binder

Should the Binder class exist then the existence of Vestiges is tied to Tellus' Afterworld as it is the domain where ancient and bygone eras of the world (or even, maybe, universe?) exist in a tangible form which is halfway between reality and a living dream. Binder would be a variant of the Warlock, albeit one which is much more rare and ill understood.

Channeler

Intended as a, and I quote, a 'Gish class' (an antiquated term for the spellblade or eldritch knight archetype, taken from the Gith of D&D) the Channeler is a base class whose entire shtick is being a hybrid between a martial and spellcasting class rather than having to rely on archetypes/subclasses or multiclassing. Given a solid point has long been made to make the human and non-human races stand out more from each others on Tellus, the Channeler makes for a good replacement to any archetype which add spellcasting to an otherwise non-spellcasting class. In a way, this could make it closer to the Elf racial class of old, where 'being an elf' was enough to define a character. Given the element focus and martial bent of this class, its quite clear: the Dragon Clans would be well suited to primarily have Channelers. The only issue here is that the class is Intelligence, not Charisma-based.

Warden

Now there's a class which seems tailor made for one of Tellus' main races, the Gigas. Originally conceived during the maligned Fourth Edition, the Warden is a 'tank' class which draws upon the primal powers of nature in ways rather different than the more spellcasting-focused Druid. Here we see a class which is perfectly suited to them: it's strong, its tough and its nature-powered. In fact I'd go as far as to say that, should I go with some racial restrictions, the Warden would be well suited to replace the Fighter for the Gigas race as a whole.

Warmage

Magic, completely tuned to the crafts of war and murder. The Warmage class would be a rather new development in the current era of Tellus, born of the intense magical research for the purpose of warfare which is so common in the Sheradilan Empire. The rare few individuals with magical talent which are found among each generation would be taken (often against their will if necessary) and molded into living weapons.

Godbound: A Gaggle Of Giants

Art from the infamous Warhammer:
Age of Sigmar

Giants are a concept synonymous with mythology as a whole. It's hard to say exactly why without going into deeper psychological things, but the short version is: a big person is impressive and also really scary. The imagery of giants is one which invoke both awe and fear. It is simple, potent and primal. It combine the fear of a large animal and an angry, hostile person and then blows it out of proportion to mythical height. Indeed, giants of myth can range from 'slightly bigger' to towering cosmic beings of near infinite size.

The Giants of the Godbound universe are not necessarily a related phenomena and have many possible origins. The only thing keeping them loosely tied together would be some stats and mechanics. I've previously statted simple Giants for some quick and loose Scion conversion here so this could be considered a bit of a remake and expansion of these ideas. Possible origin for Giant-like beings in Arcem could include:

• The Necro-Titans of Ancalia, horrible gestalt undead husks which have grown to truly massive size. In fact, these serve as a mechanical basis for this post just as much as the Godbound Scion notes. The undead giants are more often than not massive in size through their incorporation and assimilate of other corpses and husks.
• Giants born of lost transhumanist lineages, either related to the Akeh people of Ancalia or a completely unrelated transhuman experiment from another Realm which simply wandered into Arcem through the night roads. An entire civilization could have chosen to remake entire arcopolis into a singular entity which would stride into battle next to its equally massive Made God. Each a city or even a nation, sharing one flesh and one mind.
• Other Giants could be the result of a unholy hunger,as Giants are often associated with eating. Perhaps one or more person feasted on the decaying techno-flesh of a Made God and was infused with a portion of its power, growing in stature and hunger. These beings would be similar to a gigantic Parasite God but rather than being limited in their range of movement they are cursed with an unending hunger. When they encounter a being with sufficient power (read: HD) they become compelled to eat it. This become even more overwhelming when meeting a being bound to a Word.
• It is not implausible that massive Uncreated could one day emerge from the Uncreated Night as the Night Roads and other 'wounds' in the world grow larger and more potent. These Uncreated Titans would be akin to a massive 'black hole', sucking up all divine energy and and the essence of creation itself around them, never to be seen again past the event horizon. These creatures would possess truly uncanny abilities to negate divine powers.

Lesser and Greater Giants

The classification of Giants (or even 'Titans', if one wish to use such a term for larger and divinely-potent specimen) into 'Lesser' and 'Greater' is more one of divine power than simple size. As outlined here for the Scion conversion, there are Giants listed in terms of size and potency, with the Greater Giant of that list being a mere 14 HD. Instead, what define a Greater Giant is as follow:

• A Greater Giant is Bound to the Words of Might and Endurance. However it can only use this Word's miracles in ways which are expressions of its massive and powerful frame. It can't use its Word to create miracles or changes which are external. Finally, as it is bound to these Words it can dispel their effects, usually by simply out powering any wannabe Godling in terms of raw physical power.
• A Greater Giant can destroy half its HD worth of Mobs per turn as it simply swat them aside, crush them or devour them whole with its many limbs and heads. Worthy Foes/important NPC who may be part of that mob get a Saving Throw to avoid such a fate.
• Greater Giants possess an invincible defense against all mental influences, mind-reading and all mundane weapons. In addition they permanently take 2 points less of damage, to a minimum of 0. Only macro-scale weaponry, such as massive guns, artificer weapons or a Godwalker ignore this effect. At the GM discretion, a weapon or artifact specifically created to slay Giants could ignore this effect too.

For ease of read, an updated stat block for Giants is posted here.

Giant Type	HD	AC	Atk	Dmg	Mov	ML	Effort
Lesser Giant	6	7	+6 x2	1d10	20’	11	3
Average Giant	10	8	+10 x2	1d12	20’	11	4
Large Giant	14	9	+10 x2	2d6	30’	11	5
Titan	18	10	+10 x3	2d8	40’	12	7

Grimdark Army Concept: Obliterator Cult

Art by Filip Čekić.

Obliterators are a monstrous variation of Chaos Space Marines: former Techmarines and/or Terminators who have become infected and corrupted by the terrifying and bizarre 'Obliterator Virus' which slowly grant them the ability to fuse with machinery and reshape their techno-organic flesh to replicate whatever they absorbed. And yet, a less known fact is that they are not the only type of Obliterators. Certainly the most infamous and advanced form of the mutation but as it turns out, the virus can infect more than Space Marines.

While the virus can only slowly spread in the material world, the Inquisition is starting to fear that it may be spreading across Imperial worlds and creating small pockets of what are termed 'Obliterator Cults' as ordinary individuals become carrier for the disease and are slowly overtaken by it. But, surely, the average Imperial citizen is a far cry from a monstrous techno-organic Terminator bristling with heavy weapons, right? Well, as it turns out there's a lot of machinery one can come into contact on your average, developed Imperial World. What if such a cult did form in secret, its members hiding in the darkness and collecting all the scrap of useful machinery and weapons they can: first lasguns, autopistol and armor to add to their flesh, then vox transmitters, auspex and eventually industrial equipment. In time as the cult grows bolder they would attack tech adepts and servitors, dragging them in dark tunnels to rip the precious machinery off their flesh.

Codex: Obliterator Cult?

Well, not quite. This is an idea on how I'd flesh out an Obliterator Cult army for use in the rather rule-light and easy to play Grimdark Future, which is a lot like a free bootleg wargame system which just so conveniently happen to have armies which just so happen to resemble those from a certain British company! Since Grimdark Future allows to merge armies more easily, this list will combine from two different army lists to create what could be a hypothetical form of an Obliterator cult harvesting resources and gadgets from an Imperial world to start their uprising.

The core of the army are the Soul Snatcher Cults, which are absolutely totally not Genestealer Cults. These guys are fairly human-like, are a cult and have access to heavy duty equipment including heavy weapons, military gear and mining gear. Perfect! However, Brutes aside this list just isn't quite monstrous enough. The Obliterator virus make the host stronger, bigger and heavier from all the flesh-metal their mutating body starts to pack on. The easy answer would be to combine this list with the Chaos Marines Havoc Brothers and, sure, that is valid but the idea is that this is an Obliterator Cult which has arisen from ordinary human and not chaos marines. As such this list is combined with Orc Marauders to add a few more monstrous techno-brutes!

Obliteration Initiates

Base Units: Minions, Support Minions, Neophytes, Minion Bikers, Minion Quadbike

Strogg concept art.

At 5+/5+ with fairly basic weapons, these guys represent the bulk of the Obliterator cult. They are physically mostly still human, ranging from almost un-mutated to showing the initial stages of the mutation. The primary source of bitz for these models would be th Imperial Guard, Genestealer Cult and/or Necromunda range. They would appear to be mostly human, but with what would appear to be cybernetic enhancements crudely sticking out of them and their skin would have a somewhat reddish and/or grey tinge to it, either looking sickly or strangely raw and bloody, as a nod to the older Obliterator miniatures and their Dawn of War 1 3d model. Squad leaders and heavy weapon users would be partially merged with their weapons, with fingers and hands extending into techno-flesh melding into the gun. The bikers and other vehicles of the Genestealer cult around found at this 'level' of mutation. Vehicle crews are also assumed to be among those rank and files.

Obliteration Disciples

Base Units: Acolytes and Morphs

At this stage the individual is clearly more than a cybernetically augmented individual with some skin condition, as the virus has progressed enough to make the mutation of flesh and metal obvious. These models have 4+ quality and better access to close combat weapons. What would be Tyranid bio weapons are instead grotesque and swollen limbs, thick with cable-muscles and strong with metal bones. Horrid, H.R. Giger-esque tubing has started to form and these guys, equipped with the cutters, chainsaws and drills have fused with their weapons. Bitz could be taken from servitors and even arco-flagellant however at this stage the part where the flesh and machine meld would be smoothed out with greenstuff and have cables, tubes and wires going in and out, melding with the machinery in some chaotic ways.

Obliteration Brutes

Base Units: Brute Champion, Mutant Brutes, Orc Mob and Boss Mob

Those who have made it to this level have truly grown beyond their human limitations. Flesh has swollen with thick cords of plastic and metal fused with flesh at the cellular level, while bones have lengthened and thickened absurdly. Some might have taken a different path, however, simply gathering machinery to replace their flesh, becoming nothing more than a fetal mass of flesh and organs in a large body made of scrap and demonically-tainted flesh tendrils. What make this category clearly defined is that these individuals have grown larger, more powerful and noticeably heavier.

Art by Ricardo Robles.

• Mutant Brutes and Brute Champions are particularly large and deformed individuals which have lost much of their sanity and humanity in the process, having become oversized piles of mutant flesh fused with whatever scrap of technology they could acquire. These creatures lumber forward, waving massive flesh-metal fists, amalgamation of razors and chainsaws or even the stubby end of what used to be guns.
• Orc Mobs are used to represent those who have significantly bulked out but have otherwise retained their sanity. While somewhat clumsy shooters they have access to a variety of crude weapons and relish in close quarter combat. Think of them as a more human-sized version of the Mutilators. Model-wise they would be as mutated as anything else on this 'tier' but primarily use Arco Flagellant models with added thick layers of spiky bits and machinery bulking out their bodies and with one gun for an arm. These can also be equipped with better armor to increase their saves.
• Boss Mobs are the ultimate evolution of these still-sentient brutes, having grown to almost the size of a Space Marine (if not larger!). Since Boss Mobs can take weapon attachments (read: combi-weapons) this make perfect sense, as it represent the Obliterator fully developing its powers, gaining the ability to regrow multiple weapons out of their flesh at will. Not to the same extent as a true Chaos Space Marine Obliterator but still enough to have flamethrowers and flesh-rockets.

Cult Leaders

More Strogg art.

The way I see it, the leadership of an Obliteration Cult is purely based on whoever is most 'blessed' by the virus, meaning who has managed to retain most of their sanity while also having grown the most powerful. Lower rank officers and demagogue do exist, presumably selected out of the ranks for their leadership skills and military knowledge.

• Commanders, Alpha Bikers, Mad Scientist and Prime Neophytes are all taken from the lower stratum of the mutated masses. These may not be the most advanced of the Obliterators but they stand apart from the cult as first-among-mostly-equals. Their raw skill supersede any advanced blessing of Chaos.
• Meanwhile the Warlord represent the most advanced form of Obliteratorhood: a massive pile of daemonically-infused techno-flesh bristling with weapons. His strength is on par with that of an Ork or Space Marine and he easily tower over them. His form could be mostly symmetrical and humanoid (if he's managed to retain that shape) or he could have dozen of techno-arms tipped with claws, sensors and maybe even spare heads. Others might have fused with a vehicle (if the 'Bike' upgrade is chosen). No matter the option chosen, he is a nightmare to behold. While the Warlord could be upgraded with heavy armor to reach a staggering 2+ armor save part of me think it doesn't quite fit this list.

Wuxia 5e: How I'd Do It, Lazily

Artist unknown.

My relationship with D&D 5e is an odd one: mechanically I consider it to be the strongest and most usable of the modern/WOTC-era Dungeons & Dragons as its not as stupidly designed as third edition, easier to mod and its not fourth edition which, while it has strengths, is such a contentious game that it can't really be used in any way resembling the originally intended form of D&D.

Where 5e shine however is that it has quite a bit of support from third party and homebrewing to a level which went missing during the era of 4th edition. As a result of this more modular design and the handful of homebrew out there the game has never been more modular, at least not since the pre-WOTC days. While I'd personally be quite happy to keep running OSR and homebrewed stuff, my crop of available players in my social circle is a lot more fussy and would rather play the current edition. As a result I've adapted my notes and ideas for a Wuxia game to simply using 5e. Its worth noting there are far better options for things even vaguely related to Wuxia than D&D. This is just meant to be a very quick, very easy to grasp modification which I could use to introduce the average D&D 5e player to some Wuxia and, to a lesser extent, some Xianxia material. Of course, given D&D is very western it would make the game's true genre to actually be 'Xuanhan' but we are getting into dense terminology that would utterly lose the average player. Basically, it's a lot more Chinese-flavored and not the bat-soup or soy sauce kind of way.

Character Options

A key thing with people who play 'modern D&D' is that they expect a lot of character options. That's just the nature of modern game design, people expect to have a lot of frankly very similar options and a lack of options is perceived not as verisimilitude (like OD&D and OSR Fighting-Men) but as some lackluster or even lazy part of the game system. However, this being a Wuxia game much greater focus is put on the following options:

• Unlike other games where it might be an afterthought, the Monk is one of the two main classes in a Wuxia game, in its myriad bizarre forms and whatever odd homebrew might exist out there. In a world where Martial Arts are central to the setting identity just as much as monsters and gods, just about any type of Monk could exist. In particular, the Swordsage will line up well with the next important class...
• The second class which is key to the setting is the Battle Master Fighter Archetype and its Maneuvers. With many expansions to the Maneuvers, both official and unofficial, this class will pretty much cover any Wuxia character that prefer to use weapons as opposed to their bare hands.
• For those of a more sneaky persuasion the Duelist Rogue from Kobold Press's Midgard Heroes Handbook is similar to a Battle Master, gaining specific techniques and tricks to use in battle.

Unlike other campaigns of 5e where characters stick to a single class, the Wuxia campaign would actively encourage players to multi class either into a Monk or a Battle Master to represent the fact just about anyone with a name knows kung fu and/or cool techniques when a fight breaks out, even seemingly pacifist doctors or demure courtesan. The bread and butter of a character's theme/gimmick should be in their chi abilities as a monk or their maneuvers as fighters. Anyone not taking levels in those classes ought to then take some variant with an access to maneuvers or something suitably thematic. One issue with D&D is that anything beyond the fighter and thief archetypes are too rooted in Western culture and fantasy to properly fit in so it requires quite a bit more fussing around to try to fit a square part into a round hole.

• Druids are less like their new age/neo-pagan 'mother nature' inspirations and are instead odd forest monks who learn from animals and forest spirits: often members of Buddhist sects which have been cast out for various heresies and turned to a life of isolation. The Fist of the Forest or Circle of the Mantis make excellent primary classes and the main source of a character's martial arts.
• Wizards are weird because one could argue they are, on some level, very Wuxia and Xianxia-esque in their own way. The D&D Wizard's power and magic is drawn from their intellect and knowledge and their overall mastery of their craft, rather than any external power. In a way one could argue that D&D Wizards are a form of 'cultivation'.
• Warlocks may initially not make a lot of sense, but their highly specific patrons could be refluffed as a form of internal alchemy meant to emulate certain beings and gods or to enhance certain styles.

So to recap: Monk, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard and maybe some highly specific form of Druid or Warlock seems the obvious way to go. The Cleric, Paladin and their ilk are too 'western' to really fit in. Given the focus on fighting with martial arts and/or weapons, it make sense most character be multi classed into something which can properly fight.

What About Races?

All Human. What? It's perfectly valid! In any case, this would still be a setting which is very, very human-centric in spite of being a world of Gods and Immortals. The modern D&D concept of treating fantasy races as another flavor of human is one I've expressed intense displeasure before, however there are still ways to make use of that.

• One possible way to use this is to play some Special Clan of ambiguously supernatural people. Members of an extended family, this clan are mostly human-like barring a few odd features. Examples of these could be a 'Demon Clan' 'Tieflings' or the strange family of Mountain Men (Goliaths) who live in the north province and are known for their large size and strength.
• Generally, playing some supernatural being should be limited to about one party member at best to keep it suitably odd and mysterious. Keep in mind none of the Dwarf, Elf, Orc and other Tolkien-esque staples are right out the window here. A possible option would be to refluff the Eladrin or Aasimar stat block for some sort of lesser 'immortal' (Xian).

Urban Fantasy: On Celestial Spirits, Part 3

Cherubim by David Romero

Final part of the three-part series of shitty rambles various information on the mighty and alien Celestial Spirits. More, specifically this is what happen on when they 'fall'. Of course, this isn't quite as clear cut as it may appear.

Fallen Celestials

A 'Fallen' Celestial is one which has fundamentally changed and has become separated from its kindred in some shape or form. Now on one hand, it would be fairly easy to simply reduce this to the obvious, that it mean the Celestial has become some sort of demon but it isn't that clear cut. There are two primary ways which a Celestial can fall and they can fall as one or the other or even maybe both. Possibly at different times:

• Corporeal Incarnation is what happen when a Celestial choose (or is forced to) abandon its spiritual nature permanently. Much of the creature's power is lost and/or altered in the process. The end result is the Celestial transforming into a corporeal, semi-mortal being of form and function outwardly similar to a human. While the creature lose much of its power it gain a permanent foothold in the material world and become able to experience it. Some Celestials choose this life out of curiosity for mortality and the unique properties of flesh, such as in  Ezekiel 32:27. While flesh and blood, the Celestial remain gifted with many supernatural powers and said powers and blessings have been known to carry to their offspring. Some Celestials willingly choose mortal existence to enact long-term agenda on Earth, acting as a liaison between the mortal world and their more aloof siblings. While Celestial Spirits lack strong opinions, many of them feel something akin to revulsion or displeasure toward their kindred who willingly debased themselves but few can complain about the utility of an 'inside man'. How exactly a Celestial can restore itself to its true Spirit nature is unclear.
• Corruption is exactly what it sound, however. The Celestial Spirit become twisted in mentality and increasingly disconnected from its original purpose. They become driven by hate, envy, madness or worse. Most demons are not fallen angels but some fallen angels definitely become demons. It is fortunate that such beings are stunningly rare. Because they are functionally demons their abilities are now affected by Mantles, however.

Corrupted Celestial Spirits retain much of their original nature and powers, as well as their mind-bending incandescent forms. However, those which undergo Corporeal Incarnation become fundamentally different beings as they cease to be Spirits.

A  Corporeal Celestial

If the fallen Celestial is now a corporeal creature, it ceases to be a Spirit. It may retain spirit-like traits and powers but it is metaphysically no longer a Spirit and thus no longer bound by effects which target them. It is a fundamentally different creature with different stats:

• The Corporeal Celestial is now a humanoid being of HD equal to half its original HD as a Celestial. It is, by default, a Nemesis and a Worthy Foe.
• It has a natural AC of 18 as its hardened, fast-healing supernaturally infused flesh is surprisingly tough. It can be wounded by mundane weapons as anybody else but not permanently killed. If reduced to 0 HP by mundane means, a Corporeal Celestial with return to life with full HP in a number of days equal to its HD.
• It can deal 1d12 damage with its bare hands, as its body remain imbued with herculean strength.
• It can speak, understand and read all mortal languages.

What abilities a Corporeal Celestial has beyond this varies on an individual basis. Some of them may retain the abilities tied to their original function and goal while others may retain the psychic-like abilities of their original state, especially Telepathy and Metapsionics.

Playing A Fallen Celestial?

Can a Fallen and now Corporeal Celestial be played as a character? Yes and no. Their fully powered state isn't exactly suitable to player characters, however it is possible to play a Celestial whose powers and connection to the celestial realms have utterly faded. In some cases, certain Corporeal Celestial choose to 'lay low' and 'cheat death' by reverting to a pre-existence state. They revert to the state of a child, wipe their own memories and basically completely reshuffle the mock DNA of their body, usually matching the genetics and phenotype of the area of the world they currently inhabit. In some cases, particularly unscrupulous Celestials even go as far as to brainwash people to raise them as their own child. These celestial changelings are quite blasphemous in concepts, as one might guess by the implication of their existence. In fact, quite a few liars who have undergone this process through the ages have gone as far as to claim Jesus (and other Messianic figures) were such changelings or, in some cases, they claim to even be Jesus. So far, these have been proven to be liars, often of a demonic persuasion. In recent years, the rise of New Age nonsense related to UFO has left many of these lying changelings to claim to be reincarnated aliens. Which isn't technically wrong but still...

A playable Fallen Celestial is one who would have lost most, if not all of its memories over the eons. They are Heroic Adventurers of any combination that is not any hypothetical supernatural class (beside Psychic, as its been established Celestials are a form of Psychic). In the future I might write a 'proper' class for the Fallen Celestials who are attempting to recover a portion of their true power. Since these beings who undergo this reversion process attempt to mimic human, it make sense their celestial powers would be often channeled in ways similar to supernaturally gifted human.

Urban Fantasy: On Celestial Spirits, Part 2

We continue our look into the higher ranks of the Celestial Spirits, the not-quite-Angels of my Urban Fantasy setting, this time with more stats to invariably end up killing one over some misunderstanding. Not that these things really die anyway.

Spirit Anatomy of a Celestial

Ophanim by David Romero

A Celestial is a Spirit, obviously. It retain most if not all traits which common Spirits have, at least on a fundamental level. However the core, the 'energy' or nature of a Celestial Spirit is notably much more powerful and, if not more powerful, then more dangerous. This is not some corrupting influence like a Demon but rather simply that they are not beings of this world. More than any other Spirits, their Formed selves are much more alien to our lowly three dimensional material world. The will, intent and power of a Celestial Spirit incarnated can be potentially dangerous. Even divine spirits, in the absurd chance they would manifest in our world, would not be as alien because gods are both individuals and archetypes whereas a Celestial Spirit isn't really a person. Not by default anyway. By themselves they have no personality, no story, no myth and no tethers. They are both more and less than commonplace Spirits.

The true form of a Celestial is likewise quite the nightmare to behold. Not necessarily horrid or disgusting, they aren't twisted with open wounds, lovecraftian tentacles or the like. In its truest sense, a Celestial's True Form is a fiery blob of raw conceptual energy and celestial will. It curls on itself and twist in endless arrays of limbs, eyes, wings and archetypal imagery. Even most, if not all Gods, fully understand what a human shape is and will project this shape and these archetypes. A Celestial on the other hand might take some time to 'get' that and, given most of them alternate between Formed and Unformed Spirits over the eons mean that even those who spent time among humanity will eventually forget as such information is deemed irrelevant. There is also the issue of personal preference and even the most 'person'-like of Celestials tend to prefer more abstract forms.

Incandescent Form and Manifestation

The True Form of a Celestial is a painful thing to behold, with forms and shapes not mean for our mortal eyes. At its core, a Celestial is a Spirit and such such appear as some glowing or ethereal being. Where it gets crazy is that Celestials are multi-dimensional beings, whereas other Spirits are still recognizable as something which mostly make sense. Assuming one doesn't have their eyes and/or soul burnt off by the initial contact, gazing upon one will reveal an implausibly complex structure of glowing orbs, flaming eyes and of course fractals: lots and lots of fractals. Fractal eyes, fractal wings, fractal arms and so on and so forth.

• Incandescent Form (Constant): The True Form of a Celestial Spirit has power. Any NPC which gaze upon it is immediately 'struck' with its effect (more on that in a bit) while Player Characters and notable NPC are allowed a Saving Throw, at which point they can gaze upon the Celestial until the end of the Scene. This power is negated if the Celestial has shapeshifted or taken some mortal form or vessel but the veil can be temporarily torn asunder. The Celestial Spirit Commit Effort for the scene to send forth a projection of its true form which has the same effect as the Constant version.
• Effect of Gazing: There are different effects depending on the Spirit and its potency. At lower levels of power, the gaze inflict temporary or permanent blindness, madness or demented devotion to minor NPC and inflicts temporary damage upon the attributes of those allowed a Saving Throw (ranging from 1d4 to 2d10). Those reduced to 0 are either dead or permanently struck by the same effect it has on weaker minds.
• A Celestial can Commit Effort for the day to restore the mind/senses of an individual who has been scarred by gazing upon the Celestial so long as it has happened within 24 hours. Many of them sadly leave the poor bastards as they are.

Fortunately for those around them, Celestials are usually able to shapeshift at will into another form, ranging from another Spirit form (including the classic, if inaccurate, blonde-androgynous-individual-with-wings-and-halo, a fireball, a golden bird or a simple glowing white shape) to looking almost completely human at the highest ranks of Manifestation.

Celestial Senses

The Celestial Spirits have many senses, most far beyond our understanding. All Spirits have many unique senses, including the abstract ability to sense their related concept but Celestials are 'plugged' in the thoughts and minds of billion of individuals across many timelines. They sense the movement of planets, the shifts of the cosmos and the various countless time and space anomalies that may occur. Most importantly, unlike most Spirits the Celestials are True Psychics and have many abilities which are similar to or emulate the mechanics and effects of the Stars Without Numbers Psychics.

• Psychic Abilities: A Celestial Spirit has ranks in the Metapsionics, Precognition and Telepathy Disciplines and is able to use any power of equal or lower rank to its skill.
• Temporal Sense (Constant): A Celestial is able to 'see' time, both past and hypothetical future at least to some extent. A Celestial is aware of the passage of time its three dimensional forms experience down to the nanosecond and is instantly aware if it is being subjected to any temporal anomaly. Finally, it is always allowed a Saving Throw against any effect which is related to temporal control or magic.

Celestial Powers

The abilities of the Celestials are simply too vast to be described in complete details. In addition to all the aforementioned abilities, they could have any variety of monster powers previously described but given a more specific, 'angelic' bent given their purpose. A Celestial whose mission involve tracking down a specific individual could showcase the same implacable qualities as a Revenant. In addition, when they need to assume human form they often have abilities quite similar to Demons, especially the ability to temporarily create a physical 'shell'.

Generally speaking the most powerful abilities which all Celestials have isn't something that is truly able to be represented with simple stats. These beings know  a lot and can be disturbingly smart purely on the level of information they have processed. A Celestial, if it was somehow inclined to answer, could be asked about the atomic composition of a specific object and unless that object had somehow been altered by magic or some higher power it would be able to tell everything. It could instantly tell how many times on average, per day, the person in front of them blink. This can allow some 'cheating' on the GM part as these creatures know a lot about mundane things and if given enough motivation to use said knowledge they could get really scary.

Weaknesses

For all their powers, the Celestials are not omnipotent or invincible. As they are classified as Spirits, they can become vulnerable to any kind of power, weapon, spell or ritual which target Spirits.  Powerful and difficult to enact rituals can bind, trap or use Celestials (or even part of their power). Most would rather 'self-destruct' than suffer such a fate and a Celestial gets an instant extra Saving Throw should it ever become trapped or bound. If it pass, the Celestial unravel its energy form and spiritual container, reverting to being an Unbound Spirit, unable to act directly for decades or centuries.

A less-known weakness of Celestial Spirits is they risk 'burning out' the longer they remain as formed spirits and expend their power. Each time a Celestial reduce its Effort to 0 for a day (by Committing Essence) it starts to 'burn out', losing 1 HD. Likewise, every time it is reduced to 0 HP it will also suffer such a fate. Finally for every month it spend on the material world, be it as a Spirit or inside a body/shell it will also lose 1 HD. A Celestial Spirit reduced to 0 HD unravels, become an Unformed Spirit and will not manifest again for decades or centuries, just like when it self destruct.

Urban Fantasy: On Celestial Spirits, Part 1

Seraphim by David Romero.

Obviously, as with everything else I steal from the World of Darkness because I'm a hack.

Most Spirits encountered are creatures of the direct and material world, even if it is reflected in the spirit world. They embody places, objects or some weaker abstraction of things such as 'hunger' or 'water'. They are the spiritual echoes of physical concepts. Much greater (and yet, arguably, different) are the so-called Celestial Spirits. These beings are greater, higher than earthly Spirits. Their minds are more divorced from our earthly understanding compared to the much more grounded and understandable Spirits most people encounter.

These are the beings sometimes called Angels but such a term is a misnomer. While it is true many of these beings appear to be aligned to (or, perhaps strangely or not, converted) a faith, especially an Abrahamic one these beings are not limited to it. There are Celestial Spirits which consort with the earthly demi-gods just as there are who  walk the courts of the thought-realms of the Bodhisattva. These beings have a presence all over the world across all cultures. Yet they are rarely seen, rarely interacted with. It is not their way to interact with (most) mortals. Their minds are alien not because they are eldritch abominations (granted, they might be from a certain point of view) but because they are 'plugged in' greater ideas and concepts: they see the world(s) in high concepts and at the macro scale, the churning of the minds of entire nations, entire people and entire faiths. They sense the ebb and flow of things we'd call time and fate and primordial powers. They are the agent not of direct, named deities but of incorporeal forces and abstracts beings.

On Celestial Spirits (Or Living Plot Devices)

Let's not beat around the bush here: Celestial Spirits are mostly 'plot devices' in the sense they have weird, inscrutable agenda focused on the big picture of reality that mortal minds cannot fully grasp. They make for poor allies or enemies with clear goals, unless that goal is so utterly simple and single minded such as the destruction of a specific thing, even if the 'why' might escape the Players. Plugged into reality in a way other beings can't grasp, these beings are the perfect mysterious patron and manipulators. However an important thing to understand is these beings not infallible. Alien in mind, rigid and orderly they sometimes approach a problem in a way that has little care for individual lives. In the grand scheme of things they are correct, as sometimes they will destroy lives related to certain projects which could end up harming more people. On a personal level it isn't so easy to be callous. Order and stability often does not care for the micro scale. Few people would find it a just price to pay for a bunch of people to die brutally all because the celestial intelligence have calculate there is a good chance their research and project could produce a weapon worse than the nuclear bomb. There is not certain fate, no absolute but the celestial spirits often see many possibilities: if certain 'endings' are more common than others then they will act purely based on % chance.

Macro-Scale Entities

Celestial Spirits are firm and just, but that 'justice' is rarely if ever kind. They are not evil, nor are they trying to spread suffering like Demons. The best way to understand Celestial Spirits is to play simulation games. Go ahead and boot Sim City, Europa Universalis, Civilization or Stellaris. You see everything in a macro scale, as raw large numbers of specific resources, people reduce to population units. Does your interface show you every detail of every untold billion your actions can impact? When you play a galaxy-spanning simulation do you even have the option to see the life of a humble shop keeper on some colony world, his struggles to make ends meet? You don't. You can't. These beings are, from your point of view, non-existent or non-entities. It's not that they don't matter, if these worlds were allowed to be more granular, realistic and detailed each and every single one of these souls would matter. However, to the Celestial Spirits life and reality is more akin to a simulation game's interface where such granular details are beneath their notice.

Celestial Spirits are not enemies of mankind. Indeed, they may very well be our allies but it is not an easy alliance nor is it always a welcomed one. One could argue they, at least partially, embodies 'high concepts' of the world's complexity and human society. All of this, of course, on a massive scale. They are not even Eudaemon, as they are too impersonal for that. Guardian spirits are more of the lower, more terrestrial type, even if some often take forms we would recognize as the pop culture definition 'angelic'. Any spirit can appear to be a glowing humanoid figure with wings and halo. Some might even be truly dedicated to helping people but they are not of the hosts of the Celestials. The Celestials are guardians of people, of nations, of ideas and structures who spend most of their time unformed, processing raw information. They do not appear commonly. One would think Protectors of Nations would actively intercede but this would be a misunderstanding: wars, revolutions, political corruption these are all by product of human nature and are not what attract the attention of Celestials. Despite what some may think, they are not our jailers. But they are, also, not exactly our saviors nor are they there to 'fix our problems'. Human free will (as complicated an issue as it may be) is strangely something these creature believe in. However it is clear that they seem content or driven by purpose to let humanity unfold, warts and all, only to subtly intervene should enough possible futures show a great calamity could lay ahead.

Incarnations Of Purpose

When something goes wrong (or is deemed to have gone wrong), a Celestial Spirit will incarnate. They will go from Unformed to Formed, becoming an entity which can be interacted with. They become linear and three dimensional (if still connected to their 'cosmic interface'). Celestial Spirits are Common to Mighty Spirits in terms of HD, but have many different traits compared to a regular Spirit.

• They are always a Nemesis, for one thing, with a Morale of 12.
• Celestial Spirits are completely immune to non-magical weapons, even if the character somehow has an ability to hit incorporeal beings. Unless the weapon's strike has been augmented by some Effort-using power or is itself magical in some way it will either not damage the spirit or cause insignificant damage that is instantly regenerated.
• Their Manifestation Rank is C or higher, but usually A.
• The true form of a Celestial Spirit is abstract and powerful. Unless the Spirit changes shape to accommodate mortal minds it will be overwhelming for mortals to gaze upon them. Any mortal NPC is no particular importance is immediately struck if they gaze upon the Spirit's true, with an effect ranging from temporary or permanent madness or blindness to being instantly slain. This effect will be covered in details in a future post.

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