- This article is about the creature type. For the language originating from these creatures, see the Celestial language.
Celestials are typically creatures of order and goodness associated with the Echo Planes and several non-evil-aligned Outer Planes. Celestials of near-divine power may become lesser idols, and celestials may be patrons for warlocks or even objects of localized cleric worship.
Society[]
Types of celestials[]
Fan art of Lieve'tel Toluse and a giant raven sent by her goddess, by Nikki Dawes.[art 1]
- Angel
- Couatl
- Empyrean
- Giant ravens of the Matron of Death[1]
- Goat-knight steed
- These and other mounts summoned by the Find Steed and Find Greater Steed spells (such as Tempus) are celestials who can take the form of strong creatures able to carry warriors on their backs.
- Pegasus
- Unicorn[2][3][4]
- Some familiars are celestials who can take the form of tiny beasts.
Related races[]
- The first devils were celestials corrupted by Asmodeus.[5]
- Aasimar are mortals who often have celestial heritage; those who have not turned to evil have a link to a celestial being, usually a deva, who provides guidance in the aasimar's dreams, through visions, prophecies, or feelings.[6]
- Kenku are the descendants of the Raven Queen's black-winged angels whose divinity was stripped away by Tharizdun.[7]
History[]
The Founding[]
The Schism between the gods drew the attention of sentinels of order from a realm of celestial harmony, and the Prime Deities enlisted these celestials' assistance in the war against the Betrayer Gods, the Primordials, and the creatures of chaos who were drawn to the carnage.[8]
The Age of Arcanum and the Calamity[]
In the Age of Arcanum, the city-state of Aeor engineered Aeorian hunters and a disease called frigid woe to fight, among other creatures, angels.[9]
During the late Age of Arcanum, black-winged angels served the Raven Queen as her emissaries. Their voices called across the planes of existence to the souls of the deceased, beckoning them towards the Queen's embrace.[7]
On the eve of the Calamity, there was a bridled unicorn in the Golden Scythe's vault in Avalir.[10] That last day a fragment of a solar's bow was taken from Vespin Chloras' chambers and brought to the City of Crowns.[11] Laerryn Coramar-Seelie would use it to finish her Astral Leywright.
In the Calamity, many angels were slain, and those who weren't were often wounded.[12] Xalicas, a solar who served as Corellon's right hand, was grievously wounded and left behind in the Greying Wildlands.[13] The Raven Queen's black-winged angels saved her from an attack by Tharizdun. In this attack they were thought to have been annihilated by the Chained Oblivion, but when Tharizdun was sealed, the angels reemerged, forever changed, as mortal kenku. They were greatly diminished, having been stripped of their wings, voices, and memories of their angelic existence.[7] Tharizdun's Curse of Oblivion left them only able to mimic the sounds of other creatures.[14]
The Moonweaver also lost several of her loyal celestials, since many martyred themselves to seal away the temple near Bazzoxan that served as prison for the Laughing Hand, a mad champion of Torog; they did so knowing they weren't able to permanently kill the monster once known as Ganix, so their only option was to lock him away.[15] Another of her angels, a deva called Perigee, acted as an ally for the human champion Alyxian, but she was destroyed during Gruumsh's attack to Cael Morrow.[16][17] After being re-formed at Sehanine's side she looked for Alyxian for centuries, until she found her way to the Netherdeep, where she was trapped by its corrupting influence. Mired in despair, she stayed as a sort of protector of her mortal ally, willing to attack those who she considers to be bothering the Apotheon's dreams,[17] with her defeat or the destruction of the Netherdeep being her only options to get rid of her corruption.[18]
Post-Divergence[]
Fan art of Xalicas after the Calamity, by Pyrosophist.[art 2]
Over a century after suffering crippling injuries in the Calamity, Xalicas recovered enough to begin wandering Wildemount. Accepting that she could not fight the evils of the world alone, she gathered like-minded followers and lent them power to repair the damage the Calamity inflicted on the natural world, protect the innocent, stand up to tyranny, and yet also prevent unnecessary wars.[12]
In time, two of the cities of Tal'Dorei would have distinctive celestials as mounts. The Peakclimber Knights of Kraghammer, as paladins of Moradin, summon celestial giant goats as steeds.[19] And the Iron Authority city of Ezordam-Haar is known as the "eyrie of the red pegasi".[20]
Campaign One: Vox Machina[]
Pike Trickfoot summoned a planetar of Sarenrae to repair the damage to Greyskull Keep following the attack of the Chroma Conclave.[21]
To help Taryon Darrington clear his family's debts with the Myriad, Vox Machina slew a corrupted celestial, Symphior the Withered Planetar, who had disabled a platinum mine controlled by the Myriad. The seed of Symphior had been planted there to emerge to protect Exandria in the event of another apocalyptic crisis, but the land had been corrupted while the planetar was in stasis.[22]
After encountering planetars and devas of Pelor around the Fortress of the Sun in the Fields of Elysium, both Scanlan[23][24] and Keyleth[25] experimented with transforming themselves into planetars.
Fan art of Keyleth, as a planetar with antlers, reading the Tome of Isolation to banish Vecna, by Kent Davis.[art 3]
Groups of clerics in Vasselheim summoned a dozen devas to defend against Vecna's assault on the city, and the reanimated Earth Titan quickly swatted almost all of them dead.[26] Keyleth transformed into a planetar for the final battle with Vecna,[27] which crucially allowed her to read the Tome of Isolation to banish the new god.[28]
Campaign Two: The Mighty Nein[]
Fan art of a statue of a weeping angel at the entrance to the King's Cage, by BlackSalander.[art 4]
While walking through the King's Cage the Mighty Nein found the remains of the celestials of Sehanine. Thanks to the Speak with Dead spell they talked to one of the celestials, gathering a bit of information about the place.[29]
During Traveler Con, in Rumblecusp, Sehanine sent a planetar to stop Artagan, since he was pretending to be the Moonweaver as a way of getting rid of followers. The celestial warrior tried to capture the archfey, being stopped by Jester Lavorre's plea in defense of The Traveler. Before letting him go, the Moonweaver herself talked through her angel to speak to the people gathered there, and stating that she would accept those who chose to worship her; after that, the planetar flew towards the image of the full Catha (an illusion manifesting Sehanine's power), and both disappeared.[30]
Caduceus Clay summoned couatls twice, once to watch over the party at the beach of Nicodranas[31] and once to put out the house fire Trent Ikithon set at the Blooming Grove.[32]
Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep[]
In the Netherdeep, the party can encounter the corrupted deva Perigee,[33] and one of the forms Alyxian may take is a celestial.[34]
Campaign Three: Bells Hells[]
After the beginning of the apogee solstice of 843 PD, with the gods being increasingly nervous due to the looming threat of Predathos, some of their celestial servants started assisting their mortal followers more directly. During a meeting held in Vasselheim in the Platinum Sanctuary, there were several celestial guardians present.[35]
Notable celestials[]
Official art of the Champion of Ravens, by Elliott from Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, page 274.[art 5]
- Asmodeus, Lord of the Hells, was of celestial blood[5]
- The Champion of Ravens is a celestial who was once a half-elf named Vax'ildan until entering the service of the Raven Queen; he appears sometimes as a wrathful angel[36]
- Eclipse is a deva of Pelor disguised as a priest in Bronbog[37]
- The Forgotten Empyrean was the "half-son" of the Raven Queen's predecessor, left in Pandemonium, who guarded Grog Strongjaw's captive soul when it was taken there by the Deck of Many Things
- Perigee is a deva of Sehanine[38]
- Samliel is Reani's angelic guide[39]
- Symphior was a corrupted planetar[40]
- Umudara, the Sentinel Beast, is a bull-like entity that used to protect the Veluthil Forest[41]
- Xalicas is a solar who was the right hand of Corellon before being terribly injured in the Calamity and left behind through the Divergence; Xalicas has become a lesser idol[12]
- An especially powerful planetar of Sehanine interrupted Traveler Con and nearly banished Artagan back to the Feywild[42]
Trivia[]
- The main foyer of the Alabaster Lyceum has depictions of devas battling demons.[43]
- In the high-level adventure hook Monolith of the Hells in Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, a gravely wounded angelic messenger of Sarenrae gives the adventurers a task in K'Tawl Swamp.[44]
- Under the alternative resurrection rules in Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, a revived character may experience side effects including an angel of death trying to reclaim the character's soul.[45]
- Most known celestials can speak all languages, and they often have telepathy with a range of 120 ft., but unicorns are limited to the Celestial language, Sylvan, Elvish, and telepathy extending 60 ft.[46] Pegasi understand Celestial, Common, Elvish, and Sylvan, but can't speak.[47] And the goat-knight steeds of Kraghammer can understand Dwarvish.[19]
- Theoretically, a powerful celestial could survive being the target of Ludinus Da'leth's harness.[48]
References[]
Art:
- ↑ Fan art of Lieve'tel Toluse and a giant raven sent by her goddess, by Nikki Dawes (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of Xalicas after the Calamity, by Pyrosophist (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of Keyleth, as a planetar with antlers, reading the Tome of Isolation to banish Vecna, by Kent Davis (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of a statue of a weeping angel at the entrance to the King's Cage, by BlackSalander (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Official art of the Champion of Ravens, by Elliott from Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, page 274. Used with permission.