ThisIsZen
2014-09-19, 12:37 PM
Or, in a series of 'posting things I made for my game that I want to share' with a similar cause: I found the Hebdomad boring and flavorless, so here's something I replaced it with.
(A side-note: These are intended to actually be Angels, not Solars. I basically traded the places of archons and angels in my setting, and also renamed Celestia to Aasilur. It shouldn't be hard to just call them Archons instead.)
Stability of Heaven, The Angel Who Walks, The Humble One
Malkuth is the most humble of the Ten Sovereigns, and the one entrusted with guarding the gates to Aasilur. Her form is rough-hewn of brown stone, resembling an earth elemental at a glance, but sacred geometric designs of ivory, platinum and gold cover the entirety of her body. Like the other Aasimon, she was winged, but it is said that she sundered her wings when she became the gatekeeper of Heaven – she would not fly when those souls she saw safely to their rest walked. The foundation of her once-magnificent earthen wings are still present, two pillars sticking a scant few inches out of her back. Most notably, she is tall – she stands thirty feet from foot to head, towering over even the rest of the Kings of Heaven.
The Angel Who Walks wears sandals, skirts and tunics in whites and blues, and is known to appear wearing garlands of heavenly flowers about her neck and head. She favors robes that bind over one shoulder. When arrayed for battle, her armor is made of solid stone, mighty to behold and decorated in the same geometric designs as her body. She wields a great halberd with a platinum head, and always carries a stone cudgel at her side.
The Watcher Above, The Dreaming Angel, The Messenger
Yesod takes the form of a man eight feet tall, possessing four eagle's wings of mirrored silver, a lion's head and a bull's horns. He has a third eye set in his forehead, and one on each palm, and he speaks in a whisper that can carry for miles. Yesod speaks for all the Kings of Heaven and is the most common of the Ten to be seen outside of Aasilur. The Second Heaven is a twilight place, permanently lit by a full moon, but without the menace of mortal night – it is for this reason that Yesod is known as the Dreaming Angel, though he never sleeps.
Yesod is a potent pugilist, and has been known to fight unarmed when he is forced to engage in battle, but he is rarely without a longsword of mirrored silver that focuses light into searing rays.
The Timeless One, The Warrior Victorious, Angel of War(Netzach)/The Healer, The Peaceful Angel, The Prismatic Paragon (Hod)
Hod is an angel made of glass in whom the five elements are visibly raging – at his heart, they descend into perfect order. His wings are segmented and each piece floats independently of the other, and he casts the area around himself in prismatic radiance. He favors long, flowing white robes and the accoutrements of a healer, and when forced to fight, wields a sap. Netzach, by contrast, takes a form made of iron, in whose joints and gaps a furnace of cold fire rages. She is unchanging and wears no armor in battle, weathering even the most grievous of blows without flinching. While her upper half is humanoid and she possesses wings with bladed feathers, her lower half is reptilian, possessing six legs, a long tail, and sharp claws.
The One Who Lays Mountains Flat, The One Who Raises Valleys, Angel of Unity, The Even-Handed
Tiferet is a golden angel whose form is both male and female, and whose beauty is beyond describing. Gems have been set in their chest, the palms of each of their hands, their forehead, and above their genitals, which glow with the radiance of the sun, and their hair is brilliant fire. Tiferet wears little, a sash looped over one shoulder and a skirt, and carriers a simple yew quarterstaff with them at all times. As the patron angel of monks, Tiferet is the only one of the Sovereigns who is more skilled at fighting with their hands than Yesod, but is uninterested in demonstrations. Both Yesod and Tiferet are also the Aasilur most associated with sex and love, and Tiferet watches over lovers and guides unions in fairness and equitability.
Tiferet also watches over those who struggle to find balance in their lives by quirks of birth. They are known to guide and advise transgendered mortals, and if asked will reshape their physical forms to better suit their souls.
Heavenfire, The Judge of Aasilur, The Unforgiving Angel (Gevurah)/Heaven's Grace, The Kind One, The Forgiving Angel
Gevurah is a legless being of pure, radiant fire, six-eyed and terrible to behold. Six wings extend from its back, each sixteen feet in length, and it speaks in six simultaneous voices. In one hand it holds the gavel of the judge, while in the other, it holds the axe of the executioner. In Gevurah's body can be seen the glyphs of the Celestial script, formed out of gold and unconsumed despite the tempestuousness of the Aasimon's fire. Gevurah is the most devil-like of the Aasimon, whose duty is to judge and exact punishment on those who transgress against and within heaven. Its sibling, Gedulah, is a being of water and wind, fluid and variant of form, only vaguely humanoid. Its touch is soothing and heals all the ills of the world, and in Gevurah's court, Gedulah is the case of mercy and forgiveness. Gedulah often crafts its form into that of the being it is interacting with, but in its natural state is more akin to a gentle spring rainstorm or a slow-flowing river. Its voice is like windchimes, many layered, harmonious and wispy.
Scholar of Heaven, The One Who Understands, The Mother of Angels (Binah)/Mason of Heaven, The One Who Creates, The Father of Angels (Chokhmah)
Binah is a scholarly woman who resembles a willow tree, with a gentle cascade of white leaves for hair and a coating of moss over much of her body. Carvings in Celestial shift and run about her surface, painless and harmless to Binah herself but valued by the scholars of Heaven – the messages that arise on her surface are often prophecies or philosphical tenets. Sometimes she permits scholars to copy these messages down, but she is aware of their content and has filled many libraries with their transliterations. Binah is also the patron Aasimon of mothers, and watches over and guides them and their children. She favors robes and dresses in forest greens, with gold and white embroideries, and often wears makeups or painted designs in inks made from crushed sweet berries.
Chokhmah, meanwhile, is a being of wrought stone, without hair, upon whose body is scribed the entirety of the heaven in exhaustive detail. Quiet and contemplative, Chokhmah rarely speaks even to his adherents, and concerns himself with the grand designs of heaven, leaving most of the affairs of their layer to Binah. As the patron of fathers, Chokhmah watches over them and guides their children. He favors drab gray clothes, and always carries a chisel, straight-edge and pen with him.
As Binah and Chokhmah together represent union, in a holistic (rather than sexual) sense, they exist beyond their parental roles. Binah can as easily appear male as female, and Chokhmah as easily female as male – the Heavenly ideal is not a heterosexual union, and the roles of father and mother are not restricted solely to men or women respectively.
The Unknowable Angel, The Hidden King
No mortal or Outsider has ever laid eyes on Keter, nor has any deity described the Aasimon in history. Those who ascend into the seventh heaven describe it as suffused with a blinding, radiant light, but could not describe the shape of the ground or the nature of the place, only that they felt utterly secure and safe while there. No Aasimon, nor Aasilir, nor any other being but Keter dwells in the Seventh Heaven. There are rumors that, when Asmodeus was a God of the Upper Planes, Keter was his ultimate creation, the first and greatest Aasimon, but that was before any record and such rumors and tales are dismissed as folly, gossip or slander.
The 10 of them were not only named for, but inspired by the Sephirot. However, if I claimed to have more than a passing familiarity with it imparted by surface-level reading, I'd be a complete liar, so it is entirely possible that I've completely misrepresented up to the entire concept, even in adaptation. I was trying to create ten personalities based on the ideas of the progression of the tree of life, but if you know more than me and I messed up, please let me know. If it was just in my own campaign setting I wouldn't worry so much but I'm actually sharing this, so I don't want to be offensively inaccurate in my work.
(A side-note: These are intended to actually be Angels, not Solars. I basically traded the places of archons and angels in my setting, and also renamed Celestia to Aasilur. It shouldn't be hard to just call them Archons instead.)
Stability of Heaven, The Angel Who Walks, The Humble One
Malkuth is the most humble of the Ten Sovereigns, and the one entrusted with guarding the gates to Aasilur. Her form is rough-hewn of brown stone, resembling an earth elemental at a glance, but sacred geometric designs of ivory, platinum and gold cover the entirety of her body. Like the other Aasimon, she was winged, but it is said that she sundered her wings when she became the gatekeeper of Heaven – she would not fly when those souls she saw safely to their rest walked. The foundation of her once-magnificent earthen wings are still present, two pillars sticking a scant few inches out of her back. Most notably, she is tall – she stands thirty feet from foot to head, towering over even the rest of the Kings of Heaven.
The Angel Who Walks wears sandals, skirts and tunics in whites and blues, and is known to appear wearing garlands of heavenly flowers about her neck and head. She favors robes that bind over one shoulder. When arrayed for battle, her armor is made of solid stone, mighty to behold and decorated in the same geometric designs as her body. She wields a great halberd with a platinum head, and always carries a stone cudgel at her side.
The Watcher Above, The Dreaming Angel, The Messenger
Yesod takes the form of a man eight feet tall, possessing four eagle's wings of mirrored silver, a lion's head and a bull's horns. He has a third eye set in his forehead, and one on each palm, and he speaks in a whisper that can carry for miles. Yesod speaks for all the Kings of Heaven and is the most common of the Ten to be seen outside of Aasilur. The Second Heaven is a twilight place, permanently lit by a full moon, but without the menace of mortal night – it is for this reason that Yesod is known as the Dreaming Angel, though he never sleeps.
Yesod is a potent pugilist, and has been known to fight unarmed when he is forced to engage in battle, but he is rarely without a longsword of mirrored silver that focuses light into searing rays.
The Timeless One, The Warrior Victorious, Angel of War(Netzach)/The Healer, The Peaceful Angel, The Prismatic Paragon (Hod)
Hod is an angel made of glass in whom the five elements are visibly raging – at his heart, they descend into perfect order. His wings are segmented and each piece floats independently of the other, and he casts the area around himself in prismatic radiance. He favors long, flowing white robes and the accoutrements of a healer, and when forced to fight, wields a sap. Netzach, by contrast, takes a form made of iron, in whose joints and gaps a furnace of cold fire rages. She is unchanging and wears no armor in battle, weathering even the most grievous of blows without flinching. While her upper half is humanoid and she possesses wings with bladed feathers, her lower half is reptilian, possessing six legs, a long tail, and sharp claws.
The One Who Lays Mountains Flat, The One Who Raises Valleys, Angel of Unity, The Even-Handed
Tiferet is a golden angel whose form is both male and female, and whose beauty is beyond describing. Gems have been set in their chest, the palms of each of their hands, their forehead, and above their genitals, which glow with the radiance of the sun, and their hair is brilliant fire. Tiferet wears little, a sash looped over one shoulder and a skirt, and carriers a simple yew quarterstaff with them at all times. As the patron angel of monks, Tiferet is the only one of the Sovereigns who is more skilled at fighting with their hands than Yesod, but is uninterested in demonstrations. Both Yesod and Tiferet are also the Aasilur most associated with sex and love, and Tiferet watches over lovers and guides unions in fairness and equitability.
Tiferet also watches over those who struggle to find balance in their lives by quirks of birth. They are known to guide and advise transgendered mortals, and if asked will reshape their physical forms to better suit their souls.
Heavenfire, The Judge of Aasilur, The Unforgiving Angel (Gevurah)/Heaven's Grace, The Kind One, The Forgiving Angel
Gevurah is a legless being of pure, radiant fire, six-eyed and terrible to behold. Six wings extend from its back, each sixteen feet in length, and it speaks in six simultaneous voices. In one hand it holds the gavel of the judge, while in the other, it holds the axe of the executioner. In Gevurah's body can be seen the glyphs of the Celestial script, formed out of gold and unconsumed despite the tempestuousness of the Aasimon's fire. Gevurah is the most devil-like of the Aasimon, whose duty is to judge and exact punishment on those who transgress against and within heaven. Its sibling, Gedulah, is a being of water and wind, fluid and variant of form, only vaguely humanoid. Its touch is soothing and heals all the ills of the world, and in Gevurah's court, Gedulah is the case of mercy and forgiveness. Gedulah often crafts its form into that of the being it is interacting with, but in its natural state is more akin to a gentle spring rainstorm or a slow-flowing river. Its voice is like windchimes, many layered, harmonious and wispy.
Scholar of Heaven, The One Who Understands, The Mother of Angels (Binah)/Mason of Heaven, The One Who Creates, The Father of Angels (Chokhmah)
Binah is a scholarly woman who resembles a willow tree, with a gentle cascade of white leaves for hair and a coating of moss over much of her body. Carvings in Celestial shift and run about her surface, painless and harmless to Binah herself but valued by the scholars of Heaven – the messages that arise on her surface are often prophecies or philosphical tenets. Sometimes she permits scholars to copy these messages down, but she is aware of their content and has filled many libraries with their transliterations. Binah is also the patron Aasimon of mothers, and watches over and guides them and their children. She favors robes and dresses in forest greens, with gold and white embroideries, and often wears makeups or painted designs in inks made from crushed sweet berries.
Chokhmah, meanwhile, is a being of wrought stone, without hair, upon whose body is scribed the entirety of the heaven in exhaustive detail. Quiet and contemplative, Chokhmah rarely speaks even to his adherents, and concerns himself with the grand designs of heaven, leaving most of the affairs of their layer to Binah. As the patron of fathers, Chokhmah watches over them and guides their children. He favors drab gray clothes, and always carries a chisel, straight-edge and pen with him.
As Binah and Chokhmah together represent union, in a holistic (rather than sexual) sense, they exist beyond their parental roles. Binah can as easily appear male as female, and Chokhmah as easily female as male – the Heavenly ideal is not a heterosexual union, and the roles of father and mother are not restricted solely to men or women respectively.
The Unknowable Angel, The Hidden King
No mortal or Outsider has ever laid eyes on Keter, nor has any deity described the Aasimon in history. Those who ascend into the seventh heaven describe it as suffused with a blinding, radiant light, but could not describe the shape of the ground or the nature of the place, only that they felt utterly secure and safe while there. No Aasimon, nor Aasilir, nor any other being but Keter dwells in the Seventh Heaven. There are rumors that, when Asmodeus was a God of the Upper Planes, Keter was his ultimate creation, the first and greatest Aasimon, but that was before any record and such rumors and tales are dismissed as folly, gossip or slander.
The 10 of them were not only named for, but inspired by the Sephirot. However, if I claimed to have more than a passing familiarity with it imparted by surface-level reading, I'd be a complete liar, so it is entirely possible that I've completely misrepresented up to the entire concept, even in adaptation. I was trying to create ten personalities based on the ideas of the progression of the tree of life, but if you know more than me and I messed up, please let me know. If it was just in my own campaign setting I wouldn't worry so much but I'm actually sharing this, so I don't want to be offensively inaccurate in my work.