Overall notes:
From Throne to Lantern, the number of sub-varieties of our 13 archons will be 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7. This is mostly for symbolism, as the pyramidal hierarchy resembles Mt. Celestia itself, and those particular numbers result in a total of 49 lesser archons--"seven times seven" is an exceptionally sacred/lucky number in the Judeo-Christian scriptures we're drawing from.
I've moved some archons around since the grouping Eldan came up with, again for thematic reasons. There are several sub-groups of archons based on their overall purpose:
The Throne, Scepter (new variety), and Blade (super-group of Sword Archons) archons are all rulership-themed; they're on top of the hierarchy in more ways than one and are nominally in charge. The Truth (new variety), Life (new variety), and Word archons are enlightenment-themed; they're high enough up the mountain that they'd reasonably be in charge of souls' enlightenment, and the more introspective of the Hebdomad are around here--plus, Word, Truth, and Life are a play on "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." The next grouping of two archons have yet to be made; no idea what there theme is.
Next up are the Sentinel (super-group of Owl Archons), Hound, and Warden archons, who are all protection-themed; they're the first-line defenders of Celestia (technically second, after the Silver Sea itself). Last are the Trumpet and Lantern archons; they're themed around guidance, the lanterns as they're commonly familiars and the trumpets as they're commonly messengers, and then of course lanterns and other petitioners start their journey to enlightenment here.
Following are the archons, their sub-varieties, and short (possibly cryptic) notes on what sorts of abilities they'd have in addition to the ones they already possess.
- Throne
- Scepter
- Blade--Sword, __
- Truth--Justice, Righteousness
- Justice--retribution effects, anti-Evil debuffs
- Righteousness--, pro-Good buffs
- Life--__, __, __
- Word--Logos, Pathos, Ethos
- Logos--utterances, atonement
- Pathos--power words, charm
- Ethos--divine word spells, geas
- --
- --
- Sentinel--Owl, Falcon, Dove, Eagle, Osprey
- Owl--petrification, sight in darkness
- Falcon--dazing/stunning, distance sight
- Dove--calm emotions, detect intentions
- Eagle--exhaustion, stealth detection
- Osprey--fear, detect illusions/invisibility
- Hound--Greyhound, Bloodhound, Harrier, Foxhound, Retriever
- Greyhound--sprinting, evading/dodging
- Bloodhound--tracking, plane shifting
- Harrier--endurance, delayed damage
- Foxhound--detection, ??
- Retriever--fetching, marking (mark of justice etc.)
- Warden--Guardian, Watcher, Shield, __, __, __
- Trumpet--Herald, Harbinger, __, __, __, __
- Herald--long range communication
- Harbinger--??
- Lantern--Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindess, Humility
- Chastity--purify physical debuffs
- Temperance--"damps" enemy attacks
- Charity--grant uses of SLAs
- Diligence--take 10/take 20 stuff
- Patience--reroll some checks
- Kindness--"linked minds" effect
- Humility--remove mental debuffs