Lipika

Lipika

(Creature)

Type

Outsider
(aeon, extraplanar)

CR

18

Environment

Any (Outer Sphere, Astral Plane)

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Source: Bestiary 5, pg(s). 8-9

Lipikas, also known as the Lords of Karma, are aeons whose duality springs not from opposition but from understanding that all actions and reactions are the crests and troughs of the same cosmic wave.

Appearance

A lipika resembles a featureless humanoid with four forearms per arm that each split off at the elbow and an eye on each palm, clad in a black cloak. Lipikas stand about 13 feet tall but rarely weigh more than 200 pounds. Lipikas can be distinguished from each other by the patterns upon their forearms and the colours of their palm-eyes.

Ecology

Lipikas observe the rhythm of causality, the way that one action becomes another and affects everything in the grand scheme of reality. They inscribe their findings in the cosmic memory of all aeons, and occult scholars believe that this cosmic memory finds its way to the Akashic Record deep within the heart of the Astral Plane.

Lipikas consider themselves the judges of willful karma, sometimes manipulating the cycle of mortal lives and reincarnations. The reason for their interest is unclear. There seems to be no overriding philosophy concerning the nature or purpose of the souls they manipulate.

Lipikas are directly connected to the Akashic Record, and have been theorised to be its agents. They watch over a reading room where planar travellers that made it to the Akashic Record are granted limited access to its knowledge.

Lipikas interact with specific entities across the planes, especially ones who have been or are fated to be reincarnated, often at the lipikas' own hands. Unlike other aeons, a lipika uses some bits and pieces of language to convey its messages and takes time and care when communicating with its subject. Lipikas give their subjects guidance on how to adjust their actions to achieve some karmic imperative or progression of personal enlightenment, which seems to contradict intuition, reason or morality. A lipika is just as likely to chastise a good or evil creature for its acts. To the lipika, the balance of alignments is inconsequential beside the realities of action and the bonds of cause and effect.

When not focused on performing a specific task, lipikas deliver messages, omens and portents which are often signs of events of great significance, and the lipikas maintain that the recipient's actions are influential. At other times, they appear merely to guide reincarnated souls or spirits destined to be reincarnated. A lipika focused on a specific task typically ignores other creatures that do not attempt to interfere.

On rare occasions, lipikas create conflicts, claiming that great damage to the multiverse is being done by a civilisation's actions, which are often so minute their consequences might seem arbitrary.

Society

Sages of occult lore theorize that the information lipikas inscribe into the Akashic Record directly informs the Monad, and that this information is disseminated to pleromas, which are tasked with acts of creation and destruction that can sometimes impact entire worlds. Those who subscribe to more traditional theories of the multiverse see the connection as more direct: if a lipika cannot accomplish its goals, it calls in a pleroma. The goals of lipikas are typically so abstract that their intervention often seems random, and few mortals have figured out how to placate them.

Lipikas' manipulation of the cycle of life often leads to friction with Pharasma's agents like psychopomps and soul stealers like daemons. They occasionally get involved in shadow wars against olethros psychopomps that might span dynasties.