Mote archon

Mote archon

(Creature)

Type

Outsider
(archon, extraplanar, good, lawful, swarm)

CR

15

Environment

Any (Heaven)

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Source: Hell Comes to Westcrown, pg(s). 88-89

Mote archons are tiny, floating archons that often congregate in swarms of hundreds or thousands. Together, mote archon swarms have a unified personality and an overwhelming drive to comfort the sick and tend to the injured.

Appearance

Mote archons are less than an inch across and have no discernible weight. A mote archon has the form of a sphere with sharp edges. No two mote archons seem to have the same exact shape, although this is difficult to discern. Mote archons glow with a white light the strength of a candle flame; the luminosity and colour of the glow cannot be changed.

Ecology

Mote archons are the byproduct of an archon's ascension into a more powerful form. A warrior produces very few motes, a diplomat around a dozen, and a healer might engender many dozens per ascension.

Mote archons naturally gravitate to their own kind and are almost never found alone. An individual mote archon is virtually mindless, inclined only to seek out other motes and avoid harm, but in swarms of a few hundred or more, they develop a hive mind and personality. This personality is independent of those of the archons who originally shed the motes, and is mutable: a swarm that loses members might become grim or despondent, while a swarm that gains members becomes cheerful. These mood shifts often manifest through the lethargy or agitation of individual components, as mote archons rarely speak. Regardless of their personalities, all mote archon swarms are driven to help the sick or injured and cannot stand idle in the face of suffering.

Mote archon swarms are easily angered, usually by threatening creatures deemed by a swarm to be under its care, or by senseless butchery or wanton violence. An angry mote archon swarm descends upon its enemies with righteous fervour. The sharp edges of the individual mote archons can shred skin, but swarms have enough control over components to avoid harming allies. Infuriated mote archons oscillate rapidly until their rage ignites them.

Society

Mote archons are almost always found in Heaven, tending to injured angels and other archons in hospitals, and serve as field medics within Heaven's armies during their conflicts against evil. In battle, mote archons sometimes accidentally heal enemies against their better judgement; they never consider this as an error, but rather as a measure of grace that lowers the aggregate amount of suffering in the multiverse.

Mote archon swarms are generally more spontaneous than others. When creatures under their care have recovered sufficiently, mote archon swarms give in to wanderlust, which can cause them to slip through portals out of Heaven. They pass their time by performing healing work but always strive to return to Heaven.

Mote archon swarms enjoy the company of other celestials dedicated to healing and particularly adore brijidines, although they eventually get irritated by the azata's flighty recklessness.