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Xefas
2010-09-07, 10:59 PM
Harvested Archon
(Kha'atsiyr - Former Falxugon)
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad91/bluejanus/200606291254_draenei_female.jpg

The origin of the Harvested Archon is itself interwoven with the story of 'Meira and the Devil', a tale still told by modern Dwarves to emphasize that hard work is the best way to overcome guilt. Moping and angst is to be human - turning your grief into finely wrought door hinges is to be a dwarf.

The story begins with Meira, a dwarven woman, and the picture of dwarfishness she is. She's happily married, never been incarcerated, eats all of her vegetables, can hammer an Orc as easily as a door hinge, and always pays her respect to Moradin every Tuesday like any dwarf should.

One day, however, Meira noticed her husband's spirit waning. He no longer worked with as much tenacity as he used to, until eventually he no longer worked at all. He became Unemployed, a word far most nastily translated into Dwarvish. Meira was at her wits end until, after a day of particularly satisfactory work digging a new magma duct through a notably stubborn layer of basalt, she met a handsome human man on her way back home (or at least, it was close to what she had heard human men looked like).

The human man told her that he knew of her plight and was willing to help, and only for a very small thing. He would return her husband's fighting spirit if she would alter her excavation plans to dig the magma duct 12 degrees farther to the left. Puzzled (and rightly so, as the request wouldn't have far reaching consequences for another 85 years, whereby a redeemed Kobold Champion of Bahamut destined to slay the progeny of Tiamat would instead die in a horrible magma-related accident during his adolescence while tunneling through the area, but that is a different story altogether), she agreed.

That next day, after returning from work (and having made the alterations to the blueprints), Meira was greeted by a much-revitalized husband, who was so ecstatic, that he met her at the door wearing only a pair of work boots. After they had properly shown their affection for one another, what Meira thought to have been her husband changed shape back into the human man from the day before, right as her true husband burst into the room to witness the scene.

Enraged, Meira's husband attempted to strike the human, but found that there was some impenetrable force around him that the dwarf could not overcome. Similarly upset, Meira grabbed her hammer (which she always kept by the bedside), and swung as well, meeting similar impotence. The human pointed to her husband's fury, and related that he had, in fact, restored his drive and spirit, before fleeing from the house (and the Dwarven City itself). Meira's husband, still furious, left to seek employment, promising to also begin the long and terrible process that is Dwarven Divorce.

Meira was struck with heavy grief, but it did not diminish her diligence. She formed a plan, and went to the local Temple of Moradin. There, she begged for forgiveness, and also requested of the temple a service to make things right. She purchased a magical powder and left her city for the last time, bearing the weight of her adultery and of several hundred pounds of steel pipes.

Weeks passed, but eventually Meira cornered the human again, for she knew the mountain passes far better than he. The human mocked her, telling her that she was no match for the infernal powers that she had so foolishly meddled with. It was then that they had a short, confused conversation where Meira realized that the man was, in fact, not a human at all, and that humans did not typically have cloven hooves, horns, or a tail. He divulged that he was, in fact, a Falxugon, a Hell-spawned harvester of souls, and that by consorting with him, Meira had begun the first step along her dark path. Being a dwarf, she was not deterred, and rather than follow him into the depths of corruption, she instead knocked him unconscious with a bag of magical sleeping powder.

Knowing that she could not slay him, Meira instead set to work with her hammer and built a steel cage all around the Harvester Devil while he slept. Upon awaking, he found he could not escape, as the fine dwarven craftsmanship was too strong for him. Delighted, she tied a sturdy rope to the cage, and the other end of the rope to her waist. Heaving with all of her might, she began to ascend the cliffside adjacent to her.

Her original plan had been to drop him from a great height, thereby allowing gravity to kill the swine for her. However, as she climbed, an enlightenment settled into her soul, and she knew that merely killing this monster would not alleviate the guilt of what she had done. Instead, she continued to climb. Far beyond when the ache of her muscles would have stopped her, and far beyond when need of food or water would have ended her, she climbed and climbed, always with the hisses and curses of the devil right behind her.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Meira found that she was climbing past cities that appeared to be built upon the clouds (which she noted seemed like a structurally poor idea). First, a city shrouded in eternal night, then a city that shone with a gold more brilliant than any molten metal she had ever seen smelted, then a series of snow-covered hamlets where she could smell and hear feasting and merriment even from her place among the rocks. As she was ascending past what looked like a world of pure crystal, she could have sworn that she saw two of her kinsman waving at her as she passed. She wished she could wave back, but if she were to take a hand off of her work, she would surely fall. A city of silvery skyscrapers, and a city composed of flawless gemstones later, and she had reached the summit of the mountain.

As Meira pulled the cage she had built up onto the solid surface, the devil within whimpering and snarling, the dwarf maiden collapsed to the ground. A vision of massive gates composed of what she could only relate to as the first rays of the morning sun loomed in her tired eyes.

A voice spoke to her, and the voice lifted her up, her body that of an old woman's now, her entire life spent grieving and straining against a weight she had tied upon herself. The light of the voice passed across her soul, to burn from it any impurities, but it found none. Instead, it lay upon the Falxugon, still quivering in its cage. The villain was incinerated instantly.

And that is where the Dwarven tale ends. But the whole story is not over. The flesh of the devil was burned, but its soul remained as an act of mercy from the Voice. It did not seem right to destroy such a thing that had played its part in Meira's lesson. Instead, the Voice took each year that Meira had spent hefting the weight of its sins, and gave it to the empty soul as life anew, that it might redeem itself.

----

Although the (heavily embellished and distorted) story of the first Harvested Archon was rather specific, all that is required to create one is for a Harvester Devil and a mortal who has been tricked into committing an act of evil by that devil to be brought to Mount Celestia together. There, a patron of great Goodness may relieve the mortal of any evil they have committed, and use the left over Good to forge the Harvester Devil into a new being (merging the mortal's mind and soul with Celestia in the process). The composite creature appears humanoid, like the Devil, with cloven hooves, horns, and a tail, but with features of the mortal (typically the gender, facial features, and hair).

Such creatures are crusaders of Truth and Justice throughout the Planes, fighting the good fight for as long as they are able. They are eternally youthful, but their life span is only that of the mortal whose life was taken to make them. They are acutely aware of exactly how long they have left to live, and thus waste no time in fulfilling their duty (which is to be Heaven's answer to the insidious subterfuge of Hell's minions).

Racial Stats:
Outsider Type [Lawful, Good, Extraplanar]
Medium Size
30ft Land Speed
+2 Str, +4 Dex, +2 Con, +2 Int, +2 Wis, +4 Cha
Darkvision 60ft and low-light vision
Racial Hit Dice: Harvested Archons have three Outsider hit dice.

Tongues (Sp): Harvested Archons are under a continuous Tongues effect with a caster level equal to their character level.

Alignment Unmasked (Su): Harvested Archons can see a creature's alignment just by looking at them. If their alignment is somehow obscured (such as by an Undetectable Alignment spell), the Archon may make a Sense Motive check opposed by the target's Bluff check to pierce the effect. They may only make one such check against a particular effect per 24 hours. In addition, this ability always pierces the "Alignment Mask" ability of Harvester Devils, and Harvested Archons always see Harvester Devils as they are, even if they are polymorphed, mundanely disguised, or otherwise.

Heavenly Relief (Sp): Harvested Archons may produce a Remove Curse effect at will with a touch (caster level equals character level).

No Refuge for the Damned (Su): Harvested Archons project a holy aura out to 100 feet. Within this aura, Evil Outsiders that are slain do not simply return to their own plane - they are permanently destroyed, as if they were killed while on their home plane. In addition, Evil Outsiders may not use Greater Teleport or Plane Shift as a spell-like ability, and the "Refuge of the Damned" ability of Harvester Devils specifically does not function.

Favored Class: Crusader

DracoDei
2010-09-08, 08:46 AM
The origins make these sound rarer than hen's teeth. But I LIKE them.

What book(s) are Harvester Devils from?

Xefas
2010-09-08, 10:39 AM
The origins make these sound rarer than hen's teeth. But I LIKE them.

What book(s) are Harvester Devils from?

They're from the Fiendish Codex II. And, yes, they're intended to be pretty damn rare. :smallsmile:

The Mentalist
2010-09-08, 12:36 PM
I don't have anything to say on the mechanics at the moment but that story was good. It managed to keep me going through to the end.