Solarian
Solarians, or the Balancers / Cosmic Preservers and their counterpart, the Polarians / Cosmic Destroyers understand the almost astral dualistic cycle of the multiverse. Death and Life, hot and cold, creation and destruction, the two sides of the same coin essences of existence. To have the powers Solarians wield means understanding the cosmic order and their place in it, as enforcers.
Solarians understand the energies of life, light, and energy and seek to combat the forces of entropy. Polarians recognize the malice of decay, entropy, and its role in the multiverse being necessary to preserve the cosmic balance. Both seek to continue the cycle and enforce annihilation of the unworthy or weak. Despite their constant conflict, neither seek to completely wipe or remove one another from the balance, only seeking to uphold the cosmic balance by enforcing it themselves. If another force or faction tries to accomplish the radical version of either of their goals, completely breaking the concept of the inevitable end or constant beginning, such as becoming immortal, seeking to destroy the universe, or generally just committing mass-slaughter, the Solarians and Polarians will ally to combat this presence and return the cosmic balance.
Part of being a Solarian means having a transcendent revelation, to which you can work with your GM to work into your backstory. Additionally, you gain the following traits because of it:
Cosmic Coin
You are considered either a Solarian or a Polarian, each of which grants you different effects on the following traits you acquire below.
Astral Manifestation. Your otherworldly connection to space and the stars grants you a minor wondrous enchantment you can make manifest. You gain one of the following features of your choice:
- Astral Weapon. As a bonus action, you can summon a simple or martial weapon of your choice you are considered proficient with. If you are a Solarian, the weapon instead deals radiant damage. If you are a Polarian, the weapon deals necrotic damage instead. You can only summon up to two astral weapons at a time, and only you can wield it. It disappears if you de-summon it as a free action, or are no longer wielding it, or if you die.
- Energy Shield. As a bonus action, you can manifest a shield of stellar energy. It can appear as a barrier of glowing light or ultrablack darkness, depending on your side of the Cosmic Coin, but it can take any shape you desire. The energy shield is stronger than a normal shield, and wielding it increases your Armor Class by 3. Ally creatures within 5 feet of you also gain a +1 to AC. It acts like a normal shield (you can benefit from only one shield at a time), and you can equip it as part of the same bonus action it takes to manifest the shield. You can only summon one energy shield at a time, and only you can wield it. It disappears if you de-summon it as a free action, or if you die.
- Matter Armor. Whenever you are engaged in combat, at the start of combat you don a suit of armor made of stellar energy that outlines your body. While this armor is active, you gain a +1 to AC, and you gain a Damage Reduction of 3 against Fire damage if you are a Solarian, or Cold damage if you are a Polarian.
Stellar Discharge. As an action, you can harness cosmic energy into one of these two abilities: Supernova or Black Hole. Once you this ability, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.
These require your target(s) to make a saving throw to resist the ability's effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:
8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier
- Black Hole (Polarian). You channel crushing and destructive energy, and pull any number of creatures within 20 feet of you. Each creature you choose must make a Strength saving throw or be pulled 10 feet toward you, taking 1d6 per your half your level (min 2d6) in force damage, half if they succeed the saving throw. Creatures already within 10 feet of you fall prone if they fail the save.
- Supernova (Solarian). You channel starfire out to a range of 10 feet of you. Every creature in that are a must make Dexterity saving throws or take 1d6 plus an additional 1d6 per your level (min 2d6) in radiant damage, half damage if they succeed the saving throw.
Everything about Solarians
Individually, Solarians can be found across star-cultures, throughout the ages, and even being the origins of some spellcraft or practices. Here are a few facts that apply to most Solarians and Polarians:
- The Stellar Revelation. The beginning of a Solarian or a Polarian's insight into the universe originates with the revelation. The grand stellar revelation manifests when a Solarian realizes the energies of the cosmos, finding beauty in the shining of stars, the pull of the eternal void, and the spiraling well of galaxies. When a Solarian finds this revelation, they learn how to pull the energies, turning themselves into a well of energy in it of themselves, a living star in their own right. With it, they can even channel it to serve as the sources of their practices, magical or martial. A Solarian Paladin smites with the force of a solar ray, a Solarian Monk's spring of Ki is the breath of fresh starlight, or a Solarian Druid channels the primordial light to empower their allies and conjure great plants and wildlife. When a Polarian finds this revelation, they learn how to wield negative energy, even without harm to themselves, and utilize the ever-present forces of decay and darkness. From the immense pull of massive and hungering black holes, all the way down to the cold touch of death, and wasting rot of micro-organisms & diseases. There's no end to how you could describe the utilization of a Polarian's power.
- Solarian Orders. Most Solarians who find their revelation find it alone, just small sparks of light and dark in the grand multiverse, realizing their little lives mean much more in the grand scheme of the cosmos. Those who live to meet other Solarians, much less train or teach the Revelation, often create Solarian Orders, of which at least two exist in the Multiverse: The Order of Fernus of the Solarians, and the Order of Nebus of the Polarians. A Stellar Revelation rarely just manifests before a Solarian, but both orders founded themselves in places called the Zenith Havens, where their orders flourish with scores of newly crowned Solarians and Polarians. The Zenith Havens are a close-kept secret in the multiverse, the twin regions harboring such a place of cosmological significance that the Stellar Revelation comes immediately to those who gaze upon it. Solarians and Polarians manifested in this way, are often born into the order as opposed to joining it on their own accord, though some orders seek out lone Solarians & Polarians to add to their ranks. In this way, Solarians of the Fernus Order are called the Solvin Solarians, their leaders are Supernova Solarians and Star-Knights. Polarians of the Nebus Order are called Nul Polarians, their leaders are Endbringer Polarians and Void-Knights. Any Solarian or Polarian that finds the revelation off their own accord have no proper prefix, though real dictionary snobs call them the Templars.
- The Revelation Decree. At its most simplest, Solarians and Polarians want to uphold and enforce thee opposite roles & rules of cosmological existence. Across the generations, before the Orders were created, Solarian and Polarian Templars were often the direct cause of some of the great strifes and wars in the Multiverse, trailing back to the Wars of Divinity being lead by the Son of Redemption, a known Polarian with the titan world-destroyed ship he piloted, the Blade of Annihilation, being an ancient Polarian war-vessel. The destroyer of the Sunforges was the direct result of a Solarian over-channeling and freeing the sun within. The Solarian Orders were founded during the Luvaran Wars, when small sects of defined Solarian Priests and Polarian Deathlocks congregated to found them during a time when a great celestial schism was occurring. When both reached the peak of their prospective powers, they forged the Revelation Decree, which promised to control and administrate the knowledge and powers of the stars, after they nearly fought each other into oblivion. The decree is easy and understandable by their followers: just let the universe play out instead of hastening or prolonguing it, and watch passively from the sides. While the decree is upheld by the leaders of both orders, rarely do new Solarians or Polarians abide by it after gaining the insight of the Stellar Revelation.