Constellations

## Common Knowledge

In 10,016, with neither warning nor explanation, the stars vanished from the sky for about a season, then returned just as suddenly.

## Further Description

The Constellations are a group of powerful magical beings, created by Polaris. They are each made up of Astrals.

Every star in the sky is either an Astral or representative of part of one of the Constellations. The Constellations reside in their own demi-plane connected to the Material Plane, the Astral Plane, and when a Constellation is at home in that plane, their respective stars appear in the sky.

The current “ruler of the Constellations” is Atlas and was formerly Elysium.

## Powers

The Constellations are all capable of tapping into the Radiance and may also have access to various schools of magic otherwise. For example, Atlas and Majyk practice Celestial magic, Elysium practices Soul magic, Lotus practices Elemental magic, and Lün’e and S’olär practiced Phantasmal magic. Constellations also all have the ability to grant wishes, although some do not use this ability nearly as much as others. Atlas and Jester tend to grant the most wishes of the Constellations, but Atlas usually asks for a price while Jester may purposely skew the effects of the wish for his own amusement.

Powers vary based on the Constellation and what their intended purpose is. For example, the Hunter Constellation, known as Huntress, cannot be tracked and is excellent at tracking down whatever she is looking for.

## Personality and Appearance

Constellations take on whatever appearance Polaris grants upon them, which tends to be connected to what they are meant to do. They can look like any race, although they tend to have a more “sparkly” look to them than others of that race. Nowadays most tend to project themselves into the Material Plane instead of physically appearing to avoid being captured again.

Personality varies greatly based on the Constellation. All Constellations ultimately answer to Polaris, and also to Atlas. Most tend to not mingle too much in the lives of mortals, and none dare to mess with anything of Death’s domain after what happened between Death and Polaris one thousand years ago. Constellations when they are created are only known by the name they were given (for example, Atlas would be “Scholar” and Elysium would be “Guardian”) but most choose to give themselves a name besides this to go by.

## Structure

Polaris is the highest rank of the Constellations, although he is not technically one himself. He has the ultimate final say in any situation involving the Astral beings.

Atlas is currently the second-highest rank and assigned “ruler of the Constellations”. If Polaris is not present, Atlas has de facto authority, although Polaris can veto anything he commands. He helps to carry out Polaris’s responsibilities and oversee the Astral Plane and Material Plane, as well as maintain order among the Constellations.

The rest of the Constellations are pretty evenly ranked, although Atlas, Elysium, Lotus, and Lün’e are the most physically powerful under Polaris, known as “the big four”. With the death of Lün’e, they might be referred to as “the big three” in poor taste.

## Members

### Polaris, the North Star

While technically not a Constellation himself, Polaris is their creator. He is the embodiment of Everlife and has the ability grant everlasting life to anyone he deems worthy, which nowadays tends to be people who greatly help the Constellations. He has even rewarded some people who have saved the lives of the Constellations with the honor of being his Paladins, although he has only done this twice. He has always been in a love-hate relationship with Death. He once possessed a Viveridaen peasant named Astrella del Norte and used her to look over Binturia as he slept. He takes the form of a young human man and often has on a black hat and jacket. He is the brightest star in the sky, appearing as the North Star.

Polaris is very excitable, overdramatic, and fast-talking, often acting like the young man he appears as. He has a tendency to act without thinking, which sometimes leads to him causing trouble for the Material Plane or the other Constellations. He is not the most authoritative, often acting embarrassed of his mistakes, but he will also not hesitate to put up a fight for himself and his family when it is necessary, and he will be stern with the Constellations when he feels they are doing something wrong. He views them all as his children and thus wants them to be safe, and also wants the Material Plane to be unharmed. He will go to great lengths to fix something he has messed up, although he usually either shoves the problem into his “mistake box” or calls upon others to fix the issue since he has so many other things to oversee. He relies greatly on his Paladins, Atticus Ryder and Neona Tishkaw, to assist him in remedial tasks, give him advice in rather trivial areas, and spread word of the existence of the Constellations. He tends to avoid talking about or associating with the God of Madness. His heart is in the right place, but he is still adjusting to how much the world has changed in one thousand years, which is why he often needs help in protecting the Material Plane.

### Hades, the Keeper

Hades is the fusion of Atlas and Elysium, and with the combination of Atlas’s chaotic personality and Elysium’s determination, he is a deadly force and does as he pleases, going so far as to ignore when Polaris orders him to stop. He will do whatever he can to get his way, but he only harms those he feels deserve it, although that tends to be anyone he feels is standing in the way of what he wants or believes needs to be done. When Atlas and Elysium fused to take down Amity, he was much more unstable than when he first existed, as Atlas didn’t want to fuse, and he decided to wreak havoc across the plane he once wanted to protect. Atlas and Elysium have been warned to never fuse, as Hades is too dangerous to bring back. He takes the form of a dove-folk.

### Atlas, the Scholar

Atlas is currently the strongest Constellation under Polaris, current “ruler of the Constellations”, a master of ~~Sorcery~~ Celestial magic, and twin brother of Elysium. Since he is one half of Hades, Polaris often refers to him as his grandson. He has an insatiable lust for knowledge and will often ask for information or powerful items in exchange for granting wishes in order to add on to what he knows. He created two libraries, one of which became known as the Fifth Archive and was stolen away into the Underworld by Som, son of Sognar, returned to the Material Plane, then destroyed during the Fel Invasion. The other is Atlas’s Library of Atlas, which he keeps hidden away so that one can only enter if he allows it, and he keeps the key to it around his neck. He is one of the only Constellations to not use projection to appear in the Material Plane, which makes him vulnerable to capture. He used to be in an on-off “relationship” with Pixie Prince. He is the founder of the Dark Moon Blades, a newer version of the Brightstars. He takes the form of a dove-folk.

Atlas is naturally chaotic in nature, doing whatever he finds amusing, but since he was the one to cause the Constellations to be trapped away by Polaris for one thousand years, he is much more careful now with what he does and will listen when Polaris orders him. He is very fond of Polaris, often referring to him as “grandpapa”. He will not grant a wish that he thinks is too big or risky. He is quite full of himself and has the tendency to act immature, making lewd jokes and tricking others into doing what he thinks is funny, such as when he told the Binturians he needed them to kidnap the Prince of Aiur for a ritual. Since he lost his right shoe and left sock while trapped by Amity’s dark mages, and later got his left shoe and right sock stolen by the Fate Weaver Soul Weather when captured again, he often asks for right shoes and left socks or left shoes and right socks as tribute. He enjoys mingling with mortals and poking fun at the other Constellations, especially Elysium, as well as playing jokes on Polaris’s Paladins.

### Elysium, the Guardian

Elysium is the former “ruler of the Constellations”, a master of Soul magic, and the twin brother of Atlas. Since she is one half of Hades, Polaris often refers to her as his granddaughter. She is very righteous and will go out of her way to protect those she deems as worthy and take down those who try to do harm to good people. She is the founder of the dove-folk Brightstars, who were a group of do-gooders who later got corrupted. Upon returning to the Material Plane after the Planar War, she founded the Astral Court, which is made up of Paladins who follow in her path of righteousness and don’t back down from their personal codes. She is in a relationship with Metrion against Polaris’s wishes. She was the matron deity of Jericho before it was destroyed, as she took refuge there and protected the people who in turn did what they could to keep her safe from Amity’s dark mages. She is currently “grounded” by Polaris after having forced Atlas to fuse into Hades, but she still helps to look over the Material Plane. She takes the form of a dove-folk.

Elysium counterbalances her brother in her lawfulness, but she is very fierce when it comes to carrying out what she believes is right. She will only fight when she deems it necessary but will make sure to see the fight through to the end once it starts, going to great lengths to win including dragging unwilling participants in if she thinks they will be useful. She often rewards mortals who choose to fight alongside her by granting them some of her power. She is soft-spoken and stoic, speaking her mind and telling the blunt truth when spoken to, although she recently has started trying to butter Polaris up to try and convince him to un-ground her. She often gets annoyed with Atlas’s antics, but she is extremely protective of him, even if she is jealous that he now holds her title. She tends to be overconfident and very self-assured and will justify her actions even if people say that something she did was wrong.

### Lotus, the Flower

Lotus is a master of Elemental magic and a protector of nature. She once attempted and failed to terraform the dead land of Galkador. She possesses great healing abilities and can fix deep wounds and restore life. She was once captured by a corrupt noble but was rescued by Atticus Ryder, who Polaris then took as his first Knight, later called Paladin, as a reward for his bravery. She takes the form of a flower dryad.

Lotus is a kind soul and drifts towards those who have a respect for life and the natural world. She will often offer restorative tea to people who are friendly to her, inviting them over for more whenever they please. She enjoys spending time with mortals but will not hesitate to scold anyone who is acting unkind.

### Lün’e and S’olär, the Mermaid (Deceased)

Lün’e and S’olär were the two halves of the Mermaid Constellation, masters of Phantasmal magic, and were twin sister and brother. Together they founded the underwater city Khione, where they often stayed in the form of two merfolk.

Lün’e and S’olär were responsible for the cultural and biological split of the Tribal Elves, known today as the Lunar Elves and Solar Elves. Their initial goal was a prank for their own amusement, but both cultures now worship their respective entity as a matron or patron deity. Though many tribal elves pray to them, Lün’e and S’olär paid them little heed, if any at all, even before their demise.

The twins were once carefree and free-spirited. They enjoyed throwing extravagant parties for mortals, oftentimes forcing them to consume alcohol so that they’d become more willing to have fun, but which would usually result in those people blacking out and not remembering what the twins had done. At one of these parties, which they threw for the Binturians upon first returning to the Material Plane after one thousand years, the twins married the Binturain Thome Gabrielson, who later “divorced” them and married Jester.

Through a mix-up when S’olär visited the Pixie Court, S’olär was killed and eaten by the mad tyrant Pixie Prince. Lün’e became a shell of her former self, mentally unstable and depressed without her other half. She was cared for by her fellow Constellations, but refused to ever leave the Astral Plane again. Over the course of 3 years, she withered away into nothing before dying in 10,019. Her death coincided evenly with the events of the Deathless Days, but at their end she finally passed to the Soul Plane.

As of 10,020 A.B., both Lün’e and S’olär are dead, and the Mermaid constellation no longer appears in the sky.

### Jester, the Traitor

Jester is a prankster by nature and often does not truly consider the consequences of his actions even when warned, hence why he is called the Traitor. He is sly, smooth-talking, and rather carefree, focusing on having fun. He enjoys granting wishes for mortals but often purposefully skews the effects for his own amusement, such as when he interpreted King Beihar of the Butterfly-folk Summer Court’s wish to take over the Winter Court as meaning to fuse the Winter Butterfly-folk with the Summer Butterfly-folk. He acted very out-of-control upon first returning to the Material Plane after one thousand years, having much pent-up energy from being trapped for so long, but has since calmed down. He still enjoys mingling with and pranking mortals and even other powerful beings, such as when he challenged a Pixie named Horaven to a competition which pitted the Binturians against one another in various events to see whose “team” was better. He tends to favor those who want to help him in his pranks, as well as those who get irked by said pranks so that he can mess with them more. He possesses a powerful sword called the Ghost Blade which can be used on someone who is dead to send them to Nirvana. He is the current spouse of Thome Gabrielson. When the Binturians flubbed a ritual and released an almost-elder god from banishment that later became simply known as “The Monstrosity”, Jester answered Thome’s call for help in fighting it, although Jester took a great hit in the battle and was put out of commission for a few months. He takes the form of a cat-folk.

### Majyk, the Spellbook

Majyk considers himself a teacher and enjoys spreading knowledge, mainly that of magic and lesser-known, obscure topics. He is soft-spoken and polite and would rather fight with words and wit than with violence. He takes the form of a dragon, almost always in human form.

### Huntress, the Hunter

Huntress is currently the “youngest” Constellation, the first to be created after the Constellations returned to the Material Plane after one thousand years. Polaris has a “mistake box” where he puts his creations that he hasn’t quite thought all the way through. When the planes collided and his seal on the Astral Plane broke, the “box” also opened and a group of powerful monsters he had created before his fight with Death to either impress or spite him, depending on the situation, got loose. He created Huntress to go after them and stop them from causing destruction. She takes the form of either a lynx or lynx-folk, and bears a slight resemblance to Neona Tishkaw when in her lynx-folk form.

Huntress did not feel the need to give herself a name other than the one she was given upon creation. She is stoic, deadpan, blunt, and very focused on the mission she was given. She traveled for two years with Neona’s father Iergo Tishkaw, who helped her evacuate cities that were under threat from the monsters. She is a strong, sneaky fighter, untraceable when hidden. She is the creator of the Star Hunter’s Scarf, which helped her and Iergo better face the monsters before it was gifted to Neona. She rarely returns to the Astral Plane unless it is to report to Polaris. She is currently still tracking down the monsters with the help of a small party she formed with Neona and her family.

### Night

Night is the physical, living embodiment of the Astral Plane itself and directly controls it from within. Though she cannot leave it, or prevent others from entering, she can prevent anyone from leaving or traveling through. Her responsibility is to cast darkness across the plane when the sun sets, so the other Constellations can shine at night, which requires she control the entire demiplane herself. She also guides the moon across the sky, though she neither created nor embodies it. She spends the daylight hours sleeping, to recover from the strain of this task.

Night is not technically a Constellation, rather she is made from the Astral Plane itself instead of the material making up the Astrals and Constellations. A more apt term for her might be an Astral Elemental. She was created shortly after the Astrals.

## History

### Creation

During the time of old Binturia, the God of Life ordered the God of Knowledge and the God of Madness to create things that would help balance life in the Material Plane. The God of Knowledge, in order to keep the population in check, created Death, and in order to counteract his brother’s creation, the God of Madness created Everlife. Death was a being who represented the end of life whilst Everlife represented the lack of an end to life. Everlife would go around and bless those he and the God of Madness deemed worthy with everlasting life.

When King Binturong of Binturia became the Beast Below and merged himself with the God of Life, the God of Knowledge, the God of Madness, and the Goddess of Protection were all locked away in their respective planes. Everlife lost his connection with the God of Madness and for a long while was left to his own devices. He eventually changed his form and decided to dwell in a demi-plane connected to the sky, which later became known as the Astral Plane, taking on the name Polaris. After getting lonely, he created the Astrals to also populate his plane, and tended to keep to himself. He also created Night, to manage and control the Astral Plane itself.

Eventually, Polaris grew tired of being alone with just the Astrals, so he decided to combine the Astrals to create other beings like him: Hades the Keeper (a dove-folk), Lotus the Flower (a dryad), and twins Lün’e and S’olär the Mermaids (merfolk). They were originally meant to be playmates of sorts for him, but they soon became more like children to him. They helped him to oversee the Material Plane, all taking on various roles: Hades took in knowledge and helped it spread as well as helped to quell anyone causing trouble, Lotus would tend to the nature of the plane and befriend those who were kind to it, and Lün’e and S’olär would entertain the inhabitants of the plane and also took to taking care of those who were drawn to water by creating the underwater city Khione. Polaris deemed these beings the “Constellations”. Much like how stars would appear in the sky when he and the Astrals were in the Astral Plane, when the Constellations were there, a group of stars representing the Astrals who made them up would appear.

### Splitting of Hades

Polaris proceeded over time to make other Constellations, including Jester the Traitor (cat-folk), who acted as a prankster and slight agent of chaos in the Material Plane, as well as granted wishes he found amusing; and Majyk the Spellbook (dragon), who helped to spread the word and teachings of magic and the obscure. After some time, he noticed that Hades had too much power in him, as he was the first Constellation that Polaris created, and was doing more damage than good as he went around the Material Plane. After giving Hades a few warnings to rein himself in, which Hades pretty much disregarded, Polaris created a large, magical axe called the Axe of Doom that he used to cleave Hades into two new Constellations: Elysium the Guardian, who became Polaris’s second-in-command and de facto “ruler of the Constellations”, and Atlas the Scholar, who he warned to never fuse together or else there would be dire consequences. Atlas went around spreading knowledge as Hades would, although he tended to convince people to make deals with him in exchange for knowledge or whatever else they wished for. Elysium did her best to deliver justice to where it was needed and just in general help those in need, eventually favoring the dove-folk of the Material Plane and training a chosen few to carry out her code. These dove-folk became known as the Brightstars. Polaris proceeded to hide the Axe of Doom away in an old ruin for safekeeping, hoping he wouldn’t need it again.

Polaris, the Constellations, and the Astrals often traveled between the Astral Plane and the Material Plane, mingling with mortals and carrying out their roles. They sometimes messed with the balance of the Material Plane or carried out something that wasn’t entirely good, but things tended to work themselves out in the end. Polaris and Death reunited and maintained a love-hate relationship. However, when Atlas granted a wish to bring an entire family back to life after being dead for many many years, Death and Polaris got into a large fight, with Death almost killing Polaris and threatening to kill the Constellations. Polaris managed to get away by summoning his Axe and hitting Death in the face with it to buy himself time. In order to protect himself and the Constellations from further danger, he forced them all back into the Astral Plane and put up a barrier between it and the rest of the planes, putting himself to sleep in order to keep the magic in place. This trapped himself, the Constellations, and the Astrals in the Astral Plane. The sky was filled with stars for the next one thousand years, and knowledge of the Astral beings began to fade. The Axe was once again hidden away in its hiding place.

### Release of the Constellations

When the planes collided in the Planar War, and the Beast Below woke up for a brief period of time, Polaris stayed asleep but his barrier was destroyed, allowing the Constellations and Astrals to return to the Material Plane. The Astrals were quick to spread out, some “falling” to the Material Plane, and some of the Constellations came down to see how the world had changed in one thousand years. People began to notice that the stars were vanishing from the sky and, seeing as most did not know anymore that the stars were representations of actual beings, started to question what was happening.

The Constellations began to once again have effects on the Material Plane: Atlas took back his Fifth Archive; Jester returned to playing pranks and granting wishes, one of which ultimately led to the death of Queen Gwyneira of the Butterfly-folk Winter Court; Lün’e and S’olär began to once again mingle with the mortals and throw extravagant parties that most tended to not remember the next morning; and Elysium found herself in Jericho, where the people revered her and made her their matron entity. She also began to distance herself from the Brightstars, as they had grown corrupted, and instead formed the Astral Court, which was made up of righteous Paladins she gifted with the power of Manifestation.

### K’Vesten Steals the Stars

The sudden return of the Constellations was noticed by the new Empress of K’vesten, a woman named Amity. She wished to get rid of the magic of the Material Plane and use it for her own devices, convinced that magic could only hurt if used by others, so she set out to capture the Constellations. She tricked the Binturian Party into going out and helping her track them down. Pixie Prince also rose to power among the Pixie Court at this time and began to consume other Pixies for power, and ended up killing and consuming Solar, as well, after Solar got trapped among the Pixies, leaving Lün’e as the sole twin remaining of the Mermaids.

Amity, with the help of the newt-folk witch Belladonna, sent out her dark mages to capture the Constellations.  Her dark mages managed to capture all of the Constellations except for Elysium, who was protected by the people of Jericho, and the late Solar. The mages then absorbed the Constellations except for Atlas, who they kept contained in an attempt to bait Elysium, in order to use their magic to take down other powerful magic-users and anyone else who stood in their way, including the Binturian Party. Jester, still slightly out-of-control with energy he needed to release from being trapped for so long, was willingly absorbed by one of the mages and thus maintained some control of the mage.

The Binturians sought out Polaris in order to figure out how to free the Constellations from Amity’s grip and managed to walk in his dreams and seek out his help. They soon also realized that Polaris, as he slept, would walk among mortals as a Viveridaen peasant girl named Astrella del Norte, who he could possess. Astrella gave the Binturians a cleansing spell that only non-magic users could cast that would free the Constellations, and also warned Neona Tishkaw of the party to never let Atlas and Elysium fuse.

### Temporary Return of Hades

The Binturians found the dark mages and managed to free all of the Constellations, including Jester, who simply wanted to fight the Binturians because he thought it would be fun. They also managed to free Atlas from his prison and reunited him with Elysium who, despite the party and Atlas’s warnings, forced him into fusing with her into Hades. Hades easily killed Amity, but Belladonna managed to escape his wrath. Hades thanked the Binturians for allowing him to return and then proceeded to wreak havoc upon the plane himself. The Binturians had to once again seek out Polaris and walk through his memories in order to locate his Axe of Doom, which they retrieved from its ruin and used to cleave Hades back into Atlas and Elysium.

Polaris woke up from his slumber once Hades was defeated and descended into the Material Plane in order to reprimand Elysium and “ground” her from leaving the Astral Plane. He revoked her title of “ruler of the Constellations” and instead bestowed it on Atlas.

### Nightless Night and the Death of Lün’e

In 10,019 A.B., Night became fed up with the Constellations running amok and instead of using her power to create the night sky, she imprisoned the Constellations within the Astral Plane until they could figure out their business. With the intervention of the Binturian Party, Night saw to it that the Constellations acknowledged their issues and agreed to work to fix them, and together the Constellations confronted Polaris and insisted that he accept some responsibility and take things seriously. This did result in a single evening where the sky remained dusky even hours after the sun set. Later that same year, Lün’e passed on, emotionally and magically drained by Solar’s missing presence.

Since then, the Constellations have carried on with their own business, now only occasionally drifting between the Material and Astral Planes. Polaris and Death still have a complicated relationship.

## Further Information

* Amity
* Astral Plane
* Axe of Doom
* Belladonna
* The Binturian Party
* Elder Gods
* Death
* K’Vesten
* Planar War
* Radiance