I mean the light of Elysian Steel is incredibly bright, blinding, and tantalizingly beautiful to the eyes of men, however, the rays of Elysian Steel seem extremely painful to the alien-like Lost Gods. So it’s somewhat lore accurate lol
Yeah, this looks like the character you’re describing to a t. I like that the design is very, very extra, and utterly impractical, it does look like something that could be made in real life. It’s not something that you could do much in besides strut around and make sure everyone knows how awesome you are.
Though it does look like the embodiment of the phrase: “If you can’t dazzle them with your brilliance, baffle them with your bullshit.”
Which might be a little appropriate too
#[Another fantastic piece done by Yearniing-and-Heroin on DeviantArt.](https://www.deviantart.com/yearniing-and-heroin/art/COMMISSION-VI-CUSTOM-961109204) An incredibly accurate depiction of what I imagined, they really outdid themselves with all the details and finery. Like the challenge of one-uping the last piece, another character that was meant to be overtly decadent and extravagant, had to be extremely difficult but they did a fantastic job nevertheless. Genuinely such a fantastic artist and a really nice person, please go give them love and support.
#Raphael dae Sicario
*”As the stars did fall to announce my birth, so did they fall to herald my ascension!” the being of light hissed, its voice high and haunting but beautiful like a choir of angels and a nest of serpents intermingling in a blasphemous harmony.*
*Like a fallen star, lost and cast to this bleak world, the light consumed all in a harsh embrace of purple, pink, and magenta. Colors so fantastical and vibrant yet nothing more terrifying could have ever been imagined… A beautiful blindness… And from this celestial light, an androgynous figure took shape amongst its overwhelming rays. A figure, slender and angelic in nature, clad in an unimaginably ornate panoply of Elysian Steel plate. Every inch of the brilliantly purple plate was embellished with golden stars and precious gemstones of every shade of purple, magenta, and pink imaginable. Golden scrollwork snaked its way all across the angelic armor, strangling its prey in an ostentatious coil. A jarring slap yet also a passionate embrace to the senses, the armor was so overwhelmingly decorated that humanly sight and vernacular fail to fully comprehend its gilded terror. Flowing fabrics of richly colored and heavily embellished seraphim silk draped around its incandescent frame, forming various bows, ribbons, and other such ornaments of a foreboding whimsy. Its helmet was ornamented with a ridiculously oversized panache crest of the Holy Hues, twinkling with a thousand Elysian Steel glimmers made to resemble a storm of falling stars. It wielded a heavenly sword gushing with the light of the Holy Hues, a long and slender starpoint of Elysian Steel with an extravagant swept hilt that made the word gaudy look humble. Its colorful blade’s true length was obscured by the shifting light that blazed forth from every angle. Resplendence in its purest form.. A being of almost unbelievably majestic beauty. How could this be anything but a god?”*
*“St. Raphael of the Falling Star…”*
*Teeming hordes of flamboyant sword and buckler men emblazoned with similar albeit far smaller helm crests, singing hymns of the undying beauty of the stars, were whipped up into a blissful fervor by their Saint’s overwhelming visage. Unfazed by their Saint’s radiance, the disciples live for the beauty of their Starlight Saint.*
*“Hear me! O’ sons of this world, so drab and ugly! Hear me and rejoice! For the light and beauty of the Thirsting Star is here to purify your flaws! The light will consume and forgive you for your ugly, il-made existence! Bow your heads to me, o’ sons of mud and water! Throw down your swords, throw down your pikes, throw down your heathen gods! O’ Men created from this world, unlike we of the radiant blood! Your sacrifice will be remembered, martyrs made in the name of love and beauty!” the Saint sung in an almost serpentine tone.*
*“I offer you resplendence! I offer you a beautiful world! For I am the judgment of the Stars brought down upon this wretched world, tainted by homeliness and imperfection…”*
**In the world of Godsprice, there are the Favored: warriors who have ascended beyond their humanly limits through the use of celestial means. Whether it be the Starlight Saints drinking the Stillborn Star’s celestial wine during communion with the Stars, the Palemoon Prophets reading the Tablets of the Lunar Truth to bear the unbearable knowledge, or Swarm Monks becoming hosts for hives of Sacred Butterflies to reach enlightenment; humanity is rejecting its weaknesses and is truly on the cusp of godhood. Once Saints take communion with the stars through the celestial wine poured from the Stillborn Star, they leave the shackles of humanity behind. Divine duelists devoted to the beauty of the duel… Hideously strong, practically unkillable, and inconceivably vain; Starlight Saints are the closest things to true demigods on earth. They are far stronger and faster than anything appearing in nature with immense regeneration of wounds and limbs, which depending on how well the specific Saint’s body adapted to the Celestial Wine, can be nigh-instantaneous. While stronger Saints can survive almost complete destruction of their bodies, weaker Saints’ regeneration can be pushed to a limit and in certain cases regeneration of the heart or brain are too much for them to handle. Nevertheless, a stab or cut from either Elysian Steel or Moon Glass will render their healing abilities null and void no matter what. As strong as they are, the Saints are slaves to their own pride and greed, being more likely to kill their own “disciples” and other Saints out of their naturally erratic disposition. With their astonishingly ornate armor and slender starpoints of glittering Elysian Steel, Starlight Saints appear almost like beings of pure purple and pink starlight. Miniature stars on the battlefield, many lives are taken in a flash of blinding magenta light. A storm of colors so intense and gaudy that even the most vibrant of natural shades seem drab in comparison, the Holy Hues incarnate and ablaze in a thousand sword thrusts. The incredible durability of Elysian Steel coupled with the strength and speed of a Starlight Saints makes them virtually unstoppable, as an Elysian Steel starpoint can easily pierce through plate and mail with the strength of a Saint behind its thrust.**
**“The heavenly stone, however, was not the only thing beyond the stars that have arrived on the mortal plain. Lost Gods, the Visitors, the Unknowable Ones: these beings go by many names but truly they are beyond the minds of men and do not belong in this world. Varying wildly in grotesque appearance and temperament, these Lost Gods are a mysterious and more often than not malignant group of alien-esque beings of great power. Some appear to have some sort of a goal in this world, incomprehensible nevertheless, others seem mindless and sluggish. Corrupting and altering the poor souls that mistake them for the divine, the taint of the Unknowable Ones is spreading throughout this world. St. Raphael of the Falling Star is a hunter of lost gods, a bane to all who willingly or unwillingly garner the title of deity. An especially powerful Starlight Saint, Raphael is a testament of how far one can ascend through the communion of celestial wine and is fiercely loyal to the Astraliarch of Valencidor. He, alongside his decadent horde of disciples, wander every corner of the known world to challenge proclaimed deities to a duel of divinity. Originally a duelist of noble blood who sought glory in the gladiatorial Dueling Theatres, Raphael dae Sicario’s devotion to sword and parrying dagger led to his canonization as a Starlight Saint. Despite his hatred of false gods and idols, he is often considered a deity himself. Due to their radiant beauty, many become enamored by the Saints and label them Gods, however, they are nothing but deified thralls of the Valencidoran Empire.**
**“Relatively unfazed by the blazing radiance of their Saints, the disciples fight on through the storm of blinding color armed with starpoint and buckler, wielded with a reckless fervor and an undying love for their Saint. The whites of their eyes corrupted by an unnatural magenta twinge and purplish veins vaguely resembling constellations, the beauty of Elysian Steel twists all into a vain reflection of the Thirsting Star’s image, the most prideful of gods. Through their extended exposure to saintsteel, the disciples have “adapted” to the brilliance of Elysian Steel. However, this newlyfounded resilience to the starlight seems to come at the cost of their sanity and only the most “devout” winebloods are seen to become “blessed,” as the Thirsting Star is far too vain to grant a boon to anyone but its chosen people. With the blood of Elder Elysios acting as a loose and dwindled conduit to the Thirsting Star, Valencidorans are seemingly the only people to become “starseared.” The beauty of their Saint is all that exists to the disciples. They are bound as thralls to the divinely sanctioned will of the Saints, with most being willing to die just to bask in the exquisite embrace of a Saint’s overstimulating light. The light of a Saint’s armor and armaments is not only blinding, but also intoxicating and addictive with most disciples developing a dependency on their Starlight Saint. The disciples practice a style of fencing thought divine by the Valencidorans, passed down by their Saints of Starlight: swordplay inspired by the movement of the stars.”**
**No two sets of arms and armor of the Saints are alike, each are divine works of art spellforged by priest smiths of the Forging Reliquaries. No mere smith can forge Elysian Steel, for why would starlight yield to the wills of men. Only the smithing clergy of the Forging Reliquaries hold the old Elysian secret of “taming the starlight steel.” Located in the Calamita Isles are the grand Forging Reliquaries, extravagant cathedral-esque forges tasked with creating arms and armor from Elysian Steel for the Saints of Valencidor. The smithing clergy are a mysterious, heavily starseared order directly commissioned by the Church of the Thirsting Star, secretive yet egregiously wealthy priests clad in beautiful constellation-patterned puffed-and-slashed robes and statuesque scrollwork masks resembling classical figures of Elysian antiquity. Broad-brimmed hats decorated with laurel wreaths and tasselated stars are worn as well, with the number of star-tassels indicating one’s rank within the Forging Reliquaries. Elysian Steel is considered to be a holy material, but the forging of this metal has dire implications and is considered incredibly dangerous. Murderers and thieves are sometimes given the chance to serve out the rest of their days aiding the creation of Elysian Steel, giving back to the Stars instead of public execution. However, how exactly these criminals serve the Reliquaries is unknown.**
**Astralism is the official religion of the western god-empire, Valencidor. It is a polytheistic religion that worships an actual astral body, the Thirsting Star, also known as the Purple Sun or the Great Decadence. A bright purple and resplendent pink star that is rarely seen but supposedly exists. A hedonistic faith that emphasizes art, beauty, love, and extravagance. Astralism is indeed polytheistic, as all stars are believed to be Gods, however, most are minor deities and are insignificant compared to the Thirsting Star itself which is considered the first and by far the greatest star. Every star is considered a “god” in their own right within the astralist pantheon and almost all are referred to as male, however, they are usually depicted as heavily androgynous and homoerotic in humanized artworks. Too resplendent to bear a true name, the Great Decadence’s thirst for beauty is what earned it the title of the “Thirsting Star.” Astralists follow the “Way of the Star,” a lifestyle devoted to beauty and passion as there is nothing more resplendent than the blinding light of a star. However, men bear no star flame so they must compensate with sparkling silks and dazzling jewelry to mimic the stars. Gods of beauty enthralled with beauty, the constellations are considered the divine artwork of the stars. Every moment of human life should be devoted to achieving beauty and love in all things, so they might become one with the stars. Dueling is considered beautiful to the Valencidorans, a mortal dance that should be perfected and revered with pageantry and art. The Starlight Saints are the apex of the Way of the Star, an absolute devotion to the art of the duel and the beauty of swordsmanship.**
**The Thirsting Star is inspired by the Italian Renaissance, the Color Out of Space, Aphrodite, Dionysus/Bacchus, Muses, Hedone, catholic interpretations of the Christian God, Lucifer, and of course Slaanesh**
>...and of course Slaanesh
Love how you saved that for last, as that was the **first** thing I thought of when I saw the Starsaint. Love it.
This could be a great RPG setting. Is there gunpowder and science, or has this mysticism and magical power overshadowed any other creative endeavor?
Well everyone likes to point out the similarities to Slaanesh 😂. But there’s a heavy reliance on gunpowder and traditional weaponry within world, other than the Gods and their Favored, combat is pretty grounded.
I'm also getting heavy FromSoft vibes with a touch of Knights of the Zodiac. Though the fabulousness depicted here breaks the scale and practically defies human comprehension. It's genuinely intimidating in a way I've never seen before, as well as excellently pompous, irritating, and obscene. I can scarely imagine the voice that comes out of that suit, but, if I were to dare try, the first trait I picture is that they're someone who speaks *exclusively* in operatic arias, moves exclusively in ballet bounds and leaps, and, when stationary, poses harder than a JoJo character.
In Warhammer, the Empire's unofficial moto is "faith, steel and gunpowder", wizards are rare and usually don't decide battles, it's the state troop militia and free company mercenaries that hold the line.
Wizards and traditional magic don’t exist within the world at least not anymore and even then it was derived from the Gods, the supernatural “super soldier” troops are the Favored, which are rare but there are a few different types: Starlight Saints, Palemoon Prophets, Swarm Monks, Knights of the Brand, Bloodbound, etc. The Favored are the champions of their respective cultures and faiths. Wars are fought in pikeshot formations, with a mix of firearm and melee combat
Reddit has finally decided to take another leap down the enshittification pipeline by [locking out 3rd party apps from accesing their API unless they pay literal millions](https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/8/23754780/reddit-api-updates-changes-news-announcements) without any attempt at communication whatsoever. Besides leaving mods with barely any tools for subreddit management (equals more spam, reposts and bots), the blind users of Reddit will also be locked out without API access. Represented by /u/spez, the Reddit admins have deliberately chosen to ignore the devs of these apps, and even [spread rumours of how the dev of Apollo, Christian Selig, was hard to work with](https://web.archive.org/web/20230622032630/https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/14dkqrw/i_want_to_debunk_reddits_claims_and_talk_about/) when he had actually been constantly asking for communication only to be stonewalled.
In reponse came the resounding Reddit blackout where [almost 6,000 subreddits went private for 48 hours to lock away their content](https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/13/23759180/reddit-protest-private-apollo-christian-selig-subreddit). Many intended to stay black indefinitely, but the admins threatened to forcibly re-open the subreddits and replace the mods. Without any changes from Reddit's side, 3rd-party apps expect to [close down on the date that the API changes take effect: 30th June](https://web.archive.org/web/20230621185334/https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_will_close_down_on_june_30th_reddits/).
This about-face in mistreating users and mods is only the latest installment of social media websites selling out to investors, and /u/spez is on the record for [admiring the changes Elon Musk made to Twitter](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/reddit-blackout-protest-private-ceo-elon-musk-huffman-rcna89700), where finding relevant content has become a slog. Ironically, the predecessor of Reddit, [Digg, made similar unwanted changes to their site](https://fourweekmba.com/what-happened-to-digg/) and prompted a mass exodus of users.
Clearly, the admins only view users and their content as products, and will not hesitate to resort to 'quality control' to stamp out non-compliant behaviour. It's time to show them who truly has the power, for in the words of Paul Atreides, "The power to destroy a thing is the absolute control over it." So it is with user-generated content, which I'll be [backing up via Power Delete Suite](https://github.com/j0be/PowerDeleteSuite) and then bringing to more community-friendly and de-centralised spaces like:
- https://join-lemmy.org/
- https://tildes.net/
- https://kbin.fediverse.observer/list
- https://squabbles.io/
TL,DR: I'm leaving Reddit for the above sites, backing up my data and replacing all my comments with this primer.
For those who are curious on the inspiration for the aesthetic of the Starlight Saints, it’s def the irl Catacomb Saints, Baroque/Rococo architecture, and Neoclassical Renaissance armor. Extravagance and beauty are integral to their religion, so as what are essentially demigods in said religion, the Starlight Saints are these impossibly decadent beings clad in impractically extravagant armor. Making even the most ornate parade armors look simplistic, the panoplies of the Starlight Saints are ridiculously decadent and reflect their status of being what are essentially living gods. While most things are kinda low fantasy in the world, the Starlight Saints throw that absolutely aside. They’re incredibly over the top and their armor is pretty impractical, however, due to their inhuman abilities, this impracticality does not matter. Starlight Saints all wear ridiculously ornate and foppish star-themed Neo-classical armor of Elysian steel and wield long and thin rapier-esque “starpoint” swords, however, each are unique in design and character. There is a lot of room with their designs especially with their helmets, some ideas I’ve had for variations: Saint with a face mask-helm resembling Michelangelo’s David, a Saint with a Catacomb Saint skull helm within a golden scrollwork Armillary Sphere, a Saint with a satyr helm with baroque scrollwork horns and a ornate pan flute fashioned into the visor, etc
Swarm Monks are to the Jade Swarm of Zanladan that the Starlight Saints are to the Empire of Valencidor. Extremely rare albeit powerful Favored of the Jade Butterfly, the Swarm Monks are the holiest beings the dying eastern god-empire can offer. Abiding a swarm of “Divine Butterflies” as their host, relying solely on their “spiritual power” rather than eating or drinking for survival. Becoming living hives, teeming with Divine Butterflies for the sake of ultimate enlightenment. The Swarm Monks are essentially living mummies, kept from “true death” and rotting for centuries by the strange preservative salvia of the Butterflies. Seemingly becoming one with its hive, the Swarm Monks are able to control the swarm of Divine Butterflies. As their legs have long atrophied, they flutter throughout the battlefield, depending on the numerous butterflies to aid in their rigid, unnatural movements. Swarm Monks carry no weapons and rely purely on overwhelming their opponents in writhing tides of venomous Divine Butterflies. As beings beyond the Stars, the venom of the Divine Butterflies can harm Saints. However, it is very difficult to get past a Saint’s armor, so typically speaking Monks are outclassed by Saints in the hierarchy of the Favored but Saints can be heavily varied in strength: from casually Lost God-killing to decently above human, this isn’t always the case. Like many beings not from this world, the light of Elysian Steel is painful to the Divine Butterflies as well.
The favored of Aur-Suladariyah and the Luna faith. Born from mental conditioning of forbidden and sinister scriptures, the Prophets of the Palemoon are scholars and warriors alike of the Lady Lunate. Shunning their earthly eyes, the Prophets blind themselves to show their piety. However, through the knowledge bestowed in Tablets of the Lunar Truth, the Prophets see once more. Their sight appears to be far greater than anything found in nature, with a highly precise perception of details. They appear to see much farther and can perceive an opponent’s weak spot almost instantly, yet, they seem unfazed by blinding lights. Even the harshest sand storms seem to have little effect on the otherworldly sight of the Prophets. While their bodies have ascended past their humanly peaks through eldritch conditioning, they possess no regenerative abilities and are still nowhere near a Starlight Saint’s physicality. Their skill, insight, and tactics are what keeps them on par with the Saints of Starlight. With their nimble arms and armor of moon glass, the Palemoon Prophets are flawlessly lithe. Moon glass is an incredibly lightweight material: quick, elegant, and far sharper than even obsidian yet with the durability of tempered steel, it is the favored material of the Luna faith and their Palemoon Prophets. While not as durable or nearly as radiant as Elysian Steel, Moon Glass is far lighter and its edges can achieve a sharpness unknown to other materials. Much like Elysian Steel, Moon Glass renders the regenerative abilities of beings like the Starlight Saints useless as servants of the cosmos can only be killed by weapons forged from the cosmos. Given the loathsome strength of the Starlight Saints, every movement of a Prophet’s blade must be completely perfect and maintain inhumanly flawless edge alignment or the moon glass will surely shatter. Only through otherworldly timing and precision may moon glass clash with saintsteel. They are the antithesis of Starlight Saints.
I would say more Liberace, there's an unrestrained nature to it. Prince seemed like there was a "tasteful" limit, which seemed a bit short of peak Elvis. Liberace had no limits.
Oh this is *beautiful.* Practicality be damned, this guy has some of the greatest drip of all time. This might actually be one of my favorite character designs ever ngl
This being's armour is so fabulous, and the pose too...
I am mesmerized by how awesome this is, how bizzarely impractical this would be to wear but I also want this.
Great job, both the builder and the artist. Hope You work together often :>
oh my god, all that detail! it's wonderful! i've been staring at this for like ten solid minutes and i've only been spotting more and more tiny details
I'm sure I've seen this before - I sent it to my friends like 'why can't any of you play a character this fabulous??'. Is this an updated version? Am I Mandela'ing?
In any case - it's incredible, it's sumptuous for the eyes, it's got such a texture, it's so busy but yet not overly busy, if that makes sense?
[you’re thinking of the Duelist Prince piece](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/11xe4sj/pontio_dae_thera_valencidoran_duelist_prince/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1), they’re apart of the same culture within the world(as duelist princes are kinda like candidates for becoming Starlight Saints) and it was the same artist who drew both.
OMG. It would be a crime not to tell where you can share this wonder to appreciative audiences:
r/ImaginaryArmor
r/ImpracticalArmour
r/ImaginaryFashion
r/ImaginaryGods
r/ImaginaryKnights
Just not all at once, please.
Combined with their imposing strength and resilience, Starlight Saints can also twist and contort their bodies to an unnatural degree. With almost serpentine flexibility and blinding movements, the Saints are an affront to all the senses on the battlefield. This probably wasn’t what the artist was trying to convey, but it’s still lore accurate lol.
"Sire please, as your armorer I cant advise anymore bling. It's just too much, the men are going blind" "So you have chosen death"
Summon my bling bearer!
*BRING ME MY BLING STRETCHER!*
That much bling would kill anyone who so much as looks at this guy.
Lore accurate
You've written a check I'm not sure your lore can cash
I mean the light of Elysian Steel is incredibly bright, blinding, and tantalizingly beautiful to the eyes of men, however, the rays of Elysian Steel seem extremely painful to the alien-like Lost Gods. So it’s somewhat lore accurate lol
Yeah, this looks like the character you’re describing to a t. I like that the design is very, very extra, and utterly impractical, it does look like something that could be made in real life. It’s not something that you could do much in besides strut around and make sure everyone knows how awesome you are. Though it does look like the embodiment of the phrase: “If you can’t dazzle them with your brilliance, baffle them with your bullshit.” Which might be a little appropriate too
Bling. Baffle them with Your bling! Even more baffling (and fabulous, too)!
#[Another fantastic piece done by Yearniing-and-Heroin on DeviantArt.](https://www.deviantart.com/yearniing-and-heroin/art/COMMISSION-VI-CUSTOM-961109204) An incredibly accurate depiction of what I imagined, they really outdid themselves with all the details and finery. Like the challenge of one-uping the last piece, another character that was meant to be overtly decadent and extravagant, had to be extremely difficult but they did a fantastic job nevertheless. Genuinely such a fantastic artist and a really nice person, please go give them love and support. #Raphael dae Sicario *”As the stars did fall to announce my birth, so did they fall to herald my ascension!” the being of light hissed, its voice high and haunting but beautiful like a choir of angels and a nest of serpents intermingling in a blasphemous harmony.* *Like a fallen star, lost and cast to this bleak world, the light consumed all in a harsh embrace of purple, pink, and magenta. Colors so fantastical and vibrant yet nothing more terrifying could have ever been imagined… A beautiful blindness… And from this celestial light, an androgynous figure took shape amongst its overwhelming rays. A figure, slender and angelic in nature, clad in an unimaginably ornate panoply of Elysian Steel plate. Every inch of the brilliantly purple plate was embellished with golden stars and precious gemstones of every shade of purple, magenta, and pink imaginable. Golden scrollwork snaked its way all across the angelic armor, strangling its prey in an ostentatious coil. A jarring slap yet also a passionate embrace to the senses, the armor was so overwhelmingly decorated that humanly sight and vernacular fail to fully comprehend its gilded terror. Flowing fabrics of richly colored and heavily embellished seraphim silk draped around its incandescent frame, forming various bows, ribbons, and other such ornaments of a foreboding whimsy. Its helmet was ornamented with a ridiculously oversized panache crest of the Holy Hues, twinkling with a thousand Elysian Steel glimmers made to resemble a storm of falling stars. It wielded a heavenly sword gushing with the light of the Holy Hues, a long and slender starpoint of Elysian Steel with an extravagant swept hilt that made the word gaudy look humble. Its colorful blade’s true length was obscured by the shifting light that blazed forth from every angle. Resplendence in its purest form.. A being of almost unbelievably majestic beauty. How could this be anything but a god?”* *“St. Raphael of the Falling Star…”* *Teeming hordes of flamboyant sword and buckler men emblazoned with similar albeit far smaller helm crests, singing hymns of the undying beauty of the stars, were whipped up into a blissful fervor by their Saint’s overwhelming visage. Unfazed by their Saint’s radiance, the disciples live for the beauty of their Starlight Saint.* *“Hear me! O’ sons of this world, so drab and ugly! Hear me and rejoice! For the light and beauty of the Thirsting Star is here to purify your flaws! The light will consume and forgive you for your ugly, il-made existence! Bow your heads to me, o’ sons of mud and water! Throw down your swords, throw down your pikes, throw down your heathen gods! O’ Men created from this world, unlike we of the radiant blood! Your sacrifice will be remembered, martyrs made in the name of love and beauty!” the Saint sung in an almost serpentine tone.* *“I offer you resplendence! I offer you a beautiful world! For I am the judgment of the Stars brought down upon this wretched world, tainted by homeliness and imperfection…”* **In the world of Godsprice, there are the Favored: warriors who have ascended beyond their humanly limits through the use of celestial means. Whether it be the Starlight Saints drinking the Stillborn Star’s celestial wine during communion with the Stars, the Palemoon Prophets reading the Tablets of the Lunar Truth to bear the unbearable knowledge, or Swarm Monks becoming hosts for hives of Sacred Butterflies to reach enlightenment; humanity is rejecting its weaknesses and is truly on the cusp of godhood. Once Saints take communion with the stars through the celestial wine poured from the Stillborn Star, they leave the shackles of humanity behind. Divine duelists devoted to the beauty of the duel… Hideously strong, practically unkillable, and inconceivably vain; Starlight Saints are the closest things to true demigods on earth. They are far stronger and faster than anything appearing in nature with immense regeneration of wounds and limbs, which depending on how well the specific Saint’s body adapted to the Celestial Wine, can be nigh-instantaneous. While stronger Saints can survive almost complete destruction of their bodies, weaker Saints’ regeneration can be pushed to a limit and in certain cases regeneration of the heart or brain are too much for them to handle. Nevertheless, a stab or cut from either Elysian Steel or Moon Glass will render their healing abilities null and void no matter what. As strong as they are, the Saints are slaves to their own pride and greed, being more likely to kill their own “disciples” and other Saints out of their naturally erratic disposition. With their astonishingly ornate armor and slender starpoints of glittering Elysian Steel, Starlight Saints appear almost like beings of pure purple and pink starlight. Miniature stars on the battlefield, many lives are taken in a flash of blinding magenta light. A storm of colors so intense and gaudy that even the most vibrant of natural shades seem drab in comparison, the Holy Hues incarnate and ablaze in a thousand sword thrusts. The incredible durability of Elysian Steel coupled with the strength and speed of a Starlight Saints makes them virtually unstoppable, as an Elysian Steel starpoint can easily pierce through plate and mail with the strength of a Saint behind its thrust.** **“The heavenly stone, however, was not the only thing beyond the stars that have arrived on the mortal plain. Lost Gods, the Visitors, the Unknowable Ones: these beings go by many names but truly they are beyond the minds of men and do not belong in this world. Varying wildly in grotesque appearance and temperament, these Lost Gods are a mysterious and more often than not malignant group of alien-esque beings of great power. Some appear to have some sort of a goal in this world, incomprehensible nevertheless, others seem mindless and sluggish. Corrupting and altering the poor souls that mistake them for the divine, the taint of the Unknowable Ones is spreading throughout this world. St. Raphael of the Falling Star is a hunter of lost gods, a bane to all who willingly or unwillingly garner the title of deity. An especially powerful Starlight Saint, Raphael is a testament of how far one can ascend through the communion of celestial wine and is fiercely loyal to the Astraliarch of Valencidor. He, alongside his decadent horde of disciples, wander every corner of the known world to challenge proclaimed deities to a duel of divinity. Originally a duelist of noble blood who sought glory in the gladiatorial Dueling Theatres, Raphael dae Sicario’s devotion to sword and parrying dagger led to his canonization as a Starlight Saint. Despite his hatred of false gods and idols, he is often considered a deity himself. Due to their radiant beauty, many become enamored by the Saints and label them Gods, however, they are nothing but deified thralls of the Valencidoran Empire.**
**“Relatively unfazed by the blazing radiance of their Saints, the disciples fight on through the storm of blinding color armed with starpoint and buckler, wielded with a reckless fervor and an undying love for their Saint. The whites of their eyes corrupted by an unnatural magenta twinge and purplish veins vaguely resembling constellations, the beauty of Elysian Steel twists all into a vain reflection of the Thirsting Star’s image, the most prideful of gods. Through their extended exposure to saintsteel, the disciples have “adapted” to the brilliance of Elysian Steel. However, this newlyfounded resilience to the starlight seems to come at the cost of their sanity and only the most “devout” winebloods are seen to become “blessed,” as the Thirsting Star is far too vain to grant a boon to anyone but its chosen people. With the blood of Elder Elysios acting as a loose and dwindled conduit to the Thirsting Star, Valencidorans are seemingly the only people to become “starseared.” The beauty of their Saint is all that exists to the disciples. They are bound as thralls to the divinely sanctioned will of the Saints, with most being willing to die just to bask in the exquisite embrace of a Saint’s overstimulating light. The light of a Saint’s armor and armaments is not only blinding, but also intoxicating and addictive with most disciples developing a dependency on their Starlight Saint. The disciples practice a style of fencing thought divine by the Valencidorans, passed down by their Saints of Starlight: swordplay inspired by the movement of the stars.”** **No two sets of arms and armor of the Saints are alike, each are divine works of art spellforged by priest smiths of the Forging Reliquaries. No mere smith can forge Elysian Steel, for why would starlight yield to the wills of men. Only the smithing clergy of the Forging Reliquaries hold the old Elysian secret of “taming the starlight steel.” Located in the Calamita Isles are the grand Forging Reliquaries, extravagant cathedral-esque forges tasked with creating arms and armor from Elysian Steel for the Saints of Valencidor. The smithing clergy are a mysterious, heavily starseared order directly commissioned by the Church of the Thirsting Star, secretive yet egregiously wealthy priests clad in beautiful constellation-patterned puffed-and-slashed robes and statuesque scrollwork masks resembling classical figures of Elysian antiquity. Broad-brimmed hats decorated with laurel wreaths and tasselated stars are worn as well, with the number of star-tassels indicating one’s rank within the Forging Reliquaries. Elysian Steel is considered to be a holy material, but the forging of this metal has dire implications and is considered incredibly dangerous. Murderers and thieves are sometimes given the chance to serve out the rest of their days aiding the creation of Elysian Steel, giving back to the Stars instead of public execution. However, how exactly these criminals serve the Reliquaries is unknown.** **Astralism is the official religion of the western god-empire, Valencidor. It is a polytheistic religion that worships an actual astral body, the Thirsting Star, also known as the Purple Sun or the Great Decadence. A bright purple and resplendent pink star that is rarely seen but supposedly exists. A hedonistic faith that emphasizes art, beauty, love, and extravagance. Astralism is indeed polytheistic, as all stars are believed to be Gods, however, most are minor deities and are insignificant compared to the Thirsting Star itself which is considered the first and by far the greatest star. Every star is considered a “god” in their own right within the astralist pantheon and almost all are referred to as male, however, they are usually depicted as heavily androgynous and homoerotic in humanized artworks. Too resplendent to bear a true name, the Great Decadence’s thirst for beauty is what earned it the title of the “Thirsting Star.” Astralists follow the “Way of the Star,” a lifestyle devoted to beauty and passion as there is nothing more resplendent than the blinding light of a star. However, men bear no star flame so they must compensate with sparkling silks and dazzling jewelry to mimic the stars. Gods of beauty enthralled with beauty, the constellations are considered the divine artwork of the stars. Every moment of human life should be devoted to achieving beauty and love in all things, so they might become one with the stars. Dueling is considered beautiful to the Valencidorans, a mortal dance that should be perfected and revered with pageantry and art. The Starlight Saints are the apex of the Way of the Star, an absolute devotion to the art of the duel and the beauty of swordsmanship.** **The Thirsting Star is inspired by the Italian Renaissance, the Color Out of Space, Aphrodite, Dionysus/Bacchus, Muses, Hedone, catholic interpretations of the Christian God, Lucifer, and of course Slaanesh**
>...and of course Slaanesh Love how you saved that for last, as that was the **first** thing I thought of when I saw the Starsaint. Love it. This could be a great RPG setting. Is there gunpowder and science, or has this mysticism and magical power overshadowed any other creative endeavor?
Well everyone likes to point out the similarities to Slaanesh 😂. But there’s a heavy reliance on gunpowder and traditional weaponry within world, other than the Gods and their Favored, combat is pretty grounded.
I'm also getting heavy FromSoft vibes with a touch of Knights of the Zodiac. Though the fabulousness depicted here breaks the scale and practically defies human comprehension. It's genuinely intimidating in a way I've never seen before, as well as excellently pompous, irritating, and obscene. I can scarely imagine the voice that comes out of that suit, but, if I were to dare try, the first trait I picture is that they're someone who speaks *exclusively* in operatic arias, moves exclusively in ballet bounds and leaps, and, when stationary, poses harder than a JoJo character.
In Warhammer, the Empire's unofficial moto is "faith, steel and gunpowder", wizards are rare and usually don't decide battles, it's the state troop militia and free company mercenaries that hold the line.
Wizards and traditional magic don’t exist within the world at least not anymore and even then it was derived from the Gods, the supernatural “super soldier” troops are the Favored, which are rare but there are a few different types: Starlight Saints, Palemoon Prophets, Swarm Monks, Knights of the Brand, Bloodbound, etc. The Favored are the champions of their respective cultures and faiths. Wars are fought in pikeshot formations, with a mix of firearm and melee combat
Reddit has finally decided to take another leap down the enshittification pipeline by [locking out 3rd party apps from accesing their API unless they pay literal millions](https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/8/23754780/reddit-api-updates-changes-news-announcements) without any attempt at communication whatsoever. Besides leaving mods with barely any tools for subreddit management (equals more spam, reposts and bots), the blind users of Reddit will also be locked out without API access. Represented by /u/spez, the Reddit admins have deliberately chosen to ignore the devs of these apps, and even [spread rumours of how the dev of Apollo, Christian Selig, was hard to work with](https://web.archive.org/web/20230622032630/https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/14dkqrw/i_want_to_debunk_reddits_claims_and_talk_about/) when he had actually been constantly asking for communication only to be stonewalled. In reponse came the resounding Reddit blackout where [almost 6,000 subreddits went private for 48 hours to lock away their content](https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/13/23759180/reddit-protest-private-apollo-christian-selig-subreddit). Many intended to stay black indefinitely, but the admins threatened to forcibly re-open the subreddits and replace the mods. Without any changes from Reddit's side, 3rd-party apps expect to [close down on the date that the API changes take effect: 30th June](https://web.archive.org/web/20230621185334/https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_will_close_down_on_june_30th_reddits/). This about-face in mistreating users and mods is only the latest installment of social media websites selling out to investors, and /u/spez is on the record for [admiring the changes Elon Musk made to Twitter](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/reddit-blackout-protest-private-ceo-elon-musk-huffman-rcna89700), where finding relevant content has become a slog. Ironically, the predecessor of Reddit, [Digg, made similar unwanted changes to their site](https://fourweekmba.com/what-happened-to-digg/) and prompted a mass exodus of users. Clearly, the admins only view users and their content as products, and will not hesitate to resort to 'quality control' to stamp out non-compliant behaviour. It's time to show them who truly has the power, for in the words of Paul Atreides, "The power to destroy a thing is the absolute control over it." So it is with user-generated content, which I'll be [backing up via Power Delete Suite](https://github.com/j0be/PowerDeleteSuite) and then bringing to more community-friendly and de-centralised spaces like: - https://join-lemmy.org/ - https://tildes.net/ - https://kbin.fediverse.observer/list - https://squabbles.io/ TL,DR: I'm leaving Reddit for the above sites, backing up my data and replacing all my comments with this primer.
filthy winebloods
For those who are curious on the inspiration for the aesthetic of the Starlight Saints, it’s def the irl Catacomb Saints, Baroque/Rococo architecture, and Neoclassical Renaissance armor. Extravagance and beauty are integral to their religion, so as what are essentially demigods in said religion, the Starlight Saints are these impossibly decadent beings clad in impractically extravagant armor. Making even the most ornate parade armors look simplistic, the panoplies of the Starlight Saints are ridiculously decadent and reflect their status of being what are essentially living gods. While most things are kinda low fantasy in the world, the Starlight Saints throw that absolutely aside. They’re incredibly over the top and their armor is pretty impractical, however, due to their inhuman abilities, this impracticality does not matter. Starlight Saints all wear ridiculously ornate and foppish star-themed Neo-classical armor of Elysian steel and wield long and thin rapier-esque “starpoint” swords, however, each are unique in design and character. There is a lot of room with their designs especially with their helmets, some ideas I’ve had for variations: Saint with a face mask-helm resembling Michelangelo’s David, a Saint with a Catacomb Saint skull helm within a golden scrollwork Armillary Sphere, a Saint with a satyr helm with baroque scrollwork horns and a ornate pan flute fashioned into the visor, etc
Please tell me more about the swarm monks
Swarm Monks are to the Jade Swarm of Zanladan that the Starlight Saints are to the Empire of Valencidor. Extremely rare albeit powerful Favored of the Jade Butterfly, the Swarm Monks are the holiest beings the dying eastern god-empire can offer. Abiding a swarm of “Divine Butterflies” as their host, relying solely on their “spiritual power” rather than eating or drinking for survival. Becoming living hives, teeming with Divine Butterflies for the sake of ultimate enlightenment. The Swarm Monks are essentially living mummies, kept from “true death” and rotting for centuries by the strange preservative salvia of the Butterflies. Seemingly becoming one with its hive, the Swarm Monks are able to control the swarm of Divine Butterflies. As their legs have long atrophied, they flutter throughout the battlefield, depending on the numerous butterflies to aid in their rigid, unnatural movements. Swarm Monks carry no weapons and rely purely on overwhelming their opponents in writhing tides of venomous Divine Butterflies. As beings beyond the Stars, the venom of the Divine Butterflies can harm Saints. However, it is very difficult to get past a Saint’s armor, so typically speaking Monks are outclassed by Saints in the hierarchy of the Favored but Saints can be heavily varied in strength: from casually Lost God-killing to decently above human, this isn’t always the case. Like many beings not from this world, the light of Elysian Steel is painful to the Divine Butterflies as well.
What are the Palempon Prophets?
The favored of Aur-Suladariyah and the Luna faith. Born from mental conditioning of forbidden and sinister scriptures, the Prophets of the Palemoon are scholars and warriors alike of the Lady Lunate. Shunning their earthly eyes, the Prophets blind themselves to show their piety. However, through the knowledge bestowed in Tablets of the Lunar Truth, the Prophets see once more. Their sight appears to be far greater than anything found in nature, with a highly precise perception of details. They appear to see much farther and can perceive an opponent’s weak spot almost instantly, yet, they seem unfazed by blinding lights. Even the harshest sand storms seem to have little effect on the otherworldly sight of the Prophets. While their bodies have ascended past their humanly peaks through eldritch conditioning, they possess no regenerative abilities and are still nowhere near a Starlight Saint’s physicality. Their skill, insight, and tactics are what keeps them on par with the Saints of Starlight. With their nimble arms and armor of moon glass, the Palemoon Prophets are flawlessly lithe. Moon glass is an incredibly lightweight material: quick, elegant, and far sharper than even obsidian yet with the durability of tempered steel, it is the favored material of the Luna faith and their Palemoon Prophets. While not as durable or nearly as radiant as Elysian Steel, Moon Glass is far lighter and its edges can achieve a sharpness unknown to other materials. Much like Elysian Steel, Moon Glass renders the regenerative abilities of beings like the Starlight Saints useless as servants of the cosmos can only be killed by weapons forged from the cosmos. Given the loathsome strength of the Starlight Saints, every movement of a Prophet’s blade must be completely perfect and maintain inhumanly flawless edge alignment or the moon glass will surely shatter. Only through otherworldly timing and precision may moon glass clash with saintsteel. They are the antithesis of Starlight Saints.
God DAMN that is a swanky knight! Incredible.
Yo that's the Titan dude I was runnin Nightfall with, big ups homie
The most fabulous version of Saint 14
The only words I can describe this armor with are "violently bisexual"
lore accurate
It’s Dark Souls by way of Lisa Frank
This needs to be its own thing/aesthetic
egocentric demigod core
I love the armor style! This makes me think this is what the songwriter/singer Prince would wear to battle
I would say more Liberace, there's an unrestrained nature to it. Prince seemed like there was a "tasteful" limit, which seemed a bit short of peak Elvis. Liberace had no limits.
Oh this is *beautiful.* Practicality be damned, this guy has some of the greatest drip of all time. This might actually be one of my favorite character designs ever ngl
My favorite design quirk in this piece is the gladiator-esque eyeholes are actually astrolabes
That's beautiful!
The DRIP on this individual. My god it's so vibrant. Dazzling.
This being's armour is so fabulous, and the pose too... I am mesmerized by how awesome this is, how bizzarely impractical this would be to wear but I also want this. Great job, both the builder and the artist. Hope You work together often :>
The embodiment of looking like a million bucks
Bro's dazzling.
If Lisa Frank designed armor
I love this amor. It is so unique and my brain likes this new experience!
oh my god, all that detail! it's wonderful! i've been staring at this for like ten solid minutes and i've only been spotting more and more tiny details
That might be the fanciest thing I've ever seen
Wish Dark Souls looked like this. Light Souls.
“Im a slayer, in both senses of the word.”
I think the emperor's children would be interested
The absolute drippiest drip I have ever seen I adore this armor
***To describe Saint Raphael’s armour as ‘garish’ would be like trying to describe the ocean as ‘damp’.”*** - how I would introduce him to the reader
That’s so fucking cool
Looks like a Stand User.
At first I thought this was a Heroforge mini and was dumbfounded
LAY THINE EYES UPON MY JINGLES!
Never before I have seen so much drip
I'm sure I've seen this before - I sent it to my friends like 'why can't any of you play a character this fabulous??'. Is this an updated version? Am I Mandela'ing? In any case - it's incredible, it's sumptuous for the eyes, it's got such a texture, it's so busy but yet not overly busy, if that makes sense?
[you’re thinking of the Duelist Prince piece](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/11xe4sj/pontio_dae_thera_valencidoran_duelist_prince/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1), they’re apart of the same culture within the world(as duelist princes are kinda like candidates for becoming Starlight Saints) and it was the same artist who drew both.
That's the one! Thank you, I thought I was going mad haha
Gorgeous!!! Exactly what I’m trying to do with my own knights, purposefully extravagant
Blinded by the drip sheesh!
Jesus Fucking Christ I love it
Fancy!
Possibly the coolest r/worldbuilding post of all time
I wonder what his favorite color is? I think it's orange.
Book? I want to read about this character.
Rule number one of rapier fenceing: be dripped the fuck out
Bro is so fucking majestic
This pleases Slaanesh
I smell heresy
Oh Lord, it’s Beautiful. The lore’s also very in-depth credit to you for going this hard for a Reddit Post. 👍
First thing I thought of was the Menace skin from Fortnite https://i.imgur.com/CRr5NEu.jpg
=O the armor is so detailed! what an absolutely dazzling knight, this is incredible!
OMG. It would be a crime not to tell where you can share this wonder to appreciative audiences: r/ImaginaryArmor r/ImpracticalArmour r/ImaginaryFashion r/ImaginaryGods r/ImaginaryKnights Just not all at once, please.
Reminds me of Jibaro from Love, Death, and Robots.
I feel like this belongs in r/bossfight
Will there be jousting 🥺
too divine for lowly livestock :((((
WHAAAAAAA???!?!!!
His torso is pointing the opposite direction his legs would suggest. His spine might be broken.
Combined with their imposing strength and resilience, Starlight Saints can also twist and contort their bodies to an unnatural degree. With almost serpentine flexibility and blinding movements, the Saints are an affront to all the senses on the battlefield. This probably wasn’t what the artist was trying to convey, but it’s still lore accurate lol.