Lantern Archon
Lantern archons were the lowest-ranking archons. They were the souls of recently deceased good and lawful people. The gods Korovila and Draio particularly favored them as servants.
Description
Lantern archons appeared as spheres of soft, glowing light, about as bright as a torch, from about one to three feet in diameter. It was impossible to extinguish their light without destroying them.Personality
Lantern archons, being relatively new to their plane, were not very intelligent or wise. While simple-minded, lantern archons exuded goodness and peace. While they desired to earn their way and advance to higher forms, their ultimate goal was to help those in need. Lantern archons were very friendly beings.Abilities
Like all archons, lanterns could speak and understand any language they desired. They could also teleport anywhere they desired without a chance of failure. Lantern archons could detect evil's presence and protect themselves from it. Lanterns' sole weapons were rays of intense light, which they could fire at their opponents within a range of about thirty feet. Those of pure heart were unaffected by the rays. A lantern archon could not only hover but was fully capable of flight. Lantern archons were immune to paralyzation, electricity, and charm, but other spells could harm them. They could not be affected by mundane weapons; if they were slain, they reformed again within a day.Combat
While lantern archons—like all archons—hated combat, if forced to fight, they gave off a menacing aura of righteousness that negatively affected their foes' ability to combat them. They preferred to fight with one opponent at a time.Society
Being the forms of lawful good souls who had died on the Material Plane, lantern archons were relatively plentiful in the lawful good Outer Planes. They were usually found on the first layer of Mount Celestia, Lunia. So they often interacted with plane-traveling adventurers or newly arrived souls, happy to provide whatever assistance they could. They were limited in what help they could offer; however, since they did not have corporeal bodies, their help was usually advice, guidance, or inspiration, often in riddles or parables. Other archons treated lantern archons like children since they were new to the celestial realms. Lanterns were subservient to all other archons, deities, solars, planetars, and devas. Sometimes, lanterns were chosen as messengers to the upper layers of Mount Celestia. If summoned by a hound archon, they immediately teleported wherever required.Ecology
Lantern archons were sustained by the light and essence of the plane of Celestia and so did not need to eat or drink anything else to thrive.Creation
Worshipers of the gods Foedus and Praedatus became lantern archons when they died, though not all lawful good individuals who had followed other gods became lanterns. Lantern archons could also be created by an act of sacrifice from a spellcaster using sanctified magic.Promotion
In the view of some scholars, lantern archons were not true archons but only "proto-archons," from which all other archons were ultimately derived. A lantern archon that had proven itself ready for the next station of goodness was transformed into a hound archon.