Archon

Jeyne Kassynder in her Archon form.

Archons are one of the races that live on the continent of Aranna. First introduced in Dungeon Siege III as a variety of enemies and one of the playable characters.

Description

Book about Archons (from Anjali's opening cinematic)

Archons are a race of fire spirits. In the books, they are described as "female, usually bearing a staff or a spear, with eyes of brilliant flame". Images of archons can be found not only in books, but also in the form of figurines—according to popular beliefs, they bring good luck to the house. Also worthy of note that the term "archon" is not invented by the race—rather, that was how the mortals called them. The Archons themselves simply call each other "sisters".

Because of their elemental nature, the Archons are adept at handling fire. Some may even call upon lesser fiery spirits, such as fiery jackals, for help. Archons prefer staves or spears as melee weapons.

Also, archons appear to be immortal—they do not age and cannot die of old age. There is also a legend that the archon cannot be killed in the usual sense of the word. It is possible to destroy the physical shell of the spirit of fire—but not its essence. At the behest of the Creator Gods an archon can be resurrected (confirmed by Anjali's story).

According to some sources, meetings with archons took place even before the arrival of Jeyne's mother on Aranna. The legends describe cases when an archon either helps a person to correct a mistake, or punishes someone for a crime committed. There are even legends about how an archon falls in love with a person, but it is said that the end of such legends is unhappy. Why so, you can make a guess based on Jeyne's story. In one of the scenarios for the development of events in the castle garden of the Spire, Saraya says that the flame of the First Sister passed from mother to daughter—leaving only an empty shell from the mother. This may mean the following: archons can have children from representatives of other races, however, it is quite possible that only girls can be born to them, to whom the archons transfer part or all of their strength / essence, as a result of which their material bodies perish.

Appearance

A Dark Archon in Dungeon Siege III

Concept art of Jeyne's leutenant, Archon Rajani.

All archons are exclusively female. In human form, their unusual origin is betrayed by sparkling golden eyes, but in general they look like very beautiful dark-skinned women. Another distinctive feature is forehead tattoos. In the form of a fiery spirit, the skin of the archons darkens even more, to a dark blue, sometimes almost black. On the head of the archon, instead of hair, there are tongues of flame. In the fiery form, the archons do not recognize any clothes—they are replaced by iridescent shades of red tattoos.

Also noteworthy are the differences in appearance between ordinary archons (Anjali, Rajani), half-archons (Jeyne) and dark archons resurrected by Jeyne at the Mournweald. In her fiery spirit form, unlike her sisters, Jeyne's skin is orange. On top of that, you can see part of her human form hairstyle—a long braid. This may be due to the fact that Jeyne is only half-archon, but it may be due to the fact that she is the First Sister. The same feature can be found in the archons resurrected by her. The dark archons have grey skin, the usual tattoos for archons are black and dull, and the eyes are not golden, but red. Another nuance—the dark archons are apparently taller and slightly larger than their sisters. If the player's character is Anjali, then from a conversation with Jeyne before the final battle, you can learn that the flame of the dark archons is cold.

Religion

Only one thing can be said with complete certainty about the religious views of the archons—the majority continue to worship the creator gods, despite the fact that these gods no longer exist. In theory, this links them to First People—after all, the natives of Eastern Swamp worship Nagog, who according to legend fell from heaven and is considered a creator god. However, there is no evidence of this, as well as information about whether the archons themselves consider this legend, firstly, true, and, secondly, worthy of attention.

The archons do not deny the possible existence of other deities and divine essences.

Society

In a way, the archons can be called a centralized community, given that most of them keep apart from representatives of other races, preferring their own kin as company. The Archons regard each other as sisters and are very devoted to each other and to their spiritual leader, the First Sister. Only a very serious reason—like the threat of total extinction—can force the archon to turn against their own. The denial of the archon community from any of their sisters is considered a serious insult, more so—in the understanding of the archons, the rejected sister is doomed to perish. The highest form of rebellion among the Archons is standing against the First Sister herself. As Rajani and Saraya explained, there is a special sort of bond between Archons and their spiritual leader, and if the First Sister, "whose flame burns the brightest", dies, then every other Archon would soon slowly fade.

Jeyne with her handmaids at the Spire.

The Archons prefer to settle to some extent in isolation from other races. Apparently, the archons have no special preferences—with one exception—in terms of the choice of living conditions. The most important thing is that there should be more sources of open fire nearby, because it is fire that is the source of the archons' vitality.

History

Concept of an Archon (presumably, Anjali)

According to ancient legends, archons were born long before First Age—by the will of the creator gods, whom they served as messengers. The archons themselves can neither confirm nor deny this—although they seem to have outlived their creators, the shock of the catastrophe that befell them was so strong that it completely erased their memory. Their earliest memories are associated with awakening in an unfamiliar world and the accompanying feeling of terrible loss. Since then, the archons, under the leadership of the First Sister, have traveled between worlds with the sole purpose of finding traces of their creators. The search led to Aranna, where they found the seed of the First Creation in the forest that later became known as Mournweald. Aparently, this was what prompted the archons to seek refuge in the Kingdom of Ehb with the then King Hendrik.

Known Archons

• Anjali.
• Jeyne Kassynder (half-archon) (fate player determinant).
• Rajani (fate player determinant).
• Saraya (fate player determinant).
• Chakti (fate player determinant).
• Archon of Vengeance†.
• Archon of War†.
• Jeyne Kassynder's mother†.
• Iansha†(presumably half-archon).

Notes

Concept art of the Corrupted Daeva.

• For the most part, archon's names come either from Sanskrit (Anjali, Rajani), or from Hebrew (Saraya). Also, some unique equipment for Anjali are named in Sanskrit.
• It is possible to calculate how many Archons were still alive at the time Dungeon Siege III. If certain conditions are met, you can banish Jeyne and her handmaids from Aranna, which can be seen in the final cutscene. Excluding Rajani, Saraya, Chakti, Jeyne herself—and, for obvious reasons, Anjali—there are exactly 25 figures at the top of the Spire.
• Indirect mention of archons is in Dungeon Siege II. Among the randomly dropped unique items at level ~ 58, you can get a cryptic cestus named "Archon's Grip"—oddly enough, it enhances not the "fiery" branch of the battle mage's abilities, but the "electric" one.
• Kindred of the archons are four-armed daevas. According to Radiant Youth, if the archons were messengers, then the daevas, who were already considered terrifying, were warriors—the punishing hand of the creator gods. There is also a small inconsistency here: according to the same Radiant Youth, daevas have not been seen "since the dawn of the world." At the same time, in Treasures of the Sun, one of the opponents is "Daeva Statue"—which, although a statue, has the enhanced abilities of its dark sisters from the endspiel Mournweald. However, the Temple of Azunai, where this statue guards the tablet, was built after the First Cataclysm.
• From some of the in-game dialogues one can guess that (almost) all Archons are of the same age—and that all of them (except for Anjali, who, in her current incarnation, is 29, and Jeyne, who's around 48-49) are a couple thousand years old.