This page covers the core lore of the Celeian species, which is required so long as your Celeian is not in a non-canon AU. The lore of the Celeian's universe of origin, Starfall, is optional if your Celeian has no interaction with the Starfall universe. 

Celeians have nebulous bodies that appear to hold stars within them. The nebula body is amorphous and often wispy, while their lightmatter parts are solid light. They may have mask-like faces made of lightmatter. Each one also typically has one "starlight" color—light blue for Kyraion, and gold for Ceilya. 

Their form is not particularly set; they are a formless mass at birth and they are capable of shapeshifting. However, they will tend to mimic the shape of the first intelligent lifeform that they make contact with—a human, in Kyraion's case and in the case of many other Celeians. They are capable of crossing dimensions as well, so there is truly no limit to the shape of their primary form. 

The only constant part of them is their "core," which is usually hidden within the nebula portion of their body. If exposed, it can shine very brightly. It also radiates celestial energy, a form of energy unique to Celeians. This is not harmful to humans, but can have mysterious effects on them. The cores cannot be damaged by physical means, but celeian magic and celestial technology (technology harnessing celestial energy) can damage it. All damage can be healed from, but severe damage can take years. The process can be accelerated by exposure to other celestial energy, be it from other Celeians or an artificial source.

Gender is completely meaningless to them as a species, though they may choose gendered pronouns upon encountering a species that uses language, gender, pronouns, etc. It is common (but not required) for Celeians who to accept the use of they/them, it/its, and possibly another set of pronouns such as he/him, she/her, or neopronouns such as xe/xem/xyr, ey/em/eir, etc. For instance, Kyraion uses he/they/it and Ceilya uses she/they/it. 

For more details on their appearance, see the Design Guide. 

Radiant Perception

Celeians do not naturally have the senses associated with those of organic creatures. Instead, they can perceive the world through the radiation of their celestial energy, being able to "see" anything with a clear line of sight between them with a fuzzy sense of anything that is touched more indirectly by their energy (such as reflected radiation, stored celestial energy, etc.). 

When they are Proto-Celeians, it is vague enough to be more like touch than sight, though after their transition to Main Sequence, the sense gains a great degree of acuity and is precise enough to be equivalent to sight, though it captures light, sound, texture/material, and temperature. If they wish to, they can construct other senses, including sensory touch, taste, pain, etc.

Anything that touches their body can be perceived in great detail, with their energy overlapping with the part touching them. If the entity touching them has some kind of neural or technological network, the energy "invades" the entire network almost instantaneously. For some Celeians, this can be overwhelming, while others find it interesting or stimulating. 

As a note, if they shapeshift an organic body, they can reduce their radiant perception and experience organic senses that way. 

Core Sustainment

Celeians require no external material to sustain their existences. The center of their existences are their "cores," which are more or less their souls. These cores are magical in nature and can produce an infinite amount of energy, if at a limited rate. 

Celeians can experience something like pain if their core is damaged, though it is difficult to do so. 

Celestial Magic

They are capable of "light" and "dark" magic, though it may be more accurate to describe it as "starlight" and "void" magic. They can create forms of light that can ravage matter and harm other beings, but they are also capable of healing and creation. The magic is very malleable—after all, everything is made of stardust, and so their magic of stars can be capable of many things.

If you have any questions about the limitations of Celestial magic, you may consult Auspice. 

Shapeshifting

Celeians are capable of shapeshifting. This can be a change of the "shape"—so their body composition remains the nebula and light—or a more thorough shapeshifting, such as the case of shapeshifting into a human form. The effectiveness of this shapeshifting varies; some can do it perfectly very easily, while others might tend towards having some indication of their celestial origin, such as having stars in their eyes or hair with the quality of their nebulous body. 

Shapeshifting into an organic body is significantly easier than shapeshifting into a novel biological form created by them. Essentially, after making contact with an organism, they have the "blueprint" of that biology and can shapeshift into a variation of that species. When shapeshifting into the form of an organism, they gain all of that organism's natural sense (such as sight, touch, hearing, etc.). 

Traversal

Celeians are capable of faster-than-light travel. They do not actually "teleport"—they are traversing the entire distance—but functionally it may very well be teleportation. They can also traverse dimensions through the use of their celestial magic, though many do not think to do so. 

Knowledge Integration

They can instantaneously acquire knowledge by tapping into the neural information of organic beings. They can also extract information from technology. Prior to connecting with a language-speaking being, they will not understand language, culture, etc., though they do instinctively have knowledge of their abilities and the nature of their being, and will know themselves as "Celeians" when they learn language.

They can also transfer knowledge to other Celeians and organic beings. While Celeians can handle lifetimes of information instantaneously, they are not careful, organic beings may become overwhelmed. This can manifest as headaches, dizziness, dissociation, derealization, blacking out, temporary amnesia, loss of some memories, etc.  

Telepathy and Aerophony

Celeians can communicate with both telepathy and "aerophony," the ability to vibrate the air around them to produce sound and speech. If they shapeshift into a physical form, they can produce sound through vocal cords.

Fusion

Celeians can fuse with each other or other beings. Organic beings may find the experience exhilarating and overwhelming, in addition to experiencing severe exhaustion and a "burnt out" feeling after the fusion is undone. Mentally, the experience is also very alien.

A fusion between a Celeian and non-Celeian is referred to as an Amalgam, sometimes more precisely stated as, for instance, a Celeian-Human Amalgam.

A fusion between multiple Celeians is referred to as a Merger, sometimes more precisely stated as a Celeian Merger. 

Absorption

Celeians may, on occasion, permanently absorb other Celeians. This is only possible if the other Celeian's core is damaged severely, but it can be done unintentionally as the process and sensation is the same as fusion. 

While it is incredibly rare, Proto-Celeians may encounter each other and experience a collision. Since their sense of self is not fully developed, they integrate into a single being without much resistance. In some cases, these collisions lead to Luminary Celeians. 

Formation into Proto-Celeian

Celeians are born in nebulae rich in celestial energy, the energy emitted by the cores of Celeians. They begin as cores that gradually grow larger and brighter, surrounded by their nebula body, in a process similar to natural star formation but much faster. They have instinctive knowledge of their abilities and the nature of their being, but no concept of language. Their thoughts tend to be fairly abstract.

Eventually, they gain self-awareness and their star-sized core collapses and condenses to about the size of an apple—in this state, they are a Proto-Celeian. Without any interference, the collapse can take thousands of years, but an existing Celeian can focus their energy to accelerate the process to the scale of centuries or even decades. This can be exhausting, leaving them weak or even dormant for a time. 

It is rare that multiple Celeians form at the same time considering the timescale of their formation, but those who do form a connection and may travel together or apart, able to always find each other. Some, when they learn of the concept, may consider each other "siblings," while others refer to their connection of shared origin another way. 

Transition to Main Sequence

Proto-Celeians will often feel a desire to explore the universe, but otherwise have very simple, abstract thoughts. Their perception consists of what the celestial energy radiating from them touches, though it is quite vague—it is not unlike going through the world while blindly touching and feeling everything one comes across. 

They tend to be drawn to places with sentient beings, and may descend upon a planet, crashing upon it like a meteor. With proximity to the sentient minds of the planet, Proto-Celeians will absorb semantic knowledge from them. 

If they have a close encounter with a particular individual, whether by chance or if the individual had the nerve to catch them out of the sky, the Celeian will instantly gain their semantic knowledge, in addition to changing their form to one resembling that sentient being—in this state, they are in their "Main Sequence." The entity that catalyzes their transition is referred to as the Celeian's Catalyst. Note that the Celeian does not gain the subject's emotional associations and episodic memories. Many will continue to learn more by making contact with other sentient beings or by simply existing near all these minds.  

Alternatively, the Proto-Celeian may meet another Celeian first. If the other Celeian is willing, they may align their wavelengths briefly and share their knowledge and experiences. The Proto-Celeian will then often take a form resembling that other Celeian and enter their Main Sequence that way. 

Life in Main Sequence

Celeians may choose to live their lives in any number of ways. They may travel from planet to planet, dimension to dimension. They may settle down on a particular planet and make a life there, temporarily or permanently. Some Celeians may travel the stars, seeking out forming Proto-Celeians and helping the process speed along. Celeians do not have a limited lifespan, and may gain numerous experiences throughout their existence. 

They tend to be nonviolent and nonmalicious, though there are some exceptions, such as if they go through great loss; there must be a reason for it, however, as it is not in their nature. They do not have drives for competition and survival, and often play the roles of observers. Still, they can experience emotions and form attachments to others. 

Celeians may be drawn into conflicts of other beings—and in some cases, they may be looked to for power, which some may be willing to give. In some worlds, their celestial power can be harnessed. In some worlds, perhaps fusion is somewhat commonly used—and fusions, if the parts of them have tendencies towards violence and conflict, may fight. 

End of Life

Celeians may choose to give up their existence. Perhaps they are satisfied with life, perhaps they are at peace, perhaps they are simply tired. They will often travel to a rift between dimensions (though sometimes they may simply choose to find empty space in the dimension they feel most at home in) and concentrate all their power and form into their core. Then, they burst into a powerful supernova. If they do this in a dimensional rift, they can create a new universe that might take any form, full of nebulae that will form new stars, new planets, new Celeians. If they do this in an existing universe, then the space they went supernova will contain the nebula of all they were, highly concentrated in celestial energy, which could create hundreds of Celeians over millions of years. 

These are Celeian traits that have lore tied to them. 

Luminary ⟐

Exposed core by default, accompanied by high levels of energy and magic. Note that cores can temporarily be exposed freely.

Luminary Celeians are those with so much celestial energy radiating from their core that it is more comfortable to have their core exposed than not. They can still conceal their core, but it feels like wearing constricting clothing. Organic creatures that spend a long time near Luminary Celeians may experience strange effects such as an extended lifespan, alterations to physical appearance (such as a human's hair becoming white), enhanced senses, acquiring a mild form of the radiant sensations Celeians have, etc. 

A Celeian can become a Luminary Celeian through a developmental or acquired process:

• Developmental: During their development into a Proto-Celeian, the collapse that made them was originally going to make multiple Celeians—they got caught up in each other's gravity and collapsed into a singular Proto-Celeian. Alternatively, prior to their transition into Main Sequence, they collided with a partially formed core or weakened Proto-Celeian.  

• Acquired: A normal Celeian experienced an event that Luminated them. 

  • Amplification: Ceilya, in Starbridge, developed a procedure that can amplify a Celeian's energy, but it does not always result in Lumination (such as if it only had a minor effect). The procedure can be attempted multiple times, but is not recommended as it can lead to Shattering. 

  • Absorption: A Celeian that absorbs a large amount of celestial energy can become Luminated—or Shattered. This can be done through celestial technology or by absorbing weakened Celeian cores. 

  • Spontaneous: A Celeian that has existed for a long time (billions of years) may spontaneously develop the Luminary trait as their core shifts in nature with age. Their age includes their time spent as a Proto-Celeian, so some Celeians that have only been in Main Sequence for a few hundred years may still spontaneously become Luminary Celeians. 

Shattered ⟐

Lightmatter parts are broken into cracked and shattered pieces, and/or the nebula body appears to have cracks with starlight shining through.

Shattered Celeians may be unstable in their form, psyche, and/or abilities; some are only affected in one way while some are affected in all ways. Here are some examples of possible effects:

• Form: Cracked and shattered body, inability to maintain a solid or consistent form, etc. 

• Psychological: development of multiple personalities/identities, hallucinations/psychosis, changes in personality, mood swings and/or more intense emotions, 

• Abilities: difficulty processing senses and information, etc. 

A Shattered Celeian acquires the trait through a developmental or acquired process: 

• Developmental: There were issues with their development into a Proto-Celeian or transition to Main Sequence. For instance, their core was damaged when they transitioned to Main Sequence, or there was damage during the collapsing process that formed them into a Proto-Celeian. 

• Acquired: A normal Celeian experienced an event that Shattered them. 

  • Damage: Their core was damaged too severely by being attacked by another Celeian (unlikely, due to their nonviolent/nonmalicious nature), being damaged by celestial technology weapons, by having too much of their energy forcefully extracted, etc. 

  • Oversaturation: They experience a dramatic intake of energy—a Lumination process gone wrong, absorbing a weakened Celeian's core (which is more likely to cause identity shifts and multiple personalities), being injected with more energy than they can handle, etc.