Archon

Archon (from the Greek archai, "origins" or "to rule") is a name used to describe several characters in a series of games within the various hobbies of /tg/. It is also an old digital board game.

In 40k

Archons in all their mini glory.

Archons are leaders of the various Kabals of the Dark Eldar. Masters of intrigue, plotting and bloody murder, they lead the attacks on realspace to raid for slaves and raw materials. Being an Archon comes with many perks (having thousands of minions to order around), but your immediate inferiors, the Dracons, are more than happy to arrange for you to ingest a very lethal poison or come up with a case of Sudden Decapitation Syndrome. Your rivals, the leaders of other Kabals are more often than not at your throat as well; either literally to get rid of you or metaphorically to make you their vassal. Or they are made to fight you by powerful people like Asdrubael Vect.

Being the big bobby G. Archons have access to the most powerful weapons, equipment, and artifacts available to their Kabal, and as such are frequently seen using amazingly advanced technologies when they deem it necessary to appear on the field of battle. More often than not, an Archon usually fights dirty with cheap tactics and cheats. Most Archons typically arm themselves with a splinter pistol, though some may carry more powerful Darklight Weaponry such as a Blast pistol or even a blaster. Some Archons, preferring close combat, may boost themselves with combat drugs more commonly used by Wyches. They also may carry many kind of blades usually tipped with poison or just common powerblades. Whips such as the Agonisers and Electrocorrosive Whip are also popular. In terms of defense, Archons wear only a light pressurized neuro-responsive body armor, allowing them to traverse vacuum when necessary and shrug off most civilian arms fire. However like all 'evil' factions in 40k who have the need to shout out on how evil they are, Archons often decorate with the corpse and skulls of their victims. Sometimes they possess the lightweight Ghostplate Armour which also incorporates minor forcefield technology.

All in all, Archons from 40k range from Awesome in the case of Vect to utter Fail in the case of Tahril.

Crunch

Archons are solid overall, with tons of Wargear options, including the Huskblade (an AP3 instant death weapon), which is more or less the nightmare of any unnamed character in the game (except a space marine commander that has taken a shield eternal, because space marines want to make you cry). Shadow Field is borderline-mandatory and goes in practically every Dark Eldar army list with an archon - almost everything else is up to you to pick, though power swords, as always, are good ideas (provided you want AP 3 and can't afford an Agonizer, Djinn Blade, or Huskblade; if you wanted AP 2 or Concussive, you need a different HQ). An Agonizer is also a good choice (and if you end up in a situation where it's not worth it, IE against Grots, you've used the unit entirely wrong).

Still, it is best to put your Archon inside a fast attack vehicle such as a Venom so you can turn him into a proper DISTRACTION CARNIFEX.

In D&D

Up to and including 3e Archons in Dungeons and Dragons were exclusively Lawful celestials, but with the coming of 4e another group was added.

Three Lightning Archons: two of which wield metal weapons and the third with a bolt of lightning.

Celestial Archons

Three Celestial Archons, clockwise from top left: a Lantern Archon, a Hound Archon and a Trumpet Archon.

The most commonly known type of Archon, the Celestial Archons live mostly in the Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia. They form a hierarchy of virtue: the less enlightened stand under the guidance of the more enlightened. This goes all the way from the simple Lantern archons (glowing balls of light about a foot across who try to inspire others to live in virtue and do good) all the way to the Celestial Hebdomad, the council of seven archangels who lord over the people of Celestia. While the hierarchy mirrors the ranks of the Baatezu in hell, the Archons have no rivalry between themselves: if anything helping your equals promote at the cost of you not being able to work on your own promotion is considered to be a good and noble thing (and you'll see this on your own evaluation).

Elemental Archons

Introduced in Points of Light, the Elemental Archons were the soldiers in the armies of the Primordials. They are more than just elementals: what others lack in regards to self-awareness and initiative the Archons do have. While being highly militaristic and strictly adhere to their superiors they are almost always Chaotic Evil because they want to return the world to its shapeless and fluctuating form prior to the arrival of the gods. They of course do not like this, which was the entire reason the Primordial War even started.

After the gods defeated the Primordials the Archons fell to the service of various elemental lords, both petty and great. They still retain their desire to return their masters to their rightful place in the world and would potentially betray everyone they work for to see this done.

Archons exist out of one element (fire, ice, earth, water, lightning etc.) like normal elementals do, but instead they wear armor over parts of their body. They almost always armor their torsos, shoulders and heads, though the exact nature of the armor varies per type. They are human-sized, with everything above the waist being the same shape as humans but instead are made out of one element. Some of them wield weapons made in the style that fits the Archons, but some use weapons made out of fire, ice and so on. If an Archon would be slain it dissipates, possibly alongside its weapon(s) and leaves behind its armor: while a PC can wear it its light contsturction makes sure it does not offer a lot of protection.

Gallery

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  Earth Archons

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  Fire Archons

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  A Hammer Archon

• An Ice Archon

  An Ice Archon

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  A Justice Archon

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  An Owl Archon

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  A Sword Archon

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  A Throne Archon

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  Water Archons

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  A Warden Archon

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  A Word Archon