Angel, Barachius

ECOLOGY

Environment any good-aligned planes
Organization solitary or pair

While all angels might be expected to protect the innocent from harm, barachiuses specialize in defending against subtle technological threats that might go unnoticed by the rank-and-file troops of the celestial legions. When a rapidly developing AI suddenly veers into true evil, when a new invention threatens to destroy countless innocents, when Hell’s hacker devils feed insidious viruses into mortal mainframes—these are when barachiuses truly shine.

A barachius is an imposing figure, standing in what appears to be sleek, glowing armor and wielding a sword that pulses with the light of the stars or a glowing laser rifle.

Its wings appear to be made of pure electricity, though a closer look reveals patterns within the feathery arcs that mimic digital arrays and computer wiring. Its face is often hidden behind an elaborate helm, and its voice—when it deigns to speak—is clipped and rapid-fire.

Yet a barachius’s true strength resides not within its presence or arms but in its near-prescient ability to understand the nature of any technological object or being that it encounters. Exactly how and why the angels deem some technology not just dangerous but immoral is a great mystery, as it’s not based solely on sheer destructive capacity. For instance, barachiuses have been known to hunt down and destroy individual robots with extreme determination while leaving similar models—and silos of nuclear missiles—entirely untouched.

A barachius might serve its purpose in a wide variety of ways. It could secretly patrol a settlement that is already rife with technology, constantly on the search for malicious computer code, machines run amok, or creatures bent on using technology for nefarious ends. Alternatively, one could be found searching for scientists and laboratories where cutting-edge research is being conducted. Even researchers with the best of intentions may come under the scrutiny of a barachius that deems the ongoing work or latest invention too threatening to the society’s ongoing moral health.

Barachiuses also keep watch over some planets and species that lack advanced technology to ensure that they’re not enslaved or annihilated by races with greater resources—though again, why they perform this action for some races and not others is a mystery deeply vexing to scholars and mystics. Many believe their choices are based on an ability to see lines of probability stretching into the future and the angels’ need to make minor course corrections now and then to avoid catastrophe.

Rarely, a barachius might take a more redemptive approach. Rather than destroying evil-aligned devices and technological life-forms, it might seek to turn a target to the path of good. Barachiuses minister to androids and robots in particular, hoping that merciful actions might inspire the artificial creatures to similar acts.

BARACHIUS HELM

What looks like a magnificent helmet on a barachius is actually an extension of its being, and thus it can never be taken from it by force. On occasion, however, a barachius particularly impressed by a mortal might offer that champion a magical copy of its own helm that’s imbued with a sliver of its essence and grants the wearer some of its own power.

Barachius Helm Level 5 Magic Item (Worn) Price 3,000 Bulk L

This helm replaces a suit of armor’s normal helmet (if any) and is incorporated into the armor’s normal environmental protections; these protections do not function if the helm is removed. If the armor has an available upgrade slot, a barachius helm takes up one upgrade slot; otherwise, the helm counts as one of your two worn magic items.

While wearing a barachius helm, once per day as a standard action, you can activate its ability to detect evil in your environment. Any creature you can see within 60 feet that has the evil subtype (such as a devil or an evil dragon) appears to have an obvious glowing outline visible only to you. Evil magic weapons (such as a rifle with the unholy weapon fusion) and other forms of evil technology gain a similar glowing outline. This doesn’t not increase your visual range or allow you to see invisible creatures.

In addition, once per day, the wearer of a barachius helm can use the barachius’s firewall supernatural ability.