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In the vein of the Make your own Archfiend thread, let's homebrew up some new Empyreal Lords! Agathion, Angel, Archon and Azata are the usual suspects, as per Chronicles of the Righteous, but there's no reason to limit ourselves to those four, when we could have some Empyreal Lord/demigod-level Garuda or Peri, as well.
One to get it started;
Epiphaedriel Angel of Purification, Self-Perfection and Transformation
NG patron of alchemy, exercise and the forge
Symbol – Potion poured over a blade, Weapon – Warhammer
Colors – Gold, Animal – Toad
Domains - Artifice, Good, Healing, Strength (optional Fire, Glory)
Tall and broad shouldered, with flesh of solid shining gold, but with a childlike face and the otherwise lean and androgynous build common to angels, Epiphaedriel wears a long tunic made of soft overlapping plates of copper colored metal that leave their arms bare, and has an assortment of tool and implements of indecipherable use hanging at their broad leather belt. In one hand, they bear a slender hammer, seeming more suitable for jewelcraft than smithwork, and in the other hand a beaker containing a multi-colored fluid, rumored to act as any potion or elixir the angel desires. When stirred to anger, this form dissolves into a whirlwind of fire that remains capable of casting spells or striking with their hammer, in addition to sweeping through foes like the fiery elemental maelstrom they have become. Epiphaedriel is a popular patron among dwarves, who represent the angel with a crafted beard-like ornament over their lower face of copper, silver and gold.
[I wanted a non-evil patron for alchemists, initially, and worked from there, trying to keep the result farther away from Torag or Irori, despite including elements of both. The optional Domains were ones I considered and discounted, as I went through options, and which could be substituted for the final four I chose, if someone wants to modify it to better fit what they are looking for.]
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Bozo Angel of Clowns, Jesters, Mimes and Comedians
CG Patron of comedy, children's entertainment and truth
Symbol - Banana Cream Pie, Weapon - Sap
Colours - Polka Dots & Tartan, Animal - Hedgehog
Domains - Chaos (Azata, Whimsy), Good (Azata, Friendship), Charm (Captivation) Trickery (Innuendo)
Face painted in a colourful grin, wearing a clashing mix of colors and patterns, Bozo is a clown of indeterminate gender. In one hand they bear a Banana Cream Pie in one hand and a rubber chicken in the other. Bozo has never in their entire existence been roused to anger, except for comedic effect. It is said that their nose honk will be heard 'round the multiverse when Abadar finally laughs at one of Bozo's capers.
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Woo, more angels, and one of comedy, no less! Repartusiel is interesting, and I like the non-traditional Void domain.
Having done an angel, I'll try an agathion next.
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Axilune Agathion of Mystery, the Moon and Nature’s Wisdom
NG patron of familiars, secrets and witchery
Symbol – Shadow of a cauldron tipped on its side from which animals are emerging (snake, cat, rabbit and crow), Weapon – Sickle
Colors – Brown and grey, Animal – Cat, Crow, Rabbit or Viper
Animal, Good, Knowledge, Magic (optional Luck, Plant, Trickery)
This whimsical empyreal appears as a plump woman with rosy cheeks and a pleasant laugh, wearing simple robes. At any moment, her form will bear one or more animal features, such as feathers in place of hair, whiskers, or a dusting of colorful scales along her exposed forearms, and always eyes that range from unblinking aquiline to luminous feline to a piscine black. She is always accompanied by an assortment of small animals, such as a viper coiling around one arm, or a toad perched on her shoulder, while one or more cats or small birds loiter in her company. She carries no obvious weapons, but at any moment can form any sort of natural weapon from her person, such as a wolf’s jaws, a lion’s claws, a stag’s antlers or even a scorpion’s envenomed stinger, and she can do so in a savage flurry all out of proportion to her otherwise innocuous appearance.
[And again, I wanted a good patron of alchemists the last time, so that Norgorber and Haagenti weren't the only divine patrons of alchemy, and now I want a good patron for witches, who generally have only Gyronna and Mestama as their specific witch-associated deities. Making her an agathion tied to familiars, specifically, seemed like a no-brainer. The cat, crow and viper seemed like fairly obvious familiar critters, but, for some reason, my brain insisted on including the rabbit in there, even though it's not a traditional familiar animal... I have no idea what's up with that, but I've learned to let my brain win these sorts of arguments.]
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How about an archon?
Minavera, the Hidden Claw, archon of vaults, secrets and precious metals
LG patron of guards, treasure keepers and miners
Symbol - a golden loot chest filled with papers.
Animal - lion
Weapon - greatsword
Colors - grey and gold
Good, law, earth, knowledge (archon, metal, memory)
The Hidden Claw appears as an immense sphinx with three pairs of angelic wings. Created long ago by Abadar in order to protect the first vault, she once possessed knowledge of everything to have ever existed. Her extremely long lifespan, though, clouded her memory, and she now spends her time guarding the entrance to her home, the Vault of Endless Knowledge.
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Baraq, the Seeking Arc
NG peri empyreal lord of lightning, reconciliation, and guardianship
Servants: xiuh couatls
Worshippers: good parents, orphans, abused children
Symbol: silver wings wrapped protectively around an indistinct humanoid figure
Animal: cheetah
Weapon: spear
Colors: purple and silver
Domains: Good (Redemption), Air (Lightning), Protection (Defense), Community (Family)
This peri empyreal lord has gleaming silver skin and slender, delicate features, which belie the thick muscles hidden beneath his royal purple robes. His wings and hair seem to be made of both crackling lightning and blazing fire in shades of blue and purple and white, spilling like a mane down his back. He wields a large shield in one hand, and a spear in the other.
Baraq has a nearly obsessive passion for family relations, whether that means teaching parents how to best raise their children, helping orphans find a new family, or rescuing abused children from their situations. He uses his psychic powers and divine presence to judge those who call upon him, and many prospective parents pray for his blessing on themselves and their potential children. Those who's prayers he answers personally almost invariably have aasimar children.
When children call upon him, they might be visited by a xiuh couatl, who will come to them in their dreams and offer comfort and guidance, while also visiting their abusers and giving them one final opportunity to mend their relationship (whether that be via reconciliation or severance is up to them).
Love it! An azata maybe?
Dot!
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Piaras, The Eternal Youth, Azata of Children, Innocence and Magical Flight
CG patron of childhood, joy, and flying
Symbol - a young boy's flying silhouette, Weapon – Rapier
Colors - Brown and Green, Animal – Flying Squirrel
Worshipers - Children (duh), young adventurers, aeronauts
Domains - Air (Wind), Chaos (Whimsy), Good (Friendship), Liberation (Freedom) (optionally travel, trickery)
Allies - Arshea, Picoperi, Sinashakti, Cayden Cailean, Desna
Enemies - Besmara, Pazuzu, Folca (DEEPLY HATES HIM)
Appears as a wild-haired and slender young, human boy dressed almost entirely in the color green and usually covered in dirt and mud from his adventurers. While Piaras is consistently depicted as male, his androgynous appearance and several stories involving a young (relatively speaking) Piaras going to Arshea for wisdom, have made some theologians questions if this was always the case and whether Piaras was once the female empyreal lord Hebe, the Childlike Cupbearer, who disappeared entirely long ago. Few though are dumb enough to ask either Piaras or Arshea directly, and those who have have learned nothing for their troubles.
Piaras usually has an entourage of chosen child petitioners who accompany him as he flies across Elysium or goes on adventures in the Material World. While these petitioners are technically Piaras' wards he sees them as his friends, companions, and more importantly equals.
Although his preview is primarily helping children and young adults enjoy their fleeting youth and innocence, Piaras also has an interest in flying, and the various magical and technological ways mortals can achieve it without the aid of natural wings. Thus, Piaras has a surprising following among engineers and spellcasters who may have long since grown out of childhood.
Piaras has a heated rivalry with Besmara (the reasons why have been lost to history), but his main enemy is the predatory daemonic harbinger Folca, who he has tried to destroy for millennia. The fact that he has been unable to free the souls of all of Folca's victims has been one of The Eternal Youth's greatest sorrows.
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Ooh, a peri associated with xiuh couatls. Very cool! 'The Seeking Arc' title is neatly evocative, of a bolt of lightning questing for something.
And Piaras is also cool. Leaning a bit hard into that Peter Pan theme (down to the green outfit and rivalry with pirates), but it's at least consistent!
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And an Archon, to continue my first four (Agathion, Angel, Archon and Azata).
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Fettro Archon of Hawk, Horse and Hound
LG patron of those who train animals for hunting, protection and war
Animal, Good, Law, War (Charm, Nobility)
Symbol – a leather leash or rein, Weapon – Longbow
Colors – a brindle pattern of brown, black and white, Animals – Hawk, Horse and Hound
Fettro is a study in contrasts, revered by animal trainers and nobleman alike, he champions the bonds between man and nature, specifically between rider and mount, or falconer and bird, or kennelmaster and hounds. He is presently represented as a nobleman astride a mighty steed, with hawk at arm and a hound attentive below, but older representations show him as a centaur with the head of a hound and eagles’ feathers along his arms and talons for hands. In any event, he is a popular divine patron among druids, rangers and hunters who regard their animal companions as much dependable fighting ally, as lifelong friend and companion. Trainers of more exotic animals are less likely to follow Fettro, but those who work with horses, hounds and hawks, and are of a goodly nature, are likely to at least pay him lip service, in the sight of their customers, if nothing else. Due to the popularity of hawking and falconry among the nobility, as well as finely-trained steeds and organized hunts with packs of hounds, Fettro has more popularity than expected with the nobility, for such an otherwise rustic entity. Beasts who are a hybrid of two or more of his favored animals, such as hippogriffs, are considered especially sacred to Herne. Other domesticated animals, particularly those to be eaten, like cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, etc. are of little interest to Herne or his faithful, save perhaps as hunting prey for their hounds or hawks, and a ranger with a wild boar, bear, great cat or odder companion is unlikely to find much more than idle curiosity from the faithful. Training a beast for war is seen to somehow ‘ennoble’ the animal, and bring it into Heaven’s divine plan to oppose the forces of corruption and wickedness that threaten man and beast alike, and to upset the chain of heirarchy between rider and steed, or master and hound. Patrons that embrace savagry, or set beasts above men, such as Angazahn, or whom encourage their faithful to surrender the mastery that comes with being master, and not beast, and to seek out the bestial traits within themselves, such as Lamashtu, are Fettro’s most reviled foes.
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And the Azata, to round out the choices.
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Gunnra Azata patron of creativity, passion and zeal
CG patron of artists, berserkers, celebrants and lovers
Domains – Chaos, Charm, Good, Liberation
Symbol – a heart bursting free of chains, Weapon – Spear (or shortspear, spear or longspear)
Color – bright red, Animal – bear or boar
Gunnra appears as a large ruddy-skinned man or woman wearing hide armor studded with the teeth, fangs and tusks of bears and boars, usually with a feather and fur-decorated jagged-tipped spear in one hand, and a horn of strong golden mead in the other. A patron of arts and crafts, but also wild passions and animalistic frenzy on the battlefield, Gunnra has been known to dissolve into a red smear of color that sweeps like a storm across battlefield or revel alike, afflicting all it touches with a liberation of their restrained passions, either of rage or exuberance or creativity or more carnal desires, as the mood takes them. The creative urges Gunnra inspires are never subtle, and boisterous song, frenetic dance or bold primitive painting in bright colors are the sorts of displays that are nearest to their oversized heart. As a male, Gunna has a coppery colored mane of hair and thick beard, and as a female, a magnificent waist-length mass of coppery hair, but never changing from one form to the other when seen, leading to the notion among some of their worshippers that Gunnra is actually two figures, male and female, brother and sister, or perhaps lovers, who never appear together. Despite this dichotomy, and differences of opinion as to what it means among the devout, the faith is strangely unconcerned with the finer details of Gunnra’s gender or role, agreeing to disagree on such matters, as acceptance is a tenet of their faith, and even the most hidebound followers of the Unchained Heart acknowledge that Gunnra is not one to be restrained by such labels as male or female, warrior or artist, being all of these things and more.
[I've continued my self-imposed theme of attempting to create Empyreals who would make good choices for classes and characters who aren't generally as commonly covered by good deities, like alchemists and witches, for the first two, and cavaliers/rangers/hunters and barbarians/skalds for these latter choices.
Thanks to everyone who's playing along, and kudos to those who have included sub-domains, which is a step further than I have been inclined to go! (Also, I do these at work, where I don't have access to anything other than the core book, of which I keep one of the new pocket versions in my locker, so that's totally my excuse for not including sub-domains in my own entries, and we'll just ignore that I could easily add them when I get home before I post them, because... reasons!
Laziness is a reason, right?]
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Well we have a crap ton of "the first x" demon lords(andirifkhu and mariliths, nocticula and succubi...). How about some sort of a "first lilend"?
Dorma, the wind scale - azata empyreal lord of music, storms and snakes
CG patron of musicians, aeronauts and
Domains - air, chaos, good, scalykind (wind, azata)
Symbol - a bolt of lightning shooting from a flute
Colors - yellow, grey
Animal - snake
Weapon - longsword
When the first musician died, her soul was transported to elysium. A towering, beautiful eleven woman with a long serpentine snake, the first lilend has magnificent wings which she uses to invoke storms upon evildoers.
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And a Peri;
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Shimadri Peri of Oracular Insight, Visions and the Cold-That-Burns
NG patron of martyrs, madmen and those who have greatness thrust upon them
Symbol – A bird rising from a fire, Weapon – Flaming Battle Poi
Colors – Red, Orange, Yellow, Animal – Falcon
Fire, Good, Knowledge, Magic
Shimadri, also called the Hanging Man, the Fire That Leaves Men Frozen, and Nailed to the Sky manifests as a lean man hanging in mid-air, eyes closed and arms outflung, one leg crooked and resting upon the other. He is bone-white, and surrounded by a fiery aura in the shape of a great bird of fire, though which he interacts with the physical universe. His head tilts to one side, and other than mumbling lips and his hands occasionally making mudras and signs of power when he casts spells, he seems unconscious, or even dead, with the fiery bird-aura speaking his words and seizing up his hated div enemies in great talons of fire. In sharp contrast to the fiery aura that surrounds him, Shimadri’s physical body is colder than ice, and the spells he casts may take on the appearance of scorching rays, fireballs and flame strikes, but always inflict cold damage instead of fire, draining the heat from his enemies to further empower his burning aura and heal any wounds he may have suffered. Shimadri is an unasked for patron to many oracles and sorcerers, particularly those with Mysteries of Fire and Lore, or Boreal, Celestial or Elemental (fire) Bloodlines, and is also revered by others who draw insight from forbidden knowledge, firegazing, or more rarely, the controversial practice of sungazing, blinding their worldly eyes to open them to more spiritual insights, ranging from bards and investigators to wizards and occultists.
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Sapphros, The Rose Knight, Archon of Adoration, Love Letters and Chivalric Romance
LG patron of young lovers, shy suitors, and gallant knights who wish to show their devotion
Symbol - A white heater shield with pink and reds rose on it, Weapon – Longsword
Colors - Pink, Red and White, Animal - Horse
Worshipers - Romantic poets, fair maidens and lads, love-stuck knights and paladins
Domains - Charm (Love), Good (Archon), Law (Loyalty), Nobility (Aristocracy)
Allies - Shelyn, Ragathiel, Olheon, Falayna, Dispater (strangely enough)
Enemies - Naderi, Ardad Lili, Socothbenoth, Nocticula
A being of stunning beauty of easy, if somewhat overly theatrical, charm, Sapphros is a tall archon with short deep red hair and pale unblemished skin. She is almost always wearing her rose-encrusted armor and wielding her sword, Longthorn, where ever she goes. Her half-celestial horse, Devotion, is also a close companion of hers that is almost always nearby. As the empyreal lord of chivarlric romance Sapphros is true romantic at heart and encourages all her worshipers to be committed to bravely perusing the object of their affections. That said, Sapphros, like most archons, believes that not everything is necessarily fair game when it comes to love and demands that her followers stand by her chilvaric code of romantic conduct to ensure that love doesn't not turn into selfish obsession or toxic self-destruction. It goes without saying that rape, emotional manipulation, infidelity, stalking, refusing to take no for an answer and knowingly stringing someone along for your own ego are big crimes against love in Sapphros' mind. On a lighter note, Sapphros is a bombastic, sanguine and openly emotional figure who unabashedly has tried to romance several female goddesses and empyreal lords. She's serenaded Shelyn, won a tournament in Falayna's honor, defeated a spawn of Ghlaunder for Desna while on a quest, and even tried to make Pharasma laugh. While she hasn't found the One yet, she tells herself, and her followers, that love is never hopeless.
Sapphros despises Socothbenoth and Nocticula as monsters who degrade love and passion with their vulgar and selfish habits, and has tried to redeem them, and after that failed horribly, destroy them. The same goes for the Ardad Lili, who she sees a traitor to Heaven and everything she stands for. Her relationship with Disapter is a complicated given that while he is a Archdevil, and thus an enemy, he does genuinely seem to believe in courtly love. While Naderi may not be evil like all her other enemies, Sapphros considers Naderi dangerous nevertheless and has even tried to capture the Lost Maiden and bring her to Heaven for judgement. Sapphros has even ordered her followers and archon servants to track down and destroy all religious symbols and texts related to Naderi. Why Sapphros has such animosity for Naderi hasn't been revealed but many believe that is result of Naderi or her worshipers convincing two star-crossed worshipers of Sapphros to commit suicide to escape some kind of persecution. Other, more sensationalist theorists, think it is the result of some unresolved romantic tension and feelings of betrayal from when Sapphros and Naderi were both servants in Shelyn's court.
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Ooh, a patron of courtly love, very cool!
It occurs to me that I never got around to coming up with a Garuda Empyreal, so here then is that;
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Deimvari Garuda Empyreal Lord of Freedom, Travel and the Night Sky
CG patron of explorers, smugglers and free folk
Symbol – A black wing eclipsing the moon, Weapon – Javelin
Colors – Black, Animal – Roc (or Eagle, Hawk or Falcon)
Chaos, Good, Liberation, Travel (optional Animal, Darkness, Weather)
As a normal garuda is to an eagle, so Deimvari is to a roc, manifesting as a colossal black-winged roc with features of both an avian and a beautiful woman to her face. She is able to dislodge her feathers to rain down like razored obsidian spears on those who draw her ire, or threaten her passengers, who are often gods, or their most respected servants, who Deimvari ferries between the planes as effortlessly as a mortal bird takes to the sky. No planar extremes of environment so much as ruffle Deimvari’s feathers, nor are her passengers in danger, so long as they remain in the basket she carries in her talons. (Nobody but certain gods get to ride her like a mount...)
Deimvari recognizes no boundaries or limits to her travels, and is outraged by any attempt to bar her passage or restrain her movements in any way, considering such things the greatest of insults, which she repays with violence and powerful curses of wanderlust that cause those who have provoked her to be unable to sleep in a place within a half-days’ travel two nights in a row, and unable to celebrate a birthday in the same county (or even country, for those who truly irk her) twice without suffering the ravages of sudden aging.
Her followers wear a black feather on their person, except when they must conceal their identities, in which case they may still have a concealed tattoo of a black feather out of sight, to mark their faith. They are inclined to serve as messengers, ship’s navigators, explorers and abolitionists, ferrying information or passengers across great distances, and, when the borders are less friendly, engaging in smuggling, as necessary, particularly when the ‘good’ being smuggled is people, as they do not appreciate attempts to use their talent for crossing borders unnoticed to smuggle contraband such as drugs or weapons. She has a special fondness for the Bellflower Network, and while she does not directly intervene, some of her followers; human, elven, halfling and giant eagle alike, have been known to do so.
She is, oddly, a figure of dread omen among the Strix, who make gestures against evil and spit on the ground reflexively at the mention of her name...
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So I just got Book of the Damned, and there was yet another fiendish / evil patron of body piercings, and I remembered that I wanted to have a Empyreal patron who was fine with body piercings and tattooing and all that jazz, without being quite as bloody and martyr-y as Vildeis.
But then I realized I'd kind of already done a patron of body modification, without even realizing it, and decided to re-work / flesh out Epiphaedriel instead of just randomly creating an 'Angel of Lip Rings' or whatever.
So here's the new version;
Epiphaedriel Angel of Purification, Self-Perfection and Transformation
NG patron of alchemy, personal growth and the forge
Symbol – Potion poured over a blade, Weapon – Longsword
Colors – Gold, Animal – Toad
Artifice, Good, Healing, Strength
Epiphaedriel has skin of metallic gold inscribed deeply with curving patterns in copper-red orichalum and gleaming blue-silver mithril. Many rings and studs of black adamantine, and other skymetals besides, pierce their golden flesh, but always in a way as to accentuate the gleaming runic patterns carved into their flesh. Tall and broad-shouldered, but with a child-like face, glowing azure eyes wide with wonder, the angel wears a simple tunic and skirt of shimmering silver-white cloth, and a broad blue-silver scaled leather belt that bears an assortment of workman’s tools and implements of diverse kinds.
In one hand, the angel bears a slender longsword of gleaming silver-etched blue steel, and in the other hand a glass beaker containing a rainbow-colored fluid, rumored to act as any potion or elixir the angel desires. A smith’s hammer is slung across their back, between wings that resemble panes of stained glass from some gothic cathedral, but this hammer is a tool of creation and never used as a weapon. When stirred to anger, this form dissolves into a whirlwind of fire that remains capable of casting spells or striking with their blade, which dances independently of them while in this form, in addition to sweeping through foes like the fiery elemental maelstrom they have become.
Epiphaedriel is a popular patron among dwarves, who represent the angel with a crafted beard-like ornament over their lower face of copper, silver and gold. The angel’s devoted are easily recognized by their fascination with ‘body augmentation,’ ranging from ornate runic blue tattoos, but sometimes inlaid with metallic inks (usually gold), to piercings of gold, silver and copper. Piercings of metals like adamantine, favored by the angel, are seen as hubristic and shunned. Followers of Epiphaedriel can be found in some port cities, or areas where conflict brews, as they often have useful skills of both artifice and healing, and the intersection of those two arts, in the crafting of replacement limbs. A ship’s mate with an artificial hand crafted by a follower of the Purifying Flame will have no simple hook, but a finely-smithed replacement capable of limited gripping, of gleaming metal inscribed with inspiring phrases in the celestial tongue. Similarly, a crusader to the demon-haunted Worldwound who has their shield or sword-mark embellished with a tattoo by such a devotee will display that illuminated metallic golden mark with pride, surrounded by similar passages in Celestial.
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The Leopard Angel The shadow behind the throne
NG patron of masks, rulership and revolution
Symbol – Leopard face silhouetted by shadows of eagles wings
Favored Weapon – Short sword (called 'the long knife')
Colors – Leopard print, Animal – Leopard
Domains - Animal, Good, Nobility, Trickery
An angelic empyreal worshipped in the Mwangi Expanse, the Leopard Angel's followers sometimes serve as gadflies and 'sacred clowns' who serve to humble arrogant rulers who forget their place and oppress their people. The Leopard Angel also serves as a patron for stealthy lightly-armored or highly mobile hunters and warriors, and those who fight alongside animal companions, trained animals, or even those who just use animalistic fighting styles or tactics, or emulate a totem / spirit-animal (particularly the leopard, but also the snake and eagle).
Popular among catfolk, as well as humans of the Mwangi Expanse, the Leopard Angel has no publically known name, being known only by his (or her) title (although ‘secret names’ are known among his clergy, with different groups ‘holding the secret’ of different ‘secret names’ for their god, which is not a source of conflict as all agree that ‘god has many names’ and some believe that others have not been entrusted with the ‘real secret name…’). Men who serve in his secret ‘lodges’ are more likely to be paladins, rangers, hunters, inquisitors and warpriests (with rangers and inquisitors the most common) while masked women often serve to guide, direct and advise the warriors as clerics, adepts, shamen and oracles (with adepts, shamen and nature oracles more common than clerics), but these roles are not cast in stone, and some of the Leopard Angel’s masked avengers are women, while others of the masked clergy are men. Unlike many angels, the Leopard Angel is referred to by gendered terms, but the gender always matches that of the speaker, as the angel is seen as a being internal to each of his (or her) followers, and not an incarnate entity.
Agents of the Leopard Angel go masked, or operate in secret, often functioning similarly to vigilantes, and the god is never fully represented in artwork, shown in shadow, or as a snarling leopard’s head flanked by the shadow of eagles’ wings. Warriors masks are generally in the form of a snarling leopard’s head, and usually including a trailing leopard skin hide as cloak, or even a full helmet made from (or in the style of) a great cat’s skull, while the guiding clergy have similar leopard masks, less fierce in aspect, decorated with ‘manes,’ and sometimes even full cloaks of feathers. While the leopard is the sacred animal of the Leopard Angel, only black leopards are treated with any special reference, and the more common spotted leopards are hunted for their hides and bones, which are used in ceremonial vestments, and their meat and blood, which is consumed in sacred rites. Due to the relative scarcity of the big cats in question, leopard hide vestments are maintained magically by the priestly caste, often being handed down over multiple generations.
Regarding silence as both a sign of wisdom and respectful attention to the matters at hand, followers of the Leopard Angel speak when it is important to do so, regarding remaining silent in the face of wrongdoing to be treasonous and cowardly of spirit, but are notable for their dislike of 'chit-chat' or 'empty words.' "Listen first, consider wisely, only then respond. Like the leopard, choose your moment, do not act in haste, or speak only to fill a silence."