Broken Cycle Solarian (Solarian Alternate Class Feature)
(art by Yihan Dong on Artstation)
If you’re familiar at all with Starfinder, you probably know that the philosophy of solarians is defined by the duality of the forces of stars, the endlessly expelling energies of the photon and the consuming grasp of the graviton. Gravity and light. And the class rewards you for alternating the exploration of both so that you don’t fall out of alignment and weaken yourself.
But as thematic as these two aspects are, the supposed duality of them is ultimately an arbitrary one, as is the assumption that there needs to be a duality at all. After all, plenty of magical and mystical disciplines have focused on singular energies before to no detriment.
So naturally, there would be some sects of the solarian discipline, either true renegades of the wider galactic society’s sects or unrelated independent disciplines that arose without the assumptions of the kasatha-born belief system. These groups believe in focusing on a single aspect, becoming radiant warriors of light or imposing powerhouses whose passing cannot be ignored.
To some mainstream sects, these breakers of the cycle, might be anything from strange fringe teachings that have something to offer, or they might be seen as heretics actively damaging the tradition, to be denied at every turn.
What even these detractors cannot deny, however, is their total mastery of their chosen aspect.
In exchange for only being able to use either graviton or photon modes, these warriors gain greater passive benefits from achieving those states, Additionally, they improve the sidereal influence of the various skills associated with their chosen mode, eventually improving all five skills at once. Finally, they learn even more revelations and zenith revelations as they grow in mastery, mastering nearly every power that their chosen aspect has to offer.
A fairly simple archetype that opens up some different builds that just aren’t feasible with the vanilla solarian. Just remember that by focusing on one mode you give up some of the flexibility of the class. If you want all high damage or all control though, this option might appeal to you.
I have to imagine that for their part, broken cycle solarians believe themselves to be pure examples of their aspect made manifest. Some might view the other aspect as lesser, or they may simply find value in either exemplifying one aspect for it’s own sake.
Nearly a continent wide, the Blightmark is a foul swampy region on the planet Yedus that suffers under some form of fiendish corruption that grows every day. It is said that only one who embraces the light of the sun completely could destroy the source of the blight and bring warmth back to the planet. Certainly the science colony would be grateful.
Like a physics-defying anthill, the formian colony of Hivesphere is build around and in a mass of rock and earth that has unnaturally high gravity for it’s size. If the ant-folk have figured out exactly how or why the planetoid generates this force, they have not shared this information, but the fact several of their guardians channel powerful gravitational abilities in it’s defense shows they are studying and implementing it’s power.
When delving into the icy rings of Mestro, comet wasps are some of the least of explorer’s worries, but rumors persist of twin schools of light and dark, photon and gravity that see each other as two sides of the same coin, but also great rivals.