Star Power

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Related to Lunacy and The Power of the Sun, Star Power is magic fueled by, of course, the stars.

Generally comes in one of two forms, "Classical" and "Lovecraftian". "Classical" star power, derived from the traditional use of the stars and the motions of the planets to predict the future, is concerned primarily with fate and divination. "Lovecraftian" star power takes its cues from H.P. Lovecraft (of course) and evokes the unfathomable otherness and distance of the stars and whatever inhabitants they may have.

Causing meteors to fall from the sky to strike your opponents is not out of the question for either type. On the opposite side of the scale, this may extend itself to power that comes from galaxies or even the entire frakken universe (well, the stars in them at least).

Often the reasoning behind using something made of Thunderbolt Iron. If the person who uses Star Power is actually made of stars, see Celestial Body.

For related 'space' powers, see Gravity Master and Reality Warper. Not to be confused with that other Star Power.

Examples of Star Power include:


Anime and Manga

  • Saint Seiya is built on this early on, with both heroes and villains taking their powers from a constellation (From Pegasus Seiya to Gemini Saga). Later enemies had other sources for their powers, though.
  • In Cardcaptor Sakura, the whole second series was about her having to transfer the Clow Cards from their old energy source (The Sun and the Moon, which her predecessor used) over to her power source - the power of her star.
  • Pamoon, one of the Millennium Mamodos from Zatch Bell, has spells revolved around this.
  • The Sailor Stars from Sailor Moon.
  • In the manga version of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX , all of the monster cards Kaiser uses are named after stars, specifically stars in the constellation Orion.

Comics

  • The DCU has had several characters powered by the stars, in about the same way Superman is powered by the Sun: Starman (in the golden age), Hawkman (at some period in silver/bronze age), and Dr. Regulus (LSH villain).
  • In a Hellboy / Batman / Starman crossover comic, a group of neo-Nazis build a machine to collect power from the stars in order to awaken an Eldritch Abomination.

Tabletop Games

  • One type of warlock in Dungeons & Dragons fourth edition is the Star Pact warlock, which gains its powers by making a pact with an Eldritch Abomination that lives among the stars.
    • And conceptually at least, the Master of the Starry Night paragon path from the Arcane Power supplement is all about cutting out the eldritch abomination middleman in favor of discovering and harnessing the presumably more natural power of the stars themselves.
    • In the Greyhawk setting, Celestian is the deity of space and the stars. He has a number of space/star related powers, including Aurora Borealis, Comet, Meteors, Space Chill and Starshine.
  • One of the eight magic schools in Warhammer Fantasy is the Classical (fate plus meteors) type.
  • The Sidereal Exalted get a variant on this, especially in the form of Astrology, where they can weave alternate fates that grant them benefits to certain tasks based on the constellation they're using.

Video Games

  • The "Astral" magic of Dominions. Among the heaviest users of Astral magic is the Illithids of R'lyeh.
  • Olan/Orran from Final Fantasy Tactics, whose class is "Astrologist" and whose only skill prevents most enemies from acting.
  • Star Ocean the Second Story, among its overload of elements, had "Star" as distinct from both "Light" and "Vacuum" (which itself was distinct from "Void"). Most of the Star-elemental spells were cast by Celine.
  • In Touhou, Marisa Kirisame uses spells themed around stars (and to a lesser extent, galaxies, comets, and so on). Likewise for Mima (who is widely assumed to be Marisa's teacher). And the fairy Star Sapphire is literally powered by starlight, as well as having a star-based spellcard theme.
  • The Starburst spell from the Might and Magic series.
  • Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario have the star spirits, which is basically the same thing.
    • Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 both have you collecting stars to have the ship/observatory you're on become powerful enough to go to new areas.
    • Star Power is also revealed to be the source of Mario and Luigi's abilities in Yoshis Island DS.
  • Star Man from Mega Man 5. He was followed by Astro Man in 8 (as well as Mega Man & Bass).
    • Ironically, Bob and George literally gave Star Man Star Power; during the First Annual Robot Tournament (the events of Mega Man 6), Star Man could only be intimidated by a more popular Robot Master (i.e. Shadow Man) and he was only defeated during the retelling of 5 when Ran threatened him with the taint of Communism.
  • Disgaea has "star magic" and mages as its most powerful offensive spell element.
  • Otani Yoshitsugu from Sengoku Basara is astrology-obsessed (his title is "Sky Watcher") and believes in a red comet that is a harbinger of human misery and that he will invoke it. All his powers are astrology-themed, named after constellations, stars, planets, or mythological beings associated with stars.

Web Comics

Western Animation

Other

  • In Bionicle, the Toa Inika were transformed via a bolt of energy from the Red Star. "Inika" means "energies of a star" in their language.
  • Appearently, stars fall under Metal in the Wuxing system.
  • Lucifer means "Morning Star".