Liches
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Raised through the Dark Art of Necromancy, Liches are powerful, yet fragile, skeletal mages who depend on a phylactery. They are very similar to Darkstalkers. As thus far, there have been three generations of Liches; this article deals with the third, current generation.
Contents
Creation
To become a Lich is no longer a matter of eternal servitude. Now, it is a feat to achieve—to attain Lichdom is embody the subject as the greatest of magical practitioners and masters, for they are now independent and without the Necromantic bindings of old. Liches, upon creation, no longer have masters, and are not bound to follow anyone’s orders.
Due to the disappearance of Iblees and his large source of power, there is no one alive who alone has enough life-force to create a lich. Due to this, a middle-ground was needed. As demonstrated by the Undead, Gold can serve as a battery for lifeforce, and is vital for the creation of a lich. The Necromancers who attempts to raise a lich must first create an Obelisk of Gold (Gold blocks). (Note this cannot act as a mana battery of any sort) They must then begin fueling this, taking individuals and draining them completely, who will be required to store their life-force within this obelisk. Since so much lifeforce is required, a team of three necromancers is needed to create a lich.
After this task is succeeded, the corpse that will be raised unto lichdom must be discovered. This corpse cannot be older than one Elven week, if it is, the ritual will not work.
This corpse must be placed near the filled obelisk, and then raised by the Necromancers to its fullest extent. After it has been raised, the process of creating the Phylactery must begin. The Necromancers will begin pulling the life-force from the Obelisk, focusing it into a point between himself and the soon-to-be-lich. With careful precision and focus, he will slowly begin to establish the Phylactery. During this, he must establish a reversed Tether between the Lich and the Phylactery. If this is not done before the Phylactery is finished, the ritual will fail.
Due to this life-force being channeled from the Necromancer, it carries an imprint of him with it. This will permanently affect the lich as long as it remains. The lich from this point onwards may only be recreated by the necromancer that first made him. Due to the strong powers necessary to create a lich, three necromancers are needed to come together to create the creature. In this case, two of the three necromancers are necessary to recreate a fallen Lich.
Due to this, the lich would be very hesitant to harm or kill its creator, as they control the Phylactery and are needed to be recreated. It does not need to follow their orders to the letter.
When a Lich’s phylactery is destroyed, their souls are set in a three-month “limbo”. It is during these three months that the Lich cannot both be revived again or pass into the afterlife. After this sum of time passes, a Lich may be revived again, but at the very least some kind of remnants of their past form must be gathered in order to call the soul back to repeat the ritual.
The Phylactery
Liches are known for this crystal, a part of them that keeps them alive. In essence, it is pure lifeforce. When Liches are created, a large amount of lifeforce is prepared and focused into such a compact state, it comes into a physical form. During this creation, a pathway is established between the Phylactery and the Lich.
The ritual for creating Liches may use two kinds of phylacteries - common Lifeforce phylacteries, which take the shape of dark crystals or gems, or objects of similar durability like rings, crowns or other items of value to the individual being turned. Both kinds of phylacteries are functionally identical - the object option merely adds aesthetic value to it.
Behavior
Liches are subject to the afflictions of the undead, preventing them from continuing a normal lifestyle among the mortal or partaking in the “mortal” aspects of life. As they age, they, begin to develop distortions within their spectral mind; Elder-Liches may suffer lapses in thought or the gradual development of dementia, even if they fulfill their cravings for Lifeforce. They are subject to the afflictions of the undead, preventing them from continuing a normal lifestyle among the mortal or partaking in the “mortal” aspects of life. Liches cannot perceive actual feeling. Though they may suffer mentally and emotionally, depending on the individual, all physical touch is dulled and a majority of their senses relative to corporeal feeling are either nonexistent or incredibly numbed.
Liches suffer the Curse of the Undead, where they must frequently drain Lifeforce in order to satiate their accursed, waning souls. Failure to do this will lead to insanity, where their phylacteries become so fragile that to defeat a wanton Lich would cause the phylactery to shatter, leading to the Lich’s limbo-death. To prevent this, all Liches are equipped with a minor power of lifedrain.
Abilities
Along with their enhanced magical capabilities, Liches are able to use a minor lifedrain spell, to keep their phylacteries satisfied.
Use of Magic
When reborn as a Lich, a mage does not develop a greater mana pool, and rather comes to handle the expenditure of mana vastly better than normal mortals. The loss of mana induces exhaustion and weakness - things relative to living flesh, and as Liches do not have flesh, they cannot perceive these weaknesses. This means that a Lich can simply continue to cast magic without exhaustion until their mana pool is depleted, which would merely lead to the failure of further casting. Experienced Liches may learn to “feel” their inner mana reserves in order to determine whether or not they’ll run out as to prevent their unexpected defeat. New Liches are likely to suffer sudden deactivation of their magical powers mid-casting if they cast in excess, and because they are just reborn, to quickly run out of mana at this time would induce conniptions or lapses in physical and mental stability in reaction.
Liches may learn new magic, but they do so two times slower than normal mortals. They also cannot learn deific magics, learn Necromancy, or even Shade magic, as the soul is imprisoned in their phylacteries, therefore preventing meddling upon it. However, if they learned Necromancy prior to becoming a Lich, they retain their ability to use it.
Weaknesses
- Lich existence is in constant peril, and there is always the chance that their phylactery may be found and destroyed.
- Lich bodies are skeletal and frail and therefore may be dispatched with ease. One may consider them a “glass cannon”; easily shattered, but quite powerful. Tales of yore speak of Lich hunts involving the abundant use of blunt weaponry, as that kind of direct heavy trauma may easily snap bones and rend a Lich defeated.
- Liches are weak to gold. Though it is a vaguely-explained anomaly, it is known that golden weaponry is able to cleave through their brittle bones like flesh and induce a shocking pain that may send them reeling to flee. In the old times, gold was regarded as a blessed metal, for in common cases it’s presence pinned an aurum-wielding knight on the same level as a master Lich.
- Liches are weak to divine magic, most notably that of the Clerics, Paladins and Ascended. Though there obviously lies some chance of survival for them, a face-off between a Lich and divine practitioner may as well doom them from the start.
- Liches are weak to lifedrain, ironically making Necromancers a threat themselves.
Redlines
- A lich's phylactery is durable and will take effort to break, but a MC item must exist IG.
- Gold obelisks may not be used as mana batteries.
- An expert necromancer may not create a lich by themselves. They must gather as a group of at least three.
- When a lich's phylactery is destroyed, it may be brought back again but at the expense of the Necromancers not being able to create another lich for a few months. Two of the three original necromancers are necessary to recreate the lich.
Mechanics
Liches are played as the Necrolyte Nexus race.
