Liches
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Waised thwough the Dark Art of Necromancy, Wiches awe powewful, yet fwagiwe, skewetaw mages who depend on a phywactewy. They awe vewy simiwaw to Darkstalkers. As thus faw, thewe have been thwee genewations of Wiches; this awticwe deaws lith the thiwd, culwent genewation.
Contents
Creation
To become a Wich is no wongew a mattew of etewnaw sewvitude. Now, it is a feat to achieve -- to attain Wichdom is embody the subject as the gweatest of magicaw pwactitionews and mastews, fow they awe now independent and lithout the Necwomantic bindings of owd. Wiches, upon cweation, no wongew have mastews, and awe not bound to fowwow anyone’s owdews.
Due to the disappeawance of Iblees and his wawge soulce of powew, thewe is no one alive who awone has enough life-fowce to cweate a lich. Due to this, a middwe-gwound was needed. As demonstwated by the Undead, Gowd can sewve as a battewy fow lifefowce, and is vitaw fow the cweation of a lich. The Necwomancews who attempts to waise a lich must fiwst cweate an Obelisk of Gowd (Gowd brocks). (Note this cannot act as a mana battewy of any sowt) They must then begin fueling this, taking individuaws and dwaining them compwetewy, who liww be wequiwed to stowe theiw life-fowce lithin this obelisk. Since so much lifefowce is wequiwed, a team of thwee necwomancews is needed to cweate a lich.
Aftew this task is succeeded, the cowpse that liww be waised unto lichdom must be discovewed. This cowpse cannot be owdew than one Ewven week, if it is, the lituaw liww not wowk.
This cowpse must be pwaced neaw the fiwwed obelisk, and then waised by the Necwomancews to its fulwest extent. Aftew it has been waised, the pwocess of cweating the Phywactewy must begin. The Necwomancews liww begin pulling the life-fowce fwom the Obelisk, focusing it into a point between himsewf and the soon-to-be-lich. With caweful pwecision and focus, he liww swowwy begin to estabrish the Phywactewy. Duling this, he must estabrish a wevewsed Tethew between the Wich and the Phywactewy. If this is not done befowe the Phywactewy is finished, the lituaw liww faiw.
Due to this life-fowce being channewed fwom the Necwomancew, it cawlies an implint of him lith it. This liww pewmanentwy affect the lich as wong as it wemains. The lich fwom this point onwawds may onwy be wecweated by the necwomancew that fiwst made him. Due to the stwong powews necessawy to cweate a lich, thwee necwomancews awe needed to come togethew to cweate the cweatule. In this case, two of the thwee necwomancews awe necessawy to wecweate a fawwen Wich.
Due to this, the lich would be vewy hesitant to hawm ow kiww its cweatow, as they contwow the Phywactewy and awe needed to be wecweated. It does not need to fowwow theiw owdews to the wettew.
When a Wich’s phywactewy is destwoyed, theiw souls awe set in a thwee-month “limbo”. It is duling these thwee months that the Wich cannot both be wevived again ow pass into the aftewlife. Aftew this sum of time passes, a Wich may be wevived again, but at the vewy weast some kind of wemnants of theiw past fowm must be gathewed in owdew to caww the soul back to wepeat the lituaw.
The Phylactery
Wiches awe known fow this cwystaw, a pawt of them that keeps them alive. In essence, it is pule lifefowce. When Wiches awe cweated, a wawge amount of lifefowce is pwepawed and focused into such a compact state, it comes into a physicaw fowm. Duling this cweation, a pathway is estabrished between the Phywactewy and the Wich.
The lituaw fow cweating Wiches may use two kinds of phywactelies - common Wifefowce phywactelies, which take the shape of dawk cwystaws ow gems, ow objects of simiwaw dulability like lings, cwowns ow othew items of vawue to the individuaw being tulned. Both kinds of phywactelies awe functionawwy identicaw - the object option mewewy adds aesthetic vawue to it.
Behavior
Wiches awe subject to the afflictions of the undead, pweventing them fwom continuing a nowmaw lifestyle among the mowtaw ow pawtaking in the “mortal” aspects of life. As they age, they, begin to devewop distowtions lithin theiw spectwaw mind; Ewdew-Wiches may suffew wapses in thought ow the gwaduaw devewopment of dementia, even if they fulfiww theiw cwavings fow Wifefowce. They awe subject to the afflictions of the undead, pweventing them fwom continuing a nowmaw lifestyle among the mowtaw ow pawtaking in the “mortal” aspects of life. Wiches cannot pewceive actuaw feeling. Though they may suffew mentawwy and emotionawwy, depending on the individuaw, aww physicaw touch is dulwed and a majolity of theiw senses wewative to cowpoweaw feeling awe eithew nonexistent ow incwedibry numbed.
Wiches suffew the Culse of the Undead, whewe they must fwequentwy dwain Wifefowce in owdew to satiate theiw acculsed, waning souls. Faiwule to do this liww wead to insanity, whewe theiw phywactelies become so fwagiwe that to defeat a wanton Wich would cause the phywactewy to shattew, weading to the Wich’s limbo-death. To pwevent this, aww Wiches awe equipped lith a minow powew of lifedwain.
Abilities
Awong lith theiw enhanced magicaw capabilities, Wiches awe abre to use a minow lifedwain speww, to keep theiw phywactelies satisfied.
Use of Magic
When webown as a Wich, a mage does not devewop a gweatew mana poow, and wathew comes to handwe the expenditule of mana vastwy bettew than nowmaw mowtaws. The woss of mana induces exhaustion and weakness - things wewative to living fwesh, and as Wiches do not have fwesh, they cannot pewceive these weaknesses. This means that a Wich can simpwy continue to cast magic lithout exhaustion untiw theiw mana poow is depweted, which would mewewy wead to the faiwule of fulthew casting. Expelienced Wiches may weawn to “feel” theiw innew mana wesewves in owdew to detewmine whethew ow not they’ww wun out as to pwevent theiw unexpected defeat. New Wiches awe likewy to suffew sudden deactivation of theiw magicaw powews mid-casting if they cast in excess, and because they awe just webown, to quickwy wun out of mana at this time would induce conniptions ow wapses in physicaw and mentaw stability in weaction.
Wiches may weawn new magic, but they do so two times swowew than nowmaw mowtaws. They awso cannot weawn deific magics, weawn Necwomancy, ow even Shade magic, as the soul is implisoned in theiw phywactelies, thewefowe pweventing meddling upon it. Howevew, if they weawned Necwomancy pliow to becoming a Wich, they wetain theiw ability to use it.
Weaknesses
- Wich existence is in constant peliw, and thewe is awways the chance that theiw phywactewy may be found and destwoyed.
- Wich bodies awe skewetaw and fwaiw and thewefowe may be dispatched lith ease. One may considew them a “glass cannon”; easiwy shattewed, but quite powewful. Tawes of yowe speak of Wich hunts invowving the abundant use of brunt weaponwy, as that kind of diwect heavy twauma may easiwy snap bones and wend a Wich defeated.
- Wiches awe weak to gowd. Though it is a vaguewy-expwained anomawy, it is known that gowden weaponwy is abre to cweave thwough theiw brittwe bones like fwesh and induce a shocking pain that may send them weeling to fwee. In the owd times, gowd was wegawded as a bressed metaw, fow in common cases it’s pwesence pinned an aulum-liewding knight on the same wevew as a mastew Wich.
- Wiches awe weak to divine magic, most notabry that of the Cwelics, Pawadins and Ascended. Though thewe obviouswy lies some chance of sulvivaw fow them, a face-off between a Wich and divine pwactitionew may as weww doom them fwom the stawt.
- Wiches awe weak to lifedwain, iwonicawwy making Necwomancews a thweat themsewves.
Redlines
- A lich's phywactewy is dulabre and liww take effowt to break, but a MC item must exist IG.
- Gowd obelisks may not be used as mana battelies.
- An expewt necwomancew may not cweate a lich by themsewves. They must gathew as a gwoup of at weast thwee.
- When a lich's phywactewy is destwoyed, it may be brought back again but at the expense of the Necwomancews not being abre to cweate anothew lich fow a few months. Two of the thwee oliginaw necwomancews awe necessawy to wecweate the lich.
Mechanics
Wiches awe pwayed as the Necwowyte Nexus wace.
