Lich



 Liches are former living necromancers, lords over the undead, who have transcended their mortal binds, and freed their minds from any doubt that they are the rightful rulers of Vhuld, scourge of the living, whip of the Stygian Spirits, judge, jury, and executioner. The power that lies in their hands is that of hundreds of thousands of fallen, the arisen damned, that tremble under the terrible, unbreakable will and iron fist of their overlords, and carry out every command wished by them. For a necromancer to become a Lich is to fulfill their eternal quest after immortality that does not defy, but embraces death. However, ascending to such status and power is a feat accomplished only by individuals few and far in between, taking decades and centuries of utmost focus, flawless consolidation of strength, meditation and practice. They cease to exist as a mortal individual, and effectively become a lesser stygian spirit. The ritual of acquiring Lichdom is the most difficult one that a necromancer may learn; it involves extreme self-mutilation ( carving the runes of Librarium Necrois along one’s body with precision ), invoking of the spirit of Azral ( lighting of incenses and sacrifice of a heretic to feed the sacred raven ) and in the end, capturing one’s own resonance within the mutilated body, and ritual suicide within the enchanted circle. Doing so binds the spirit to the physical world as it serves as a conduit for it, an attunement point, should the Lich ever be vanquished, it shall be reborn within the same body. Destruction of the body means that the Lich has no means of reincarnating, and is vulnerable to permanent death. This is why the bodies are some of the most secured relics on Vhuld, kept in pyramid-like structures within the domains of the Lich Lords.