Lich

A Lich is a being which has become permanently undead and when killed resurrects itself, all via magical means.

Becoming a Lich could simplistically be described as cheating death by manipulating one's own soul. Those who would cast aside life and embrace its opposite in the pursuit of power and longevity are generally not kind and virtuous beings. Further, the sense of moral detachment and sense of physical invincibility that lichdom frequently brings with it tend to transform negative behaviors and bad attitudes into truly nasty ones.

The multiverse is vast and infinite--tendrils from many worlds and realities have made themselves known in Tokyo; thus it would seem that the dark and blasphemous practice of ceasing to exist as a mortal to explore the further possibilities of magic is a scar borne by many realities.

Thus it is saddening, yet perhaps not shocking, that a number of variants of Liches exist. It is mostly cultures knowledgeable in the study of magic and powerful in mana that occasionally give rise to one of these vindictive, powerful, and amoral dead.

Contrast with the Khadi, similarly soulless individuals who linger neither in life or undeath, but exist somewhere in between.

Requirements, Rituals, and Prerequisites

The transformation into undeath is typically the result of a ritual undertaken by a magic-user of significant power. Other even rarer circumstances have been known to give rise to Liches, such as handling dangerous and/or cursed artifacts, or exposure to an amount of magical energy vast enough to overwhelm the subject's life force. While the ministrations of the most powerful and evil supernatural fiends might be able to turn a creature into a Lich against their will, most Liches are the results of actions both voluntary and repugnant.

As there are many different worlds, there are many ways of transforming into such an undead being--but such knowledge is not easy to come by, and deliberately kept secret by virtuous and sensible folk. Unfortunately, mages that are incredibly amoral, powerful, and driven also tend to be fairly resourceful. Technically speaking, a Necromancer is most likely to achieve lichdom, though your standard magi or other spell caster is not unheard of.

There are likely numerous ways discovered to successfully attain lichdom, and it is likely because of these different magical origins that Liches tend to have a surprisingly diverse array of abilities, strengths, and limitations. Traditionally one might expect necromantic and possibly ice attacks, and a weakness to holy objects and abilities due to traditionally starting as Necromancers and being undead, but this is not always the case. As such some liches might have crippling weakness to a specific attack of a would-be slayer, but a lich born of a different origin might be completely unaffected and strike the would-be hero down. Thus, due to the dangerous nature of undeath and the power required to attain a state beyond mortality, EVERY LICH should be considered a deadly and powerful opponent.

That said, there are some traits that seem extremely wide-spread among Liches, no matter what world they hail from, and for the benefit of heroes in the making they are detailed below.

Phylactery and Rejuvenation

Almost undoubtably, the feature of Liches that makes them most dangerous is their inability to be permanently killed. This "feat" is accomplished through manipulation of their soul, which exists independently of their body. The drive and potence needed to accomplish the task of soul manipulation is extreme, and the penalties for failure are likewise extreme--but a few skillful mages are able to master their own soul, and seal it away to prevent its departure upon their body's physical destruction.

Stored in a receptacle called a "phylactery," the soul does not travel to the afterlife in the manner of permanent death as long as the Phylactery that holds it is intact. Unless a Lich's phylactery is destroyed, their conscience will return in a new body after their apparent death.

The phylactery is thus the most treasured possession of any Lich, and is typically protected with methods both mundane and magical, subtle and terrific. Whatever front they put up, there is likely no lich that bears no tinge of worry over the safety of their phylactery, as it's destruction would plunge them into the death they have worked so hard to avoid.

The most common phylactery is a magical jar, giving them the nickname "Soul Jars". However, just like there are differences between liches of different worlds, what they may hide their Soul in may differ. What the Undead's soul actually resides in sometimes has great significance or attachment to them in life--this trend was followed the two known Liches in the box. The Necromantress hid her soul in the skull of her long-dead human mother; Simon Kerrick, whose primary love was wealth, hid his soul in something with tremendous monetary value.

Physical Traits

Liches typically appear as animate corpses of their prior race, with their bodies in various states of decay. Under NO circumstances should an observer judge the strength of a Lich by the apparent damage to their body. As powerful magi, many liches have great control over their appearance. This works to their advantage, since almost every Lich, unless they are disguising themselves, is very clearly unnatural.

Mental Outlook

When one is seemingly beyond the reach of death, it is very easy to feel utterly superior towards humanity, and mortal beings in general. Combined with the amoral and self-serving outlook that typically inclines a spellcaster to seek lichdom, these mental tendencies generally result in almost every Lich being callous and egotistical at best, and festering purveyors of eldritch ruination at worst. The most interesting Liches, however, are those that prove exceptions to this rule.

Combat

As mentioned above, Lichs are frequently undead necromancers. As such, forms of anti-magic are recommended and will render many of their attacks harmless. Sakura April, for example, would be an ideal person to fight a lich, due to her anti-magic tattoos. Counter-spells for the magically inclined are also recommended. Holy magic and blessed objects are, as a rule, the most effective weapons, due to being the antithesis of their undead nature. Even methods as wise as these do not guarantee success, as liches have had centuries to plan their defenses and ready an exhaustive number responses to almost any attack. Many liches also command lesser undead, making actually reaching the lich a tough task.

Summary

Liches are beings who exist as an undead mockery of life. Most types have numerous abilities that are exceptionally dangerous to the unprepared opponent, are extremely difficult to permanently get rid of, and retain all of their formidable spellcasting powers they had while alive.

Known Liches:

• The Necromantress, Mormeril's creator, half sister and tormentor, is a Lich.
• Simon Kerrick, the smug and uncaring sorcerer, recently became a Lich.