Lich

Liches – Keepers of the Self, Thieves of Potential.,

Souls cannot be destroyed. They may be displaced, drained, warped, or molded, but they endure. To become a Lich is to reject the turning of the wheel- to sever the path of death and rebirth through deliberate and unnatural means.

Few liches are openly known to persist after the Draconic Wars. Some vanished into obscurity, wary of judgment amid the chaos. A rare few took sides in the conflict, some to justify the righteousness of their wicked path. Whether known or not, liches endure across Aard- hidden, haunted, and hungering.

A Lich is a powerful mage who has decided that death will not greet them. Their methods for staving off the end vary: from twisted, body-warping wards that hold the soul in place, to arcane rituals of stasis that fool the soul into forgetting time or conjuration rituals that constantly drag the soul back into place, denying their leave. No matter the method to their existence, all liches share three aspects in common:

1- The Severance.

The path begins with the partial severance of soul from flesh. This act- delicate, dangerous, and often imperfect- creates a void. Many scholars argue that rather than a full severance, liches instead alter the nature of the soul’s tether, forging a parasitic bond that preserves the self at great cost. Regardless, the result is the same: a deep hunger is born, not of the body but of the soul. Starved of its natural home, the soul begins to decay.

2- The Phylactery

To survive, the lich anchors their soul within a vessel, known as a Phylactery. This enchanted object can take many forms: a gem, a crown, a preserved organ, an engraved metal tooth, a tome, a fortress. The phylactery houses the soul’s essence, allowing the lich to regenerate from death and delay the soul’s ultimate separation from the mortal coil.

3- The Feeding.

A lich must feed its soul to maintain the tether and stave off decay. This requires the harvesting of other souls, whether incarnated or free-floating. The methods vary:

Some liches trap entire souls within themselves, using their lifespans as slow-burning wicks, only releasing them when they themselves are destroyed.

Others consume small aspects, siphoning away memories, virtues, identities- unraveling the soul like worn thread.

A few 'skin off the top', so to say, speeding up the natural decay of the connection of a living being's soul. Those creatures are made to age more rapidly, the stolen time lapped up by the Lich. This takes careful, costly, and long rituals to perform.

Even if released, souls touched by a lich rarely return whole. They may take decades- or centuries- to reintegrate into the eternal cycle. Some remain like crumpled paper, lost in the Planes.

Liches may justify their acts by targeting evil souls or predatory entities such as fiends, claiming that such beings deserve oblivion or imprisonment. But as no soul can be destroyed, this merely denies redemption. It interrupts the process of judgment, healing, and renewal.

Others feed indiscriminately on the weak, forgotten, or desperate. Rare are those who approach a lich willingly, and rarer still are those who understand the true price. Liches are as varied as any mortal. Some see themselves as holy living libraries of memories, guardians of souls.

Others feed voraciously, justifying their actions with the fact of the soul's indestructibility- they see identity as malleable, morality as a suggestion.

Some even justify Lichdom as a necessary evil, and others may become lost in the mosaic of memories and emotions of the souls that make up their amalgamous self if feeding incorrectly, forever twisted into many and one at once.