Arch Lich Lore

Shortly after the Founding War, the practice of mortal magic was still a young art shrouded in darkness. While individuals like the Low King had reached the pinnacle of arcane power, the knowledge of the founders had been lost in the war or hidden by the founders themselves.

In the world that came after, the early Mages struggled to learn on their own, having no archives of arcane knowledge to learn from. Each was alone, having at best a few equally inexperienced peers or scraps from the founders to aid them.

In this time, even the discoveries of successful Mages would be lost with them, others doomed to repeat their mistakes. Such a dark time for the arcane arts was the environment that produced the first lichs.

The early Mages that studied the antimus that formed Shades learned how to use it to attached souls to bodies without the need for bodily functions, allowing them to create the first undead. These first necromancers created artificial facsimiles of Shades to serve them or return a form if life to their loved ones, but soon the most ambitious realized the inherent potential of unlife.

While many were content to become relatively mundane undead, the most ambitious saw something greater in the versatility of antimus. They sought not only to rid themselves of the limitations of a living body, but free themselves from mortality itself. In their hubris, they devised a way to construct a soul tether that would connect their soul to the world even when their body was utterly destroyed.

With the addition of antimus to let their tethered soul animate a dead body, they would become unable to die as long as their tether remained. Such an idea came to many an early necromancer, those who did not chance upon it themselves often finding allusions to the concept in the notes of others.

Individually, many attempted a variation on the procedure needed to gain such an effect, and some partially succeeded. The lichs came to be, undead made unkillable by items connecting them to the world.

These early lichs were often pitiful things, riddled with mistakes and flaws that left them both more and less than mortal. They were often outcast by their kin, sacrificing their mortal connections and pleasures for freedom from mortality.

However, as the ages passed and civilization developed, the study of the arcane grew more organized. Guilds and universities of Mages where founded in now stable nations, bringing the study of magic from the dark into the light. As knowledge became shared and research became a well documented process, the necromantic arts were drawn into the light of day.

While many necromancers still wished to remain isolated, those who joined or learned in arcane schools began to realize how poorly understood the process of lichdom was. In face of the social stigma of such studies, many skilled necromancers began collaborating, sharing their findings of the subject.

In time, lichs who saw the potential of such study came forwards, joining the many projects to understand lichdom. From such research, lichdom was slowly and methodically deconstructed, the results being made into an optimized and distributable method to become a superior form of lich.

Removing the redundant methodology and solving the side effects, the method to become an Arch Lich was created.

Society: Having all the advantages of lichdom and none of the historical drawbacks, being an Arch Lich in civilized nations is seen as a mark of prestige. Being an Arch Lich indicates either great arcane skill or the wealth needed to pay a skilled Mage to make one into an Arch Lich. This makes them associated with nobility, although wealth and social status are not universal to all Arch Lichs.

Ecology: The process of becoming an Arch Lich require time, effort, skill and most importantly a careful understanding of the established theory and methodology behind lichdom. In most cases, it is performed by a Mage who wishes for the practical benefits of unlife and protection from death.

In many cases, concerns over mortality are not the result of an adventurous lifestyle, but because many career Mages perform dangerous procedures on a regular bases. Becoming an Arch Lich can allow a researcher to experiment with little concern for their own safety or a Mage employed in hazardous conditions to be immune to such hazards.

While many Arch Lichs are Mages, it is possible for a Mage to perform the procedure on another creature. Nobility and wealthy families will often employ powerful Mages to make all their members into Arch Lichs, effectively making their entire house immortal. This leads to a small population of Arch Lichs with neither arcane skill or great wealth, due to having lost the riches and status that once allowed them to become Arch Lichs.

The process of unliving apotheosis is theoretically simple and functionally complex. A Mage must carefully treat a large sample of animus, altering its properties to encode a specific behavior into the soul it will become. This is the stage most likely to generate flaws, since improperly prepared antimus will result in an improperly formed undead state.

Once the needed antimus is prepared, they must create or acquire a specialized soul trap. This item is similar to those used to trap a creature’s soul in order impede or aid its resurrection. However, this modified form is far more elaborate, capable of allowing the soul tethered to it to still function.

In this way, the Arch Lichs soul is tricked into seeing the tethering item as it’s body, functioning as if in a living body as long as the item remains intact. The Mage must use the antimus to alter their own soul, replacing their mana with antimus and altering it to both recognize their tether as their true body and use their physical body for all its functions.

In this way, an Arch Lich’s soul is kept in a functioning state by the tether, allowing it to restore their body no matter what happens to it. Their unliving nature capitalizes on this, letting them recover from any damage.

Appearance: A properly formed Arch Lich is indistinguishable from their living self, all desirable bodily functions taken over by their soul. They may even have vital signs, although such things are cosmetic choices rather than functional.