Lich

The most powerful form of undeath is also the most difficult to obtain, Lichdom. Liches possess none of the weaknesses of Vampires and retain not only the immortality and power, but even more, as Liches are the only form of undead to retain their souls, albeit in a roundabout fashion. When a corpse transforms into an undead, be they Wight or Vampire, no matter how close the time between death and revivification is, in the slightest second the soul becomes irrevocably detached from the body.
In Lichdom, the prospective Animati must safely wrench their soul from their body and place it into a magical cage known as a ‘phylactery,’ sustaining their own body with components derived from an obscure ritual few have ever spoken of before inserting an Animatic equation into their own. Retaining their own soul, even detached, allows Liches much more arcane power that other undead lose in their transference between life and undeath, and through the power of their phylactery a new body can be created for them if their old is destroyed. Thus a Lich can only be truly killed if their phylactery and body both are destroyed.
Like Vampires, Liches can retain their human-like appearances, but unlike them their skin rots the further they are from their phylactery, and to a mage’s sight there is no mistaking a Lich from the living without heavy enchantments due to the storm of Animatic Magic that surrounds them. Liches also do not need to prey on the living to sustain their existence, but the act of wrenching the soul from the body leaves them cold, unempathetic and hollow. Even the most well intentioned of Animati slip away from mortality into a shadow of their former self.
Few Animati have attempted Lichdom, and even fewer have succeeded, the secrets of the ritual being a carefully guarded secret. The Animaticon contains only vague notes on Lichdom, not the full process. Those that succeed however are often some of the most powerful mages in the world, with many a mage that had no interest in Animatic Magic prior hastily plumbing into the depths of the process when old age starts knocking.
There are two subgroups of Liches that scholars are familiar with. Vassaliches are Animati that have some knowledge of Lichdom but not enough to go about the process themselves. In desperation, either due to impending doom or fear of mortality, they strike a bargain with a Lich. They are guided through the process of Lichdom the same as any other, however instead of their soul being locked into a phylactery of their own, a Vassalich’s soul is imprisoned within the same phylactery of their master’s. This allows the Vassalich the same immortality as a true Lich, but their existence becomes chained to that of the Lich, as if their master Lich’s phylactery is destroyed, all of the Vassaliches are themselves destroyed as well.
The other subgroup of Lich is the rarest, only two having been known to exist, the Archlich. The Archlich is a Lich that has managed to separate its soul into multiple phylacteries, known as reliquaries, which can range from the size of a pebble to that of a mighty tower. With this splitting of essence, the Archlich is not only far safer from a true death, but can split itself into as many copies as it has reliquaries, each one diminishing in strength but still formidable to face. The first Archlich was Lord Aelgrim the Undying of Morlond, the ruler of the ‘Dark’ Elves. Through some transpiring of events Emperor Tasmoros I of the Nevarine Empire (See: History of the Human Realms) managed to abscond with the formula and replicate it upon himself, though it is believed all of his reliquaries were destroyed.

Type

Magical