I've never really understood the appeal of lichdom. I know, I know, immortal and all that jazz. But even if you were a human fantasy character obsessed with living forever, there are so many better ways to gain long, or eternal life. And then there's the whole cosmology bit. Even your lowly commoner can end up somewhere reasonably awesome for eternity if they are sufficiently devout. That always seemed like a better choice to me than giving up so much to hang out on the material plane forever. Or if you really want to hang out here on the prime material, figure something else out. Endless reincarnation loop if you must.
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You get rid of all this time consuming stuff like eating, drinking, sleeping (wasting a 1/3 of your time) and making love... this may sound really awesome to some brainiacs.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, getting old sucks. The older you get, the less pleasures and more pain all of that pesky flesh gets you.
ReplyDeleteSome lich can swap bodies so long as the body is dead or near dead, they aren't all skeletons, they just don't have to eat/drink/sleep. Some can, they just dont HAVE to. So you're not giving up much of anything so long as you have a steady supply of fresh corpses.
ReplyDeleteSo, lichdom is best for those who have already lost or devalued such things as a healthy body or stimulation of the five senses.
ReplyDeleteThey derive their pleasure from cerebral endeavors. It could be from scholarly endeavor. In sci-fi that, usually means magical/arcane research. Additionally, it provides an added protection when dealing with soul stealing or body possessing demons. But, even outside of the sci-fi realm, in an instance where a lich is scientifically created without any spiritual/magical aspects, lichdom allows an atheist who does not believe in "an endless cycle or reincarnation" a chance to continue to interact with the world. For an atheist, it's gameover.
Ever wonder why liches are usually evil? It's because they do not seek pleasure in the normal rational way. They only gain pleasure through cerebral endeavors. While scholarly endeavor could lead to a non-evil entity, usually their pleasure is from experience of negative emotions. This could be from tormenting others physically or emotionally. Eating, sleeping, or sex is not needed to be experienced in order to hurt others. The suffering of others is usually the major goal of any lich. With this in mind, if a pre-lich person does believe in an afterlife, they most certainly believe that their post-life experience will be an eternity of punishment. Lichdom is the escape of such punishment.
So, if you're evil, with an already debilitated body, and enjoy learning, becoming a lich has its benefits.
The casters that pursue research and goals may realize at a certain age that they surely will fail in reaching the completion of their work. Those that accept the fact that they will die with their unfinished work pass the responsability to apprentices or other worthy casters.
ReplyDeleteIn other situations the wizard feel no one can be able to finish their research thorough enough, and they feel compelled to do so on their own. Still, as casters they may prove to lack the required magical power to progress further in their work.
The answer is simple. Lichdom. If the ritual itself does not kill them in the process and consume their body of course.
As they rise in their new form, soulless and incredibly stronger and resilient, they have aquired new powers, and the eternity to walk down the path that only the truly dedicated necromancers embark on.
Yes they have derived their pleasures of food, love and emotions. Food and sleep takes time. Relieved of such unnecesary procedures they can spend that time conducting even more research and experiments. With the gift of unlife and incredible defensive powers the lich can delve into the deadliest of experiments, removing the chance of killing himself by accident.
Only the truly dedicated become a lich. That is how important their goal have become. Nothing will stand in the way of progress!
You can also have good aligned liches. Powerful wizards that give their lives to guard a vault that can never be breached by individuals that may use its contets for evil.(Baelnorn lich or just "good aligned lich". A person who enjoys life and values it joys, giving it up for something greater and more important. Now thats dedication!
In other words. One must have a more thought out purpose for attaining lichdom other than just eternal life.
ReplyDelete"Even your lowly commoner can end up somewhere reasonably awesome for eternity if they are sufficiently devout. That always seemed like a better choice to me than giving up so much to hang out on the material plane forever."
A commoner can become awsome. But they lack the knowledge and magical power to do the kind of things a lich wish to achieve. Only the true master of unlife can make real good use of lichdom, as they understand it far better than anyone else.
Now this is only my personal interpretations, based on what Ive read about lichdom. Im not saying its the only and correct solution mind you. But this is what I belive makes most sense to me.
As Crank Dawg wrote I concur in his statement that one can become a lich to only enjoy its merits, and wreck terror on the mortal realms for as long as possible. But the potential of how far a lich can go may become more complex than regular torment of the living races. Maybe end of all life can be a respectable goal and well spent time as a lich, and become the ruler of the world?
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