The Lichna of Djerduth
The The Lichna of Djerduth (Lee-shna or leech-na) are minor liches in the service of the death god. Normally, they sit at the left hand of the death god and seek out those who have cheated death without the god’s sanctifying such things. They willing give themselves to this function, and after a term of service, they pass into The Halls of the Dead. With the power of the death god captured by the Lich Lords, the path of the Lichna led to immortality without fear of reprisal or the bargain for a limited time to linger outside The House of Dead instead of entering it – the power of the death god is still available through the ancient ritual. Perhaps some day, the gods power will be so depleted as to make the ritual ineffective, but there are many who seek it out as a form of immortality, knowing that their soul will take on a taint, a corruption.
Hunted: There are known to be a few “Death Hunters” that persisted from when the Lich Lords took the death gods power; With Djerduth diminished, he could not consciously take the power back. There are at least four currently known to exist that have no record of death, but they are actively hunted by the Lich Lords and their minions. It is unknown how many were exterminated over the thousands of years. They have not made themselves known in thousands of years, perhaps having gone into torpor.
Knowledge/Chronicle of the Lichna of Djerduth
Information Sources: Mundane Reference | Associated Phenomenology Only | Specific Lore
Pervasive Knowledge / Very Easy Difficulty
It is referenced in several texts, though the specifics are never made available in any source to those without the highest level of access. Only a few copies are though to exist, and variants are thought to exist scattered throught Rastillion’s Dabolique.
This forbidden death god rite requires great sacrifice. It requires a dozen lives, each one prepared with a separate part of the whole ritual. Once the sublate aspects are done, the ritualist must find a place where the spirits of the dead do not rest. There, a place of quiet must be found and the final ritual enacted. Upon completion, the material body will be transformed*. Three sunsets later the will arise, as a newborn*. It takes them seeks, but they finally find their voice*, and so it shall command them in the death god’s name.
Common Knowledge / Easy Difficulty
Religion DC: 25 (+1 result for each successful sublate ritual involving killing a victim)
The specific results of the ritual are often not mentioned, even in the ritual itself. Only one text is known to exist in the Port Towne Library of the Guild of Solars which clearly defines the terms of the ritual. Often times those seeking the knowledge of the ritual are told only what it does and if they are allowed, that the results are not what one expects (noted are the terms used in the ritual and their exact explanation).
Transformed: Killed and returned to life; the means is painful and often drives the ritualist insane.
Newborn: They have fragmented memories, and it takes week to place it all together. During this time their powers begin to manifest.
> When a successful ritual begins, the ritualist’s shadow separates, leaving them and attacking anyone nearby.
Voice: The Lichna often forms a “council” of the dead. They do not possess the normal mental resilience of a Lich, and so their more fragile egos develop this council as a means of deciding a course of action, believing the death speaks through them (which they sometimes do – though not since the Lich Lords stole his powers).
Immortal through willpower alone, though it is the will of the death god as they alone do not possess such focus. It creates a wight like creature who transcends death. They assume all the powers of a wight, but like a lich, they retain all the powers they had in life and can improve on them. They gain the ability to speak with the dead at will, and to animate them.
Rare Knowledge / Very Hard Difficulty
Death Hunters: In CY 7992 the four remaining The Lichna of Djerduth made by Djerduth himself came together in a coven for mutual defense, and agreed to assist the Guild Master of The Barlogue Blackguild. In CY 7998, when the Gaernian order destroyed the order, wiping out all three other chapter houses of the guild in Karolak, Poeltiz, and Oerdney, the 4 Death Hunters withstood their assault, though all living members died except a few afield remotely. This left only the southern most chapter house – The Tower of Meridiem, in the freehold city of Beryl as the new home of the guild under the rulership of the “Coven of Barlogue” (from ).