Reek (Lord of the Winter Host)

Steel Realms
Lich Lords
Reek is one of the masters of the Winter Host – a Lich Lord. The scent of rotting flesh and decay hang over this pallid, shuffling corpse. It is said that he has no tongue and even the robes he wears turn to rags in minutes. He is the patron of the Risen Dead – the corpse legions, the fearsome Graveborn that spawn from the corpses of the fallen and once hallowed. This fearsome beast is the most feral of all the Lich Lords. His anger is awful to behold. Flesh withers in his gaze, his breath is the stench of the grave, his very footsteps leave Frost time from the cold of the grave.

Death’s Gardener, Graveborn King

His banner reads (in Feyloise): “Spirit Beyond Death” with a skull and hand clenching crossed spears

He commands the power of the Rot Mark.

Lords of the Winter Host

Chronicle/Facts of the Lich Lord Reek

Item Powers (common and Attuned) can be found under Common Knowledge tab.

Knowledge is broken down by ease of discovery/availability & Meticulous Record Keeping may improve usability; Any attempt to know more than what's Pervasive will require a reference, source, knowledge, check, or access to someone who can get or provide either of these. Specific Lores may increase the chance of knowing specific elements.

Pervasive Knowledge / Very Easy Difficulty

Information Sources: Mundane Reference | Associated Phenomenology Only | Specific Lore

For those native to or long-dwelling in the region, ALL Common Knowledge may be Pervasive.

Common Knowledge / Easy Difficulty

For those native to or long-dwelling in the region, ALL Common Knowledge may be Pervasive.

Uncommon Knowledge / Average Difficulty

Dunstrand Rising Living World

Set in Grand Duchy of Dunstrand in the Steel Realms of the [Fantasy] Steel Realms, as a Living World storyline.

Death of Zoras: CY 9168 > When Zoras The Despoiler died, half the ghouls soldiers of the Crystal Riders of Thedrosse were “loosed” from their bonds of The Cold Bargain. They killed many, but Theodrose himself and his riders tracked and killed every last one and their progeny with other orders of knights and the Chain Brothers of the north. Elsewhere, about 10% of the armies of the Lich Lords were lost when these fetters were cut.

Scarce Knowledge / Hard Difficulty

Initial Use of Rot Mark: First seen around CY 6848, if was initially very effective. It spread swiftly, and had terrible consequences. It required a massive effort of priests and druids to stop its impact. A great deal of gear and supplies were ruined.

Rare Knowledge / Very Hard Difficulty

Origins of Rot Mark

Each of the Lich Lords had to channel the fearsome power of the entity they stole it from, the manifestation of death itself – Djerduth. They had to consume part of death, and transform it to gain their form of lichdom and wield the power. The power of the Rot Mark was what the entity that became Reek brought about.

The Rot Mark came about when, after becoming Reek, he killed his first victim. Over the next day, he sloughed off his skin, it rotted away, replaced by the skin of the victim he consumed. The rotting pile of skin and blood was transformed into Rot Blight – the source of the Rot Mark to this day. A drop of this ‘stew’ of viscera and fluid is used for every Rot Mark. A sacred basin holds the gross material, to which the Lichj Lord adds by repeating the process intermittently. It leaves him unable to function during the skin regrowth period, surrounded by powerful minions and sequestered for safety.

Warning
Obscure/Hidden Knowledge is not generally available in known references; It is not necessarily Forbidden.
DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS POINT unless a character has the capability to gain such knowledge [through association, organization, or relation] if they do not possess it themselves or the reader intends to participate in scenarios using this material as a PLAYER! GM Narration will typically provide relevant information by check or story.

Real Name: Hodir

Realm's Aptitude Powers: Divine, Occult, and Psychic