Although many young mages equalize the term Lich with the Tremere, not all Liches are actually Tremere. A lich is any mage who has attempted magical immortality, whether through a form of undeath or by extending her lifespan beyond human norms. The word has dark connotations, marking the techniques used as almost invariably unpleasant. Liches follow many strategies for immortality, which the orders classify into two varieties. The first seek to avoid their death by usurping the lives of others or forcing their death onto unsuspecting victims. The second sort of lich accepts death but intends to survive it, committing suicide while in the astral under the influence of spells that bind their mind and Awakened soul to their own Ghost, possessing other mages or transforming into spirits (an example of this would be Morpheans, mages who have inverted their own Oneiros and become bodiless minds who wander the Astral). Lichedom that doesn’t persecute anyone or transform the mage into something else is seen as foolish and not achievable, the stuff of desperate attempts to extend the last few months of life.
Advertisement