Liches of the Known World

art by Dave Trampier from
1st Ed AD&D Monster Manual

From a game point of view liches are not part of the Moldvay/Cook B/X rules but they are introduced later on, first in Frank Mentzer's Masters Rules and then also in the Rules Cyclopedia. Liches were formerly magic users of levels 21-36, and so are powerful and share many aspects with living NPC mages. Personally I am not keen on the idea of liches being just one more random monster rolled as a wandering monster in a dungeon - I see them as powerful NPCs, with personalities, backgrounds and connections to other NPCs. They could be major villains, perhaps playing an ongoing role within a campaign and their influence may be felt far from their lairs. 

Liches are above all intelligent and should behave so. A lich is loathed to tackle adventurers who have a real chance to destroy it - the lich will pick fights that it is sure it can win. A lich will use all the resources available to it - allies, undead minions, living servants both human and monstrous, mechanical traps and of course magic - lots of magic. A lich will have accumulated a range of spells and magic items, perhaps some of which are unique. A lich that is caught unawares by adventurers is more likely to be annoyed with itself than with the adventurers, though it will do what it can to neutralise the threat, probably by killing the adventurers first, before considering where it went wrong. 

Although the phylactery described in the AD&D rules is not mentioned in the Masters rules, the DM may well rule that liches of Mystara have similar phylacteries that house their souls. If their bodies are destroyed but not the phylactery, the lich will reform within a week. Thus any adventurers intent on destroying a lich will need to find and destroy the phylactery either before or within days of slaying the lich's body. As one might expect, liches can be very cunning about both the form and the hiding place of their phylacteries. 

In Mystara most liches come from nations and cultures with a strong tradition of magic and wizardry. These places are most likely to produce the powerful mages who then take the step into lichdom. Alphatia and Glantri are known to have been the home of several liches. But liches are by no means restricted to these places. Here are a selection of notable liches in my version of Mystara.

Notable Liches of the Known World

Rahotep of the Shadows (30th level MU): Rahotep is found in the lower levels of the ruins of Allaktos in Ylaruam. As his name suggests, he was originally a Nithian sorcerer, and a skilled one at that, leading a circle of likeminded sorcerers at Allaktos and having several apprentices under his command. During the fall of ancient Nithia he took the transformation into undeath. He is not the only lich in Allaktos but he is both one of the most powerful and also more sane liches - while some threw themselves into sanity-draining soul magic, Rahotep only dabbled with it. He currently leads a faction  of undead within Allaktos that seeks to take control of the dungeon complex. What they then plan to do is unknown but Rahotep has nothing but contempt for living mortals, so once he starts looking out beyond Allaktos, the consequences of his actions could be terrible for the inhabitants of Ylaruam. His two weaknesses are firstly he is not entirely sane - he is egotistical and megalomanic, believing that he is unbeatable and destined to reconquer all of Nithia. Secondly he has not been keeping up with the outside world - he has been so focused on what has been going on in Allaktos with fellow undead he is not aware of the rise of Al-Kalim and the Eternal Truth in Ylaruam or even the rise of the Thyatian Empire. Any world events since the fall of Nithia seem to have passed him by. 

Meltherrion (28th level MU): Meltherrion is found underneath Corunglain in northern Darokin. He transformed into a lich only a hundred years ago. He is in many ways chaotic, selfish and ambitious, but he bears no ill will towards his country or the inhabitants of Cornuglain. However, he hates and despises orcs and goblins who slew his brother, nephew and nieces when he was still a mage's apprentice: he has therefore become an unexpected ally of Darokin against the encroaching hordes from the Broken Lands. Meltherrion's lair is deep below the streets of Cornuglain, guarded by various constructs and summoned things including living statues, golems and earth elementals. The humans in the city above are generally not aware of him so leave him alone but the humanoids, particularly goblins and kobolds, have started tunnelling under the city, and occasionally into his lair. When this happens he unleashes his fury on them, and then uses magic (Rock to Mud, Stoneshape and Wall of Stone) to reseal the intruders' tunnels. Only a handful of living humans are aware of Meltherrion, including Desmona Starstriker, the resident archmage of Cornuglain. Although uneasy about having a lich lair directly underneath the city, she has accepted Meltherrion is the lesser of two evils. Maggie Tremontaine, a prominent cleric within Cornuglain, is less tolerant and believes that Meltherrion will eventually become a greater threat than the humanoids of the Broken Lands. 

Ellaria the Studious (36th level MU): Ellaria is from Alphatia and throughout her life, even as a child, she was fascinated by the study and research of arcane magic. Shortly before she became a lich, she jumped onboard the flying city of Aalthir where she still resides, albeit in a secluded tower. She became a lich mainly because she wanted more time to study and research - she has so much work to do and so many topics to investigate and a human lifetime is simply not long enough. If engaged in conversation about magic, especially research and new spells or new magic items, she becomes both friendly and talkative. If however, she is interrupted in a way that she does not care for, she will react with extreme annoyance, which generally means the swift destruction of whoever is disturbing her. Ellaria has a number of living apprentices (mages of levels 10-20) who act as her agents and emissaries, bringing research materials, dealing with city authorities and keeping prying eyes away. Interestingly enough Ellaria can tolerate these apprentices as long as the topic being taught interests her. They in return have a powerful and very knowledgeable tutor and patron (matron?). She occasionally wanders the flying city at night, using both practical and magical disguises. The city authorities suspect that Ellaria is not entirely normal but can prove nothing and until she does something that warrants intervention, the city council has decided to leave her and her apprentices alone. 

Zaggratch the Damned (30th level MU): Zaggratch dwells deep under Derothgar the Fortress of the Damned. She is the arcane advisor to Baelforg Soulripper and some in the cults of Chaos say she is the true power behind that throne.  Zaggratch took a shortcut to lichhood by asking the powers of Chaos for assistance. She is now fully committed to the philosophy of Chaos and seeks ascension to become a Chaos Princess. She has visited other worlds to find resources she could exploit in her quest for more power - one of these was Oerth, the World of Greyhawk, where she learned about Vecna. Vecna has now become a sort of role model for Zaggratch - she wants to establish a realm of undeath and terror across Mystara and eventually perhaps ascend to the ranks of the immortals. Derothgar is not much of a dominon from her point of view but she considers it a start, a base from which to expand across the Known World. 

Anashfet (26th level cleric): Anashfet is described in detail here. Unusually, he has chaotic clerical powers rather than magic-user spells. 

art by Jeff Easley from D&D Masters Rules