Faustuss
07-04-15, 05:33 PM
Name: Faust
Nickname/Alias: Faust the Risen
Age: Half a century, give or take a decade or two
Race: Lich
Height: 6’6”
Weight: 30 lbs
Occupation: Sorcerer
Personality:
Over his excessively long lifespan, Faust has learned what people think of liches. His kind is stereotyped as deranged, cruel megalomaniacs leading armies of the rotting dead and stealing virgin princesses. While Faust can’t vouch for the rest of his race, he generally doesn’t have anything to do with other undead, military conquest, or princesses at any level of physical virtue.
For a lich, Faust isn’t a bad sort. True, he’s practiced dark magic longer than most people have been alive. True, he craves power like chain-smoking tieflings crave tobacco. True, he is the shambling, unbreathing definition of the word ‘abomination.’ But beneath all that, he’s mostly content to leave the rest of the world alone while he conducts his research.
History:
Faust discovered early in life that the average human didn’t live long enough to experience half of what the world had to offer. There was art to be admired, books to be read, and fine music to listen to. His deepest desire was to live forever and drink the world dry. It only made sense to take up work as a necromancer.
Skipping forward four hundred years, he had undergone all the necessary rituals to become a lich and had his immortal soul tucked safely away in a box. He’d enjoyed the last four centuries studying sorcery and traveling the world under a heavy veil of illusion magic. But his happiness wasn’t meant to last. He was discovered by witch hunters from the Church of the Ethereal Sway. Despite his protests, the men insisted on breaking into his tower, dismantling his bones, dousing them in blessed oil, and setting them ablaze. Then, for good measure, they took the ashes, divided them into four portions, and scattered them across the frozen wastes of Salvar.
As they neglected to destroy Faust’s phylactery, his soul was still intact. Ordinarily he would have taken a week to reform. But the witch hunters had been so thorough that he’d taken longer. Much longer.
One hundred years later, Faust finally reformed. The unfortunate brush up had left him at a fraction of his former power, and he returned to find Althanas a very different place.
Appearance: While other liches are rancid corpses that are barely distinguishable from the zombies they raise, Faust holds himself to a higher standard. His bones are a polished, gleaming white etched with a spiderweb of eldritch sigils. He maintains a wardrobe full of richly embroidered ancient robes, but also keeps up with the latest fashions at court. He stands well over six feet tall, and his height combined with the pinpoints of spectral fire burning in his eye sockets helps him to cut an imposing figure when the need arises.
Abilities:
Magic of Blood:
Never one for gaudy displays of power, Faust prefers subtler offensive spells. If he can acquire a drop of his target’s blood, he can apply it to a small cloth doll. After murmuring a quick incantation to link the poppet to his target, wounds that appear on the doll will be mirrored on his enemy. He can inflict up to three small wounds or two medium ones (cuts, bruises, or other abrasions).
For this spell to work, the target must be in Faust’s line of sight. While these wounds can’t be blocked by physical means, those with strong focus or willpower can lessen or negate them completely. He can create three poppets per thread.
Magic of Bone:
Faust’s skill with conventional necromancy isn’t what it used to be, but he can still raise the bones of the dead when he needs to. Once per thread, Faust can reanimate a single human-sized corpse or two animal-sized ones (dog or smaller) to do his bidding. While the zombies can’t talk, they provide a useful bit of muscle and follow mental and verbal commands. These corpses last until destroyed, dismissed, or the thread ends. While their sinew and muscle has likely rotted away, they still move at 1/2 normal speed.
Magic of Flesh:
While not strictly useful in combat, the Magic of Flesh is one of the most useful of the dark arts in Faust’s arsenal. By completing a ritual that takes approximately one hour, Faust can create a sort of artificial skin to cover his bones. He gains no new physical abilities, but the flesh can appear any way he wants it to and acts as a handy disguise until dismissed.
Possessions:
A rich, black-velvet robe with gold silver embroidery
An iron knife
Spell component pouches (Containing a handful of six-inch coffin nails, three frayed, cloth dolls, and a half-empty bottle of goat’s blood)
Nickname/Alias: Faust the Risen
Age: Half a century, give or take a decade or two
Race: Lich
Height: 6’6”
Weight: 30 lbs
Occupation: Sorcerer
Personality:
Over his excessively long lifespan, Faust has learned what people think of liches. His kind is stereotyped as deranged, cruel megalomaniacs leading armies of the rotting dead and stealing virgin princesses. While Faust can’t vouch for the rest of his race, he generally doesn’t have anything to do with other undead, military conquest, or princesses at any level of physical virtue.
For a lich, Faust isn’t a bad sort. True, he’s practiced dark magic longer than most people have been alive. True, he craves power like chain-smoking tieflings crave tobacco. True, he is the shambling, unbreathing definition of the word ‘abomination.’ But beneath all that, he’s mostly content to leave the rest of the world alone while he conducts his research.
History:
Faust discovered early in life that the average human didn’t live long enough to experience half of what the world had to offer. There was art to be admired, books to be read, and fine music to listen to. His deepest desire was to live forever and drink the world dry. It only made sense to take up work as a necromancer.
Skipping forward four hundred years, he had undergone all the necessary rituals to become a lich and had his immortal soul tucked safely away in a box. He’d enjoyed the last four centuries studying sorcery and traveling the world under a heavy veil of illusion magic. But his happiness wasn’t meant to last. He was discovered by witch hunters from the Church of the Ethereal Sway. Despite his protests, the men insisted on breaking into his tower, dismantling his bones, dousing them in blessed oil, and setting them ablaze. Then, for good measure, they took the ashes, divided them into four portions, and scattered them across the frozen wastes of Salvar.
As they neglected to destroy Faust’s phylactery, his soul was still intact. Ordinarily he would have taken a week to reform. But the witch hunters had been so thorough that he’d taken longer. Much longer.
One hundred years later, Faust finally reformed. The unfortunate brush up had left him at a fraction of his former power, and he returned to find Althanas a very different place.
Appearance: While other liches are rancid corpses that are barely distinguishable from the zombies they raise, Faust holds himself to a higher standard. His bones are a polished, gleaming white etched with a spiderweb of eldritch sigils. He maintains a wardrobe full of richly embroidered ancient robes, but also keeps up with the latest fashions at court. He stands well over six feet tall, and his height combined with the pinpoints of spectral fire burning in his eye sockets helps him to cut an imposing figure when the need arises.
Abilities:
Magic of Blood:
Never one for gaudy displays of power, Faust prefers subtler offensive spells. If he can acquire a drop of his target’s blood, he can apply it to a small cloth doll. After murmuring a quick incantation to link the poppet to his target, wounds that appear on the doll will be mirrored on his enemy. He can inflict up to three small wounds or two medium ones (cuts, bruises, or other abrasions).
For this spell to work, the target must be in Faust’s line of sight. While these wounds can’t be blocked by physical means, those with strong focus or willpower can lessen or negate them completely. He can create three poppets per thread.
Magic of Bone:
Faust’s skill with conventional necromancy isn’t what it used to be, but he can still raise the bones of the dead when he needs to. Once per thread, Faust can reanimate a single human-sized corpse or two animal-sized ones (dog or smaller) to do his bidding. While the zombies can’t talk, they provide a useful bit of muscle and follow mental and verbal commands. These corpses last until destroyed, dismissed, or the thread ends. While their sinew and muscle has likely rotted away, they still move at 1/2 normal speed.
Magic of Flesh:
While not strictly useful in combat, the Magic of Flesh is one of the most useful of the dark arts in Faust’s arsenal. By completing a ritual that takes approximately one hour, Faust can create a sort of artificial skin to cover his bones. He gains no new physical abilities, but the flesh can appear any way he wants it to and acts as a handy disguise until dismissed.
Possessions:
A rich, black-velvet robe with gold silver embroidery
An iron knife
Spell component pouches (Containing a handful of six-inch coffin nails, three frayed, cloth dolls, and a half-empty bottle of goat’s blood)