you're a lich girl, and you've gone too far | Text, filtered from Rita

[necroyalty]

username: undyingsoul

[It's a full day after Rita's article that anyone hears from Ambrosine anywhere else on the network, and then...]

To all of you who had inquiries for me in the last post: I have filed a report with the Moon Knights and expect further developments shortly. I advise you all to remain vigilant, as there are more than a few ways to invade private spaces through magical means. I may have been the first person whose home Rita Skeeter broke into, but I doubt I will be the last.

Yes, I am a necromancer. This isn't the terrible taboo it is in some other cultures, as my people have practiced the art as a means of survival during more difficult times throughout our history, and often willingly donate our bodies to service after death as a sign of devotion to causes we held dear in life.

Several of the ruling families in my kingdom were members of one of two cults to fiends whose full intentions I do not know, but can only assume are absolutely terrible. As their queen my first duty was to our realm's future, so I undertook the process of lichdom at great personal risk to myself to buy enough time to see to the slow process of stripping the very institution that empowered me of that same power while ensuring relative stability.

In the interest of transparency, I have attached my research notes to this post. Consider yourself lucky; this information does not flow freely in my world. Yes, I understand the terrible gravity of what I'm doing here. Ah, well. As they say, knowledge is power.

[The following attachment is a scanned PDF of some pages from a wizard's spellbook, full of weird jargon, mystic runes, hard-to-read small handwriting that Ambrosine tried to cram into the smallish pages, and weird eldritch diagrams. Oh, and a little doodle of a skull. In addition to the stuff in the pastebin, there's also a diagram for some sort of sacrificial circle where both the phylactery and the person being sacrificed go, and...oof.

After attuning yourself to the phylactery, apparently the final step is just whispering some sort of ritualistic prayer to basically revoke your soul's rights to any sort of afterlife right before you do the sacrifice and drink the potion that freezes the blood in your veins and lich-ifies you? OOF.

At the very least there's no mention of liches needing to feed on anything, so well, the assumption is that once the ritual is over, that's it in terms of gross shit.

Congratulations; everyone who read all of that now knows the secret to lichdom. You've learned it. You can't un-learn it.]

The sacrifice given for my particular version of the ritual was a man who stabbed his entire family to death and was slated for execution, so I'd save my sympathies for someone more worthy if I were you.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of your week.

Comments

text; un: aphrodite

[wingstosee]

oh wow. that's really cool?
i didn't actually see the skeeter stuff you're talking about so i feel like i'm kind of behind.
but that's some pretty occult stuff.
so you're like, a necromancer now? and also immortal?

also sorry i kind of assumed a lich was like... a bug? or something like that.
so that's something new i learned today.

[necroyalty]

Those would be leeches, dear.

I was a necromancer ever since I was a young girl, but the immortality is a recent development.

[wingstosee]

oh.
wow. that seems really obvious in retrospect.
and a necromancer is... someone who makes zombies, right?
sorry. i'm sort of new to this whole thing

still. it's really cool that you can just... become immortal like that?
that's crazy. wow

private text; un: ruffestrabbit

[zunge]

I had a feeling she was talking out her ass somehow.

[necroyalty]

It's only a matter of time before she preys on someone more vulnerable.

I never thought it would be this short of a time before I found someone I truly despised here.

[zunge]

I mostly don't care what she does as long as it doesn't affect me, but fuck if she isn't irritating as all get out.

Life and unlife is full of surprises.

Well, now I know what weird thing was going on with you.

text (sn: seiros)

[immaculate_one]

A lich.

I cannot lie, your dealings with the dead put me on edge, even with the explanation above. It might even be hypocritical for me to say, in a way.

But you have clearly been victimized by someone telling half-truths, and for that you also have my sympathy.

When I sort this out, I hope we meet again.

[necroyalty]

I understand.

Know that I have always been fond of you.

text | un: ladyofthewind

[sheisthewind]

As long as you're not going out of your way to harm others here, I don't see why anyone should even care at all what that woman had to say.

[necroyalty]

Do you really think she's going to stop at those who can handle her?

[sheisthewind]

She seems like the sort to make herself a nuisance. But if she breaks and enters into the wrong home, she might find herself dead. Some people might interpret an intrusion as life threatening, after all.

text | feuerdrache

[howlmyrage]

Those are absolute baby numbers.

Re: text | feuerdrache

[necroyalty]

I'm not trying to win any contests, here.

[howlmyrage]

You can't be some kind of dark lord with one dead dude, one unundead dude, and a bunch of dead animals, that's all I'm saying.

text | un: catpurrccino

[chainlinks]

[Ahhh that is certainly a turn of events.]

She forced your hand out, didn't she?

[necroyalty]

Indeed she did.

I've found myself looking for a new place of residence ever since. Perhaps a roommate, if two pairs of eyes keeping watch are better than one for this situation.

[chainlinks]

[Not that Ren will every agree to taking a life, but he also doesn't like people snooping around like that and twisting information. It strikes...a little too close to home.]

I can't really help for this situation but let me know if she tries to bother you again.

un: assassin

[painalty]

I can't say I condone or approve of this brand of magic, but it isn't fair to condemn you here for acts you performed elsewhere, either.

But you are courageous, for choosing to air your side and being honest with us.

[He has no comment on the sacrifice being slated for execution. Besides, he has no intention of outing himself as an executioner to more people for now.

Liches are gonna run him out of a business if they ever existed during the French Revolution.]

Re: un: assassin

[necroyalty]

This is fair, and, honestly, all that I ask for.

Necromancy is an art that has many fine points to it in terms of the ethics involved.

UN: scarletdevil

[remilia_scarlet]

It has been some time since we last spoke. I read this 'article', though calling it an article gives it far too much credit. It was amusing, but the creature that penned it seemed rather dim witted. A more foolish and obvious attempt at slander I have not seen in decades. I assume you did nothing to provoke either? Either way, she is decrepit in body and mind. If she could pose a threat with actual power, she would not be trying to do so with words.

[necroyalty]

I will say one thing about my world.

A mage of her level doing what she has done to someone with the magical might to become a lich?

Downright suicidal.

text; un: 1stQadrMargaFan

[wearingguess]

So you became a lich in order to prevent others from becoming liches in the future? Or do I misunderstand?

[necroyalty]

...I'm honestly not sure how you came to that conclusion.

text; un - failnaught -- hello i am here 10 years later

[offtuned]

Somehow I did not expect this information.
Do you mean to say that you are not alive? And yet also not a mere spirit...

it's fine the holidays are killing me

[necroyalty]

It's a bit complicated, but that's the long and short of it.

If I had any other options, I would have almost certainly taken those instead. But I have no regrets.