Phylactery of the First Lich
A dark, starless orb of obsidian-glass, roughly the size of a human heart, embedded with silver glyphs that never finish forming — always shifting, always recursive. When viewed directly, it reflects the viewer’s worst potential. When held, it feels warm with memory, and faint whispers in Ur-Arcana trace your name backwards. The object floats, tethered by twelve iron runes sunk deep into a fractured obsidian pedestal, with veins of cracked Weave energy webbing out like scars.
Mechanics & Inner Workings
If any creature touches the phylactery even from within its containment cradle — even for a split second — the spirit of Nyxiren awakens and escapes. There is no time to hesitate, no second chance, no "oops."
The creature must succeed on a:
DC 30 Charisma Saving Throw
(Yes. Thirty. Because what mortal stands against the will of the First Lich?)
On a Failure:
- The soul of Nyxiren surges through the arcane void, anchored to the body of the intruder.
- The soul of the character is imprisoned inside the phylactery, sealed beneath countless glyphs.
- The Index — which previously acted as a mimicry of Nyxiren’s mannerisms — immediately updates into full sentience of the player.
- The body of the character now houses the First Lich. He knows what they know. He remembers what they saw. And he is free and has access to the weave once more.
On a Success:
- The creature takes 20d10 psychic damage, is rendered catatonic for 1d6 days, and becomes soul scarred.
- Undead instinctively respect or fear you. You count as undead for spells that detect type.
- You cannot be resurrected by any means except a god’s direct act — the Weave no longer considers you "correctly formatted."
- Divine magic used against you fails. Spells that normally heal cause damage. You are unable to be seen when scrying or other spells of divination are used.
- Your alignment becomes blurred to all detection and no creature, not even a god, can track your fate.
History
When Hydall unmade Nyxiren for tapping into the ley lines and attempting to corrupt the Library itself, the unraveling did not destroy the lich — it broke the Weave around him. Hydall knew Nyxiren’s soul could not be allowed to reform. Instead of shattering the phylactery, he embedded it into the very heart of the sundered Library and used it as the anchor to keep the remainder of his creation intact.
Thus was born the Index — a holographic projection shaped from the soul-echo of Nyxiren. It remembers the Library because it is the Library.
But the phylactery still lives.
And it still waits.
Comments