[WIP] True Lichdom - Nexus Thread # 1

[VorlaHusian]

If you are going to give the lich a default set of clothes that are always visible no matter what armour you are wearing, how about making a set for normal humans, so it looks less incongruous when you disguise your lich form.

 

I think the Lich, all three versions, should be base skeletons. After all, that is pretty much what a Lich is: A Skeletal being of immense power.

[AedilesBeadle]

OH! I can't wait! This mod sounds beautiful!

 

Will there be any visible differences in the different liches?

 

Yes, it is planned to have the Lich's appearance differ for each type. The Traditional Lich will have a standard Skeletal Lich model, and the Vampiric Lich will use the same general model, but with a slightly different appearance. The Vampiric Lich is actually undergoing some pretty big changes that I haven't discussed here yet. Once I get everything laid out, I plan to update the main post with the changes, and I will reveal the model description then.

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/648920-wip-true-lichdom-nexus-thread-1/page__view__old

As far as The Phylactery Bound Lich is concerned, to be honest, the situation is a little unclear. I'd prefer for him to have an appearance similar to the last host he possessed, but perhaps having him look a little pale or decayed. However, accomplishing this would be somewhat difficult. I haven't fully discussed it with the modeler yet, so I'm not too sure what the final product will be. I'm also relying on SKSE to release in order for me to perfect the host swapping process, so I really don't know how things will work out for him yet.

That sounds fantastic. One further question, though. What does the standard model look like (for the traditional and vampiric lich)? Is it like a draugr? Will it compensate for the fact that the player may be an elf or beast?

 

Edit: Also, will you consider adding liches as NPCs? It would be a bit odd if there was only one Lich, the dragon born. Maybe as creatures that are hostile to the dragonborn unless he is a lich himself.

Edited April 29, 2012 by AedilesBeadle

[ThoseTolerableNoobs]

@Above

 

We currently have several NPC Liches in the questline at the moment. Delfothebla has also come up with a fairly compellign reason as to why you don't seen NPC Liches out and about...but I guess you'll have to play the questline to find out (tehehehehe)

[ThoseTolerableNoobs]

I'd imagine that the main problem with the Dragonborn becoming a Lich would be that nothing known can contain a Dragon Soul except the Amulet of Kings, which used to contain the souls of all the Emperors before Martin broke it. Maybe a quest where you have to find ancient elven texts that explain how the Ayleids originally created the Amulet of Kings, so you can make a phylactery with similar properties.

 

 

Anyway, for lore scraping:

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/mannimarco-king-worms (Suggests that the ritual to become a lich involves alchemy)

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/arkay-enemy (The plans of Mannimarco to destroy Arkay worship and unite all Vampires, Necromancers and Liches into one united organisation)

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/amongst-draugr (Explains how the Dragon Priests sustain themselves on Draugr lifeforce, probably Vampiric Liches as you call them)

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/necromancers-moon (Explains the divine influence of the God of Worms through the Necromancer's Moon and production of Black Soul Gems)

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/preparation-corpse (Explains legality of Necromancy and teaches creation of zombies, skeletons and mummies)

 

That's a cool idea...unfortunately, in the elder scrolls lore it wasn't the Aleyids who creates the Amulet of Kings, it was St Alessia who sought the help of Akatosh. So really, it was Akatosh who created it...

 

If you what to check, type in Amulet of Kings to the Elder Scrolls Wiki

Edited April 29, 2012 by ThoseTolerableNoobs

[LordAvernus]

That's a cool idea...unfortunately, in the elder scrolls lore it wasn't the Aleyids who creates the Amulet of Kings, it was St Alessia who sought the help of Akatosh. So really, it was Akatosh who created it...

 

If you what to check, type in Amulet of Kings to the Elder Scrolls Wiki

 

Nope. The Ayleids created it as the Chim-El Adabal, which was used as the Stone of White-Gold. I'm going by the Nu-Mantia Intercept here. http://www.imperial-library.info/content/nu-mantia-intercept

[ThoseTolerableNoobs]

Well I'm going off of the Elder Scrolls wiki:

Amulet of Kings

[AedilesBeadle]

@Above

 

We currently have several NPC Liches in the questline at the moment. Delfothebla has also come up with a fairly compellign reason as to why you don't seen NPC Liches out and about...but I guess you'll have to play the questline to find out (tehehehehe)

Well, I meant as random encounters. If you say there's a compelling reason they shouldn't be there then so be it, haha.

Edited April 29, 2012 by AedilesBeadle

[delfofthebla]

I'd imagine that the main problem with the Dragonborn becoming a Lich would be that nothing known can contain a Dragon Soul except the Amulet of Kings, which used to contain the souls of all the Emperors before Martin broke it. Maybe a quest where you have to find ancient elven texts that explain how the Ayleids originally created the Amulet of Kings, so you can make a phylactery with similar properties.

 

 

Anyway, for lore scraping:

http://www.imperial-...arco-king-worms (Suggests that the ritual to become a lich involves alchemy)

http://www.imperial-...ent/arkay-enemy (The plans of Mannimarco to destroy Arkay worship and unite all Vampires, Necromancers and Liches into one united organisation)

http://www.imperial-.../amongst-draugr (Explains how the Dragon Priests sustain themselves on Draugr lifeforce, probably Vampiric Liches as you call them)

http://www.imperial-...cromancers-moon (Explains the divine influence of the God of Worms through the Necromancer's Moon and production of Black Soul Gems)

http://www.imperial-...paration-corpse (Explains legality of Necromancy and teaches creation of zombies, skeletons and mummies)

Ah right, I had forgotten about that fact. Thanks for the info. (And the lore links) We should be able to integrate something about this into the storyline.

 

I'm sure the OP has thought of that, but, my way of making the phylactery would be to create it out of the following recipe:

 

Ingredients:

 

13 Dragon Bones - Only a dragon can hold the soul of a dragon

13 pints of Dovahkiin Blood - This is to link the Dovahkiin to the ritual

13 Black Star's filled with Daedric souls - These souls will power the ritual

13 Units of Vampire Dust - This is needed for the power of eternal life that still resides in the ash

13 Units of pure alcohol - This should be sufficient quantity to kill the Dovahkiin

07 Magically imbued candle - Imbued with the power of negative energy

01 Mold of any design - Should be no bigger than the Dovahkiin Heart

01 Coffin - This is the alter in which to perform the ritual

13 Virgins - These are to be sacrificed on the coffin

 

Method:

 

1) Grind up the dragon bones and mix with the Vampire Dust then leave under the light of a single magically imbued candle for 13 hours

2) Place the Black Stars inside the coffin at all the usual Chakra points so they are in contact with the Dovahkiin when they lay down

3) After the 13 hours is up blow out the candle and melt the remainder into the Dovahkiin blood

4) Mix the wax/blood and the powdered bone/vampire dust together. This is called the Mixture

5) Pour into a mold of any design and let it set until it is solid keeping the rest for the final part of the ritual. Do not let the rest set

6) place the remaining 6 candles at the points of the pentagram with the extra one at the top Black Star

 

When all is set lay the Dovahkiin in the coffin and feed the rest of the Mixture to him/her. Then feed the alcohol to him/her, light the candles, and close the lid, and perform the ritual

 

The Ritual:

 

The ritual is 13 hours of chanting the Dovahkiin's name, praying to the gods of death and un-life, dancing, and all manner of necromantic spells cast on the coffin. At the turn of each hour a virgin must be sacrificed on the coffin and the blood allowed to soak into the Phylactery.

 

At the culmination of the ritual, if it was unsuccessful then all involved will perish. But should the ritual be a success then the Dovahkiin will rise out of the coffin, his flesh all but gone (consumed by the power of the ritual) and a Phylactery Lich will be born. The Necromancer conducting the ritual will be bound to the Lich in eternal servitude, granting him/her eternal life (as long as the Lich lives) and all other followers will be bound to the Necromancer in the same way.

 

Hope you like this idea. you could put it in as a little back story, or make some form of FMV if you have the skills, or know someone who does, or use parts of it for your own version.

 

Chakra Chart:

Thanks for the post. Truthfully we have not yet decided on the "nitty-gritty" details for the transformation procedure, but we do have a general outline. We may go with something along the lines of what you've posted, but no guarantees there :P

 

 

If you are going to give the lich a default set of clothes that are always visible no matter what armour you are wearing, how about making a set for normal humans, so it looks less incongruous when you disguise your lich form.

I think the Lich, all three versions, should be base skeletons. After all, that is pretty much what a Lich is: A Skeletal being of immense power.

It has been decided to not give him a normal set of clothes, but just leave it as a normal skeleton model. Things may be updated post release, but for now we're just going with a basic naked skeleton. The exception is the Phylactery Bound Lich, who's appearance changes depending on who he possessed, and when he possessed them.

 

That sounds fantastic. One further question, though. What does the standard model look like (for the traditional and vampiric lich)? Is it like a draugr? Will it compensate for the fact that the player may be an elf or beast?

Edit: Also, will you consider adding liches as NPCs? It would be a bit odd if there was only one Lich, the dragon born. Maybe as creatures that are hostile to the dragonborn unless he is a lich himself.

No, it will not look like a draugr. The model looks very similar to the Traditional Lich's model (A skeleton). However, he will have a few alterations to his appearance that...justify his new unique abilities.

 

As TheTolerableNoob stated, there will be several Lich NPC's that you will interact with during the course of the mod, but I do not plan to add them across the world as 'standard enemies'. In Skyrim, the only Lich enemies the Player comes across, are the Dragon Priests. Bethesda chose not to do so for some reason, and I don't really plan to change that. Not to say you won't be fighting any Liches during the mod, but yeah, I will not be adding them as "leveled enemies" to dungeons or anything.

Edited April 29, 2012 by delfofthebla

[AedilesBeadle]

I hadn't noticed the already posted model.

I just assumed it would have skin similar to how the lich were in previous elder scrolls games. Kind of a saggy skin look, as if it were only skin on bones, nothing else - it's a lot like the draugr in Skyrim. It would have been more lore-friendly that way, but it looks fantastic as a skeleton anyway. Great job.

Edited April 29, 2012 by AedilesBeadle

[VorlaHusian]

Imagine, if you will, a skeleton with glowing eye sockets, and a palpable aura of dread and hate. That's how I see a Lich. I know the OP will do this justice, he has spent too much time and energy not to give it his best.