Volitient Urbog
Appearance
A dead body that walks, no matter how well dressed.
For a 70 year old corpse he's surprisingly well preserved, an emaciated body, muscle and tendon all but wasted away and his skin dry, greyed, and stretched taught across his bones like a drum.
His cracked lips are thin and half rotted away along with his cheek exposing the white bone of his jaw and teeth.
His eyes have completely decayed into two blackened orbs with two small glowing points of red light resting in his sunken sockets, his nose is gone as well, giving his face a decidedly skull like appearance if not for the flesh that remained.
If he has the means he dresses in the finest clothes and armor he can find, whatever jewelry is the most gaudy, whatever weapon is the most eye-catching, whatever appearance will make him look like the most important person in the room, be it a kings throne room or an aristocrats hall.
Thus, his outfit often changes depending on what he has access to and what he feels would make him stand out the most in any given situation.
If his needs require it, he might even use illusions and glamours to change his appearance quickly if he doesn't have time to change.
For a 70 year old corpse he's surprisingly well preserved, an emaciated body, muscle and tendon all but wasted away and his skin dry, greyed, and stretched taught across his bones like a drum.
His cracked lips are thin and half rotted away along with his cheek exposing the white bone of his jaw and teeth.
His eyes have completely decayed into two blackened orbs with two small glowing points of red light resting in his sunken sockets, his nose is gone as well, giving his face a decidedly skull like appearance if not for the flesh that remained.
If he has the means he dresses in the finest clothes and armor he can find, whatever jewelry is the most gaudy, whatever weapon is the most eye-catching, whatever appearance will make him look like the most important person in the room, be it a kings throne room or an aristocrats hall.
Thus, his outfit often changes depending on what he has access to and what he feels would make him stand out the most in any given situation.
If his needs require it, he might even use illusions and glamours to change his appearance quickly if he doesn't have time to change.
Skills, Traits & Weaknesses
- Corpse master: With the skill of a surgeon he is adept at cutting open and sewing up cadavers, transplanting body parts and skillfully shaping them to fit his designs.
His knowledge of anatomy is second only to his knowledge of magic. This skill is predominantly used on the dead, but if he's given a living subject to "fix", most techniques still apply.
- Combat proficiency: While very handy with a knife or dagger, if he had his choice of weapon to use in combat it would be a longsword or war spear. His skill with weapons comes from experience, not so much training or talent and likely won't ever be a deciding factor in battle against a skilled warrior.
- Arcane study: Magic is his life, even before his undeath. Learning every spell he could find and every ritual he could get his hands on, his prodigious mind is an encyclopedia of magical knowledge and forbidden secrets, even if he doesn't know the exact information about a certain type of magic, his knowledge of magical theory allows him to quickly formulate his own hypothesis.
- Necromantic arcana: Death, undeath, life and the forces that govern them. The god's have decreed that life cannot be returned to those who are deceased, but the empty shell left behind has many uses.
Since becoming an undead his connection to the dark energies has grown exponentially, deepening his understanding of this unnatural force and allowing him greater power over the undead under his control.
- Arcana proficiency: His skills in other schools of magic are not lacking, specifically his skills in destructive and illusion disciplines which he often uses to compliment his necromancy.
His knowledge of anatomy is second only to his knowledge of magic. This skill is predominantly used on the dead, but if he's given a living subject to "fix", most techniques still apply.
- Combat proficiency: While very handy with a knife or dagger, if he had his choice of weapon to use in combat it would be a longsword or war spear. His skill with weapons comes from experience, not so much training or talent and likely won't ever be a deciding factor in battle against a skilled warrior.
- Arcane study: Magic is his life, even before his undeath. Learning every spell he could find and every ritual he could get his hands on, his prodigious mind is an encyclopedia of magical knowledge and forbidden secrets, even if he doesn't know the exact information about a certain type of magic, his knowledge of magical theory allows him to quickly formulate his own hypothesis.
- Necromantic arcana: Death, undeath, life and the forces that govern them. The god's have decreed that life cannot be returned to those who are deceased, but the empty shell left behind has many uses.
Since becoming an undead his connection to the dark energies has grown exponentially, deepening his understanding of this unnatural force and allowing him greater power over the undead under his control.
- Arcana proficiency: His skills in other schools of magic are not lacking, specifically his skills in destructive and illusion disciplines which he often uses to compliment his necromancy.
- Undead traits: As an undead he no longer needs to eat, breathe, or sleep and is immune to effects that might compel him to do so.
He is also immune to normal and magical cold, electricity, and magical attacks that affect the mind as well as any affects that might physically alter or polymorph his body that he doesn't will himself.
As a more powerful type of undead he is afforded a higher resistance to holy and light based magic, and his undead body grants him a natural form of resistance against physical attacks that aren't blunt weapons or magically enchanted in any way.
- Undead magic: His undeath, and particularly his Lichdom grants him a natural affinity with dark magic and death related spells, this serves as a potent fuel for his necromancy which he uses to great effect.
His touch delivers a terrifying effect. When a victim falls prey to his touch they become paralyzed in a way that is almost completely indistinguishable from death.
- Lichdom: Magic was his life when he was alive, now in undeath magic is his life quite literally.
A Lich is a powerful undead, a magic user who's found a way to cheat death through pursuing undeath. In order to become a lich he had to bind his soul to an object which then will indefinitely maintain his Unlife even if his body is destroyed, his Phylactery. His body can be recreated an innumerable amount of times
He is also immune to normal and magical cold, electricity, and magical attacks that affect the mind as well as any affects that might physically alter or polymorph his body that he doesn't will himself.
As a more powerful type of undead he is afforded a higher resistance to holy and light based magic, and his undead body grants him a natural form of resistance against physical attacks that aren't blunt weapons or magically enchanted in any way.
- Undead magic: His undeath, and particularly his Lichdom grants him a natural affinity with dark magic and death related spells, this serves as a potent fuel for his necromancy which he uses to great effect.
His touch delivers a terrifying effect. When a victim falls prey to his touch they become paralyzed in a way that is almost completely indistinguishable from death.
- Lichdom: Magic was his life when he was alive, now in undeath magic is his life quite literally.
A Lich is a powerful undead, a magic user who's found a way to cheat death through pursuing undeath. In order to become a lich he had to bind his soul to an object which then will indefinitely maintain his Unlife even if his body is destroyed, his Phylactery. His body can be recreated an innumerable amount of times
- Undead Weakness: As a creature animated by negative energy, he has a natural vulnerability to the holy and light elements, though his strength as a lich counteracts that normal fact.
Fire remains a reliable natural vulnerability, both normal and magical which he must take other measures to address.
- Phylactery: While it is the seat of his power and the method of his undeath and effective immortality, it's also his dragons cleft, his Achilles heel, his main reactor, his horcrux, his heart, his head, his soul. It's the one thing that keeps him "alive", but if it's destroyed then his soul has lost its anchor in the world and he will be destroyed permanently.
Fire remains a reliable natural vulnerability, both normal and magical which he must take other measures to address.
- Phylactery: While it is the seat of his power and the method of his undeath and effective immortality, it's also his dragons cleft, his Achilles heel, his main reactor, his horcrux, his heart, his head, his soul. It's the one thing that keeps him "alive", but if it's destroyed then his soul has lost its anchor in the world and he will be destroyed permanently.
Personality
Cunning and undeniably malevolent, power is his ultimate goal, and hatred of the living is his primary drive.
As an intelligent undead, while he may not be prone to chemical influence of emotion and his mental state cannot be manipulated, he's still prone to emotional outbursts born from his pride and ego.
Volitient is a creature of greed and pride, hording power and wealth to himself in order to build himself up.
However, in spite of this natural tendency, he's forced to face the reality of his situation, his weakness and poverty and he has recognized in his rational mind that he's incapable of becoming powerful on his own, introducing a measure of humility to temper his actions in order to achieve his goals.
He will only rarely pass up an opportunity to lord over those weaker than him, to put them in their place as fodder beneath his boots.
He takes sadistic joy in breaking the strong and cowing the weak, in humiliating those who imagined themselves greater than him, his arrogance knows no bounds.
In the face of the strong or those equal to him he shows a begrudging respect. Having such an elevated opinion of himself works in favor of those who prove themselves his equal or greater, and he'll be duly impressed knowing that getting to be as powerful as him was no easy feat.
Hypocritically he despises arrogance in others, as a professional narcissist he is the only one allowed to have a superior attitude towards others.
As an intelligent undead, while he may not be prone to chemical influence of emotion and his mental state cannot be manipulated, he's still prone to emotional outbursts born from his pride and ego.
Volitient is a creature of greed and pride, hording power and wealth to himself in order to build himself up.
However, in spite of this natural tendency, he's forced to face the reality of his situation, his weakness and poverty and he has recognized in his rational mind that he's incapable of becoming powerful on his own, introducing a measure of humility to temper his actions in order to achieve his goals.
He will only rarely pass up an opportunity to lord over those weaker than him, to put them in their place as fodder beneath his boots.
He takes sadistic joy in breaking the strong and cowing the weak, in humiliating those who imagined themselves greater than him, his arrogance knows no bounds.
In the face of the strong or those equal to him he shows a begrudging respect. Having such an elevated opinion of himself works in favor of those who prove themselves his equal or greater, and he'll be duly impressed knowing that getting to be as powerful as him was no easy feat.
Hypocritically he despises arrogance in others, as a professional narcissist he is the only one allowed to have a superior attitude towards others.
Biography
Volitient began his search for undeath when he was well into his magical studies. He knew of his affinity for dark magic so in secret he leaned into his research into undeath and the undead, deepening his connection to the negative forces which, as time went on, gradually corrupted his personality, twisted his morals, and forced away all notions of decency and goodness.
After a time as a Necromancer Dread Lord (NOT to be confused with those insufferable Dreadlords!) it seemed like the next natural step was to make himself an undead as well, he'd already lost all those pesky mental things that one might say would make a man "human", might as well complete the process and change his body into a conduit for the plane of negative energy!
He'd already amassed the knowledge he needed to begin constructing his Phylactery, what he lacked were the materials.
One obstacle that constantly foiled his plots was his lack of resources, so he would have to gather everything he needed but by bit, and that would take him many years.
At the ripe young age of 64 he completed his Phylactery and performed the ritual that finally freed his soul from its mortal coil.
Free from the confines of mortality he went on to live another 70 years as a corpse!
... And now he's even more broke than before!
After a time as a Necromancer Dread Lord (NOT to be confused with those insufferable Dreadlords!) it seemed like the next natural step was to make himself an undead as well, he'd already lost all those pesky mental things that one might say would make a man "human", might as well complete the process and change his body into a conduit for the plane of negative energy!
He'd already amassed the knowledge he needed to begin constructing his Phylactery, what he lacked were the materials.
One obstacle that constantly foiled his plots was his lack of resources, so he would have to gather everything he needed but by bit, and that would take him many years.
At the ripe young age of 64 he completed his Phylactery and performed the ritual that finally freed his soul from its mortal coil.
Free from the confines of mortality he went on to live another 70 years as a corpse!
... And now he's even more broke than before!