Verit - Auralich

An auralich is a being who severs both their ties to their personal Aura and that part of the Code which governs their life. This has the beneficial effects of ending ageing and persistent needs like sleep and nutrition. They are also entirely resistant to damage, but can still suffer bodily harm – which they cannot naturally heal from. As well as having no Aura, the personality of an auralich becomes static and unchanging at the moment of severing. As the process is often a testing and traumatic experience, this can have negative consequences on the auralich's mental wellbeing.

Unlike a traditional lich, an auralich is neither undead nor necessarily evil, though the severing makes it ever more difficult for an auralich to relate to other people, and vice versa. Though the process of becoming an auralich is not inherently soul-tainting, it does tend towards making the prospective auralich solitary, frenetic, and uncaring. The severing itself can only be achieved either by fervent rejection of what one's Aura stands for, or much more rarely by perfect calm and personal peace, and is a time-sensitive affair once preparations have been made. These trying aspects, and the fact that it is much rarer for noble people to attempt the severing, leads to a majority of auraliches becoming unhinged and uncaring.

There are two kinds of auralich, depending on the nature of the severing. The more common are phylactery auraliches who, similar to traditional liches with their souls, expel their aura into an external object. The rarer kind are eternal autaliches, who simply expel their aura and allow it to dissipate into the ether.

Phylactery auraliches must keep their aura in a gem of appropriate size, depending on their Level of Experience. The aura of a phylactery auralich can be returned to their body either by destroying the phylactery or by the auralich willingly accepting it whilst touching the phylactery. If this occurs, the auralich immediately loses all Levels of Experience they gained as an auralich, and cease to be an auralich. They also immediately suffer the effects of all damage they resisted in the past twenty four hours, and feel both immense hunger and exhaustion. The sudden reconnection to the Code can discombobulate the former auralich, and they often require external support to prevent them to slipping into the habits of their severed lifetime, as the return to their previous self can be overwhelming.

Eternal auraliches lose their aura entirely, and can only cease to be an auralich if they steal the aura of another – which can cause the creation of conflicting personalities and cause mental trauma -  or create a new aura – a practically impossible feat. The only way to truly kill an eternal auralich is with a complex and little-known banishing ritual.

Both kinds of lich can lose their physical form, but survive as a disembodied mind, capable of latching onto and possibly corrupting nearby receptive minds.

Auraliches are almost universally ostracised for their deranged reputation – partially caused by their being ostracised – and becoming an auralich is outlawed in much of the Abwards and Stateward limbs of Verit. Even among more open-minded individuals, it is generally regarded as a foolish idea to become an auralich permanently. It is possible for an auralich to be a stable individual, and pass as a regular member of society, but the lack of an aura is often hard to downplay over extended periods, as people expect auras to flare when a person is emotional – people will either notice that a the auralich's aura does not flare, or that they rarely display emotion. Additionally, displaying evidence that you are above the first Level will indicate that you should have a visible aura.