Liches

**Liches** are another type of being in Fargia, a very varied type of creature that dates back thousands of years. They are seen as the main enemy in Fargia and are hunted greatly.

## Overview

Liches are a diverse species whose primary diet is humans; absorbing them into their body, skinning them or ravaging any little scrap they get. Liches have been seen to kill humans in many different ways, even inside cities that are recorded as safe. The majority of liches are very difficult to defeat, due to their race's attributes and abilities. To combat this strength, Lich Slayers make use of **Trinkets** attached by **Ambition Strings** - allowing them to access Lich Key .

### Appearance

Liches appear in various different ways, there is no one description that aligns with all liches. However, the majority of liches have some sort of inhuman attribute to them: different coloured skin, horns, varied sizes, large fangs, and different bodily structure entirely. Some liches such as **Vugads** can look humanoid while some, such as **Petarks** look entirely inhuman: just a blob of slime and intestines. Liches also appear in many different sizes, from the 1.3m tall **Juratae** to the well over 100m **Goliath liches**.

### Behaviour

The majority of liches are aggressive in nature towards humans. However, some liches prefer to be neutral towards humans such as the citizens of **Carantar** and some have been tamed by humans - **Unnamed Bone Canine Lich**. Each race of lich seem to have different pack/group numbers ,which in the large numbers are usually led by an Alpha lich.

### Variations

Liches can appear in many different levels of strength. You can encounter weak liches which can be beaten by a Novice Slayer with ease or you could encounter one with the strength that rivals that of a Harvest Slayer. These are the known variations of liches:

* **Alpha Liches.** Alpha liches seem to be a Lich that leads a group of its race. These Alpha Liches appear to be bigger, stronger and more intelligent than a regular lich.
* **Elder Liches.** Elder liches seem to be a variation of an Alpha Lich. These appear to have more advanced traits of their race while also having much more intelligence.
* **King Liches.** King Liches seem to be much more intelligent Liches: having an equal or higher IQ than a human. King Liches usually have the power to defeat an Elite Slayer of The Lich Slayer Corps. The majority of King Liches have the power to utilise Lich Key so they are a formidable enemy when aggravated.
* **Goliath Liches.** Though not full proven, it has been documented that a Lich towering over 100m tall has been spotted near the border of The Red Waste around 97 years ago. This gargantuan monster has been written down as to be as powerful to defeat one Unnamed Female Slayer who was renowned for her strength and bravery.

## Races

There are a wide array of Lich races which are different in their attributes, here are the known Liches with things known about them.

### Jurutae

Dark red skin with incredibly long, thick hair and a humanoid, goblin-like build. They're typically quite short, at max 1.3m tall, and have small yet sharp claws. Usually they will travel on all fours by leaping and are surprisingly agile. They communicate by chattering their teeth in different ways and can climb exceptionally well; mostly known for hosting small raids on human settlements and stealing children or the elderly for food.

### Petarks

Fat, grey, translucent slimy creatures that usually inhabit the sewers of larger human cities and typically reach 4m in height, though larger variants that live in swamps have been recorded. They reproduce through mitosis and grow constantly due to relentless eating. This process of eating is in itself quite brutal as they subsume their prey into their slimy body mass and slowly digest them alive. It is assumed that they sense things through the use of vibrations hitting off of them and the ripples formed in their slime substance as they possess no sort of ears or eyes. Some organs are visible inside them due to their translucence and they typically prey upon adults when they're vulnerable such as walking along the street and getting too close to a sewer entrance or sitting on the toilet.

### Skinners

A humanoid Lich with a deep, sickly yellow skin colour and pure black eyes. Their fingers are each about double in length from that of an adult human and have no fingernails. As expected from their name they have the ability to steal the "skin" and all the physical features of anyone who falls prey to them, which allows them to then get easy access to new prey by tricking them with a human disguise. Skinners appear to have human levels of intelligence from what we have seen so far.

### Vugads

A tall, slender, humanoid lich with bald heads and bright, white skin. They typically reach about 2.5m in height and have the approximated intelligence of a human, though it seems intelligence in their society is determined by the number of horns protruding from the top of their heads. They only possess 8 fingers and don't have any thumbs but to seemingly compensate have 14 toes instead. They emanate a similar aura to the Arilee people, though their auras are usually far larger and appear more consistently as well as in more controlled forms.

### Evchits

Tiny, verdant-scaled liches with properties of a lizard. They typically reach about 0.5m in height and strictly travel in huge packs that can even reach into the hundreds. They have untrimmed, long, ginger/red beards as well as naturally very large muscles. Their jaws are very low-hanging and they typically swallow babies or humans' pets whole for food using their wide mouths.

### Guvrees

Gargantuan, avian liches that occasionally migrate from the Jade Continent to Fargia for breeding. They have a wingspan of about 12m and a height of around 5m with thick, orange, cyan and white feathers across their entire body. They have four legs despite being mostly bird-like as well as 2 long, clawed arms which they hide if not standing upright. Their beaks are huge themselves, about the size of a full human, and they possess a 6m long, flexible, low-laying tail with a spaded end. Guvrees must first mate with one another and then implant their fertilized eggs into a host afterwards, which typically comes in the form of sleeping, unaware humans. After 11 months their babies will hatch and eat the human hosts from the inside.

### Xeb'Dus

Camoflauging liches with appearance similar to that of an imp, the colour of their entire bodies will constantly adapt to their surroundings. They're about the size of a human child, ranging from 1.4 to 1.7m tall at full height. They usually inhabit jungles of large forests and prepare traps for foolish explorers or larger animals. Xeb'Dus are the only common lich known to wield weapons of any level. They've been known to use blowdarts, bamboo or bone daggers and knuckle dusters. They seemingly use cries and screeches as well as the echoes of those sounds to communicate with one another - even being able to disguise their voices as natural wildlife.

### Hiiraks

A lich which is seemingly a sick hybrid of dog, polar bear and worm. They're incredibly strong with a very beefy build and walk on 4 legs, about 3m in length and 1.8m in height. Coated on them is an incredibly thick, white fur and they have a short stub for a tail. Their head is similarly shaped to that of a Rottweiler and their bite force is more powerful than that of a large rhino. Their legs are surprisingly tall, making up two thirds of their total height as a way for them to more carefully traverse thinner ice. As expected they typically inhabit tundras and other very cold regions; usually in Northern Fargia. Another strange feat is their intelligence, being shown to understand somewhat complex human puzzles such as a Rubik's Cube through the small amount of testing performed.

### Razhu

A Worm-like Lich with a sturdy horn located on its head. They have two arms and hundreds of sharp teeth in their mouths. They reach up to 20m in length and 5m tall. They are mostly found in the far north of Jhatav'V as they utilise ice to burrow though and catch people off guard.