Baelnorn

**Baelnorn liches**, sometimes simply called **baelnorns**, were elves who chose a path of Prime-bound duty beyond death. These undead defenders unswervingly protected their clan and its holdings for centuries. The majority of baelnorn were spellcasters, and they maintained their mental and magical abilities in this state, though exceptions occurred.[*citation needed*]

## CreationEdit

The method of becoming a baelnorn was a High Magic or divine ritual. Less fortunate baelnorns stored their souls in a magical receptacle called a phylactery, like liches. In some cases, baelnorns did not need to use phylacteries, as their undeath was gifted to them by the Seldarine, but alas this process was uncommon.[*citation needed*]

## DescriptionEdit

Baelnorn, the willing undead elves, were the elf equivalent of liches, though they were hardly as disturbingly "wrong" as the corrupt undead and they did not project the fearsome aura of those wicked creatures. Sustained by magic and granted life of a sort beyond nature, baelnorn appeared largely as they did in life, though an immediate clue to a baelnorn's nature was the existence of shriveled and wrinkled skin turning slightly translucent over time. Some of the oldest baelnorn seemed to have little more than the hint of body, hair, and skin around their skeletons. Unlike liches, this was the extent of their degeneration, and they did not fall into loose piles of bones. Of course, elven unlife was similar to their lifespans, and as human liches lived for centuries, no witnesses had ever reported a millennia-old baelnorn.[*citation needed*]

## PersonalityEdit

A baelnorn could be of any non-evil nature, mainly lawful good, retaining whatever alignment it had in life.[*citation needed*]

## PowersEdit

Unlike most other forms of undead creatures, the baelnorn retained all of the memories, personality, and abilities that it possessed in life—but it had a virtual eternity to hone its skills and inevitably became very powerful. Like other powerful forms of undead (such as a vampire or mummy), a baelnorn had unnatural powers owing to his state. For example, it could put mortals in a paralyzed state of hibernation with a touch, making them seem dead to others, and could, through their typically powerful magical spells, summon other lesser undead to protect him. Unlike liches, baelnorn did not radiate an aura of horror that could send weak-willed would-be foes to flight. The baelnorn was capable of sustaining tremendous physical damage, and was immune to disease, poison, fatigue and other effects that affected only the living. However, despite all his undead "gifts", a baelnorn (like a lich) counted its vast and deep intellect, his supreme mastery of wizardry, and limitless time to scheme, research, and plan, as its greatest resources.[*citation needed*]

## SocietyEdit

The choice to embrace undeath was allowed and considered only on rare occasions, when a clan or settlement had need of lorekeepers or defenders beyond the norm. Even if an elf truly wanted to become a baelnorn for their clan's benefit, the Coronal, the High Mages, and the elders of the particular clan had to all be of one mind to allow this sacrifice to be made. To the surprise of some elves, these transformations occurred only a few times over five millennia at the will of the Seldarine.[*citation needed*]

Some chose to identify baelnorns by their motivations and occupations chosen in undeath:[*citation needed*]

* "Watchnorns", lurking observers and lesser guardians of public places or family lands, especially Castle Cormanthor)
* "Lorenorns", those choosing to act as tutors, librarians, or merely students of Art beyond their normal span of years; and
* "Guardnorns" or "Wardnorns", powerful guardians of crypts and other secret places or as the sole protector of particularly powerful items.

In truth, the baelnorn were all capable of as much action and activity as a live elf, though their personal attitudes and motivations (and the social unease over the continued public presence of a baelnorn) limited them to particular activities. In her time as a baelnorn, the Srinshee had acted as Wardnorn of the Vault of Ages and as the Lorenorn for the armathors and Court Magi, a great amount of activity despite her relatively hidden existence.[*citation needed*]

While the demilich-type existed among liches, there was no equivalent type among baelnorn. However, some revolutionary changes are recorded in the history.[*citation needed*]