Erlik

**Erlik** was a Draugr Treant and Leannan the Titania's rival for rulership of Laruel, desiring to turn the plantfolk city-state into a safe haven for his fellow undead. His ultimate goal was to raise Laruel's World Sapling from its slumber by wounding it with mold disease and link to the source of its powers, thus effectively become Laruel's Sovereign and be able to access the millions of experience, spells, and secrets in the Sapling's mind as well. Worst case scenario, he could take control of the Sapling's body and its life force.

## Appearance

The Draugr stood over 6 meters (20') tall. His appearance was that of a dead tree come to life after being possessed by an evil spirit, his bark swollen, blackened, and hideous to look at. His whole body kept rotting and regenerating in an eternal cycle, leaking a dirty white substance from its cracks that resembled pus. The liquid was undead as well and wriggled like worms while searching for another crack to get back inside the Draugr's corpse.

Erlik had been a Treant in life, so he was much bigger and stronger than a Treantling. In death, all of the leaves forming his hair and goatee had turned yellow with brown spots, giving him a sickly look. His eyes shone with the red light of undeath.

## Personality

Like all Draugrs, Erlik was extremely greedy and possessive. He had no desire for offspring and was incredibly ambitious. He viewed humans as dumb beasts who needed to be tamed and himself as the one to finally do so. However, he sought to use the Jiera plague as a means to create a utopia for the undead and to help his race thrive.

The Draugr was extremely paranoid and calculative, making his moves based on reason.

## Abilities

By becoming a Draugr, Erlik had gained many great powers, but also several limitations. His link with Mogar was severed and most of his abilities as a Treant were lost.

## Background

Erlik was raised as an undead from his burial ground in the Jiera Continent. He came to Laruel in the Garlen Continent to use the city as a stepping stone to a high seat in the Undead Courts and then use it to change their policy to establish undead supremacy. After his arrival to the Garlen continent, before he could enact his plan, Erlik had made contact with all the Undead Courts. Unexpectedly, the Dawn, Dusk, and Night Courts set aside their differences, agreeing to a common strategy, having grown sick of hiding in the shadows and feeding upon the scraps of society instead of being part of it. The undead migration had boosted their numbers, giving them the power that the Courts had always lacked. The Courts offer their support to Erlik, seeking the same combat power by helping him take control of the plantfolk's Gate network.

Despite being an undead plantfolk, Erlik defeats Leannan's constables, gaining the right to defy her and challenge her rule. In order to increase his numbers, he engineers the Jiera Continent's plague to affect only plants, not killing them but just partially turning them into undead. As innocent citizens were being turned against their will, Leannan is forced to ask the three Great Countries for help.

Due to the difficulty in evolving into Fae, many of the sentient plants turned into partial undead become drunk on their new power that they ask Erlik to complete the process of their own volition. Additionally, the bugbears that Lith's group encounter in Javvok are the result of Erlik's experiments in trying to use monsters as test subjects to try and turn the members of other races into undead plants as well.

Erlik had used light and darkness magic to fuse his tissues with Jiera's plague, making them capable of thriving even inside a foreign body - undeath boosted the tissues' vitality while the plague gave them the ability to fuse with living beings, but are unable to create a real blood core. The experiments are a failure, as the victims grow weaker until they die, forcing the saplings to feed on local flora to survive until they die too of starvation.

Leannan had lulled them into a false state of security before launching an all-out attack that had flushed Erlik out from his previous headquarters. Packing and moving the devices took priority, so he had cleaned most of the mold before escaping, though was unaware the tree-house would continue to survive nor about the life poisoning.

Gremlik informs him of Lith's arrival in Laruel as well as Kalla's, leading him to develop a plan to kill them. Lith and Kalla successfully analyze the scarring on the treehouse as a mass of darkness magic imbued with Erlik's willpower, though the multiple willpowers interacting with the scar tissue alerts Erlik. He orders Kaelan the Vampire to disguise a thrall as Manohar to lure Archon Ernas and Kamila to Othre in order to deal with Lith and Quylla who have been threatening his plans in Laruel.

Kaelan's failure drives Erlik into action and he mobilizes his army, storming the gates to Leannan's castle inside the World Sapling. His partial control over the Sapling allows him to control Laruel's Warp Gates, preventing the other city-state Sovereigns and Leannan's elite soldiers from entering. Erlik's plan is to buy time to cut a deal with the Sapling - eternal life for the Sapling in exchange for unlimited power for Erlik. As a result, Erlik is able to tap into the Saplings power like Leannan.

Leannan evokes the Ritual of the Chosen, isolating the two Sovereigns and causing Erlik to enact his contingency plan. The sacks of symbiotes in the treehouses turn into Draugrlings and they make their way to Erlik, causing destruction in their path. However, Leannan poisons with darkness magic the World Sapling along with Erlik due to their connection, enabling her to kill him.

It is later revealed that Lich King Inxialot Nagaar had been behind Erlik's attempt to take over a World Sapling, investing a lot of time and resources into the Draugr.

## Quotes

* *"It will give me the means to build an eternal kingdom for the undead. A utopia where we will not need to hide and cower anymore. Just by asking the Sapling to remove the dew covering the treetops, the city will be plunged into an eternal darkness that will free us from the tyranny of the sun. I want to believe that the plague was a sign from the god of darkness. That all this suffering after losing our homes has a meaning. Very soon, undead will not be the neglected race anymore. Our Awakened will not be able to continue ignoring us. We will not be just a worm hiding in an apple but the owners of the orchard instead. My race will thrive, and I'll be acclaimed as its savior."* (Chapter 817)
* *"I understand now why you've fallen from the Night Court's grace. Your brain doesn't match your power, just like a lesser undead."* (Erlik to Kaelan, Chapter 824)
* *"I like flair, but my act would have cost me precious time. I'm anything but a practical guy."* (Erlik to Titania, Chapter 833)

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 797
2. ↑ Chapter 820
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 833
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Chapter 804
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 817
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 830
7. ↑ Chapter 823
8. ↑ Chapter 798
9. ↑ Chapter 799
10. ↑ Chapter 824
11. ↑ Chapter 834
12. ↑ Chapter 843
13. ↑ Chapter 1499