Nekros, Lord of the Rotting Darkness
The fools who believe that Echmeri souls are incapable of being ripped from their path to the Void (a ‘gift’ from HRAHNDEYL, bah!) are both young and shoddy in their scholarship. For I Nekros, servant of REVE-WUM, have unlocked the method of not only achieving Lichdom but also separating the mortal essence from the soul.
It is standard phenomena for the souls of commons animal or other sentient races (like the insufferable Hyu-Ket) to be recycled upon death in the Dreamsleeve, or sent to one of the afterlives of the ATEDA if their AE was attuned to that particular being’s will. The souls of Echmer are different however; due to the intervention of HRAHNDEYL, when we die our souls are sent to the Void for complete tonal erasure. There is no reincarnation for us, and the souls of newly born Echmeri come from the fabled Dreaming City (a mystery that I aim to unlock in the coming years of my new immortality).
Naturally, it is impossible to resurrect an Echmer once killed. Believe me, I have tried and I have been discouraged. But the whispering of REVE-WUM in my ears broke me from my stupor and I began to dive into more advance mytho-algorithms to unlock the secret of eternal undeath; even he was perplexed by our unique situation. I even abandoned previous prejudices and began to use magical means, so great was my ambition.
And there I found the answer! While dissecting the corpse of a virgin I remembered that the soul is compromised of two major components: pure magicka and mortal experience. The latter – formed out of the emotions, memories, and individuality of a person – creates what our kind refer to as the spirit. The spirit, in lack of a better phrase, links the body with the soul. Unlike the soul itself (which is consumed into nothingness upon death), the spirit liquefies and becomes the creatia that supports the world.
Normally, I would dismiss the idea of the spirit as a major concept in undeath: it becomes irretrievable once the mortal subject dies. But then I realized, perhaps it is the spirit that I need to utilize rather than the soul. If one was able to separate the spirit from the soul before or during the moment of death and contain it in a phylactery, would one escape the grasp of death?
The answer is quite simple: yes.
It took me a year to perfect the steps, calculate the reactions. But I did it. The process is painful and bloody, and those who survive it will always feel as if something has left them permanently. But it is worth it in its entirety. I was able to rip my spirit from my soul during the dying process, and place it in the amulet around my neck as the rest of me descended into nonexistence. I still have my memories, my emotions, and my individuality…but I am no longer a mortal. I am…something else.
Of course as a being with no soul I no longer possess the ability to generate or manipulate magicka, as I am an anomaly in the Aurbis now. Acoustineering is still capable, however, and that is all I truly need.
As long as the phylactery is safe, I shall live. Which is good, for my decomposing body is becoming too weak for continued use. I must seek a new one before I fall a part. The Dreaming City will have to wait.