Lord Gerallt ap Selwyth
Most of House Selwyth wants to make necromancy and the creation of the undead more socially acceptable in Swynfaredia, but they usually draw the line at liches. A few radicals think "liches may be accepted eventually, but now is much too soon."
Gerallt was staring down his natural death and decided "Eventually isn't soon enough if I have to die."
Against the wishes of most Selwyths, Gerallt sought the lore and materials necessary to become a lich figuring it was better to ask forgiveness in permission. Besides, the best and brightest of the House needed to be preserved for all eternity.
Until laws and cultural norms changed to allow a lich to exist openly, Gerallt accepted that he would need to spend most of his time hidden beneath a lead mine in Klarica County, but eventually enough people guessed "Hey if I wanted to hide something nefarious, I'd put it in a lead mine. Hey, a bunch of nefarious people happen to own a large lead mine in Klarica County."
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Gerallt was born into a noninheriting branch of House Selwyth. A moderately late bloomer for sorcery, he made up for his short coming in raw talent with hard work and tenacity, which in the long run is more useful for becoming a powerful sorcerer
Gerallt had a bit of scholarly bent as trained as an alchemist and magical researcher though his tastes always tended towards the dark and barely legal such as developing rare poisons.
As he got older, his endeavors became more academic and less physical. Like many liches and would-be liches, he was motivated largely by his fear of his own impending mortality. This lead to him rationalizing becoming a lich against the wishes against the rest of his house.
Towards the end of his life, he served as Patriarch of House Selwyth, but he focused heavily on the magical/ideological side of things and mostly left the rest of the house to sort out marriage issues. Mostly he used his position to gather the resources he needed to complete his lich transformation.
Once fully undead, Gerallt wanted to direct House Selwyth affairs from the shadows. The rest of the senior Selwyths were happy with this, but they didn't want to move openly against them because if Gerallt's lichdom became widely known, the House would suffer a devastating scandal.
Gerallt did not make it a decade in his undead state. Lord Reese ap Gorisonad, an erstwhile ally of House Selwyth discovered Gerallt transformation and believed that he could do a lot of damage to both the Selwyths and Gorisonads, but none of the leaders in House Selwyth and House Gorisonad wanted to take action against Gerallt, sweeping him under the rug...or more accurately, hiding him deep in a lead mine.
by me with Midjourney
Gerallt trained as a Fang Warrior, but was fairly mediocre as a swordsmen relying on pain spells to weaken his foes before cutting them down with weapons. The knightly duty he excelled at was keeping the rabble in line. He gained a reputation as a thuggish bully, again relying on pain spells as his weapon of choice.
He gradually transitioned from being a crude thug into being a careful assassin as he took on various wet work jobs for House Selwyth, House Gorisonad, and the occasional third party as a freelancer.
A battle of wills ensued where Gerallt tried to direct House affairs and the rest of the House tried to pretend to follow his lead while sidelining him as much as possible. One thing Gerallt and the living House leaders agreed on was pushing magical research, so they set up Gerallt with a lot of grimoire and magical laboratory items. Gerallt's most tangible post-mortem accomplishment was the creation of the first Lead Blades.
Since he was hiding in a lead mine surrounded by corpses, this was a natural direction for his efforts.
by Eron12 with Hero Forge
by me with Midjourney
Reese leaked Gerallt's location to a known enemy of both houses, Kormatin of the Dusk, figuring that Kormatin would destroy Gerallt or visa versa and then House Gorisonad would have one less threat. Kormatin and his allies won, destroying Gerralt to relief of most of the Selwyths who were aware of his existence. Though they are unhappy that Kormatin is now possession of the Selwyth heirloom swordthe Talon of Aeres
Social
Family Ties
Frieze of a Medieval Wedding by Thomas Stothard
Current Location
Species
Conditions
Ethnicity
Other Ethnicities/Cultures
Previously Held Ranks & Titles
Life
1747 CE
1838 CE
91 years old
Circumstances of Birth
Maylar's Zodiac Year
Circumstances of Death
made himself undead then destroyed by adventurers
Family
Children
Sex
male
Eyes
glowing orbs in empty sockets
Hair
nope
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
nope
Aligned Organization
Comments