The Living Corpse

Wizards have long sought to cheat death, to avoid the reaper's blade through cunning art and powerful invocations. Hermetic magi have only a few options to successfully become immortal, options that are restricted to initiates of a handful of Hermetic Mystery Cults. Frustration awaits the magus who desires immortality but is excluded from these secret and esoteric rites. Human life cannot be created or indefinitely retained by Hermetic magi.

But the components of life, the shell of the body and the animation of the spirit, can be manipulated. Several Hermetic spells can already accomplish these ends; spirits can be summoned, bound, and coerced into compliance, and a human body can be created, preserved, and controlled. Successful castings of these necromantic spells are only limited by their duration, but even this obstacle can be overcome. A spell will naturally cease, but an enchanted item can maintain a similar spell-like effect forever.

Combining necromantic spells with enchanted devices, a magus can create a human corpse and unite a ghostly apparition with the corpse to form a semblance of human life. Called a living corpse, such a creature is beyond the limitations of death, and can serve the magus for eternity. With careful preparation and painstakingly enchanted magic items, a necromancer can create a personal living corpse and achieve eternal existence.

If everything works as planned, the character — presumably a magus — becomes a living corpse, and the player needs to redo his character sheet. He must remake his character and, while he has some latitude, other choices will already be fixed by choices made in the character's life. Realms of Power: Magic is an essential tool for creating the living corpse character.