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| Species | Bash Tchelik (or Bas Celik) |
| Order | Greater Undead |
| Classification | Undead |
| Dominion | Raesian |
| Sphere | Undeath |
| Origin | Ancient rulers who sought inmortality |
| Lifespan | Inmortal |
| Habitat | Temperate to subarctic forests |
| Food | Lifeforce, souls, love resonance |
| Description | A desiccated mortal body, sometimes skeletal, that can appear almost alive--though always somewhat rotted and dead--the more power they have. Some alter their faces or heads to mark their transformation, sharpening teeth into fangs or tusks, replacing their skull with iron, lead, or steel, etc. |
| Corruption | A mortal or Aeonian who corrupts their Name and splits it into fragments can become a bash tchelik. This process only ever happens intentionally. |
| Esoterica | Bash tcheliki are beings of msawhat. They retain corrupted versions of the powers they had in life, save those of qi, the gates, or heavenly essences. Those are replaced with other vile arts. The most commonly used energies include Raesian energy, black nommos, True Names, psionic energies, ancestral memory, negative emotional resonances, shadow, infernum, quaestus, imperium, uafas, pravum, arnum, vile energy, self-denial, cacophony, desperation, Damaskian powers, gebvel, mashoaab, parasitic energy, feirua, blood energy, viscera, other humors, mana, ethereal energy, poioumenon, kor, spirits, doom, paradox, blasphemy, symbolism, and rending. |
| Special Powers | Bash tcheliki cause unease in those who are near them proportional to how rotted and desiccated they appear to be. A bash tchelik stores their psyche and their soul in an object known as a soul jar, which is not usually a jar. Often, it is an egg, a crystal ball, arrowheads, or a rounded or hollowed stone. They then store this soul jar within a series of nested objects or beings, for instance, an egg in a duck in a fox in a forest in the mountains. The soul jar will burn anything it touches if it touches on the ground, until it's put out with salt water. Every bash tchelik, when they are formed, has an item--a cape, a ring, a crown, a jewel--that allows them to command other undead (any not in the greater undead or vampire category by fiat, greater undead or vampires by force of will). They can easily transfer this power to other objects if need be. The nails of a bash tchelik are sharp enough to slice through flesh, muscle, and bone. After an Age of existence, a bash tchelik gains a set of grey leathery wings. Mundane weapons do not harm them. Because they have no emotional resonance of their own, a bash tchelik seeks to devour the emotion of others, specifically the love resonance between lovers. They do this by kidnapping one person in the couple, luring in the other, and waiting until they reunite to kill them both. A bash tchelik can cause mortals to fall asleep with a gesture of their hands or other appendages, or they can petrify mortals by breathing a blanket of mist out of their dried lungs. They can do this en masse. If they take the hair, nails, or teeth of a mortal, they can turn that mortal into a snake. An enchanted string instrument can break these spell. A bash tchelik can create, summon, and control an undead steed which will be either three-legged (a very moderate grey beast) or seven-legged (a very strong grey beast). Bash tcheliki often have some of the following powers: aura of deathly ice, aura of consuming shadow, terrifying visage, paralyzing gaze, soulstealing grasp, corrupting touch (turning victim undead), summon undead via a word of power, lifeforce draining msawhat-whip, etc. |
| Necromancy | In order to become a bash tchelik, a mortal or Aeonian must use a ritual (33) split their Name is split into four parts: the lich, or body, which becomes corrupted and desiccated; the intellect and soul are forced into a soul jar; and the heart is stored within another mortal, which they often mistake for their true love. After they arise into undeath, they take the intellect back out of the soul jar so that they may use it, storing it back in their minds. It is, however, now "loose," meaning it can wander back to the soul jar if the body is destroyed. Any goodness on the bash tchelik's soul before they become undead must be scoured away or they will be weaker as a bash tchelik. One can control a bash tchelik if they have its (metaphorical or literal or both) heart. It can be sealed into a room, chained or even tied with common ropes, by the one who has its heart, and if this happens, the heart-possessor will be able to drain (and use) its power. If someone, however, finds the bash tchelik and gives it water or food, it will grow stronger the more it gets, eventually escaping and hunting down the heart-possessor. To summon a bash tchelik, one must spill innocent blood onto the bash tchelik's grave. |
| Sending | To send a bash tchelik, one must destroy their soul jar. A newer bash tchelik will be destroyed by the destruction of their soul jar, often with any damage to the soul jar will be mirrored on the bash tchelik. A more powerful bash tchelik will not be killed unless their soul jar is destroyed, but they must then be stabbed through the heart or the brain, or their whole body burned, after the soul jar is gone. No matter how powerful a bash tchelik is, if their soul jar is carried through the lychgate of a churchyard, they will be destroyed. If the soul jar is bound to living animals, the animals must be freed before destroying the soul jar or they will die upon its destruction. If the person who possesses the bash tchelik's heart seeks to kill them, they will have advantage on all rolls. |
| Weaknesses | A weakened bash tchelik's eyelids will become so heavy it will take two or more people to lift them. Qi and the gates (25) harm them, and heavenly essences (37) of significant power can destroy them. |
| Behavior | Bash tchelik are usually figures of power, rulers of countries or powerful esotericists. They retain the authority they had in life. They are greedy, miserly beings who hoard power and wealth, kidnap and lure in lovers to kill them and devour their emotional resonance, raise armies of the undead to conquer and control new realms, and reign over their kingdoms. |
| Dominion Culture | Bash tcheliki are the rulers of the Raesian Dominion. All answer to the Empress of Kael'Ras, their Manifest, in an intricate imperial hierarchy. They command the entire Dominion and keep vast hoards of slaves, wealth, and power. They are feared the world over. |
| Other Dominions | Bash tcheliki are in every Dominion, as they seek power. They are always a part of the ruling class of the Dominion. In the Kaanian Dominion, they have the power to drain the love of a mother for a child instead of between lovers. In the Qhanuum Dominion, they nullify their emotional aspect completely, taking away that power and weakness. In the Godless Dominion, they have the power to consume the love of the faithful for their Divine instead of love between lovers. In the Fellwood Dominion, they have a terrifying visage so powerful it kills. In the Agikaani Dominion, their powers of control are much more powerful. In Dun Dominion, their powers of petrification and paralyzation are much more powerful. In the Durosian Dominion, their bodies are physically stronger, their nails sharper. In the Campionese Dominion, their sleep gesture power is stronger, and in the Pandemonian Dominion, their soulstealing grasp is stronger. In Wapek Dominion, they have greater command of the cold, and in the Srisian Dominion, their shadow auras are incredibly strong. |
| Mortal Interactions | Most mortals do not known the term "bash tchelik" outside of Ranu, where the term is used to refer to any powerful undead, regardless of its accuracy. Individual bash tcheliki are well known wherever they dwell, feared, and often hated, especially if they rule the area. Mortals view them as untouchable abominations. |
| Afterlife | Bash tcheliki go straight to the Grey Lands or the Hells if they are sent. |
| Notables | Druzidara, Bash Tchelik Manifest, Empress of Kael'Ras; Koschei, King of the Winter Forest; Kael'Darik, King of Kael'Ras (destroyed); Nevandra Indaillain, Queen of the Deepest Dark, dwarven bash tchelik; Scaethiir Doom, Whiteflesh Death-King of the Bleak Downs; Vrig the Grey, Lord-Father of the Carvallian Mountains |
| Special Classes | Necromancer, High Priest, Noble, Warlord |
| Sample Stats | PRO 17 ATH 17 Flight 24 STR 16 Nails +12/+12 AWA 29 WIL 33 ROG 16 Unease Presence 16 Soul Jar Heat 19 Command (WIL) Resonance Consumption 33 Sleep Gesture 33 Mist Breath 33 Snaking 26 Steed Create/Control/Summon 29 Other Powers 27+ |
GrandGuignol
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