Ludrissiel Geltharieth
Mistress Ludrissiel Caronëa Geltharieth (a.k.a. the Justification, the Eternal, Drissi)
Warning! This article deals with horror, themes of abuse, and has some quite dark imagery.
she's a monster who loves the suffering she brings, but she's my sister. I am meant to love her, so I do.Ludrissiel Caronëa Geltharieth is a cunning elven lich born in Serendel Forest. Raised in a tower with little-to-no contact with the outside world, she had no choice but to follow in her parents' footsteps and study necromancy herself, later tutoring her younger sister, Celuriel Geltharieth. Once her father had been slain by the Keepers of Divinity, Ludrissiel aided her mother's 'ascension' to undeath in the form of a Daughter of Urgathoa, and began the process of becoming a lich.
Ludrissiel Geltharieth by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
She tortured and killed her own sister to use her as both precious possession and powerful minion in a vicious mockery of sisterly love, after years of holding a grudge against Celuriel ever since the younger was born. Celuriel was always the prettier of the two, even if she held less power, and Ludrissiel made sure Celu knew how envious she was when she tore Celu's eyes from her skull to be used as scrying ornaments.
Her grasp of magic is terrifyingly powerful, and she has only gotten stronger since her ascension to lichdom. Countless mages have been bent to her service and later raised to undeath, and she has at times made contact with the vampires of Lunaron and other undead far beyond the borders of the Aletheian Empire alone to further her dread reach.
Each ritual she completes only raises her higher, and as she stays out of the public eye, very few beyond the underworld even knew of her existence until the Lost Ones raided her tower by sheer chance, killing her mother and freeing her prisoners - including her sister.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Death does not bring decay to those who know how best to wield it.Ludrissiel is a tall woman who lost none of her earthly beauty in her transition to undeath (through careful application of many preservative spells, of course). She is quite vain and maintains her makeup and physique with care, ensuring her physical appearance is always exactly as intimidating as she wishes it to be.
She is more muscled than willowy, but is certainly not as muscled as a barbarian might be, and her natural charisma ensures she always draws attention to the features she chooses to highlight rather than the occasional scar or misaligned bone from recent bouts of combat.
She has long, straight platinum-blonde hair that reaches her midback, and rarely does anything with it aside from letting it fall. Her eyes burn with scarlet undeath, glowing in the darkness with unnatural light.
Her skin is not just pale - it is desaturated almost completely, the life and colour long since drained from it and leaving her only a few shades darker than her hair. This, she accentuates with dark, shadowy contoured makeup, thick black eyeliner, and scarlet lipstick - supposedly the exact shade of her sister's blood.
Oddly, the crimson in her eyes seems to vary. In her more peaceful moments - such that there are - her eyes instead resemble her sister's brilliant gold, one of few traits she has retained from her mortal days.
Given that few see her in a state of any relaxation, it should be of no surprise that for most, scarlet eyes haunt their nightmares.
I mean... Psychopathic behaviour and lichdom and all that aside, she's hot.
Relationships
History
The sisters have a complicated relationship. Ludrissiel, as the elder sister, was always jealous of Celuriel. Celuriel, meanwhile, never felt like she could live up to Ludrissiel's example. That their mother tried to force both girls to excel in their father's memory only worsened the situation. Then Ludrissiel ascended to lichdom and killed Celuriel. Celuriel's own abilities kicked in before Ludrissiel could raise her, and from then on, Ludrissiel maintained a level of control and abuse over her vetala sister. When Celuriel was stolen from her by the Lost Ones, Ludrissiel was furious. Celuriel has mixed feelings on her sister now that she's been brought back to life, but the dominant emotion every time she considers her is always, relentlessly, fear.
Alignment
Evil
Current Status
Plotting
Species
Date of Birth
31st Lamashan
Year of Birth
4639 EA
987 Years old
Spouses
Siblings
Celuriel Aliforn
(Sister)
Children
Pronouns
she/her
Eyes
Blazing scarlet to molten gold
Hair
Long, straight, platinum-blonde; reaches her mid-back.
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Pale white; desaturated.
Ruled Locations
Motivations of a Lich
Understanding the mind of a madwoman is a hard task. Understanding a lich may yet be an impossible one. Ludrissiel's goals over the past few centuries seem to have revolved around the establishment and protection of her power base. She holds access to a great wealth of power now, and access to more as she wishes it. Her name goes unspoken by most paladins, but is whispered by the darkest corners of the world. A challenging feat, but one well-accomplished. So what is next, then, for a lich with such power, such skill, and such ambition? Unfortunately for the world, nobody knows - with the sole exception perhaps being her dearest estranged sister. For if there is one thing Celuriel knows, it is that one way or another, her sister will always come for her in the end.
Drissi's Horde by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
Personal History
Follow in her Footsteps by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
Birth of a Necromancer
Dead souls are limited in their use. The living have far greater potential, don't you think? A skeleton cannot learn to make more of itself, after all.Born to necromancer parents and raised in an isolated tower, Ludrissiel's soul was condemned to the Lower Planes before her life had even begun. As the eldest daughter of Ulsaron Geltharieth, a powerful exiled necromancer of Ilendras, she was taught countless ancient magics, each more disgusting than the last. By the time she hit adulthood, her hands were stained with the blood of many - and despite her own studies teaching her some aspects of normal morality, she didn't care. After her father's death, she started down a darker path. She spent her time luring innocent travellers to Geltharieth Tower in Serendel Forest through a variety of dark, strange means; some mundane, others supernatural. At times, she commanded her younger sister - Celuriel - to do the same, especially whilst Celuriel was still young and appeared innocent. For a small mercy, she never allowed the younger girl to remember the experience - her memories were wiped clean every time. Though in reality, this was no mercy: it was a means of control. The travellers became victims of her rituals, sacrifices, and experiments. Some would form part of her undead army - stored in part within the tower, and in part elsewhere. Others would be sent back out into the world as her eyes and ears, serving as her voice in strange quarters. Through them, she learnt much. Too much, perhaps.
Family Ties
You have always been such a good daughter, Drissi-dearest. Take care, won't you? Keep your sister close; she's your perfect ally.
Ludrissiel eventually aided her mother, Sidriel, with one last ritual - to slay her and turn her into a Daughter of Urgathoa, thoroughly demonstrating her mother's loyalty to the goddess Urgathoa... and removing the only obstacle in her way at the same time. Her mother, of course, had never approved of Ludrissiel's aspirations, not on their own - for it was ungrateful, she deemed, to not appease her parents wishes first.
However, her sister was not happy with the forced arrangement. In a fit of sheer rage, borne of the constant mistreatment her family had placed her through, Celuriel unintentionally changed the ritual. Instead of being a simple minion, she was born again as a vetala vampire - a vampire tied to the draining of memories and emotions rather than blood.
Sister's Love by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
Thus whilst her mother retained a sharp intelligence in her newfound undeath, their familial bond was gone - dissipated at the moment of death, freeing Ludrissiel from her mother's demands and removing Celuriel's only other mortal ally in the world. Now, her sister was hers, and hers alone.
After much preparation - and heavy use of magic upon her sister, keeping her alive, in good health, and oblivious to some of the more terrible atrocities Ludrissiel had committed - she tortured and finally killed poor Celuriel as one of the final steps in her grand plan. As the girl's soul slipped away, she trapped it on the Material Plane.
With a loving hand, Ludrissiel bound the soul to a carefully-cloned copy of her sister's body - bereft of most injuries she'd dealt - and raised her from the dead as an undead minion. She had further uses for Celuriel's oracle power, and an intelligent undead form would be far easier to control. And far less susceptible to pain.
Celuriel's Rise by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
Ascension to Lichdom
Death is not an ending for those with power. No - it is a beginning. My beginning.
Ludrissiel's Ascension by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
It would not do to let her sister's betrayal interrupt her plans. Ludrissiel completed her ritual in darkness and death, draining the life from a small army of mages that had - through coercion or force - joined her side. None would survive.
The sheer negative energy of their violent deaths polluted the land around the tower, permanently casting it into unnatural shadow, but this was of little bother for Ludrissiel. After all - it empowered her undeath like nothing else could. Her smile, as death claimed her, was one of utter satisfaction.
Thus did a new lich rise from blackest depths. Thus did an elf die, never to return.
Years passed, then. She kept herself busy, and her skills sharp - a newborn lich had much to do, and many people to meet. Yet between raising armies of undead and constructing her hidden fortress in its secret-shrouded home, Ludrissiel did not forget her sister's action of 'betrayal'.
For thirty years, Celuriel remained trapped inside their family's tower, accompanied only by the dead. Her former mother was delighted by her younger daughter's change, but less pleased by the slow hunger that consumed her. Sidriel occasionally summoned outsiders for Celuriel to drain, eventually lessening the madness to a level where the vetala could do it herself, but dared not risked her elder daughter's ire by unlocking the tower.
When Ludrissiel returned, she mocked her sister relentlessly for being so weak as to rely on their mother still.
Geltharieth Tower by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
Sister's Escape
Perhaps those years of claiming her memories for myself have let her forget something incredibly important.When the Lost Ones came, bringing with them the fire and fury of a paladin's holy might, Ludrissiel didn't even bother fighting the fledgling adventuring party. Knowing the faces of those with unnatural might was enough. She sealed them in her tower, expecting them to slaughter all within it - including her mother and sister - and left to alert those she'd allied with to the newfound threats. Then Celuriel appeared in Undria, still in their company. Free. For the first time in centuries, Ludrissiel was enraged. As Celuriel's life improved - as she found a cure for her vampirism, fell in love with Aniks Alas'thil (who, coincidentally, was Death's Champion), and eventually got married - Ludrissiel's plans only increased in scope. They entwined with those plotted by others, to become a chain ready to ensnare the hapless girl and her fool allies when they least expected it. Her sister would rejoin her side, one way or another. A lich could be very patient. And Ludrissiel was very good at being a lich.
I can make her regret like no-one else can. I shaped her; it is my right to break her.
She Watches by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
she is very pretty. and terrifying. the quote at the end is absolutely chilling.