Baelnorn

Baelnorn liches, often simply called baelnorns, were elves who chose a path of Prime-bound duty beyond death which closely resembled lichdom. They often did so to serve or safeguard their families, communities, or important places, and acted as keepers and protectors of elven clans and holdings far beyond the lifespan of a living elf.

Description
Most baelnorn were spellcasters, and maintained their mental and magical abilities in their undead state, with some exceptions. Sustained by magic, younger baelnorns appeared largely as they had in life, if somewhat taller, but with immediate yet subtle clues to a their nature, such as their glowing white eyes and shriveled skin which turned slightly translucent over time. Older baelnorn lost most of their hair, bulk, and even skin, appearing as little more than skeletons, although they would not degrade further than this. It was unclear just how long they could endure, although no reports existed of millennia-old baelnorns.

Personality
A baelnorn could be of any non-evil nature, mainly lawful good, retaining whatever alignment it had in life. Compared to other types of liches, baelnorn were far less greedy and power-hungry. They dedicated themselves completely to whatever task or duty had compelled them to seek unlife in the first place. A baelnorn who served as a guardian might spend centuries laying and checking traps, always ready for a fight. Most baelnorns, however, preferred to avoid combat if possible.

Abilities
A baelnorn retained all memories, personality traits, and abilities from life, but had a virtual eternity to hone and develop its skills further. Thanks to the near limitless time they could devote to studying magic, baelnorns inevitably became extraordinarily powerful spellcasters.

Baelnorns had the unique power to send a wraith-like projection of themselves out to meet with or convernse with others, or to scout an area. These projections could not be dispelled or turned, and could range out to.

Combat
While as mighty and terrifying as a lich&mdash;such that lesser undead and animals would not dare to attack them&mdash;baelnorn lacked a lich's chilling aura of horror that could send weak-willed foes fleeing. Like other powerful forms of undead (such as a vampire or mummy), a baelnorn had unnatural powers owing to its state. For example, it could put mortals in a paralyzed state of hibernation with a touch, making them seem dead to others, and could, through their typically powerful magical spells, summon other lesser undead as well as turn undead. A baelnorn was capable of sustaining tremendous physical damage and was immune to disease, poison, fatigue, and other effects that affected only the living. However, despite all its undead "gifts", a baelnorn considered its greatest resources to be its vast and deep intellect, its supreme mastery of wizardry, and its limitless time to scheme, research, and plan.

It was not possible to turn a baelnorn within the locations where it served or guarded.

Society
Baelorns&mdash;with few exceptions&mdash;had willingly entered into undeath, and although they were considered the elf equivalent of liches, elven society did not perceive them as being as disturbing or unnatural as true liches. The choice to become a baelnorn in ancient elvish society was usually granted only on rare occasions when a clan or settlement had an exceptional need for lorekeepers or guardians. If an elf wished to become a baelnorn, it had to be for their clan's benefit, and the Coronal, the High Mages, and the elders of the clan had to agree. As such, these transformations occurred rarely, generally no more than a few times over the millennia and only at the will of the Seldarine.

Baelnorns occasionally received titles based on their and occupations:
 * "Watchnorns" were observers and guardians of public places or family lands, such as Castle Cormanthor)
 * "Lorenorns" acted as tutors, librarians, or students of magic or art; and
 * "Guardnorns" or "Wardnorns" were powerful guardians of crypts and other secret places, or served as the protector of powerful items.

Baelnorn were capable of the same activities as a living elf, athough their personal motivations as well as social unease surrounding their public appearances limited them to their dedicated services. Most baelnorn stayed within the crypts, towers, ruins, or other structures which they guarded or worked in, and were rarely seen outside of them. When they did venture out, or when they appeared in public to tutor or protect a family member, they wore hoods to conceal their nature.

While the demilich-type existed among liches, there was no equivalent type among baelnorn. However, some revolutionary changes are recorded in the history.

Creation
The method of becoming a baelnorn was a High Magic or divine ritual or a state bestowed by a member of the Seldarine. The process did not generally require the use or creation of a phylactery, meaning that baelnorns wishing to evade destruction relied on the clone spell. Some less fortunate baelnorns did need to store their souls in a phylactery like a normal lich, in which case they kept it near to the places that they protected or worked.

History
Before the fall of Myth Drannor, baelnorns in that city served as councilors, guardians, and advisors for their families. While many of these stayed out of the public eye, others took active roles in training their families' young wizards or protecting travelers. After the city's fall, many remained in the ruins to watch over family vaults or powerful heirlooms. Elminster once consulted with a number of these baelnorns beneath the ruins of Myth Drannor.

The relatively large number of baelnorn in Myth Drannor were credited as being the only reason many elves were able to escape duirng its fall.

The means for creating a baelnorn were truly ancient, even by elven standards. The secrets were beleived to have disappeared after the fall of Myth Drannor as no new baelnorns were known to have been created since then (as of the mid-to-late 14 century DR). However, it was possible that some records may have persisted in Evermeet or Evereska. By this time, few elves considered the decision to become a baelnorn as a worthy one.

Notable Baelnorn

 * The Srinshee was no doubt the most famous baelnorn of all time. She was the Senior Cor'Seku'Taar, Wardnorn of the Vault of Ages and the Lorenorn for the armathors and Court Magi of Cormanthyr. She helped raise the mythal over Myth Drannor in 261 DR. At that time, she had revived herself as an elfmaid of 200 winters.
 * In, Synnorha Durothil became a baelnorn in order to guard her ancestral library.
 * Braerindra Calauth was a watchnorn of Castle Cornanthor who used illusions to mask her true, undead appearance.
 * Ilrune Symbaern stood guard over his family's crypt in Myth Drannor long after the city's fall.
 * Miroden Silverblade was a balenorn of house Ammath and the protector of Myth Drannor’s ‘’mythal‘’, replaced my Anorrweyn Evensong in the.
 * Molostroi was a protector of Myth Drannor in the.
 * Torynnar Rhaevaern was a baelnorn archmage who became evil and showed hatred for humans.
 * There was a baelnorn named Larrel at the Severed Hand.

Sy'Tel'Quessir Baelnorn
Almost all of the green elf Audark clan were wiped out fighting Venominhandar in. After Venom's mate was killed, 33 years later, the twelve remaining Audarks, in their grief, appealed to the high mages of Cormanthor to become baelnorns. There was a lively debate among them since no green elf had ever been made into a baelnorn before. Eventually, the mages acceded and transformed all twelve of them.

Their transformation was not typical, however. Their skin turned into petrified wood, their hair to moss and their eyes to amber. They lost all ability to speak but instead of gaining the arcane powers of a typical baelnorn, they instead became prodigious warriors. As the self-appointed guardians of the Vale of Lost Voices, these new creatures found that they could not leave the Vale's boundary but they could travel instantaneously within it and were telepathically aware of all visitors to their territory.

No green elves had ever become baelnorns since that time so it was unknown whether this was a unique occurrence or whether all green elves would undergo a similar transformation.

Appearances

 * Adventures:
 * The Crown of Stars &bull; Pool of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor
 * Novels:
 * The Siege &bull; The Lost Library of Cormanthyr &bull; Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor
 * Video Games:
 * Icewind Dale &bull; Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor