Whenever I look over the background fluff for Lady Vol, it always ends up seeming to me that she would want to be resurrected to life so she can regain the abilities of her mark. I know that we're all meant to come to our own conclusions about her goals, but I haven't heard anyone bounce this interpretation before, so I'm wondering if I'm missing something.
Even with the low number of high-powered clerics in the setting, you would think over the millenia she could have found somebody to resurrect her (from within her own church; or she could hire off some unsuspecting Jorasco halflings with an alter of resurrection!) So presumably there are some difficulties involved in resurrecting a lich, but where there is a will (and magic!) there is a way. I was thinking that Vol might even make herself a patron of a part of PCs (using her form-concealing abilities of course) and hire them out to discover some wonderous lost artifacts of life-restoring power only to find that they have been paving the way for the resurrection of the Mark of Death!
Another thing I've been wondering is: what does it really mean to become the Queen of Death? One could interpret it as becoming a goddess of the dead, but unlike Forgotten Realms where it is established that powerful mortals can ascend to godhood particularly by assembling worshippers, no one on Eberron has proof that they can become deities by doing so, and no knows for certain that there are gods. Not that that would necessarily stop everyone, but a cynical manipulator like Vol would have to have some strong convictions on the matter...
I've actually been working from this idea since Eberron first came out.
Basically the in game problem I see is that Vol's soul is bound into her phylacrity, and she's not 'dead', but 'undead'. In order to be ressurected into 'life' once more Vol would have to destroy her own phylacity, and then die, so she could be resurected normally, an act of trust in whoever is supposed to res her so profound that I don't think she can do it.
Whenever I look over the background fluff for Lady Vol, it always ends up seeming to me that she would want to be resurrected to life so she can regain the abilities of her mark. I know that we're all meant to come to our own conclusions about her goals, but I haven't heard anyone bounce this interpretation before, so I'm wondering if I'm missing something.
Even with the low number of high-powered clerics in the setting, you would think over the millenia she could have found somebody to resurrect her (from within her own church; or she could hire off some unsuspecting Jorasco halflings with an alter of resurrection!) So presumably there are some difficulties involved in resurrecting a lich, but where there is a will (and magic!) there is a way. I was thinking that Vol might even make herself a patron of a part of PCs (using her form-concealing abilities of course) and hire them out to discover some wonderous lost artifacts of life-restoring power only to find that they have been paving the way for the resurrection of the Mark of Death!
Actually, this is one of her primary goals. Being a Lich means her mark powers stopped working and she hates it. Her goal is to restore her mark by any means necessary, and she's constaly exploring ways to shed her Lich form and regain a living flesh and blood body. . Barring that, she wants a way to use her powers.
The problem is that nobody knows how to do it. She's been studying all kinds of magical methods, acquiring artifacts, and setting plots into motion that she hopes will allow her to become living again or somehow restore her mark. They simply haven't worked... yet.
Another thing I've been wondering is: what does it really mean to become the Queen of Death? One could interpret it as becoming a goddess of the dead, but unlike Forgotten Realms where it is established that powerful mortals can ascend to godhood particularly by assembling worshippers, no one on Eberron has proof that they can become deities by doing so, and no knows for certain that there are gods. Not that that would necessarily stop everyone, but a cynical manipulator like Vol would have to have some strong convictions on the matter...
It's an honorific title. Most followers of the Blood of Vol don't even know she exists, let alone worship her. The core principles of the Blood of Vol doctrine opposes the worship of deities, since divinity is in the blood and the blood flows through all mortals.
She didn't create the faith either. It was born of practices in Xen'drik and Aerenal and came to Khovaire with Elves who survived the genocide of house Vol and its allies. She does manipulate this faith, however. The followers of the Blood of Vol hold those undead who continue the search for true divinity and their symbolic challenge to the gods in high esteem.
She manipulates the faith though. She created the Order of the Emerald Claw from the faithful to act as her agents in the world. They believe that they're carrying out acts in the name of one of the faith's greatest undead champions. She also aided Karrnath, using the faith as the tool through which she combated plague, famine, and provided Undead troops, making the faith more popular in the region. That provided her with a greater pool on which to draw on for allies and a less antagonistic area in which her agents could operate.
It didn't work out so well when she and the King of Karrnath had a falling out.
Yeah, thanks for your thoughts there, though I'm aware of the basics on the Blood of Vol: it's a faith that predates Vol herself and was simply spread opportunistically afterwards, and most of its members are unaware of the true nature of the Queen of Death at the top.
The new Campaign Guide (unlike the old ECS) suggests that the Queen of Death is more than just an honorofic: "Becoming the Queen of Death is the only we she can redeem herself..."- she has been "robbed" of that destiny. So though some of her more in-the-know followers already refer to her as the Queen of Death, the implication is that there is some transcendent possibility as well. The question is: what does that mean? Does she want to become a goddess of death, does she become a queen of the shadowfell? Does she assume control of all the undead in the world, (the way a certain rakshasa was seeking to assume control of all the were-creatures in the world in 'The Queen of Stone')?
Mechanically, I found the question intriguing, because 3.5 edition DND (I don't recall how it works in 4th edition), a raise dead spell would not resurrect undead, but resurrection would resurrect a destroyed Undead. So a 7th level spell would infact solve her problom. Of course once again, we can always hand-wave it as being extra difficult to resurrect a liche.
I read a post by Keith Baker that suggested an interesting explanation: what if Lady Vol herself isn't sure how her undead form could be destroyed for resurrection? What if her phylactery is hidden even from her, or she has multiple hidden ones beyond her knowledge, or it/they teleport everytime she is defeated, etc. Her quest (and one she might dupe the PCs into doing for her) might be to find a way to lock down her phylacteries so she can destroy herself for good- and then be resurrected to acheive the power that is rightfully hers. An almost Planescape: Torment like quest!
Certainly there is the issue of trusting your servants to resurrect you, it is true... Perhaps use of the clone spell would limit the risk?
Well there's no actual "Queen of Death" position, and the title confers onto her no benefits or station that she couldn't have under any other moniker. For right now, it's just a general honorific stemming from the fact that she's undead and very powerful and influential.
The destiny that was stolen from her and the "Queen of Death" goal she's going for seems less like an attempt to ascend to god-good and more of an attempt to reclaim the power of her mark. She was specifically bred and raised to unleash unheard of potential of the mark of death, but never got to because she became a lich, thereby locking its powers. That's the destiny she was expected, and that was the one that was stolen when the Aereni and Argonessens wiped out her bloodline.
I imagine that end, she would like "Queen of Death" to be another way of saying she'd be the most powerful bearer of the mark of Death the world has ever seen.
Also, resurrection and true resurrection become useless if the subject has been dead for so much time (about 200 days and 200 years max, respectively) and she would have had to have found a Cleric of suitable power, with access to the spell, who would be willing to raise her within that time span. Erandis has been dead for over 2000 years, so those options have long since sailed.
Vol's a singular kind of being and I don't think the rules as written can apply to her normally. By the book, sure, a regular lich can destroy its phylactery, have its undead body destroyed, and then get raised.
Vol's different in several ways. First, she didn't become a lich on her own, she was made into a lich by her mother. Second, she may not know what her phylactery is. If she can't identify or locate it, she can't arrange for her permanent destruction. Third, Vol's a half-dragon with a Mark, the powers of which are entirely unknown. It's impossible to predict how either her draconinc blood or her dead mark affect her state. Fourth, in 4E (and less direct in 3.5, but still present) other forces can interfere in resurrection, whether it be gods, special rituals, etc. In Vol's case, it could very well be the Prophecy which prevents her from changing.
Another thing that hasn't been brought up yet (here at least) is the reaction that Aerenal and Argonnessen would have to Vol's resurrection. They destroyed her bloodline once and very nearly destroyed her as well, which her newly-bestowed lichdom being all that saved her. Being restored to life (presuming it's even possible) would give her a major weakness that the elves and dragons (and you can be sure Kaius) would be certain to exploit: her own mortality.
It could be that, even including all the factors above (acquiring the proper magic ritual(s), finding/destroying her phylacter(y/ies), etc.), she may simply be unwilling to risk returning to mortality while those who want her truly dead still exist. Also, so long as she is immortal, she can play gambits that take centuries to come to fruition. Once she becomes living again, she begins to age and doesn't have the kind of time to devote to such long-term schemes.
I once heard of a lich whose phylactery was actually a bloodline. As long as anyone in that bloodline is still alive, the lich would be reborn.
Imagine if that were Vol. Her mother making her the ultimate curse on the elves -- as long as the elves exist, so will Vol. And after 3500 years of intermingling... that bloodline would be pretty vast by now.
It's a thought, at least. Would definitely serve to play up the 'bloodline' aspect of the Blood of Vol -- not only is it looking for a remnant of the Vol line to raise, it's looking for any remnant of this cursed bloodline to kill so Vol may destroy her phylactery and be raised.
I think that Vol has not been resurrected just because... she can't be!
By D&D 3.5 rules (I know nothing of 4th Ed, so I'll limit myself to 3.5) both Resurrection and True Resurrection work only on targets dead by no more than 10 years per caster level. And I don't think a 260th level cleric walks on Eberron 
Considering the highest level usually achieved (20th), her last chance to be resurrected ended about 300 years before the birth of Karrn the Conquerer (-1000 YK). At that time the only civilizations that could possibly include 20th level clerics were the Aerenal elves and the Argonessen dragons.
P.S.
It is worth noting that the "dead by no more than 10 years per caster level" should be read "made undead by no more than 10 years per caster level" when considering undeads (it is specified in the D&D FAQ, IIRC)
Ah-hah, a by-the-book reason for her non-resurrection! (Even though it is an old book, I was fond of it 
Clearly, then, this calls for a necromantic MacGuffin to extend the range of resurrections spells much farther back into the past, somehow plucking the scattered strands of her soul back from the shadows of Dolurr.
The means by which Vol is supposed to revive herself is supposed to be a mcguffin. If Vol comes back to life, the process by which she does it is alone worthy of an entire campaign arc. It should be long, intricate, and involve the PCs in some way. If they had made it as easy as simply casting resurrection, there wouldn't be any campaign.
That's why they made that route impossible.
Another point is that her resurrection will be a concern and pose a threat to the dragons.
I recall that (correct me if I were wrong) Hellcow also mentioned the possibility (or fact) that it's written in the Prophecy that a drop of blood from the Vol bloodline could destroy the world of the living.
If so, she might be aware of the dragons' concern and accumulate power and wait for the day of vengeance silently.