The Liferock is alive in a way, especially because it probably contains all the Obsidimen joined with it at the time in Dreaming. During the Age of Legends the Theran Behemoth 'Triumph' landed on the Ayodhya Liferock, and the Therans used it to fuel the flying fortress*. I'd say a Liferock could be used instead of a dragon (remember those hints in Atzlan?) to summon an immensely powerful Blood Spirit. If the Liferocks still contain their Obsidimen sleeping through the downtime (and why shouldn't they), that would be like sacrificing a powerful elemental spirit along with multiple (some prominent Liferocks had as many as two hundred Obsidimen, most of them had hundreds of years of experence, and almost everyone of them was an Adept - in the ED sense of the term, IIRC), also powerful, living and highly magical entities.
I'd say almost every power or society that has anything to do with magic would take interest in the liferock. As an unknown asset, if they don't know what it is, or as a very, very huge cache of knowledge, if they do (so either they would want to exploit, or deny access to it). Dragons had Obsidimen and their Liferocks in high regard, for obvious reasons, and trolls felt a deep connection with them, to the point or settling in areas near Liferocks, because the company of obsidimen and vicinity of their birthplace made them feel happier and 'serene'.
Corrupted Liferocks were also known, but their corruption was caused by Horrors. There is a way of cleansing it (or at least it's Brotherhood), but the place in which it happened is somewhere in Barsaive.
* Which ultimately caused most of the Obsidimen to rally behind these from the Ayodhya Brotherhood who weren't present at the Liferock, and form the so-called "Liferock Rebellion". I didn't read the outcome, not wanting to spoil the fun of our ED game, but I'm sure they kicked a lot of theran ass for a long, long time.
