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Greyhawk Deity
Vecna, as shown on the cover of Die Vecna Die! (Wizards of the Coast, 2000). The following are Fictional deities in the Greyhawk Campaign setting of the Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Role-playing Die Vecna Die! is an Advanced
Vecna
Title(s) The Arch-Lich, the Chained God, the Maimed God, Master of the Spider Throne, the Whispered One, the Dying King, the Lord of the Rotted Tower, the Undying King
Home Plane Prime Material (Oerth)
Power Level lesser
Alignment Neutral Evil
Portfolio Destructive and Evil Secrets, Magic, Hidden Knowledge, Intrigue
Domains Evil, Knowledge, Magic
Superior none

In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, Vecna was a powerful wizard who became a lich (someone who uses magical power to exist in an undead state after death), and eventually achieved godhood. In the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game, Oerth, pronounced as "Earth" is the name of the Fictional planet on which one In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game alignment is a categorization of the ethical and moral perspective of people creatures and societies Greyhawk, also known as the World A campaign setting is usually a Fictional world which serves as a setting for a Role-playing game or Wargame campaign Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a Fantasy Role-playing game (RPG originally designed by A role-playing game ( RPG; often roleplaying game) is a Game in which the participants assume the roles of Fictional characters. In the Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Role-playing game, the Lich is an undead creature a Spellcaster who seeks Undead is a collective name for fictional beings that are deceased yet behave as if alive He is a member of the default pantheon of D&D gods (the pantheon of Oerth). This is a list of deities of Dungeons & Dragons, including all of the current gods and powers of the "Core Setting" for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game In the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game, Oerth, pronounced as "Earth" is the name of the Fictional planet on which one Notably, Vecna is missing both his left eye and left hand. Vecna's holy symbol is an eye in the palm of a left hand. Vecna was also named as one of the greatest villains in D&D history by the final issue of Dragon. Dragon is one of the two official Magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game and associated products [1]

Contents

Publishing history

Vecna is first mentioned in the Eldritch Wizardry (1976) supplement for the original Dungeons & Dragons game. Over the years there have been a number of different versions of the Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Role-playing game (D&D His first mention in an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons product was in 1979's Dungeon Master's Guide. The Dungeon Master's Guide (" DMG " or " DM's Guide " in earlier editions the Dungeon Masters Guide or During this time, Vecna was regarded only as a long-destroyed legendary lich of great power, able to threaten player characters only through the presence of his two existing artifacts, the Hand and Eye of Vecna. The Hand of Vecna is a powerful artifact in many Campaign settings for the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game. The Eye of Vecna is an artifact of great power in many Campaign settings for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game. However, with the release of the adventure Vecna Lives! in 1990, Vecna was recast by TSR as a demigod, and the chief antagonist of the adventure. Vecna Lives! is an adventure At the end of the adventure, presuming the players defeat Vecna, he is transported to the Ravenloft campaign setting. Ravenloft is a Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game. Two more Vecna-centered modules followed, 1998's Vecna Reborn, set in Ravenloft, and 2000's Die Vecna Die!, which spanned the Greyhawk, Ravenloft, and Planescape settings. Die Vecna Die! is an Advanced Planescape is a Campaign setting Wizards of the Coast continued the character's theme of ascending godhood in the Third Edition Player's Handbook (2000), which lists him as a Lesser deity. Wizards of the Coast (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of Games primarily based on Fantasy and Some fans of the game have also speculated that the events of Die Vecna Die! serve as an in-game explanation of the changes from Second to Third Edition[1] [2] [3], just as Fate of Istus did the same for the transition from First to Second Edition. Fate of Istus is a multipart adventure for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game, taking place in the World of Greyhawk

Third Edition further raised Vecna's profile in the game, making him a member of the game's "core pantheon. " It is interesting to note that Vecna's alignment was changed from Lawful Evil to Neutral Evil in Third Edition, and no in-game explanation has surfaced.

Description

Vecna is usually depicted as a powerful magician resembling a desiccated corpse missing his left hand and eye. The Hand of Vecna is a powerful artifact in many Campaign settings for the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game. The Eye of Vecna is an artifact of great power in many Campaign settings for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game. A constant theme in the adventures in which the character appears is Vecna's never-ending quest for power, ending, should he succeed, with Vecna as the only deity in existence.

Relationships

Vecna has few allies, and countless enemies. His greatest, and perhaps only true ally is the mysterious entity known as the Serpent. In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons and Dragons Role-playing game, Mok'slyk is an old The famed cambion lich Acererak once served Vecna, but the current status of their relationship is unknown. In medieval Legend, a cambion is the half-human offspring of the union between a human male and a Succubus, or of an incubus and a human female In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game, Acererak is a powerful Among Vecna's staunchest foes are Kas, Iuz, Saint Cuthbert, the Lady of Pain, Pholtus, and the Circle of Eight. In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game, Kas the Bloody-Handed In the World of Greyhawk In the Dungeons and Dragons Roleplaying game, Saint Cuthbert of the Cudgel is the combative deity of Wisdom Dedication and Zeal The Lady of Pain is the fictional protector of the city of Sigil in the Planescape Campaign setting of the Dungeons & Dragons In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game, Pholtus of the Blinding The Circle of Eight (formed from the earlier Citadel of Eight) is a fictional group of wizards in the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting

Dogma

Scriptures

Being a secretive cult, there are no real collections of Vecnan teachings. However, copies of the Book of Vile Darkness are highly prized by the cult for Vecna's role in that work's development. Book of Vile Darkness is an optional supplemental sourcebook for the 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game.

Worshippers

Vecna's cult is very secretive, and cells have been uncovered, at various points in history, in Diamond Lake, Greyhawk, and Verbobonc. In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game, Diamond Lake is a mining town The Free City of Greyhawk, also known as Greyhawk City and the "Gem of the Flanaess" is a fictional City-state in the World of Greyhawk In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game, Verbobonc, properly Temples to Vecna have also been reported in the Pomarj town of Highport and Erelhei-Cinlu, the debased city at the heart of the Vault of the Drow. In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game, the Pomarj can refer Vault of the Drow is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game written by Gary Gygax.

Hierarchy

Each position in Vecna's cult is named for a certain body part. At the top is Vecna himself, followed by the Voice of Vecna, which can only be filled by Vecna's manifestation.

Next is the Heart of Vecna, the high priest of the cult. The last known Heart of Vecna was Diraq Malcinex of Ket, who was slain by adventurers in 581 CY. In the fictional World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game, Ket is a political state

Immediately below the Heart of Vecna are two bizarre monsters known as the Hand and the Eye. The Eye of Vecna creature appears as a slender humanoid with an eyeball for a head, whereas the Hand of Vecna appears as a stocky humanoid with a huge left hand where its head should be.

Individual congregations are known as organs. Each organ is led by a Thought of Vecna. Lesser priests are known as Memories of Vecna.

Lay members of the cult consist of the Teeth, Fingers, Blood, and Spawn of Vecna. The Teeth of Vecna are made up of wizards, and specialize in arcane spellcasting and crafting magical items for the cult. Magic-User redirects here See Spellcaster for magic users or below for the old Dungeons & Dragons character class The Fingers of Vecna consist mainly of thieves, who engage in various forms of subterfuge. In the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game, rogue or thief is one of the base character classes. The Blood of Vecna are mainly warriors charged with protection and enforcement of the cult and its goals. In the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game, fighter is one of the base character classes. The Spawn of Vecna are the lowest in the cult hierarchy, and consist of the common people who honor the Lich Lord.

Other Vecnan organizations

Other Vecnan organizations are known to exist outside of the mainstream cult, and some may have similar or identical names. Relations between these groups and the mainstream cult may vary. Known examples are the Eyes of Vecna (a cult of undeath consisting mainly of rogues), the Fingers of Vecna (Vecna's personal guard), and the Ebon Triad (a heretical cult seeking to merge Vecna, Hextor, and Erythnul into a single entity). The Ebon Triad is a cult in the fictional world of Oerth in the Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting and the default pantheon of deities for the third edition of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting and the default pantheon of deities for the third edition of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing

Artifacts

The Hand and Eye of Vecna, as shown on the cover of Vecna Lives! (TSR, 1990)
The Hand and Eye of Vecna, as shown on the cover of Vecna Lives! (TSR, 1990)

Hand and Eye of Vecna

Vecna's left hand and eye of Vecna's original "mortal" lich form, which have never been replaced in his later more powerful incarnations, are now high-valued and very dangerous magical artifacts. Vecna Lives! is an adventure TSR Inc was an American game publishing company most famous for publishing the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game. In Role-playing games and fantasy literature an artifact is a magical object with great power To use the powers of the Hand of Vecna or the Eye of Vecna one is required to cut off one's own corresponding body part and affix Vecna's in its place. The Hand of Vecna is a powerful artifact in many Campaign settings for the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game. The Eye of Vecna is an artifact of great power in many Campaign settings for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game.

Sword of Kas

Vecna created the Sword of Kas for his greatest servant, which contains a "portion of his consciousness. In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game, Kas the Bloody-Handed "

This interpretation is relatively recent. As per the 1st edition Dungeon Master's Guide, Vecna only procured this most powerful sword for his chief lieutenant. Similarly, depending on edition and source, its appearance has varied, from a short sword to a wavy bladed two hander. However, it is undoubtable that the Sword is inextricably tied to Vecna's relics.

Other artifacts

A number of Vecna's other body parts are presented as minor artifacts in Die Vecna Die!, including the First Digit (right thumb), Second Digit (right index finger), Third Digit (right middle finger), Last Digit (right pinky finger), Incisors (a pair of inappropriately named fang-like canines), Molar, Scalp, Skin, Heart, Foot (left), and Right Eye. These artifacts are collectively known in D&D 3rd Edition as the Fragments of Vecna. The Compendium Maleficarum is a book of spells, doctrines, and secrets crafted entirely from bone (even the pages) and penned in blood, that is on par with the Fragments of Vecna. The Tome of Shared Secrets is an illustrated bestiary of relic status, with the ability to impart knowledge of dark and evil creatures at the cost of a portion the user's life force. The Rod of the Whispered One, while not nearly so powerful as the Sword of Kas, is another item Vecna crafted to connect himself with his highest lieutenants. The final issue of Dragon Magazine, issue #359, featured rules for the "Left Ear of Vecna" as a minor artifact. It grants the owner magical bonuses to hearing and resisting sonic attacks, spell-like abilities to inflict deafness, grant clairaudience and create sonic blasts, and enables them to understand any spoken language.

Head of Vecna

The Head of Vecna was a hoax that one adventuring party played on another in a campaign run by game master Mark Steuer. A Gamemaster or Game Master (often abbreviated as GM) is a player in a multiplayer Game who acts as organizer arbitrator and officiant in rules situations One of the groups tricked the other into going on a quest for the Head of Vecna, a hoax artifact that was supposedly similar to his Hand and Eye, but was simply an ordinary severed head. In Role-playing games and fantasy literature an artifact is a magical object with great power The hoax takes advantage of the fact that the Eye and Hand require a person to remove their own eye or hand and replace it with the artifact to function. The characters involved in the story reasoned that they needed to decapitate themselves to gain the powers of the Head of Vecna, and several of the group actually fought to determine whose head should be cut off. After the third character died, the joke was revealed.

A full account of the story can be read at The Story of The Head of Vecna.

The Head of Vecna later made a canonical appearance in Die Vecna Die!

History

Vecna was born as a human, centuries ago as a member of the untouchable caste in the Flan city of Fleeth on Oerth. This article is not about Literary canons of influential works of fiction but about the concept of a canon which defines the world of a particular fictional series In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game, the Flan are a race of In the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game, Oerth, pronounced as "Earth" is the name of the Fictional planet on which one He was initially trained by his mother, Mazzel, in the art of magic, before she was executed by the government of Fleeth for practicing witchcraft. Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is a Conceptual system that asserts human ability to control the natural world (including events objects people and Vowing revenge, Vecna eventually assumed a mastery of the dark arts achieved by no mortal before or since. Some say this achievement was due to direct tutelage by Mok'slyk the Serpent, believed to be the personification of arcane magic itself. In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons and Dragons Role-playing game, Mok'slyk is an old

Nearly one thousand years after his birth, Vecna, now a lich and ruler of a great and terrible empire (in the Sheldomar Valley, centered near the modern-day Rushmoors), laid siege to the city of Fleeth with an army of arcane spellcasters and undead. In the Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Role-playing game, the Lich is an undead creature a Spellcaster who seeks An empire (from the Latin " Imperium " denoting military Command within the ancient Roman government) is a State that In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons and Dragons Roleplaying game, the Sheldomar Valley refers Legend has it that Vecna was nearly slain in this battle by clerics channeling the power of Pholtus, the god of light. In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game, Pholtus of the Blinding The clerics unleashed a great burst of light, which hit Vecna primarily on his left side. Vecna was rescued and brought to safety by one of his wizard generals, a cambion named Acererak (who would one day himself become a mighty demilich). In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game, Acererak is a powerful

Vecna eventually recovered. On the verge of conquering Fleeth, the officials of the city came before him to beg for mercy. A city is an Urban area with a large Population and a particular Administrative, Legal, or Historical status They offered up the entire city and her wealth if only Vecna would spare the lives of her citizens. When Vecna was not satisfied, the officials offered their own lives. Vecna gave one of their number, Artau, and his family, over to his lieutenant, Kas, who spent the entire day torturing and murdering them before the other officials. In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game, Kas the Bloody-Handed Still unsatisfied, Vecna slaughtered all within the city, and had their heads stacked before the officials, with those of their family members prominent. Vecna then granted his mercy, granting the officials leave to depart, and promising them his protection for the rest of their lives.

At his empire's height, Vecna was betrayed and destroyed by his most trusted lieutenant, a vampire called Kas the Bloody-Handed, using a magical sword that Vecna himself had crafted for him, now known as the Sword of Kas. In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game, Kas the Bloody-Handed In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game, Kas the Bloody-Handed Only his left hand and his eye survived the battle, perhaps because of the previous events in Fleeth.

Vecna did not stay gone forever, and rose as a demigod of magic and secrets in the world of Greyhawk. The term " demigod " meaning "half-god" is used to describe mythological figures whose one parent was a god and whose other parent was human Greyhawk, also known as the World In 581 CY, his cult helped set events in motion that would have granted him the power of a greater god, but the plan was ultimately foiled. In the World of Greyhawk Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game, the Common Year, or CY After these events, Vecna ended up imprisoned in the demiplane of Ravenloft, but broke free again later, emerging with the power of a greater god, after absorbing the power of Iuz. Ravenloft is a Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game. In the World of Greyhawk He then broke free into the city of Sigil, where he came perilously close to rearranging all existence to his whims. Planescape is a Campaign setting (Vecna's multiverse shattering campaign in Sigil is used as an in-universe way to explain the differences between the 2nd and 3rd editions of Dungeons & Dragons. Parallel universe or alternative reality is a self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own ). Ejected from Sigil, he returned to Oerth greatly reduced, though still a lesser god.

The three Dungeons & Dragons adventures that prominently feature Vecna are Vecna Lives! (Greyhawk), Vecna Reborn (Ravenloft), and Die Vecna Die! (Greyhawk/Ravenloft/Planescape). This article is about published adventures specifically for Dungeons & Dragons Die Vecna Die! is an Advanced

Writings

At some point in his history, Vecna penned a tome known as Ordinary Necromancy. He is also rumored to have made significant additions to the Book of Vile Darkness. Book of Vile Darkness is an optional supplemental sourcebook for the 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game.

Although not actually penned by him, the Book of Keeping (a book of Yugoloth summoning) is heavily linked with the cult of Vecna, as the cultists have the only known copies that are free of the intentional errors introduced into the book by the fiends that wrote the volume as a trap for would-be summoners. In the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game, yugoloths (formerly known as daemons) are neutral evil natives of the lower planes of

Creative origins

Vecna was created by Brian Blume in the original D&D supplement Eldritch Wizardry in 1976. Over the years there have been a number of different versions of the Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Role-playing game (D&D The name Vecna is an anagram of Jack Vance, the fantasy author whose "fire-and-forget" magic system is the default magic system used in Dungeons & Dragons. John Holbrook Vance (born August 28, 1916 in San Francisco, Fire-and-forget is a third-generation method of Missile guidance

Vecna in other media

References

  1. ^ Bulmahn, Jason; James Jacobs, Mike McArtor, Erik Mona, F. Wesley Schneider, Todd Stewart, Jeremy Walker (September, 2007). "1d20 Villains: D&D's Most Wanted; Preferably Dead". Dragon 32(4) (359): 54-69. Dragon is one of the two official Magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game and associated products Pazio.  
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