Vecna & Kas... Why can't I find more about you?

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Vecna & Kas... Why can't I find more about you?

Post by A G Thing »

Alright... I looked... I really did and my curiosity was simply left crying in a corner...

So I pose these 2 questions...

What was Vecna and Kas's respective curses, and benefits from being darklords?

And what the heck was the effects of their domains?

I mean I get the whole perpetual war and hating your neighbor thing but there has to be more.

The only thing I know about is some slight references about time being different in Kas domain, and a life drain in Vecna's but not enough to understand them.

Please Help Me!!! :(
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Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Pretty much all you'll find about them (w.r.t. their time in RL) would be in Domains of Dread, Vecna Reborn, and Die Vecna Die. I've read them all, but honestly, it kinda went in one ear and out the other.

I don't think time changed in Tovag, it was just that the natives age faster (providing more fodder for the war.) I don't recall if Vecna had a curse beyond "phenomenal cosmic power, itty-bitty living space" but that seemed to be what preoccupied him most.

The best thing I've seen as a take on the feel of them is to picture them as Mordor and Gondor, except that Gondor's been corrupted and is ruled by a vampire.
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Post by Sareau »

Unlike most domains, the domains of Vecna and Kas were taken from the Quasielemental Plane of Ash-Vecna's did drain life, which is why he populated Cavitius with undead.

However, the current take on Cavitius and Toveg is that Vecna killed Kas and escaped. I would assume the domains either collapsed or are contested for new darklords. Given my love of the old Lichlords module, I'd probably put them in charge-even though the Bzonmtras are no longer topical, freedom fighting dwarves are always good for sympathy, and the caldera of the undead too much fun to play in to let Cavitius and Toveg lay fallow...
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Post by Joël of the FoS »

Kas was obsessed in killing Vecna, and Vecna was obsessed in killing Kas... plus escaping RL as Ron mentioned.
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Post by steveflam »

Is there info on them as well in Greyhawk? I mean with the 2nd edition DMG and Vecna's items? Know it is not RL related, but there is more info there, no?
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Post by maraudar »

You might want to check out Canonfire, http://www.canonfire.com. They have a number articles concerning him.

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Post by Paladyn »

You could look in Vecna Lives! adventure, but it's a journey into real depths of time.
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Post by Le Noir Faineant »

maraudar wrote:You might want to check out Canonfire, http://www.canonfire.com. They have a number articles concerning him.

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Post by The Giamarga »

tarlyn wrote:Is there info on them as well in Greyhawk? I mean with the 2nd edition DMG and Vecna's items? Know it is not RL related, but there is more info there, no?
You bet. Canon and fanon and lots of it too. I wrote a Vecna 101 on dicefreaks long time ago. Here it is:

Here's what the Loremaster could dig up from the vaults of the Great Library on Vecna, The Whispered One, his early history and his betrayal by his own lieutenant Kas the Terrible.
Many tales are told of the arch-lich Vecna. It is said that Vecna was one of the Planes' mightiest sorcerers, able to draw life from dust and send it back again, extinguish lives with a glance, and make the earth shudder beneath his touch. He was said to be so powerful that when the end of his life drew near, death refused to take him into its kingdom. And so Vecna died, yet lived on. Abandoned by death, Vecna became the master of a vast kingdom on a prime world called Oerth. Neither kind nor just, Lord Vecna's rule was one of great horror and suffering, and it is said his reach was so great that even the Powers of Oerth feared to cross him for fearing of drawing his eye. Yet, while Vecna's gaze traveled ever outward in search of new conquests, he failed to see his own end when it came for him... in the form of his lieutenant, Kas. As was fitting for Vecna's left hand servant, the arch-lich had fashioned a terrible weapon for his lieutenant as a symbol of his authority. Vecna made this weapon with such skill it is said that part of the sorcerer entered the blade, and it was this sliver of Vecna that gave the blade its life and its treacherous nature. Where once there was lifeless steel, there became thought, intent, and, perhaps most horrible of all, a voice. The sword whispered treacheries to the ambitious Kas, night upon night, month upon month, year upon year, until one night, the remains of Kas' discipline was seduced by the rippling edge of the blade. Convinced by his blade that he was Vecna's superior, Kas confronted his dread master upon his Dessicated Throne, and the two of them fought a terrible battle. During the battle, Kas was killed, but before he fell, his blade had dismembered his former master, scattering his remains so that no one may draw them together again. And so it has come to pass that pieces of Vecna have made their way across the Planes... one of these is the Eye of Vecna. It carries with it a bloody, violent history, so much so that many scholars refuse to speak of its treacheries, for fear the eye will come to them, seeking to add another victim to its bloody chronology. [...] The Eye's powers are said to shift with each new owner, but one thing is certain: no good ever comes from whoever has the misfortune to possess it. It is destined to betray its wearer at a critical moment, failing him when he needs its power the most.
from http://www.gamejag.com/planescape/multi ... f/eyes.htm

Here's some great short fiction on the betrayal itself: The Defeat of Vecna (a canonfire article by Rasgon/ripvanwormer)

For an excellent short rundown of Vecna's ancient history check out Erik Mona's (yes, that Erik Mona!) treatise Ancient History: Vecna's Realm on canonfire. Another great canonfire article delineates the path of The Hand and Eye of Vecna throughout Oerthian History. There's a Greyhawk Grimoires article in Dragon #225 which includes details on one of Vecna's spellbooks: Vecna's Ineffable Variorum. It's available online here. It also contains some tidbits of history and two spellbooks of other Greyhawk luminaries: Iggwilv and Acerak.

While I don't own Vecna Reborn the Domains of Dread HC has some info on the twin domains of Cavitius and Tovag, which together form the cluster called the Burning Peaks. The Background of Kas the Destroyer as he's called while Darklord of Tovag [1] notes that:
Domains of Dread wrote:In truth however Kas survived the melee; he was hurled through a dimensional gate and imprisoned in Vecna's Citadel Cavitius on the Quasielemental Plane of Ash.[2] For centuries, the defeated Kas languished in therein great despair. During his confinement the might kas changed. As the negative Energies of the Citadel took their toll on his body he gradually became a vampire. after centuries of imprisonment, Kas found himself suddenly freed when the lich was defeated in his plan to seize control of Oerth [this would be the events in Vecna Lives!]. Kas joy at being released from his eternal confinement was quickly snuffed out, however upon finding himself held fast by a shapeless border of Mists.


So Kas is free to wander out of Vecna's Citadel only to be bound in the neighbouring domain, when Vecna's demigod avatar is sucked into Ravenloft. On how Vecna became a demigod after his defeat at the hands of Kas, and how he got trapped in Ravenloft and his later bid for power theBlackJaw has it almost right on this thread: (scroll down to the 7th post) http://p222.ezboard.com/fokayyourturnfr ... =425.topic (ignore DeathKnight references, Kas is a vampire. Also Vecna was a lich long time before the betrayal.) [EDIT: Alas that link is now dead...]

Footnotes:
[1] Tovag is a domain in the Realm of Dread. Incidently Tovag Baragu is the name of the ancient artifact-monument (think Stonehenge, planar/temporal nexus/gate) on Oerth featuring in Vecna Lives and Die Vecna Die.
[2] The Plane of Ash, resultant from the meeting of Fire and Negative Energy, has fewer inhabitants than Dust and is bad as Fire. In fact a traveler can't breath here and the cinders drain a body's warmth at every turn. This place is an endless sea of cinder and ash. The Doomguard maintain the Crumbling Citadel. A powerful lich Vecna inhabits a huge stronghold here and it's said that once-living prisoners of Vecna are transformed into horrible undead monsters because the proximity of the fortress to the Negative Energy Plane.
Last edited by The Giamarga on Tue Mar 21, 2017 3:09 am, edited 7 times in total.
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Post by The Giamarga »

See also the later parts of this thread on gleemax: http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/ ... um=10&pg=1
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Post by The Giamarga »

Nathan played a PC from Tovag in Deepshadows Epic PbP campaign. He developed some rather interesting tidbits of lore there. It is buried in the Cafe de nuit subforum and on another message board though. Here are some that i found:

Peregrine's Memories 1
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Post by Ail »

Don't know if it was mentioned, but I once read an article about Vecna in some Dragon magazine. Must have been 2 or 3 years ago, I guess.

More like a church of Vecna, sorry.
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Post by Ail »

Ail wrote:Don't know if it was mentioned, but I once read an article about Vecna in some Dragon magazine. Must have been 2 or 3 years ago, I guess.

More like a church of Vecna, sorry.
Ok, apparently that was Dragon 348.
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Post by The Giamarga »

There's a Vecna article in the Greyhawk wiki which should list all official sources and material quite thoroughly.
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Post by The Lesser Evil »

If you play fourth edition, I recall hearing a while back that in one of the new DDI Domains of Dread there's some mention of Kas floating around in one of those new to fourth edition domains. Kas was also a vestige for the Binder in the Tome of Magic (for 3e), wasn't he?
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