Returning to Cavitius in 5e #RavenloftRemix #NonCannon

[Muggs]

So Vecna in my BBEG game has decided to return home to Cavitius - which in VRGtR no longer exists as part of the Burning Peaks cluster but shows up as a nod in the 'disaster horror' tropes.
My game is set in 5.5e due to a event that occurred at the end of our 20th level Epic Campaign that remade the entire Multiverse -the same but better!- and the current timeline is set approx 30 years after this universal reset.
Lore/version wise it's set after the release of Tasha's Caldron of Everything and the new/variant rules were a result of this change to the base laws of the multiverse - so the setting is kinda 5.5e DND?

I'm currently working on filling in the gaps of the history of Cavitius post-Vecna's escape as a domain being devoured by the Serpent from Die Vecna Die, cut adrift by both geographical forces of the volcano's on one side and the pull of a black hole that was created in Vecna's most recent escape on the other with Citadel Cavitius just hanging on the edge and torn between 3 factions that have risen since Vecna left his domain without a leader.

Our ForeverDM loves Dark Sun so my aim is to take the rules for the Ashen Wastes up to 11 to be more deadly and blend it with some of the tropes of Athas - restricted magic, no healing, planetary disaster etc. to up the difficulty as the Party is currently Level 18.

However I could use some help with the lore and NPCs as there's not much to go on? - I'm trying to base a lot of it off the history in Die Vecna Die/Vecna Reborn series as Vecna's attempted invasion of Sigil was established as canon in our prior campaigns as the 'core' of our games is based on the old 2e Planescape lore.
The old adventures are all paywalled on DMguild so I'm relying on the Burning Peaks Cluster from the Mistpedia and 2nd Edition Domains of Dread sourcebook and need a NPC to act as a cult leader - someone who may at the end of Vecna Reborn have been betrayed by Vecna or otherwise ill-treated causing them to turn against him?

So far I have:

Faction 1 : 'The True Believers - Cult of Vecna' led by Sir Loran the Death Knight - Now smaller in number these are the ones who still believe in Vecna and eagerly await his return.
Faction 2 : The Circle - A Doomsday Cult that has popped up in the absence of Vecna. They worship the burning ring in the sky (the portal that has since become the event horizon of black hole) and move to try and hasten the end of the world knowing that the end times are upon them - I need a Cult Leader - does anyone have some good ideas??
Faction 3: The Apprentice - in our homebrew canon history a young High Elf Wizard came across a copy of the Tome of the Stilled Tongue and became Vecna's pen friend/latest apprentice before betraying him by becoming a Warlock Patron and Litch in her own right. A version of her ended up in Ravenloft after trying to escape Athas and now rules over Citadel Cavitius.

With a hated of gods and rulers she was a heretic when she arrived but as the domain started to crumble and her magic seemed to be the only thing stopping it things changed.
Now even those who were once the most faithful of Vecna's worshipers think she is The Voice of Vecna, others agree with her message that gods cannot be relied on to save them - they must do it themselves!

I'm wondering if there's anything people would suggest adding to this from the history? Do you have any favorite characters or bits of lore about Cavitius that would be fun to have pop up again?

Edit: Oh boy.. one of Vecna's companions on the adventure is Tasha aka Iggwilv the mother of Luz...who has no idea what Vecna did to him.. so yeah if you have any tidbits this is going to be a very nice bit of drama.. *evil cackle*.

[alhoon]

What is 5.5e D&D? We are still at 5e.

I can't say that what I remember from Die Vecna! Die! was that impressive, to be honest.
What I think the place needs, is secrets. The "True Believers" or at least some of them, should have powers to find secrets. Remember the cultist from 5e with the dark devotion?
For the rank and file, I would add a trait that gives them advantage (1/day) in an insight roll or investigation roll (dark insight or something) + they would be trained in investigation and insight (and probably arcana, cause Vecna).
For the higher-ups, I would say detect thoughts 1/day.

[Muggs]

5.5e is that while our group is still using 5e ruleset the timeline of our world's canon is that most of the 5e adventures are now in the past.
Everything up to VRgTR is now historical lore including the WOTC 5th edition published adventures including Curse of Strahd. - in fact Castle Ravenloft was last seen in space after the events of Curse Of Strahd In Space!

Things like Rise of Tiamat, Out of the Abyss, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist all existed in a time before the end of our Level 20 'Epic' Campaign which ended with Planemeld where all the outer planes collided with the Outlands and Sigil was Destroyed - so yeah it was pretty massive shift - bigger then the events of The Second Sundering and the Spellplague

At the end of this the remaining party members had the power to re-write the world using the ancient Primeval language, they decided to "make the world the same, but better"
This lead to 7 years of rebuilding after which all the souls who died were able to chose to return to live out their lives or go on to their afterlife.

It's also changed Ravenloft's fundamental rules. Many of the cursed souls were freed of the mist. Those that remained had more agency leading to Dreadlords now being able to move around Ravenloft where previously such things were not possible. This change to a more 'positive' outlook also warped the old Domains of Dread into new shapes, new "rubbish" domains popped up and led to a bunch of problems that the party are discovering.

As for secrets! Yes I love them and I've actually done the secret stealing mechanics earlier in Tasha's Domain which contains a warped version of Timor where she had forced the 'Hive Queen' into the role of the High School Queen Bee ala Mean Girls and the party had to deal with a swarm of hundreds of high school students that where actually Nothics and would share any secrets they were able to drag out to embarrass them.

It was one of the first things they had to fight and ended up with them fleeing in terror lol.

I see the challenge this time is for Vecna to hide his past mis-deeds from the rest of his companions..... especially Tasha who probably wouldn't be okay with him maybe, sorta near-killing her son? - so any dirt you have on Vecna would also be much appreciated

[The Lesser Evil]

Vocar the Obedient, Vecna's lead cleric in his hidden cult in Tor Gorak/Tovag, seems like would be the type that would lead an apocalyptic cult and appeared as the main villain in Vecna Reborn. However, he was pretty fanatically loyal to Vecna so it would be hard to imagine him turning against Vecna. Maybe if he was hung out to try after his scheme in Vecna Reborn failed- and he was abandoned by Vecna to suffer at the hands of Kas' daggers? Even then, it would be a hard sell. In addition, you'd also have to explain how he got back from Tovag though.

Hragris, a low or mid level cleric within Cavitius' temple of Vecna, unwittingly employed a dissident agent as a bodyguard, Bratorn. Hragris might have been put through the works by Vecna's church if his bodyguard was ever discovered. However, as clueless as Hragris is it would be hard to imagine him leading a secret cult on his own.

Outside of Vecna Reborn NPCs, Lord Haroln is a vampire from Die Vecna Die that was contemplating attempting to overthrow his master by the time of Die Vecna Die (which admittedly was a bit after Vecna reborn)- though the cause of his treasonous thoughts is never given beyond desire for power IIRC. He was conspiring with the shadow fiend Threndilla. For his part, Vecna found the whole thing hilarious and allowed Haroln to play pretend just because of the amusement. Haroln struck me as a somewhat lazy and bureaucratic type despite being both a magistrate and the Commander of Vecna's Fingers- he spends a significant amount of time in Die Vecna Die trying to figure out how to ease up his caseload by stalking and planning to kill a local who keeps requesting assistance in freeing his daughter from a lich's possession. So seeing how Haroln would lead a cult might involve some creative thinking.

Another NPC from DVD, Mizayana could make for another doomsday cult candidate. She was the Senior Priestess of his church in Cavitius when the Heart of Vecna (here referring to not a piece of Vecna but but an NPC priestess that served as his church's leader) possesed the love of a man named Durraln. Mizayana also coveted Durraln as her would be romantic partner. Thus in jealousy Mizayana was "forced" (in her view) to murder Durraln, and she entered a state of grief. During the events of DVD, Mizayana might have conspired with adventurers to see the Heart's destruction. It might take a lot to see her turn away from Vecna entirely, but if her schemes were discovered and she was put through the ringer by the Church at large, it might be possible. Vecna's abandonment of the city during a time when her state of grief (and thus her need for her deity) was greatest might also contribute to a sense of disillusionment.

[Muggs]

Vocar the Obedient, Vecna's lead cleric in his hidden cult in Tor Gorak/Tovag, seems like would be the type that would lead an apocalyptic cult and appeared as the main villain in Vecna Reborn. However, he was pretty fanatically loyal to Vecna so it would be hard to imagine him turning against Vecna. Maybe if he was hung out to try after his scheme in Vecna Reborn failed- and he was abandoned by Vecna to suffer at the hands of Kas' daggers? Even then, it would be a hard sell. In addition, you'd also have to explain how he got back from Tovag though.

Hragris, a low or mid level cleric within Cavitius' temple of Vecna, unwittingly employed a dissident agent as a bodyguard, Bratorn. Hragris might have been put through the works by Vecna's church if his bodyguard was ever discovered. However, as clueless as Hragris is it would be hard to imagine him leading a secret cult on his own.

Outside of Vecna Reborn NPCs, Lord Haroln is a vampire from Die Vecna Die that was contemplating attempting to overthrow his master by the time of Die Vecna Die (which admittedly was a bit after Vecna reborn)- though the cause of his treasonous thoughts is never given beyond desire for power IIRC. He was conspiring with the shadow fiend Threndilla. For his part, Vecna found the whole thing hilarious and allowed Haroln to play pretend just because of the amusement. Haroln struck me as a somewhat lazy and bureaucratic type despite being both a magistrate and the Commander of Vecna's Fingers- he spends a significant amount of time in Die Vecna Die trying to figure out how to ease up his caseload by stalking and planning to kill a local who keeps requesting assistance in freeing his daughter from a lich's possession. So seeing how Haroln would lead a cult might involve some creative thinking.

Another NPC from DVD, Mizayana could make for another doomsday cult candidate. She was the Senior Priestess of his church in Cavitius when the Heart of Vecna (here referring to not a piece of Vecna but but an NPC priestess that served as his church's leader) possesed the love of a man named Durraln. Mizayana also coveted Durraln as her would be romantic partner. Thus in jealousy Mizayana was "forced" (in her view) to murder Durraln, and she entered a state of grief. During the events of DVD, Mizayana might have conspired with adventurers to see the Heart's destruction. It might take a lot to see her turn away from Vecna entirely, but if her schemes were discovered and she was put through the ringer by the Church at large, it might be possible. Vecna's abandonment of the city during a time when her state of grief (and thus her need for her deity) was greatest might also contribute to a sense of disillusionment.

Thank you so much! This is exactly the information I needed - even if they may not fit the cult leader it gives me some key NPC's that are likely to still be hanging around Cavitius and fall into the ranks of Vecna's allies/enemies

[Wolfglide of the Fraternity]

Vocar the Obedient, Vecna's lead cleric in his hidden cult in Tor Gorak/Tovag, seems like would be the type that would lead an apocalyptic cult and appeared as the main villain in Vecna Reborn. However, he was pretty fanatically loyal to Vecna so it would be hard to imagine him turning against Vecna. Maybe if he was hung out to try after his scheme in Vecna Reborn failed- and he was abandoned by Vecna to suffer at the hands of Kas' daggers? Even then, it would be a hard sell. In addition, you'd also have to explain how he got back from Tovag though.

Actually, in the 4e Manual of the Planes (or maybe the DMG II, but I am reasonably sure it is the former), there is a small blurb on a former Vecna priest named Vocar the Disobedient living in Sigil. I imagine this is a reference to the same character, after some unexplained betrayal of his former master. Supposedly, some secret he knows about Vecna keeps him safe from assassins.

Perhaps finding some truly devotion-shattering secret about Vecna could be the reason he turned. There is still a lot to explain there, but it is another possible starting point.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Perhaps finding some truly devotion-shattering secret about Vecna could be the reason he turned.

Vecna is actually a gummy bear.

[Muggs]

Vecna is actually a gummy bear.

I am going to find a way to use that in the game lol. Though at the moment Strahd is currently a subcritical fluid so is the one who actually does resemble a gummy bear - I've now given him the stats of the new UA Plasmoid due to him remaining in gas form full time while also under pressure from the black hole turning him into more of a ooze.