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.
