Just wondering if anyone has given any thought to where Greyhawk's prime material deities dwelling on Oerth make their homes. I am especially interested in your thoughts on Vecna's lair (would he stick close to home in the Rushmoors???), but am curious about the others as well.
There are posters here who have a great deal of experience/knowledge about the setting (more than I do, despite my decent collection of materials), and I value your wisdom and creative ideas.
Aside from Beory and Fharlangh (and recently Vecna) all of the prime-dwelling deities are demigods and quasideities. Thus they have no godly realms and dwell in mundane if mysterious places.
Beory is often equated with Oerth itself, so mayhap her godly realms is insider Oerth. Fharlangh, the Dweller on the Horizon is probably always wandering. Iuz home is quite well-known, Kelanen is said to have a Tower somewhere in the Flanaess, no doubt well hidden. Zuoken was probably wandering or dwelling in a hiden monastery of Xan Yae, before his imprisonment. Heward 's domicile "extends into many extra dimensional spaces" but is "nondescript on the exterior". Wastri is said to dwell in the Sacred Polystery in the Vast Swamp.
Vecna is a special case. His Citadel Cavitus was first located on the Negative Energy Plane, then absorbed/duplicated by Ravenloft. With his rise to Lesser Deity he got a divine realms and probably reshaped thecitadel somewhere. Where is probably a well kept secret considering his portfolio.
BTW here's a list of the Prime-dwelling deities:
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Beory, N greater goddess of nature, rain. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
Fharlanghn, N intermediate god of horizons, distance, travel, roads. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
Vecna (2), NE lesser god of destructive and evil secrets. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Citadel Cavitus
Azor'alq, NG demigod of light, purity, courage, strength. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
Daern, LN demigoddess of defense, fortifications. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
Daoud, N demigod of humility, clarity, immediacy. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
Heward, NG demigod of bards, musicicans. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
Iuz, CE demigod of deceit, pain, oppression, evil. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
Johydee, NG demigod of deception, espionage, protection. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
Kelanen, N demigod of swords, sword skills, balance. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
Keoghtom, NG demigod of secret pursuits, natural alchemy, extraplanar exploration. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
Kuroth, CN demigod of theft, treasure-finding. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
Kyuss, NE demigod of creation and mastery of undead. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
Merikka, LG demigoddess of farming, agriculture, home. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
Mouqol, N lesser god of trade, negotiation, ventures, appraisal, reciprocity. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
The Earth Dragon, LE demigod of weather, hidden treasures. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
Vathris, LN demigod of anguish, lost causes, revenge. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
Wastri, LE demigod of amphibians, bigotry, self-deception. Prime Material Plane/Oerth/Sacred Polystery
Zagyg, CN demigod of humor, eccentricity, occult lore, unpredictability. Wanders.
Zuoken, N demigod of physical and mental mastery. Prime Material Plane/Greyspace/Oerth (The Flanaess)
Fharlanghn, god of travelers, spends most of his time travelling. However, there's an article on the wizards of the coast site that describes a shifting oasis sacred to him: Fharlanghn's Garden.
Beory is the Oerth. She can manifest a humanoid form if she desires, but she doesn't have a specific realm any more than a dryad has a literal house inside her tree.
Iuz has his palace in Dorokaa. Wastri has his polystery in the Vast Swamp.
Ehlonna and Obad-hai have Material realms according to some sources (including the WoG boxed set and the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer). They would preside over mysterious woodland glades, impossible to find unless the gods desire it. It's also possible that Ehlonna lives on Luna, the silver moon. I prefer Ehlonna and Obad-hai in the Beastlands and the Outlands, respectively.
Vecna's fortress, Cavitius, was in the Quasielemental Plane of Ash where it borders the Negative Energy Plane, and I have difficulty imagining him anywhere else. It seems like if he were to establish a realm on Oerth, it would be at the site of his old Rotting Tower, near present-day Shiboleth; that would certainly be a calamitous incident for the people of the Flanaess. A new empire of Vecna, with the lich now endowed with the power of a lesser deity, would certainly make everyone take notice. Yet assuming the other gods permit Vecna to establish a domain on the Material Plane at all, why would he settle anywhere else? He wouldn't, unless living in the middle of nowhere (the Sea of Dust, perhaps) was part of the bargain he made with other gods to be allowed to dwell on Oerth..
Unless you want a dramatic anti-Vecna campaign, though, it'd be much better to have Vecna retake his citadel in the Plane of Ash. Alternatively, he could graduate to an outer planar realm, perhaps in Gehenna. He could share a realm with the other lich god, Mellifleur.
Thanael's list is somewhat dubious, as I don't think some of those deities have any official domain listed anywhere. Vathris definitely lives on the Material Plane, spending most of his time lying more or less dead in the Bright Desert. Merikka seems a likely inhabitant, but she might dwell with Pelor in Elysium instead. Zagyg has barely set foot in the Material since his apotheosis; he spends most of his time wandering the planes or in various demiplanes of his own creation. The drow hero-goddess Zinzerena wanders the Underdark, remaining in no one place for long. Most of the other hero-gods mentioned prefer extraplanar adventuring to the Material Plane. I think Azor-alq dwells in the Seven Heavens, though it's possible that he sleeps in his eponymous Pinnacles with his Thousand Paladins. I forget. Zuoken and Kyuss are in the Material Plane, but only because they're imprisoned there.
First of all, thanks for taking the time to reply to my question. I appreciate your constructive suggestions.
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Vecna's fortress, Cavitius, was in the Quasielemental Plane of Ash where it borders the Negative Energy Plane, and I have difficulty imagining him anywhere else. It seems like if he were to establish a realm on Oerth, it would be at the site of his old Rotting Tower, near present-day Shiboleth; that would certainly be a calamitous incident for the people of the Flanaess. A new empire of Vecna, with the lich now endowed with the power of a lesser deity, would certainly make everyone take notice. Yet assuming the other gods permit Vecna to establish a domain on the Material Plane at all, why would he settle anywhere else? He wouldn't, unless living in the middle of nowhere (the Sea of Dust, perhaps) was part of the bargain he made with other gods to be allowed to dwell on Oerth..
Hmmm... "Vecna Lives!" indeed states that Citadel Cavitius is on the quasi-elemental plane of ash (up to CY 581), but the 3E Deities and Demigods (p.18) indicates that his realm currently is on the Prime Material Plane, although its location "is kept secret even from his high-ranking clerics." I know that many Hawkers view much of the Greyhawk content of the 3E core books as non-canon, but still, Vecna dwelling on the Prime as a lesser god does raise interesting questions concerning the status of the divine non-intervention pact.
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Unless you want a dramatic anti-Vecna campaign, though, it'd be much better to have Vecna retake his citadel in the Plane of Ash.
I actually do like the idea of a dramatic anti-Vecna campaign quite a bit, but I think the characters probably will be able to prevent him from returning to Oerth and to avert the catastrophic scenario you alluded to (assuming we get to play often enough in the coming years to make it that far... but that's another story). As a matter of fact, the campaign will begin in the Gran March around CY 574, and the characters will gradually find subtle hints suggesting that the Whispered One (whom most of them will simply think is a long forgotten historical figure, and certainly not a demigod) has dark plans for the March (I haven't decide what yet, nor whether the plans tie directly into the plot of "Vecna Lives" or not). I suspect that the characters won't succeed by following the railroad track laid down in the module, but by doing ***something*** that affects the 7 magic items that Vecna required to see his plan for greater godhood through (see my other post on that very subject).
If we assume that Ehlonna, Obad-Hai, and Fharlanghn do dwell on the Prime (as indicated in the LGG), I still find it odd that they (not to mention the quasi and hero deities) would not have intervened in Vecna's bid for greater godhood at the expense of all the gods of the Flanaess, and left all the dirty work to Iuz... Would attacking Vecna (who in his own way was about to attack all the gods of the Flanaess) on their home plane really have constituted a violation of the pact on divine non-intervention? I mean, they didn't even bother to send an avatar to look into the situation... Perhaps I'm missing a source???
No, you aren't missing a source. You are just noticing the serious flaws in the design of that module series. The large number of powerful liches, the total railroad nature, timeline inconsistencies, and the failure to account for the nature of divine interactions in Greyhawk all raise flags about the storyline.
Although I am inclined against the story simply because I prefer Vecna as a sinister historical figure behind some powerful artifacts than as a god. Rather more interesting in that role, IMHO.
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