As some of you know, I've been working on a comprehensive history of Vecna, his artifacts, and empire for some time now. However, though I have access to all of the sources listed in his Encyclopedia Greyhawkania entry, I'm not sure I am aware of everything mentioned in 3rd, 3.5, & 4th, or in non-GH sources, such as Planescape. Therefore, I'm asking for your help in locating additional sources. Please note that I DON'T need every source that features an NPC worshiper of Vecna, unless such is relevant to his history. Here are the sources I'm currently using. Please let me know what I've missed:
The Adventure Begins (1998)
“Ancient History: Vecna’s Realm” (Canonfire!)
Arms and Equipment Guide (2003)
Book of Artifacts (1993)
Book of Nine Swords (2006)
Book of Vile Darkness (2002)
The City of Greyhawk (1989)
Complete Dive (2004)
“Core Beliefs: Vecna” (DR #348)
Deities and Demigods (2002)
Die Vecna Die! (2000)
Domains of Dread (1997)
The Doomgrinder (1998)
Underdark describes the incunabula, a race from the Shadowdark who Vecna lured into his service with promises of knowledge unending. P. 126.
The Plane Above mentions Vecna's tower in Pandemonium, but doesn't give more information than the Manual of the Planes did. P. 117. It does suggest Vecna played a role in the destruction of illumian society. P. 119.
Draconomicon: Metallic Dragons mentions the Guardians of the Gates, formed in Sigil to defend portals after Vecna's unauthorized entry. P. 74.
Dungeon #17 includes a radically different account of Vecna's demise than the familiar one. On page 44:
"Vecna died in the last great mage-war, many centuries ago, that killed or forced the permanent withdrawal of most of the first great sorcerers of the Prime Material plane. This glorious battle was fought near the legendary Ring of Flame, a great circle of fire ripped from the very bowels of the planet.
"When Vecna fell beneath a hail of swords and sorcery, his corpse was flung into the great pool of lava at the very heart of the Ring of Flame's huge central crater. Legend has it that the ground heaved in disgust as it was forced to eat the horrid remains, and the ensuing eruption obliterated all of the remaining victorious forces.
"But in the chaos, one of Vecna's minions escaped with the eye and hand you see before you..."
This variant legend could be complete nonsense, since the narrator is a liar. The author of the adventure says that if the legend in the adventure conflicts with how Vecna appears in anyone's campaign, the artifacts could be changed to the eye and skull of Shinta the Undying. I would suggest, however, that this "Shinta the Undying" was one of the past owners of the Eye and Hand of Vecna, who met his demise somewhere in the Hellfurnaces during a war between the last heirs of the Mages of Power.
Thunderspire Labyrinth describes Enigmas of Vecna, "the shells of petitioners who have angered Vecna by sharing secrets or otherwise failing their secretive god." Page 23.
Complete Champion mentions the "dread dracolich Ampathzeredes, who sought to become the heir of Vecna in the mortal world." Page 65.
Monster Manual V describes Vecna-blooded creatures. Those who solve the Seven Riddles of Vecna are sent to a pocket dimension known as the Oubliette of Secrets, where after undergoing bizarre and harrowing tortures and ideals by the hand of a being known as the Anchorite, they emerge with the Vecna-blooded template. It's also suggested that the unique entity Illurien is a servant of Vecna, but this isn't proven.
Dungeon #17 includes a radically different account of Vecna's demise than the familiar one. On page 44:
"Vecna died in the last great mage-war, many centuries ago, that killed or forced the permanent withdrawal of most of the first great sorcerers of the Prime Material plane. This glorious battle was fought near the legendary Ring of Flame, a great circle of fire ripped from the very bowels of the planet.
"When Vecna fell beneath a hail of swords and sorcery, his corpse was flung into the great pool of lava at the very heart of the Ring of Flame's huge central crater. Legend has it that the ground heaved in disgust as it was forced to eat the horrid remains, and the ensuing eruption obliterated all of the remaining victorious forces.
"But in the chaos, one of Vecna's minions escaped with the eye and hand you see before you..."
This variant legend could be complete nonsense, since the narrator is a liar. The author of the adventure says that if the legend in the adventure conflicts with how Vecna appears in anyone's campaign, the artifacts could be changed to the eye and skull of Shinta the Undying. I would suggest, however, that this "Shinta the Undying" was one of the past owners of the Eye and Hand of Vecna, who met his demise somewhere in the Hellfurnaces during a war between the last heirs of the Mages of Power.
This was addressed in DUNGEON® #19, "Letters":
Quote:
... I was very disturbed when I read ["Out of the Ashes"] and found such quotes as "When Vecna fell beneath a hail of swords and sorcery, his corpse was flung into the great pool of lava..." and "These great rents in the earth are indeed where Vecna met his end."
These quotes seem contradictory to the legend given in the [1st edition] DMG. Can you explain to me how the adventure's story of Vecna's death fits in with the legend of the sword of Kas (which would help my campaign development a lot), or tell me if I should just trash the campaign.
Don't trash your campaign. Flame got this story about Vecna from Opikus's library and used it and the phony artifacts as a ruse to get the PCs to travel to the Ring of Flame. As stated on page 46 of issue #17, Opikus "was obsessed with locating the genuine artifacts and had an entire wall of his library dedicated to books and scrolls on the subject of Vecna." It's not difficult to believe that Opikus had collected many (probably contradictory) legends about Vecna in his search for the truth. Flame simply selected the story that best fit his purposes....
As I said above, he was a liar, and it's not hard to believe he invented the legend out of whole cloth. But it's not impossible that the Dragon #17 legend referred to an actual bearer of the Eye and Hand. If he somehow survived being cast into the Ring of Flame (a fire resistence spell, maybe), he could be "Vecna" the elf from Vecna Lives.
"Vecna died in the last great mage-war, many centuries ago, that killed or forced the permanent withdrawal of most of the first great sorcerers of the Prime Material plane. This glorious battle was fought near the legendary Ring of Flame, a great circle of fire ripped from the very bowels of the planet.
"When Vecna fell beneath a hail of swords and sorcery, his corpse was flung into the great pool of lava at the very heart of the Ring of Flame's huge central crater. Legend has it that the ground heaved in disgust as it was forced to eat the horrid remains, and the ensuing eruption obliterated all of the remaining victorious forces.
"But in the chaos, one of Vecna's minions escaped with the eye and hand you see before you..."
This is actually a really cool legend for how the Hand and Eye of Vecna came to be, the best I've read so far.
With the mention of Vecna in Dungeon #17, I suppose the dragon Flame becomes part of Greyhawk apocrypha.
To my knowledge, this is the second mention of Vecna in a D&D adventure & 1st attempt to flesh out his past.
The first, afaik, was "The Heart of Light," part 1 of a 2 part RPGA tournament module ("The Twofold Talisman") from GenCon '83, reprinted in Dragon #85 (1984). Oddly enough, I ran the adventure a few years before Vecna Lives! came out, setting it in Jurnre. Like "Out of the Ashes" in Dungeon #17, "The Heart of Light" also featured a fake Hand of Vecna--much to the dismay of one of my players who had his PC's hand chopped off by another PC.
The adventure (by Roger Moore, Philip Tatercyznski, Douglas Niles, & Georgia Moore) also features fakes of other GH artifacts: the Sword of Kas, the Mace of Cuthbert, the Invulnerable Coat of Arnd, the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords, & a Crown of Might (no alignment specified). There's also a fake Wand of Orcus.
With the mention of Vecna in Dungeon #17, I suppose the dragon Flame becomes part of Greyhawk apocrypha.
To my knowledge, this is the second mention of Vecna in a D&D adventure & 1st attempt to flesh out his past.
The first, afaik, was "The Heart of Light," part 1 of a 2 part RPGA tournament module ("The Twofold Talisman") from GenCon '83, reprinted in Dragon #85 (1984). Oddly enough, I ran the adventure a few years before Vecna Lives! came out, setting it in Jurnre. Like "Out of the Ashes" in Dungeon #17, "The Heart of Light" also featured a fake Hand of Vecna--much to the dismay of one of my players who had his PC's hand chopped off by another PC.
The adventure (by Roger Moore, Philip Tatercyznski, Douglas Niles, & Georgia Moore) also features fakes of other GH artifacts: the Sword of Kas, the Mace of Cuthbert, the Invulnerable Coat of Arnd, the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords, & a Crown of Might (no alignment specified). There's also a fake Wand of Orcus.
Thanks for making me dig that adventure out, Rob! How did it work for you in Jurnre? I'm trying to find an appropriate place to set it (a basically good kingdom strong-armed by evil guildmasters), but I'm at a loss.
Thanks for making me dig that adventure out, Rob! How did it work for you in Jurnre? I'm trying to find an appropriate place to set it (a basically good kingdom strong-armed by evil guildmasters), but I'm at a loss.
I wrote up a summary on my old website. Scroll down to 3.14 580 CY.
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