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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hexmage-EN" data-source="post: 8346454" data-attributes="member: 79428">I just considered how things get even more fun when you throw Joe Manganiello's PC, Arkhan the Cruel, into the mix:[ATTACH=full]140853[/ATTACH]So, Joe Manganiello is a big Dragonlance fan and is especially fond of Takhisis (who he personally believes is the same being as Tiamat). From what I've gathered, his character Arkhan started out in Manganiello's home game (which I wouldn't be surprised if it was set in Krynn) before going on a quest throughout various worlds in service of his goddess Tiamat. He acquired the Hand of Vecna from the world of Exandria before heading to Avernus, where he appeared in the adventure Descent into Avernus as the leader of Tiamat's forces. This Vecna had been born in Exandria, had a long history there (where he was opposed by the Raven Queen, who is her on can of worms regarding how beings can be gods or not depending on setting seeing as she's in the Shadowfell and not an Astral Plane), and had only recently become a god before Arkhan seized the Hand; that Arkhan was already aware the Hand was something he could seize implies that he had foreknowledge of Vecna. Considering that the cosmological changes from 2E to 3E were explained as the results of actions Vecna took to become a lesser power, leading (among many other things) to the Forgotten Realms separating from the Great Wheel cosmology to instead have Toril as a kind of hub linking at least three Astral Planes associated with different planes and gods, it's not impossible for a planar traveler like Arkhan to have heard of this Vecna guy already and searched for a counterpart of Vecna in the multiverse that was relatively easy to get to for the sake of acquiring his hand.Arkhan has a number of possible fates in Descent into Avernus. One is that he can attempt to kill the archdevil Zariel and rule Avernus with the backing of the still imprisoned Tiamat and her underlings. Another is that Tiamat herself can be convinced to help with defeating Zariel and saving Elturel, at which point she possesses Arkhan to speak directly through him before later emerging from her lair (that she apparently is not physically imprisoned within and can leave to roam Avernus whenever she wants; I had previously thought she was literally imprisoned in a location in Avernus, not just unable to leave Avernus).I feel it's also important to note that Gale Force 9 miniature release for Arkhan and his allies describes Arkhan as a Dragon Highlord (a term from Dragonlance). Plus his alignment is Lawful Evil, despite his goddess being Chaotic Evil. So maybe even Arkhan himself doesn't know what's up with Tiamat.TL;DR: D&D cosmology and gods don't actually make any coherent sense and are subject to the whims of decades of official writers and individual DMs who all have their own preferred way of doing things.</blockquote>

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