Vecna-Can soemone help me?

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

Before Vecna was a god, he was a lich. Before that, a man, and a king. I once read of one of an incident from his days amongst the living. This is how I remember it.

While conquering the countryside, he once encountered a town that refused to surrender to his army. They insisted on fighting his army. The Wizard/King's army laid siege for three days before the town saw that its defeat was an undeniable, and eminent, eventuality. They sent an envoy to discuss terms of their surrender.

Vecna would not compromise. His terms were these: every man, woman, and child in the village was to be brought forward for execution. No other terms would be accepted. Vecna demanded absolute capitulation to his will.

In a rare gesture of selflessness, the town council, the six wisest old men of the village, offerred to sacrifice themselves - they offered to die to satiate the conqueror's bloodlust - if only he would spare the rest of the village, forgive the arrogance of the council in denying him, and accept their sacrifice.

The King was moved. Thanks to the council's altruism, he modified his plans.

Vecna salted the village's crops. He slaughtered their pets and livestock, leaving them to rot in the fields. And, he murdered everyone in the village. Everyone, that is, except the council of elders. Them he sent out into the world followed by agents who guaranteed their health and safety. All of them lived many years, and for many years, they wandered the face of Oerth, living testimony to the undeniable will of the Lord of Lies, the Whispered One, Vecna.

 

[Shemeska]

If you're interested and your DM lets you, you look at the 2E products Vecna Lives, Vecna Reborn, and Die Vecna Die!, which detail Vecna's return, imprisonment in Ravenloft, and his escape.

Edit: Some people disregard those 2E products I mentioned as junk because of some of the rules that they break.

Vecna Lives, and Vecna Reborn, are generally regarded as useful and well regarded sources of information about Vecna. DVD is where you see people proverbially breaking out the knives and the noose and a drive to Jasper TX. DVD also has a radical reinterpretation of elements from the first two modules (different author).

 

[grodog]

If you can track down a copy of Vecna: Hand of the Revenant graphic novel, I would do so: lots of good background on the arch lich.

There's also good info on Vecna on Canonfire!, in particular, Erik Mona's article at http://www.canonfire.com/htmlnew/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=220

 

[Joël of the FoS]

Die Vecna Die! indeed has a lot of information on Vecna as a god, his relics, and of his cultists. Most probably the best source for roleplaying a flavoring a cleric of Vecna.

 

[grimslade]

The Whispered One

Vecna was ruler of the Spider Throne in the Sheldomar Valley in Greyhawk. His people were the Ur-flan, wielders of powerful necromantic magic. His lieutenant, Kas, was a vampire lord. Kas attempted to usurp the throne from the Whispered One and managed to maim the lich-king. The Maimed god lost his hand and eye to the fabled Sword of Kas. Both Kas and the Lich-King fled and the Kingdom of the Spider Throne crumbled.
Most worlds would have Vecna be a cult more than a religion. Only the most decadent and evil societies would openly worship the Whispered One. Even priests of the Lord of Secrets would not use his real name for fear of drawing his dread single eyed gaze. To gain the Whispered Ones favor worshippers might offer up great secrets to him, i.e. sordid skeletons in noble closets, how to infiltrate a besieged city, and such.

There is good info for clerics of Vecna in Complete Divine as well. Oops, I said his name three times and here he is.

Grim

 

[painandgreed]

Actually, the hand, eye, and head of Vecna would be relics, not artifacts. Artifacts are manufactured items whereas relics are the physical remains of person that is imbued with some form of power due to that person's abilities while living. These items actually being the leftover remians of the lich, would be relics.

Most of the early information on Vecna came from the 1E and 2E DMG though the form of informaiton on the hand and eye of Vecna as relics. This is also where Kas shows up (1E DMG) as his sword is an artifact.

 

[Sammael]

Actually, the hand, eye, and head of Vecna would be relics, not artifacts. Artifacts are manufactured items whereas relics are the physical remains of person that is imbued with some form of power due to that person's abilities while living. These items actually being the leftover remians of the lich, would be relics.

Except that in 3.x, they are listed as artifacts (major artifacts, to be exact), and the world "relic" has a completely different in-game meaning (being a specific type of magic item that requires the user to fulfill one or more criteria in order to be able to use its powers).

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

In Game:
Several thousand years ago, Vecna arose (probably in the regions west of Grayhawk that are now wastelands) and in his time became the mightiest magic-user in the world. The Serpent (a metaphorical term for the fundamental nature of magic) spoke to Vecna. With his lieutenant, Kas the Vampire, Vecna forged a vast and terrible empire.

Eventually, Kas turned on Vecna and the two battled. The outcome of this fight is up for debate, but Vecna lost his hand and eye.

Vecna was able to become a diety, the demi-god of secrets – this apotheosis transformed his lost eye and hand into artifacts. However, his malign nature attracted the attention of powers more potent and fell than he and the Lich-God found itself trapped in Ravenloft (the demiplane, not the castle of the same name) for a time.

It was able to escape Ravenloft and made a bid for dominance over the entire multiverse with a plot involving Sigil, the City at the Center of All. This attempt was thwarted, and Vecna returned to the world of Grayhawk, where he plots in darkness and gathers secrets.

Out of Game:
Apparently in the early days Gygax was working out the game, someone ran a character named Vecna. Later, while developing artifacts, the Hand and the Eye were created and the name Vecna was appropriated. At the time, the nominal background was Vecna had been a magic user and lich in some unimaginably distant time in the past.

Later, in the 1990s and during the 2E regime, the name Vecna was again appropriated and the character was reworked as an active NPC entity – specifically a demi-god – to serve as an antagonist and motivator for adventures and settings.

The character has not been significantly reworked since then, although it did feature heavily in the last major adventure of 2E, Die Vecna Die, which suggested – but did not explicitly say – Vecna’s attempt to take over everything changed the multiverse in a way to usher in 3E.

Smugness
I (heh) made a reference (heh heh) to the Head of Vecna in my book, Mechamancy (heh heh heh).

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Also, the name Vecna is also the name of a technology company (www.vecna.com) and a healthcare company ( http://www.larta.org/lavox/articlelinks/2005/050516_vecna.asp ). I wonder what prompted them to choose the word Vecna as the name of their companies.

It is also the name of a computer virus ( http://www.avp.ch/avpve/bootmult/vecna.stm ). At a guess, I think the people who created the virus probably did take the name from the RPG character.

Edit: And apparently the name vecna comes from a Serbian term for “eternal.”

 

[TerraDave]

The Hand and Eye of Vecna, and the Sword of Kas were artifacts introduced in the late 1970's in Eldritch Wizardry, Supplement III to the original Dungeons and Dragons game.

They where created by Brian Blume (his one possitive contribution to role playing), and AFIK not used in the Col's (E. Gary Gygax) game.

They are probably still best known from their latter inclusion in the 1st ed Dungeon Masters Guide.

Vecna's status was latter elevated to what it was after the Col. left TSR many ages ago.

Now why anyone one would want to worship the old bag of bones is beyond me.