The dread lich who became a one-eyed, one-handed god of secrets, magic, and evil. Betrayal and power pave the way for the one and only Vecna.
When it comes to the fearsome villains of D&D’s multiverse, there are some big names. Big names with lots of power. Your fiends and infernals like Demogorgon and Orcus. Asmodeus. Even your Lord Soths and your Strahds. But no name is nearly as infamous as that of Vecna. Vecna the Maimed Lord. The Arch-Lich. Master of the Spider Throne, the Undying King. One of the few villains to stay from Oerth throughout D&D’s cosmology. Even the antagonist of Critical Role’s Vox Machina.
Who is this dreaded figure?
Vecna – The Mortal
As far as you might expect for a god of secrets and lies, Vecna’s early life is clouded in mystery. Legends and contradictions abound about the mortal he was. Most accounts agree that he was a human wizard hailing from Oerth. But at one point, Vecna began to fear his own mortality. The inevitable end that pursued him.
Some say he felt the fear from the death of his mother, and that this loss drove him through despairing quests for unspeakable power. Others say that Orcus taught him personally how to achieve undeath, learning secrets at the Demon Prince’s side.
Still others say that Vecna experimented upon hundreds of mortals to devise a way to devour power and energy from the various planes of existence. This energy would empower Vecna like no others. Still more believe that a mysterious being known as “the Serpent” taught him. But whatever stories you believe, the fact is clear.
Vecna sacrificed his body to become a lich. And he never looked back. Most of his history begins after his fell transformation.
A Lich Among Liches
As is their want, liches seek power. And Vecna was no different. His early history brought him into conflict with clerics of Pelor. A promising apprentice, Acererak, once saved his life — or manipulated his way into Vecna’s good graces to learn dark secrets. And Vecnaa reacted as you might expect any lich to. He drove out his apprentice and sought out ever more power.
Thus did Vecna attract followers who venerated the lich. In these early days, Vecna conquered a swath of the northwestern territories of Oerth. He ruled a dynasty known as the Occulded Empire. Here Vecna elevated a trusted lieutenant, Kas. Kas was a fallen paladin who used Vecna’s gifts to become a vampire. Vecna even bestowed a powerful Sword to his follower to demonstrate his authority.
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Though evil is as insidious as it is corrupting. And Vecna’s evil will manifested in the sword and tempted Kas. Succumbing to temptation, the fallen paladin decided to kill and usurp his master. On one fateful eve, as Vecna was attempting a ritual to achieve apotheosis, Kas attacked.
The vampire knight struck at Vecna, cutting off his hand and plunging his sword into his master’s eye. In the explosion that followed, all that remained were the left hand and eye of Vecna.
Vecna Rising
For a time, Vecna existed as a corrupt spirit lingering in the races of his eponymous artifacts. His consciousness might be scattered and separated, but through the influence of his hand and eye alone, the Master of the Spider Throne managed to become a demigod.
As a demigod on the rise, he created Skull Lords and faced off with dread powers, but even as he sought the godhood he so richly craved, he was drawn into the Domains of Dread by the Dark Powers that lurk in Ravenloft.
There did the archlich dwell in a Domain of Dread known as the Burning Peaks. But he could not stay sated. He devised a plot that spanned centuries, using the death of a demigod to try and invade Sigil. To this day, Vecna is the only divine power known to have breach the City of Doors. A lesson quickly and painfully learned as the Lady of Pain expelled Vecna from her domain. She separated him from his divine essence, but the lord of liches was resilient. And though he could not ever enter Sigil again (nor any other god) he did manage to become a lesser deity in the process.
Now he remains an unknown figure moving in secrets and shadows. His cult of followers practice profane rites and necromancy. And they serve as the many eyes for their dread lord.
What will Vecna do next? It’s already being carried out, a plan centuries in the making, all we can do is wait to see what he unveils
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