Characteristics
Physical features
When Vecna was first reborn, he appeared as a gaunt husk of a man wearing long tattered red, purple, and black robes. His skin was weathered and decayed, pulled taut against his skeletal frame; there was no hair on his spotted head. His cheeks were sunken around skeletal teeth in a terrible grin. His left hand was missing, and where his left eye would be was just an empty socket constantly streaming sickly green magical energy upwards.
After he ascended, Vecna was physically transformed: he had become huge, with screaming souls entwined within his limbs. The left eye socket was almost blindingly bright. He had recovered his left hand, which pulsed with the same green energy as the eye socket, and his ribcage glowed from within with sickly green light.
Personality
Vecna was arrogant, egotistical, and ambitious. From the beginning of his attempted ascension he maintained a confident and condescending veneer, believing he had already won. Vecna treated those beneath him as insignificant mortals or pests too unimportant to worry about. Despite this, he proved he could be cold, calculating and ruthless when it suited him, able to manipulate people's greatest fears to his own benefit and enjoy it. He sought to "play with the toys" left by other gods and reshape Toriel to his liking.
Worship
Worshiper
Vecna's dark power draws many different creatures into servitude. Whether they intend to see Vecna rise again or to expand their own power, Vecna usually has good use for creatures that will not balk at the vile deeds he tasks them. Cultist of Vecna all miss either their left hand or left eye as they wish to find the eye and hand of vecna, and their missing limb is a show of their servitude to the undying lord.
History
Childhood
Veirae Vecna was an orphan in a hag's orphanage in the
Kingdom of Lórien.
Unlike the others, he was brilliant yet cruel, a child with a natural penchant for manipulation and power. Vairae was the only one who could pull
Skabatha Nightshade from her obsession with the past, and for the first time in centuries, she saw something worth fostering. Rather than devouring him, she spared his life, nurturing his potential. To Vecna, Skabatha was a mother, the only one who had ever truly recognized his potential. Yet it was Skabatha herself who nurtured the darkest parts of him—his greed, his ambition, his thirst for knowledge and control. She arranged for him to study at the most prestigious academies of the , where he became a formidable wizard.
Pre Lichdom
High Mage Vairae Vecna was an elf. They excelled at school and easily made friends—which meant no one challenged them when they bullied the weaker children. One of Vecna closest childhood friend was
Nazim gash'ed, often called Nagash.
As an adult, Vairae joined the elven kingdom of Lórien garrison as a battle mage to round out their skills. Again they performed admirably and were showered with admirers and promotions.
But after discovering a cryptic tome on the corpse of an enemy wizard, the book of Vile Darkness, Vairae set their sights even higher—for the tome contained a ritual to keep their vigor and power forever.
Filled with pride and greed, Vairae Vecna coveted the throne of the kingdom of Lorien, held by queen
Alleria Windrunner and set into motion a plot to seize the crown for himself. Vairae Vecna began to corrupt those who followed him, and he gathered together a dozen like-minded acolytes, of which a cruel noble named Kas was the foremost.
In 1574 BD, the powerful archmage Vecna achieved lichdom. After many years spent deciphering the text found on an enemy wizard, Vairae succumbed to the irresistible pull to complete this ritual... and sacrificed their best friend, Nagash, in the process, entombing them alive.
Lichdom
1574 BD
The morning after Vecna achieved lichdom, Vecna started his plan for the conquest of the kingdom of Lorien. His ambitions included gathering followers and undead forces, he corrupted the inhabitants and raised undead armies, even creating infamous undead unicorns. Slowly, Vecna's forces took over the country, with the ultimate goal of capturing Queen Alleria and redirecting her capital's gateway to the
Feywild towards the shadowfell.
Attack of Lethis
Vecna's army grew with each battle fought throughout the kingdom, his necromantic power raising his fallen enemies to fight alongside him. his lieutenant, Kas, had heard rumors—tales of great beasts that had died in a lake beside Lethis, the capital city of the Lorien. If Vecna could resurrect them, the creatures would become an unmatched servitor in his army.
For the first time in history, the rangers of Lorien watched an enemy army march upon their capital city. Vecna unleashed his most monstrous amalgamation of bone and flesh, towering three times as tall as any elf. It was followed by cadaver collectors that harvested the bodies of the fallen to be turned into soldiers.
Fear gripped the hearts and souls of every elf, even those who had previously faced Vecna's forces. They whispered prayers to Selune and Nesiven, clutching trinkets of faith, knowing they would soon face the undead horde. Lorien's rangers patrolled the walls, reminding their comrades of the oaths they had sworn.
From afar, Vecna watched the invasion unfold. He knew that a direct assault on the fortified gates of the capital would lead to enormous losses, even for his resilient forces. The elves falsely believed that his goal was the city itself, unaware that Vecna's true objective lay beneath the waters of the lake bordering Lethis.
This lake, infused with ancient magic, concealed the skeletons of powerful creatures, trapped in the mud, forming an underwater cemetery. This was the prize Vecna coveted to be able to attack the capital.
His elite troops were driven neither by greed nor envy; their mission was merely a step towards their master's total conquest. The lake's outer border fell swiftly, only portected by a modest coastal garrison. Under Kas' command dozens of necromancers gathered to perform a ritual. They wove necromantic patterns, their bodies igniting with demonic fire as they channeled its power into the lake.
At first, the water stirred gently, but the surface soon began to boil violently, the minutes stretching into hours.
A colossal monster emerged from the depths—a skeletal behemoth large enough to crush a ship. Its movements were jerky and chaotic, driven solely by the necromancers' will. Yet it did not rise alone. As the necromancers chanted, the carcasses of drowned monsters awoke, joining the creature.
With the monstrosities resurrected, Kas set to work, sculpting them into war engines capable of shattering the strongest fortifications. These siege beasts were abominations of bone and dark magic.
From her vantage point within the capital, the Queen of Lorien commanded her forces to defend the city. She watched as Vecna's elite troops advanced, flanked by titanic monsters twisted into war machines.
The assault began with a terrifying bombardment. Necrotic bolts of energy rained down, followed by demonic fire that left behind the charred remains of Lorien’s guards. The initial strikes were so violent that any lesser fortification would have crumbled. Yet, the capital was protected by holy wards. Frustrated, Vecna focused the fury of his engines on a single section of the fortification, determined to create a breach.
When the titanic monstrosity collided with the wall, the impact was so devastating that dozens of soldiers were hurled into the abyss. More creatures crashed against the defenses, undead troops climbing over their backs to storm the walls. Embedded Turn Undead spells obliterated countless skeletons and zombies but proved ineffective against the colossal monsters dredged from the lake.
Evocation spells were launched continuously, shattering skeletal giants. Vecna observed the battle with a cold, calculating gaze, memorizing every detail for future study.
The siege unfolded precisely as planned. The ground trembled as a fifty-meter section of the wall collapsed in a storm of dust and rubble. A massive breach now marred the fortification, and Vecna’s troops poured through, cutting down guards, soldiers, and rangers. He moved through the carnage, issuing commands as he cleaved through elven warriors.
The rangers regrouped, forming a defensive line, fully aware that the coming hours would decide the fate of their families and loved ones. If they failed to stop Vecna, Lorien would fall. Together, they stood against the undead, but one by one, they fell, overwhelmed by the relentless assault.
Vecna's forces overran the city, and the Lich King claimed victory. Lorien had fallen, and
Alleria Windrunner had been captured.
Shadowfell
With Queen Alleria shackled, the reign of Vecna was a time of terror for all the people of Lorien. The usurper king sought to increase his own power by means of devilish sorcery; a blasphemy that the people of Lorien felt certain would incur the wrath of the gods. Vecna marched on
Thar Amphala in the shadowfell and conquered it. He built a tower named Entropis in the shadowfell city, granting him the ability to open portals with ease. With precise strikes and strategic retreats, Vecna's forces conquered the entire kingdom of Lorien, forcing other rivals to bend the knee or face destruction.
Vecna's Lieutenant, Kas, was turned into a
Death Knight in exchange for fealty as Vecna's chief lieutenant, and Kas accepted. Vecna made forged for Kas a relic blade with a fraction of Kas' soul. In the months of terrorizing Vecna's enemies that followed, he became Kas the Bloody-Handed.
However, Vecna's lust for power knew no bounds. He attempted to ascend to godhood atop Entropis but was met with resistance from a holy army of the
Sisters of Selune led by Queen Alleria's daughter,
Lireesa Windrunner. In the ensuing battle, Vecna defeated Lireesa but was weakened in the process. Seizing the opportunity, his chief lieutenant Kas attacked Vecna. The fierce battle resulted in their mutual destruction, leaving only Vecna's left eye and left hand intact, and all that remained of Kas in the blade.
Despite his apparent demise, Vecna's worship and belief in dark secrets elevated him to a lesser
Deity or "patron saint," granting him new power from his followers' beliefs and devotion.
Echoes of the past
1076 BD
In 1076 BD, the cult of Vecna grew in strength and followers sought ways to bring back the god of dark secrets to the material plane. Corrupting temples of
Selune, and channeling dark
Magic to Entropis, the followers performed a ritual atop the tower in an attempt to summon Vecna.
However, the ritual went awry, resulting in a burst of necromantic energy that killed most of the cultists present. Instead of bringing Vecna back, the ritual teleported the city of Thar Amphala to the north of the
Ice-peak Concord.
The tower, Entropis, was brought down during the relocation as it stayed in the shadowfel, within Vecna's domain of dread, but miraculously remained aloft, magically levitating despite lacking a foundation. The failed ritual left the cultists shocked and in awe of the unpredictable and dangerous power they sought to harness.
Although the Ritual failed, Vecna was able to manifest himself, at least partially, in his domain of dread, ruling over it again, waiting for his cultist to bring him forth in the material plane.
Book of Vile Darkness
1133 AD trough 1136 AD
In 1133 AD, the Cultists of Vecna have begun mobilizing again, seeking pages from the Book of Vile Darkness to perform a ritual that could bring Vecna back to the Material Plane. They have already gathered some pages and continue their search, frequently clashing with the Cult of the Damned, who are also after the book.
In 1136 AD, the cult orchestrated an attack on Revel's End, targeting a prisoner known as "
Prisoner 13" who held a key to a vault in Uldaman rumored to contain several of the book's pages. The cult also learned of a group of adventurers who previously interacted with Prisoner 13, potentially securing access to the vault.
The cultists are now hunting for these adventurers, believing they may possess additional pages, which could enable the cult to finally complete the book.
Warned by his worshippers, Vecna managed to establish a connection with
Tanuki, one of the adventurers. As the Book of Vile Darkness was once Vecna’s artifact, the presence of several pages in Tanuki's possession created an opening for this link. Currently able to influence Tanuki only partially, Vecna hopes to earn his trust and slowly corrupt him.
Family tree
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