Review- Channel Divinity: Vecna

The latest installment of Channel Divinity in Dragon #395 over at Wizards of the Coast, features none other than our favorite archlich of Greyhawk and all-around impaired deity, Vecna. Unfortunately as most eDragon articles require, you'll need a DDI subscription to read this article (by long time print Dragon writer, Robert J. Schwalb). While many of you have severed ties with post-Paizo Dragon, your pal Mortellan has finally decided to take one for the team and signed up to see how the new fluff for old Greyhawk classics is being handled for 4th edition. As it appears in this article, Vecna and his cult seems to be treated with respect for previous writings such as Core Beliefs: Vecna in Dragon #348. Let's look at some excerpts:

"He was the first to sacrifice his body to gain immortality as a lich. He used his magic to raise up an army of undead and conquer an empire. He was betrayed, dismembered, and swallowed up by the Shadowfell to fight a war against his one-time companion and eternal rival for eons. And eventually, he stole divine power for himself to complete his apotheosis and become the god of secrets, the undead, and necromancy."

(An amazingly concide summary of many edition's worth of Vecna-canon if I do say so! It smoothly fills the current Shadowfell in for Ravenloft but otherwise manages to include nearly everything one needs to know about this deity.)

"Yet for all that Vecna embodies the darkness, he is also the god of secrets, the lord of whispers, and the keeper of forbidden knowledge. Given the wickedness at large in the world, almost anyone would agree that some things should remain hidden—that certain truths should be left undiscovered. It is in this capacity that some unlikely individuals find their paths intersecting with those of light’s champions to keep secret what should never be revealed."

(The article is mainly on how to play a devotee of Vecna so here we have a perfectly justifiable reason to play an evil character among your standard party archetypes. It has an almost X-Filesy angle to it, albeit not Mulder and Scully searching for the truth but rather, your Vecnan is the shadowy Cigarette Smoking Man instead.)

"Vecna was once a mortal of great magical power. Magical mastery enabled Vecna to secure temporal power, with the assistance of his companion Kas. At some point during his ascent, he created the Lich Transformation ritual, then became a lich, and finally authored the Book of Vile Darkness...."

"...there are tales about how Vecna was born to a despicable witch who showed him the path to darkness before she was herself cast into a pyre by righteous zealots."

(Here is a couple more snippets showing the background of Vecna. I am not sure if he was attributed to the Book of Vile Darkness before, but it seems to work with the direction of the article. More on that in a bit. The bit about his mother being a witch and pyred is slyly from the Vecna: Hand of the Revenant graphic novel. Not canonical but full of tasty story elements that have been picked up by later authors over the years. Here again, it works with the point of Schwalb's article.)

"Too many variations exist for anyone to discover the actual truth and this is just how the Maimed One wants it. Keeping the circumstances about his rise to power secret ensures no one can replicate them."

(This is a brilliant suggestion for using all references about Vecna, no matter how lame or contradictory. Even placing his reign in a timeline is difficult because everything about the God of Secrets is a myth at this point, and thus no one can know for sure but him! And maybe Kas...)

The article continues on with the Whispered Commandments, common to all cults of Vecna no matter how fractured they may be; 1. Follow the Subtle Path, 2. Nuture the Seed of Darkness, 3. Reject All Deities But Vecna. I won't go into the details but it's good stuff.

Next up is a section on the Keepers of the Forbidden Lore, a special sect of Vecna, useful for a PC follower:

"Contemporaries of Vecna when he walked the world as a lich, they were enforcers charged with gathering dangerous lore and returning it to him, whereupon he studied and perhaps compiled it in the Book of Vile Darkness."

(These people do not want the world destroyed as a Tharizdunite would, or overran by undead as a Kyussian might. No, they want to save the world like any other hero. Except that they find and lock away any dangerous knowledge they find until which time their master wants to make use of it.)

The rest of the article is on more motivations for playing a Vecnan, choosing suitable races, classes and so forth. It finishes up with some deity-specific Feats for a follower of Vecna. For obvious reasons I won't cover those here, but needless to say if you play 4th edition they should be what you need for your next evil character. I may give it a try myself someday.

Update 04/04/2021: WotC no longer makes 4E digital Dragon available on their website. Link changed for reference.

Big Changes to Wizards 2011 Schedule

Culled from a couple other informative gaming blogs, Wizards of the Coast has recently announced a major round of changes to their 2011 product schedule. Primarily affecting gamers of all editions is the discontinuation of their plastic minis line. As much as I hate the look of those ugly blobs of plastic, they are infinitely more useful than metal minis for D&D play. The timing of this with the promotion of new collectable fortune cards will fuel much gamer speculation going forward, as to what D&D is becoming.

Now more specifically to Greyhawkery, this same announcement also brings a slight blow to "4e-Hawk". Apparently they have decided to cancel the upcoming magic item accessory, Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium.


What?! Cancelled? CURSES!!!!!

This is a book I had lampooned harshly back when it was unveiled at Gencon 2010. Basically this was the pitch for MME:

"...a book of magic items designed to inject more story and descriptions into magic items. Not just a bland history, but a real story hinted at by the item’s description."

Well shucks, I guess I got my wish. Mordenkainen won't be demoted to a magic item shop-hedge wizard in 4e. Satire aside, it really could've been a good book fluff-wise, but maybe Greyhawk dodged a bullet here. Who knows? This blogger predicts that the Emporium may still be salvaged by Wizards albeit in the form of a collectable card set (yeash) comparable to recent products they have put out. I kind of agree here, they would not let a book full of magic items go to waste, so one way or another they will see print.

Personally what's a shame in all this is that MME was really the only Greyhawk relevant news I could squeeze out of attending Gencon last year. Here's hoping for something better in Gencon 2011...

Update 4/4/2021: This Mordenkainen book ended up being released for 4E after all in September of 2011.

Greyhawk Comic #302: Grey Lore

If knowledge is power, then
Delleb is an atom bomb of information. 

The comic is back! Delleb is here to unload some more Greyhawkery on your brain in this week's installment. Be prepared to read... Enjoy!

READ THE COMIC HERE

This is Where I'm Retiring To



This place ain't real! Or is it...

I've quite often seen references online about Grayhawk, pertaining to real estate and/or golfing. Heck one time years ago I was golfing at my local course and randomly found a ball-cap on the fairway that said Grayhawk Golf Club on it. Talk about an omen! Anyhoo, on a whim I decided to check out one of these Grayhawk websites. Hmm, not too bad. I could live there, if I had the means of course. Just imagine, if I lived there I could mail everyone I know in the Greyhawk community "Needfest" cards and the return address would say its from Grayhawk! How cool would that be? And I'd have to name my home something Gygaxian, like Castle Grayhawk or Vault of the Mort. No? Well, I can dream!

p.s. Unfortunately Arizona has lousy professional sports teams. Hockey in the desert? I say thee nay!

Update 04/04/2021: The link to the "Grayhawk" site is no longer active, but I'm sure a quick Google would still find more contemporary websites.







Animals in Greyhawk Religion

Building off my post about elephants in the Flanaess, I remembered a topic I had often wanted to lampoon in my comic but could never find an angle on for some reason, and that is deities of the Flanaess and their associations with ordinary animals. Gods representing animals is by no means strange as mythologies go but I believe it is an underplayed and overlooked facet of gaming these fantasy religions. A brief run over of several published deities of Greyhawk shows some predictable but sometimes interesting relationships.

Allitur (God of Ethics) rides an untiring horse named Keph.
Bleredd (God Smithing) has an iron mule as his holy symbol (not to be confused with the iron horse Lou Gehrig).
Bralm (Goddess of Insects) of course has insectoid wings but has been known to change into a giant wasp or scorpion. She can summon normal insect plagues.
Ehlonna (Goddess of the Forests) has power of horses in human form (and unicorns in elven form). She carries arrows of slaying for woodland creatures such as bears, stags, etc.
Geshtai (Goddess of Wells) has a pet fish named Gumus that summons other water creatures (fear Gumus god of gold-fish!).
Iuz (God of Evil) in his old man form has an assist dog named Spike. Okay I made that one up. ;)
Jascar (God of Mountains) is a little known canon deity but he is one of the few specifically associated with equines. His forms include a giant heavy warhorse (or a pegasus).
Llerg (God of Beasts) is an obvious deity of animal lore. He can shapechange into any carnivore, including dinosaurs. He favors the form of a cave bear, giant alligator and a giant snake.
Norebo (God of Gambling) can change into any animal up to the size of a horse but favors the form of a raven, cat or mouse (I assume for quick get-aways).
Obad-hai (God of Nature) Befitting the stereotypical druid deity, Obad-hai can assume the form of many sylvan creatures. Animal-wise he is noted to change into a badger, brown bear, boar, giant eagle, giant goat, giant lynx, giant otter, giant owl, giant pike, giant porcupine, giant stag (watch out for Ehlonna) and wolf (no dire wolf?).
Olidammara (God of Rogues) is famous for once being polymorphed into a "carapaced animal" by Zagyg. This is a form he still retains characteristics of in human shape. I probably don't have to tell you what animal that is.
Osprem (Goddess of Water)  can shapechange into any aquatic form she chooses, but favors dolphin, barracuda and sperm whale. Much like Aquaman, she can summon sea critters of the same type of form she is in.
Raxivort (God of Xvarts) can take the form of a giant bat or a rat (no word on whether they are still blue colored).
Pelor (God of Healing) can summon flights of giant eagles (good for picking up halflings).
Phaulkon (God of Air) can also summon giant eagles and furthermore is immune to the attacks of any feathered creature (Take that Pelor!).
Syrul (Goddess of Deceit) can polymorph into anything from the size of a fly to as large as a lion. Also for some reason giant octopi, giant rats, wolves, worgs, and giant wolverines won't harm her (I bet giant squids attack on sight though).
Telchur (God of Winter) strangely is accompanied by a winged albino bull. (not a natural animal yes, but I had to mention this one).
Trithereon (God of Retribution) is famous for his animal companions, Nemoud the Hound, Harrus the Falcon and Ca'rolk the Sea Lizard (what is a sea lizard exactly?).
Wastri (God of Amphibians) is famous of course for his affinity with toads and probably looks the way he does do to a half-botched polymorph spell.
Xerbo (God of the Sea) you can guess has the ability to charm or talk to any sea creature he wants. But did you know he has a pass between fish power which works like a druid's pass plant spell? That one takes the award for weird animal abilities.

So there you have it. I'm sure I missed many references, feel free to add any I missed. One comment though. I find it interesting that martial deities like St. Cuthbert, Heironeous or Hextor have no animal forms or even transports of note. Keph would look real cool in the reins of Heironeous instead of Allitur...

Oliphant Hunt

Belated cheers to the Professor on his eleventy-ninth birthday! Now moving along, this occasion has reminded me of a question someone started on of all places, the remnants of what is the Wizards of the Coast "Greyhawk forum". It was a good question that I've never seen discussed before so I decided to look into it. The question is simple; are there elephants used by any armies of the Flanaess and where can they be found?

 

My first impulse is no, there has never been mention of elephants used in the Greyhawk setting. But such imagery as the oliphants of Mordor's army attacking Minas Tirith in the Return of the King should've been too tempting to pass up for Greyhawk authors after all these years! Get ready for some contemplation and speculation as I go on an....

First off Tom Wham's mini game, Elefant Hunt in Dragon Magazine #88 is still one of my fondest memories of the publication growing up. If you want to go on a tangent check out this site.

Now, one of the posters on the Elephant thread smartly mentioned the Regional Products chart in the Folio/83 Guide of the Greyhawk Setting. This is a wonderfully under-valued "map" in that it shows with utter simplicity the major exports of the nations of the Flanaess. Ivory is one of the items listed and gauging which climate zone it is listed in you can pretty much guess which is elephant ivory and which is walrus, etc. Not surprisingly, the jungle continent of Hepmonaland has ivory while the Amedio Jungle to the west is left suspiciously blank on the subject. Zooming in on Hepmonaland, a search through the 2nd edition supplement, Scarlet Brotherhood shows that the resources of a few Touv nations is ivory (Kevot, Sharba and Lerga). Lerga's heraldic symbol is in fact the elephant, which is expected for a place named after the god of beasts Llerg. Further references in the book are encounter charts showing elephants being found in such far-away places as the Zolteo Jungle, Otobo Jungle, Adaro Forest and the Kabrevo Plains. The same rather publication goes into the Amedio Jungle but refers to no elephants at all in that region. All of these obscure places are of course no use in answering the original question, right? Ah, but I'm not finished!

The Regional Product map shows ivory in the cold north lands of Blackmoor and the Hold of Stonefist. It's a no-brainer that this is not elephant ivory, or is it? Consulting the official 2nd edition Greyhawk Monstrous Compendium encounter charts I found that elephants are predictably found in tropical or subtropical plains, scrub, hills and forests. But then lo and behold in the subarctic plain, scrub chart I found not only the vaunted Oliphant but also Mammoth or Mastodon! Subarctic forests, swamps and marshes contain oliphants as well. This is where the fun speculation starts.

The Scarlet Brotherhood has been all over the jungles gathering resources and have even been known to use Hepmonalanders as troops. Assuming elephants are used in war by Lerga, Kevot or Sharba it would stand to reason they could eventually be utilized by the Brotherhood's war-machine as a shock and awe counter for the heavy infantry and cavalry of the Flanaess. Transport would be their only concern, but like any evil nation bent on dominating the world, the Scarlet Brotherhood has magic!

To the north things get uglier. Full blown oliphants, mammoths and mastodons can conceivably be found in places like Blackmoor, Wolf and Tiger Nomads, Cold Marshes, Burneal Forest or the fringes of the Land of Black Ice. Should they be herded, trained and outfitted by a regional powerhouse like say....IUZ, well things suddenly go from bad to worse for the forces of good like Furyondy and the Shield Lands. Considering Iuz is a demi-god with armies of orcs, undead and demons, adding oliphants is the cherry on top if you want to run a Tolkienesque battle in the Flanaess.

New Year Greyhawk Resolutions




I won't try and fool myself by making the same unsustainable or unattainable resolutions that everyone else makes. I'm pretty happy with life and have no urgent needs or complaints. With that in mind, I plan to make a few Greyhawk resolutions as I have always been a standard bearer for the setting in its heyday and now in its virtual dormancy. My list of project goals involving Greyhawk is daunting but nothing I haven't handled before:

1. Maintain 2-3 posts a week, here on Greyhawkery. This shouldn't be hard, though deciding on a topic has been challenging. Not as challenging however, as making a punchline for a comic each week. So less stress there. But finding any news or discussion on Greyhawk is not easy, gotta keep my eyes and ears open.
2. Write more articles.  Not just for the blog mind you, but mainly Canonfire, Oerth Journal or hell anyone else interested in collaborating. Part of the down-shift in doing the comic was so I could do more polished articles. I got my Ull series, Battles of the Flanaess, personal campaign articles, and more ideas to work on.
3. Promote Greyhawk. This is a nebulous task, but it involves encouraging others to write, run, or read Greyhawk. That is easily done through #1 but proactively I go to other sites to support fellow authors. Greyhawk may be off the radar right now, but it has shown that it is like a comet always coming back around, and this could be sooner than later.
4. The Comic. My well was starting to run dry, and after #300 and Needfest I was exhausted. Despite all that I still have enough parody storylines to put something out in the coming year. Expect more Gods in Space than anything else (Sorry, Holian).
5. Greyhawk Fiction. This could be in the same category as #2, but my format is still up in the air. All I know is I want to do a serial rather than bombard you readers with one long novella. Maybe add some art with it. We shall see. Greyhawk is sorely lacking in good fiction. Part of #3 is driving for more people to write short stories or serials about Greyhawk. I think this is the next best thing to actually playing Greyhawk for those without the access and with official Greyhawk at a stand-still now has never been a better time to write original stories.