This is where it began, a Hundred Thousand years ago. In the World of Oerth, in a kindgom that is no more. There lied a Man who's name would strike fear into whoever heard or spoke it, a name that meant ambition and death, a decay for all things so that only one remains. The Name was : Vecna
Or, Jack Vance, his old name since long forgotten, for there is none to remember it except the Ancient Powers of Old. Jack Vance had spent most of his time growing up with his mother, his father Henry Vance being dead ever since he was old enough to go to school. He was educated solely by his mother : Mazzel Vance. But his mother came from an obscure lineage no one knew about, she was a descendant of a lineage of Night Hags who became elven and therefore transmited to their spawns the talent of Sorcery. And his mother was no different than her ancesters, the same evil that tainted their mind lived within her aswell. His mother used to say that the gift of elvenism came from a being known as "the Serpent", an entity who predates all gods, part of the "Ancient Brethren". The Serpent was theorized by her family to be the representation and concept of all Magic and Arcane in existence. Vecna's mother spent his entire childhood to corrupt and vile things, creating tricked potions to those that came to her at a terrible cost and yet in the night while no one could see, fed on their nightmares. Until One day, Mazzel was found by the authorities of the Flaan Kingdom, and was sentenced to be burnt alive for her misdeeds. Jack Vance that day swore to take revenge upon the Kingdom of Flaan and waited, in that house of his, learning all the secrets of dark magic her mother had inscribed and one day … the Serpent came to him and whispered to his ears some of the most forgotten and ancient sorcery within the worlds. Jack Vance listened to the Entity and learnt … and slowly .. it started
First, Jack Vance fled the Kingdom of Flaan and started wandering across the world of Oerth, amassing experience and knowledge and after 100 years, Jack Vance became the most powerful Wizard on the Oerth and the most known. He was crowned Wizard-King of an nation that he forged : the Principality of Ykrath, ruling from the Capital of the same name. To forge this nation, Vance brought down with his power an entire nation, and gained a great reputation as the greatest spellcaster over the continent. His territory was mostly inhabited by cultists, dark mages and people attracted to the dark arts or wanted an ally out of Jack Vance. He had made an Army of Black Magic so that one day he could be ready to obliterate the Kingdom of Flaan. But he knew deep down that even if he had all that power ... it wasn't enough, and he had already wasted 100 years of his life, and an Half-Elf life's ends at 150 and that drowned him in despair. 100 years to prepare a revenge which he knows deep down he will never win and never had he taken a moment for himself, he felt betrayed by his own mortality, he might be the most powerful sorcerer but it meant nothing if he could never live to enjoy it. It terrified him to his very core and his ambition was thrown in the dust. The Idea that one day, he would end like everything else ravaged him until the Serpent returned to him in his time of need and whispered once again to his ears.
The Serpent taught Vance a way to escape death and be able to follow his boundless ambition, to reach Undeath and not any form of undeath but the Peak of all forms of Undead beings : Lichdom. Vance was already a master in the arts of necromancy, but he did not know all of it. The Serpent set him on the path, but he had to choose to walk it. Vance attempted multiple time to gain Eternity but all of them ended in a terrible failure, and then one of his lasts attempt was … Me. He had finally created me from his own flesh and seed, having "sired" one of his consorts. Once I came out of the Womb I was … well already half dead, he then secured me in a jar and attempted to use me, his own flesh and blood as his own phylactery. It "failed", he was still mortal and I "died" in that jar. He then left his quarters and left me in a basement. What he didn't knew was that I wasn't dead, and that actually part of his soul resided within me, probably what was left of his conscience because it is after this moment, that madness ultimately overtook him. He at least gave me the honor of naming me after his father, I was Henry Vance Jr, but it was actually an insult, for to him, I had forsaken him as well.
Having been left with no other option, my father traveled and endured the Abyss to meet with Orcus, the Fiendish Demon Prince of Undeath. Vecna pledged and proposed to enter into a contract with Orcus, he would become an ambassador of Orcus's Worship within Oerth, and Orcus would be his patron, in exchange all he asked was for the gift of Endless Life by Lichdom. The offer being very tempting and generous, Orcus accepted and turned Vecna into his Warlock and gave Vecna an even greater gift : Perfect Lichdom. He had ascended to be an ArchLich and Orcus took away his need of a phylactery, for his New Chosen shouldn't have to worry about any form of death. After gaining Lichdom, Jack Vance took upon a new name, the one all would remember for centuries to come : Vecna.
Countless things happened since then, Vecna grew an empire to destroy Fleeth but failed at the Hands of the Chosens of Pelor, the Sun God. Mordenkainen in the meantime swore to avenge his comrades the members of the Circle of Eight who had been slained by the champions of the Maimed Lord. Later, Vecna was betrayed by his second in command Kas who was manipulated by the sword that Vecna had created for him, their battle ended up consuming both of them stopping Vecna from reaching his Apotheosis, leaving as only remains of his original body his left hand and eye. He then seeped into the multiverse and tricked numerous entities to wear his body parts, gaining their power and knowledge until enough deities were tricked and he gained enough divinity for himself to Apotheoses into a God. And now for thousands of years, wages war across the Multiverse to gain control and more power, not claiming a divine realm to escape the Rules of the OverGods and be free of his movement.
It took me, 99 875 years to wake up out of that old basement in ruin. Once the jar was broken, my body evolved into the one of an adult. I was finally alive, for the first time in my existence. But I wasn't entirely dead, nor sleeping. I saw glimpses of the real world, through his eyes, my father's eyes. I shared many traits with him, while he had lost his left eye, it was my right that was engulfed in shadows, markings of gold surrounding the right side of my face. Pale, grayish skin, dark hair… It had been so long since … well since nothing, for I had never been someone yet. And here I was, in the ruins of my father's own decadence into madness and darkness. I grabbed a few rags and walked through the devastation, these old forsaken, desolated lands and I could see the souls of those that died here, too enraged or cursed to leave this place for either the Lower planes or the Upper ones. No god or reaper had come to guide their souls where they belonged to. "Poor souls", I told myself. And then I wondered, "belonged to?" Where did I belong to? What purpose do I have?
Well, I then spent a few months reconstructing a tower with my hands, and then continued to ask myself that question, for which no answer came out. I was but a purposeless Homunculus. A vestige of the Old Days of Greyhawk, maybe something that should be left to rot away. But I knew such a thing to be impossible, fueled with my father's own soul vestige, preventing my age from deteriorating. I kept asking myself questions for many years until someone one day entered my tower. I was wondering who could be fool enough to walk in this accursed place until I saw him, Mordenkainen, the Great Archmage of Oerth. He was the one who had unmade numerous plots of my father at the times of the Greyhawk war, now countless years ago, his Council had led to carnage, but he had been able to pull through and proved himself as a major force in the Maimed Lord's undoing. He told me he merely wanted to return here to study the ruins once more to maybe collect ideas to counter Vecna's endless schemes, but did not expect to meet something like me. He had told me I was a creature quite singular; I worked as some kind of Biological Construct but fueled by a Soul Anchor linked to Vecna, which granted me Celestial power turning me into some form of Fallen Aasimar. I was, well let's say surprised but understood quickly, but then I asked him:
"Great Mordenkainen, you've traveled into many planes, seen things beyond most people's understanding. What do you think of Me ? Do I deserve to live ? And If I did, what purpose would I serve? I am nothing short of a walking corpse, heir of the Vilest & most Ambitious person in the Multiverse. I am … well a Monster by default. What would the Universe want of an Error of nature like me ?"
He answered: "Henry, even I with all my Wisdom cannot grant one such an answer. The Universe has its secret that even I do not know and should not know. What do I think of you ? I think of you as a Young ... well ... Young boy, with so much to live for, to do. An unrivaled potential. Do you deserve to live? There's no such thing as "deserving to live". You make your own worth in this world. If you want to be "deserving", make yourself worthy of it. What purpose would you serve? That's for you to decide. You've been searching for exterior answers all this time, but never truly looked within yourself. The answer lies there. Do not let your parent's life define who you are, the Universe doesn't care about such trivial things. An Error of nature? You are a marvel Henry, don't let that Shine perish away."
After this moment, he offered me some food he gathered from other planes, we dined and then he left of his own reconnaissance, telling me to think about what he told me. And here I was, alone again. Well not entirely alone, I was still haunted by the wraiths of the accursed who died upon these blighted lands. And there I sat, in my tower for days, and days turned to weeks, and weeks to months. I was ... I thought I was a purposeless biological mistake, but maybe I did have a purpose, at least I made it mine. I gathered my stuff and started reading what was left of the ancient archives of Ykrath. Once I was ready, I grabbed a few artefacts for myself, clothed up and left the vestiges of Ykrath. I knew what I must do, I was a Shadow, but maybe that Shadow could bring Light. I am to be the One who will take down my father, and maybe bring back who he once was, would it be just for an instance. I will prove that somewhere deep inside that hollow shell, there was a child that once dreamed…
To be continued…