Vecna (Hack'EM)

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For the monster in other variants, see Vecna.

Vecna, L, is a unique monster that appears in Hack'EM. He is a lich that serves as the quest nemesis of the Chaotic Quest and guards the Key of Chaos—his traits are a mix of some of his qualities from SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM and others from his appearance in EvilHack.

Vecna is a strong lich that can see invisible and can follow a hero to other levels if he is adjacent—he will also pick up magical items that he comes across. Vecna is covetous and capable of warping across the level: though he desires the Book of the Dead, he lacks any means to steal it directly.

Vecna is poisonous to consume, which primarily comes up if he is digested by another monster.

Generation

Vecna is always generated hostile, and is not a valid form for polymorph. As he is guaranteed to appear in the Chaotic Quest, he will not appear in bones files.

Vecna is generated within the "throne room" of the Chaotic Quest at level creation, where he is placed on the middle throne of the room containing three thrones and two graveyard sections.

Vecna is always generated with a cursed and rotted robe of drain resistance, a ring of slow digestion, and the uncursed Key of Chaos.

Vecna does not leave a corpse upon death: if he is killed in a manner that would ordinarily leave a corpse, he will instead drop The Hand of Vecna.

Origin

Vecna is an original creation of Dungeons & Dragons, where he originally was a background figure that became popular enough to feature as a major antagonist. He is named for fantasy author Jack Vance, who among other achievements developed the "fire-and-forget" magic system that would come to be used in D&D and many other fantasy works.

Vecna is first mentioned in Eldritch Wizardry, the third supplement to the original Dungeons & Dragons game co-developed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Brian Blume, who co-authored the supplement with Gygax, introduced the Hand and Eye of Vecna as the only remnants of a long-destroyed evil lich - no details of the artifacts were ever revealed to Gygax, and the only other fact known was that he had a bodyguard known as Kas. The descriptions of the artifacts in the 2nd edition's Dungeon Master's Guide released in 1989 further expanded on his history, before he finally appeared in person within the 1990 adventure Vecna Lives!; here, he was revealed to be a demigod and the chief antagonist of the adventure. Among the various details of his life, the Greyhawk setting reveals that Kas had ultimately turned traitor and brought about Vecna's (temporary) downfall.

At some point, Vecna had either created or procured The Sword of Kas for his most trusted lieutenant, depending on the edition; details of Kas's service to Vecna and subsequent betrayal likewise vary. What remains consistent across tellings is that Kas used the sword against his former master in a pitched battle that left neither standing: Vecna was destroyed save for his hand and left eye, and Kas had been flung into faraway planes, with the Sword, Hand and Eye as the only remaining objects in the area after the fight.

During the various editions of Dungeons & Dragons, Vecna has served as a lesser deity with dominion over the undead; he has also appeared as a god of secrets. It has been suggested that the Hand and Eye were inspired by similar items from the Eternal Champion series of works by Michael Moorcock (specifically, the Hand of Kwll and the Eye of Rhynn). Vecna also took the half-demon child known as Acererak under his tutelage, leading to Acererak becoming a powerful lich in his own right.