Vecna is a powerful lich and shop owner in Crux. Her shop deals in potions, a few magic items, and powerful necromantic spells capable of destroying entire cities. She was not always the terrifying undead witch she is today. Many centuries ago she was a common human woman working on a farm. Her life was changed when Thanatos, god of death, fell in love with her.

Vecna started life as a thin farmer’s daughter whose birth name was Anorexia. Anorexia worked on the farm with her family like all children did, but was remarkably thin and ugly. Her appearance caught the attention of Thanatos who liked her skeletal body. Anorexia ate less and less until she collapsed. Thanatos took her up to his mountain palace and asked her to marry him. Anorexia said yes, happy to advance from farmer’s daughter to wife of a god.

Thanatos soon revealed himself to be an abusive husband. He was rarely home as he had to travel the world taking souls to the Underworld. Anorexia entertained herself by learning magic and alchemy. When Thanatos was at home he was overcome with jealousy for the slightest interaction Anorexia had with others in his absence. To control his wife, Thanatos took away the eternal youth he’d granted her. Her body wasted away to weathered skin stretched over a skeleton. Anorexia continued to talk with other people when Thanatos was gone, so next he took one of her eyes and then one of her hands.

When Crux was established Anorexia finally saw her chance to leave. Thanatos took his place in the world as the Antenator in the Silver Tower. Anorexia refused to move in with him. Thanatos still controlled her enough that he forced her to live in Crux. Anorexia changed her name to Vecna to try and escape the name her abuser used for her. She set up her alchemy and spell shop at the Silver Tower’s base and began her own research on death magic.

Vecna’s research resulted in many amazing discoveries, but the most powerful was a new spell of unimaginable destruction. The magic was capable of wiping out all life within a three mile radius of the casting. Vecna demonstrated the spell and then opened negotiations with various governments to sell it. She sold copies of the devastation spell to Xoria, Persia, Ethiopia, and some of the Indian kingdoms.

Vecna’s relationship with Thanatos remained rocky over the centuries. They had moments of reconciliation that lasted for years and bouts of angry silence that extended for decades. Most recently, Vecna went on a date with the hero Danar in order to arouse Thanatos’s jealousy. During the provoked argument Vecna started her desire to die, but that Thanatos wouldn’t let her. Danar slipped away before the god of death’s attention turned to him. Vecna and Thanatos’s current relationship status is unknown, but she still lives her undead life at her potion shop beneath the Silver Tower.

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I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

89 – Bunnies vs. the Borg D&D (Avery and Traumwald) Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Avery presents her world of Traumwald which means Dream Forest. Traumwald was a peaceful, magical world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals of all kinds. Their peace was shattered by the attack of the Ichal, a biomechanical hive mind species similar to the Borg. The Ichal are led by the dark god Ulvakros who seeks to absorb all life into himself. The Ichal have spread across different dimensions and now they have come to Traumwald as the next stop on their mission of multiversal conquest.Traumwald has a D&D 5.0e supplement that Avery made. It's a setting and a campaign in one book. Species generation rules allow you to create any sort of animal species for your PC. There are lots of new subclasses to play and a new base class, the Ascetic. The campaign is adaptable with a dynamic faction system for tracking the events as they unfold at your table. Each campaign run in Traumwald is guaranteed to be different as the factions fluctuate and change to player actions. You can lift the faction system for your personal campaign as well!You can find Traumwald on Avery's itch.io page.Check out the Setting the Stage website!Want to be on the show? Fill out this survey.Join our Discord!Support Setting the Stage on Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 89 – Bunnies vs. the Borg D&D (Avery and Traumwald)
  2. 88 – DM & Roleplaying Tips with Balance of Aksio (Jay + Sandra! and 3RPG)
  3. 87 – Adapted Azeroth D&D (Flare and Akridon)
  4. 86 – Wuxia Adventures in RPGS (Daniel and Metanoia/Ithasen)
  5. 85 – Medical Doctor D&D (Justin and Oops! All Healers!)