The Serpent: Difference between revisions

From Greyhawk Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
← Older edit
VisualWikitext
→Publishing History: wikilink alias
→Relationships: VHotR citations, removing "appears to" and "believed to" phrasing
 
Line 22: Line 22:
The Serpent is said to be a member of a group of unfathomably old entities known as the [[Ancient Brethren]], which though similar to gods, are not exactly gods, though some beings honor them as such. The [[Lady of Pain]], [[Asmodeus]], and [[Jazirian]] are also sometimes said to belong, or to have once belonged to this group, and supposedly [[Vecna]] is a descendant of the Ancient Brethren. There may also be a connection between the Ancient Brethren and the draedens and baernoloths born before the multiverse began.
The Serpent is said to be a member of a group of unfathomably old entities known as the [[Ancient Brethren]], which though similar to gods, are not exactly gods, though some beings honor them as such. The [[Lady of Pain]], [[Asmodeus]], and [[Jazirian]] are also sometimes said to belong, or to have once belonged to this group, and supposedly [[Vecna]] is a descendant of the Ancient Brethren. There may also be a connection between the Ancient Brethren and the draedens and baernoloths born before the multiverse began.


The Serpent is believed to have personally instructed [[Vecna]] in the ways of magic. Vecna's mother, [[Mazzel]], told her son that the Serpent gains its power by devouring the souls of those who honored it in life. Indeed, this appears to have happened to her when she was burned at the stake by religious fanatics.
The Serpent personally instructed [[Vecna]] in the ways of magic.{{csb|VHotR}} Vecna's mother, [[Mazzel]], told her son that the Serpent gains its power by devouring the souls of those who honored it in life.{{csb|VHotR}} Indeed, the Serpent is depicted doing so to her when she was burned at the stake by religious fanatics.{{csb|VHotR}}
 
==Realm==
==Realm==


Latest revision as of 21:52, 4 August 2025

Greyhawk Divinity
The Serpent
The Serpent, as portrayed in Vecna: Hand of the Revenant. Art by Kevin McCann.
General information
Portfolio:Arcane magic
Gender:Genderless. ("it")
Rules items
Divine rank:Unknown (possibly uber-deity)

The Serpent (called Mok'slyk by the ancient Flan peoples) is an entity of godlike power, believed to be the incarnation of arcane magic itself.

Description

The Serpent appears as a long, snakelike, semi-transparent entity. The Serpent's head bears draconic features, and several dorsal ridges run along its back.

Relationships

The Serpent is said to be a member of a group of unfathomably old entities known as the Ancient Brethren, which though similar to gods, are not exactly gods, though some beings honor them as such. The Lady of Pain, Asmodeus, and Jazirian are also sometimes said to belong, or to have once belonged to this group, and supposedly Vecna is a descendant of the Ancient Brethren. There may also be a connection between the Ancient Brethren and the draedens and baernoloths born before the multiverse began.

The Serpent personally instructed Vecna in the ways of magic.[1] Vecna's mother, Mazzel, told her son that the Serpent gains its power by devouring the souls of those who honored it in life.[1] Indeed, the Serpent is depicted doing so to her when she was burned at the stake by religious fanatics.[1]

Realm

Dogma

Exceedingly little is known about the tenets of the faith, or practices of the believers.

One core fact of the faith: Mok'slyk consumes the souls of its worshippers, thereby consuming all that person's knowledge. It does this that it may conserve and sustain its gift of arcane energy and pass it on to its next worshipper.[2]

Worshippers

It is believed the ancient Ur-Flan worshipped the Serpent, though by the time of Vecna all the tribes had ceased worship and his was the only one left who still practiced or believed.

Clergy

Temples

There aren't any known "temples" of the Serpent, per se. In Vecna: Hand of the Revenant, as a child fleeing persecution and capture for "witchcraft", Vecna uses a stone tablet with a spell inscribed upon it (similar to how a scroll works). He was magically transported to a "place of great arcane power". This is when he first meets Mok'slyk in person. Mok'slyk greets him, saying he is "... welcomed to the Stone Circles." These circles are depicted as concentric megalithic trilithons similar to what we'd recognize as a "henge".

History

According to Mazzel, only the great god-kings of the Ur-Flan were able to communicate with the Serpent while still alive. Appearing in the sky one night, the Serpent gifted arcane magic to the ancient Ur-Flan people. By Vecna's time, his was the last Ur-Flan tribe to revere the Serpent; all others had forgotten Mok'slyk, or had been wiped out by witch hunters (VHotR).

Publishing History

In the earliest sources, there was no inexactness about whether the Serpent was real, or not. In Vecna Reborn and Die Vecna Die, there was no ambiguity as to the existence of the Serpent. Notably, in the one source which deals with the topic directly and in-character, Vecna: Hand of the Revenant, the Serpent is depicted as a real entity who consumes Mazel's spirit as she dies (which is a tenet of the faith).

It was not until third edition that it was hypothesized in some sources the Serpent might be anything other than how it was stated. The Serpent was real and spoke to Vecna.

Beginning with the Manual of the Planes and Epic Level Handbook (2002), the language took a notable shift, saying, "... the lesser deity Vecna reveres the force of magic, personifying it as an entity he calls the Serpent. Perhaps the Serpent is an uber-deity of unimaginable power"[3] and "epic spells have been personified as 'the Serpent'"[4]. It may be surmised that since those books were "generic" books which only included some Greyhawk content, words like "personified" and "perhaps" may have been used to make it as inclusive as possible and not define it for all campaigns.

This language continued in the Core Beliefs series, in the "Vecna" article (Dragon #348, 2006) by Sean K. Reynolds, with phrases like "Vecna claimed", "he referred to as the Serpent", "supposedly", "some claim", "others believe".[5] It included theories such as: the Serpent is a guise of Asmodeus (based on accounts that his true form is that of a titanic, serpent-like devil), the Serpent does not exist at all, or it is only Vecna's own madness and insight whispering back at him from within the darkness of his own one-eyed skull.

The final print issue of Dragon magazine (#259, 2007) counted the Serpent as one of the "Unsolved Mysteries of D&D". It re-presents similar information to that found in the Manual of the Planes and the Epic Level Handbook.

The key to the topic is while information is presented in the article as theoretical possibilities or what might be true, in officially published Greyhawk-specific material, the Serpent is shown as an individual entity taking specific action outside the presence of Vecna.
However, there is absolutely no evidence for any of these conjectures beyond mere speculation.

References

Citations
  1. ↑ a b c Vecna: Hand of the Revenant (2002).
  2. ↑ Vecna: Hand of the Revenant, p16, 58
  3. ↑ Manual of the Planes, p88
  4. ↑ Epic Level Handbook, p71
  5. ↑ "Core Beliefs: Vecna".  Dragon #348 (Oct 2006), p.32.
Bibliography
  • Collins, Andy, Bruce R. Cordell, and Thomas M. Reid. Epic Level Handbook. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2002.
  • Cook, Monte. Book of Eldritch Might II: Songs and Souls of Power. Malhavoc Press, 2002. Page 25.
———. Vecna Reborn. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1998.

Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index

The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.

Topic Type Description Product Page/Card/Image

Society of the Serpent People Group Oerth Journal #27 16,17,19,22
Society of the Serpent People Group Dragon magazine #256 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51
The Serpent Deity Incarnation of arcane magic Vecna: Hand of the Revenant 14, 16, 18, 33, 42, 56, 58
The Serpent Deity Incarnation of arcane magic Vecna Reborn 4,9
The Serpent Deity Dragon magazine #348 32
The Serpent Deity Vecna Reborn 4, 9
Retrieved from "https://gateway.greyhawk.city/greyhawkwiki/index.php?title=The_Serpent&oldid=94621"