[dated 29/5/2020; II Shomu 29, Regnal year 1]
The Vex are creatures summoned by Evokers, that is the simple, quick, ‘everyone knows that’ answer. But what are they really? Most players never think beyond that. To them, the Vex are vicious mobs they want nothing to do with, to kill them on sight, if they have to face them, just another hostile mob to face and defeat in the midst of a mansion raid or a pillager raid.
But there’s so much more ot them than that. Perhaps me and Scar are the only ones they’ve taken a shine to, but they’re not so bad when you get to know them. They have simple needs: diamonds, cake, blood and flesh, the usual. Nothing strange about that. Just give them shiny things and cake and a bit of blood and they’re very peaceable!
The other thing most people don’t understand about the Vex is that they’re not entirely physical beings. They are, but they arne’t. They spend most of their time in another plane of existence, an ethereal plane where they are like one hivemind. They only take physical form when summoned by Evokers, or when possessing other beings like Scar and myself. On their own, they do not last outside of that hivemind for very long, and will die with or without player intervention.
This is also why Vex do not have names. They are a collective, you can’t just have one. They are summoned in groups, and the only reason they have names is to persist in the overworld. Names denote belonging or ownership of that Vex to something else. My Vex is called Cub when it possesses me, but we are both Cub and not two separate beings. I am Vex and I have a name and it’s how I can channel Vex magic into the world through connection with that hivemind.
That’s another thing about Vex: their relationship with evokers. Evokers aren’t Vex, they’re illagers. The way the Vex explained it to me is that a long time ago, an evoker made contact with the Vex as they had been experimenting with spellcasting. The Vex liked the malicious, greedy heart of the evoker, and the evoker liked the Vex.
Over time, they learned to work magic togetter, and the evoker’s skills and fortunes increased. Eventually, the evoker discovered how to summon the Vex into the overworld to meet the beings who had brought them so much power and magic. That was the start of their relationship, and even though the Vex can’t exist for long, they don’t need to. The shirt time they are here and the blood and flesh they taste when told to attack and kill is enough to sustain them.
From there, the evoker and the Vex found more evokers and joined with them to fight together. Evokers serve, channel, and worship the Vex, trusted as their priests and high priests in Vex society. But they aren’t Vex, and never will be. For some reason they will not tell me, this is part of their deal with the evokers. Only players like Scar and I have the privilege of being made Vexes. We have access to the hivemind and exist there with the other Vex.
It’s not even possession anymore, not like it was at the start. It had been a very long time since they found a player who was receptive to them, and they had long forgotten how to do this. It’s why they have given me the encouragement to write things down, about Vex magic, the Vexes, how we work, and the things they’ve taught me and Scar over the years. They want to remember this time, and have a record of all the spells and knowledge they have acquired over the years.
Why have they called on me now to do this when Scar and I don’t have a shared mission to do together, I don’t know. Perhaps they found comfort in the eternity of the Pharaoh’s great pyramid, and feel the Pharaoh’s magic is best suited to protect this book and ensure it lasts forever.
That’s just my reasoning, though. They haven’t told me more than that I need to wrie all this down so. Now I write, attempting to write down and record all the knowledge of the Vex as best I can, for the benefit of the Vex. And yes, there will be cake recipes. Only the best for the Vex.
Cub of the ConVex,
Pekhtyhetmet I,
Pharaoh of all Egypt and the Great Pyramid,
The morning and the evening star.
[Pekhyhetmet in hieroglyphs and contained in a shen/cartouche]