Ritual of Seeding

The Ritual of Seeding is an obscure, forbidden ritual by which a powerful enough mortal can ascend to godhood.

History
The ritual was originally designed and used by an unknown woman during the Age of Arcanum. This woman ascended to become the Raven Queen, challenged the previous God of Death, and took his place in the pantheon.

After the Raven Queen's ascension, the gods forbade all knowledge of the ritual she had used. The goddess Ioun spearheaded their effort to seal away this knowledge and thereby prevent a second ascension.

Until recently, it seemed that the gods had succeeded. However, on 12 Misuthar, 812 PD, a captured Remnants cultist told Vox Machina that his master, Vecna, was preparing to attempt his own Ritual of Seeding, which the party later that day saw one phase of the ritual completed atop the tower of Entropis. During their visit to Ioun in the next day, the goddess detected Vecna's ascension and told Vox Machina that the ritual had been completed.

It is not known how Vecna discovered the forbidden knowledge of the ritual. The goddess Sarenrae was shocked to hear that he was even attempting it, insisting, "None should know this."

Components
Little is known about the exact details of the ritual, except the parts that Vox Machina have happened to witness. Sarenrae was only able to say that the ritual takes some time, though she was not even sure how long exactly.

Ziggurat spheres
Though they knew very little at the time about Vecna, and nothing of the purpose of his ritual, Vox Machina first learned that he was attempting some sort of rite when they interrupted Delilah Briarwood's preparations in the ziggurat beneath Whitestone. Over the course of their research on the spheres, and later in Thar Amphala, it became evident that the spheres were siphoning power to the top of Entropis. This power was presumably used to fuel Vecna's revival and ritual of seeding.