Vigilantism and the Lawful Alignment in OotS

[Sir_Leorik]

Actually, since you can technically be one alignment step away from the god you worship, a worshipper of Venca COULD non-evil (for example, worshipping him because of his knowledge domain). Where trouble comes in is the passing of information to other cult members. If she knows or suspects that the information is going to be used for evil purposes, she's moved into evil territory since she's now part of any evil they commit. So, it's not the worship of Vecna that makes her evil, but the actions she is taking. Now, whether Vecna and/or his cultists will allow worship at all without some support is another matter entirely. Does Vecna have worshippers (those who pray to him as their patron) AND cultists (those who actively work to further his ends) or just cultists? The woman in the example above is a cultist. She's taking an active (if minor) role in furthering Vecna's ends and as such is responsible (along with others) for any evil resulting from the information she obtained.

Vecna is a Neutral Evil god whose portfolio includes Magic, Secrets, Magical Secrets, and Magical Secrets That Will Allow Vecna to Kill All of the Other Gods and Rule Creation. In the World of Greyhawk, worship of Vecna is illegal almost everywhere, even especially in the Empire of Iuz. I'm not sure that a True Neutral character can worship a God that isn't also True Neutral; you can't be a True Neutral cleric of a god that isn't True Neutral.

The goal of the washerwoman who joined the cult is to get personal power. The cult assigns her to spy on her neighbors in the hopes that they will get valuable blackmail material. Plus she's risking her life by being a member of the cell, since in most areas worship of Vecna is punishable by summary execution. I'd say that she should be considered Evil.