nemorein

[nemorein]

if your disability makes it difficult for you to leave bed to brush your teeth, Colgate makes a product called Wisps that are single use, no-rinse toothbrushes you can use while in bed. They have a bead on the brush that dissolves and acts as toothpaste and can be swallowed. The other end has a toothpick.

[nemorein]

"The mountains and peaks shaped by the loving hands of the All-Hammer. What a world he made…"

Brennan said this story was meant to be a love letter to Matt and it truly feels like it. Here is my little ode to Exandria and its maker.

10 years of Critical Role, 10 years of this story, shaped by many loving hands. What a journey it all is -- and I'm so happy to be a small part of it to this day!

Also Divergence truly destroyed me. The hope, the struggle, the power of the many in the face of evil. The meaning in creation, creativity, and hard work... a a a aa

[nemorein]

baron on its tippy toes

[nemorein]

Me, halfway through Moonweaver's exposition and 3 minutes too late: "What is everything that you wish for me to know about this situation"!! That's the question she was fishing for! Nia, girl, I feel you.

[nemorein]

Jasmine's rolls have been so poetic. Stacking up to 5 exhaustion and dodging death only by an earlier selfish choice (fully reframing that as the tried-and-true instinct of Self Preservation). Trying to not slit a throat and immediately gets Brutal repercussions—the gang boss and her bodyguard acting like the mother and child that they were almost got her killed, and then got her to live. Nat-20-insighting fucking ASMODEUS when he's being way too cocky (seems to be a habit of his lol) and No One tricks a seasoned street rat on something important. Jasmine set up her story beautifully and her dices truly obliged. Fiedra to me seemed like someone who has a very big heart, and internally had to balance that out to deal with the situation she was in, by being extra convincingly ruthless with pragmatism. We often don't know why we feel a certain way, or by extension do a certain thing. She hatched an egg which would give her a helpless infant to take care of for years, while she herself was a street kid? What do you mean, child? Was she in Any condition to raise a child?? The tender thing was not something she was supposed to do; therefore, that Must not be what she was doing. Dragonborns make for great bodyguards, it was good investment, that's why. Crokas would go help children in need without being asked, at harm to himself. Fiedra, who ostensibly cares only about herself and her own, was so proud of him and helped to reassure Celeste. Crokas learned it Somewhere. Luckily he didn't have to justify it to himself. In the long run this justification machine is obviously Extremely Hurtful. But… I'm so glad that whatever shaky hazardous scaffolding she scrambled to set up in her brain carried her through this far, and that she's in a place to disassemble them now.

[nemorein]

Gods of Exandria

[nemorein]

Welcome to EXU: Divergence!

[nemorein]

This creature is throwing a temper tantrum and trying to bite me because I'm trying to put her food cups back in.

A couple of minutes ago she was throwing a tantrum because I took the empty food cups out.

[nemorein]

WHAT THE FUUUUUUCK ME ME ME ME ME ME

[nemorein]

I come from a time a thousand years ago, when gods walked among mortals. And the world was ruled by magic. Like you, I protected my home as First Knight, a member of the Brass Ring, a group similar to yours. And also like you, I assumed the best of them. I was blind as my friends condemned our civilization with their curiosity. Their hubris.

You mean the Calamity?

The gods set to war upon Exandria, and in the chaos, I found myself face to face ith the Lord of Torment himself. But instead of destroying me, he gave me a choice. Die with the rest or join him, and spare my family. I thought if I had enough time, I could reach him, save him, tame his turbulant heart. For my folly, I watched my husband and son fade with the rigors of time, losing even the memory of me. As if I never existed at all.

season 3, episode 4 of THE LEGEND OF VOX MACHINA

[nemorein]

🍃DIMENSION 20: MISFITS & MAGIC SEASON 2🪄

The new 11-episode season premieres September 25th, exclusively on Dropout!

Starring GM Aabria Iyengar and players Erika Ishii (as K), Brennan Lee Mulligan (as Evan Kelmp), Danielle Radford (as Sam Black), and Lou Wilson (as Whitney Jammer)

GOAT HOUSE! 🤘🐐

[nemorein]

Aeor, vast and mighty: the last bastion of the Age of Arcanum…

—

Happy Thursday! I spent two weeks on this huge painting of the whole Downfall cast (and Bolo!) and I’m so excited to finally share it! This took 21 hours, which is 10x longer than I usually work on a painting… though to be fair, there’s 10x as much stuff happening in this one 😆

Prints are available here! Closeups under the cut 😁✨

And here’s a version without text if that’s more your speed~

Prints of this version are available too!

[nemorein]

Matt Wilson

[nemorein]

I love this interpretation of the Lawbearer. Intentionally granting a Bomb sentience while sending it off to kill a lot of people through self-destruction would be. Unkind.

I saw a question on r/criticalrole about whether or not Nick and Noshir would weigh in on how they created Ayden and the Emissary. Someone else pointed out Nick's AMA about downfall, so I I mentioned a couple of posts I'd seen over here on Tumblr, and Suddenly Noshir! Hi, Noshir! Thanks so much for your surprise lore drops.

[nemorein]

Hi Noshir! Want to say I love Jedi Survivor and the complexity you brought to Bode. Made me love him and hate him at the same time.

But I've always wondered- do you HC that Bode knew about Cal's psychometry? The blaster he gave Cal easily could have given away his true intentions. Was Bode that skilled at keeping himself hidden away that he left no emotional imprints in general? Or did he do his research before infiltrating Cal's crew/family and knew about that ability. I realize from a story standpoint why the blaster carried no memories, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on if Bode purposely made sure to keep any emotional clues hidden from Cal.

Also want to say I absolutely love the evil laugh Bode had at the end of the game during the final fight. I loved it so much I made a video clip of it. So chilling! And a complete 180 from the Bode of the first half of the story.

Thank you for bringing Bode to life for us. ❤️

Oh man, what an insightful question. So, I don't know if this will help or not, but...

I think the web of ISB is frighteningly vast when the machinery is compelled to move accordingly. And when it comes to hunting down Jedi, it moves very well indeed. When we meet Bode, he was referred to Cal and his crew by Saw Gerrera... I think, between Bode committing to joining Cal's crew, and actually running the mission together to secure intel from Senator Sejan, there was a significant amount of time. And I think, in that time, an astonishingly large number of individuals who had met or run ops with Cal disappeared. The rendition process for enemies of the Empire would be terrifyingly efficient... and information extraction is a key skill of the ISB, from crude methods like the IT-0 Interrogation Droid to Force-Enhanced Interrogations. Slowly, a library of data was built up about Cal Kestis and his crew.

Cal doesn't really go to extreme lengths to hide his Jedi roots when he's running ops... all the ISB had to do was slowly, carefully infiltrate Saw Gerrera's resistance force and start identifying individuals who had crossed paths with Cal Kestis. Especially folks who had run with his team on missions. It would quickly become apparent what Cal's skills are, as I'm sure Saw would make certain to put them to good use. Cal's psychometry is a powerful skill for gathering intelligence... it would have become commonplace for Imperial items of value to run through Cal's hands, if only to see if there was valuable memories / events to be gleaned.

After Bode gives Cal the blaster, we still see him use dual-blasters all over the place. So... I can certainly see Bode finding a blaster, setting it aside somewhere, and then having it on-hand for that moment. It's also very possible that his time as a Jedi Knight working for Republic Intelligence gave him the training to use his Force Cloak ability to resist Force-Specific information gathering techniques. Cal's psychometry seems to often be tied to moments of powerful emotional or spiritual happenings... if he could just read anything and everything, he'd probably go crazy. There is, also, another side of this worth considering - Cal's psychological profile. Like many psychics from other stories, I'm sure Cal has developed a strong internal set of rules for when he uses his psychometry. Because if he just went around reading anything he could, I'm sure his teammates would see that as a real violation. Cal strives to embody the Jedi principles to the extreme... it may have been a safe bet for Bode that Cal would reject the chance to use his psychometry on the blaster because Bode is a friend, and he doesn't want to be eves-dropping on someone he respects and cares about.

Damn... I talk to much. Hahaha

Also, as for the laugh... honestly, I don't remember it! I'll have to look for your clip.

I will say this, though... for my personal take on it, Bode never actually intended to kill Cal. For all the crazy shit he does in that final battle, there were key moments where I left hints that Bode was still thinking rationally. When he's beating down Cal, and BD intervenes, Bode freezes for a moment, and then backhands BD out of the way. For a lot of fans, this was the moment where Bode became irredeemable. Which is funny, because for me, it was the moment he chose to spare BD. In full rage, Bode could have Force Crushed BD like a soda can. He could have grabbed BD and used him to bludgeon Cal to death. But he doesn't. He pauses for a moment, and then CHOOSES to swat BD out of the way. Why?

Bode knows that Cal is a better Jedi than he is. But more importantly... Bode has lost too much of himself to be a good dad to Kata anymore. He has fallen too far, and he knows it. When he asks Cal how far he'd go to protect Kata, Bode already knows that he's going to test him. And he knows that he will die in the process. Because that is the final test...

I think Bode, like many Jedi who were not enmeshed in Jedi Council politics, had reservations about the direction things were going. The insular, conservative nature of the Jedi Order led directly to its downfall. And there were many Jedi through those final years that had argued that things need to change... but nothing happened until it was too late. Bode truly believes that to survive in the world they are now living in, a Jedi must be willing to bend some of those rigid principles... and he pushes Cal to the breaking point. Making him so desperate and so angry, that he embraces his darker nature long enough to kill his adversary. Because, in Bode's eyes, that is exactly what Cal will need to do to keep Kata safe. And Bode will not rest until he is sure that Cal can go there.

This is super super deep BTS, but in the scene where Cal first meets Kata, Bode comes in and tells Kata that Cal is a friend. As I did so, I signed the letters O, K to Tajinae (Kata's actress). I had decided that they would have a silent form of communication because Bode would often have to say one thing out loud while needing Kata to know to do the opposite. So when Bode signs, "OK," to Kata, he's letter her know that Cal is safe to be around.

On one of the takes of Bode's final moment, Cameron shot me, and as I lay there, I reached out and signed, "O..." and then he shot me again. I was dying, and in that moment Bode silently tries to let Cal know, "It's okay." Because this is what Bode needed. And the only way he was going to be allowed to let Kata go, was through the actions of his best friend.

[nemorein]

One thing worth noting is that Tefmet appears to view the citadel as The Evil Organization[TM], and furthermore, views everyone from the citadel to be Dangerous[TM] and Responsible For The Citadel's Crimes. This is clearly not a view formed on a deep - or even correct - understanding of the organization itself. And how could it be, when they have been hiding from the citadel all their life?

I do tend to believe that they have accumulated more than enough legitimate evidence to justify their views. But yeah, justification is the word here.

Tefmet would attribute all the Evil[TM] to the citadel, and everything good, mundane or unrelated to be efforts of the individuals, swept up in the citadel's expansion, if they're even aware of those. Meanwhile Suvi would see the purpose of The Greater Good, along with things that are individual fuck-ups, necessary compromises, temporary inadequacies, and things that must have happened for a reason, just not for us to know.

If you heard Tefmet's testimony and immediately went "I KNEW IT!" you are legally prohibited from ever speaking about Suvi's "justification machine" again.

[nemorein]

Suvi having yet another totally normal interaction at witch con