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I think I'm gonna switch Tumblr accounts, since this is just a sideblog of my furry art account 💀 I'll be over at @poetrygoldfinch from now on!!

Would love to make more crit role friends :) I'm deep in this fandom with no one to talk to 🥲

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EXACTLY!!!! YOU GET IT

And you know, another thing that I've thought about having watched Divergence.

The Platinum Dragon would not care one iota about Jester's graffitiying his temple. Nor would he single out Braius for blame and ruin his life over it.

Having lived a long mortal life full of struggle, suffering, self doubt, loss...why would he be angry at a woman who's in pain and grieving the loss of a close friend, who's trying to handle a terrible thing that's happened to her in the way she knows how to best: joy and mischief.

Why would he blame one man for a moment of failing? Why would he not understand and forgive, having lived the life of Erro? Who lost and was lost and who found his way back?

Bahamut would be a HELL of a lot more understanding and forgiving of the failings of people and the mistakes we make than his priests and followers are, apparently, in my opinion.

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I feel like Braius' story is more commentary on religion in the real world than about the gods of exandria. I don't say this to disagree with ops point I fully agree! Just want to be fully clear lol

But back to Braius, yes, Bahamut would not have cared. But the mortals who served him and expelled Braius were just that, mortals, and they made their own judgments and twisted their beliefs to fit themselves, rather than change their own behaviors to fit the god they worshipped.

I myself am not religious, but I was raised in a sUPER religious traditional Catholic cult and it's so interesting how much Braius' story aligns with my views. I do not believe in the Christian God, or any god for that matter. I believe the church is made by mortal men who have something to gain from manipulating and subjugating the masses, creating scapegoats and preaching goodness in the act of Othering. And if the Christian God does exist, they certainly would not align themselves with Christianity as it exists now as a whole, I fully believe that.

And I honestly can sympathize a lot with Braius and his decisions, they mirror my own a lot (except of course that while God does not exist therefore Satan also doesn't exist and I do not worship some dark figure xD I mean in more of a sense of my bitterness and hatred of Christianity)

Anyways. That's my two cents on Erro/Bahamut and Braius Doomseed :)

And you know, another thing that I've thought about having watched Divergence.

The Platinum Dragon would not care one iota about Jester's graffitiying his temple. Nor would he single out Braius for blame and ruin his life over it.

Having lived a long mortal life full of struggle, suffering, self doubt, loss...why would he be angry at a woman who's in pain and grieving the loss of a close friend, who's trying to handle a terrible thing that's happened to her in the way she knows how to best: joy and mischief.

Why would he blame one man for a moment of failing? Why would he not understand and forgive, having lived the life of Erro? Who lost and was lost and who found his way back?

Bahamut would be a HELL of a lot more understanding and forgiving of the failings of people and the mistakes we make than his priests and followers are, apparently, in my opinion.

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Mighty Nein + text posts

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I think about "can you lift a hammer? Can you drag a hoe?" multiple times every day now

I fear it may become a vocal stim

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This is what I love so much about critical role

I'm rewatching the Mighty Nein and I'm on the episode after their Kickstarter for the animated series and they're all like still shell shocked from the support but Matt makes a whole entire speech telling people to look for other Kickstarters and support them and find creatives' patreons and if you can to go and support the community around them

They aren't going anywhere, but ever since they began they've been looking for ways to uplift others in the community and that's fuckin beautiful. I'm so proud to be a part of this community

Another short Business Insider article dropped today where the cast finally answers the question of whether they're stepping back from CR.

The answer is a hard no. "We've had 10 amazing years — and it should be clear and known and declared that we're not going anywhere. We've got tons more to do," Travis Willingham, Critical Role's CEO, said. "I don't think we could hang up the towel even if we wanted to. I think we're all addicted, so you're not going to see any of the founders go anywhere," Marisha Ray said.

-Liam already has ideas for his character for the next campaign and hopes that someday they get to do a far future science fiction world of Exandria.

-Marisha is already figuring out what the next cofounder-led project to hit their streaming platform, Beacon, will look like.

-They're going to keep bringing new faces into CR, but also new crews and new projects. "After 10 years, one of the most exciting things is the opportunity to give storytellers a new spotlight," Willingham said.

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I only just noticed the interesting spelling of the Savalirwood in the map in the second mighty nein art book lol

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This is the most important thing that's happened this entire wrap up

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It's so interesting rewatching the Mighty Nein. I didn't know too much about DND when I was originally watching it and I'm on episode 50, where they are in the worm tunnels heading towards Xhorhas, and they get attacked by two ropers.

And it's very clear (at least to me now) that they absolutely BULLDOZED that encounter. Matt had those monsters and they had four attacks with their tentacles each plus a reel-in and a bite, and there were TWO of them.

And in a single round, even when grappled with attacks at disadvantage - and remember they're only level 8 - Beau managed to stun one, Caleb slowed both, Jester banished the unstunned one, they whaled on the stunned/slowed one until it died, ran forward till Banishment ran out, then unleashed cantrips until the other one was dead.

That's. Insane.

The Mighty Nein are built different and I'm only really appreciating it now, I'm looking forward to watching the other fights going forward now that I'm seeing them in a new light

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Why Ruidusborn!Essek would have made a ton of sense:

Luda needed a beacon for his master plan, making him more inclined to create an opportunity to nab one than to wait for it, especially since an apogee solstice only happens every 100-120 years

Luda was in contact with the Weave Mind, who chose when to make flares happen and potentially had centralized access to the dreams of any non-elves in the Bright Queen's court

As far as we know, Essek was the first child born to any of the three ruling umavi, who have the greatest access to the beacons, in centuries

Being Ruidusborn imparts a sense of not belonging, which is easy to take advantage of by stoking national tensions that make the people around the Ruidusborn more suspicious and dogmatic

Since we know that the Luxon held a key to defeating Predathos, it would make sense for a Ruidusborn to be innately averse to consecution

Essek is shorter than his younger brother, and flares are known to cause premature births

Ruidusborn are said to be cursed with misfortune, such as the death of a parent soon after an argument

They are also said to be important and/or powerful, such as being a prodigy in one's field of study

Also, Essek would have made the stealthiest, most ignorant exaltant ever:

Psionics? Professional inquisitor and high-finesse Graviturgist

Scary red storm dreams? Elf—doesn't dream

Emotional catalyst? Chronic emotional constipation

Creeping purple lightning on skin? Entire body is already purple

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Critical Role: 10 Years of Storytelling

Campaign 1, Episode 115, "The Chapter Closes." // Taliesin Jaffe, in "As D&D booms, 'Critical Role' makes its own kind of nerd celebrity" by Sarah Parvini // Campaign 3, Episode 31, "Breaking Point" // On Loving by Forugh Farrokhzad, tr. Sholeh Wolpé // The Legend of Vox Machina at NYCC 2022 // 8-bit Stories // Campaign 1 Wrap-Up // “Without You Without Them” by boygenius // Campaign 2, Episode 141, "Fond Farewells." // Campaign 3: Behind the Set // Letters to Milena by Franz Kafka // Campaign 1, Episode 115, "The Chapter Closes." // Explanation of the final Vex’ahlia playlist by Laura Bailey // Liam's Quest: Full Circle // Backwards by Warsan Shire // Exandria Unlimited: Kymal, Part 2 // Explanation of Fearne’s second playlist by Ashley Johnson // Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson // San Diego Comic-Con 2023, Critical Role: Fireside Chat & Cast Q&A // Exandria Unlimited Cooldown: Divergence Episode 4 // Campaign 3, Episode 23, "To the Skies." // Explanation of the final Percy playlist by Taliesin Jaffe // "For Good" by Stephen Schwartz // Campaign 3, Episode 91, "True Heroism." // Exandria Unlimited: Calamity, Episode 4, "Fire and Ruin." // Campaign 3, Episode 121, "A New Age Begins."

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I'm gonna get a bit sappy here.

None of y'all here know me irl, or even personally on any level online. I'm pretty new to Tumblr lol.

I just wanted to share the story of how I found Critical Role. I'm feeling sappy.

It's gonna be long but here it is:

I started college in 2020. I grew up in a small trad Catholic cult community and had deconstructed and needed to get out of my house. So I decided to live on campus.

I met my roommate on my first day, and we got along amazingly. And she told me she was really into Critical Role and Dungeons & Dragons

I had no idea what that was, but I loved Tolkien and I loved dragons, so it sounded like fun.

But I'm a bit of a hypocritical asshole: I try to convince everyone around me to get into the media I like, while I have little to No Interest At All (usually) to try to get into anything anyone else likes. Most of the time, I simply Do Not Care. (I'm working on it now, but I certainly wasn't back then.)

Anyways. She told me about the entirety of Vox Machina's campaign one night. She had started watching Critical Role about 15 episodes in (of Vox Machina). She's been there since the very beginning, which is very awesome. But I remember very little about the whole conversation, except about 1) the name Briarwood (for some reason I really latched onto that) 2) an evil god thing and 3) Scanlan's Counterspell/Vax's departure.

I moved on.

Until I couldn't stop thinking about D&D. She was in some games, playing online over Discord so I'd overhear about one-sixth of the entire conversation lmao. I loved looking at her dice. I asked to read through her Players Handbook (I got bored quickly at the time lol).

And then, sometime in fall 2021, I asked her how to start watching Critical Role.

She was so excited and put together a whole doc, but ultimately told me I had joined at the perfect time since they just ended a campaign so I wouldn't have to catch up on hundreds of hours, and the second campaign wasn't really linked to the first so I should be fine if I just wanted to start when campaign three started.

So that's what I did.

We watched together for a few weeks, but she was busy working on her degree while I was busy... playing Minecraft and watching YouTube and getting frustrated about school.

I ended up getting very invested very quickly into Bell's Hells, and wanted more content so I binged all of the Mighty Nein in three months. (My reason for MN instead of Vox Machina was that it was a complete campaign, start to finish, and didn't start all the way back in 2015 lol)

And after that I watched Vox Machina.

Things didn't work out with my roommate. I haven't spoken with her in years and we ended on bad terms. I will only say that 19 is a rough age, and I'm sorry for some things I did and said, and also not really sorry for other things. The details of course are all irrelevant, we are all human, and change is inevitable.

Bell's Hells was my first campaign I kept up with in real time. (Except for a six month period I stopped watching, only to catch up and my first live episode back was the one in which FCG died 🧍‍♀️I'll never forget that.)

And I'm so glad I watched the other campaigns too, because if I hadn't, I would've lost SO MANY REFERENCES LMFAO

It is bittersweet to see it end. I think of the person I was when I started watching Critical Role, and the person I am today, and everything that's happened in between. It's been a wild fucking ride.

To quote another of my comfort media,

"Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I have been changed For Good."

Critical Role has been such a shining light in my life these past few years. I've found my role model in life (Caduceus Clay). They've been with me through ups and downs and I've crocheted So. Many. Things. while watching their streams xD.

I struggle to express just how happy I am when I think about them, when I see them, when I consume any sort of content that they and fans post online. It's certainly the most mature fandom I've been in 😬

Anyways.

ALLLLLL of this to say: thank you, Rachel, for introducing me to this amazing community and this wonderful show. Just a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors sitting around playing Dungeons & Dragons. I would not be the person I am today if it wasnt for you, and I am so, SO grateful. Thank you. And here's to the next ten years with Critical Role!!!! 🥳🎉🎉🎉

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I'm so glad marisha said that THANK YOU THATS EXACTLY WHAT IVE BEEN SAYING

there ARE consequences but we are all the victim of time and human constraints and critical role isn't over!!!! There's more content coming!!! They aren't going anywhere!!! Open ends are great both for them as they create content AND for fans!!! Make your own stories out of the open ends!!! Go forth and keep the world going in your own ways!!!!

Love critical role and love you all 💙💙💙

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Thank you marishaaaaaaa YES EXACTLY

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Eight centuries after Crokas begins the foundation of the Cobalt Soul, a scrappy girl with Fiedra's heart becomes one of it's greatest expositors.

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Welp

I'm devastated

How am I supposed to go about my day as a normal human being when THAT just happened??