#Luxon beacon

[sea-buns]

I look at all this incredible art of the Mighty Nein, and the legacy of c2 that lives in Exandria and the hearts of critters, and the fascinating lore of Xhorhas.

And then I remember.

These bumblefucks saw a glow-in-the-dark paperweight that they assumed would kill them at any moment and called dibs the moment it looked like the empire would get it instead. And then carried around this powerful religious artifact for 43 episodes. Diving to the bottom of the ocean and enraging an entire city of pirates, all with the subject of an incredibly devastating and ongoing war in their back pockets THE ENTIRE TIME

and then essek became their lift driver and the rest is history

[arden-wings]

oopsie daisies!!!!!

[fragmentofpossibilitybeacon]

“The dodecahedron of gray faintly glowing crystal is heavier than it appears. A set of handles are affixed to the sides and it undulates to the touch. If a hand is placed on the artifact and is concentrated on for one minute, the bearer is granted a Fragment of Possibility.”

Ever since I saw and heard this description of the Luxon beacon in Critical Role Season 2 Episode 16, the whole concept of an object containing the potential for possibility resonated with me. There’s a whole lot (and I mean LOT) more this beacon came to represent through the Mighty Nein. It felt right that representing this literal galaxy of potential be my first tattoo.

I can’t thank my amazing artist (and longtime friend after she was one of my students) Gaby (find her at gabymariatattoo on Instagram!) for taking my idea and running with it, Sweet Roll Tattoo for having the cutest shop ever, and to the whole cast of @criticalrole (especially Liam and Matt for giving us Caleb and Essek) for making a world that inspires creativity and community.

[skeletonsloverockcandy]

I got my Mollymauk and Jester Oracle deck! And since there are some blank cards, I decided to try my hand at designing one!

This is Gravity & Potential

Gravity: Temptation. Being drawn in. Forces outside of one’s control. Heaviness or weight.

Potential: Redemption. Having control over one’s fate. Making choices. Looking towards the future.

Woodworker and Wolf

[rebelliousdandy]

finished commission for my bestie!! thank u laura bailey for being a queen 🩵

[pyritewolf]

They're here, they're blingin', they will for sure land you an audience with the Bright Queen: it's the Luxon Beacon enamel pins!

[masterqwertster]

Another interesting discovery Team Issylra could make:

Finding an undiscovered Luxon Beacon because Ashton has a proximity alarm installed in their galaxy brain.

You know, the team's just stumbling through the wilds of Issylra when Ashton suddenly feels the need to go in a certain direction, dig in a certain spot, and bam! Beacon found. (Continents away, wizards into Dunamancy are frothing at the mouth for no discernible reason) Orym doesn’t know how to feel about his godly Passive Perception picking up on Ashton's brain glass and their mysterious new crystal dodecahedron pulsing in time with each other.

Oh, and Ashton’s proximity alarm didn't go off at Tishtan because of wizard bullshit machinery interference.

[primordialsneeze]

Theory on what happened to Ashton/what the Hishari were doing.

I may or may not have an obsession with the Luxon and the whole reincarnation process but hear me out.

So the Luxon broke into pieces while Exandria was nothing but a cold rock right? Which means the primordials were alive while Luxon beacons were on the planet.

We know that non-human souls can be stored in the beacons, as there are some monster race npcs who were consecuted back in C2.

So I think that the Hishari had a Luxon beacon, and tried to force the rebirth of an Earth Primordial, possibly into the body of the cult leader to elevate that leader in power (as cults are want to do). Or at least into some other body that OBVIOUSLY can't hold an entire primordial soul. However partway through the ritual it inevitably went south and we know the rest from there. Though I'd be curious to know if Ashton got a piece of the soul or just some power.

If they got soul spliced and part of their soul is in a beacon as well as the rest of the primordial soul, that might be why their body took to the Dunamis potion in the way that it did.

[nightfaeses]

"The pits of hell call for us, let us make our home there." 🩸

[realtalk127]

Ok. So I have a big Critical Role theory, and I think maybe there’s something to it. 

Things we know:

We know Aeor had a beacon. It’s the exact same as the beacons the Kryn have, because Essek said he recognized it in their iconography. We know Aeor was using the beacon for various arcane experiments, including messing with time. We know this predates the Kryn and their lore about the Luxon by several hundred years.  

Other things we know: 

The Bright Queen is over 1,200 years old, having been reincarnated several times. This means she pre-dates the calamity. The Kryn also believe that when all the Luxon Beacons are assembled in one place Something Special Will Happen. 

Lastly, we know that Aeor did Something (called the Factorum Malleus) that caused the gods to destroy them. 

So based on all that, I’m drawing a few conclusions:

The Bright Queen is Aeorian 

The Luxon beacons were all created by Aeor

The Kryn religion is a farce and the Bright Queen (BQ) knows it

Bear with me, here's the explanation:

The BQ is Aeorian and she was around for the original creation of the Luxon beacons. Whether he partook in their creation or was just in the city at the same time, I'm not sure. They are not the split apart pieces of some mysterious deity, as the Kryn claim – they are just very, very advanced Aeorian tech. Arcane tech, sure, but tech nonetheless. 

Consecution (or something like it) was Aeor’s early attempt at immortality. Not perfect, by any means, but would still allow someone to functionally extend their life indefinitely. (I think it’s also possible that they put souls into Aeormatons this way, and that’s how FCG and FRIDA got souls.) The beacons also allowed them to manipulate possibility (i.e. dunamancy) and mess with time. 

Each individual beacon was extremely powerful, but all together, they formed the Factorum Malleus. This device had the possibility to do even more powerful things than any one beacon. I’m not 100% what this would entail yet, but whatever it was was enough of a threat to the gods to get them to destroy Aeor. Possibly full immortality? Possibly destroying the gods? Unclear. 

When Aeor was destroyed, the BQ recovered at least one beacon and built up a religion around the beacons to cover up their origins and keep herself in power. That’s why the Kryn are trying to reassemble all the beacons: to recreate the Factorum Malleus. 

Ludinus also knows the religion around the Luxon is a farce, and he knows the true origins of the beacons. That’s why his Malleus Key also included a beacon – and that’s also why he’s had so much interest in studying Aeor as well. (And why Malleus Key and Factorum Malleus share a word. It's possible 'Malleus' was even the Aeorian term for the beacons).

It’s possible that I’m wrong that the BQ is Aeorian or that she knows the Luxon isn’t real… but I’m 100% convinced that Aeorians created all the beacons. 

If anyone actually read all that, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Is this anything?

[msu82]

Ludinus Da'leth is why Molaesmyr fell

It was a failed earlier attempt to free Predathos.

In Aeor ruins, MN saw corruption akin to the Savalirwood. During C2 wrap-up, Matt confirmed the taint traced to something brought from Aeor.

A Luxon was part of the final key. There's many hints of them and Dunamancy in Aeor.

After fast-forwarding time, the machine decayed and diseased Ludnius's arm. The machine later destroyed many things.

Ludinus ruined Malesmyr.

[kind-of-genius]

an addendum to my previous Ludinus Da'leth is Athodan from Aeor theory!

Athodan may have been consecuted.

the relic Athodan found was a Luxon beacon, and upon "weaving of necromantic glyph work [Athodan] revealed unique arcane properties" of the beacon. this may have been the ritual of consecution.

if this is the case, Athodan could have been killed in the crash of Aeor caused by the gods but was later reborn

as an elf of Molaesmyr.

the same elf that would survive the fall of Molaesmyr and go on to join a cabal of mages called the Cerberus Assembly, the same name as a cabal of mages from the Age of Arcanum in the Dwendalian Empire

Ludinus Da'leth.

as long as there was a beacon—any beacon—within 100 miles of Molaesmyr during Ludinus's birth, this is entirely possible.

we know Aeor had a beacon and that the elves of Molaesmyr were studying Aeorian artifacts. there is a possibility one of the artifacts brought back to Molaesmyr was a beacon (if there wasn't one already present within the necessary radius).

Ludinus was said to have been one of the mages studying Aeorian artifacts in Molaesmyr before its destruction.

was his interest due, in part, to the memories recovered during his anamnesis as a younger elf? was he compelled to join the Cerberus Assembly because of its shared name with the mage group from the Age of Arcanum?

if Athodan was killed in the crash of Aeor, they would have died close to the beacon they were studying. if Athodan survived the crash, there is a chance their study of the beacon yielded an elongated lifespan that allowed them to simply weather the Calamity before dying near the Aeorian beacon.

this latter possibility is only necessary to ponder due to the potential rate of reincarnation facilitated by the presence of Luxon beacons. there are supposedly thousands of souls inside the beacons, and who knows how quickly those souls reappear in humanoids born within range.

there is also the possibility Athodan was in a stasis bubble like the ones encountered by the Mighty Nein, and the elves of Molaesmyr dispelled it. that killed Athodan, but due to their consecution, their soul was pulled into the beacon, which was then transported to Molaesmyr, where Ludinus was later born.

Ludinus being a reincarnated Athodan also explains why he was able to manipulate the abilities of the beacon in the malleus key in the Hellcatch to bring the solstice to them. Athodan had intimate knowledge of the workings of the Luxon beacons, and therefore, Ludinus knows how to influence some amount of control over the temporal capabilities of the beacons.

so, in summary: my theory is Athodan from Aeor—the head of the Factorum Malleus "Creator Hammer" project, a plan to use machines called malleus keys to free Predathos, the god eater, who is sealed in the moon Ruidus—was consecuted during the research into rejuvenation done with/on "the relic" AKA a Luxon beacon and therefore reborn as an elf of Molaesmyr named Ludinus Da'leth

[all-made-of-stardust]

If i had a nickel for every time Liam's PC cautiously uncovered a precious artifact that proved the party's innocence under active duress by the precious artifact's culture & people, I'd have two nickels.

Which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice.

[mpanighetti]

Apparently the Essek dice set’s d20 has a dodecahedron on the 20 spot

Like I get it, it’s a Luxon beacon, but there’s something objectively hilarious about putting a d12 in the 20 position

Anyway, happy hot boi summer

[staticrevelations]

oh OF COURSE ludinus wanted to fuck with the luxon beacons he was trying to continue extending his life after all the fey soul-sucking he had done in the savalirwood and the beacon was the key to the bright queen having survived for 1200 years and was also purported to be a source of not only incredibly powerful magics but also a source of divinity outside the prime deities

[rebelliousdandy]

lil sneak peak update on a commission for the bestie (＞人＜;)