#and Aeor Horrors

[wizardnuke]

i know it's popular fanon to think that essek has little to no relationship experience and i do think his bedroom experience is average at best (for a hot young* elf) but i Personally think he's got a long line of heartbreaks behind him. i mean this so slash negative slash derogatory i think he was out there wining and dining and leaving-behining all the time. just for fun and profit. working on his acting chops. showing off. he likes attention dude. i don't think that's directly contradictory to him being very reclusive and quiet about his work i think he was mysterious and sexy and thought flirting was funny. anyway he and caleb "genuinely falls in love with every other person he meets and then is really weird about it, EXCEPT for essek, who he was genuinely honeypotting" widogast, who essek was also genuinely honeypotting for reasons Far beyond boredom (see: i think some of his early weirdness/awkward formality can be explained by the fact that he was trying to mask real homicidal rage towards the m9) are insane together they're ride or die they're perfect for each other they're lifelong "friends" and they're playing mind games the likes of which would level a city park id they broke out of containment. and it's enrichment for them

[eldritchblep]

Chesty McTeeth and the Ghost Scorpions will be providing live entertainment at Taste of Tal'Dorei for the next several weeks.

[caeslxys]

Something I think is extremely interesting thematically when it comes to connecting what Downfall and the ideas it tackled to the overarching narrative of campaign three is that the things Downfall made a point to showcase of Aeor—Cassida, Hallis, the visual of an aeormaton proposing to her partner, the specific and intentional decision to shed light on a far from insignificant amount of the population being civilians or refugees—is that it plays in perfect parallel across from what is happening (and, really, has been happening) to the ruidusborn on Exandria in present.

Bear with me for a moment. Aeor is ultimately a city that was collectively punished for the decisions of its leadership. We could (and, judging by the amount of discourse around this particular topic already, probably will) argue about what the Gods’ motivation for all of this was—whether it be that they could not, in the end, bear to kill their siblings or that they were terrified at the prospect of mortality—for me it is a very healthy dose of both—but for this I am much more interested in the latter. They were scared. That, really, is the driving force behind both this arc and their role in c3 as a whole.

Why I point this out is: It is far more interesting to me, especially as we go back to Bells Hells this week, to dissect the Gods and their decisions not purely on sympathetic motivation alone but as beings in the highest seat of power in the highest social class in Exandria.

So, having established that the Gods (in relation to mortals) are more a higher social class than anything we could compare to our real life understanding of divinity and that Aeor was eviscerated largely because of their fear—what is the difference between those innocents in Aeor caught in the trappings of their autocratic government leadership and a divine war on the ground, and those of the ruidusborn being manipulated both by Ludinus and by the very thing that inspired such visceral fear in the Gods to start with. I would argue very little.

I think of Cassida, doing what she genuinely thought was right and good and would save people, her son, and the object of her worship—and how that did not matter enough to any of them to spare her because of the fear they held at the very concept of mortality. I think of Liliana and Imogen, one of which we know begged for the gods to help her or send her a sign for years on years, and how every single one of their largest struggles could have been avoided had the gods loved them, their supposed children, as much as they feared what they could be. I think of how the thing that did save Imogen, in the end, was a woman who herself existed in direct defiance of the gods will. I think of that young boy, sixteen years old, that Laudna exalted on Ruidus.

I think it’s completely fair to judge Aeor’s overall society as deeply corrupt—it was!—but its leadership and police force are not a reflection of every one of its citizens. Similarly, it is fair to judge the Ruby Vanguard as corrupt—it is!—but its multiple heads of leadership and even the god-eater further are not a reflection of every one of its members.

Notably, and what I think the Hells will latch onto, this did not matter to the Gods. It did not matter that Cassida was trying to help. She was still too much of a risk. Will it matter, what Imogen does? Will it matter, if that young boy is in the blast radius when they decide to take no further chances?

I’ve seen a lot of people say that the Hells will side with the gods and I don’t think I agree. Especially as Imogen has been scolded and villainized over and over for daring to try and save her mother—who herself has been seen by some as an irredeemable evil in spite of her drive being the exact same—her family—but when it’s the Gods it’s justified? When it’s the Gods, it’s sympathetic? Too sympathetic to criticize further than “they’re family”?

I obviously do not think the Gods should die or be eaten or what have you, and I certainly don’t agree with Ludinus (though I find him much more compelling than just a variation of hubris wizard), but when talking about the Gods in Aeor and in present it isn’t really at all about their motivation or their family. It can’t be. Too many people, including our active protagonists, lives have been effected for it to be as cut and dry as “they’re family”. These are your children. They are your family, too.

[arabella-strange]

lots of intense (and sometimes heated) takes On Here about what Ludinus thinks Bells Hells are going to think of this Downfall window, about what BH will actually think, about whether Luda or the Primes or Aeor is right -- lots of debates

What if the disagreement is the point?

Because what's clear to me is that there is no right answer for Aeor. There are entire schools of ethics and philosophy and justice and action/intention/agency devoted to debating what a "good" choice would be here -- good for the Primes, good for Aeor. Is it the Trolley Problem; is it meliorism; is it the law of unintended consequences; is it the categorical imperative or is it the paradox of tolerance; etc. etc. etc.

But what if Ludinus's goal is to sow division among BH? What if the point is that he doesn't care if he convinces all of them -- he just needs to divide them. What if he saw this recording -- saw the oh-so-close divisions and cracks and flaws in the bonds among the Gods that took them out of this plane -- and said, "Hey. Now there's an idea for how to clear the field!" Because I can imagine half the party being really moved by the way the Primes were trying to save some people even as they were trying to maintain a perspective beyond what any mortal could see; and just as easily I can imagine half the party being livid and unmoved by this impossible situation and determined more than ever that the Gods are just people who have high-level power, not perfect beings or omniscient ones or even ones who should get to decide what kinds of extreme solutions are okay and which are not. I can imagine a debate -- a heated debate, maybe even a fracturing one -- among Bells Hells.

And so I wonder (and I apologize if this is the rise of the fash in 2024 on my mind) if the division is the point.

[dent-de-leon]

Ars Elysia is paradise. Here at the beating heart of Aeor's damned and desperate--here at last, perhaps even someone like Caleb Widogast can truly belong.

Yet still, he keeps his hood drawn. Ducks his head down and clasps the cloak around him a little tighter. He wanders numbly from the bar, gaze pointedly fixated on the marble floor. Harsh lights glare bright and dazzling all around them, intricate glass sculptures glistening and gleaming, priceless crystal chandeliers cascading from the ceiling.

Laughter bubbles up in darkened corners, music blaring from the dance floor, a chorus of a thousand voices lost in revelry. And here in this patch of glorious paradise, at the height of decadence and wanton indulgence, amidst all the dizzying excess and ecstasy, all he can think is just—This was a mistake. 

He was lonelier somehow, amidst the roaring, merry crowd. But…he had to know. Needed to see him, alive and whole, lost in a wild dance and giddy laughter, carmine eyes glowing softly in the night. Needed to just hold him and forget—

The sickening scent of iron; thick, suffocating, flooding all his senses. The taste of blood on his lips when he bit back a scream. Blood on his hands, washing away in the bathhouse when Wulf and Astrid touch him. Love him. 

He wretched and gagged after. It was the face that did it. He’d been pretty, in life. Striking eyes, soothing voice, a wicked smile to match his devilish horns. In the shrouded dark of the interrogation room, in the sharp flicker of candlelight and crawling shadow, that broken body on the floor, he looked almost like—

Someone could have told. Someone could have seen. No archmage in all of Aeor was ever truly forgiving, but the clandestine, heretical philosophers of the Cognouza Ward were shunned and loathed even among their peers. He had heard especially haunting stories of Fastidan, the rogue faction’s closest thing to a leader—how he was charismatic enough to even charm the ruling court, how they showered him in wealth and riches to fund his forbidden research. 

The countless scores of offerings. Living flesh and blood—their very own. All lambs to slaughter, all sacrifices to sate Fastidan’s sadistic experiments. 

He sees again, all too clearly, the endless scars carved into Molly. Every precious drop of blood they ever drew from him, every damned sacrifice and rite. The hollow laughter when Caleb asked, Molly’s lopsided grin that doesn’t quite meet his eyes. 

He aches to kiss every scar in penance, to just hold Molly in his arms. Whisper foolish promises of escape and other pretty lies, anything to let him sleep soundly one more night. Erase the piercing gaze of nine red eyes.

He downs the rest of his drink, and tries to forget the fleeting glint of hope in Molly’s eyes. 

“Can I make you feel good?” a voice asks--cold, synthetic, charged with raw arcane potential, yet affecting the faintest tone of something so distinctly mortal. As intrinsically human as Caleb himself. 

The automaton before him shines like the morning sun; gleaming armored gauntlets, the dull, hypnotic hum of an electric current, a golden mask inlaid with shimmering crystals and charged runes. They’re a work of art. Radiant, beautiful. And all their attention is singularly focused on him. 

And he can't bear it--any touch at all of fleeting warmth and affection--

Caleb nearly jumps out of his skin, gaze swiftly averted, the sound of song and cheer and laughter all drowning away. Cheeks burning hot, his tongue trembling over every word.

“Nein, I. I—”

“Oh, you’ll have to forgive him, dear. He’s a wee bit shy.”

An arm wrapped around him, warm and welcoming, pulling him in for an embrace. 

Caleb freezes for but a moment, then he’s sinking back into Molly’s familiar touch, letting his head fall to lay on his shoulder, arching into his embrace. Mollymauk responds in kind—tucking closer to nuzzle at his cheek, pressing a fleeting kiss to his forehead. 

The music is still blaring. Neon lights beaming bright, glass gleaming all around them. But the world is quieter now, muffled and muted in Molly’s embrace. Drowning out the burning light, the bleeding color and warbling static. Caleb buries his head in Molly’s neck, breathes in his comforting scent. Rich, earthy sandalwood, the sweet taste of bergamot, warm spices of freshly burned incense. Everything else fading away. 

Caleb washed his own hands over and over, scrubbed the skin red raw in scalding hot water. But they still reek of blood.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, love,” Molly says, sighs. There’s a clawing want to his words, a threadbare longing betrayed by every bated breath. 

It’s all a show of course. Fantasy. A game Mollymauk likes to play, an idle whim they both indulge. A polite excuse for Caleb to hide. 

“Mollymauk,” Caleb breathes, shudders, shaking with relief.

He turns his head to burrow closer, tucks his face in the soft silky curls cascading down Molly’s neck. Feels the beating of his wild heart. 

He’d seen Molly play that role countless times, repeating the very same words in a soft sultry croon. Tucked away in some darkened corner, head lying pillowed in his partner’s lap, or else sinking down to his knees, wanton and breathy.

Not that he hadn’t dreamed of it—Molly’s faelike charm and wiles directed at him, his playful teasing and fond laughter as they fell together. Never real though, nothing more than the pretty stories Molly told when turning cards. His Circus Man, with all his little tricks, a myriad of stunning masks, as ever changing and mercurial as the many faces of his beloved moons. The rushing tide and turning winds. 

[soath]

"Dog, they're adults. They can take it.... they think they're ready for round one... Pay these mortals the respect of going to war with them."

-Brennan Lee Mulligan, on behalf of the Raven Queen

[mollymauksworld]

oh....oh this is Hellraiser...understood

[danwhobrowses]

Well it's Thursday (at least here when I'm scheduling it) so time for a poll I totally didn't mean to do last week so it'd have more time

[thursdaythoughtsfromtheabyss]

Decent into Aeor

Explorers on expedition down into the depths of Aeor, there's so much Aeor to include, have the blue freeze domes around but some of them are faulty and the people are awake and trapped inside with scare actors ruching and banging on the sides of the domes, defective Aeormatons trying to follow through with ‘The Care and the Culling’, the Rejuvenation Chambers but things go massively wrong people come out as twisted husks, the brown mold attracted to magic and heat and growing along the sets as people pass them by, getting trippy with static electricity and having effects to mimic the feel of magic going wrong

Alternatively an escape from Aeor, being pursued by something terrifying and trying to get out before it gets you (my vote is on the crazy baby creature or the creepy smile face grand demon), not only are you being pursued but also navigating hostile territory on your way out, plenty of gore and horror and death opportunity for scare actors

[arabella-strange]

moreover -- and this is why I agree that Essek is fascinating to think about in this context -- I can imagine (based on 1/3 of the arc) that Essek feels an initial resurgence of those feelings that made him an apostate and a loner:

The Gods get to decide when mortals have gone "too far"

Curiosity is punished and innovation treated as a threat (to whom? one might fairly ask)

The explicit paternalism of the Gods ("they are children," said Ayden) is infantilizing and -- more importantly -- a power move, because it prevents the "child" from being treated with respect until they "prove they have earned it" [colonialism works this way]

And those are... legitimate objections! Those are problems!

But the other thing that's emerging -- and that is the best counterpoint to Ludinus's deicidal campaign:

The (Prime) Gods are partly upset because balance has been lost

Certainly they are afraid for themselves, for their own destruction and their own loss of power. Undeniably true—they said so themselves. But they are also concerned because the world has become an extreme STEM nightmare without any humanities: in other words, a lot of WHAT CAN WE DO and very little of why should we and how can we be careful when we do? Aeor doesn't take people who are not able-bodied (by their own metric), doesn't accept anyone of any faith, doesn't want anyone who can't work in conditions that [we've seen implied] are barely humane and certainly not equitable.

So I think the Essek we know now, who has seen a great deal of curiosity and ambition and power and judgment, also now has the perspective (as Caduceus stressed to Lucien) to know that one does not have to love or even care at all about the Gods to realize that Aeor was going down a road, the end of which was unmitigated destruction. How to solve the problem of Aeor (its leadership, its weapons, its structural and guiding beliefs) is something even the Gods disagreed about. There are no simple solutions, unless you decide to take all of your responsibilities lightly and to cease caring about how your actions always, always affect others. If nothing else, the technicolor wonder of the world is something Essek has come to see.

I’m thinking about it Essek watching this, Essek who was the skeptic in a theocracy, Essek the heretic, Essek who was once swayed by Ludinus’s rhetoric, and seeing the love the gods feel, the love he’s finally found in his own life.

Trist, who is the Everlight, and her mortal husband and children, who she adores, an adoration he knows because of Caleb. Asha, who is the Wildmother, in agony at the discovery that the mortal form of the Lawbearer, her divine and eternal love, has died, an agony and grief he knows he’ll one day feel for Caleb. The familiarity and camaraderie between all of the deities present because they are family, something he now knows because of the Nein.

He sees the bonds that saved his life reflected in the ones who the man who almost ruined his life says he should loathe. How could he ever be swayed back to Ludinus’s side, when this is the evidence presented to him?

[eldritchblep]

CW body horror.

Hey Critical Role tumblr. Made some weird stuff for you 💜

Part of the Chet’s Toys reject (that was my phone autocorrecting from project and I’m keeping it) lead by @artists-guild-of-exandria ✨

[gorgynei]

fascinating parts from this brennan interview about downfall

downfall was recorded in one week and brennan described it as "one of the most intense roleplaying experiences [he's] ever had"

if avalir was showcasing the age of arcanum, downfall will showcase the actual calamity

even though avalir and aeor seem similar on paper, brennan says the stories could NOT be more different. the themes, player motivations/briefings, and genres are completely unique

downfall embraces the nuance and complexity (moral and otherwise) of the gods and digs into the idea that the gods "called a truce" to fell aeor and what that actually means

brennan says aeor actually has a large population of refugees from the calamity by the time downfall takes place. however, they didnt have a large impact on the city's architecture and so by the modern era their cultures and presence in aeor (and wider exandria) have been almost entirely lost

overall downfall seems to focus on the ways that small errors in history can change a lot

brennan describes his experience with dm'ing in exandria as "going into a sandbox and creating the toys you're gonna to play with there"

the population of aeor is "demographically meaningfully different from who was living in aeor at the height of the age of arcanum," according to brennan. basically, not every aeorian will have bolo's accent (sad)

aeormatons will be in downfall in some way

setting, plot, and character backstories were worked on in tandem

on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of tragedy, brennan said downfall would need an entirely new axis. there is a "different kind of horror" in downfall, something that is distinct from "xenomorph chasing you horror"

brennan said "there are moments in downfall where i could feel my stomach wanting to drop out of my body"

[arabella-strange]

in addition to every other absolutely stunning move made by Abubakar Salim in ep 1, can I just say his ability to wield humor and deadly seriousness like the master twirling of a sword? sensational. no wonder Corellon is out here winning hearts and dazzling mortals. and the beef with Lolth -- communicated in simple questions and incredibly short, loaded glances? GAH

[mareastrorum]

Brennan: I have strong beliefs in the real world, but it's very important to me, I think that we don't make-- when you make or tell stories that are trying to shortcut to prove yourself right, that's sort of a definition of propaganda, I think. So, showing this, there was a lot of complexity. Prime Deities are allying with the Betrayers, that seems pretty fucked. Aeor seems pretty fucked too. That's a totalitarian state that is killing, it's kicking gnomish women off of ships, and it's killing followers of the gods. But also, that city is filled with some people who follow the gods, but it's also filled with people who don't, who are good and don't deserve to die. But those people are in a city that, probably, if it kills the gods, wants to conquer Exandria. You're doing the math of gods mostly want to just be alive, but Aeor's bad, so you should stop Aeor. But how bad is Aeor? It's the last hope of mortaldom, but it's a pretty totalitarian hope of mortaldom, but you did, padip, padap.

And it's the horror of making moral choices with too much power in a moving world with everything horrifying around you.

[soath]

going back and watching the chunk of 4sd i missed and yeah, brennan's approach to forcing the players into the prime role makes sense! i was really gunning for a betrayer god player and i think specifically something fun could have been done with "betrayer god who doesn't want to destroy aeor wholesale because it's actually their unethical experimentation vibe" (or, alternately, when i first thought taliesin might be playing the chained oblivion as a weird messedup sort-of god, already half cannibalized, a maximum nihilism approach where one member of the party is actually trying to sabotage their efforts so they all die). but his reasoning is very sturdy. and with only three episodes, letting the relationship between the prime deities shine was completely the correct choice. even though i think they could have designed a malicious pc to meet it, his standard of You Can Play A Betrayer God If You Can Make Them Interesting worked out, great management.

[utilitycaster]

I think the fallacy that Downfall/Divergence lays bare is that again, Brennan is not simply a Capitalism And Power Bad guy (and indeed, it's fundamentally impossible to play D&D as Power Inherently Bad - it simply does not support that thesis and indeed actively works against it as a game system, regardless of how you feel about the nature of power in real life. It is also pretty much impossible to play as Violence and Murder Inherently Bad, and I think many analyses of actual play fail when people try to act like it could be played as such). The consistent message is that exploitation and failure to care for those less powerful, and a refusal to change, is the problem. And I think that Aeor and Marlath ultimately serve a similar purpose within these narratives.

The truth of the matter is that Aeor and Marlath are negatively affected by the greater powers within the context of the Calamity. While Aeor has consistently been described and portrayed as an isolationist, authoritarian, and warmongering city-state during the Age of Arcanum and early Calamity, presumably circumstances were more preferable to them during a time of terrestrial abundance, even if they were not themselves farming. Whether or not Aeor's response to the Calamity was justified is a matter of debate; but it is undeniable that they were genuinely scared of the gods. Similarly, Marlath was an opportunistic bureaucrat even before he sold others out (and was not rewarded), but he was still living under the tyranny of the Strife Emperor himself, serving as a cog in the machine because it was preferable to the alternative. Fear was the motivation for him as well, as it is for many who become part of an authoritarian regime.

The mageocracy of Aeor and Marlath's actions caused others concern; but both had opportunity to change for the better. Both failed. They may have again been acting from fear and trauma; but in doing so showed them as entities who would sell out the weakest in their community for their own benefit. Aeor focused not on medicine nor helping their fellow Exandrians, but on weaponry and persecution. Marlath's skills in inventory could have been a boon to a resource-limited community, but he chose exploitation. Selena could have kept her knowledge to herself and at least, in her last moments, tried to save her city if not her creation. She did not.

Within the context of the narrative, the destruction of Aeor and the cutting out of Marlath's tongue are not, in my opinion, joyful triumphs. I may cheer the latter - it is in many ways a victory, unlike Aeor which can only be framed as tragic, and also, crucially, it's pretend - but this is someone who was given multiple chances! Hell, maybe Fiedra didn't make the right choice - not that Marlath didn't need to be stopped (as much was said on Cooldown) but maybe there was, in this case, a nonviolent option. However, it's hard to condemn Fiedra either; she nearly died in the woods and was saved by this camp, and to see someone she stuck her neck out for and suffer with for over a week not just plan this exploitation, but assume she'd be in it on it, is a hard pill to swallow.

And so too in that way do Aeor and Marlath serve as turning points for the people who doomed them. The Prime Deities immediately decide to remove themselves from Exandria as soon as they can seal away the Betrayers again, taking no joy in what they've done. Fiedra tells Nez that she and her gang will be protectors, at risk to themselves, after a lifetime of being survivors at times at the expense of others. They change where others couldn't.

I think a lot of people like to assign D&D villains concepts and epithets, like Capitalism or Imperialism or Landlord or Religion, because it feels very good to destroy these things, and very bad to realize that to destroy them is to cut out the tongue of someone who may have escaped the same horrors as you and crossed the same wilderness. Most people do wish this change will come without "danger, fear, or risk on their part" and are dismayed to find there is not a bloodless option. The BBEG isn't just an avatar of capitalism: they are a person who keeps choosing it and won't listen to signs and speeches to change their ways. Similarly, the hero is not just the person who stops them; they are the person who realizes that they themselves are not without their own ways to change.