#imogenlaudna

[kaylor]

exhibiting hunter gatherer instincts on spotify by putting every new song i listen to onto highly specific blorbo playlists

[biilpotts]

So, I just made a new sideblog for Critical Role stuff. It’s fairly empty for now, but I’ll reblog a bunch of stuff over there soon. You can check it out here @imogenlaudna if you’d like. 

[gaygoetia]

The dhampir Laudna theory: A deep dive

Okay okay so I am actually in love with the theory that Laudna is a) a dhampir and b) has an arrangement with Imogen which involves her feeding on her but let's break down the reasons why it makes sense!

Part 1 - Is Laudna a dhampir?

The first and possibly most obvious thing in support of this theory is Laudna's appearance. She looks for the most part like a normal human or elf (interestingly her ear cuffs make it ambiguous as to which one) except with grey skin. She also has purple lips and black nails which could either be natural or achieved through cosmetics.

While this description could fit a few different 5e races, dhampir is (in my opinion) the one that fits best. It's what I immediately thought of when I saw her and obviously it fits the whole spooky vibe she's got going.

That said, given she's playing an Undead Warlock, the grey skin could just as easily be an aesthetic choice to add extra spookiness to a race that doesn't normally look like that.

So let's take a look at the mechanics of dhampir.

First thing to note is that dhampir is technically a lineage, not a race, meaning it works kind of like a one-size-fits-all subrace which you can apply to any race. So if Laudna is a dhampir she'll still have a base race like human or elf and may retain some of those racial features.

I don't have VRGtR myself so take this with a pinch of salt but from what I can find online, dhampir have the following abilities: Darkvision, Spider Climb, Deathless Nature and Vampiric Bite.

As far as I remember, we haven't seen Laudna use any of these but boy do they fit with her whole vibe. If Laudna doesn't use spider climb at some point during this campaign I will be genuinely shocked.

But of course, "vibes" is not really evidence and I'll admit there's not much to glean from racial abilities yet. That said, I do think Laudna's race is being kept intentionally ambiguous, seeing as Matt made a point to clarify that Imogen is human but no one said anything about Laudna's race when she was introduced.

The third reason I think she could be a dhampir ties in with another popular Laudna theory which is that she's a Briarwood.

For those who are unaware, the Briarwoods are characters from Campaign 1 (soon to be depicted in The Legend of Vox Machina TV series). Sylas Briarwood is a vampire and his wife Delilah is a human. They were based in Whitestone (where Laudna said she was from) and Sylas in particular has black hair with a white streak, just like Laudna.

Given they're a human/vampire couple, it's reasonable to assume that any children they would have had would have been dhampir and given Laudna's age is unknown (plus the various life-extending properties of necromancy magic) this theory is perfectly compatible with the CR timeline.

Part 2 - Is Laudna feeding on Imogen?

So one aspect of the dhampir lineage is that they each have a specific hunger. This hunger is traditionally for blood but can also be for flesh, dreams, life force, cerebral spinal fluid (yikes) and - most notably - psychic energy.

Assuming Laudna is a a damphir, we don't have a lot of clues so far as to what her hunger might be HOWEVER given her and Imogen have been travelling alone together, away from civilisation for a while it's reasonable to assume Laudna must have fed on her at some point.

There don't seem to be any specific mechanics relating to dhampir hunger in 5e so it's unclear how often they need to feed or what the consequences are if they don't, but Imogen said they'd been travelling alone together for "a long time" and it feels fitting for their dynamic that Imogen would volunteer to help Laudna slake her thirst.

As many people have pointed out, Imogen wears a yellow scarf which conveniently conceals her neck from view, potentially hiding bite marks.

Again, it's unclear whether feeding always requires biting or whether it's dependant on the specific hunger that person has. So if Imogen's scarf is hiding bite marks, it doesn't necessarily indicate the type of hunger Laudna has.

That said, given Imogen's psychic abilities, it wouldn't be a huge leap to assume Laudna feeds off psychic energy and if this is the case there could be a really interesting, symbiotic nature to the relationship.

It's implied that Imogen isn't always able to control her telepathy (i.e. when she fails a save after using her telepathy feat) and that she finds it draining and overwhelming, so if Laudna is able to siphon some of that power it might actually be beneficial for Imogen.

So that's pretty much all I've got for now but if all this IS true then there's so much interesting story potential here and I am so so excited to watch it all unfold.