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Producer Kyle & his partner shared an update to their gofundme, and have kindly asked that we donate to/ signal boost some gfm's for his neighbors and small Atladena businesses who were impacted by the fires. The bat signal is up, let's give 'em some big Critter hugs!

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a dreaming yasha in her new room <3 i made myself tear up a little working on this :’(

contact me about d&d commissions

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Producer Kyle & his partner shared an update to their gofundme, and have kindly asked that we donate to/ signal boost some gfm's for his neighbors and small Atladena businesses who were impacted by the fires. The bat signal is up, let's give 'em some big Critter hugs!

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The Hollywood Reporter did an interview with Kyle and Jon about losing their home and the community of Altadena.

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Producer Kyle & his partner shared an update to their gofundme, and have kindly asked that we donate to/ signal boost some gfm's for his neighbors and small Atladena businesses who were impacted by the fires. The bat signal is up, let's give 'em some big Critter hugs!

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disaster wives!! 💙

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Champion of the Stormlord

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So if they go through with the whole gods turning into babies thing, Beau and Yasha should adopt the Knowing Mistress. They can make a whole sitcom about it.

Call it Knowing Pains.

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Spoilers from Critical Role Campaign 3 Episode 119.

Let's recap with some good sense, shall we? No negativity or rage typing here, gather around, c3 babies. I may get my emotions out there, but it's all in good faith.

Sometimes I wonder if we all watch the same show.

"We could keep Predathos sealed for ages, it has worked before."

Has it? It ended up not working, that's the whole point.

And what happens to the ruidusborn during all these alleged ages, now that the entire world knows about why they are the way they are?

Do you think Predathos will stop marking them on birth? We all know this being is unbothered with mortals, it's like asking to a galaxy to care for a grain of sand.

Do you think that the powers that be will let the ruidusborn free to live their own lives, or more likely will they put them in cages, chains, gathered by the thousands for the slaughter in fear of something that will be sealed "for ages"? How many ruidusborn are supposed to die during those "ages"?

Then what? Some other crazy wizard will unseal it again, and we have to hope that another scrappy group of adventurers will show up and save the day again? Are we betting a new sealing on a uncertainty?

And lost arcane tech? Ludinus scratched a planet-chaining machine from RUINS. Nothing's destroyed, it can and will be done again. And with persecutions of ruidusborn, people will only become more eager.

"But Predathos will kill mortals, it is uncaring!"

Fron the inside of Predathos, Imogen could not even see Exandria. Could not even see the lives of mortals on there or Ruidus. All it could see were the lights of the gods.

Making it weaker in order to control it and preventing it to hurt people, even though this creature doesn't even mean to, is the whole point of facing it.

And they would not have known this if they hadn't taken the chance, if they hadn't chosen to interact with it.

To know someone or something different than you, you don't keep it caged. You talk to it, put yourself at their same level.

"The Bells Hells are so full of hubris, they keep holding powers they do not deserve."

Laudna doesn't hold power, she's unwillingly tied to her killer. Imogen similarly to Predathos. Fearne was willingly conceived as a ruidusborn. Ashton got blown up, first because of their parents and secondly because of themselves. Orym has tied himself to an archfey in order to protect better. Chetney was hunting in the woods and then bitten by a werewolf.

If you had a broken arm and had to fight the apocalypse, what would you do that would not look exactly the same as what the Hells have been doing? They had to, and it wasn't enough, one of them died anyway.

"The Bells Hells are so full of hubris, they want to control a godeater"

Then tell me what other solution has worked before. Sealing it? Letting the gods seal it? We know how WELL those worked out. For Orym's family, for Dorian's. How do you fix broken forniture? By using the same rusted nail that will keep falling off? Are you listening to yourself?

"The Bells Hells are so full of hubris, they're telling the gods to flee, become mortal or die. So arrogant."

What have the gods been doing? Bringing the Calamity to Exandria? Shattering the divine gate again? Burning the possible choices for mortals around them over and over again. I Love the gods. I'm probably one of their biggest fans. But they fucked up and keep fucking up. Once is a mistake, twice is a choice, three times is a pattern.

The Bells Hells have probably done the one thing nobody has been willing to do for the other side. To give a choice. To be heard, to say their piece, to reveal their truth. Over and over. Heard both sides, many times. To the point where even two of the gods have realized that things must chance.

Episode 38. Percival to Laudna "This is what it means to be a survivor. To break the cycles." The themes have been there. You have not been paying attention.

"The Bells Hells are full of hubris."

According to Word Reference:

Hubris: exaggerated pride or self-confidence; arrogance.

... Self-confident? The Bells Hells? With all the arguments they've had on divinity?

... Exaggerated pride? Maybe some pride, some stubborness. Maybe a strong feeling of being wronged by the whole world with the burning need to find someone to blame for it.

Someone like that is not confident or proud. We have all felt this kind of anger. It's not prideful. It's shameful, it has us wear our own skins and make us realize how small we actually are or see ourselves.

Misguided, yes. Arrogant? Not really. They would love to be arrogant, but to be arrogant they usually also need to be capable at doing something. And we all know the perception of self-worth in the Bells Hells. Not there, not at all. They're getting there, that's why only now they've had a singular, united trajectory.

Arrogant people always know what the answer is. We all know the Bells Hells have been without an answer for a long time. They have kept each other in line, not just with their own powder kegs, but also with their respective, very extreme ideas. This is democracy, it is complex, because that's how it's supposed to be.

"The Bells Hells are not the right people for this decision."

What kind of person should make such a decision, if not someone without any bias? There's anti-god people, there's pro-god people. But both of them will always pick favourites. And then there's just... People. All of them. All of us. All of the living things of the world, worthy of the right to exist.

Despite their differences, this group has been focused on one thing: to not inflict senseless cruelty. They never wanted to hurt anybody and they still want to help. The only reason they are here for everybody else's sake is because they WILL show up, any time they are needed.

I repeat. I ADORE the gods. But people say that they love the mortals and have done so for centuries, isolating themselves behind the divine gate. A gate that, if they so choose, they can shatter. A gate is not a gate if only one of the sides has the key. From the side of mortals that's a gate, but from the side of the gods, if they so choose, it can become a wide open door.

No one is asking them to die for mortals, like they have asked them. The mortals of Exandria, the Bells Hells are asking them to CHANGE or flee. Or die.

Because if Predathos remains sealed, it starts all over again, and now with the truth out, it will be much worse than it has been in millennia.

"The Bells Hells are not the right people for this story."

If you think that, after all we know, you have really not been paying attention or you have refused to do so each time things didn't happen the way you wanted them.

The heroes WILL BE foils to the villain. They WILL BE the better outcome of the villain's story. Ludinus wanted to kill and was willing to die in order to get what he wanted. The Bells Hells want to PRESERVE life instead. People like Ashton have been adamant about not wanting to destroy or hurt anybody.

We all proselytize so much about communication, about peace, about understanding and accepting each other, about building a world on top of truth and freedom. And now, after discussing frankly all awful options and finding no way out, because there was never going to be one with how things are now, the Hells have finally found a path that can give EVERYBODY these things.

You accuse them of being indecisive and talking too much. You accuse them of having sugar daddies and mommies and not having any ability to affect change by themselves. You accuse them of never knowing what to do. But look at where they are now. Look at what they have done. What their actions have led them to.

Tried to stop Ludinus at the Key when they were nobodies. Fought him three times and lived to tell the tale. Fought Delilah Briarwood twice and lived to tell the tale. Fought demons and procured the antidote for the Voice of the Tempest. Barely survived Otohan Thule, the one that almost brought the Tempest low. Travelled five continents, two outer realms, an oniric Shadow Realm, the Red Moon. Managed to gain the trust of a group of rebels from another culture on another world, all completely unknown to them. Stealthed their way around some of the dangerous of places. Fought for their lives almost each, several times a day. Talked to gods, to titans, eidolons, gained the attention of politicians of their entire world. Made the Matron herself realize that the rite she had crafted to achieve godhood was not destined to be just an unachievable dream that damned the world. With a bit of out of the box thinkint it could stop calamities from happening for all time.

What does change the world around us? Words that fall to the wind? Or actions, which are the wind?

And even now, this word comes out. Hubris.

I think it reveals much more about us than anything about some fictional characters.

Because what's hubris when there's a healthy dose of doubt to bring it down a couple of notches and a healthy dose of concern for the people around you?

It's hope.

But now all we can see is hubris. Becase to go back to the daily, grey, safe things, is better, is stable. It can't put our emotions in jeopardy. Because if hoping too much means falling too hard, it's much more comfortable for us to think of it as hubris.

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Meta: Bell's Hells Plan: Self-Determination for Exandrian Mortals

Bell's Hells keep repeatedly saying what their plan is out loud, so I'm surprised it's still a mystery to so many viewers:

Bell's Hells want the Exandrian Pantheon to no longer have control of Exandria.

After much debate and talking to a lot of people, they've concluded that the Exandrian Pantheon having nearly unlimited power and control over Exandria is bad, and it needs to end. They've considered all the good those gods do personally and through their institutions and concluded the harm outweighs it. Exandrians deserve true self-determination, and they can't have that while the Gods treat them as pawns.

They don't want Ludinus or the Ruby Vanguard to have that power instead. That was definitely going to make an even worse situation.

Their preference was to reason with Predathos about eating them and instead let the gods leave. That plan is clearly not working. While talking to the Raven Queen they formed a new plan to undo the gods' divinity, the thing Predathos wants to eat, and allow them to live as mortals with much diminished power and control.

They do not have a plan for what mortals do with their freedom once they have it. They took so long to commit to this path because it means the full overthrow of global power structures, and that's a really big and unfair decision for one group to make for everyone. But in their heart of hearts they feel like those institutions are so corrupt they have to be undone so something else can grow. That something else will still have problems, but different ones. They were thrust into the position of having to choose revolution or the status quo that just kicks the can a bit farther down the road until that inevitable overthrow, and they couldn't stomach kicking the can. As is often the way with major change.

This is not a story about good and evil. That framework doesn't fit around the events being told. It doesn't explain anyone's actions or motivations. Even a softer binary of altruism and selfishness doesn't fit. It's all too muddled in every single choice. Because that's reality. This is not heroic fantasy. They've said out loud the entire campaign they're not heroes. They're normal people thrust into impossibly large decisions and the story is about the changes that come out of that. Almost all the media influences they cite are stories about change, not morality. (Kentucky Route Zero is one example.)

People keep trying to order a milkshake at an art gallery and then complain the paint water is a bad milkshake. Milkshakes are great, but not every place you go makes them. And since the cast have repeatedly talked about what kind of story they're telling for years, the mismatched expectations aren't on them.

The thing that's kept them coming back to Exandria after nearly 10 years is that they get to see how all their actions, big and small, changed the world. Taliesin planted guns into a fantasy world, Matt added on that tech escaped Percy's control, and now it's a major political force in the world and Percy just has to live with that. Travis sees a big red button and he longs more than anything to press it just to see what happens. Matt made an entire Campaign 3 of big red buttons. They're not trying to protect the world from their decisions, they're trying to see what happens when they make interesting choices.

(I think the doubt about making the "right choice" is largely driven by the hostility of the audience to interesting choices with messy consequences. Especially the women who have faced a ton of misogyny-amplified criticism for every perceived "mistake" they make. But that's a different meta.)

They all know that an age is ending, and big changes are coming to Exandria, no matter what they choose. It's only a matter of whether they try to steer the runaway train or give full agency over to people they trust even less. Matt has said he now sees this as an end to a trilogy. Remaking the world to fully separate from WotC IP and probably switching systems to Daggerheart makes a lot of sense for both creative control and business.

Matt and others have reshaped these deities and their institutions away from WotC's versions pretty strongly, but they still by their very nature exert control over them as independent creators navigating the unfathomably vast and powerful cosmic horror entities that are mega corporations like Hasbro. Taliesin's closing remarks at the Candela Obscura: Circle of the Silver Screen live show are about how the Hollywood machine eats people. I wrote about the symbolism in my essay A City Made of Aspirations.

Just this week, and after Matt said "Fuck AI!", Polygon reported that a student project had used their work to build an AI Dungeon Master using a data set created by Microsoft engineers out of fan wiki summaries and the linked transcript database maintained by Sil. Geek & Sundry used fan captions, so a significant amount of the caption work in the data set is fan labor. Critical Role switched to professional captions as soon as they went independent because they saw the value in that labor. Those same fan information labor projects have allowed them to be the most academically studied AP due to the ease of collecting information, which has added to their success.

They're beset in the real world by forces that want to devour their aspirations to maintain their youth. They barely escaped the wreckage of one such entity in 2018 with their Critical Role work in hand, but a lot of their other innovative shows like Sagas of Sundry were lost. The system that propelled them into the spotlight and has allowed them to chase life-long dreams they thought were impossible, has also been trying to devour that work. They've fought for worker's rights through their union for a good reason.

Campaign 3 isn't a story about good and evil, but it is a struggle for who gets to control the future. It's about overthrowing the hegemony of systems whose manipulative, selfish, and destructive influence outweighs the benefits they provide. Even if that's confusing, terrifying, and a known sacrifice. Ludinus was a piece of shit, but he wasn't entirely wrong. Tragically the worst person you know occasionally makes a good point.

There are only two ways to solve a problem: do what you're doing better or do something else. Campaign 3 is the story of ordinary people who have decided the world needs to do something else. They found themselves in extraordinary circumstances through a series of decisions they couldn't know the outcome of. They don't have a firm idea of what they want the new world to be or how to achieve it, but they do know that things have to be different. Sometimes that's all the seed of change you get to work with.

On the Wednesday Club episode Love is Love (2017-06-28) Taliesin put it, "Culture is not a rocket ship. We all don't get on the rocket ship to the planet culture and go up to the moon. Culture is like life: it is chaotic, it is violent, it is hungry… It is not normal for everything to just keep getting better all at the same time. It's normal for everything to get better over a period of the long game. In any internal point, chaos—"

That's often how the world is. Most activists don't know what happens after they win their battle. They can't predict what knock-on effects anything from legalizing gay marriage to forcing the military to clean up Superfund sites will have. We don't know what happens next when the lead industry is overthrown, or tobacco companies are forced to admit their product causes cancer. We didn't know what movies would be made after the Hayes code or what effects streaming would have on film, television, and music. Early researchers into generative AI had no idea it would get used this way. We don't know the future or if what we're doing is "good" or "bad" on any long timeline. We can only choose what's in front of us one decision at a time and just hope we don't live to regret them too badly. That's what Critical Role has always been about.

Now is the time for different people to choose their own fates, for good or ill, without the Exandrian Pantheon dictating them. Whatever happens next is for Campaign 4 to sort out.

—

This essay is also available on AO3.

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Gofundme boosting! I've got a new one, and am also boosting some others that I shared previously that are close to their goal!

And please, it's okay if you can't donate but please reblog and share around!!!

First up: These are Kyle's neighbors, he's asked us to help them out as they too have lost everything. Let's give em a big old Critter hug!

Next, rehsaring the GFM for Aimee Carrero's friends. This one is close, 98% of the way there!

Dani's friends' family member is also very close to her goal, 98%!

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Gofundme boosting! I've got a new one, and am also boosting some others that I shared previously that are close to their goal!

And please, it's okay if you can't donate but please reblog and share around!!!

First up: These are Kyle's neighbors, he's asked us to help them out as they too have lost everything. Let's give em a big old Critter hug!

Next, rehsaring the GFM for Aimee Carrero's friends. This one is close, 98% of the way there!

Dani's friends' family member is also very close to her goal, 98%!

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We're already seeing shitty insurance companies cancel claims and renters raising prices by 30% in the wake of unspeakable tragedy. It's a needlessly cruel thing to do. Saw this post by the LA Tenants Union and figured I'd drop it here in case anyone was affected by the fires.

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You guys are awesome for reblogging my last post! If we can keep that momentum going, here's a few more GFM's to share. Remember, even if you can't donate, sharing this around helps a lot - the more eyes on them, the more potential to get funds to people in need!

First: this one has been organized by Aimee Carrero in behalf of her friends who've lost their family home, and support their daughter with disabilities. At time of posting, they are 65% to their goal.

https://gofund.me/dd631e37

Jordan not only lost his home, but also his brother and father. Absolutely heartbreaking, please help if you can! This fundraiser is 74% to its goal.

This next one is a family member of a friend of Dani. 72% to this fundraiser's goal.

Also resharing this one from yesterday, it is 89% to its goal. Bill is an animator at Titmouse.

Please donate if you can, but even just reblogging/sharing these helps a lot! Let's give these folks a big Critter Hug❤️

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You guys are awesome for reblogging my last post! If we can keep that momentum going, here's a few more GFM's to share. Remember, even if you can't donate, sharing this around helps a lot - the more eyes on them, the more potential to get funds to people in need!

First: this one has been organized by Aimee Carrero in behalf of her friends who've lost their family home, and support their daughter with disabilities. At time of posting, they are 65% to their goal.

https://gofund.me/dd631e37

Jordan not only lost his home, but also his brother and father. Absolutely heartbreaking, please help if you can! This fundraiser is 74% to its goal.

This next one is a family member of a friend of Dani. 72% to this fundraiser's goal.

Also resharing this one from yesterday, it is 89% to its goal. Bill is an animator at Titmouse.

Please donate if you can, but even just reblogging/sharing these helps a lot! Let's give these folks a big Critter Hug❤️

[jtr-99]

You guys are awesome for reblogging my last post! If we can keep that momentum going, here's a few more GFM's to share. Remember, even if you can't donate, sharing this around helps a lot - the more eyes on them, the more potential to get funds to people in need!

First: this one has been organized by Aimee Carrero in behalf of her friends who've lost their family home, and support their daughter with disabilities. At time of posting, they are 65% to their goal.

https://gofund.me/dd631e37

Jordan not only lost his home, but also his brother and father. Absolutely heartbreaking, please help if you can! This fundraiser is 74% to its goal.

This next one is a family member of a friend of Dani. 72% to this fundraiser's goal.

Also resharing this one from yesterday, it is 89% to its goal. Bill is an animator at Titmouse.

Please donate if you can, but even just reblogging/sharing these helps a lot! Let's give these folks a big Critter Hug❤️

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Updates: Kyle was funded in just a little under an hour and still climbing. The Critter community is pretty unmatched. Matt and Marisha are still displaced and waiting it out, but they're safe and that's what really matters. I'd like to ask for a little grace for the team as this has clearly disrupted not only CR's production schedule, but many of the cast and crews lives entirely. It might be a little while before CR returns.

Here's Marisha's full message.

There are dozens of GFMs going around right now from Titmouse Animators to the writer/executive producer of Marvel's "What If...?" and the creator of Cuphead who both lost their entire homes.

Please donate if you're able or signal boost if you can.

We take care of each other, and we'll get through this together.