#Dwendalian empire

[devenrue]

The map of the Dwendalian Empire showing Matt Mercer’s original draft and the final color version I made for them.

[mayapapaya33]

If we don't get a fully animated feature of The Adventures of the Darrington Brigade, at the very least, I want Owlbear references in the Mighty Nein Animated show. Give me some npc's in the pub speaking in hushed whispers about the hooting terror that stalks the night, criminals are a superstitious lot after all. Let me see the silhouette of an owlbear cowl on a rooftop in Rexxentrum.

The Darrington Brigade is set in the Dwendalian Empire, in fact the adventure was in Deastok, which is the sister city to Kamordah, Beau's hometown. Castle Lorelei is also about a day's journey away. They're all around the Cyrengreen forest. I'm just saying, it makes sense!

I mean, Pumat read a copy of Tary's autobiography (or is it a biography if Doty wrote it?) The Daring Trials and Tribulations of sir Taryon Darrington. So he and his troupe are known in the area at least somewhat lol.

[rainycraze]

Osmar's Dreams

Osmar shot up in bed, head swimming with the visions of elves and battles and rituals in a moonlit city, all seemingly as dark as this bedroom he slept in every night. Or tried to sleep, before the dreams started to take over.

He turned over and smashed his face in the pillow with a groan. He’d be punished for sleeping in school again, he just knew it.

What do adults do when they can’t sleep? Mama prayed to the Dawnfather a lot. Osmar took a breath, “Dawnfather…Mama won’t let me light the lanterns by myself yet, so I have no prayer light to give right now…Um, when your daylight shines in the morning, please help me stay awake in school tomorrow, I pray. The light shine upon our path forever, as it illuminated our steps out of darkness before.  Let the darkness be a cover, and not a prison. May light be with you…”

Osmar’s breath quickened. That wasn't any prayer of the Dawnfather! Was that in one of the dreams? He glared at the deep darkness. It seemed to always be darker than he remembered. He used to be able to see everything in the dark, and these silly human bodies needed extra light and eight hours of sleep just to function. Such an inconvenience to a soldier like her!

Wait. Osmar was nine years old; when had he never been a human boy? He sat up slowly on his elbow. The dreams always had elves, dark elves like the adults warned about. But never scary the way adults said. There was always a light, but not daylight. Always a strange kind of light that was…endless shaped? And he understood the words now; before Osmar thought the dreams were in Zemnian, but now they seemed like another language entirely. He tested that prayer on his tongue again; definitely not Zemnian. But if those aren’t words in the Dwendalian Empire, where?

“Kryn. I’m from the Kryn Dynasty.” Those words were also in this new, old language, and that means he can bring parts of his dreams into his waking life now. A strange peace lay over Osmar, and he lied back into bed thinking of light and possibility.

[hinumay]

hmm just a concept sketch of the Soltryce Academy uniform

still tryna develop it, but it was inspired by theeeseee

[animatrobin]

Map of Blumenthal, Commissioned by the wonderful @samuraiko (pls check them out❤)

DO NOT REPOST WITHOUT CREDIT

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Credits: Art by me, Settlement info from the EGTW by @criticalrole and matthewmercer

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#criticalrolefanart #DnD #ttrpg #fantasymaps #calebwidogast

[saribrum]

A bit of old art, but I had to introduce my girl Vee too! She’s my Air Genasi Echo Knight Fighter from my groups main campaign, the Fabled Few. We have been playing for a few years now, and I have grown very attached.

I have so many stories from what we have done in this game, and it’s still going. So much cool stuff ahead, and I am excited to continue it!

[pyrot3ch-nick]

Hey guys remember the Knights of Requital plot line that M9 didn't follow.

The insurgents attacks and riots prison breaks that happened in the Dwendalian empire that Matt mentioned might have been because of that.

[aussie0608]

The entire early campaign of C2 there's like so much anti-dynasty propaganda and xenophobia and like the dynasty isn't perfect. Religious fanaticism isn't awesome and being reincarnated and the dens have made nepotism a major problem but like those feel like minor issues when two of the highest officials in the Empire are LUDANIS AND TRENT like good lord. And like not worshiping the Luxon is frowned upon BUT NOT A CRIME.

The Dwendallian empire is insane as a concept

Because I could say “The dwendalian empire is run by a cabal of evil wizards that outlaw religious freedom while making dark pacts with eldritch abominations for power, they take children from their homes, brainwashed them to be obedient soldiers and then make them murder their entire families

Sometimes they go down to quaint little towns and start exploding houses and vaporizing villagers, just to steal rocks they could’ve taken very easily

Their senile king is going mad and getting council by a demented cult leader set on killing god”

And you would think I’m like a Dynasty propagandist spreading the most unhinged conspiracy theories

But no, these are all true and objective facts about how their government is run

[utilitycaster]

I think I may have said this before but bears repeating, it will be so fucking funny to me if significant end results of Ludinus's world-wide temper tantrum include lasting peace between the Empire and Dynasty and the Empire permitting worship of the previously banned Prime Deities.

[shellem15]

Haha yeah that would be so funny...

(Nervous laughter) ha ha ha... wait

...Oh, oh no.

*sideyes exu divergence*

*bursts out into mad cackling* Oh it's about to get SO BAD

[ihassheepquake]

The Assembly abandoned the Empire??? Well shit. It makes sense but omg.

[wackachewbacca]

Keyleth mentioned that tensions are on the rise within the Dwendalian empire what with the king on his way out and the Cerberus Assembly running around unchecked especially with Ludinus as its head and while I would love for the Cerberus Assembly to be completely abolished or prevented from ever rising back to the height of its current political power after this whole Predathos incident I also hope the empire doesn’t tear itself apart from the inside.

The empire has just barely gotten out of war with the Kryn Dynasty and now it may just fall into civil war and I could give less than a shit about king Dwendal and all the bureaucracy and shit but the people still need to heal from the War of Ash and Light because that ended only seven years ago (836 PD) give or take and that’s hardly anytime at all to rebuild their lives because the ruling body of their nation have neglected their safety for arcane power and knowledge

[astrid-beck]

Okay I have two thoughts about Caleb giving luc the magic book. One is that caleb's unshakable patriotism is heartbreaking and the fact that he tells that kid that "your mother and father are a credit to the empire" is so indicative of the way he still thinks about the empire and the nobility of serving his homeland (along the lines of "my parents died for our country") even though he is obviously contrasting the Ikithon "when talent rises from nothing then nothing is truly lost" school of thought. And my second thought is the irreversible damage book cover but it's a picture of luc that says "the transmutation craze seducing our sons"

[saribrum]

Vee and her backstory NPCs!

From left to right we have Vee (originally known to the group as Victor), Charlie, Foxtrot, Glyph, and Juliet. They were in a group called Project Primordius, and were a mesh of elemental genasi (plus one hellfire Tiefling) and were a branch off of the Cerberus Assembly, under the Volstrucker. This is them all now, but back when they were children, none of these kids were treated like anything other than soldiers and experiments. It was a rough existence for them all, with a lot of bloodshed and anger. Most of them were forcefully taken from their families when they were younger, all of them were taught that society would only ever see them as monsters, and that’s partly why they stayed. That and it was all they ever knew.

Now in our game, Vee is doing everything she can to help them. She was rescued from the facility, but she will always feel guilty for getting out when they couldn’t. Fox and Charlie have proven to be good allies to the Fabled Few so far, Juliet seems a bit on the fence on whether she is friend or foe, and Glyph is just a straight up bbeg to us right now. Only time will tell what happens with these maniacs. I’m excited to see it all come to a head.

[encyclopediacr]

Tusk Love is becoming a very real novel! Written by Thea Guanzon, with a cover illustrated by Erion Makuo, the favorite novel of Jester Lavorre herself will be published July 1, 2025.

The publisher's summary from Random House Worlds reads:

As the daughter of an ambitious merchant, Guinevere’s path has been predetermined: marry into a noble house of the Dwendalian Empire, raise her family’s station, and live quietly as a lordling’s obedient wife. But Guinevere longs for a life unbounded by expectations, for freedom and passion and adventure. Those distant dreams become a sudden reality when her caravan is beset by bandits, leaving her guards slain and Guinevere stranded alone on the dangerous Amber Road. Her only chance of survival is to travel alongside Oskar, the aloof half-orc who saved her during the attack. Unlike Guinevere, Oskar’s path is not so set in stone. With his mother dead and his apprenticeship abandoned, all that’s left is a long, lonely walk to a land he’s never seen to find family he’s never met. The last thing he needs is a spoiled waif like Guinevere slowing him down—even if the spark between them sizzles with promise. Despite his cold exterior, Oskar is brave and thoughtful and unlike anyone Guinevere has ever met. And while Guinevere may be sheltered, she brings out a softness in him that he has never dared to feel before. As the flames of their passion grow, they realize that soon they’ll need to choose between their expected destinations or their blossoming romance.

You can find more information about this and other Critical Role books at CriticalRoleBooks.com.

[rhowena]

"I have had the capability to pull the strings behind the most powerful thrones in Exandria for some time. And I've only done so towards these ends. I don't wish to control. I don't wish to be a tyrant. I just want them gone."

The irony of this statement is that Ludinus's single-minded obsession with killing the gods is precisely what makes him so controlling and tyrannical. He could have spent this entire time using his extended lifespan to shape the Dwendalian Empire into a glittering jewel of a kingdom, as J'mon Sa Ord has done with Ank'Harel. He could have channeled his negative experiences with authority into offering the people under him the kind of support he wishes he'd received, as Vex has been doing in Whitestone and Emon. He could take five minutes out of his day once in a while to spend some low-level spell slots or short rest resources helping people he crosses paths with, as Trist and Ayden did multiple times during Downfall. Instead, he's stayed focused entirely on himself and his petty personal vendetta.