#aside from raphaniel

[dimension-20-every-introduction]

Everyone Introduced in Dimension 20′s The Ravening War episode 4

[sea-buns]

Absolutely insane that in all the subterfuge and secrets that the whole party engages in the one person that Bishop Raphaniel Charlock, a guy who technically had everyone fully convinced for the past 2 years that he grandfathered into the Bluminati, cannot find a single scrap of information on is Colin Provolone. A guy that is not vying for political gains or any sort of prestige. He literally just found a guy that treats him well and a job that he's good at and thought "welp guess I'll just follow this ship now". So far, the shadiest thing he's done is secure an escape for him and Deli if things go south. And I don't even think that qualifies as shady. Dude's just trying to get by and start a new life the best he can while making as few personal enemies as possible.

I think a lot of Raphaniel's interest in him, aside from the want and security of knowing wtf is up with your companions, is due to Colin's demeanor. He has these awkward and hesitant moments where he comes across as being naive or slow-witted. So obviously Raphaniel's gonna see this "simple" guy and wanna know why tf he's such a question mark. But his attitude is really just due to the abysmal charisma score. In actuality, he's only 1 point behind Raphaniel in intelligence (who is tied at 16 with Karna and Amangeaux for highest party intelligence). So though he may not act like it, Colin's more than qualified to successfully cover his tracks like there never were any.

Now I can't imagine Colin telling the highly suspicious old guy his secrets before he tells the man he's been beside everyday for 2 years straight. But it'll certainly be fun to watch that intelligence and strategic mindset shine through more in the coming episodes, and to witness the party's reactions as more is revealed.

[medievalpeasant]

Okay so i first mentioned this a while ago but i have confirmed that Plumbeline Uvano is at one point described as a grape (at 1:26:35 in For Candia! part one) and never described as a plum, even in her introduction. Therefore, based on the evidence I layed out before (she’s around the right age, she’s Gustavo’s daughter, etc.) she could very easily be “son” of Amangeux. This would also track with the fact that Plumbeline has no canon mother, and Gustavo has no canon wife.

This is obviously far from canon, and it was mentioned in the adventuring party that Anjali Bhimani did not even initially make the connection between the grape son and Gustavo Uvano (fair enough, there are so many characters in this show) but it is, to me, a very compelling idea. I mean, I love trans women, so that’s great on its own, but it also connects the arcs of Plumbeline Uvano and Lady Amangee Epicée du Peche in a realllly wonderful way.

Amangeux’s arc in Ravening War can be understood as her movement from a role of Queendom, prestige, and leadership, to position of service, in the shadows, helping Gustavo Uvano rise to the position of Emperor. In the beginning of the story, she’s scrambling to maintain her title as Queen of Vegetania. She attempts to set up political marriages, she works with the FDA, is desperate for others to refer to her as queen. We understand why after the assassination of Pamela Rocks. Its fundamentally about safety. Amangeux is desperate to protect her young child (potentially plumbeline). After the Queen of Candia’s death, it becomes clear that a crown will not save you, and Amangeux immediately tries to run, to go into hiding with Plumbeline. Noble titles don’t make you safe, and so her hopes of marrying Jacque and becoming queen again are abandoned.

The tragedy under Pangranos further proves to her that power doesn’t matter. Deli, Karna, Raphaniel, all attempted to wield their titles and the titles of others for their own gain and protection. In the end, two are dead and the third has left politics and the public eye forever. They could scheme, but they couldn’t stop a monsterous god with iron teeth from ripping their lives apart. At that point, Amangeux decides to give up her son to the Uvanos, leaving him in their protection while she serves. She has no titles, but by standing beside Gustavo and helping him to succeed, she has a great deal of security. Importance is placed on the connection between power and safety.

Plumbeline, if she is Amangeux’s daughter, would’ve been five when she was placed with her adoptive father. She would know who her mother was, some of what lead her to do the things she did. She spends her life in her father’s shadow, serving as his advisor and subordinate. She is competent and cunning, but can never rise to the heights her father did, because Amangeux gave her to the Uvanos to be safe. Plumbeline grows bitter, and after her fathers death betrays Gustavo’s closest friend in exchange for the title of emperor, achievable only because of the turmoil caused by the war in Candia. The Concorde is is thrown into terrible danger, but she is it’s ruler. She invovles herself in a war against powerful people, makes them her enemy, and is killed brutally when they retake their homeland. She trades safety for power, and pays brutally for it. The lessons her mother learned during the ravening war are for forgotten, and Plumbeline dies. If Amangeux is still alive during the events of A Crown of Candy (which she easily could be) she sees the security she bought for her daughter at a steep price set aside, and her only child killed.

It’s compelling!! Plumbeline being the wine grape is totally possible based on the evidence, the time frame, and it makes for a really interesting tragic storyline for the family du Peche. Even if they’re not related, the parallels between these two fructeran noblewomen is real cool! The writers of this show are great omg :p

(also the relation between gustavo makin this whole important cocordant empire for the purpose of preventing another another continental war also implies an interesting relationship between power and safety but i don’t want to write a whole nother essay)

[thespoonisvictory]

Another reason why trw feels weird with what it tries to fit into its runtime (and also just generally falls short of its potential) to me is that, by its nature, I can't help but compare it to both acoc AND exuc. And neither of those comparisons put it in the best light. Comparing trw to its in-universe counterpart of acoc makes trw look so much less dark and so much more clunky with its attempts to show complex political machinations. But then you also can't help but see Matt Mercer open with "Water" and remember Brennan's "Fire" and. Suddenly, you're holding up this story that feels like it's sprinting to cover multiple years, shoving aside characters and plot beats that would've been cool to really hone in on because for some reason we have to go go go! You're holding that up against what is to me a genuine masterclass in storytelling that delves as deep as it possibly can into The Worst Single Day Ever. And yeah. Of course in these contexts, trw is going to come out feeling even more janky to me. It's got so many good bits to it, but when held up against acoc (its universe partner) and exuc (the Big Dark Prequel Short Series DMed by Another Guy Covering A Major Event in History)... Its whole vibes feel out of place.

intentional comparisons to both properties by both matt and brennan have been made, so I think it's fair game with the caveat that obviously it isn't a 1:1 at all.

I agree completely with this! It feels like the rushing is also compounded by the fact that trw has a bit of an identity crisis over whether it wants to be an acoc in terms of being an in-depth political fantasy with Big Consequences and Realistic Stakes, or exu calamity in terms of being about antiheroes getting up to shit who are hit with a potentially world ending or changing event, real grand fantasy stuff.

The issue with that is that on top of the rushed timeline, you're also trying to shove two radically different stories and tones in. the first half of the season, we're largely focused on the source of the blackmail, the political aspects of the FDA, and the killing of Pamela Rocks. Then in the back half (particularly eps 5 and 6) we take a wild shift into underground mushroom society that never really... shifts back to finish the political stuff. for sake of brevity, I'll just say that both storylines suffer from having to share space. the political aspects are left unfinished or unexplored after setting up some really cool stuff: the cheddars are left untouched, amangeaux's child is never brought into the plot, we barely get to know karna's deal. the fantasy aspects feel a little out of left field and underdeveloped, with no pcs except raphaniel feeling a well tethered connection to it.

in a longer campaign, I'd love both of these stories! at this length, it really probably should have been just one.

matt is a really talented storyteller, but it doesn't get to shine here because so much of trw feels spread thin. I love what we got! it just needed more clarity and focus, and a lot of elements simplified.

for tying back to the ask, exu:calamity made the very smart choice to start with 6 pcs who already knew each other, in one city, in the course of less than 24 hours. the political aspects are thrown out the window bc nothing will matter in the apocalypse, which clears the way for brennan to really narrow in on the aspects he wants, namely go crazy with the religious and scientific plots