#deity of calamity

[your-pain-is-my-amusement]

"Oh finally. I thought we'd never find this dumb book."

Mason couldn’t agree more, “Although I find it odd how we have Journal #3 and that fuck boy is nowhere to be found…”

Of course, he refers to Gideon. He raises his head and looks around the hallway briefly, but can only deduce that perhaps Gideon left it here? Maybe on accident? He picks it up and sifts through its pages quietly to see if there were any additions.

[themightypete]

"Why should I apologize for the monster I've become? No one ever apologized for making me this way."

"heh that something we have in common"

[burr-ell]

Sometimes Things That Shake Up the Status Quo are Worse

I keep seeing people insisting that Exandria "can't return to the status quo, which was bad", but rarely do they say anything in support of that argument beyond "the Primes pick and choose favorites!". And while I'm not confident the show itself won't try to make that claim, the reality is that it just isn't borne out mechanically or narratively. Laying aside that non-Divine Soul sorcerers exist (like, and I'm just spitballing here, Aberrant Mind Ruidusborn), the gods work primarily through the on-the-ground efforts of clerics and paladins—people who have actively and consistently put in the work to devote themselves to the divine. This is a setting where resurrection magic, which relies on divine power, has been intentionally made more difficult than it is in DnD rules-as-written. Even clerics only get access to Divine Intervention at level 10 (when they've already spent a long time devoting themselves to their deity) and up until level 20 the chances of it actually working are vanishingly small—and level 20 clerics are both hard to come by and ultimately still limited.

In the rare event that the Prime Deities choose to bless someone who isn't a cleric or paladin, it's someone who has a good reason to have gotten their attention. Vax offered his life during a divine ritual in the burial site of the Raven Queen's most devoted champion and then actively committed himself to her cause. Yasha was an aasimar being mind-controlled by a devil who wound up at a divine altar and chose to worship Kord after he freed her. Orym is the devoted widower of someone who is in Melora's realm and was present at a ritual in a temple associated with Melora, and one of his companions prayed at a shrine to Melora on his behalf. Vex was directly in front of Pelor, had taken a leadership position in one of his sacred cities, and had received a vision from him directly—and even then, she had to earn it. Scanlan also had to earn the right to Ioun's favor and complete a trial, and had previously shown qualities and values that she believed were fitting of her champion. Fjord was a companion of a devoted cleric of Melora who had sought her help in keeping Uk'otoa sealed and made requests of her on Fjord's behalf, and Fjord also chose to meditate and then became a paladin devoted to her.

And in Exandria, if you don't want to follow a god, you don't have to. Percy, Keyleth, Grog, Beau, Veth, Caleb, Essek, most of Bell's Hells, the average commoner in the various cities the parties have traveled to—whether they outright dislike the gods as a whole or just don't have an interest either way, they're all capable of thriving with or without them, and indeed their problems are almost entirely caused by mortals. It's especially egregious when you consider that cities like Avalir were around during the Age of Arcanum, when the Prime Deities physically walked Exandria, and people like Laerryn, Patia, Zerxus, and Lacrytia Hollow—openly disdainful of the gods or even trying to create feats of magic to get on their level—were continuing business as usual. The previous god of death not only willingly abdicated in favor of a mortal during this time, but outright helped her do the job!

The Prime Deities can't win. If they didn't give anyone any power at all, they'd be viewed as selfish. If they'd stayed on Exandria after the Calamity, they'd be foolish and reckless. They're simply not capable of intervening and helping everyone, so they're labeled capricious. If they leave Exandria, they're abandoning not only their refuge and home, but also the people who need and rely on them. You can argue that "no one should have that much power" all you want, but I think it's exceptionally silly to take an argument meant to criticize the wealthy and powerful of our world (whose only unique quality is ultimately that they got lucky) and apply it to fictional deities (beings who are powerful by their very nature) who, while flawed, also think they're too powerful. They tried to protect Exandria from themselves and the Betrayers while still using their power to do right by the people there, and for the most part it was working just fine.

The "status quo" from before all this was and still is the best compromise available. No one has managed to sell a better one that doesn't amount to "cater to my blorbos and my self-indulgent idea of revolutionary politics, which may or may not also ultimately circle back to my blorbos". I think that's pretty telling.

[weepingtalecowboy]

Legend has too many parallels

Like the parallels are very big and even midna and Ravio share them as well because “from a different dimension of perpetual twilight and left link by the end for the greater good”

Even majora's mask and the fierce deity mask are something that Legend acquired (if we consider him triforce heroes link )

The same goes with Sky who has a harp VERY similar to the harp of ages you get in oracle of ages

Legend is an amalgamation of every other link in one way or another

Hyrule = straight up his predecessor and directly connected in the timeline

Sky = the harp of ages and Fi speaks to link (you even can update her the same way… she gold now)

Warriors = Ravio, Marin (he met both) , the knights and him sharing the position, a time guardian that is under the enemies command you befriend (possessed Nayru in oracle of ages)

Time = two time travel adventures (link to the past and oracle of ages), fierce deity, majora's mask , the den of trials (triforce heroes)

Four= four swords palace, the puppets in triforce heroes, if we count Cadence of Hyrule as a legend game then also a villain who has purple hair and ends up getting backstabbed by ganon for no good reason

Wind= sea gulls , whale god who traps link in his dream (phantom hourglass), after the hero of the time , Aryll has a hibiscus blossom on her dress… Marin's favorite flower

Twilight= dark form, complete opposite in the curse part , (wolf vs Rabbit parallels) , a person who helps you on your adventure comes from a realm where there is perpetually twilight…then saves the realm and watches friend leave you for the greater good(Link between worlds)

Wild= Flame themed calamity that a ganondorf wannabe wants to make worse like how onox wanted to ignite the flame of destruction and took control of the seasons (oracle of seasons and age of calamity)

[undead-knick-knack]

Ludinus: So, has that convinced you? Do you see now why the gods need to be wiped out?

Bells Hells:

[somewhatsentientspellbook]

downfall: summarised

[lialess]

this was so fun to draw, it might be my therapy now...

[keeper-of-magic]

man, i love you, eldritch horrors shown in low resolution games by having photorealistic bodies, and/or censored parts.

well shit man, that sure is an eldritch horror!

(i could only know two examples, feel free to add your own!)

[mayapapaya33]

I'm rewatching Exu: Calamity and I think they made a mistake with the name. The real title should be Exu: Actually, Vasselheim has good reasons for how it operates, even if they're dicks about it sometimes. Maybe it was too long, so they went with the snappier CALAMITY! Instead lol.

The end of the Calamity was only 840 something years ago. With Elves and dragons running around, some of them are definitely old enough where, if they didn't live during the Age of Arcanum themselves, their parents or grandparents would have and they would have been told a thousand stories of the fuck heads in flying cities who destroyed the world and were super annoying and dangerous long before they did that. Many more would be born during the latter part of the Calamity or raised by people who survived the Calamity who passes on those stories. Depending on the race we are talking anywhere from direct witnesses (Like the Bright Queen and Ludinus) to like 2-5 generations removed. Even humans with our short lifespans, it's really not THAT long, especially if you've got a bunch of old ass elves around teaching history class from a first person pov for like 500 years lol.

Intellectually people know that Critical Role, the world of Exandria is a post apocalypse story. Exandria is a scarred landscape that is just beginning to bounce back from the brink. But because it is recovering, it's easy to forget sometimes that it IS POST APOCALYPTIC. So people looking at Vasselheim in the modern day are like, 'bro, you really need to chill, everything's fine.' And Vasselheim is like... 'Chill? I do not understand the meaning of this word. And everything is fine... for now. We will be a bastion of civilization when the end times come once more. Fare thee well traveler.'

Then everyone rolls their eyes and moves on with their day. But if you really think about Vasselheim's isolationism and strength and distain for arcane magic in historical context, you can't really blame them. Are they over the top about their dislike of arcane magic? Sure. Is it quite possibly the most understandable over reaction in the history of over reactions? Also yes! They haven't made it illegal, they are just going to keep an eye on you, so you don't pull a Vespin Chloras and doom the planet to another few centuries of choked skies and sundered landscapes, that's all. Vespin was IN Vasselheim! Of COURSE they have strong feelings about it. The (Almost) End of the World began in Vasselheim due to arcane magic. If they had been stricter, maybe it wouldn't have happened at all!

And it really does paint their actions in Campaign 1 in a different light as well. Their isolationism can come across as shortsighted and selfish, until you view it from their point of view. Which is that they are constantly under threat, they know for a fact that Asmodeus wants their city destroyed, they are a bastion for the Prime Deities in a world filled with many heathens (lol that's where the dickishness comes in) and the Betrayer Gods would take any sign of weakness in their defenses and attack with glee. Hearing it in C1 it sounds like an excuse not to help against the Chroma Conclave, but it is literally just the truth from what I can tell. In BOTH Calamity and Downfall they have mentioned destroying Vasselheim being on the Betrayer God's to do list lol. If I was on a Betrayer God's to do list specifically, by name, I too would be somewhat paranoid and would not really want to disarm any portion of the city to go do something else. No matter how important the something else might be.

Vasselheim was basically like; Look, I'm very sorry to hear about your Dragon problem, that sucks, truly, but if we go out all willy nilly and leave this city undefended, it'll be fucked when we get back. When you have a real plan, come back and get us and we'll join you for the big fight. Until then, it's up to you, here you can have Kima as well, she's been desperate to get out of here anyway, and here's some supplies. We have larger concerns than one continent being attacked by four ancient Dragons. We are the seed bank for civilization for when shit inevitably hits the fan. We are the doomsday bunker for the Apocalypse, four Ancient Dragons are terrible, but they are not the Apocalypse. And they are right. Looking at it all in context, The Chroma Conclave are small potatoes. Horrific, monstrous, life destroying, but compared to the threat Vasselheim is preparing for, nothing.

They are the doomsday preppers of Exandria, except the threat is real and they are only letting their collective trauma and ptsd inform their decisions a little bit. They are actually fairly rational all things considered. This city withstood the entire Calamity. The stewards of the city must feel an enormous weight and responsibility to keep it safe going into the future. Imagine the pressure. Are you going to be the one to fuck it all up, after thousands of years? Sounds like a nightmare to me. The level of devotion and conviction required to keep something like that going is incredible.

[functionaldisaster]

I've completed a playthrough of terraria calamity and to celebrate I decided to draw my summoner named Goolaxy

Here she is in game

And here she is on paper

The picture doesn't convey how vibrant this is on paper

[rufus-locke]

I wonder what would happen if u ate a calamity stone

[pixelrhys]

Yeah no, he's not fighting that thing.

[themightypete]

"You know what I hate? Heroes."

"Finally someone who has good taste like yours truly"

[aeons-behind]

some asmodeus quotes, as a reminder:

"you think my enemy are the prime deities? those are my siblings! we were happy once together"

"just ask yourself, zerxus, whom did we betray?"

they may be gods. they may fight by killing thousands of people (instead of just. like. stealing some clothes or something). but they are still siblings, and if they need to bring down a city to make sure the mortals remember that, then so be it

[natp20]

i am going fucking insane thinking about the opening for downfall and its implications

the show opens on Eternity. these are entities of eternal, undying, and infinite possibility. they are on the run. they are looking for a safe haven from certain doom. they have never known doom. they have never known nothing. they have never known loss. they are looking for a place to call home. they have already lost so much. they are still family.

to escape, they are forced to leave behind all the possibilities of who and what they could have been. they have to leave the Eternal Palace behind. they have to stifle their potential. they have to find shape and bodies made out of blood and bone.

they have to become Real.

[captainsparklefingers]

Okay, okay. So it's two parts. Practical and emotional.

The practical: all of the gods, both Prime and Betrayer, need to be in one place and on the same page to make sure that what happened to Tengar never happens again. Predathos needs to remain sealed and kept away, and the gods are the only ones who can do it.

The emotional: they are the last of their kind. They all survived the destruction of their home and the agony of being forced into a single form and single possibility, nobody will never know what that's like. The Schism has hurt them all, and maybe it would be better for Exandria if the Betrayers were eliminated. But if you were the last, and your enemy was somebody who loved you once, who shared the same horrible experience with you, who you can still see the good in...would you be able to see them dead?

(and the thing is, I think that goes both ways. Asmodeus has said time and time again how much he hates his family, what they've done. He wiped out all of Sarenrae's followers when she reached out to him...but he could have killed her outright. And he didn't. And for all that he lies, the best lies have their origin in truth.)

(and the Hells, watching this. A group of people, flawed and hurt who've come together through shared experiences. Who've had their arguments and issues. Laudna and Orym's 'disagreement' about a sword happened days ago. They're seeing a flawed group of people with so much power, trying to make a terrible choice between the greater good, or what's left of their broken, hurt family.

And Ludinus is expecting them to side with him?)