#i watched calamity for

[rowanyx]

There is something so deep about Laerryn's choice in the finale, and Brennan's phrasing of the decision to be made.

To clarify, this scene (copied and pasted from the CR wiki transcripts):

BRENNAN: On a 16, you must make a tough decision. Do you want to further limit the release of energy and make the release of energy safer for the physical environs of Avalir and Cathmoíra, or do you want to ensure that Rau'shan and Ka'Mort will be permanently banished from Exandria?

TRAVIS: Impossible.

AABRIA: Laerryn's little joke to herself was always that the Heart of Avalir was the thing she inherited, but it was too small. She made it bigger, she improved it. She improved the Etheric Net and built this and that she was the Heart of Avalir, and she gave everything to this city. But I know what people are fighting to protect and I remember what Quay said about going down with the ship. So we will ensure it. This will work. Avalir be damned.

or this timestamp of the episode (in case the link doesn't work for the timestamp, the first comment's list has it labelled Laerryn's Tough Decision):

As we were first introduced to her, Laerryn Coramar-Seelie is the Architect Arcane. As Aabria herself even put, her whole life, all her work, is about taking the city and making it better. Building more. Expansion is the name of the game. So when Brennan specifies that the limiting of energy output will save the physical environs rather than the people, that holds weight.

Just, in a mechanics aspect, there is the fact she is an Abjurer. The whole point of her magic is exactly this choice. To stop things from being destroyed. Her wards that take the damage so that she or others will not. She is not built to bring destruction, leave the fight to others. She will be there to soften the blows that come her allies' ways. She is the one one deciding this, and it feels right, because she's spent her studies dedicated to figuring out how she will prevent the destruction that comes her way.

But that isn't all.

Because any other hero, any other party member, every other soul faced with this question could so easily think that it is a useless decision. A city can be rebuilt, but only if the Betrayer Gods are stopped before they kill all the people that can do so.

But Laerryn, who has dedicated her years to this, the position of Architect Arcane, knows this city and her structures far more intimately. She has been there, step by step, as she forged them. Designed them. Watched over their construction. It is by her hand it was built.

Asking her, specifically, is asking her to choose between everything she's done, or let it all burn. Asking her to make this decision is asking her to decide her legacy. Will she live on as the maker of the land that survived such devastation, but not the people, or will she go down as the one who helped stop the Calamity?

Her choice boiled down to this: Limiting the energy, their work, the libraries and churches, the colleges, grand towers and hallowed halls, stone and mortar, it all can go on unshattered. Or, stopping the Betrayers, the people may continue on.

Was her work more important than the lives she was surrounded by?

Aabria mentions Laerryn was given the Heart of Avalir, jokes how she improved it. But the Heart of Avalir, while magical, is only an engine. It was made, and can be again. So in this moment, I think Laerryn maybe realizes that the true heart of a city comes from the people. Always thinking, thoughts speed by her, whether or not she ever had time to really process the revelations before her demise.

Evandrin is already gone due her hubris. Who else would she lose? Would it have felt like home, without Loqautious there by her side? Would it truly feel like her city, without Patia keeping up with her? What would she cause, without Nydas to hold her back? What is Avalir, without her Brass Ring?

Her assistant, probably still waiting for her, in their offices, and the choice of which will see tomorrow?

How many will feel the heat of Rau'shan's flames as they die? How many will fall to Ka'Mort's earth?

None, she decides. Her friends and neighbors, the kinsmen of her home, will not feel these pains.

I think it is also a moment that beautifully showcases her accepting her death. She will not be here to heal her city. She's going down with the ship. Maybe her blueprints will be found and used, and Avalir will be as it once was. Maybe they won't, and they'll construct it all anew. But she won't see it, so it is their turn to take what was given and build on.

Of course, Rau'shan and Ka'Mort were not the only assets of the Calamity, and damage and destruction was still wrought across Exandria. But there are enough hands to clear the ruins and make their own stories. And that is because of the greatest Architect of them all.

She gave them a chance indeed.

[lesbianwyllravengard]

"zerxus x asmodeus is the most compelling exu:c ship" I'm sorry, Laerryn and Loquatius Coramar-Seelie did not spend 4 whole episodes dragging the entire audience through emotional torment and repairing their broken marriage in the most meaningful and poetic way possible within literally 24 hours and then die in each other's arms to save Exandria for you to favour yet another homoerotic dynamic with maybe 15 minutes of screen time.

[essektheylyss]

Life hack: if you start EXU: Calamity at 14:04:18 (2:04:18 PM) on December 31st, you can experience the finale of the Avalir fireworks extravaganza at exactly midnight.

And then, if you really wanna set the tone, you can kick off your year by screaming into a pillow for the remaining ten hours of runtime!

[nellasbookplanet]

The fandom god discussion is interesting, but I feel it’s sometimes hindered by an unwillingness to separate gods from mortal society, or even a sort of over-eagerness to project our own reality onto them, which simply doesn’t work. I've seen the gods referred to as rulers or tyrants demanding worship (which I kinda understand because it’s something Ludinus says in-game, though it’s funny to see fandom corners confidently repeat the inaccurate talking points of the antagonist) but more interestingly I've also seen them referred to as a higher/the highest social class, as colonizers imposing themselves on mortals, the raven queen specifically as new money. Overall these comparisons tend to talk about the gods and their actions regarding Aeor in the past and predathos/the Vanguard in the present less as if they're about saving their own lives and more as if they want to preserve their powerful position.

The gods, by their very nature, are above mortals. They cannot be compared to any mortal ruling class because they didn’t choose or strive for that power and cannot feasibly get rid of it/step down/redistribute it (nor do they actually in any sense rule; killing the raven queen, unlike killing an actual queen, will not end the 'tyranny' of death), they simply have it by virtue of being gods. Saying that’s unfair or unequal and that the gods should be killed because of it is akin to saying it’s unfair a mountain is bigger than you and demanding it be levelled, except the gods, unlike mountains, are living, feeling beings who shouldn’t have to die because some people can’t stand the idea of not always being top dog. Thing is, the gods themselves ultimately understood this power imballance and that they can't help but hurt Exandria the way humans can't help but step on bugs, and thus removed themselves from the equation by creating the divine gate. Saying this isn’t enough and that they're clinging to power is just demanding they line themselves up to be killed.

[xieliancore]

xie lian doodle to celebrate season 2 release!!!

[iiamdrawing]

[outer-stars]

*SAVE The World plays*

throwback to last year after the Amphibia finale aired when I was struck with inspo when listening to the Undertale soundtrack

Andddd here's the main image file! Tried to stay true to the original game's graphic style (but I figured if the Asriel fight got color, then Anne deserved some colors as well) ✨

[buggiesnax]

Hello Critical Role and/or EXU Calamity fandom!!

[sapphic-agent]

Changed my profile picture to Dana's adult Calamity Trio art. Words can't express how much I miss these three❤️

[belphegor1982]

I wonder what it's like for people who haven't watched ExU Calamity and are therefore able to be normal about the Ring of Brass cameo in TLOVM

[buttclench-ryugazaki]

remember when zerxus's best brother friendman nydas tried to save him from an eternity of torment and servitude by killing him as a final act of love. and also as a favor because zerxus asked him to, to ensure he wouldn't become something terrible and would only ever live and die as himself, but in the end he was like "but what if i tried redeeming the lord of the hells a second time"

[undead-knick-knack]

Ashton: When we step out of this place, if they have a hint of what we know, the Everlight would murder us all, or let slip to somebody who wouldn't mind.

Me:

Ashton I love you but you sound so fucking stupid 😂

[arbuthnotblob]

This line from Brennan (and series producer Kyle Shire) has been living rent-free in my head ever since EXU Calamity first aired - so here, for all your hubris-expressing needs, is Eternal Disco Brennan! He points onwards, oblivious to the coming of punk and glam rock and all the forces of tide and time that will drag him from his glittering throne and dash him upon the shores of the Top of the Pops of yesteryear...

[anakinh]

Taking a break from tlovm after episode 4 because everything Zerxus Illerez said was so funny.

I trusted my friends, but their curiosity and hubris destroyed my city

Zerxus, you and Laerryn were responsible for, like, a good 80% of that.

I trusted my god, but he lied... all gods lie

Zerxus, the god you trusted was literally named 'The Father of Lies'

[beedreamscape]

As per the announcement

º The story will be set 100 years INTO the Calamity.

º The PCs will be six "divine figures" and the role they played in the downfall of Aeor

º The story has been stored in the Downfall relic

[screechingfromthevoid]

The cape wrapping was too much for me I have to leave