Critical Role

The Content Team at Fandom is going to be doing some Critical Role interviews with Anjali Bhimani and Robbie Daymond (and possibly Matt Mercer) at SDCC this week. The interview concept is called "D20 Questions" and all of the questions are going to be fandom (with a lowercase "f")-focused, For example: What's the first thing you can remember being a fan of? Have you ever made any fan creations (cosplay, fanart, fan fic, etc.)?

Fandom (with a capital "f") would love to get some fandom-related questions from the wiki community, so if there's anything you'd like to know about the experiences that Robbie and Anjali (and maybe Matt!) have had being fans themselves, now is the opportunity to get your question answered.

Reply here with your suggestions for the Fandom Content Team no later than 4 pm Pacific time on Thursday, July 20!

The World of Zoll-Aiyu

Sardior the Dragon god of night, psionics, and secrets once had a sixth thane by the name of Seradess, a female obsidian dragon. Sardior was the first creation of the primordial dragons, Bahamut and Tiamat. Seradess the Obsidian dragon posed the biggest threat to the dragon gods for its ability to absorb energy with its powerful psionic ability, the thane Seradess was killed by the Master of Gem Dragons due to this threat as well as banished. Her banishment resides at the center of the planet Zoll-Aiyu. Once a sleeping dead planet at the time Seradess was banished. Vlaakith CLVII the 157th queen of the Githyanki forged the pact with Tiamot and the Githyanki people.

Untold and left out of the history is that it was at this same moment in time that Seradess the obsidian dragon was killed and banished to the dead planet of Zoll-Aiyu.

Mellifleur the god of Lichdom and Magic resides in the bleak eternity of Gehenna, being the god of lichdom he knows all the secrets of life and death. This includes pacts other lichs make. Mellifleur began to plot a plan to turn Seradess into an Ancient Obsidian Dracolich Demi-God that would serve him, this would take millenia. He believes with that power he would be able to defeat The General of Gehenna and take his rule over Gehenna.

Mellifleur recruited Testuo the fire giant into lichdom and ordered him to banish Chemada the ancient Pyroclastic dragon to the center of the planet of Zoll-Aiyu to create life on the planet by heating its core. the magma actually grows more obsidian. And has made the skeleton of Seradess grow in size. A phylactery large enough will be required to turn Seradess into a dracolich. Chemada’s banishment wasn’t only to create life on the planet, but also to make Seradess’s skeleton large enough to turn the planet of Zoll-Aiyu into the Phylactery. Several wizards and clerics are needed to bind the soul of the dragon.

Tiamat realizing the plans of Mellifleur called upon her great paladin Arkhan the cruel to retrieve the hand of Vecna. Tiamat ordered him to retrieve the hand of Vecna in order to free her as well as to kill Mellifleur before he has the chance to turn Seradess into an Ancient Obsidian Dracolich Demi-God.

Cordvoss the Devourer, Leader of the Cordvoss Citadel, Enslaver of the underground races, Devourer of light

The Illithid control an entire continent which is called the Citadel. The Illithid have enslaved the former cities of Humans, Drow and Duergar. As well as the encampments of Orcs and Goblins. They have made deals with the port cities that they will be left free and untouched as long as they maintain open trade with Illithid traders. This is most likely due to manipulation directly from mind flayers on the governments of these port cities. The Illithad have built a gigantic citadel at the center of their control of the continent. A ulitharid by the name of Cordvoss the Devourer runs the Citadel.

The Planet of Zoll-Aiyu once had 3 moons. The banishment of Seradess threw off the rotation and axis of the planet which caused the moon “Arda” and “Zolfreet” to collide. This collision formed the creation of a planetary ring around the equator of Zoll-Aiyu. The Planetary ring is the source of Arcane magic for Zoll-Aiyu. This is what broke the planet's original tectonic plates and caused the formation of the planet's continents.

The biggest thing that ties the Universe DnD universe together is surprisingly the Githyanki. This realm is a Githyanki Caste training realm. The lore had the Githyanki removed for a period of time. Zoll-Aiyu has become the Galaxies' focus point as well as the focus of the Gods.

Since the Dragon Wars from early history, Gem Dragons have been spoken mostly of in myth and legend. Almost left extinct except for in small demi-planes. The potential return of an Obsidian Dracolich has the potential to absorb all of the Magic throughout the universe. Essentially a Black Hole to destroy the universe.

Githyanki society was divided into three main castes. Although rigid, there was the possibility of moving between castes through intense competition. The major caste was the military, followed by the smaller mlar, who were in charge of crafts and specialized tasks, and the g'lathk, who were in charge of food production and labor.[29][30]

Within each of the castes, there were further subdivisions according to specialized professions. The military caste included the knights and the warriors within the military hierarchy, in addition to the gish and other spellcasters.

The mlar were responsible for the construction of weapons, including silver swords, and astral ships. They were also in charge of constructing and repairing all githyanki buildings and tools, as well as the occasional art piece. Mlar used their psionic abilities to replicate the effects of the fabricate, stone shape, and wall of stone spells, as well as other unique abilities to decorate and repair structures at a much higher efficiency than that of a regular worker.

The g'lathk were most closely associated with farmers, although their main ability was to induce food growth in the Astral Plane, where nothing grew. Some channeled their psionic abilities to grow a type of fungus that required no sunlight, while others harvested an edible substance that grew only on the bodies of the god-isles. A third group cultivated plants and animals in tanks of magically treated water. This caste did not receive a lot of respect from other members of githyanki society, despite their importance. They were always found in small numbers, given that the githyanki only required food while outside of the Astral Plane.[29]

Some githyanki specialized in manipulating the raw energy of the Astral Plane for various purposes. Known as hr'a'cknir, they worked as healers, seers, and as helpers to the mlar, depending on the type of energy they specialized in.

The world of Zoll-Aiyu is a Githyanki Caste training realm.

The constant battle of the gith and Illithid has been at the center of the universe since the beginning of DnD lore. We focused on the Fantasy mostly while the stories of these monsters traveling the planes continued. We never really knew what was going on out there until now.

This realm follows the Draconic Pantheon. Common races are Human, Githyanki, Dwarven (Most prominent is the Gemdragon Clan who worship Seradess) Other clans worship other dragons. Elves, Gnomes tend to be the artificers and these Gnomish populations have also been to include the Autognome.

Orcs, Drow, and Duegar are mostly enslaved by the Illithid and can be played by characters that escaped enslavement.

Nimox Iry is the Githyanki Pirate King. Nimox rose to infamy by removing himself from the Githyanki caste system and joining a band of pirates. His 1st mate Krunk the Barbarian Pirate stormed the shores of multiple coastal raids throughout the Seashell Islands. Nimox and Krunk started to build a formidable army and fought in the Highland War. Following the war, they retreated back to the Seashell Islands where they decided to build strongholds near the city of Manta.

Manta was being run by a corrupt mayor, and after being insulted by the mayor's demands. Nimox killed him outright and named himself Mayor of Manta. Nimox’s power just seemed to grow and grow without anyone realizing it from then on out.

The Gemdragon Clan- a Clan of Dwarves that worship Seradess the Obsidian Dragon. Tend to use a lot of obsidian weapons. The majority of the Gemdragon Clan act like normal dwarves. They differ from normal dwarves for those that follow the religion more devoutly. Barbarians and Shamans run the Clergy. Religious prayers take place at an altar. 5 stone totems of Amethyst, Crystal, Emerald, Sapphire, and Topaz circle a Larger Obsidian Stone Totem to create the altar. The Gemdragon clan is one of the very few races on Zoll-Aiyu that trains druids.

The Soot Elves of the burning forest are unique mountain elves that reside in the Blistering Forest that train druids. As well as Elves of the great elven city of Serrafell located in the Radiant Forest.

The Nine- The Nine is Zoll-Aiyu’s largest thieves guild. Led by Rellik Laires a Human Assasin/Rogue once was a pirate. He served with Nimox and Krunk during the Highland War and the Pirate Wars. It was during the time of the Pirate Wars that an opportunity came up for Rellik to recruit some thieves to acquire some rare magic items for the ship. When Rellik returned to port, not only did these thieves steal exactly what he was looking for, and then some, they were looking for more work.

Rellik being a well-traveled Assassin and thief always found himself preoccupied with the mission of the party. That didn’t mean he wasn’t casing out places with the thought of coming back. That is exactly what he was doing and he started selling his intel for cuts of the profit.

With this Rellik had to get more organized, it needed some rules hence where the name of the Guild comes from. The Rule of Nine- A thief's code of Conduct.

If you follow the Crystal sphere system, Zoll-Aiyu is a crystal Sphere very small in size, often overlooked It is located near the Illithid domain, Southeast of Redeye amongst the Phlogiston. It is not able to be traveled to using Spelljammer ships.

Zoll-Aiyu's Planetary ring is used heavily in Celestial navigation. The Githyanki often teach their young warriors on naval ships here on Zoll-Aiyu to prepare them on how to navigate interstellar ships one day. Zoll-Aiyu however, is not able to be traveled to directly using spell jammer ships and is not found on interstellar maps. Travel to and from Zoll-Aiyu is usually through the Astral plane. However, The River Styx does have portions that can access Zoll-Aiyu.

I haven't transferred the images of the world yet. I also have the tectonic plates, continents, Climates, Planet axis, and the planet's currents. I studied Volcanoes and Tectonic Plates for a week, and broke down the global map from Pangea to the Present.

I'm currently in Inkarnate practicing as I prepare to create a digital copy of the world map and its individual Continents.

If you have read through all of this I want to say thank you. This is for the Real DnD nerds who always really wondered how the universe really all tied together. Thanks to the Critical Role team and certain things becoming Cannon. I elaborated on Tiamat and Arkhan the cruel storyline and the most recent cannon from the Hand of Vecna.

Absolutely everything in this lore was taken from early Greenwood, Ad&d, all the way to 5e and Forgotten Realms, Spelljammer, Ebberon, and Exandria, and then some. After 20 years of playing this game, I don't think I have created a realm that is able to tie all of the sourcebooks for use but also stay as true to original DnD lore as where I could see this Realm potentially becoming Canon if the right platform used it for a backdrop.

Feedback is welcome. You can swallow the criticism though. Everything within the lore is plausible. The only wish I have is Ancient Obsidian Dracolich Demi-God wasn't so damn annoying to say.

So some GATE Thus the X nation fought there situation having both Earth (such as 21st century version) & Material Plane's Exandria (Around the Post-Divergence era) making contact by some teleportation portal similar to the gate during a specific time before the founding of both Vox Machina & Might Nein, how might things change for both planets & beyond forever? Be quite interesting that English & Common are the same while Exandria's Humans be VERY confused with Earth's thousands of languages even if English the 'most' widely spoken language. Plus could be quite explosive to see Earth's science technology advancement VS against Exandria's magic, Earth's superpower nations (include No.1 Hyperpower USA) having WMDs (not just nukes) clashes against unnatural powerful deities+'gods'+monsters from the Material Plane, how the various nations of both worlds' use one & other for their benefits & how the 2 groups (Vox Machina & Might Nein) interact with things related to Earth+traveling to even living on Earth.

What are ya thoughts?

Trying to find out who designed the logo but I can't find any information on it anywhere!

This has been on my mind for a while. And why is it always digital art that gets their love and approval and among other things and never pencil and sketch. I keep getting mixed answers and no one is giving it an honest answer? Is it a digital art only exclusive club as usual or do they just secretly hate traditional and ignore it?