Aeor

→ For the episode of the same name, see "Aeor" (2x132).

Aeor
Official art of Aeor, by Clara.
General Information
Full name	Aeor
Constructed	Age of Arcanum
Destroyed	More than a century into the Calamity, about 50 years before the Divergence
Location Information
Plane	Material Plane (Exandria)
Continent	Wildemount (final resting place)
Region	Eiselcross
Districts	Ars Ward Cognouza Ward Genesis Ward Praesidis Ward Opus Ward
Points of interest	Factorum Malleus Occultus Thalamus

Aeor, founded during the early Age of Arcanum, was a floating city that crashed in Eiselcross during the Calamity, and which in the 830s PD was being excavated by a few outposts for the ancient relics to be found there. In its prime, the magocracy soared above the clouds and had beautiful lavender spires and prismatic cobblestones in its streets. However, its people valued efficiency over aesthetics and function over beauty, which in its final years resulted in squat gray buildings with very few windows. Over time, Aeor developed an anti-divine culture leading to the development of a weapon to challenge the gods, which would doom the city and its inhabitants. After the Divergence, the city was remembered as a cautionary tale, known primarily for their interest in defeating the gods.

The three-part special Downfall focuses on the destruction of Aeor. The ruins of Aeor are explored in both Campaign Two and Campaign Three.

History

Fan art of the floating city of Aeor, by Shawn Ballard Art.

Early in the Age of Arcanum the massive flying city-state of Aeor was a place of invention and magic, ruled by its mages, and considered the most powerful of the pre-Calamity arcane societies, held aloft by brumestone. The city, although it had initially maintained temples such as the Chamber of Seasons dedicated to Ioun, soon developed an anti-divine culture that became common during that period in history. Only Aeor was advanced enough to create automatons that achieved humanoid sentience. These constructed humanoids were called Aeormatons, and even after they gained citizen status the issue of whether or not they had souls remained controversial.

Aeor's arcane projects also focused on new ways of understanding and using divine magic in tasks such as soul reading, and they found a way to prevent gods from viewing or physically visiting the city. Towards the end of the Age of Arcanum, Loras of Avalir (an apprentice of Eldamir the Wise) stated that they had received information that Aeor was preparing an attack on one of the smaller flying cities, Lathras, possibly to test a weapon of some kind. In terms of biological warfare, Aeor developed the frigid woe disease which was designed to "slow down" divine forces as it "cannot be cured by conventional treatment or magic" and can only be cured with the manufactured antidote. Over time, frigid woe reduces the ability of a creature to move and if a creature dies of the disease, they are turned "into a statue made of ice".

The Care and Culling

Official art of an Aeorian street scene, by Clara.

At some point before the Calamity, Aeorian politicians gave a number of their famous Aeormatons to different people around Exandria as a peace offering or reaching for collaboration. Those automatons worked as caretakers or helpful companions until, in one sweeping attack, they tried to kill those to whom they were gifted; not all of them succeeded, and some even survived that rebellion, but the event itself, known in history as the Care and Culling, created a precedent after which it was very rare to see Aeorian technology outside of said city (and thus it is now rare to find remnants of it far from its ruins in Eiselcross).

The fall of Aeor

“

If it is the gods you worship, then have them and their choked sky and their ruined land. What hope remains for mortals in Exandria remains because of Aeor's might! Aeor alone will see you through.

”

– 

Captain Marcus to refugees of Hawk's Hill

[!h]

The city also suffered from tumult within, even as its success and growing abilities drew the ire of the gods. First, they developed a way to cloak the city from the vision of the gods, and then to actually repel them from entry. After the god-war began, refugees from across Exandria found sanctuary within Aeor as the city sought to absorb any resources it could.

During the Calamity, the Prime Deities and Betrayer Gods called a truce long enough to crash the city onto the island of Foren in Eiselcross. Several of the gods, from both sides of the Schism, disappeared for as long as half a century as they embodied mortal avatars in order to infiltrate and dismantle the Aeorian defenses against the divine. Following the destruction of the Obtenebrator, the engines which powered the technology that blocked divine sight, several gods without mortal avatars were able to approach the city. The Stormlord brought heavy winds against the city which prevented any escape by flight and caused many citizens to fall to their deaths. Immediately following this, the entire Cognouza Ward teleported out, and the immense use of magical power disrupted the ability to teleport for any other mortal within the city. The divine avatars overcame the Aeorian guardians of the Factorum Malleus in the ensuing battle and destroyed the wards of the Latimus Princeps, allowing them to regain their divine powers and forms. This also allowed them to disenchant the Factorum Malleus which unleashed a great wave of energy that spread ruination across the city, including the disenchantment of the brumestone holding the city aloft. The city then crashed into Eiselcross.

Right before the Factorum Malleus was destroyed, Primarch Selena Erenves used Wish to seed the knowledge of how to recreate it within all flesh and blood wizards of Aeor with the order to flee the city. This action doomed the Aeorian citizens since it meant the gods could allow no survivors. In the moments prior to the end, as the sky grew stormy and the citizens were panicking, one of Aeor's leaders attempted to calm them before a flash of white occurred, after which glowing blue stasis bubbles froze many of them in time. However, for the most part, it was believed that there were no survivors from the fall of Aeor.

Post-Divergence

Fan art of Aeor, by Clara.

Fan art of the city of Aeor underground, by Cers @Cersonality.

Aeor was long believed to have been obliterated and its location forgotten. However, artifacts and relics from Aeor began to be discovered and started making their way into the Dwendalian Empire around 828 or 829 PD. Dwendalian, Uthodurnian, Xhorhasian, and mercenary expeditions began searching the hazardous terrain of its crash site for more. Kryn Dynasty and Empire outposts were, as of 836 PD, excavating what remnants they were able to access of the fallen city.

Caleb was able to recognize and recall that the material used to power both the golems and the collar that he recovered from the Heirloom Sphere does not exist naturally, but was utilized as an arcane battery technology that was employed by some of the top echelon of archmages during the Age of Arcanum, and that some elements of it had been traded, usually scavenged from the ruins of Aeor to the north.

Lady Vess DeRogna then offered the Mighty Nein unspecified work "in the north" to be done sometime after the War of Ash and Light peace talks concluded. When the party inquired at her residence, she asked for their assistance with an expedition to Foren to investigate Aeorian ruins for artifacts. They traveled with her there, where she was killed by Lucien and the party discovered the link between the Somnovem of the Cognouza Ward of Aeor and mysterious living city in the Astral Sea which they saw in Vokodo's dying vision.

Fan art of Aeorian ruins, by Clara.

The Mighty Nein ventured across Eiselcross in pursuit of Lucien, first coming across the A5 and then A2 crash sites. They traveled alongside the Tombtakers for a time, and learned of a secret entrance to the main crash site crater. After splitting with the Tombtakers and regrouping with other allies, the Nein ventured into the main ruin itself. The secret entrance led the party to the Praesidis Ward, and they continued travelling to the Genesis Ward. In their trip through the ruins, the Mighty Nein found evidence that the Aeorians had discovered a Luxon beacon, and had made developments in the arcane field of dunamancy. The party then made use of the Immensus Gate to travel to the Astral Sea, where they found and defeated Cognouza.

Some months after the defeat of Cognouza, Caleb Widogast and Essek Thelyss returned to Aeor to further study the ruins and report their findings to the Cobalt Soul. During this trip they destroyed materials and research enabling time travel in the T-Dock chamber of the Genesis Ward.

A few years prior to 843 PD, the Cerberus Assembly at the direction of Ludinus Da'leth took complete control of the site, preventing travel there by others, so that Ludinus could exploit the technology found there in his plan to build the Malleus Key and unlock Predathos. However, during the apogee solstice of 843 PD many Xhorhasian soldiers were still on the island, particularly near the ruins, maintaining the Dynasty's interest in the lost knowledge and technology beneath the ice. When Bells Hells visited the site in the company of Essek Thelyss, he commented on how much had been removed and how much damage had been caused to the site since the Dwendalian Empire had taken over.

Campaign Three: Bells Hells

Bells Hells opened a magically-locked silver box they recovered from Imperium troops on Ruidus and found within it, wrapped in dark velvet, a heavy, well-made artifact with a hexagonal surface and ancient runes of disruptive abjuration magic. It sightly resembled the antimagic mechanisms they had encountered at the base of the Bloody Bridge. Laudna gathered from the runes it bore (that resembled those inside Fresh Cut Grass) that this was Aeorian technology.

Fan art of the Aeorian creature, by Clara.

Weeks after the solstice, Bells Hells and Essek Thelyss Teleported to Eiselcross and entered the ruins to gather information about the activities of Ludinus Da'leth and the Ruby Vanguard. While they were there, Essek noticed that some aspects of the ruins had changed and/or were out of place, such as crawling undead that had been magically slowed to a point where it seemed almost motionless.

The party explored the ruins of the city, basically retracing the steps of the Mighty Nein, and within the Genesis Ward found the imprisoned Grand Demon Dominox, who had for aeons been locked to power the Nox Engine of the city by the Pinion of Service, which re-formed him to it whenever he perished. After they defeated it they were guided by Ludinus Da'leth to the Occultus Thalamus, where they watched the last moments of the city with the archmage.

Society

Language

Residents of Aeor spoke an archaic version of Draconic; they did not speak Common. At least some could speak an archaic form of Elvish as well. This predecessor to modern Elvish was also the basis of the modern Orc language.

Government

Although each ward appeared to be independently governed by its own decision-making body, the Magestri (based in the heavily guarded Genesis Ward) was in overall control and in charge of collecting food and other raw materials from the surface below, at least toward the end of the city's life during the Calamity. Aeorian Enforcers formed the city watch, the policing arm of the city as part of the Torian Guard, with the occasional use of small captive imps. The Ministry of Intention also enforced the laws of Aeor and were "at the height of their paranoia" in the time directly preceding the fall of the city.

The Somnovem were the leaders of the Cognouza Ward. Halas Lutagran described the Somnovem as the strangest of the many philosophers of Aeor, feeling as if they didn't belong within their own people. They had an almost fanatical belief in the mortal imagination, and when they were challenged in their fanaticism, closed themselves and the Cognouza Ward off from the rest of Aeorian society.

Politics and religion

At some time during the Age of Arcanum, Aeor and Avalir (another flying city) had a cordial enough relationship that the Golden Scythe of Avalir sent a fruit tree to decorate the Genesis Ward, and it was still alive there even a century after Avalir's destruction. Conversely, at least one Aeormaton, Dweomer, worked in Avalir under the supervision of the Architect Arcane.

At some point before the Calamity, Aeorians used the Pinion of Service to capture Dominox, a grand demon, and use him as the power source of the Nox Engine, unable to leave, die, or retaliate, and using his energy to subdue others like him. In the final days of the city, it was common among the local mages, particularly those of high status or professional position, to display their control over extraplanar creatures to prove that Aeor could force anything to submit to their power.

During the Calamity, the Proctors of the Mage Knights of the Torian Guard were in charge of deciding which refugees would be permitted to join the city, fleeing from the destruction of the war between the gods. The fit and those able to work received first priority, although those who had been passed over multiple times also had an accumulating chance of selection. The sick and wounded were not permitted to board.

Those unwilling to dispose of holy symbols and denounce the gods were similarly barred from entry, at least by the time of its destruction; worship of the gods within the city was an executable offense. Aeor ended up secretly developing arcane technology that could destroy divine power on a mass scale, even growing powerful enough to create weapons capable of killing the gods. Devexian believed that their eventual development of a device called the "Factorum Malleus", or "Creator Hammer", was the cause of the gods' destruction of the city. In opposition to the Aeorian government which hated the divine, the secret and "radical" Society of Primes, despite considering themselves equal to the gods, were thankful to the Prime Deities for protecting mortals in the past and wanted them to turn this weapon to helping them defeat the Betrayer Gods. However, the archmagi in charge of the project were aware of the Society and their goals thanks to their spies, and had secretly countered their efforts, being prepared to kill all the religious engineers involved as soon as they finished their part of the job.

Demographics

Most of the populace in Aeor consisted of humans and elves, although during the Calamity it had become the home of refugees from other cities. The people in Aeor created living constructs called Aeormatons as companions. Those automatons would eventually fight for their freedom, becoming citizens of their own.

Even though Aeor was the last bastion of mortal civilization, the isolation of Aeorians made them act distant and detached from the rest of the mortals living in Exandria.

Notable people

• Athodan: Information was found in the records room in the Genesis Ward. Athodan made the inspired find of "The Relic", and worked in rejuvenation. Athodan's weaving of necromantic glyph work revealed unique arcane properties, and The Magistri were said to be pleased.
• Ayoshadaf: An archmage who worked with Athodan studying the "Primal Artifact", channeling the seemingly limitless source of temporal transmutation. They discovered one could temporarily shunt to a point in one's own history (leaving an anchoring echo behind) and that it might even be possible to go beyond one's own timeline.
• Doctor Bezel: A physician who worked at the Exceleter Hospital.
• Bolo: Allegedly an aspiring reporter who accompanied Loquatius Seelie to a Replenishment party in Avalir. Died trying to protect the Factorum Malleus.
• Brashaar: One of the great mages, human architect, and one of many who doomed the people by filling their minds with grandiose thoughts, drawing the ire of the gods. Currently in a stasis bubble on the dais of the political discourse amphitheater, surrounded by long-dead and mummified residents of the city.
• Cassida Previn: A archmage who worked on the Factorum Malleus. With the help of the Society of Primes she managed to manipulate it. Her son Hallis was a patient at the Exceleter Hospital after contracting Graygill's Wasting.
• Devexian: An Aeormaton who was restored to working order with the help of the Mighty Nein.
• Ferol Sal: A necromancer who was once in charge of the laboratory of Salsvault. He worked at creating arcane diseases, including an experimental one that he released when his laboratory crashed during the fall of Aeor, turning all the humanoids near him into undead. As a wight, by 836 PD Ferol has been working for centuries, isolated from the rest of the world, trying to create a disease able to infect and kill the deities he incorrectly assumes are still present in Exandria.
• Fresh Cut Grass:^[presumed] An Aeormaton. Took part in the Care and Culling event. Former member of Bells Hells.
• F.R.I.D.A.: An Aeormaton present at the destruction of Aeor. Traveling companion of Bells Hells.
• Captain Marcus: The captain of the Venatoria.
• Primarch Selena Erenves: An influential high researcher, potentially connected with the Ministry of Intention.

Notable locations

Before its destruction, from afar the city appeared like a gigantic multi-armed clock, with the slabs of stone on which the various wards were constructed rotating around a central core spire. The tall buildings were connected with sky bridges and lit with green light from the arcane trams moving at incredible speeds. The inhabitants included a large number of sentient Aeormatons along with many less sophisticated automatons, including massive steel warrior constructs. The mages and Enforcers of the city were frequently accompanied by small subservient demons and imps, sometimes contained within arcane glass emblems.

At least some parts of the city were connected by "brume elevator", presumably lifted by brumestone.

Fan art of the Cognouza ward in the Astral Sea, by Cers @Cersonality.

Cognouza Ward

→ Main article: Cognouza.

One section of the city of Aeor was called the Cognouza Ward, and the leaders of that ward were called the Somnovem. The Somnovem orchestrated Cognouza's escape from the destruction of Aeor, and centuries later they wished to return. They betrayed Aeor to ensure their survival.

Praesidis Ward

Fan art of the amphitheatre in the Praesidis Ward, by CT Chen.

The Mighty Nein entered the Praesidis Ward during their exploration of the ruins of the city. The location was identified as "Convocation Grounds, Central Deliberations", and held a large amphitheater with hundreds of mummified bodies surrounding a raised dais and podium. A central figure near the podium (whom Chetney Pock O'Pea identified with Grim Psychometry as a leader of the city) was caught in a stasis bubble at the moment the city was destroyed and the rest of the crowd annihilated. The neighborhood also held several other official-looking buildings among the homes. When Bells Hells reached the area years later, it remained largely unchanged.

Genesis Ward

Prior to its destruction, the ward was an extremely advanced portion of the magocracy of Aeor, with bustling streets and large gray brutalist-style buildings including a courthouse. A single tree, a gift from the Golden Scythe many years earlier before Avalir's fall, was planted within a large open plaza near the central Onyx Pinnacle, a central spire of glass-like volcanic stone which held the Obtenebrator hiding the city from divine sight. The Ward was the meeting place of the Magestri, and the location of the Factorum Malleus as well as the Latimus Princeps which repelled divine beings.

Fan art of the descent in the Genesis Ward, by CT Chen.

In 836 PD, similar to the Praesidis Ward, the Genesis Ward when the Mighty Nein found it in the buried ruins of the city was an open neighborhood consisting of thousands of feet of rolling, broken streets and structures. However, it appeared more industrial with larger buildings that were plainer and more defensible, and less of the decoration found in the Praesidis Ward. It was designed more for function than beauty. There was at least one courthouse in the Ward, and in its prime it was adorned with statues of mortal mages holding scales. The eighth floor down from the surface was largely devoted to arcane experimentation.

Fan art of the crater, by Cers @Cersonality.

When the Mighty Nein visited the ward, its entire center was heaved up from beneath as though from a giant explosion, killing thousands instantaneously. The center of the crater was a mile-wide deep hole with hundreds of small waterfalls tumbling down the dozens of broken subterranean floors and levels now carved open and exposed. Bits of light glowed inside, as if a series of underground bases were suddenly sheared and abandoned. On the southern edge was a smooth groove a hundred feet across, as if bored with a giant auger directly into where the explosion initiated. Dozens of green-glowing, slightly moving pieces of rock drifted slowly along the ceiling of the now-buried ruin.

Obtenebrator Engine

The Obtenebrator was an arcane defense device created by the Aeorians to prevent divine sight of any kind within the city. This effectively hid the city and their development of the Factorum Malleus from the gods. It was powered by an engine within the Genesis Ward. The failsafe known as the Eravox Protocol, which would disseminate the knowledge of how to recreate the Factorum Malleus across Exandria, was located below the Obtenebrator Engine and its arcane scribing mechanism was incorporated directly into the engine's system. The Aeorians intended for the Protocol to be triggered automatically if the engine was attacked.

The Latimus Princeps and the Factorum Malleus

→ Main article: Factorum Malleus.

The Latimus Princeps was a defense device created by the Aeorians to prevent the gods from entering the city. It took the form of a plane which intersected approaching ships, collapsing space and time, completely barring the gods from entry and causing extreme nausea to nearly-divine beings, who could only enter when shielded by their own technology. It was built before the Factorum Malleus and incorporated into its design. These older wards were designed to hold back different parts of the gods' powers from Aeor such as the gods' divine prowess and potency.

Occultus Thalamus

In an ornate, massive domed chamber within the Genesis Ward is the Occultus Thalamus, where Ludinus Da'leth had been working since 838 PD. Essek Thelyss correctly believed it was located on the 8th or 9th level down from the surface of the ruins, and Bells Hells were led to it through a brass hallway by Ludinus himself, following the battle against the demon Dominox in the Engine Room of the city.

Within a great chamber of gold and glass structures, the Occultus Thalamus itself is a domed, riveted metallic construction in the center, flanked by statues of two robed mages holding lanterns, although one of them has crumbled. It was created as a way to record and play back the spiritual memories of all within the city.

Dawn Crucible

This research facility, also known as the Crucible of Dreams, was the place where Aeorian citizens volunteered to have their dreams studied and recorded. Elatis used to work there when she was still alive, and in 836 PD, there was a threshold crest in its ruins.

B-1

The Level B-1 held a large hall, "Component Keeping and Dry Storage" and "Records 104".

B-2

The Level B-2 held the "Elemental Energy Funneling" room.

B-3

The ruins of level B-3 of the Genesis Ward held the "Repair Terminal" and "Maintenance" Chamber.

Repair Terminal

Fan art of the repair terminal, by Clara.

The Repair Terminal is a cylindrical chamber with a bunch of rebar-like metal structures on the back wall. In the center sits a brass ten-foot dome that has been slightly pushed up and dislodged. There are doors that opens on the sides. On the inside is a cushioned interior with a number of small, metallic objects and slight arcane flashing bits of energy. This chamber is used to repair Aeormatons.

B-9

The ruins of level B-9 of the Genesis Ward held the "T-Dock Project", the "Rejuvenation Chamber" and "Immensus Gate". Prior to the fall of Aeor, this level also contained the banks of backup scroll batteries containing the knowledge of the Factorum Malleus; during their attack, the gods destroyed these copies.

T-Dock Project
The "T-Dock Project" entrance is seals with a teal-colored crystal that can be opened with a bracelet. The walls are lined with lead and there is a platform bearing an experimental arcane construction and a deeply intricate runic circle which a combination of transmutation and dunamancy heavily based in temporal alteration. There were notes referring to the "Primal Artifact" with drawings of the Luxon beacon, indicating that the Aeorians learned from the beacon how to travel backwards in one's own timeline, leaving an anchoring echo behind. The Temporal Dock allowed them to spend only a few seconds in transit, but created worrying physical stress. Individuals who spent longer than predetermined in the past had their echoes fade and the person never returned.

On their return trip to Aeor, Caleb and Essek revisited the T-Dock chamber. While they were both tempted by the opportunity to change their pasts, they ultimately decided against it. Caleb destroyed the interior of the chamber, to Essek's approval.

Rejuvenation Chamber

Fan art of the rejuvenation chamber, by Clara.

The Rejuvenation Chamber is a large room with two empty platforms at the center-back encased in cylindrical glass labeled "Terminal RE 01" and "Terminal RE 02". One is heavily cracked. There is a purple crystal at the base of each. An amethyst bracelet opens the terminals. When standing in terminal, neon purple light fills the cylinder revealing the skeletal outline of the persons body within. The Rejuvenation Terminal created the effect of a long rest, apparently by manipulating time slightly.

Immensus Gate

Fan art of the Immensus Gate in the Genesis Ward, by Clara.

The Immensus Gate is one of the larger waypoints between the planes within the city. It is a large device capable of creating a portal into other Planes of Existence, including the Elemental Plane of Water and the Astral Plane.

Ars Ward

The ward was a center for skilled crafts, artistry, and innovation within the city; it was on the Vermillion Line of the arcane tram system. Before the city fell, S.I.L.A.H.A. was the proprietor of a hidden speakeasy, the Ars Elysia, where he and others could indulge in beauty and pleasure; it was accessible from the back of an arcane glass blowing factory located within the Ars Ward.

This ward was buried with the rest of the ruined city, and was accessible from the Praesidis Ward.

Opus Ward

The Arynx Station of the Opus Ward was the final stop on the Vermillion Line of the arcane tram system of the city at its height. The ward was ancient, perhaps even pre-dating the city's departure from the surface of Exandria, and by the time of Aeor's fall was deep enough inside the city that even in bright daylight it was mostly shadowed by other wards. The workers of the ward are unwelcome elsewhere within the city, and the military/policing presence, while heavy, was also somewhat at a remove. It held an ancient defaced temple known as the Chamber of Seasons, which was restored the day Aeor fell.

Exceleter Hospital

This health center had a simple and run-down appearance on the outside, and although the interior was lit by ordinary candles, thanks to the secret financing of Archmage Previn, they had neat and efficient equipment and facilities with which to support those most needy patients who otherwise would not have access to decent healthcare in the flying city.

Crash sites

Fan art of the Mighty Nein arriving at the Aeor crash site, by @tshortik.

When the city was brought down during the Calamity, the bulk of it crashed onto the island of Foren in Eiselcross. Large and small sections of it broke off during its descent and are scattered in various locations across the island. Some of the crash sites have been mapped, identified, and to greater or lesser extents, explored.

A2

Fan art of Aeorian hunters in a ruined lab, by CT Chen.

The A2 crash site was at the bottom of a deep pit. The buried ruins in one direction held a street with a stasis bubble in which were frozen three of the ancient inhabitants of the city. The other tunnel led to a biological research facility containing several Aeorian hunters in stasis and at least one creature which had broken loose. Beyond that was a massive arboretum of warped and corrupted trees leading to a room containing a threshold crest.

A5

At the A5 crash site was a room in which was embedded a particularly large (one-and-a-half to two feet wide) threshold crest, which are used for teleporting entire cities between planes.

Flora and fauna

Fan art of the frost salamander, by ArtByMikuTee.

• Brown mold
• Aeorian hunters
  • Aeorian absorber
  • Aeorian nullifier
  • Aeorian reverser
• Frost salamander
• Canoloth
• Otyugh
• Skitterhaunt
• Tomb tapper

Creative background

Matthew Mercer observed that of all the floating cities of the Age of Arcanum, Aeor was the most similar to the Cold War Soviet Union, saying he pictured it as "art deco meets brutalist".

Brennan Lee Mulligan, the Dungeon Master of Downfall, described late period Aeor as both the "last bastion" and "apex might" of the Age of Arcanum, however, he viewed it as more of a product of the Calamity since it survived centuries into the god-war and incorporated various refugees from across Exandria. He highlighted that the refugee population "haven't necessarily impacted its civic architecture. Because those people don't survive to the modern age, that element is lost, so you end up seeing these things that are large and civic, and other realities can be missed if they're just not recorded". He commented:

I envisioned Aeor over a century into the Calamity as having a mixture, not necessarily in its leadership structure, but as having a lot of the survivors of Exandria living in the city. [...]. It's a product of the Calamity, and so therefore you see a lot of people and even some of its Arch Magi as being from across Exandria. Survivors, people that have fled there, people that found their way there. Of course Aeor looking for its project, I think would've tried to absorb any resources of mortal might in Exandria in its attempt to exert power and dominance and end the Calamity under its own plan for ending the calamity. Which was, "Hey, I think we've isolated the problem and it's the gods, right?"

Trivia

• There is a slight contradiction about when Aeor fell in the timeline. Brennan Lee Mulligan seemed to imply that it happened not much more than a century into the Calamity, while Matthew Mercer stated that the conflict lasted for about 200 years, and Aeor fell around 50 years before the Divergence. Brennan had previously narrated that the Calamity lasted for "centuries" and he recalled that Aeor fell "some fraction of a century" before the Divergence.
• The languages spoken in Aeor were archaic versions of Draconic (called Aeorian) and Elvish.
  • Being an ancient civilization, it seems that part of the inspiration for the Aeorian language is Latin: the names of the wards identified to date appear to have Latin roots:
    • Cognouza: cognoscere (to learn, to know, or knowledge)
    • Praesidis: praesidi (guard, help, protection)
    • Ars: ars (science, skill/craft/art)
    • Genesis: genesis (generation, birth, creation)
    • Opus: opus (work)
  • If Bolo's speech can be used as a reference of a regular Aeorian humanoid, the accent of the inhabitants of the floating city was similar to Slavic. Brennan Lee Mulligan, who gave Bolo a Slavic accent in Exandria Unlimited: Calamity, commented that the late period Aeor seen in Downfall is more metropolitan than the Aeor of Bolo's time and will have more diverse accents due to the refugee population.
• One of their many inventions was the Eravox Protocol, which was put in place to allow them to send information across Exandria to ensure its survival even if Aeor fell.
• Artificers were part of the hierarchy of spellcasters in Aeor, being considered lesser citizens compared to wizards.
• Given that their access to healing magic was limited (because of its close association with divinity), Aeor's health system was mostly based around the prevention of injuries and diseases, because when they did happen it was difficult for them to heal them.
• Elements of the structural architecture of Gelidon's lair in Mythburrow have similar elements to Aeor.
• The wild magic that afflicts all of Eiselcross is strongest within the ruins of Aeor itself.
• Translated documents mention one of the Somnovem, Fastidan, putting a number of "slaves" to work on threshold crests, but the translation of "slaves" is a later scholar's best approximation which he admittedly does not trust himself.
• In the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020), Mercer added "a hidden monolith near the Aeor crash site" which is an "Easter egg for 5E D&D in general".
• The Downfall special is part of the third campaign of Critical Role and ran from "Downfall: Part One" (3x99) to "Downfall: Part Three" (3x101) in July 2024.
• Chetney Pock O'Pea has carved "C-POP" in several places within the ruins of Aeor.

References

Art: