Exandria

Exandria
Screenshot of Exandria, by Cyarna Trim from "Exandria: An Intimate History" (Sx61) at 5:09.
General Information
Also known as	The Blue Promise (by Ruidians) The Blue Dream (by Ruidians)
Type	Planet
Satellites	Catha Ruidus
Satellite of	The sun
Day length	24 hours
Year length	328 days
Demonym	Exandrian
Primary inhabitants	Humanoids

Exandria is the name of the world on which most events of Critical Role take place. Exandria exists in a Material Plane, although it features connections to other planes of existence, such as the portals to the elemental planes guarded by the Ashari.

History

Main article: History of Exandria

Since the gods first came to Exandria, there have been three distinct ages: the Founding, the Age of Arcanum, and the Era of Reclamation. The events of Exandria Unlimited: Calamity and those recounted in Downfall take place late in the second age, the events of Exandria Unlimited: Divergence take place at the transition to the third age, and the events of Critical Role through the end of Campaign Three take place in the final decades of the third age. For a timeline of Exandrian history as it is now known, with dates, see the article Timeline.

Calendar

Main article: Calendar of Exandria

An Exandrian year lasts 328 days over the course of 11 months. Each day is 24 hours in length and the 7 days of the week are named Miresen, Grissen, Whelsen, Conthsen, Folsen, Yulisen, and Da'leysen.

Geographic characteristics

Exandria in Crit Recap Animated.

Continents

Tal'Dorei

Previously known as Gwessar, Tal'Dorei is a northern continent which includes the Republic of Tal'Dorei (including the former city-state of Whitestone), as well as the dwarven stronghold of Kraghammer, the elven realm of Syngorn, and, far to the south, the hobgoblin empire of the Iron Authority.

Issylra

A continent northwest of Tal'Dorei that is dominated by the country of Othanzia, which includes Vasselheim and Pyrah. Elsewhere on the continent is the Demithore Valley.

Marquet

A continent to the south of Issylra and southwest of Tal'Dorei. Before the Calamity, it was lushly forested. Centuries after the Divergence, it is covered mostly with desert landscapes and mountainous terrain, sheltering rare bastions of civilization. One-third of Marquet is covered with deserts.

Wildemount

Located to the east of Tal'Dorei, this continent contains the trade-oriented Clovis Concord to the west along the Menagerie Coast, the austere Dwendalian Empire within Western Wynandir, and the secretive Kryn Dynasty in Eastern Wynandir.

Domunas / The Shattered Teeth

During the Age of Arcanum, the continent of Domunas held the town of Toramunda which later split into the flying city of Avalir and its terrestrial sister city Cathmoíra. The landmass was destroyed on the eve of the Calamity, leaving behind the Shattered Teeth. Centuries after the Calamity, the Shattered Teeth is an archipelago of 43 islands southeast of Tal'Dorei, beyond a fog bank called the "Fool's Curtain".

Oceans

• Beryl Sea: The ocean to the south of Marquet.
• Frigid Depths: The cold ocean to the north of Issylra, Tal'Dorei, and Wildemount.
• Lucidian Ocean: A vast ocean to the south-east of Tal'Dorei and south of Wildemount, containing the Shattered Teeth.
• Ozmit Sea: The sea separating Tal'Dorei from Issylra and Marquet to its west.

The shortest trip from Issylra to Wildemount by ship would be westward. It would take weeks, and the waters wouldn't offer smooth sailing.

There are nations and cultures under the sea that are largely separated from the surface world and which were generally unexplored by the players as of September/October 2023.

Underdark

The Underdark is a vast subterranean region that exists below the continents of Exandria. A dark and hostile place, the Underdark is almost a world unto itself, with civilizations, monsters, politics, economies, and threats that may interact only sporadically or indirectly with the surface world. Notably, the Underdark has significant connections to the Far Realm, from which many aberrations emerge.

Time differences and horizons

Time differences between locations, often shown when teleporting, give clues to Exandria's size.

• When it is 10:00 or 10:30 in the morning in Whitestone, it is 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning in Vasselheim.
• Wildemount's Draconia is far enough east of Tal'Dorei's Whitestone that, in Horisal (winter in the northern hemisphere), when teleporting from Whitestone two hours into daylight, one arrives around sunset in Draconia. The two places are, relative to each other, "on the entire opposite side of the planet."
• In Quen'pillar (autumn in the northern hemisphere), when it is dusk at Issylra's Lake Umamu, it is morning in Wildemount's Nicodranas.

During the apogee solstice of 843 PD, when the red moon Ruidus was fixed in the sky above central Marquet, the moon could not have been seen from central Wildemount. However, it could be viewed from the Demithore Valley in central Issylra, and could barely be seen from Zephrah in eastern Tal'Dorei.

Equator and tropics

Three days into a four-day journey from Emon southwest to Vesrah, the characters were said to still be heading toward the equator. Marisha Ray or Laudna made an offhand comment that the city of Jrusar is "right on the equator", which if taken literally would mean most of Marquet is just to the south of the equator.

The following places are described as tropical:
Southern Wildemount and the Lucidian Ocean

• Whitedawn Lagoon, south by southwest of Xhorhas
• The Menagerie Coast
  • The Vezdaweald
  • The Plumgroves
  • Feolinn
  • Quoraska Jungle
  • Nicodranas
• The Swavain Islands
  • Bisaft Isle
  • Vide Cay
  • Rumblecusp
  • Urukayxl

Marquet, the Hespet Archipelago, and the Islands of Anamn

• An unidentified place near the west coast of Marquet
• The Bay of Gifts
• Glintshore
• Vesrah

Southern Tal'Dorei

• The Rifenmist Jungle

Seasons

Exandria experiences seasons, though they are not uniform in length:

• Winter is the longest season, lasting 102 days. After the ascension of the Matron of Ravens, winter has been associated with that goddess of death, fate, and the passage of time. Winter was previously the domain of another god, Ethedok, until that god was consumed during the Founding. In between those times, it was the domain of the Raven Queen's predecessor.
• Spring lasts 74 days. It is associated with the Arch Heart, god of beauty and arcane magic.
• Summer is the shortest season, lasting only 68 days. It is associated with the Dawnfather, god of the sun and agriculture.
• Autumn or fall lasts 84 days. It is associated with the Moonweaver, goddess of love and misdirection.

Satellites

Official art of Catha and Ruidus, by Clara from Exandria: An Intimate Appendix - Ruidus and the Gods.

Official art of Catha and Ruidus over Xhorhas, from Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep, by Kent Davis.

Exandria has two moons, named Catha and Ruidus. Though often depicted close to each other, Catha and Ruidus have different orbits and can appear in different points in the sky.

On extremely rare occasions, both moons can be involved in a "double eclipse" of Exandria's sun, potentially causing a collision of multiple planes in the area under their shadow and allowing large numbers of creatures to cross even from the Outer Planes to Exandria.

Catha

Main article: Catha

Catha is similar in appearance to Earth's Moon, though it is closer to Exandria and appears larger in the sky. It has a 30 to 40 day cycle during which it waxes and wanes.

Ruidus

Main article: Ruidus

Ruidus appears smaller in Exandria's sky due to its further distance from the planet, and its reddish-purple, maroon-brown color contributes to a dimmer glow. Lycanthropy is relatively unaffected by this moon in comparison to the closer moon. It has a very slow orbit, taking around six months (up to 182 days) for a revolution, and is visible for about half of the year. Myths and rumors about Ruidus abound. Some believe it to be either pre-creation from when the elements themselves were consuming all of Exandria. Others believe it may have not originally existed, but was a creation of the Betrayer Gods, and was some sort of long-running mysterious plot that was cut short during the end of the Calamity. There is a standard belief in various cultures across Exandria of it being an entity of ill-omen.

From the surface of Ruidus, when Exandria is nearly directly above, the planet takes up about one-fifth or one-sixth of the sky.

Sun, stars, and constellations

Exandria rotates around a star at the proper distance to allow life on the planet's surface; this star is the Exandrian Sun, often associated with the Dawnfather and, to a lesser extent, with the Everlight.

Fan art of the constellation of the Dragon, by Micaerys.

Moreover, in the night sky there are numerous visible stars, much more distant, which due to their arrangement in the firmament form constellations with associated stories in different cultures of the world. The known Exandrian constellations are:

• The Dragon: The first constellation the gods saw when they arrived on Exandria, presumably visible in the sky of Issylra.
• The Imprisoned: Constellation visible in the sky of Tal'Dorei, and associated with mysterious spirits cursed by the Moonweaver, according to legend. Both star spirits and the constellation itself can grant magical powers to mortals.
• Surrac's Shield: Constellation visible in the sky of Tal'Dorei, a four-starred diamond with a fifth star in its center. It was used by the leaders of the Qoniira Tetrarchy to calculate where to establish their cities, arranging the main settlement and the four satellite cities that surrounded it in the same way as the five stars of the constellation.

Languages

Many different languages are spoken across Exandria. Common is the most widely spoken among humanoids, though most races also have their own language, and there are some regional languages.

Map gallery

Official maps

Official map of Eastern Exandria by Andy Law.

• Tal'Dorei
• Wildemount
• In-game map of Exandria
• In-game map of Exandria (high contrast)

Official map of Tal'Dorei, by Andy Law from Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn.

Official map of Wildemount, by Deven Rue from Explorer's Guide to Wildemount.

Official map of Exandria from "The Fate-Touched" (1x103) at 3:18:47.

Official map of Exandria from "The Fate-Touched" (1x103) at 3:18:47.

Fan-made maps

• Marquet (speculative)
• Issylra (speculative)

Fan-made speculative map of Marquet, by Niko Vanhala.

Fan-made speculative map of Issylra, by Niko Vanhala.

Known and unknown Exandria

The information reflected in books and maps as of September 2023 shows the "known Exandria", leaving open the possibility that there are landmasses and/or island formations to be discovered. Furthermore, there are territories and nations under the sea and in the Underdark that have yet to be described. That said, given that the fastest sea route from Issylra to Wildemount would be westward, and no other continents that are part of "known Exandria", there are presumably no major landmasses that would interrupt that ocean passage.

Presence in 5th Edition

Outside Critical Role and its own sourcebooks, the world of Exandria has been mentioned in various books and adventure modules within Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition:

• The first mention was made in Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, as the world where Arkhan the Cruel got the Hand of Vecna, a reference to Joe Manganiello's role at the end of Campaign One.
• In Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, the Flotket Alps of Wildemount are suggested as a possible alternative location to run the adventure, instead of using the world of Toril.
• In Candlekeep Mysteries, different worlds and cities are offered to place the large library where the main plot of the book is focused. One of those worlds is Exandria, offering as examples of good locations the Soltryce Academy of Rexxentrum and the Cobalt Reserve in Westruun.
• In The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, two NPCs are mentioned as people who arrived to the domain of Prismeer in the Feywild, coming from "the world of Tal'dorei": Klee Westerly, a nonbinary human; and Hogus Pinsworth, a male stout halfling.
• In the updated Dungeon Master's Guide (2024), Exandria is mentioned among the official worlds in 5th Edition, and presented as an example of published setting for a campaign.

External links

• Fan-made interactive globe of Exandria on Map To Globe. Map created by West Haberlein.
• Fan-made interactive map of Tal'Dorei and Wildemount by Red Giant Maps.

Trivia

• Matt confirmed that Exandria was the world he had worked on and developed the most, and that he didn't expect it to grow this much. He has also stated that he would like to make his worldbuilding more collaborative.
• The metal rod attuned to Exandria that Allura Vysoren used to cast Plane Shift looked like an iron rod with a spiral of deep cerulean coloration.
• Some of the inhabitants of Ruidus used to believe that Exandria (a place they were only able to see through dreams) was some sort of afterlife for them, but this belief was destroyed when the people of their dreams started physically visiting the moon.
• Deerstalker Pictures, the popular fantasy comedy webseries, made a reference to Exandria in a video: in it, a wealthy man ranting about his disdain for tabaxis mentions that they are "eating the dogs in Westruun" (itself a reference to a delusional statement made by Donald Trump in 2024).

References

Art: