Issylra[3] (pronounced "ih-seel-rah")[4] is one of the continents on the world of Exandria.[5] It is a very large, wide continent, almost the Exandrian equivalent of Asia, much of it wild, untamed wilderness.[6]
Geography[]
Issylra is north of Marquet,[7] northwest of Tal'Dorei,[8] and even farther northwest of Wildemount.[9] Given the description of Issylra's size, very little of Issylra has been explored onstream or even described.
Fan art of Vasselheim, by Brandon Chang.[art 2]
Most of Issylra's developed territory is within the country of Othanzia, which is home to the ancient city of Vasselheim, widely considered the cradle of civilization and the center of several faiths.[9] The city is located on a mountain spire 20 to 30 miles from the coast.[10] Surrounding it is the dark and sprawling Vesper Timberland, through which mountaintops occasionally jut; the Timberland stretches far to the north of Vasselheim before fading into tundra.[11] This is the Thorain Tundra from which a white dragon, Rimefang, hailed.[12]
Two days' ride northwest of Vasselheim, through the Timberland, are ruins and a lake that were frozen over by proximity to Rimefang's lair in 810 PD,[13] and farther along the road is the bitterly cold town of Muldire.[14] Beyond that are the Tordusk Pass and the Zenwick Mountains, with woods at their base.[15] In the Zenwick Mountains is the Silted Vale, a valley with natural healing properties that attracted a particularly violent ecosystem.[16] The Zenwick Mountains also used to be the location of the Crypts of Thomara, until Vecna animated the Primordial Earth Titan in which the dwarven vault city had been constructed,[17] leaving a large gash as it unearthed itself to march toward Vasselheim.
Several hours' travel to the southwest of Vasselheim is the Marrowglade Loch, a small lake surrounded by swamp. There are ruins of structures that were dedicated to the Raven Queen before the area sank underwater.[18]
Official art of the mountains of Issylra, by Kent Davis.[art 3]
Farther southwest, two days' ride from Vasselheim, are the steep Sunderpeak Mountains.[19] Immediately at the top of a path scaling the mountains is a valley caldera containing a rift to the Elemental Plane of Fire, responsible for the creation of the Cindergrove. The rift is overseen by the Ashari village of Pyrah, which was devastated in the wake of Thordak's escape from the Plane of Fire. Near the Sunderpeak Mountains, also to the southwest, is the Ascendant Bridge Mountain, the tallest in all Exandria.[20]
Even farther southwest of Vasselheim, 200 or 250 miles away along the coast, is the small fishing city of Shorecomb.[21] About five miles offshore is the volcanic island of Scaldseat, beneath which is the fabled Core Anvil.[22]
There are lesser republics in Issylra, but the dangerous Utesspire Mountains prevent Othanzia from expanding at their expense.[9]
The Demithore Valley, an area of dense forests, grasslands, hills, and low mountains dotted with occasional villages and townships, lies in the central region of Issylra, south-southwest of the Sunderpeaks.[23] It holds the geothermally-active Spectrum Gorge.[24] The road leading from the valley northward toward Othanzia is called the Outerwalk. It passes through the villages of Hearthdell and Endovaar.[25]
Far to the west of the Demithore Valley, near the base of the Utesspire Mountains, is the village of Hishari,[26] "born as a commune around a charismatic leader that delved into esoteric elemental worship, and was eventually found decimated a couple of decades ago." This destruction occurred around 823 PD, and the village has since been used as a cautionary tale on the power of cults.[27]
Somewhere on the continent, apparently more distant from central Marquet than the Demithore Valley is,[28] is the Caramarin Reach,[29] a snowy, mountainous region featuring Lake Umamu, around which is a high-altitude pine forest[30] and the abandoned village of Ria'Doin.[31]
Climate[]
Official art of northeastern Issylra (with Vasselheim to the south), the northern Ozmit Sea, and the northern Bladeshimmer Shoreline of Tal'Dorei, by Andy Law.[art 4]
Issylra is farther north than Tal'Dorei, and has a much colder climate. It is usually coated in snow or at least has cold, cloudy weather.[32] The Vesper Timberland is a taiga or boreal forest,[9] indicating it is just subarctic.
Society[]
Compared to other continents, which ebb and flow with regard to religion, Issylra is a continent of extremes: Othanzia is very god-centric, and other societies are much more connected to nature spirits.[33]
With its frigid climate and isolated settlements, food is precious, so the cultures of Issylra are particularly concerned with hunting, avoiding waste, and marking the passage of seasons. Periodically, elaborate feasts are held to honor the Prime Deities.[34]
One of the Cobalt Soul's main archives on Exandria is the Cobalt Vault in Vasselheim; its High Curator shares leadership of the organization with the High Curator of the archive in Rexxentrum.[35][36]
Demographics[]
People from Issylra are notably pale compared to most people, standing out among the cosmopolitan crowd on Bisaft Isle.[37]
History[]
Issylra is considered to be the place where civilization on Exandria first arose. It therefore remains a religious and historical center, particularly its largest city, Vasselheim. Issylra is also where most of the flying cities of the Age of Arcanum originated. Because the events of the Calamity affected the area so greatly, it remains suspicious of arcane magic to the present day.[38]
Humans, rock gnomes, and tieflings originate on Issylra. Rock gnomes and tieflings migrated across the Ozmit Sea to Tal'Dorei during the Age of Arcanum[39] and humans sailed across centuries after the Divergence.[40]
Campaign One: Vox Machina[]
Vox Machina traveled to Issylra several times, eventually with world-shaking results. On their first visit, they secured one of the Horns of Orcus in a vault in the Platinum Sanctuary, were inducted into the Slayer's Take, and traveled to Pyrah as part of Keyleth's Aramenté. Pike Trickfoot began restoring the rediscovered Temple of Renewal, and would soon become one of the Dawn Marshalls of Vasselheim as a result.[41]
After the Chroma Conclave's attack, Vox Machina returned to the Slayer's Take and thus began their quest for several Vestiges of Divergence. They began with a delve into Purvan Suul's sunken tomb, leading directly to Vax'ildan's arc as champion of the Raven Queen. The party returned to Pyrah, which had been ruined by Thordak.[42] Grog Strongjaw later awakened his Vestige, the Titanstone Knuckles, in a spar with Earthbreaker Groon in Vasselheim.[43]
Upon attaining godhood, Vecna attempted a "miracle of terror" to cement his power on Exandria. He teleported his city to the Zenwick Mountains, placed the city on the fallen Earth Titan there, and marched the animated titan toward Vasselheim. In a race against time, Vox Machina traveled to the Core Anvil off the coast of Shorecomb to craft the implements needed to take on Vecna, and then, with support from their allies, banished Vecna and stopped the assault on the city.[44]
Campaign Three: Bells Hells[]
During the apogee solstice of 843 PD, Bells Hells tried to stop Ludinus Da'leth's plans to release Predathos. When his Malleus Key activated, a strange wave of magic teleported several people to different points across the planet. Part of this adventuring party (Orym, Laudna, and Ashton Greymoore) was sent from Marquet to Issylra, meeting Deni$e Bembachula, Bor'Dor Dog'Son, and Prism Grimpoppy, who had also been transported there from other continents. They spent the night together, and at sunrise Orym, who had seen the shape of a tall mountain in the darkness hours before, was able to identify it as the Ascendant Bridge Mountain, thus revealing where in Exandria they were.[45]
They later traveled on the Outerwalk Road to Hearthdell in the Demithore Valley. After spending time in Hearthdell, gathering information, and dealing with some local problems,[46][47] Team Issylra set off on a three days' journey through the Serratus Wilderness to the Irriam Canyon. Along the way, they encountered some Demithore eidolons.[48]
While exploring caverns beneath the surface of Ruidus during their recon mission, Bells Hells found a hidden portal behind a waterfall that led to the bottom of a lake on Exandria, with a long-abandoned town named Ria'Doin on the lake's edge.[49] Later, Orym and Imogen Temult Sent a message to Keyleth to tell her about the portal and she was able to identify the location as Lake Umamu in the Caramarin Reach.[50]
Trivia[]
- The religious sites and relics of Issylra are inspired by ancient Mesopotamian and Sumerian temples, and the settlements around them are patterned after 12th-century Norway.[8]
- While The Re-Slayer's Take have expanded the number of known places in Issylra, George Primavera and Nick Williams confirmed that they weren't necessarily using an official map of the continent as reference; instead, they checked with Matthew Mercer and/or Dani Carr to find suitable locations for the places they had prepared.[51]
References[]
- ↑ See "Axiom Shaken" (3x43) at 1:11:24.
- ↑ See "Doorways to Darker Depths" (3x86) at 0:37:49.
- ↑ Matthew Mercer spelled "Issylra" on Twitter.
- ↑ See "The Fate-Touched" (1x103) at 3:18:05.
- ↑ Matthew Mercer confirmed that Exandria is the world, Issylra is a continent, and Othanzia is a region in Issylra.
- ↑ See "Return to Vasselheim" (1x43) at 1:11:37.
- ↑ See "The Chase to Glintshore" (1x67) at 1:14:46.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 98.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 159.
- ↑ See "Enter Vasselheim" (1x16) at 28:54.
- ↑ See "Enter Vasselheim" (1x16) at 28:16.
- ↑ See "Trial of the Take: Part 2" (1x19) at 52:19. See also 1:57:18 for the name of the tundra.
- ↑ See "Trial of the Take: Part 1" (1x18) at 2:34:21.
- ↑ See "Trial of the Take: Part 1" (1x18) at 52:51.
- ↑ See "The Ominous March" (1x109) from 1:37:13 through 1:39:03.
- ↑ See "The Ominous March" (1x109) at 1:41:16.
- ↑ See "The Ominous March" (1x109) at 1:40:39.
- ↑ See "The Sunken Tomb" (1x44) at 46:28.
- ↑ See "Aramente to Pyrah" (1x22) at 1:45:22.
- ↑ See "Somewhere Out There" (3x59) at 4:02:56.
- ↑ See "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) at 1:36:38.
- ↑ See "Scaldseat" (1x107) at 46:11.
- ↑ See "Somewhere Out There" (3x59) at 4:03:21.
- ↑ See "Somewhere Out There" (3x59) at 0:17:03.
- ↑ See "Faith or Famine" (3x60) at 0:25:20.
- ↑ See "A Haunted Past" (3x63) from 1:53:29 through 1:55:50.
- ↑ See "Fight at the Museum..." (3x21) at 2:09:18.
- ↑ When Bells Hells arrived at Lake Umamu, they could not see Ruidus in the sky, though it was locked in a place that could be seen from the Demithore Valley. See "Doorways to Darker Depths" (3x86) at 0:35:07.
- ↑ See "Doorways to Darker Depths" (3x86) at 1:27:53.
- ↑ See "Doorways to Darker Depths" (3x86) at 0:37:15. The region's mountains are snow-capped in Quen'pillar, close to two months before winter in the northern hemisphere.
- ↑ See "Doorways to Darker Depths" (3x86) at 0:50:45.
- ↑ See "Critical Role Panel w/ Matthew Mercer and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn from MomoCon" at 33:32.
- ↑ See "4-Sided Dive: Why, Matthew?! Why?" (4SDx15) at 0:58:11.
- ↑ Exquisite Exandria: The Official Cookbook of Critical Role, p. 77.
- ↑ See "The Threads Converge" (2x85) at 3:57:50.
- ↑ However, the Cobalt Soul is based in Rexxentrum, while Issylra has at least one of the "satellite archives" to collect information and artifacts. See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 52.
- ↑ See "A Storm of Memories" (2x46) at 35:25.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 145.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 26. See also p. 28.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 8.
- ↑ They arrived in "Enter Vasselheim" (1x16) and stayed through "The Rematch" (1x23).
- ↑ This arc takes place between the end of "Dangerous Dealings" (1x42) and the first half of "The Family Business" (1x47).
- ↑ See the end of "Loose Ends" (1x84) and "A Bard's Lament" (1x85).
- ↑ This takes place between the second half of "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) and the beginning of "The Chapter Closes" (1x115).
- ↑ See "Somewhere Out There" (3x59) at 4:02:30.
- ↑ See "Faith or Famine" (3x60).
- ↑ See "Crisis of Faith" (3x61).
- ↑ See "A Long Walk of Reflection" (3x62).
- ↑ See "Doorways to Darker Depths" (3x86) at 0:44:26.
- ↑ See "Doorways to Darker Depths" (3x86) at 1:27:51.
- ↑
Fireside Chat LIVE with George Primavera & Nick Williams at 17:04 (subscription required).
Art:
- ↑ Fan art of a speculative map of Issylra, by Niko Vanhala (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of Vasselheim, by Brandon Chang (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Official art of the mountains of Issylra, by Kent Davis (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Official art of northeastern Issylra (with Vasselheim to the south), the northern Ozmit Sea, and the northern Bladeshimmer Shoreline of Tal'Dorei, by Andy Law (source). This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.