Stilben,[5] also known as the Rotted Lot,[6] is a large port town located in the K'Tawl Swamp of the Republic of Tal'Dorei. Vox Machina originally met and formed their group in Stilben.[7][8]
The town was originally called Bend,[9] but when it was still an emerging settlement and an expositor came by to ask about its name, Garen Hearthheart told them that it was—dropping the "d" sound—"still Ben", as it has always been; thus, the expositor wrote it down as "Stilben", and that's how it would be known.[10]
Description[]
Stilben is a shady city built around the Bay of K'Tawl on the shore of the Lucidian Ocean. The city is surrounded by a sprawling marshland and the air is usually sticky, humid, uncomfortably warm, and full of the ever-present sound of buzzing insects.[11]
Economy[]
Stilben is the largest port on Lucidian Coast, and the focal point of international trade between Tal'Dorei and Wildemount.[11] Money flows here primarily through a strong textile trade, a dynamic black market, and a loosely-kept set of laws that could be briefly "purchased" should they stand in someone's way.[12]
The cross-continental Silvercut Roadway's eastern terminus is in Stilben and serves as a major path for the trade of rare goods, textiles, and spices. This has "given rise to a formidable merchant ruling class" in the city.[11]
The vast majority of Stilben's business is aimed towards travelers. Each street has at least one inn and tavern, and there are a large number of brothels within the city.[11]
Points of interest[]
- The Vas Estate: A large mansion built over two hundred years ago by the Vas Lordship, one of the more powerful trade families that have held power in Stilben. The estate was once home to the heir to the Vas family fortune, Fendril Vas, but it is not known what became of the estate or the fortune after Fendril was slain by Vox Machina.[12]
- The Post[13][14]
- Rampart Gate[13][14]
- Northern Ramparts[13][14]
- The Livery[15]
Durth's Sinkhole[]
Outer town[]
This district houses the poor and disenfranchised of Stilben, who have been pushed out from the more central and cosmopolitan parts of the city. People living in this district are are derisively called muckdwellers by the other citizens.[11]
Upwater Wharf[]
Muckfront Row[]
Downwater Wharf[]
The Low Common[]
- The Bucket & Spade Tavern[13]
- The Sunset Stride Tavern: the largest tavern within Stilben, the Sunset Stride is where many of the blue-collar grunts of the local trades come to unwind. Music and laughter permeate the warmly-lit interior, and a large job-board looms over the far wall. The tavern's barkeep is Father Moordek Vart.[12]
The Run-Off[]
Inner town[]
Official art of the docks of Stilben, with the Summit Peaks in the background, by Kent Davis.[art 3]
Central Stilben[]
Central Stilben is the heart of businesses, residences, and attractions in the town and is presented as the more respectable and prosperous side of Stilben by those who live there.[4]
North Bay Docks[]
Bay's End Slums[]
Bay Docks[]
Map[]
Official map of Stilben, by Andy Law from Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn.[art 4]
Society[]
The social atmosphere is relaxed, the nightlife fairly lively, and there is enough work to go around, especially mercenary work.[12]
Demographics[]
In 809 PD, Stilben had a population of about 9,000,[16] which remained essentially unchanged as of 812 PD, when it was a small city with a population of about 9,015. The population is mostly human (70%), but there are significant proportions of elves (10%), halflings (10%), and half-elves (5%), with a small percentage of other races scattered about (5%).[17]
By 836 PD, Stilben's population had grown to 10,660 permanent residents. Humans made up 67% of the population, elves and halflings each made up 11%, half-elves still made up 5%, and other races comprised the remaining 6%. The actual number of people in the city was often double that, or even triple during the summer months, thanks to the many sailors passing through.[11]
Notable people[]
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Iselda[18] | NPC | Summoned by the Myriad in illusion.[19] |
| Spireling Harrok[20] | NPC | Head of the The Clasp in Stilben.[21] |
| Lustran Zeth[22] | NPC | An alchemist, textile baron, and the leader of the Stilben sect of the Myriad.[23][22] |
| The Servant, Flesh Golem[24] | NPC | Servant of Iselda.[24] |
| Galessi | NPC | A cruel Ashari waverider working for the Myriad. She has a secret base within the K'Tawl Swamp, protected by a charmed giant crocodile and water elementals. |
| Thurista[25] | NPC | Member of a mercenary group called the Wing, travelling with Grog and Scanlan before they joined Vox Machina. Left for Whitestone.[26] |
| Arnicor[25] | NPC | Member of a mercenary group called the Wing, travelling with Grog and Scanlan before they joined Vox Machina. Left for Whitestone.[26] |
| Vash[27] | NPC | Former member of a mercenary group called the Wing, travelling with Grog and Scanlan before they joined Vox Machina. |
| Stitch[25] | NPC | In a mercenary group with Keyleth and Tiberius before the forming of Vox Machina.[28] |
| Brul[25] | NPC | In a mercenary group with Keyleth and Tiberius before the forming of Vox Machina.[28] |
| Helicax[25] | NPC | In a mercenary group with Keyleth and Tiberius before the forming of Vox Machina.[28] |
| L'Arkhelle | NPC | A hulking tiefling working as the bridge guard and a Clasp enforcer. |
| Fendril Vas | NPC | The heir to the Vas Estate.[12] |
| Father Moordek Vart | NPC | The barkeep of the Sunset Stride Tavern.[12] |
| Vandran | NPC | Smuggler and ship captain. Left for the Menagerie Coast, where he became a mentor to Fjord.[29] |
Factions[]
- Vistani, a roving people scattered throughout Tal'Dorei.[12]
- The Clasp
- The Myriad: Once appeared to be a merchant organization competing with Vas Textiles.[12] Actually a criminal organization trying to move in on the Clasp's territory.
- Cult of Crysa-Thul, a cult worshiping a stillborn god named Crysa-Thul.[12]
Waterwatch: fanart concept
Politics[]
Like the other major satellite cities within Republic of Tal'Dorei, Stilben is ruled by an appointed Margrave, who also commands the Waterwatch, the local constabulary. Although Margrave Wendle Truss officially holds this office, in reality the city is run by trade and criminal guilds including the Clasp and the Myriad.[4]
History[]
Founding[]
Shortly after the end of the wars of the Calamity, one of the founders of Kraghammer, Desmond Dragonstrike, sent Garen Hearthheart to help in the construction of a new city in K'Tawl Bay to be called Bend, telling Garen that the people there had no idea of how to build properly in that terrain.[30] With Garen's help, the settlement started growing and prospering, although developing a criminal faction that included Fiedra Marrow and the Roaches at one point. When an Expositor from Vasselheim came down the road asking for the name of the town to help sort out the confusion of then-existing maps, Garen said it was "still Bend", which was mistaken for "Stilben".[31] That same day in Stilben, the All-Hammer finished his last task in Exandria, leaving the Material Plane and closing the completed Divine Gate behind him.[32]
Vox Machina Origins Series I[]
The children of the peasants of the port town of Stilben were stillborn and dying. There were three different groups, each acting independently, investigating this mysterious curse.
Vax'ildan and Vex'ahlia were investigating when they ran into a young druid named Keyleth who believed the "curse" was actually an intentional poisoning of the water supply. Returning to Stilben, they stalked alchemist Lustran Zeth, and found themselves enmeshed in a conspiracy of assassins.
Scanlan Shorthalt, Grog Strongjaw, Thurista, Arnicor, and Vash recovered a vial of potent poison from a swamp temple. They wanted to get it identified by the alchemist, but when they entered the establishment, the Myriad battled them but was defeated, after killing one of their group. Celebrating and mourning, they went to a bar where they met a sorcerer named Tiberius Stormwind who identified the potion as Aqua Caedis and traded it for a diamond. A watchman later demanded the poison and Scanlan agreed to give him the potion at midnight. Scanlan and Grog left to go search for Tiberius.
Meanwhile, Keyleth, Tiberius, Stitch, Brul, and Helicax had been hired by The Clasp to find out who was poisoning the peasants they relied on for their prostitution supply and narcotics sales. They uncovered that the Myriad was trying to kill everyone in the Muck. Stitch wanted some compensation for a job well done but Harrok threw a poisoned dagger into him and the group got 12 hours to get to the bottom of the killings our else he would die.
With each team having a different piece of the puzzle, the pairs converged at the alchemical laboratory where the poison was refined. There they fought each other as well as some thieves. After the fight, Iselda emerged from a mirror getting a few hits in before she put Grog into a ball. The group fought Iselda, who fled into the mirror with the alchemist Lustran Zeth, liberating Grog. The group argued over the alchemist's book, and the twins disappeared into the shadows. When Iselda emerged from the mirror and kidnapped Vax, Vex swallowed her pride and asked for aid from the others. When they refused, Vex left angrily but Keyleth caught up to her and pledged to help.
Vax was alone on the Myriad's floating fortress galleon, The Mockingbird, but fought his way to freedom. Meanwhile, Vex retrieved Trinket and introduced Keyleth to him. They met everyone again by coincidence on the dock searching for the ship on which Vax had been held, when it exploded and Vax jumped out. The group boarded the ship and fought their way to Iselda as well as the source of the poison that had been plaguing the inhabitants of Stilben. With the ship in flames, Iselda was killed.
"Vox Machina Origins Volume 2"[]
Vox Machina was hired by Fendril Vas in Stilben to investigate the seemingly dubious and dangerous new business conglomerate called "the Myriad". Vox Machina eventually entered a chamber housing a planar rift that pulled the group into a room with Crysa-Thul. Fendril was actually a worshipper of the stillborn god and had intended to feed the party to this deity like many previous mercenary groups. Vox Machina destroyed Crysa-Thul and returned to slay Fendril for his treachery.[33][34]
After a night out drinking, the party went to bed and in the morning discovered that Grog had left them and gone north towards Westruun. Tiberius left the group to continue on his own path, but the others rented some horses and pursued Grog.
Trivia[]
- Matthew Mercer, back in high school, created a game in RPG Maker for PlayStation, and the first town one encountered in that game was called Stilben.[35]
- The city's name was originally spelled "Stilben" in Matt's Vox Machina Wiki, which was published in February 2015, before the launch of Critical Role.[36] A few months after Critical Role launched, Mercer released the map of Tal'Dorei using the "Stillben" spelling (which was subsequently adopted by the Critical Role Wiki). However, the city's name was officially restored to "Stilben" with the release of Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting.[17]
- In Mercer's Vox Machina Wiki, Stilben was listed as a shady town with a population of 820.[36] However, in the Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, it is listed as a small city with a population of about 9,015.[17]
- Brennan Lee Mulligan, as part of his surprise honoring Matt's work on Exandria, sent his character to Stilben at the end of "By Heart Alone" (E4x04) because that's where the story of Vox Machina (and Critical Role itself, in a way) had started.[citation needed]
References[]
- ↑ See "By Heart Alone" (E4x04) at 5:06:28.
- ↑ See Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Volume #1, Issue #1, pp. 7.
- ↑ See "By Heart Alone" (E4x04) at 5:08:51.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 68.
- ↑ Official spelling is "Stilben". See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 43.
- ↑ See Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Volume #1, Issue #1, pp. 7.
- ↑ See "The Story of Vox Machina" (Sx06) at 0:00:11.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 58.
- ↑ See "By Heart Alone" (E4x04) at 5:06:28.
- ↑ See "By Heart Alone" (E4x04) at 5:10:17.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 68.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 Some of the information on this page was imported from Matthew Mercer's Vox Machina Wiki article, "Stilben".
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 See Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Volume #1, Trade Paperback, pp. 139.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 69.
- ↑ See Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Volume #2, Issue #1, pp. 16.
- ↑ See Vox Machina Origins 1, p. 7.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 43.
- ↑ See Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Volume #1, Trade Paperback, p. 141.
- ↑ See Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Volume #1, Issue #1, pp. 23.
- ↑ See Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Volume #1, Issue #3, p. 4.
- ↑ See Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Volume #1, Issue #3, pp. 6.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 See Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Volume #1, Issue #1, pp. 19-20.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 38.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 See Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Volume #1, Trade Paperback, p. 143.
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 See Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Volume #1, Trade Paperback, pp. 166.
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 See Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Volume #1, Issue #2, pp. 27.
- ↑ See Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Volume #1, Issue #2, pp. 13.
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 See Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Volume #1, Issue #3, pp. 3.
- ↑ See "Fond Farewells" (2x141) at 6:03:37.
- ↑ See "By Heart Alone" (E4x04) at 5:05:20.
- ↑ See "By Heart Alone" (E4x04) from 5:08:51 through 5:10:42.
- ↑ See "By Heart Alone" (E4x04) at 5:17:38.
- ↑ See "The Story of Vox Machina" (Sx06) at 0:00:11.
- ↑ Some of the information on this page was imported from Matthew Mercer's Vox Machina Wiki article, "Fendril Vas".
- ↑ See "Explorer's Guide to Wildemount Q&A and Fireside Chat with Matthew Mercer" (Sx53) at 1:24:27.
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 See Matthew Mercer's "Stilben" article on the Vox Machina Wiki.
Art:
- ↑ Official art of Stilben, by Kent Davis (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Official map of Stilben and surrounding areas, by Andy Law from Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting. 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.
- ↑ Official art of the docks of Stilben, with the Summit Peaks in the background, by Kent Davis (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Official map of Stilben, by Andy Law from Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn. 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.
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