What Is The Calamity | Call of the Netherdeep | Critical Role | D&D

[@ventrue7]

I really like everlight's story in calamity. The show itself didn't mention this at all but it is a really interesting insight on why she wasn't really a main deity until pike started to spread her faith.

[@veemie8148]

pike is the goat :D

[@FanaticalDM]

Where can I find this official lore?

[@Panzora]

@@FanaticalDM official descriptions can be found in Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount and Taldorei Reborn campaign guide

[@lestervinghail5654]

Or it started as Sarenrae and well....copyright.

[@garbothraxis4201]

@@lestervinghail5654 I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here. Sarenrae IS the Everlight, and you’re right that they had to start using the latter name due to copyright issues with Wizards vs Paizo, but that has no bearing on the world lore

[@jerryshobbies8224]

In Game, it seems like the Calamity is always referred to as this big mystery that happened so long ago that most details are forgotten... But in an Exandria full of Elves, Gnomes, and Dwarfs, this was 1-3 generations ago. This is kind of like us earthlings saying that "We don't really know what happened in World War Two, it was too long ago" while Grampa who fought in the war is in the next room.

[@MasumiSeike]

Besides that also one city survived through all this to the todays date I'll bet they have records. But through all that... would one want to speak of such trauma to their lifes?

[@Zombiewithabowtie]

There could very well be a few of the eldest Stone Giants alive who would have been born at the end of The Calamity - if Matt hasn't possessed or zombified them all yet 😛

[@Buddy74656]

History is often curated. What one generation is taught might be significantly different from the lived through truth of a survivor. How many people lived through the Holocaust and how many people today deny that it even happened.

[@InfanitlyGaming]

@@MasumiSeike as matt said it was a reset button many died and survivors of the calamity arent exactly easy to find

[@bloodredzangoose]

Because so many died in the Calamity there are very few left who remember it. In Xhorhas, the first followers of the Luxon formed right at the end of the Calamity and have survived or been reincarnated since, so an interesting aspect of their society is the very old grudges they hold from those times. It's likely part of the reason going through anamnesis has a high chance to drive someone insane; suddenly remembering Betrayer Gods razing your homeland is gonna hit hard.

[@mifiwa132]

This is such a treat to come into my recommended after EXU: Calamity ending today ;w;

[@mzigg61]

"Whom did we betray?" I wonder how Brennan Lee Mulligan's DM narrative will deviate from this canon (and one-sided) telling of the calamity.

[@Rellyks]

It was one hell of a first episode. Can't wait for more

[@foolslayer9416]

Just because the Allied force's narrative of the second world war was one-sided doesn't mean the Nazis were victims of anything.

[@LustyHeartz]

So... Did you like his rendition of the start of the Calamity? 😅

[@mzigg61]

@@LustyHeartz yes I did I loved it! I got suckered in hopeful that maybe the betrayers weren’t all bad and the payoff was great!

[@elbruces]

Matt has repeatedly gone on record that anything an EXU DM does becomes official Exandria canon. So technically, Brennan can't deviate from it, because he's creating it.

[@ninnusridhar]

The great war that reset civilization is one of the most prevalent but still great tropes in fantasy. Be it the fall of numenor in LOTR, or the seasons in Broken Earth, or the breaking in WOT, or the numerous devastations in Stormlight archive, this trope really helps to build the world and add a lot of mystique. In my own dnd world, this trope is also present. But it's beyond memory. More than 10000 years in the past. The oldest elves only know of great great grandparents who were kids who survived. And honestly i use it purely as passive world building. There are ruins from that age, but they're honestly all well known and popular tourist destinations.

[@Julian-em2yp]

That's because its a reference to the fall of the western roman empire and all English language fantasy stories effectively set in western europe

[@ninnusridhar]

@@Julian-em2yp that's actually a really good point. Though to me the fall of the western Roman Empire always felt more akin to fading away into obscurity rather than one big battle. Even though the Romans held the fantasy of Rome, it was practically dead even in Justinians time. It sort of just fizzled away

[@yiklongtay6029]

Came here to study up. EXU C E1 was wild

[@benwhite8157]

I love having this, somewhat of a vision from Matt Mercer, and comparing it to what we've seen so far in EXU: Calamity. Specifically, we're getting to see truly how right the prime dieties were. Gods should not walk among humans, or vice versa, as they ultimately become one in the same. This is not to mention the expansion and behind the scenes crafting Brennan Lee Mulligan has done with Mercer to construct the current campaign with respect to Mercer's vision. EXU: Calamity is introducing a much greater sense of nuance than what we have previously known of the Calamity. I can't wait for episodes 3 and 4.

[@Weirdbrit]

I am currently running an campaign that plays before and during the calamity. Would love to get some more details to get closer to how Matt imagined it. Really looking forward to this book

[@kukinisVO]

You can get inspiration from Faerun before Karsus Avatar and Magic limitation, since the calamity is heavily based on a battle of powers both arcane, elemental and divine without the limits that came with the Divergence and fall of Aeor. Make sure your Xhorhas is full off goblinoids still with the Curse of Bane, as well a few walking giants or deity aspects around. A time were heroes would be more appraised and recognized, that kind of stuff. If you can pull it off, make so the argument for the Betrayer Gods of "we wanted to destroy and start all over" has more weight, since the sources are a bit lacking in explanation there, but gods overwhelmed by despair and grief is not a bad start.

[@Starlink28]

Omg that sounds amazing

[@Drackor]

The Calamity doesn't sound that too far off from events that transpired in Tolkien's Silmarillion, something I have mimicked in my own setting. Gandalf and the other wizards were in fact "servants" of the "gods" of that realm sent to Arda to carry out their bidding since they no longer directly meddled in the affairs of Illuvitar's Children (men/elves). I would suggest reading it, if need be, skipping to the Second Age, the fall of Numenor, etc. as that was when the Vala distanced themselves the most. I wouldn't doubt that Matt was inspired by it.

[@Starlink28]

@@Drackor yeah I thought a very similar thing too, I’ll be honest I’ve wanted to read it, the closest I’ve gotten to it is reading the fall of gondolin, so I need to mentally convince myself to read it 😂

[@Drackor]

@@Starlink28 it’s a great book, but not for everyone. The text is hard to digest and it takes multiple re-reads for some people to make sure they’re understanding it correctly XD. I myself have read through it twice, looking back at it occasionally to clarify certain events. Unfortunately, it’s been in storage for a while due to sketchy basement flooding in the past. If you’re finding it hard to get through, maybe look up key events that sound interesting and jump around. The great thing about the Silmarillion is that it’s very much like a historical account (or like a collection of myths similar to the Edda), which means that you can jump around without always needing context. Though sometimes you’ll need to jump back to get more context because the characters are so long-lived XD.

[@ticozayas6430]

Love that u are doing these interviews

[@dan_duarte]

Would really like a long form interview instead of these short clips :)

[@djcowell91]

I'm definitely having fun with the concept of the Divine Gate in my current Wildemount game. (I hope they're not reading this.) I've got not one, but two gods, trying to work their way around the gate. The obvious evil god that the group actively wants to stop is one, but the other is a good god of change who's sick of the status quo. When they figure out what she's up to will they be as quick to try to stop her? Plus the politics and magic of the empire and dynasty and things seem to be going well so far.

[@johnnikyecole9114]

I so modify and use the Calamity in my Homebrew campaign

[@abrilvonbunny6205]

Same, its a very cool way to explain the way the divine afects the material plane, and can create awesome landscapes and items...

[@Ongargis]

So there is a cult devoted to freeing the God of Love to feel her embrace in full, seeking to destroy the divine gates? Thanks for the idea.

[@kalipassion04]

And what is her influence caused people to be beyond reckless or downright foolishly self sacrificing in the name of love. The need to divulge into the prime interest of your love causes beings to neglect others or even have hateful disdain if they distracted in any way from acquiring or pleasing the subject of their love. Oh jeez....have fun with that lol.

[@damobeck1]

Look to the parasocial relationships for NPC ideas for that. Creepy simps with E-girls, weebs with Vtubers.

[@rgcountdown]

There is not a single God of Love in Exandria to my knowledge. The closest would probably be Melora, and she would not go for that.

[@Cheesegoddess]

@@rgcountdown The Moonweaver is considered to be the goddess of love by many because, in short, she likes to create secret places for lovers to meet. But yeah there isn't a full on god or goddess of love. I kind of feel like that role just goes with a lot of different gods depending on what kind of love and all that.

[@emmememz1574]

Not even 30 seconds in and I am again blown away by Matt. He states the calamity was and event that transpired about a millennia ago. The interviewer simply asked what it was and Matt responded as though he were transported here from there. He is constantly living in his world of Exandria. I am in awe.

[@Trostlos3]

I would have prefered to watch the full interview in one session tbh. Chopping it up into so many small videos isn't really doing it for me. Hopefully there is an "uncut" version aswell.

[@Moose_vk]

This is the first time I hear about this, and I realise I've somewhat replicated the Calamity and Exandria by extension...

[@bandgeek9723]

I've watched the Legend of Vox Machina, and have been listening to C3 on podcasts. Just had first mention of the Calamity, so thank you for saving me the google search.

[@clarky2228]

What makes this even better is that Brennan Lee Mulligan gonna be DMing

[@Nemisis1509]

Oooh. Does this mean we'll actually get that hour and a half on the Age of Arcanum Master Mercer once suggested..? XD

[@feylights166]

Gods are among my favorite aspects of D&D.

[@jamesshuttlesworth]

More! More! More Matt and Todd! More! More! More!

[@ronaldfarber589]

Wait. Does Mr mercer play the drums too!? A man after my own heart. Didn't think he could get any more relatable and cool

[@Argonaut1ka]

Could be Marisha's

[@CharlesKhan]

Is the full interview available somewhere? I'd like to listen to the whole conversation.

[@rjh7101]

Same here the little 2-3 minutes clips are getting kinda annoying to be honest.

[@toribiogubert7729]

Did you guys lokked in to Todd's channel? I think I've saw a 1 hour + video with him and Matt. But I may be wrong 🤔

[@rjh7101]

@@toribiogubert7729 I'll check . Thanks 👍

[@pluribus_unum]

Pantheonic Deism serves fantasy fiction beautifully. Genius.

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks.

[@magicwha1e393]

This may have been answered since I haven’t seen all of c2 but didn’t the traveler walk in exandria to speak with jester a few times

[@Argonaut1ka]

This will be answered as you continue S2

[@georgegideon3788]

Finish c2 this is answered

[@lumberluc]

That's for the best. What's a killer to a god, is less believers. Unless your a primordial god, in which its "Nice to have"

[@john3850]

I always thought the Calamity was a real long time ago but turns out its very recently

[@morgathing]

I know for the elves its like 1 generation

[@bloodredzangoose]

Not exactly recent. It's like the medieval ages for us in the real world. Few enough records survive from then in our world, and we didn't have a war between gods on earth to mess things up. Of course, life expectancy is different for us, but as Matt explained, so many people died and so much was destroyed that basically no one remembers the events of the Calamity, and there are very few direct accounts. People like the Brightqueen or the sphynxes who follow Ioun are notable exceptions, but for the vast majority of people it is just as distant and fanciful as the Vikings or Arthurian legends in our world.

[@SirButterlegs]

Chief Creative Officer aka. Matthew Mercer

[@elitejv]

Is there a full interview available, in stead of these short clips?

[@nordicson2835]

Seems like 2016 to now

[@Serit0nin]

Is this interview available in full anywhere???

[@samfowler2073]

A calamity... from the skies, Matthew???

[@jdcoy]

Where's the full interview?

[@matthewevans3543]

Wow they really milking this Matt interview for all the views they can get. One big interview video would've been better

[@postbunnie]

Maybe they'll clip it into one long interview in the future... Personally, my attention span rejects any video over 5 minutes. So these little clips are great

[@elbruces]

More views is fine.

[@Ziaotic]

this is how they did his first book interview. why are people complaining now

[@craigstarbird6915]

@@Ziaotic the bigger CR gets the more people will find reasons to be mad at it and people involved with it

[@tonyfox45]

I have to say that this absolutely cracks me up. If you look at all the CR content, it's basically homebrew that went legit. BTW this isn't a knock on what Matthew and the crew have done. I sit in awe of their ability to create amazing shared experiences/stories that capture so many people's attention...I'm just cackling every time I hear about CR and it's many many areas that they leverage to generate revenue. (Hey man, before you snipe...a DM's gotta eat too you know? No shame in that game.)

[@anathem9982]

I mean, I'm pretty sure most of this lore existed in some form back when they were still playing at home, before live streaming their games was even a thought. and it's also present in the early episodes of the live stream before the show became a huge success. this wasn't all just created to keep the show popular and keep drawing people in

[@hunterarchersam3747]

Is there going to be new races sub-races or subclass?

[@FabledVerse]

I love those shoes - anybody know what they are

[@benpebbles4111]

Could we hold hands and kiss on the prison plane? 😳👉👈

[@pitbull32052]

That’s weird it almost sounds like the cataclysm from Dragonlance I would have thought wizards of the coast would’ve caught that?

[@TheIrishloon]

For all this good publicity for D&D because of Critical Role’s popularity, they claim to love CR so much, and yet Scanlan’s Hand not Bigby’s Hand, Everlight not Sarenrae, etc. Thanks CR, but NO can’t use names.

[@rhythlodeus8821]

Sarenrae is not property of Wizards of the Coast, though. It's property of Paizo

[@Micaerys]

@@rhythlodeus8821 They could have used Raei, that is her dnd name. But I suppose that one is as forbidden as the rest

[@little_valkyrie]

Well the different names for the gods comes from the original Taldorei Campaign Setting book, which pre-dates CR's official connection to D&D/WotC

[@bloodredzangoose]

CR are very protective of their IP, rightly so, but they can't claim ownership of things they didn't create. If they want to sell their TV series to Amazon or their merch to the public, they can't have Wizards' IP all through it without paying a cut to Hasbro every time. I don't know if Wizards would have granted CR permission to use them anyway, but I expect CR made the decision to move away from it themselves. Obviously this does not apply to the official D&D books. The Wildemount guide and presumably this new book use official D&D terms throughout, which is no issue because they already have joint ownership.

[@cegan317]

Not a fan of scattering this interview into a bunch of small videos. Hoping your analytics say the same thing. Either release shorts or get these rookie numbers up to 8+ minutes

[@ariaflame-au]

Some people have short attention spans. Often there’s the long version on twitch

[@Alex-cu6pj]

This is copy pasta from Kobold Press Midgard gods ...

[@bloodredzangoose]

You know the whole Midgard mythology is based on the real-world Norse mythology, right? Is Marvel also ripping off Kobold Press? No. They just all draw from real-world inspiration, some more directly than others.