CLOUDWARD, HO! lore/reference doc for fanworks, PART 3 (FINAL)
This is the last installment of these and will include info on PCs, NPCs, and VEHICLES!, as well as some FOOD FOR THOUGHT LOOSE ENDS (this is primarily a venture for enabling fanwork, after all, hehe)
thank you for bearing with me!!
THE ZEPHYR. The Zephyr Mark I is "one of the very first flying vessels, only 3 years after the initial test of friodynamic lift." By the time the events of canon begin, it's considered somewhat of an antique. It's about 120ft long, for game mechanical purposes. (A brachiosaurus would JUST BARELY fit onto the ship if they were to remove some guns.) Per episode 6, the Zephyr has a legitimate bathtub (we also get a number of jokes about there being a hot tub aboard, but that feels less concretely canonical, lol). The Zephyr relies on a number of consumable resources to stay afloat, all of which appear to be measured game-mechanically in 'drams.' These include: -bituminous (real) or trituminous (fictional) coal as a fuel source, utilized at the rear of the ship. -arctica iodide, which is employed around the balloons to chill them, thus generating friodynamic lift from the "regular air" inside them. (Using the combat minis for reference, I think it's possible the arctica iodide is applied to the netting that is rigged around the balloon(s) holding them in place? etc.) Comfrey MacLeod invented/pioneered the friodynamic lift system, which was kind of her big one when it came to aviation innovation. -'gargatium steel' and 'inertialine,' possibly used for ship repairs or weaponry purposes. In episode 19, Monty makes an attack on the Straka with the Zephyr II's 'iridescent inertialine launcher' that coats it in the inertialine, granting attack rolls against it advantage for one hour, which is huge.
The Zephyr I (though now destroyed in the wastes of Zern) gained a number of helpful modifications from the crew of the Gullfaxi: a giant boxing glove; the dragon-spout sprayer (fire); the mine launcher; the wind turbine motivator (of You're Meat fame); and a spring-loaded platform. Some of these replaced elements the Zephyr I's previous weapons loadout. The party makes these mods collaboratively in APIX, starting around 18:25.
MR. BIG BRITCHES. The party builds Mr. Big Britches in a Zernian forge, out of parts they salvage from the surrounding scrap. The name 'Mr. Big Britches' is initially discussed/established above table/out of game, but they then absolutely all just immediately start doing it in character as well. Compared to the Zephyr, the control panel of Mr. Big Britches is described as having way more, like, Big Levers And Knobs energy. One of the lore elements I thought was neatest about Mr. Big Britches's construction is that the shields on the big barrier arms that are salvaged for it appear simultaneously "mechanical and archaic," as if in ages long past, the lands of Zern did have knights and giants and all the trappings of a fantasy universe, but still all just rendered in clockwork. extremely cool. OTHER MODIFICATIONS EQUIPPED TO MR. BIG BRITCHES INCLUDE: rear attack buzzsaw arm (a la scorpion tail); two sets of double ('crab') legs; windshield (for cover); fine motor skill arms (more dexterous); lube tube arm (flammable fluid); quadruple machine gun (includes an AOE option); triple-tail flail; and of course the zoodquake arm (for stunning. and absolutely not other things).
OUR WIND RIDERS. (Again, my eye here was to try to specifically pinpoint stuff that a) might be easily forgotten/overlooked and b) might NOT be easily Google-able or located on the fandom wiki. Some of this is sparse because I'm not spending as much time on things I think are common knowledge, easier to find, or less explicitly relevant. I apologize if I have missed out on info you are looking for!! I would honestly be happy to go diving for more specifics upon request and update this post as needed tbh)
When we meet our protagonists in the 'prologue' segment of episode 1, the Gathie year is 1363. The events of canon take place in 1382, ninenteen years later. Comfrey, described as being in her 60s in this prologue, would therefore be 79 at the youngest in a non-befrumpled canon timeline; Maxwell is 29 in canon, so is 9 or 10 in this prologue, and Olethra goes from being an infant to being freshly 20. Marya, the next youngest, is canonically 43 years old (ep3), so she's in her early 20s in this flashback, and Daisuke is very close to Comfrey's same age--I think at different times he says he's either 80 or 81. We don't get concrete ages on Van or Monty, but they're somewhere in the middle; Van has been traveling with Comfrey from the very start, so I think maybe she's a little bit older. There's one moment where Lou, in the throes of a bit in episode 11, says he's "forty-eight," but it seems WILD to me that he'd be only five years older than Marya, especially with the emphasis everyone puts on how young she was comparatively/calling her the "kid," etc; Monty also makes another joke/wry remark in episode 16 about "feeling 27," in a kind of nostalgic way, and that makes more sense to me, if he was around 27 in their earliest heyday together and thus about 9-10 years older than Marya, putting canon-era Monty in his early 50s.
The Wind Rider Society hosts, (or used to host,) an annual society meeting at the Hotel Ipswich. There IS an Adventuring Party where Brennan is discussing the Gotch family naming convention, and expresses that the sons of Cadswitch's generation would all be -switches the same way Maxwell and his brothers are all -wells, and the other example he gives is "Ipswitch." I think it'd be totally legit to explore the idea that Maxwell's great-uncle Ipswitch channeled his chunk of the family fortune into being a hotel magnate.
In episode 2, there is also an offhanded reference (I think from Marya) to a time when the Wind Riders "quested for the fruit of immortality" together. Would love to hear more about that. In episode 8, there are casual/maybe only loosely canonical references to their last "heist" being in the Kabilian Isles in 1372.
Year-based code references the Wind Riders seem to have for other maneuvers include: Pilby, '71 - Marya says it means "brace," but brace for what seems a little ambiguous. Definitely refers to hot, heavy gun-based violence. Pilby, '69 - Might be a real one or might just be Van/Siobhan making a 69 joke. Pilby, '67 - Stealth. A lot going on in Pilby. (Might be more of these I failed to document. I decided to add this bit last-minute and admit I only skimmed.)
THE GOTCH RETAINERS. Captain Miryam Deathblade Dawderdale is initially described as wearing a Karakamachi uniform, but she identifies as a "Gotch family courier," and eventually we come back around to those blue and red uniforms being identifiably Gotch-coded, with the dog-headed cyclone guys in Zumhara. By the time we are in Zood, our crew of Gotch retainers is established to be a solid six: security officers Diaz and Polaximus, engineer Jackway St. Niles, navigator Haruki Norwich (who falls in love and stays in Tabira) and lieutenant Agarwahl (who finds his long-lost biangle'd twin brother and also stays in Tabira), and Dawderdale herself.
OLETHRA MACLEOD, CANONICALLY.
Olethra is following the 'mastermind' subclass of the rogue class, which is what gives her the ability to use the Help action as a bonus action. The MechLeod is a barbarian with a homebrewed 'battle mech' sort of subclass that looks to me like it draws a lot from the RAW 'wild magic' barbarian subclass, just respecced into steampunk technological bullshit instead of classic DnD Magic™.
The other old-guard Wind Riders have all changed Olethra's diapers. (ep3)
Olethra describes herself as "small." (ep7)
Olethra has had one girlfriend, ever, and it was kind of a big deal, but then it fizzled out, and there weren't really any other options for dating in her small town. (APIX)
Olethra's attempts at matchmaking are all bad because she is twenty years old. and doesn't know anything, but thinks she does. (APIX)
the MacLeod Ranch guinea fowl have been trained to locate drugs. (ep1)
I cannot BELIEVE that in episode 8, Ally originally says that Olethra is rolling Investigation checks for any information about Ludmila, RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS ZERN-RELATED LORE DUMP, and Brennan manages to deflect with some silly Eyeless Hand stuff, and by the time it gets back to Ally they've pivoted to another thing. HE CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS.
DAISUKE BUCKLESBY, CANONICALLY.
Daisuke is following the 'gunslinger' subclass of the fighter class, as homebrewed by Matt Mercer for Critical Role campaign 1, I think modified from the semi-analogous Pathfinder ruleset. His two 'trick shot' features from this subclass are Forceful Shot and Violent Shot.
Biscuit(s) is the revolver/handgun and Gravy is the long-range rifle.
Pet names between Daisuke and Comfrey include 'sweet pea' and 'fluffernutter.' (ep16)
MARYA JUNKOVA, CANONICALLY, AND ALSO HER RAT FRIEND KOČKA.
Marya is following the 'battle smith' subclass of the artificer class. Among other things, this subclass is where the use of Kočka as her steel defender comes from.
The first time Marya flew (was it specifically the Zephyr?) she was 18 (ep2). When Marya began skycaptaining a ship of her own, that ship was the Kingfisher, which is the one that fell to the Straka.
An argument could be made that it's Marya who coined the portmanteau 'MechLeod,' as opposed to just calling it 'the Prototype.' (ep3)
According to Marya and a Scrapsylvanian proverb, "to forgive 3 lies, you just have to kill 1 serpent." this is apparently also a thing among the Fehujar. incredible. (ep9)
Marya had a Wind Rider tattoo, but she intentionally scratches it out in episode 11.
Marya's gun is named Katerina after her first girlfriend. She named the gun after her after just two dates, which was Too Much, and they both agreed that Katerina should dump Marya, thus ending the relationship. (ep13)
Marya ends up with a total of 8 "Straka" bullets. (ep19)
When the Queen of Zern attempts to contact Marya telepathically through the disanimated Torse, Kočka can also hear the message, because Ludmila is broadcasting without knowing he is there and thus doesn't know to exclude him. This made me so freaking SAD that's her RAT
Ludmila (and Marya?) stole 'serums from Eisengeist' (I have to assume from the Ministry of Deranged Science) to make Kočka into an intelligent, familiar-style animal instead of a mundane rat. hehe. (ep8)
MONTGOMERY LAMONTGOMMERY, CANONICALLY.
Monty is following a subclass of the ranger class that has been largely homebrewed to eliminate spellcasting and focus on connecting to the natural world. He is using at least one feature from the 'monster slayer' subclass (Slayer's Prey).
His book series is referred to in episode 2 as "The Hazardous Happenings of Montgomery LaMontgommery," collectively.
The name of his shotgun is Fortuno.
May have had a knee injury in 1373 that continues to flare up. (ep5)
Monty doesn't include romance between the Wind Riders in his novels, but they are not devoid of romance between Monty and "strangers," such as one that has something to do with a "moon priestess." (ep9)
Monty is the first among the PCs to sort of accurately clock and interpret the Time Befrumplement situation, which makes SO much sense to me, as someone extremely in tune with the rhythms of the natural world. (ep14)
MAXWELL GOTCH, CANONICALLY, AND ALSO SOME OF THE OTHER GOTCHES.
Maxwell is following the 'squared circle' subclass of the pugilist class, which has a specialty in using grapples and shoves. This subclass gives him abilities like 'To The Mat' and 'Meat Shield.' (SIDE NOTE: Upon reaching level 6 in the pugilist class, a character gains the ability 'Moxie-Fueled Fists,' which would see their unarmed strikes "count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to non-magical attacks and damage"--meaning Max technically didn't have to bother with the whole business of converting Torse's old gold heart to brass knuckles in order to accomplish damaging strikes on the Straka, though I guess maybe he also did this hoping it would be extra effective a la the golden bullets, even though I don't think mechanically that ended up being true--?, largely because he barely attacked anyone but the Corrodi and his own fucking family. BUT REGARDLESS, THANK GOD HE DID, OR WE WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN "SO CLENCHES A WORTHY FIST," SO,)
Maxwell is an alumnus of Revington, while Wealwell attended Biffmore and Hatwell graduated from Griphall.
A particularly loathed competitor of Maxwell's at Revington was a dude named Bobby Blaneport. (ep7)
The first person to call Maxwell "key boy" is Van, but Daisuke immediately doubles down. (ep11)
The Gotch brothers all have tailored, perfectly molded underwear. (ep3)
Cadswitch Gotch is explicitly referred to as a "banker," and Longspot mentions "the bankers' guild of the CIR." (ep1)
While Max heads out to the MacLeod ranch, Samwell is sent to Comfrey's primary laboratory in Eisengeist, and Hatwell is sent to the Kabilian Isles. (ep1)
Cadswitch died in 1373, about nine years ago in the canon timeline. This was sort of the last straw before tensions began running high with Comfrey and her plans all fell apart, because losing Cadswitch meant losing her primary source of funding. (ep11)
Longspot has ended up $850k in debt to Mordecestershire and the Ministry as a result. (ep14)
Yes, I did just write "sorry I'm just looking at Murph's nipples" in my notes for APXIII. Join me, won't you.
KEY BOY! Over the course of the series, Maxwell uses Cadswitch's keys to open:
The stone tower door in the Gathie south pole research station.
The identical tower door in the Ramansu station, which gets us into the room with Torse.
The gift in principle book of Zoodian/Zernian technological information that the Queen of Zern gave to the Eyeless Hand, found deep in Comfrey's Ramansu office.
The door buried under the snow at the ectic research station, and then ALSO the identical stone tower here. (Possibly the key was just boner-pointing toward the inner door and didn't actually unlock the outer door, since I think part of this also involved Torse buzzsawing us in.)
The door buried under the silt at the temple of Katur, which is, yes, another stone tower. I AM CURIOUS IF the SAME key is opening EVERY stone tower and the other keys on the key ring are to other things, or if it's one key per tower; if it's the latter, the amount of Key Usages would exceed the canonical six keys of the practical prop.
The secret door in the smooth section of the front wall of the Amphereon.
The door to the crystal Heart of Zood engine that sustains the Prime Disruption.
VANELLOPE CHAPMAN, CANONICALLY, AND ALSO HER HUSBAND BERT AND SOME OTHER CHAPMANS.
Van starts the season with some levels in the fighter class but also at least one secret level in warlock. I have looked everywhere for the fighter subclass I swear I thought Van had--I specifically remember when she utilized her ability (which I believe is called Into the Fray) wherein she can roll a bunch of extra attacks as part of the attack action, but only if she targets different creatures with each one. I swear I saw that in some official or at least semi-official play material I read BEFORE watching Cloudward Ho, and then when she utilized it I was like yeah, of course she's that one! that makes so much sense! and now I've googled to shit and can't find it, I guess, and i feel like booboo the fool. Anyway. Her warlock leveling is very obviously following the 'fathomless' subclass. Post-Tazgw'agwafication, when Van shifts to paladin, she's following the 'oath of the open sea' subclass, another Critical Role homebrew. (Originally used by Fjord in CR campaign 2, who also is a sailor who then became a warlock who then became a paladin!, so it makes a ton of sense and I love their parallels.)
Van's grandfather died ("died") while working for Mordecestershire and protecting his family vessel. (ep1)
Van's nan, who was also named Vanellope (Vanellope Antigone Persephone von Malkings-somethingerother…), was like, THEE pirate, the most notorious Chapman. (ep3)
When Van uses her Elevated Sight warlock feature, her pupils change shape to more resemble an octopus's. (ep4)
Van's fought in fighting pits before Umanzi, and specifically mentions Grand Kabilia in 1374. (ep5)
The prosthesis made for Van by Comfrey is riveted directly to her bone, and is barometrically sealed. Some of the gauges are measuring Van's biometrics while others measure extraplanar activity. (ep8)
Van's Last Ride was flying with Comfrey about five years ago, looking for Zood. They flew into a storm that seemed pretty run-of-the-mill, but Something Was In There (tazgw'agwa), and they all got Eldritch Horror-style terrified, and between that and the winds of the storm they were unable to turn around and the only way they could proceed was by descending toward the sea. The monstrosity in the clouds was being reflected by the surface of the water, and that's the last thing Van remembers about it (ep11). Van went on this journey because none of the rest of the Wind Riders were going, and she was worried about Comfrey, who at the time already seemed "off." (ep8)
Van mentions the Chapman family "curse" as having taken "her dad, her uncles, and three of her older brothers," which implies to me that much like Maxwell, Van also has a ton of older siblings, and I LOVE what that means re: the ways in which they bonded a little more quickly early on. (ep17)
Also in episode 17, there's a sort of Van/Comfrey/Tazgw'agwa lore drop around 1:16:30.
Bert Chapman can distribute a d12 of bardic inspiration exclusively for bolstering cooking-related checks. (ep11)
OTHER ZEPHYR CREWMATES, CANONICALLY.
Onion St. Clay was identified in episode 8 as a bookkeeper. The map of Zood and Zern, showing the two braided tubes, was found in his office.
Sylvio Dufresne has a collection of fine Zoodian waxes and pomades. (ep14)
The crew aboard Comfrey's Zood-bound Zephyr II has spent a little under 10 total years in Zood, in amongst their moving back and forth. When we encounter the Zephyr II in canon, they're on their fifth discrete mission to Zood. (ep14)
COMFREY MACLEOD: A TIMELINE.
Daisuke and Comfrey got divorced around 13 years pre-canon (ep8). In the episode 1 flashback, which takes place ~19 years ago, I don't think they're married yet?, so they were probably only legally ("legally") wed for about 5 years before things got weird again.
Comfrey's "decline" and more fanatical obsession with Zood began about 10 years pre-canon (ep1).
Cadswitch Gotch died in 1373, nine years pre-canon; the year after this is about the last time Olethra saw Comfrey, and is also the period in which Comfrey and Monty had their big falling out. (ep8/ep11)
Van's Last Ride™ with Comfrey was about 5 years pre-canon, and by that point, she was the only one of the PCs still trucking with Comfrey; this puts the wreck of the Kingfisher and the timeloopy loss of Ludmila to the Straka sometime between 1374 and 1377(?). Which means that by that time ("time"), Comfrey had already been to Zood at least once, since she knew enough to know the Straka was coming and intercede on Marya's behalf.
APVII implies that Comfrey has been fully MIA for seven or eight months, but in episode 2, Mordcestershire indicates he last spoke with her about two and a half months ago. I imagine this means she was in Zood the whole (Gath) time in between those two things, and came back around then only to disappear back to Zood again.
She recorded the broadcast at Ramansu in mid-Tahal, and the PCs arrive in Zood in early Amravi--in Zood time, this has been a little less than half a year.
Sometime that same Tahal (I assume), Comfrey had her sordid 3-week affair with Goldbeard. I imagine she was fooling around with him, went back to Ramansu to check up on some stuff, realized she was Made™ by Fehujar, panicked, and recorded the broadcast before bailing--hence her seeming, from his perspective, to fully disappear from his life. (I also have to assume Torse was still at Ramansu and did not accompany her in her time with Goldbeard, considering how put out and disoriented he was by Goldbeard's automaton crew, as if meeting them for the first time, haha.)
MORE ON COMFREY.
Brennan says Comfrey is not a bard but rather a "mechanic," but with the inspiration and the largely support-class action economy, it sure feels like "bard but no magic" the same way Monty is "ranger but no magic."
Prior to canon events, Comfrey was apparently the only person who had mastered the ability to travel from Zood to Zern and back while the barrier was in place, making her "the object of the queen's sole and burning attention." So Ludmila hates her for a lot of reasons. (ep8)
In episode 17, Comfrey mentions "having visions" that she needed to make Van's gauntlet prosthesis to contain the curse of Tazgw'agwa, and that she knew Tazzy could function as this barrier. This is never touched on again? girl what.
Comfrey found the stolen piece of crystal tech among Mordecestershire's things and just converted it into a pipe on a whim. When they realize what it is in episode 18, she implies that the highs she's experienced while smoking from this crystal pipe did have some lingering (hallucinatory?) effects that would hint at its true nature-- so man, did I TRY to make those two things line up, the Tazgw'agwa barrier "visions" and the trips of Zumharan history off this pipe, but I don't think the timeline checks out. but comfrey my dude. get it together.
COMFREY'S LOOT DROPS. • In the captain's quarters on the Zephyr I, Comfrey has left the ring of keys; the Ramansu cryptogram 'prophecy' that Siobhan deciphers; the Zoodian sextant; and some old narsty fruit snacks. • In Comfrey's office at Ramansu, the Wind Riders find some Wind Rider pins; the Zumharan crystal pipe; her wedding ring on a chain necklace; another cryptogram (quick brown fox); the chronometer; some correspondence between Comfrey and Cadswitch; and the fucking. hand cream/sexual unguent.
KENSINGTON COSGROVE MORDECESTERSHIRE, AND THE MINISTRY OF DERANGED SCIENCE.
The Brutes' suits use these really cool melee weapons that are like short-range spears powered by widow's-breath-hydraulic pistons. (ep2)
Two small steel tubes are pumping that Corrodi aerosolized blood stuff into Mordecestershire when we first meet him. He hasn't been to Zood or Zern yet, but he's been in communication and cultural exchange with the Queen re: the Eyeless Hand stuff already.
In APXIV, Brennan's "headcanon of stuff that is canon in [his] head" is that Mordecestershire followed the PCs into the effulgent biangle in the very same biangling, but since he snuck through last minute, it was more unstable, and yeeted him about 40 years into the past of Zood, and he's just been waiting for the Wind Riders to show up so he can get 'em.
Mordecestershire is not the founder of the Eyeless Hand, but he has been the leader of it for over a decade. (APXIV)
FREYJA ILDISDOTTIR MY BELOVED.
When she's first introduced, Brennan mentions she has bunches of Viking runes tattooed on her arms. love this for her.
Dreams of a golden hall filled with statues of horses (also gold). Freyja horse girl canon. (ep16)
I don't think her Wisdom score is very high because she fully believes that Pappy/Miryam is going well.
OUR GUY, TORSE!!!! Be prepared, I have way too much Torse analysis stuff because I'm biased.
People have theorized that Torse is specced mechanically as a paladin, and I can't argue with this. Oath of Redemption in the sense of rebelling against his servitude to an evil monarch and choosing a path of righteousness and goodness instead makes hella sense narratively, and the one combat mechanic we see him utilize--tanking damage onto himself rather than a nearby ally (or balloon) taking it--is a Redemption feature. My theory is that Torse functions in the same sense as Monty: Paladin, but homebrewed for absolutely zero true spellcasting. This would free him up to have a much lower charisma score because he wouldn't need to be using it as a functional spellcasting modifier.
The other thing about Torse mechanically is that he has CRAAAZYYY hit points, at least if he's meant to be at a comparable level to the PCs. He tanks 54 damage from Marya in episode 15, which Brennan calls "easily more than a third of his HP in a single hit"--easily more than A THIRD says to me it is not more than HALF, or Brennan would have SAID 'HALF,' which is DEMENTED to think that Torse would have 120+ hit points at where he's at. Maybe he halved it and really only took 27, maybe something else was at play there, I dunno, but regardless, you cannot convince me that constitution is not Torse's absolute highest stat. geez louise. (I think if you allow him max HP on the paladin hit die (d10) for every level he's taken, plus a +5 CON mod, plus the Tough feat, you can almost get there?? YOWZA) (The high CON/massive HP maximum is easier to explain if he's a barbarian, maybe, but he never does ANYTHING mechanically that would indicate that--no rage, no danger sense, etc. idk guys I'm in the weeds now.) (OR HE JUST HAS AN NPC/CREATURE STATBLOCK, I GUESS, BUT THAT'S LESS FUN FOR ME.)
Torse rolls fuck all for initiative in episode 10, but in episode 15 he gets a 21; I feel like if he'd rolled a nat 20 Brennan would have said as much, so to get a 21 without critting, his initiative/dexterity mod must be at least a +2, which is impressive for someone fully armored with knives for hands.
In the Katur fight, Torse is rolling with +7 to hit, and adding +4 to his damage rolls, which says to me he has +4 to strength. But then, for the attack against the Zephyr's balloons under the Queen's control in episode 15, he adds a +8. There are a few ways you could explain this, like a bonus to attack structures/inanimate objects or a strength score increase in the interim, but the one that makes the most sense to me AND feels the best is also the most obvious: he gets an extra +1 to attack while equipped with the iron heart, vs the softer and less warlike gold heart. my boy. my guy.
Supposedly Torse is 6'4" (APVII). I like that collectively we've all decided to ignore this and just make him Really Big. <3
Torse's golden heart (and I have to assume the iron one also) is described as having a tiny, tiny wind-up key; an elaborate series of coils and wind-up functions that mean that something infinitessimally small inside the heart can get wound up "with just two fingers" and still generate an incredible amount of power, refractorily. (ep8)
Torse finds his heart "difficult to attach and reattach [him]self." (ep8)
"About eighteen knived fingers" pop out of Torse's hands in combat in episode 10. He also deploys a pulley from his chest to cross the rope between the Zephyr and the Fehujar blimp, in addition to his buzzsaw blades and a "long blade" that "shoots out of his forearm" for weaponry in the Katur fight.
When referring to joining the crew of the Zephyr, Torse claims he "owes his life" to Comfrey MacLeod. He joined fairly recently; Haunch Saxon was already gone from the crew before he got there, and Torse does not know him. (ep11)
IDK, we all love Torse around here so a lot of other Zernai etc lore I feel like we've all already internalized and I didn't take a ton of notes on. lmk if there's something you wish was here and I will be happy to go back and dig it up.
"Torse seems to like Maxwell." "I like Torse." "You just like that he has knives for hands."
WEALWELL GOTCH, CANONICALLY. THE MAIN GUY OF THIS THING.
Wealwell is excellent at massage. (ep2)
Wealwell smokes a pipe (ep3), and is depicted wearing a top hat (in his combat mini, starting in ep10).
Wealwell is, canonically, absolutely ripped, due to 10+ hours a day standing muscularly. pilates-style. (ep12)
Wealwell has a -4 to insight, meaning that unless there's some other insight-specific debuff in play, his base wisdom score can't be higher than a 3. which makes Maxwell's +0 to wisdom seem absolutely worldly in compare. (ep14)
That said, Wealwell also has a +2 to intelligence, which is higher than Maxwell's +1, which is insane. (ep16)
Let us not forget Wealwell's fully practical-effect style diagetic pocketful of craft glitter (ep19). Daisuke calls him a magic pixie dream girl (ep16), and he's right to say it.
FINALLY, SOME NOTES ON SOME LORE THAT WENT UNRESOLVED/UNEXPLAINED. Something I've said a few times is that I feel like we needed just, like, three more episodes' worth of show to REALLY wrap CloHo up in a way that felt satisfying. I know that a lot of this is due to Brennan's post-episode 13 scrambling to fix the back end of the campaign now that they'd killed Mordecestershire. More stuff to do with the Gotches got woven in, mentioned just enough to function as a macguffin but not enough to feel satisfying or fully-fledged; stuff that was probably supposed to still just be Mordecestershire got pasted over with Longspot, etc. There are a few things I cannot stop thinking about that I'd love to see resolved in fanfics (or in season 2!!!!!! DROPOUT PLEASE I AM PROSTRATE BEFORE YOU). Such as:
The ceramic tile device that Marya salvaged from the Gathie south pole station. Ultimately, I feel like its only function in the narrative was to serve as an illustration that the once-unified energies of Zood and Zern had now been separated, which was a piece of intel that we needed to put together a larger picture, but the device itself didn't seem to DO anything--even just, like, measuring those energies, or calibrating something, or what. It was just kind of there. Even Torse mostly just describes what it looks like, and the fact that "tech like this" isn't/shouldn't be functioning with the Prime Disruption still in place, and that it looks like something Comfrey built or reverse engineered. but what IS it. Marya risked her life for it!!
I sat and waited the Entire Damn Season for the Chekov's gun of the magnamensa to go off again. Before the time befrumplement stuff was fully solidified, I thought maybe some of the weirdnesses surrounding Mordecestershire et al were going to be revealed as like, the same concept as the attempt to shift the Imperasaur into Courtney--that some ancient baddie was hopping bodies to stay healthy enough to pursue an ancient goal. That the Corrodi's ultimate goal would be to get magnamensa'd into organic bodies and achieve that sort of glorified "true" life. Idk, it's just wild to me to set it up conceptually and then have the Only way the players ever interact with it be the Legio Rex, who are ultimately just a side quest miniboss on their way to other stuff that's way more relevant to the story. Why introduce such a HUGE universe-affecting concept and then never touch it again past episode 8? Something else has gotta happen here.
The Mysterious Stone Towers that Comfrey seems to have installed at all of her biggest research outposts. These are described as being Gathie in origin, and having been transported here from wherever she got them from, likely in a fit of classic Comfrey pique that she failed to explain to anyone, about 2 or 3 years ago. She believes they're from someone who traveled to Zood before Comfrey ever did, who was also doing research? And Maxwell's keys, which Comfrey apparently got from Cadswitch in the first place, are the keys that ultimately open all these towers. The keys are veerrry macguffiny, too, so I'm willing to put several grains of salt on all of that, but Comfrey also mentions some ancient order of Gathie monks in conjunction with this; and there's all this other interesting weirdness, too, like all the Gathie characters experiencing a weird vertigo in the ectic station that Torse and Freyja don't; and other than the obvious adventure hook of Shahar, this is THEE element I would most want addressed/explored in a potential season 2. (If Lou's new character wanted to be a monk associated with this order… just saying…….)
We talked about the sun lion a lot as a Zoodian foil to Straka; would love to see him be more significantly relevant, and explore the actual "beast of the old world" he is and how he affects things!! Since we already met Straka and Tazgw'agwa.
This is not the sum total of my big weird notes document, which is divided out more by episode than by topic, and which I may not have chopped and screwed in the best/most thorough way to get all the deets across. BUT AT ANY RATE, I THINK IT'S BETTER THAN NOTHING. If there's a particular topic/factoid I didn't touch on that you're going "man, but I do still wish there were a place I could go to just control+F [__]," by all means let me know and I'll try to go back and dig it up and incorporate it! I TRIED TO MAKE IT AS CTRL+EFFABLE AS POSSIBLE. I want this to be HELPFUL and not just the obsessive ramblings of my PMS-fueled hyperfocus. if it helps literally anyone other than Just Me, I think I will feel satisfied that it's done its duty. thank you and Sea you in the Skies <333
(part 1 here and part 2 here!)
