#campaign 4

[mechdeer]

I've seen a lot of posts about how Julien pretends not to care but clearly cares about Occtis, which is very delicious, but I also think Occtis' whole "I am tired of pretending I give a shit about you" thing is equally fascinating. I can't stop thinking about how right before that he says, "I am tired of trying to placate your anger towards me. I am tired of trying to do the things that I think you want me to do so you'll stop trying to kill me." Occtis, as has become very clear, was abused growing up, and probably learned to do exactly that - placate people's anger, do the things they want him to do - to try to avoid the abuse. That could be a whole other post but I think it's really interesting that he snapped and said that to Julien. He's afraid that Julien is going to hurt him, maybe even kill him, presumably because of him being a Tachonis. I wonder if that had anything to do with him asking Julien not to kill Koral - he was desperate for proof that a member of his family didn't despise him, but I wonder if any part of him wanted to see if Julien was capable of forgiving a Tachonis enough to let them live. And all of this after Occtis saying that only two people care about him and Julien not saying anything to contradict that. I don't think Julien is the only one trying very hard not to care. I think Occtis is terrified of caring about other people he is not certain already care about him (Thaisha and Thimble) because he's terrified of being hurt (again), so it's a whole lot easier to tell Julien and to tell himself that he doesn't give a shit. But like Julien, he certainly didn't act like someone who doesn't care - he jumped right back into his family's house to save Julien when his shadow dragged him back. Two people who are starting to care about one another and refuse to admit it because they're terrified of caring and I think that's very fun.

[dumpinggroundfornonsense]

Sam: Wicander is a awkward silly Nobel raised fucked up.

Dice: Cool but what if he was awesome and cool and maybe Jesus.

[fortis-non-feroxx]

oh, Thimble. How do you go on, knowing that, after decades of friendship, the only embrace you could ever give to Teor Pridesire was to his corpse? Had he lived just a little longer--had you gone back for him sooner--maybe--

But wishing doesn't win wars. Still, you think, laying his body to rest at Hal's, that Teor probably gave really good hugs.

[screechfoxes]

CRITICAL ROLE 4.26 Council of Heroes

[justsomeone76]

So, to stay sane over the break, I've decided to write like twenty-pages worth of different metas glazing the themes of campaign 4. No, I'm not repentant. Welcome to Part 1:

How do you balance your duty to your family versus your duty to the world?

(ft. Hal, Murray, Azune, and NPCS)

Cr4 does a great job showing that while revolution and adventure is heroic and good, it is not always good for the people that you love. We can see this in the pairs of loved ones who are divided between choosing the world over family and vice versa. Ultimatley, though, once you decide the world is more important than your family, your family will inevitably be endangered until they too are forced to choose the world, too.

This domino affect of people choosing World over Family begins, as always, with Thjazi Fang, and his decision to leave Aranessa (Family) for the Falconers' Rebellion (World). This move fundamentally discredits House Royce in the eyes of the Sundered Houses. Further exacerbating the damage is when Thjazi chooses the Cloak (World) over Aranessa again, and accidentally closes the Doors to Fairy. This severely weakens Royce and ultimately leads to rest of the Sundered Houses violently or tacitly destroying Royce. This gravely endangers Aranessa, is puts her on the path of having to choose the World over Family, if only because there is so little Family left.

Before the campaign starts, Thjazi is pretty adamant about keeping the Fangs safe while still choosing the World. He is eventually forced to choose one or the other when he is on the gallows, and he, of course chooses World. He tells Hal a snippet of his plans, and this causes Hal, for the first time, to choose the World over Family.

Hal then enters the impossible game of choosing the World without hurting his family. This breakdowns by the end of the Schemers arc when his theater troupe becomes complicit in lying to the Halovars (I don't think it was an accident it was his literal daughter, Shadia, who put up the banned fairy door), Hero becomes complicit in planning the Spy-Birdwatching-Theatre trifecta and healing Cyd, and Elodie becomes complicit in funding the Magpies. I think Elodie put it best, when she chooses World over Family by giving Hal the money, when she said that there was no place outside of the Sundered Houses' reach; if you are going to fight, there is no place your family can run and be safe. There is no saving the world without risking the innocents you care about.

The reason for this is shown in the Azune and Murray's fight over whether or not Demodus should testify. Azune (world) finally convinces Murray (family) by appealing to her sense of family: if Azune doesn't back up his claims with enough evidence, his life could be in danger. Suddenly, helping family paradoxically means either sacrificing the family who has chosen the world, or putting the whole family in danger. Similarly, for the Seekers, saving Alogar (who has chosen the world) means also choosing the world and fighting with him.

So what's the moral here? Once one person in your family chooses the world, then everyone who loves that person must make a choice. Except it's a false choice. Because choosing World means joining the mission, and choosing Family means protecting that person, which requires joining the mission. The only way to keep the World at bay is to do the Maya Davinos Strategy: divorce Thjazi, marry Otto, let Raimond be un-avenged and dishonored, let Alba die. It means sacrifice everyone to keep the chaos from touching you.

And, if sacrifice everyone so that the powers that be will not bother you sounds familiar, it's because that's what Casimir Gavendale did. And look at how well it turned out for him.

Part 2 (tbd) ->

[ludleaf]

Little something something I did of Tyranny 🤍

[sweet-jelly-tart]

idk if anyone here knows ball but david from sellsword art but taller is exactly how i imagine sir julien davinos btw