Page 122 - Critical Role: Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting

chapter four

allies and adversaries

he lands of Tal’Dorei are rife with dangers, challenges, and mysteries. As you craft your own stories that traverse
these fantastical paths, your players will encounter NPCs of many factions, backgrounds, and skill sets to either lend
Tto their cause, or attempt to end it where they stand.
Monstrous Races

The cities and strongholds of the folk from the Campaigns chapter (see p. 22) are not the only civilizations on the
continent. The term “monstrous races” was first coined by humans under the rule of Drassig. Some say it was an
attempt to demonize those who resisted colonization, others assert that their evil is inherent. Depending on the story
you want to tell in Tal’Dorei, either point of view may be true—or, for a morally ambiguous story, both could have
shades of truth.
Regardless of how righteous, civilized, or intelligent these beings are, most will attack humans and humanoids on sight,
and negotiations can be difficult. However, some are willing to make alliances out of desperation, greed, or even pure
goodness unclouded by prejudice. Some examples include the aberration Clarota’s brief, treacherous partnership with Vox
Machina in the caverns below Kraghammer, the Dustpaw gnoll tribe’s desperate alliance with the humans of the Dividing
Plains, and the fey folk’s tenuous peace with the elves of Syngorn.
These descriptions are to aid a GM’s roleplaying of NPCs outside of the typical player races. By giving monsters depth
and civilization, a GM can make their intelligent monsters more than just XP to be gained. How does a goblin tribe retal-
iate to an attack compared to a flayer enclave? Though this section does not include stats for using these creatures as player
characters, the history and roleplaying details below can help a player who wants to play an unconventional “monstrous”
character in Tal’Dorei.

aberrations threat that lurks below them. Of the many alien beasts
that plot against the surface world, the remnants of the
aboleth empire are the most ambitious. As beings of the
The vilest and most intelligent of Tal’Dorei’s monstrous darkness, their only hope of conquering the surface world
civilizations, aberrations lurk in corkscrewing caverns
is to unite their domains. Overseer Durrom, lord of Salar,
deep below the surface of the earth. There is no question plots to collapse the Pillars of the Earth that support the
that aberrations are truly, irredeemably evil—all who
surface of Tal’Dorei, causing the continent to crumble
attempt diplomacy with these twisted monstrosities end into his subterranean realm.
up as their food, or worse, their braindead thralls.
Major aberrant settlements include the flayer colony of
Many kinds of aberrant civilizations exist; some are Yug’Voril, deep below Kraghammer, and the aboleth ruins
lost cities of the ancient aboleth, while others are active
of Salar, beneath Emon. It stands to reason that nearly
colonies of flayers. What all types of aberrant civiliza- every major humanoid settlement has a city of other-
tions have in common is that they are not of this world,
worldly horror hidden beneath it. Perhaps that’s why city
and that all of Exandria’s creatures are chattel, a resource life is so maddening.
to be enslaved, traded, and consumed. The underground
empires of the dark elves have long since succumbed
to madness, their psyches shattered and their bodies beastfolK
twisted by the aberrations’ unnatural influence. Even
the deep dwarves, the duergar, struggle against the tide
The term beastfolk was coined by humans as a way of
of madness.
referring to a half dozen separate cultures native to
Though every dark elf is familiar with the dark whis-
central Tal’Dorei. The wild magic released during the
pers that echo within their mind, and every duergar child
early era of the Age of Arcanum,as well as the chaotic
knows the stories of the Thousand Eyes in the Deep, the
energies scattered during the Calamity, did more than
races of the surface world are unprepared for the aberrant
just destroy armies: it created entirely new races from

“As we grow, we are often taught to fear the unknown. To stay close, stay safe, and bury our curiosity. I rebelled like many youth do
and struck out into the world, using my faith and wit to cast away the shadow of mystery. Do you know what I discovered, child?
I found the shadow does not cast away easily. The wilds harbor dangers untold, and the black of night shields many hungry mouths
full of teeth and malice. So... Listen to my words, child: Stay close, stay safe, and by the wisdom of the Changebearer, bury your
curiosity with all your might.”
—Lady Diassa Kwynn, paladin of the Changebearer, to her squire Aedla