Exandria Unlimited: Calamity Premieres Thursday, May 26th!

Hi Critters! We have some HUGE NEWS to share! We are very excited to announce that we are releasing a brand new Exandria Unlimited mini series that takes place during one of the most monumental events in Exandrian history…THE CALAMITY!

The first of our four-episode series of Exandria Unlimited: Calamity premieres on Thursday, May 26th at 7pm Pacific via Twitch and YouTube and the finale will air on Thursday, June 16th.

TEASER

First things first, let’s check out the teaser for Exandria Unlimited: Calamity!

What is The Calamity?

So what IS Calamity? Though you don’t need to know anything about Exandria, its lore, or Critical Role to enjoy this show, a little extra info never hurt anybody!

*Cue Ominous Lore Dump Music*

Exandria was discovered by a group of gods that worked together to create life upon it and tame the world’s primordial chaos. However, when elemental titans began killing their mortal creations, the gods became divided on how to proceed. The Prime Deities wanted to protect their creations from the titans and help them thrive. In contrast, the Betrayer Gods wanted to help the titans destroy the weak mortals and abandon Exandria due to their grief. This led to a war between the gods known as the Schism where the Prime Deities proved victorious in defeating both the titans and the Betrayer Gods. As punishment, the Betrayer Gods were banished to their own prison planes where they could no longer harm Exandria.

This tumultuous time gave way to the wondrous Age of Arcanum, where the gods’ gift of arcane magic allowed mortals to prosper and innovate. For thousands of years, the Age of Arcanum remained a glorious time in Exandrian history. However, everything changed when some began using their magic for the ruthless pursuit of power…

In an attempt to achieve his own divine status, a feat achieved only once before, a mortal abused his magical gifts to release the Betrayer Gods from their prison planes. This led to the most violent and tragic war of all time: The Calamity.

The Calamity echoed the founding of Exandria: once again, the Prime Deities had to stop the Betrayer Gods from killing their creations. Though the Prime Deities were eventually successful, two thirds of Exandrian life were killed in the battles…

For an additional dive into Exandrian lore, check out “Exandria: An Intimate History” below.

With all that lore background out of the way, let’s get to what THIS story is all about.

What is Exandria Unlimited: Calamity?

Exandria Unlimited: Calamity follows six distinguished heroes from the Age of Arcanum as they uncover an insidious corruption beneath a city that they’ve sworn to protect. This is a story where Exandria’s greatest minds could not—or would not—see the truth before it was too late. These mighty protectors will do everything in their power in an attempt to prevent the inevitable…The Calamity.

In the realm of Exandria, there are unlimited stories to be told and just as many storytellers to tell them. Each Exandria Unlimited campaign serves as a jumping on point and does not require previous knowledge of any other Critical Role campaigns to tune in! As a reminder, the Calamity takes place almost a thousand years prior to the events of our very first campaign, Vox Machina.

To learn more about our first iteration of Exandria Unlimited, check out this helpful article here.

Who Are Our Storytellers?

We are very happy to announce that our Game Master for this adventure will be none other than Brennan Lee Mulligan (Dimension 20)! We are honored to have Brennan join us at the table and help build the story of Exandria.

Brennan will guide an incredible group of players including our very own Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham! We will also have our previous Exandria Unlimited Game Master, Aabria Iyengar, returning on the other side of the table as a player AND two brand new faces to Exandria: Luis Carazo and Lou Wilson.

Let’s learn about our players!

Game Master:

Game Master Brennan Lee Mulligan | Photography by Michael Schmidt

Brennan Lee Mulligan

A true legend in the TTRPG community, Brennan Lee Mulligan is the creator and Game Master for Dimension 20 and a cast member of CollegeHumor.

Brennan has taught and performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, co-created the webcomic Strong Female Protagonist, and written dozens of LARPs for The Wayfinder Experience summer camp in upstate New York.

He recently started putting a little bit of cinnamon in his morning coffee, which he has described as “a real game changer.” We just adore you, Brennan!

Players:

Left to Right: Lou Wilson, Marisha Ray, Luis Carazo | Photography by Michael Schmidt

Lou Wilson

Lou Wilson is a comedian who’s done it all. He’s starred in television shows like TBS’s The Guest Book and Netflix’s American Vandal. He’s written for Playboy and the Comedy Central reboot of Crank Yankers, danced alongside Pete Davidson in Judd Apatow’s The King Of Staten Island, and even did a SnapChat series!

If you’re looking for Lou these days, you can find him on Dropout’s Dimension 20 TTRPG show or ABC, where he’s a writer and in-studio announcer for Jimmy Kimmel Live. Thanks for keeping us laughing!

Marisha Ray

Marisha Ray is a voice actor, producer, and uber-nerd based out of Los Angeles and known for her roles in video games and animation. Marisha serves as the Creative Director of Critical Role, a primary cast member of the flagship show, and an executive producer of The Legend of Vox Machina.

Prior to Critical Role, Marisha was the Creative Director of Geek & Sundry at Legendary Digital Networks, and has been producing and creating web content for 10+ years. She has countless voice acting credits throughout the industry and is also the recipient of two Outstanding Achievement Awards from LA Web Fest! Such a wonderful and inspiring leader to our team!

Luis Carazo

Luis Carazo is an impressive acting phenomenon! He was born in Cartagena, Colombia, and emigrated to the US at the age of three with his family. In the TTRPG community, he’s best known for his portrayal of Nines Rodriguez in LA by Night. However, Luis also has a hefty acting background as he has appeared in many commercials, TV shows, films, and even two plays!

He currently has two films in the festival circuit, Don’t Tear Yourself Apart and Of Hearts and Castles, and both have a number of nominations and wins. He even won a Best Actor award for Of Hearts and Castles.

When he’s not busy acting, Luis is also a pretty darn good salsa dancer, two-stepper, and line dancer. Smooth moves!

Left to Right: Sam Riegel, Aabria Iyengar, Travis Willingham | Photography by Michael Schmidt

Sam Riegel

Sam Riegel is a Los Angeles-based voice actor and Emmy Award-winning voice director, known for his roles in animation and video games. He is a co-founder of Critical Role, a primary cast member of the flagship show, and an executive producer of The Legend of Vox Machina.

Over his decade-long career, Sam has voiced many iconic animated characters such as Donatello in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ketch on Bad Batch, Emperor Awesome on Wander Over Yonder and many more! Sam also has voice directing credits with quite a few major studios such as Walt Disney Studios, Dreamworks, Cartoon Network, and Netflix.

Sam has earned an Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program Daytime Emmy for his work on Amazon’s Danger & Eggs, as well as two other Daytime Emmy nominations (and he never lets us forget about any of them). He is also the recipient of three BTVA People’s Choice Voice Acting Awards, a BTVA Video Game Voice Acting Award, and the Austin Film Festival’s award for best Half-Hour Television Writing. Keep winning and telling us all about it, Sam!

Aabria Iyengar

Our very first Exandria Unlimited Game Master is returning to the table as a player!

Aabria Iyengar is an actor, storyteller, and game master based in Los Angeles, and known for her extensive roles within the tabletop roleplaying industry and community. She began her tabletop roleplaying career nearly a decade ago, and has since continued to hone her skills with campaigns featured on Happy Jacks RPG and on other popular channels such as Saving Throw, Hyper RPG, and Dimension 20.

When Aabria is not adventuring, she’s helping others with their adventures as the Chief Marketing Officer for Dice Envy. She’s an inspiration to all of us dice-rollers and storytellers!

Travis Willingham

Travis Willingham is a Los Angeles-based voice actor known for his extensive roles in animation and video games. Travis is the beloved Chief Executive Officer of Critical Role, a primary cast member for the flagship show, and an executive producer of The Legend of Vox Machina.

Through his career, he has impressively amassed OVER 300 roles in video games, original animation projects, and anime! Though he has hundreds of voice acting credits, he’s most known for reprising the role of Thor over the past decade in many of Marvel’s original series such as Avengers Assemble, Ultimate Spider-Man, HULK, Agents of SMASH, and Guardians of the Galaxy. He even has a tattoo on the inside of his arm of Nordic runes meaning “for worth” or “worthy” in reference to Thor.

Travis was named Voice Actor of the Year at the 2017 BTVA Voice Acting Awards and has won four BTVA People’s Choice Voice Acting Awards, a BTVA Special/DVD Voice Acting Award, and a BTVA Video Game Voice Acting Award. This boss man does it all!

We can’t wait to see what our talented storytellers come up with when they sit down at the table!

Where to Tune In

By now you’re probably asking yourself, “How can I watch this awesome new series?”

Exandria Unlimited: Calamity will air Thursdays beginning with its premiere on May 26th at 7pm Pacific on Twitch and YouTube, with rebroadcasts at 12am Pacific and 9am Pacific on Twitch. Video-On-Demand is available immediately for our Twitch channel subscribers and will be available on YouTube on Mondays. The podcast version of the show will be available one week after the initial broadcast, with the premiere episode hitting podcast feeds on Thursday, June 2nd at 5am Pacific.

Exandria Unlimited: Calamity will continue weekly on Thursdays until Campaign 3 resumes on Thursday, June 30th (yes, Critical Role Campaign 3 is returning on the last Thursday of the Month, just to mix it up and keep you on your toes).

By the end of this four-part mini series, perhaps some more hidden secrets of Exandrian history will be revealed… Is it Thursday, May 26th yet?