This article contains light spoilers for the first episode of Critical Role’s Exandria Unlimited: Divergence.
Exandria Unlimited: Divergence, the third in a series of mini-campaigns helmed by Brennan Lee Mulligan, brings longtime Critical Role fans into one of the most enigmatic eras in Exandrian history: the Divergence.
Set at the tail end of the Calamity, just as the gods prepare to disappear behind the Divine Gate, this mini-campaign features Alex Ward, Liam O’Brien, Jasmine Don, Celia Rose Gooding, and Matthew Mercer as players. It focuses on a group of mortal adventurers contending with the feuds of gods, and what it means to feel small and insignificant in a world as big as Exandria.
The Consequences Of Calamity
The four-part series (which had its premiere February 13), continues every Thursday through March 6. Ahead of the second episode, I spoke with players Alex Ward and Liam O’Brien about the timeliness of this campaign and the relatable nature of its player characters and their struggles.
“We all feel like we’re just little guys in the shadows of massive movements of change and force,” says O’Brien, who plays dragonborn Erro Mordaurum. “Unlike the other campaigns, which were about exemplary or singular individuals at the forefront of history, this group that Alex and I have jumped into is very much all of us.”
Divergence follows a group of average individuals imprisoned in Rybad-Kol, a fortress serving the Strife Emperor during the Calamity, as they contend with a world filled with warring deities, oppressive factions, and the near-extinction of life in Exandria. The world is on the brink of collapse, and most of humanity suffers due to the actions of a select few gods and heroes from previous campaigns.
“You’re witnessing the consequences of everything through the eyes of normal people,” says Ward, who plays a dragonborn prisoner named Crokas. “We, as little guys, are watching it all happen and saying ‘We can’t stop that.’ Which is a very different perspective from the previous two campaigns.”
A Unique Twist On Character Creation
To capture that sense of helplessness, the characters in Exandria Unlimited: Divergence are all level zero, a first for Critical Role. Rather than focus on legendary heroes of the realm, the characters of Divergence don’t have an assigned class, and boast weak stat blocks. The idea to play level zero characters was conceived by Brennan Lee Mulligan, Divergence’s Game Master, and further developed during a collaborative character creation session with O’Brien, Ward, and other players.
“I don’t think any of us knew what it meant exactly, but we all loved the idea of it,” O’Brien recalls. “I personally walked in not sure what I was gonna walk out with.”
“This is my favorite thing I’ve gotten to watch Matt do as a player in anything Critical Role.”
Both O’Brien and Ward explain how they began their character creation journey with certain ideas already in mind. But, once the unique vision for this particular series came into sharper focus, and the idea of playing low-level mortals crystalized, their ideas changed.
“Within a fantasy world, and especially within Exandria […] it’s interesting to think about what kinds of themes I want to tackle, and what sort of person I want to make,” Ward tells me. “I had some different ideas of different people, but once Brennan described his viewpoint, it helped narrow down what I wanted.”
The collaborative character creation process made for a truly special table, O’Brien and Ward tell me. Divergence features longtime Critical Role Game Master Matthew Mercer as a player-character, the dwarf Garen, as well as Critical Role first-timers Jasmine Don as halfling Fiedra Marrow, and Celia Rose Gooding as half-elf Rei’nia Saph. This unique combination of veteran players and newcomers brings an electricity and spark that makes the campaign unique.
“Jasmine and Celia took to it immediately. Both of them knocked it out of the park,” Ward beams. “There was such an energy immediately, and it felt so safe to take risks and really dive into things because everybody was running at the same speed.”
“This is my favorite thing I’ve gotten to watch Matt do as a player in anything Critical Role,” O’Brien explains, highlighting the magnetism of the table. “When we bring in a new player who has no experience, or very little experience, and you watch somebody fall in love with the game and the medium and this unique form of improv together, it’s magic every time.”
Exploring Divergence In Exandria
Beyond the central characters, Mulligan and the rest of the table have endeavored to explore an age of Exandrian history about which not much is known. Set far before any of the events of the main campaigns, in a time when the gods are about to depart from Exandria behind the Divine Gate, O’Brien and Ward explain what compelled them about this particular era, and the types of themes they explored as a table.
Ward recollects a question posed during character creation by Mulligan: “‘What does the sunrise look like when the god of the sun isn’t around anymore?’ That became a theme for me when we were going through this story.”
“If you’re watching a story and there’s no consequence, no challenge, no cost, sometimes the impact doesn’t hit.”
O’Brien compares the war between gods in Divergence to other historical cataclysms. “The gods are dysfunctional parents storming over the landscape, and we’re just the ants skittering around under their toes,” he explains. “It’s like surviving the fall of Rome, or massive moments in history which are just a pyrograph in a history book’s pages. It’s only by making those times and those characters the center of their own story that they come fully to life.”
Divergence doesn’t shy away from the grim realities of living through an unprecedented catastrophe. In the first episode, characters quickly find themselves desperate for not only basic human necessities like food and water, but for a cause worth living for. The struggle for survival is front and center in this era of Exandria, but the campaign at large is about so much more than just basic survival needs: hope being the most important. And that, Ward and O’Brien tell me, is what makes Divergence so timely.
“Human beings need more than just food and water,” Ward says. “In terms of survival, there are other things that are needed that we explore.”
O’Brien notes how timely the search for hope feels in this campaign. “In such a harsh reality […] we don’t want to watch people ground into dust. But, if you’re watching a story and there’s no consequence, no challenge, no cost, sometimes the impact doesn’t hit. You need both: the light and the dark, the hope and the fear. It’s a story about people finding hope.”
With their journey through Divergence just beginning, O’Brien and Ward both emphasize how excited they are to see the reaction to the upcoming episodes, and in watching the first installment of this series, it’s clear why. With their third main campaign now in the rearview mirror, Divergence marks the exciting start of a new chapter in Critical Role’s story, one that’s willing to explore a dark, and resonant time in Exandrian history.
Exandria Unlimited: Divergence airs every Thursday at 7pm Pacific through March 6th, 2025 on Twitch, YouTube, and Beacon.
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