The Chroma Council

The Chroma Council

“Five we were. Three we are. Two are stone now. The world is still ours to keep.” — Thordak, opening of the Council’s annual address, 836 P.D.

Original Canon Identity

In Critical Role canon, the Chroma Conclave was a quintet of ancient evil dragons — Thordak (red), Umbrasyl (black), Vorugal (white), Brimscythe (blue), Raishan (green) — who attacked Emon and ravaged Tal’Dorei.

This World’s Truth

The five elder dragons are, in this Exandria, the Chroma Council — a balanced cabal of guardian-wyrms whose job is to maintain elemental and territorial equilibrium across the continent. Each holds a domain corresponding to their chromatic nature, and they have done so for nine centuries.

They are not benevolent in the human sense. They are dragons. They are vain, territorial, slow to forgive, and centuries-long in their grudges. But they are also fundamentally invested in Exandria as it is, and they do not tolerate destabilizing forces.

When Vox Machina attacked Emon in 811 P.D. — a coordinated false-flag attack designed to look like dragon aggression and frame the Council, with Scanlan’s propaganda apparatus ready to capitalize — the Council saw it coming. Vecna, monitoring memory-resonances from his Vault, alerted them. The Council intervened, drove Vox Machina off, and rescued the surviving Emon civilians. The propaganda window closed. Scanlan’s narrative collapsed before it could be published.

In retaliation, Vox Machina launched the Wyrm-Hunt in 812–813 P.D. — Vex’ahlia’s idea, a campaign to assassinate the Council’s young dragons (the Council’s wyrmlings, of which there were several across multiple lairs). The Council turned the hunt back. Brimscythe killed Vex’ahlia at the Stormcrest. Umbrasyl ate Grog whole during the Vasselheim retreat. Vorugal fell in the assault on the white dragon’s northern lair, killed by Vox Machina’s combined fire. Raishan, gravely wounded, died of complications a year later in 814 P.D.

The Council mourns its dead openly. Vorugal’s bones are a pilgrimage site. Raishan’s lair is sealed and tended by the Council in turn.

The Five (Three Living)

Thordak — Red

The Council’s chair. Roughly nine hundred years old. Lairs in the Cinder King’s Reach, a volcanic range in southern Tal’Dorei. Strategic, deliberate, the most willing to negotiate with mortals. Holds the heat of summer, the southern winds, and arguably the Council’s largest reserves of wisdom (he has been alive longer than most modern nations).

In his role as chair, Thordak is the principal diplomatic contact for the Saviors and the Concord of the Dawn. He attends Concord meetings personally — flying in from the Reach, manifesting as a (very large) man for the duration of meetings, leaving immediately after. He does not enjoy small talk.

Roleplay: deep voice, dry humor, surprisingly patient with junior diplomats. Calls Lady Delilah “small queen” with affection.

Umbrasyl — Black

Reclusive. Lairs in the Diver’s Grave, a flooded canyon in the Lucidian Coast. The Council’s killer, in the most precise sense — when the Council needs an opponent ended, Umbrasyl ends them. He killed Grog. He killed two of Vox Machina’s lieutenants in less-publicized engagements.

He has not attended a Concord meeting since 815 P.D. He communicates through agents and through Thordak. He is rumored to be raising a new wyrmling in seclusion. The PCs may encounter Umbrasyl only in extremis.

Roleplay: rare, but when present, terse, watchful, contemptuous of mortals as a default he can override on case-by-case grounds.

Brimscythe — Blue

Killed Vex’ahlia. Lairs in the Stormcrest mountains in the central Tal’Dorei range. Holds storm and lightning. The most theatrical of the Council. Maintains a small flying court of bonded riders — not dragonriders in the traditional sense; more like couriers and witnesses — who travel between Council lairs.

Brimscythe is the most likely Council member for PC contact. He grants audiences. He even sometimes seeks them out. He has been observed, on occasion, in human form drinking with retired soldiers in the Stormcrest’s foothills. He claims this is “research.” No one believes him. He does not care.

Roleplay: theatrical, fond of grand gesture, secretly very lonely after Raishan’s death (they had been close).

Vorugal — White (deceased)

Held the northern passes. Killed in the white-lair assault, 813 P.D. Bones are a pilgrimage site, tended by the Northern Shoul Ashari (descended from the Frostweald winter-folk). Pilgrims leave silver coins; the snow does not bury them.

Raishan — Green (deceased)

The Council’s healer and archivist. Held the Shadowfen in southwestern Tal’Dorei. Died of war-wounds in 814 P.D. The Council mourns her openly — she was their oldest member after Thordak. Vecna and Lady Delilah both attended her funeral. Raishan’s library, her enormous personal collection of arcane and herbal texts, was bequeathed to the Ripley Institute, where it remains in restricted but cataloged use.

War Role

• Defended Emon when Vox Machina attempted the false-flag assault.
• Conducted the Wyrm-Hunt counter-campaign, killing Vex’ahlia and Grog.
• Lost two of their own — Vorugal and Raishan.
• Provided strategic shelter for Saviors’ agents across the continent (the Council’s lairs were unassailable to Vox Machina).

Modern Day

The Council meets formally once a year at Thordak’s Reach. They discuss territory, climate, mortal kingdoms’ encroachment, the slow recovery of the war-damaged regions, and the question of whether to elevate younger dragons to fill Vorugal’s and Raishan’s seats. They have not decided. They mourn slowly.

Their relationship to mortal kingdoms is structured but cool. They sign treaties. They keep them. They do not show particular warmth. They are, as Thordak once said, “neighbors, in the sense that mountains are neighbors.”

Plot Levers

• Audience. Earning a Council audience is a major Tier 2 / Tier 3 arc. The party will not get one easily. They will get one by demonstrating they are not a threat, are not fools, and have something the Council finds interesting.
• The succession question. The Council has not chosen replacements for Vorugal and Raishan. A young dragon making a credible claim — or a mortal doing the impossible work of brokering between the Council and a candidate — is a campaign-defining storyline.
• Vex’ahlia’s bones. The Council holds them. Lady Delilah has asked, twice, that they be released for proper interment alongside Vex’s recovered letter. The Council has refused both times. Why is not public.

• The young dragons. The Council has a roster of younger wyrmlings — some Thordak’s, some Brimscythe’s, some adopted. They are growing up in this peaceful era and they have opinions. A young dragon as an ally, antagonist, or recurring NPC is an excellent Tier 2 hook.