|
Here there be spoilers!
Proceed at your own risk if you have not yet listened to Episode 28 and beyond. |
| “ | This world has many names across her many lands, but my favorite is simply Nua. | ” |
—Travis McElroy
Nua is the world on which Hieronymous Wiggenstaff's School for Heroism and Villainy is located, and the story of The Adventure Zone: Graduation is primarily set.
History & Society[]
Nua's society has undergone dramatic changes within the past few centuries. At one point, heroes like Hieronymous Wiggenstaff fought villains and saved kingdoms not because they were being hired to do so, but because they believed it was the right thing to do.[1] Over time, the world changed, and heroes and villains morphed into professional entertainers who were hired to raise the profile of kingdoms, their "heroic" and "villainous" actions mostly divorced from any sort of morality.[2]
According to Bartholomeus, this hero/villain system arose in response to the Golden Age of Accounting. As accounting brought responsible spending to kingdoms across the lands and stability to their politics, the inhabitants of Nua felt that life had grown monotonous—albeit safer—so kingdoms began to hire heroes and villains who staged elaborate battles.[3] Starting roughly 200 years ago[4] and continuing through modern times, the Heroic Oversight Guild exists to keep heroes and villains in line (as well as oversee placement for sidekicks and henchpeople), designating heroes or villains as "evil" in extreme cases and barring them from further hero/villain work. Heroes and villains are viewed as celebrities, and their exploits raise the profiles of the kingdoms that employ them.[2]
All that said, modern Nua is far from a utopia. Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt cites "almost hysterical amounts of inequality,"[5] perhaps in part because he was scorned by the more privileged students at Clyde Nite's Night Knight School.[6] Sidekicks and henchpeople are often treated unfairly—their Annex at Hieronymous Wiggenstaff's School for Heroism and Villainy is still underdeveloped after 250 years,[2] they aren't guaranteed the same rewards for real world assignments that heroes and villains receive,[7] and some graduated sidekicks like Calhain might struggle to find work without exaggerating their credentials[8] (though Calhain himself is a dubiously credible source).
In the past, Nua existed in a constant cycle of order and chaos, shepherded by beings named none other than Chaos and Order, but its institutions have since become so bureaucratic that they resist any sort of change. This prompted the two entities to plan a war so cataclysmic that it would force the cycle to restart, using Gray, the Wiggenstaffs, and most importantly the Thundermen as pawns.[9]
Notable Locations[]
Hieronymous Wiggenstaff's School for Heroism and Villainy[]
Hieronymous Wiggenstaff's School for Heroism and Villainy is a school founded by Hieronymous Wiggenstaff. To teach the arts of heroism and villainy. Its enrollment is around 50 heroes and villains and 100 sidekicks and henchpeople.
The Unknown Forest[]
- Main article: The Unknown Forest
The Unknown Forest is a forest that is widely considered the most dangerous place on the planet and deadly to all who enter. It takes up a large part of the continent.
Godscar Chasm[]
- Main article: Godscar Chasm
The Godscar Chasm is a chasm on the outskirts of Hope, this is considered one of the most dangerous places in the world. It is only fifty years old.
Hope[]
- Main article: Hope
Hope (known by locals as Last Hope) is an isolated town near Hieronymous Wiggenstaff's School for Heroism and Villainy.
Clyde Nite's Night Knight School[]
- Main article: Clyde Nite's Night Knight School
Clyde Nite's Night Knight School is a school focusing on training students to become knights.
Barns and Nobles[]
Barns and Nobles is a store selling adventuring gear.
Rifts to other worlds[]
Nua is one of many worlds in a broader cosmology of planes, and can become connected to those planes via interdimensional rifts.
Elemental Planes[]
On their first real-world assignment, the Thundermen encounter a naturally occurring rift to the elemental Plane of Earth, and help a lost Xorn return home.[10] As a water genasi, Argo Keene has a parent from the elemental Plane of Water.[2]
The Hell Dimension[]
The demon prince Gray controls three planes,[11] including at least one hell dimension full of demons like pit fiends and hellhounds.[12] The bottom of the Godscar Chasm contains a slowly growing portal to this dimension, which Chaos and Order plan to temporarily fuse with the plane of Nua; however, this portal is currently inaccessible, since Order closed the chasm to stop the Thundermen from interfering with their plans.[9] Previously, Gray could open and close small portals between any points in Nua or his hell dimension, but with the closing of the Godscar Chasm, he can no longer access his homeworld.[11]
The Unbroken Chain's panic room, created by Higglemas Wiggenstaff, is located off-campus and accessible only via a tunnel through this hell dimension.[12] It is unclear if this room is still accessible, now that travel between Nua and hell has been impeded.
Other Interplanar Connections[]
Many years ago, Higglemas Wiggenstaff tested an interdimensional travel spell on multiple feral cats, which are now blurry and difficult to perceive. They are well-known on campus, and will disappear into another dimension if you tell them to "shoo."[3]
Gordy states that he is not from Nua—possibly from another plane altogether, though he declines to specify which one.[13]
Clint McElroy, noted planewalking janitor and felon, has appeared outside a Barns and Nobles as well as in Festo's classroom, semi-canonically connecting Nua to the other arcs encompassed by the Clintoris.[14][15]
References[]
- ↑ The Adventure Zone: Graduation Ep. 12 “Pop Quiz”
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The Adventure Zone: Graduation Episode 1 "Orientation"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Adventure Zone: Graduation Episode 2 "It's (a) Familiar"
- ↑ The Adventure Zone: Graduation Ep. 31: High on the HOG
- ↑ The Adventure Zone: Graduation Ep. 7 “Secrets, Secrets”
- ↑ The Adventure Zone: Graduation Ep. 15 “Out of Order”
- ↑ The Adventure Zone: Graduation Episode 6 “Long Overdue”
- ↑ The Adventure Zone: Graduation Ep. 14 “Spirit Day”
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 The Adventure Zone: Graduation Ep. 28: Business Plan
- ↑ The Adventure Zone: Graduation Episode 5 “What’s Yours is Mined”
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Adventure Zone: Graduation Ep. 29: Princi-Pal
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 The Adventure Zone: Graduation Ep. 23: Between a Rock and a Hell Place
- ↑ The Adventure Zone: Graduation Ep. 25: Burden of Things
- ↑ The Adventure Zone Graduation Episode 4 "Four Sidekicks Walk Into A Bar..."
- ↑ The Adventure Zone: Graduation Ep. 27: Long Way Down