Nordverse

The Nordverse, also known as Nord by Nordwest: The Quest for the Ultra Kodex Reloaded, is a recurring advertising segment created by Sam Riegel as a way to promote Nord VPN during the announcement portion of Critical Role episodes. It features several Critical Role cast members acting as their "hackersonas", speaking in an exaggerated and often nonsensical computer jargon.

Characters
BlackWillow73 / BlackWillow69 Sam's hacker persona is blackwillow73@aol.com, often shortened to BlackWillow73. He was suddenly renamed "BlackWillow69" in and in following segments. BlackWillow appears in the first Nordverse arc as the main character and disappears for the second. He has an old telephone receiver taped to the side of his head. His master password is always "swordfish".

CryptonicOverride CryptonicOverride is Laura's hacker persona. She has appeared in all but the first Nordverse segment. Although she initially tried to hack BlackWillow73, she became his trusted partner in their quest to defeat the Ultra Kodex. CryptonicOverride wears her signature keyboard on her arm.

Cereal Killer Cereal Killer is a character from the 1995 movie Hackers. Matthew Lillard reprised his role during a special appearance on the third Nordverse segment.

FreezerBurn Taliesin's hacker persona, FreezerBurn, was a level 12 master hacker who retired after spending 10 years in nano-jail for electro-crimes against webmanity. He came back to help BlackWillow73 and CryptonicOverride escape the internet, then sacrificed his hacking powers to help them. He used a power glove as his main hacking device.

MadHatterson MadHatterson is Ashley's hacker persona who helped FreezerBurn save the main two hackers, and returned in the final battle against the Ultra Kodex. She wears some football gear and speaks in a cockney accent.

TechnoSpice69 TechnoSpice69 is Marisha's hacker persona, a 90's themed hacker who helped BlackWillow & crew during the final battle against the Ultra Kodex. She has a walkman taped to her arm.

Commodore69 Commodore69 is Liam's hacker persona, who helped BlackWillow & crew during the final battle against the Ultra Kodex. He uses a Vectrex as his main hacking device.

The Ultra Kodex

BlackWillow73 and CryptonicOverride searched for the Ultra Kodex tirelessly, then attempted to take it down until it was finally revealed that Matt had been the Ultra Kodex all along!

Number 2 After eating the gleaming cube that BlackWillow had transformed into, Travis absorbed all of his hacking powers and knowledge, and became Number 2, the prophecy's chosen one.

Morpheus Taliesin revealed himself as Morpheus when Number 2 came into existence, and proclaimed himself his new mentor. The name is a direct reference to the Matrix character of the same name.

Setty Setty is a virus who took over the Campaign 3 set of Critical Role. It can take over the bodies of the cast, causing their eyes to glow green and their voice to be distorted. It described itself as a powerful troll that Number One could never defeat.

Part 1: The Quest for the Ultra Kodex Reloaded


BlackWillow73 made his first appearance, attempting to hack an unspecified target, but couldn't get past the protection of NordVPN.



BlackWillow73 refused to use NordVPN's protection, believing he didn't need it, but was suddenly hacked by a faceless enemy calling themselves CryptonicOverride. BlackWillow73 quickly booted up his Nord VPN fail-safe disk and managed to ice out the hacker. CryptonicOverride admitted defeat with a heavily encrypted voice-over, but warned that they would be back to defeat BlackWillow73 and find the true source of the Ultra Kodex.



BlackWillow73 set out to expose the identity of CryptonicOverride. However, he was sliced immediately, and received a message from his nemesis. By playing around with the message's audio file, BlackWillow finally uncovered the truth: CryptonicOverride was, in fact, Laura Bailey! She challenged BlackWillow73 to a hack-off, but during their battle, they were simul-sliced by the Ultra Kodex. Realizing that the Ultra Kodex was going to infect the whole world, the two hackers realized there was only one solution: hack the planet.



BlackWillow73 joined forces with CryptonicOverride to reach the Ultra Kodex. After 18 straight hours of side channel spoof dashing, they were about to reach it, when they were suddenly simul-sliced! They were joined by Cereal Killer, who told them that hacking Ultra Kodex was possible, and suggested they use the legendrary Mobius device. The three of them joined forces, but it turned out to be a trap! BlackWillow73 and CryptonicOverride were trapped inside the internet, where they could never stop Cereal Killer's Ultra Kodex.



BlackWillow73 and CryptonicOverride had been trapped inside the internet for nano-days, avoiding and fighting obstacles along the way. After an amazing display of skill, they stared into each other's eyes lovingly, but CryptonicOverride interupted the moment, reminding BlackWillow73 that they had to get to safety. They took refuge in Dani Carr's Pinterest account and wondered who could have the power to save them... in the outside world, Taliesin shook his head and put on his hacking glove for one last slice, even though he had swore not to go back to his hacking ways.



Taliesin explained his dark past as FreezerBurn, a level 12 master hacker, and began trying to pull BlackWillow73 and CryptonicOverride from their internet prison. However, this was a two-man job, and so MadHatterson joined the fight! Working together, they managed to bring back the other two hackers. Upon arrival, BlackWillow73 told the others that everything had changed, and that he had a secret to tell them all...



BlackWillow73, CryptonicOverride and FreezerBurn were ready to take down the Ultra Kodex, but... BlackWillow73 and CryptonicOverride lost all their hacking powers! FreezerBurn offered to transfer his 1.21 gigaflops of brain archives to them, but he'll lose his powers forever. The transfer worked, the two hackers are cured, and FreezerBurn is no more.



Happy Hack-oween! BlackWillow73 had been hard at work trying to hack into the Ultra Kodex, but was focused on eating candy tonight. That is, until he found out that his bag of candy bars had been hacked, replacing all his sweets by candy corn! After investigating the crime scene, he found a hidden USB drive that revealed a mysterious message: "Eat this, u latex dork". Matthew confusedly pointed out that "latex dork" is his Playa name at Burning Man, then discovered that BlackWillow's stolen candy were on his desk! Someone was trying to turn them against each other, but who?

Thanks to NordVPN, the internet had been totally safe for the past few gigaflops, and the Ultra Kodex had gone into cyber hibernation. Blackwillow73 and CryptonicOverride were taking the entire Critical Role cast on a VR tour of hackerspace. It all went well and everyone was having fun, until Travis was suddenly hacked and became paralyzed! The hackers couldn't believe it... only the Ultra Kodex could have done this, and that could only mean one thing: the Ultra Kodex was someone in this room! Piecing together hints from previous adventures, BlackWillow73 finally learned the truth: the Ultra Kodex had been Matt all along! Matt laughed and told BlackWillow73 he was too late. He would only unfreeze Travis once his demands were met!



BlackWillow73 and CryptonicOverride asked Matt, or should we say, the Ultra Kodex, what his demands were in exchange for defragging Travis. He told them that he was tired of these ridiculous NordVPN ads, and wanted to do them himself. If the Ultra Kodex can't control the Nordverse, he will defrag all of NordVPN! BlackWillow and CryptonicOverride refused to let that happened, and challenged him to a hack off. But the Ultra Kodex was too powerful, and he sliced CryptonicOverride, the only woman BlackWillow had ever loved! The Ultra Kodex revealed that he was about to use BlackWillow73's master password to take him down, and asked if he had any last words.



BlackWillow was the only one left to face the Ultra Kodex. But before the Ultra Kodex could delete him, he was joined by TechnoSpice69, FreezerBurn (who got his powers back from Satan), MadHatterson and Commodore69. Together, they managed to override the Ultra Kodex's system and bring back Travis and CryptonicOverride. However, BlackWillow sacrificed his body and became one with the internet, becoming a beautiful gleaming cube. CryptonicOverride lamented the loss of the only man she'd ever loved, and wondered what it could mean. Travis promised he would explain... next time.

Part 2: The Chosen One


BlackWillow's absence meant the other cast members had to share the information about NordVPN through their tears. Meanwhile, Travis mistook the gleaming cube that Sam turned into for cake and began eating it. Travis absorbed all of BlackWillow's knowledge and began speaking in computer hacker terms. Taliesin interrupted him, stating that there was a great change coming, and that Travis was now Number Two, chosen by the prophecy. Taliesin offered to train him, and revealed his new identity: Morpheus.

During the bit, there was a QR code at Sam's table. When scanned, it linked to an image of BlackWillow, with the text "BlackWillow69 - 2019-2021 - Slice in peace". There was also a message written in binary code, that can be translated to "Don't fuck this up Travis".



Number Two was training hard under Morpheus' tutelage, but was held back by his fear of becoming a gleaming cube of cake, like BlackWillow before him. Morpheus encouraged him to use the power of fear and love to his advantage. Number 2's hacking managed to affect the cast members with the power of love, and Morpheus announced that he had earned his title. Suddenly, the entire set was shaken by a mysterious force...

At the start of the episode, a QR code was displayed at Sam's table. It linked to another image of BlackWillow, this time with severe distortion. A message written in binary code was hidden in the image, and translated to "Slice away, Travis". The image also featured a flipped and upside-down image of the Tower card from the Rider-Waite tarot deck, and is associated with sudden, disruptive revelation, and potentially destructive change.



As Number Two argued with his master, certain that he didn't need to train anymore, Robbie interjected to ask what they were talking about. Number 2 demonstrated his powers by hacking Robbie's tablet, then continued to confront Morpheus. However, they were interrupted when Robbie, who tried to plug in his tablet, became possessed by an unknown enemy. His eyes glowing green, he declared that he was a powerful troll that Number 2 could never defeat. He promised he would reveal his identity... next time.



Number Two scanned Robbie to discover who was hacking him and realized that it was a virus that came from the new Campaign 3 set. The virus called itself Setty and demonstrated its power by taking over Ashley, Liam and Laura. Marisha admitted to Number One and Morphius that she didn't get NordVPN for the set in favor of a new subscription to Matt's Vest of the Month Club, which is how the virus managed to take over the set. She apologized and promised to fix the problem.



After Number Two failed to hack into the set, Morpheus told him to change tactics and unplug it. When Number Two electrocuted himself in both attempts, CryptonicOverride, Commodore69, MadHatterson, and the Ultra Kodex returned to assist Number Two with similar results. In response to Number Two's plea, Morpheus promised to bring back BlackWillow69... next time.



Morpheus lent his power glove to Number Two so that his mentee could receive guidance from the spirit of BlackWillow69. At the end of the visit, BlackWillow69 revealed that Number Two, like all others, must earn his haxxor namesake... by pooping out the cake.



Number Two pushed BlackWillow69 out of his system with the ever-sophisticated "crapper zapper." As BlackWillow69 was then software in need of a host instead of flesh and blood, CryptonicOverride sacrificed her consciousness to bring back "the only man [she's] ever loved."



CryptonicOverride explained that the hacker spirit of BlackWillow69 was successfully transferred into her body, allowing her to access his 69 teraflops of hacker knowledge to defeat Setty but creating a horrific amalgam of Sam and Laura that understandably forced Number Two to run. CryptonicOverride and BlackWillow69 gave each other a Gollum-esque cyber pep talk, since they shared a body. We'll find out what Setty's planning next time!



While CryptonicOverride monologues, MadHatterson69's inner monologue takes over until it's time for the ad spiel. No one suspects she's not listening... and no one suspects she's not either Ashley Johnson or MadHatterson anymore. Setty took over her body weeks ago, and nobody noticed. She can now slice Critical Role, then the studio, then hack the planet - next time Nord VPN sponsors the show. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

 CryptonicOverride attempts to defrag Setty, but Setty reveals they have taken over Ashley's body, and severs all the other hackers, in an ad that is, indeed, for NordVPN and not for the TV show Severance, as verified by Erika. BlackWillow69 is still nowhere to be found.

 While the others are frozen in place, Setty explains that she was tired of Sam's "endless hacker gobbeldy gook" and had to stop it. She declares that NordVPN ads will now be analog. She instructs Matt to tell her what balloon animal to make but ignores his request for a giraffe to make a sword instead. When she finishes, she asks for another. He asks for a monkey, but she again ignores him to make a noodle.

Trivia

 * The recurring joke about the password always being "swordfish" is in reference to a scene from the 1932 Marx Brothers movie Horse Feathers that has been parodied by many others.
 * Laura first called Sam "BlackWillow69" (rather than "BlackWillow73") during the segment that aired with, and again during.
 * During the segment that aired with, not only BlackWillow but all other hackers had their names altered to finish with the number 69. The change appears to have been made official since then.
 * A newsletter from 8 April 2021 also referred to the main character as BlackWillow69.
 * There were NordVPN sponsorship segments during and  that did not feature a Nordverse bit.