De Rolo family

The de Rolo family is a noble family residing in Whitestone Castle.

Founding of Whitestone
Not long after 612 PD, the de Rolo family wrecked their ship in the Shearing Channel during an expedition from Wildemount. Survivors braved the wilderness of Alabaster Sierras for weeks before finding a glowing tree and building their home around it. Today this settlement has grown into a robust city, largely due to a unique mineral with several useful magical properties called whitestone.

The Third House of Whitestone
A member of the third generation of de Rolos to be born in Whitestone had an arranged marriage with his cousin, Lady Melanie von Musel, and they became the lord and lady of Whitestone. However in around the 730s PD, she created the back gardens of Whitestone Castle, where she grew poisonous plants from Wildemount with which she planned to murder her husband, slowly poisoning him in order to take over the city herself. She was eventually removed from her position for suspected witchcraft and raising of the undead.

By the end of the conflict between Lady von Musel and Lord de Rolo, the de Rolos had acquired the third house of Whitestone. Despite Melanie's bad reputation, it became a tradition in the de Rolo family to carry her surname, "von Musel".

Briarwood Coup
Around 805 PD, the Briarwoods slaughtered almost the entire de Rolo family and seized control of Whitestone. Two members of the de Rolo family survived: Cassandra was badly wounded and captured while helping Percival escape. The bodies of the other members of the family were left hanging on the Sun Tree.

The de Rolo Restoration
Percival de Rolo returned with the other members of Vox Machina and removed the Briarwood regime. Percival and Cassandra then picked up the mantle of leadership in Whitestone—Percival as sovereign, and Cassandra as head of the Chamber of Whitestone. Percival secretly married Vex'ahlia in 811 PD and they had five children, starting with Vesper Elaina in 812 or 813 PD and then the twins Wolfe Kristoff and Leona Pike (in an undetermined order), Vax'ildan Frederick, and the youngest Gwendolyn Zahra Melanie von Musel.

Known members

 * Unnamed Lord de Rolo
 * Melanie von Musel
 * Frederick de Rolo
 * Johanna Klossowski
 * Julius de Rolo
 * Vesper de Rolo
 * Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III
 * Vex'ahlia de Rolo
 * Vesper Elaina de Rolo
 * Wolfe Kristoff and Leona Pike de Rolo, twins
 * Vax'ildan Frederick de Rolo, named after his late maternal uncle
 * Gwendolyn Zahra Melanie von Musel de Rolo, a tiefling as a result of Percival's deal with Ipkesh, a fiend of Dis
 * Oliver de Rolo
 * Whitney de Rolo
 * Ludwig de Rolo
 * Cassandra de Rolo

Trivia

 * The de Rolo surname is made up of two elements: de is a French or Spanish preposition meaning "of"; Rolo, on the other hand, is a variant of the Norwegian name Rollo, which in turn derives from the Old Norse name Hrodwulf (hrod meaning "renown" and wulf meaning "wolf").
 * Interestingly, the family's lupine motif does not end with the surname, as one of the younger members of the family is called Wolfe, and the legendary wolf Galdric protects the woods near the family settlement.
 * The family crest used to have five stars, but when Vex'ahlia became a champion of Pelor, Percy decided to add one more star in her honor.
 * Originally Laura and Taliesin considered naming one of Vex and Percy's children after the latter, in order to have a Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo IV in the family. However, this name was not present among the couple's children, although it is unknown if it is a discarded idea or if a hypothetical sixth child will bear the name.
 * In The Legend of Vox Machina, an "uncle Nathaniel" is mentioned. However, Nathaniel de Rolo has never been mentioned on stream, nor in any Critical Role sourcebooks. Additionally, it has never been mentioned whether Frederick de Rolo had any siblings. Because of this, the existence of this character is canonical only in the animated show.