Maya

Maya
Non-player character
Basic information
ActorBrennan Lee Mulligan
RaceEisfuura
Biographical information
Pronounsshe/her
Also known asEgghead
Age14 (Exandria Unlimited: Calamity)[fn 1]
PlacesAvalir
Family
Mechanical information
Creature typeHumanoid
Appearances
First seen"Fire and Ruin" (E3x04)
StreamExandria Unlimited: Calamity (1 episode)

Maya is an eisfuura girl living in Avalir and the daugter of Cerrit Agrupnin. As an NPC, in Exandria Unlimited: Calamity, Maya is played by Brennan Lee Mulligan.

Description[edit | edit source]

Maya is a 14-year-old[1][2][fn 1] eisfuura girl. She is described as a young teenager with awkward plumage that she is expected to eventually grow into.[4]

Maya is slightly rebellious, drinking alcohol, breaking curfew and sneaking out to a party,[8] but she still apparently trusts and respects her father as shown by her immediately returning home when told to. She is also bright and studious, with a particular interest in history.[9]

Biography[edit | edit source]

Background[edit | edit source]

Maya lives in Avalir with her father Cerrit Agrupnin, Senior Sightwarden of the Eyes of Avalir, and her younger brother Kir. Her mother Wrayne is a scientist who is possibly sometimes busy on long-term research trips away from home.[10][11]

Cerrit missed a significant portion of her life while she was growing up and did not give enough of his attention to the family.[12][13] Shortly before the events of Exandria Unlimited: Calamity, Wrayne and Cerrit's relationship became so strained under his obsessive dedication to his work that she separated from him and went to Gwessar.[13][13] For further detail on the relationships within their household, see: Cerrit Agrupin § Relationship with Wrayne, Maya, and Kir.

Exandria Unlimited: Calamity[edit | edit source]

On the Eve of the Replenishment, Maya broke curfew to go to a party, unaware that her younger brother saw her leave and was reporting everything to their father.[8] She went to a party hosted at the university for young sorcerers and chatted with another girl who Kir believed to be a triton due to her blue hair. Later that night, as the danger the city faced grew clear, Cerrit instructed Kir to collect his sister and take her home.[14]

Cerrit returned home and reunited with his children, who were both unaware of the chaos and attacks occurring throughout the city. As Cerrit explained he had a gift for them that would send them to their mother, who was very excited to see them, Maya noticed Cerrit's Ring of Honor was glowing. Cerrit gave her and Kir the Runes of Recall and told them they would take them to their mother, and that he loved them very much. Cerrit then squeezed his hands, breaking the rune, sending Kir and Maya to their mother in Gwessar.[15]

Patia Por'co, after realizing that Avalir would fall and the knowledge they've gained is useless if nobody is around to make use of it, Teleported her Orb of Power to Maya, which held within it all of her acquired knowledge.[16]

Notable items[edit | edit source]

Orb of Power, gifted to her by Patia Por'co[17]

Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]

Travis Willingham, the player for Cerrit, noted that the structure of Exandria Unlimited: Calamity, in which the party meets a threat within the city, differed from traditional campaigns where adventurers typically traveled to a more remote location first and minimized collateral damage. Because this campaign was taking place inside the characters' home, he felt it was necessary to have a family to make the situation more complex. He pitched Cerrit to Dungeon Master Brennan Lee Mulligan as Jor-El, specifically in wanting to play a character sent his children to safety out of their collapsing home. In relation to that, he also wanted to explore putting something above one's family, which he struggles to imagine as a new parent. Cerrit's children were developed to create a tension between Cerrit having to choose his work and his family, who is ultimately more important.[18][19]

Brennan was "really glad" that Travis gave Cerrit children because he felt that otherwise the other characters would have become bystanders in the narrative. He felt that Maya and Kir grounded the story in "something real" and were lives are at stake and still matter but are powerless. He named Maya, alongside her brother Kir, among his favorite NPCs of Exandria Unlimited: Calamity. He loved playing them and described the ability to as "really special".[20]

Appearances and mentions[edit | edit source]

Trivia[edit | edit source]

The red maya (mayang pula), or chestnut munia (Lonchura atricapilla)
  • In the Phillippines, "maya" is a term referring to a collection of small bird species, including sparrows and finches. The red maya (mayang pula), more commonly known as the chestnut munia, was the national bird until 1995, when the honor was transferred to the Philippine eagle, the bird that Cerrit's appearance is based on.
  • Maya was born during a Replenishment year, which occurred every seven years.
  • After Brennan described Maya as having awkward plumage because she is a teenager, he mentioned Sunny Biscotto, Marisha Ray's teenage aarakocra character in the Pirates of Leviathan game he ran for Dimension 20. Marisha played Patia Por'co in Calamity.
  • It is unknown where in Gwessar Maya and her family lived during the Calamity, but Aabria Iyengar said that she hoped they were in the Qoniira Tetrarchy,[21] a civilization in southern Gwessar that she created for the first Exandria Unlimited series and was added to Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn. The Qoniira are neutral and non-judgmental about sources of magic and respectful of all magics, and the civilization's capital Niirdal-Poc survived the Calamity. Furthermore, Niirdal-Poc also has a population of birdfolk,[22] possibly eisfuura, living in it as late as 842 PD, some of whom may be descendants of the Agrupnin family.

References[edit | edit source]

Footnotes:

  1. 1.0 1.1 She is initially stated to be 7.[3] However, she is described as a young teenager, and her mannerisms and behavior are more similar to that of a teenager.[4] She is also later stated by Cerrit in-game and by Marisha Ray out-of-game to be 14. It is not entirely clear if her age was retconned, if the initial statement was misspoken, or if she's considered as having a shorter lifespan, but because she is most often treated in- and out-of-game as 14 years old, this article takes 14 as her correct age. As further context: Cerrit uses the racial mechanics of an aarakocra in Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, in which they have significantly shorter lifespans than other peoples and mature at a very early age.[5] The new version of aarakocra published in Monsters of the Multiverse, released just before Calamity with different mechanics, describe their lifespans using the default "about a century" text in keeping with Wizards of the Coast removing the age trait from player races beginning with Wild Beyond the Witchlight in September 2021.[6][7]

Citations:

  1. "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 2:39:45.
  2. "4-Sided Dive: Independent Witches" (4SDx04) at 1:07:46.
  3. "Excelsior" (E3x01) at 3:10:34.
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 1:29:21.
  5. Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, Chapter 4: "Character Options", p. 165. In "Blood and Shadow" (E3x03) at 48:12, Travis states that Cerrit has a fly speed of 50 feet, consistent with the aarakocra stats published in this campaign setting guide.
  6. Monsters of the Multiverse, p. 5. See also The Aarakocra Race for Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) Fifth Edition (5e).
  7. Sage Advice: Creature Evolutions (October 4, 2021) by Jeremy Crawford at Wizards of the Coast.
  8. 8.0 8.1 "Bitterness and Dread" (E3x02) from 16:26 through 20:29.
  9. "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 1:40:03.
  10. "Bitterness and Dread" (E3x02) at 19:30.
  11. Exandria Unlimited: Calamity Q&A With Travis Willingham on CritRole.com. "Exandria Unlimited: Calamity Wrap Up" (Mx15) clarifies that Wrayne is not necessarily on a research trip during the events of Exandria Unlimited: Calamity, as indicated by the quote marks around the phrase in this Q&A. The Q&A and Cerrit's comment possibly suggest that Wrayne historically takes research trips, even if this is not the true reason she is away during the campaign.
  12. "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) from 1:33:35 through 1:36:59.
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Exandria Unlimited: Calamity Wrap Up" (Mx15) from 34:30 through 35:18.
  14. "Blood and Shadow" (E3x03) at 5:07:26.
  15. "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 1:29:39.
  16. "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 2:57:25.
  17. "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 5:49:16.
  18. "Exandria Unlimited: Calamity Wrap Up" (Mx15) at 39:12.
  19. "Exandria Unlimited: Calamity Wrap Up" (Mx15) at 36:02.
  20. Exandria Unlimited: Calamity Interview with Brennan Lee Mulligan at 24:50.
  21. Aabria Iyengar (quiddie) on Tumblr - June 17, 2022.
  22. "The Gift Among the Green" (E1x06) at 39:40.