Playing in Domhan

Flash Fiction

A soldier lays in the mud, her armor stained with blood, both her own and that of others. Her body is broken, and she can feel her vision beginning to blur. Yet, she smiles, and is content, for she knows that she will meet Ako soon. She closes her eyes, breathes her last - and then opens her eyes, feeling her nerves beginning to connect as she inhabits a new Husk, ready to die in glorious battle once more.
A wanderer stands before the woman he loved, hundreds of years ago. He was a fool to let her go - a decision that has haunted his soul ever since, as the Regret grew. But things have changed, and she is no longer a woman - not in this body. And she - or, rather, he - has forgotten everything about the wanderer, moved on, and has made a new life for himself. What will the wanderer do, when his heart still beats for him?
Two gods face each other down in the middle of a blasted, corpse-covered battlefield. They stare each other down, their magic shrouding them in a cloak of a thousand colors, as what little remains of their respective armies run away, lest they be swept. Without a single word, the two deities begin to fight against each other, tearing the land apart around them as their weapons clash. It would turn out to be a stalemate - as usual.
A figure stands before a table, upon which an infinity of books lay, open. With an effortless gesture, the figure flips the page of one of them, and reads the words on it attentively. Slowly, it turns towards you, and speaks, its voice like wind as it enters your ears. He has a task for you - one that will likely cause you to lose your life. But you're ready, for when the page turns, a new chapter will begin.

Welcome!

Welcome to the setting of Domhan! There are a few things you should know about playing in this setting, as it is different from many other settings.

• First, you should consult the Banned content page.
• Second, you should read or at least skim through the Creation Myth. This will allow you to get familiar with the base premise of the setting.
• Third, you should forget everything you would normally assume about a setting, especially if you're coming from a DnD or Pathfinder background. There are no other planes; gods walk amongst the living; reincarnation is evident, and can be tracked and felt. Demons and fiends do not exist, and the challenges you'll face have to do with the folly of the gods themselves. Furthermore, your own soul will be plagued by a Regret. How will you take care of it, if you choose to even care about it at all?

What is Domhan?

Domhan is a high fantasy setting, with a few tendencies towards dark fantasy. This setting involves gods and extremely powerful beings directly, and death features prominently. Yet, in comparison to other settings, death is not permanent, nor easily solved by a spell; instead, it is regimented by a set of precise rules (see Death and Reincarnation). This was designed so that death does not necessarily end a character's story - but it does still set them back quite a bit. Will you survive in this world where even one wrong word could get you killed?

Coming from Aj'kar?

If you are a player coming from my other setting, Aj'kar, here are the things you should remember about Domhan:

• Domhan's tone is darker than Aj'kar's. Death, the human(oid) condition, and psychological troubles all feature prominently in Domhan, in ways they never did in Aj'kar.
• Domhan's races are not standard races. As explained in the Banned content page, the races of Domhan are strictly defined, displaying less variety than in Aj'kar.
• Domhan is bigger than Aj'kar. It has more than twice the amount of nations, and is much bigger (scale-wise) than Aj'kar itself. This makes travel more difficult, but the world more diverse as well.
• There are no other planes. In Aj'kar, even if shrouded, there were other planes. Domhan is alone, and doesn't use the standard DnD lore regarding planes, interplanar travel, etc. It is fully separate from this assumption.