Adventure Concepts: Myth

[jorb]

The Domovoi appears at the player plot some time after a house has been built, and a hearth fire lit inside it. He announces that he's moving in. In return for food and lodgings, to which he helps himself, he works as a general, if slightly erratic, help around the plot.



A young female player character drowns, or is murdered, in or near water. Her spirit haunts the water in the form of a Rusalka, attempting to drown hapless passersby until she's banished, or her curse is broken.



Something seems strange about this old wardrobe.



Grubdludd had never believed in Hearthlings. Until he met one.



The Lindworm fell asleep, coiling tightly, against the wind and the hail, around the little sprout. When it awoke, the storm had subsided.



If I finish this before the end of time, my life will have had meaning.

[Jfloyd]

Fuckyes

[Delamore]

No thanks

[Peter]

Sounds like an NPC... Could be kind of weird but awesome. Maybe make it a skill that allows you to craft them?

[sabinati]

sounds neat

[trollfairy]

Sounds like an NPC... Could be kind of weird but awesome. Maybe make it a skill that allows you to craft them?

Whoa ) Domovoi is a house spirit in Slavic mythology. You can't craft those.

Awesome idea, jorb. I hope they will really fuck things up if you mistreat them.

[kobnach]

Interesting. In theme, and has a nice coolness factor. Perhaps they should respond to good treatment, such as leaving treats for them? (I'm kind of equating them to the tomte, who like porridge with butter, particularly on special holidays.)

[Lisadriana]

Interesting. In theme, and has a nice coolness factor. Perhaps they should respond to good treatment, such as leaving treats for them? (I'm kind of equating them to the tomte, who like porridge with butter, particularly on special holidays.)

I'd say that there is some likeness between the Domovoi and the tomte, but going back farther in the northen mythology, the tomte was more feared than liked. More often than not the little bugger would get angry for some completely random reason, and then suddenly WHOOP all your cows give sour milk and your firstborn got cancer in the eye. But on the other hand, take good care of him and he'd be more than a handful of help around the 'stead.

As far as I can recall, the domovoi is more of a living talisman, not doing anything in particular, but granting good luck and good fortune to the 'stead and the family if treated well, and just packing it's things and leaving if not. Though I could very likely be wrong here, I'm not that up on slavic myth.

All in all, completely fucking awesome idea!

[theTrav]

hmm... No doubt this will be fun for Jorb and Loftar to create, but personally I am more interested in things like weather, seasons and expanding the farming/producing mechanics.

[loftar]

(I'm kind of equating them to the tomte, who like porridge with butter, particularly on special holidays.)

From the likeness in sound, I suspected that they may actually be related, and, interestingly enough, some research shows that that may actually be true. "Tomte" is based on the Swedish word "tomt" (which has a root meaning of "lot" or "homestead" or similar), and "domovoi" (домовой) appears to be based on "domasnij" (домашний), which, according to Wiktionary, has a very similar meaning, and is also related to "dom" (дом), which, apart from now sounding extremely similar to "tomt", is, apparently, traceable back to Proto-Indo-European "*domo-/*domu" (which, I guess, is also cognate to Latin "domus", the root of the English word "domestic"), which has the same meaning and almost has to be cognate with Swedish "tomt".

Wikipedia tells that "in other European folklore, there are many beings similar to the tomte, such as the Scots brownie, English Hob, the German Heinzelmännchen or the Russian domovoi", from which it is very hard to tell whether they are actually related, or just similar beings of independent invention, but also, of the Hob, that "as well as the brownie, another cognate exists in the Scandinavian tomte or nisse; all of which are thought to be derived from the household gods of olden times, known in England as the cofgodas", which seems to indicate that they are, in fact, related. Seeing how the Varangians have had, in many aspects, a profound impact on Slavic culture, I guess it wouldn't be completely unthinkable that the domovoi is a Scandinavian export, but I can't really say that I'm able to find any conclusive evidence to support it.