Domovoi
The domovoi[1] are protective house spirits common to Russian and Slavic myth. Domovoi have a number of different stories attached to them — they sometimes did housework or mundane tasks for their adopted families, like boggans, but unlike boggans they watched over people as they slept and acted as oracles for them. If they became angry with their family, they were also said to lash out like poltergeists.
Before the Chrysalis, domovoi should be people with strong senses of family; they might not all be parents, of course, but they bond with the people around them. Domovoi make good housekeepers, teachers, counselors, and security guards.
Domovoi adopted the Changeling Way easily and willingly in the wake of the Shattering, and weathered the Interregnum the way they always had — sticking closer to their adopted mortal families and being helpful. When the Resurgence happened, some domovoi welcome the sidhe back (they’d never had any particular conflict with their “leaders,” since their focus was generally on humans) while others were largely indifferent. Few domovoi, though, were passionate combatants in the war. This led to a reputation for being neutral (at best) and cowards (at worst) in the eyes of other Kithain. With regards to the two courts, Seelie domovoi are gentle teachers and helpers, much more prone to protecting sleepers and cleaning the house up than to making their presence known. Unseelie domovoi, on the other hand, are the ones more likely to send obtuse warnings in the form of omens to their families, and if the families can’t figure them out, well, that’s hardly the changeling’s problem.
A changeling domovoi adopts a given family and ingratiates himself as a friend, neighbor, and confidante. The domovoi then swears an oath to the family, which the family seals (often unknowingly) by offering the domovoi a gift or a meal. The domovoi is then bound that family as long as it lives in that dwelling. A domovoi’s role in a motley is probably best served in navigating mortal society. Domovoi understand it because they’ve watched that society change over the centuries. Domovoi could also be good watchdogs for nascent changelings about to enter the Chrysalis.
| Domovoi | |
|---|---|
| [No Symbol Available] | |
| Name | Domovoi |
| Plural | Domovoi |
| Pronounced | doh-moh-VOY |
| Dream of... | Protecting One's Family |
| Affinity | Actor |
| Birthrights | Adopted Family, Silent Protector |
| Frailties | Bonds of Family |
Kith Notes[edit]
Appearance[edit]
The domovoi kith are short, and tend towards having dark, profuse body hair. They aren’t ugly, necessarily, but are definitely swarthy and somewhat coarse. For all that, they move with grace and deftness, and they walk almost silently (since they need to creep around houses at night without waking people up).
Revelry[edit]
(As of yet unestablished)[2]
Kith Mechanics[edit]
Affinity[edit]
Actor
Birthrights[edit]
Adopted Family[edit]
Domovoi are able to draw on its family’s dwelling like a freehold. They can regain Glamour (up to three points in a story) by spending a night with the family and performing some service for them.
Silent Protector[edit]
Domovoi receive a –1 difficulty to all Stealth rolls, and cannot botch Stealth rolls. If the domovoi is in the house of their adopted family, sleeping family members don’t wake up until sunrise unless the domovoi wishes them to.
Frailty[edit]
Bonds of Family[edit]
If a domovoi breaks his oath to the family — allowing it to come to harm, refusing to help the family members, and so on, the domovoi cannot regain Glamour until he makes restitution. If the family breaks the oath (rejecting the domovoi, for example), the domovoi simply loses access to his Adopted Family Birthright until he can find a new family or patch things up with the original one.
References[edit]
Notes[edit]
<references/ >
- ↑ Domovoi are not presented with a full write-up in C20, but instead are used as the example of custom kith creation. As such, this is the least-detailed of all kith write ups, as everything has been extrapolated from the examples given. Everything presented in this article, however, is directly taken from the book.
- ↑ Not established in the book; we will update.