The Dominarie Mountain Range lies between the Aractrashan Jungle and the Shacklack Desert. Rain clouds coming off the Caspian Sea are stopped by the height of the Dominarie Mountains. The clouds feed the rivers of Aractrash and leave the Shacklack drier than would otherwise be expected for its latitude. The Dominarie Mountains were once a bastion of dwarven civilization under Queen Shortrastor. That past was ruined by the genocidal invasion of Kruk-Ma-Kali. Now the rocky crags stand empty, filled with nothing but ghosts, monsters, and hidden treasures occasionally sought by desperate adventurers.

The Dominarie Mountains were home to goblins prior to Queen Shortrastor’s settlement. She led a band of dwarves who disliked the restrictive theocratic environment of most dwarven communities in Zeus’s Canvas. Shortrastor displaced the goblins and guided her kingdom with a strong hand during the Age of Monsters. She enjoyed her independence and never joined Cogard’s united Dwarven Kingdom.

Shortrastor’s disdain for foreigners would be her doom in the end. During the Dragon War, she betrayed her mortal blood by serving the blue wyrm, Bavastatner. This move ended any hope of alliance with the rest of Cimmeria after the war’s conclusion. Shortrastor did her best to repair these friendships, but she was left with no one who would come to her aid when Kruk-Ma-Kali invaded. Due to past slights, Kruk-Ma-Kali committed his army to exterminating the Dominarie Dwarf race. They burned the capital and systematically killed every single Dominarie Dwarf. All dwarves within the rocky tunnels were slain.

This brutal genocide was not without consequences. The terrible wrong done against them allowed many of the Dominarie Dwarves to endure, but now as shades and ghosts. Constant harassment by these undead made the Dominarie Mountains uninhabitable. The goblins attempted to retake their homeland and failed. The Aractrashan Kingdom attempted to claim a foothold but could get no further than their mines at the base of the mountains. The only things that survive within the Dominarie Range now are undead and other horrid monsters that are unperturbed by the evil miasma within the silent dwarven tunnels.

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I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

86 – Wuxia Adventures in RPGS (Daniel and Metanoia/Ithasen) Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

I interviewed Daniel, my cohost of the Tabletop Community Spotlight! Daniel created his own setting called Ithasen with an in-progress wuxia TTRPG system called Metanoia to go along with it. Ithasen has a spiritual force known as Ren that pervades the world. Ren is a magical manifestation of the user's, or Rennim's, will upon the universe. Rennim that cultivate their will grow stronger and capable of more amazing feats as the concentrate their power and force of personality.Within Ithasen there are seven lineages of people that decide what type of Ren they can use. Anamor use conversion Ren. Elkyr use flux Ren. Janim use elasticity Ren. Nyl use influence Ren. Okoi use recurrence Ren. Haqol use harmony Ren. Finally, Daruner use use coalescent ren. The two races lineages that drive unique politics in Ithasen are the Daruner and the Haqol.Daruner children absorb the Ren talents of both their parents, becoming a perfect blend of Daruner and another lineage parent. Through this mixing, a Daruner family could potentially include all other lineages within itself. This power has placed Daruner as the nobility of Ithasen.Haqol's power of harmony allows them to amplify the Ren powers of others. This puts Haqol in a vulnerable position as unscrupulous people will do anything to incorporate Haqol lineage into their bloodline. Haqol have experienced something akin to a genocide as their lineage has been consistently absorbed by other lineages and diluted over the centuries.There's a whole lot more than that so strap in!Daniel has a fully setup GitHub Wiki for information on Metanoia and Ithasen that you can explore.There's a Metanoid Discord server you can join to discuss the rules and setting with other fans.The occasional musing on TTRPGs can be found on Daniel's blog, Tabletop Discourse.GoCorral YouTube Channel for watching the Tabletop Community Spotlight.Vote in the CRIT Awards! Voting is open until August 23rd.Check out the Setting the Stage website!Want to be on the show? Fill out this survey.Join our Discord!Support Setting the Stage on Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 86 – Wuxia Adventures in RPGS (Daniel and Metanoia/Ithasen)
  2. 85 – Medical Doctor D&D (Justin and Oops! All Healers!)
  3. 84 – Horseback Riding D&D Camp (Michael and SaddleSnaps)
  4. 83 – Call of Cthulhu's Garden (Hem and The Sprouting)
  5. 82 – Tarot Ghosts (George and Fears & Fortunes)