A Fragile Creation
Dheghom was meant to be a sanctuary, a world crafted with precision and sealed from the chaos beyond. In its earliest days, it was a place of abundance, where gods and mortals existed in harmony, and magic sustained every corner of creation. But perfection is fragile, and even the most carefully designed systems carry the seeds of their own failure.
This world, cut off from everything beyond itself, was sustained by the gods who created it. Yet, the very design that gave Dheghom its strength, also made it vulnerable. As the centuries passed, cracks began to form; first imperceptible, then catastrophic. Magic faltered, gods crumbled, and mortals were left to wander through the wreckage of a flawed and failing system. What remains now is a world that was never truly whole, spiraling into entropy, haunted by the echoes of its creators' mistakes.
The Creation and Collapse of Dheghom
When the gods created Dheghom, they sought to build a perfect world, sealing themselves within it to sustain its magic and life. They tied the world's energy to their own immortal existence, becoming the wellsprings that would nourish all creation. For a time, the system thrived. Magic was abundant, the land was fertile, and mortals flourished under the gods' watchful eyes.
But the gods misunderstood the beings they chose to seal within. Mortals, given abundance, grew restless and ambitious. The stability of the Bloom Age bred excess and conflict. Mortals turned on each other, and eventually on the gods themselves. Seeing their creators as obstacles or oppressors, mortals attacked the gods, corrupted them, turning them into Tatarigami, monstrous remnants of divinity.
The corruptions of the gods shattered the balance they had built. Magic, once the sustaining force of Dheghom, began to destabilize. It became chaotic, dangerous, and destructive, and the more gods fell, the more the system unraveled, creating a cascade of devastation. What was once a self-sustaining world became a prison of entropy, spiraling toward collapse.
Now, mortals live in the wreckage of their creators' design. Magic remains, but it is no longer a blessing, it is a curse that mirrors the decay of the gods. The system built to sustain the world is breaking apart, and there is no force left to repair it. Dheghom was never perfect. It was a flawed creation, doomed by its own design and destroyed by the very beings it sought to protect.
The Glass That Mortals Cannot See
Almost all mortals have no concept of the boundaries of their world. To them, Dheghom is all there is, a vast realm crafted by the gods. They do not know that it is sealed, because they do not know there is anything beyond their own world. The idea of an outside, a beyond, is foreign, unspoken, and unknowable. For most, it is beyond comprehension to even suggest that such a thing exists, and for others, it is ridiculous.
But the system is breaking. As the gods decay and magic falters, the boundaries of Dheghom have begun to fracture. These breaches are rare and unpredictable, but when they occur, they pull in things that have no place in Dheghom. Beings from other planes, bizarre, incomprehensible, and hostile, tear through the fabric of the world, sowing confusion and destruction wherever they appear. To mortals, these intrusions are inexplicable. They have no understanding of planar boundaries or the forces that govern the multiverse. A creature from another plane might be seen as a god, a demon, or something beyond classification entirely. The vast and endless void in which other planes of existence persist is beyond a pane of glass through which mortals cannot see.
The Fractured Divine
The gods, over time, bound themselves to physical locations throughout Dheghom, finding solace in landmarks that reflected their nature. Throughout the millennia, they have been weakened as their sanctuaries succumbed to neglect, destruction, or corruption. While their physical forms can be destroyed, what happens to their divine essence remains uncertain to mortals. Some believe it lingers, eventually reforming into a new shape; others fear it could dissipate entirely, robbing the world of their unique divinity. This decay has begun to unravel the natural order, warping landscapes, tainting waters, and birthing monstrous horrors.
The importance of divine corruption in your campaign depends on how central you want it to be. Its influence can be as immediate or distant as you choose. However, players must be able to connect their characters to the divine or their corruption in order to feel connected to those central themes.
Focus on the Divine
If you are interested in developing a campaign or arc on the divine, it is important to help your players find a connection to that idea. Characters with connections to the divine need not be clerics or paladins, but may be of any background or class, since the danger and destruction caused by corrupted gods (Tatarigami), is far reaching and largely inescapable. Character backgrounds, motivations, and ambitions can help to fuel far-reaching adventures throughout your campaign.
Shadow of the Divine
If the gods and their woes are not the focus of your player's adventures in Dheghom, you may still hint at the effects their corrupted presence has in the world. Refugees fleeing blighted regions, beasts driven mad with divine fury, or radicals hunting gods. In the forefront of your campaign, there are numerous avenues of adventure that characters can wander along, which do not deal directly with gods or their corruption.