[This chapter exists outside the story itself -just me speaking directly to you. It's an info-dump, a place to give you clarity before the narrative scatters these elements across characters, myths, and moments, while trying not to spoil it. What you read here will return throughout the novel in fragments, symbols, and echoes, but this chapter stands alone so you won't confuse it with the plot. It's simply my way of giving you a map before we begin the journey.as I am new I to this so my worldbuilding may not be on point yet but this should cover for my shortcomings.]
CORE WORLD THEMES
Verden's Reach is essentially an emotional ecosystem. The whole world runs on:
Pain as power (DOMA)
Legacy as burden (Houses)
Honor as currency (Covenant)
Memory as existence (Forgotten)
Nothing is destiny. No reincarnation. Death is not reversible.Every moment is a choice with ROI - Return On Integrity.
THE DOMA SYSTEM - POWER THROUGH BROKENNESSWhat is a DOMA?
A DOMA is a spiritual fracture.A wound so deep, reality bends around it.
It is not magic, not energy, not ki - it is the physical manifestation of emotional trauma.
Each DOMA feels like an aura with texture:
Some crush your lungs
Some whisper fear
Some bring cold
Some bring despair so heavy you can feel your spine bow
Rules of DOMA (non-negotiable, locked-in):
One DOMA per life.
Born from the wielder's deepest wound.
Evolves only through emotional growth, not strength.
Houses can pass DOMA lineages, but the emotion stays consistent.
Ritual of Heart and Mind = relive your worst pain + oath.
Fail = real, permanent harm.
Presence of a strong DOMA can warp a room like gravity.
DOMA Types are never elements (no fire, lightning, etc).They're emotional constructs:
DOMA: Gravemind (from guilt)
DOMA: Red Echo (from humiliation)
DOMA: Shatterbone (from witnessing someone break)
Think emotional physics.
THE GENTLEMAN'S COVENANT
Corporate-but-ancient, calm-but-terrifying.They aren't warriors - they are custodians of dignity.
Mission Statement:
Protect the powerless, regulate DOMA misuse, and maintain "emotional equilibrium" across Verden's Reach.
The Code:
Discipline. Restraint. Loyalty. Honesty. Sacrifice.Breaking the Code = exile or execution.
THE QUIET KING (Leader)
Name: Unknown
Age: 109
Aesthetic: Black suit, cane, voice like calm thunder.
Titles:
The Quiet King
The Silence at Dawn
The Man Who Buried an Entire War Without Words
His DOMA — NOCTURNE
Nocturne is not darkness.It is silence, regret, and unkept promises made real.
Effects:
Sound dies around him.
Regret can be imposed on another - people break under the weight of the promises they never kept.
Entire armies have fallen into silent despair in his presence.
Nocturne is the most refined DOMA in history.Not strongest — refined (precision like diamond cutting).
He founded the Covenant as a response to witnessing a genocide no god intervened in.
THE VICE LEADER - THE SMILING GENTLEMAN
A chaotic king.Laughs at everything.Moves like a joke but strikes like a thesis.
Nickname:
The Smiling Gentleman
The Smiling Fool
Some think he's vice leader because of favoritism.Some think he's a fraud.No one knows why but the silent gentleman made his vice leader.
His DOMA — UNKNOWN
Only the Quiet King knows.
Rumors say:
Standing near him makes your spine feel too light.
He can erase emotions.
His presence feels like a joke you don't understand but can't stop laughing at.
Power Level:
Unknown , but obeys only one person: the King.
THE KNIGHTS OF NIGHTFALL
This is a secret order.
Purpose:
To confront the "shadows of humanity" - the crimes, memories, and regrets so heavy that normal people would mentally collapse.
Role:
They enter emotional "nightfall zones" - areas corrupted by extreme human suffering where reality becomes unstable.
They clean, stabilize, and contain these emotional cataclysms.
Ranking:
Grandmaster: ???
Commander: ???
Wardens: Senior operatives
Squires of Dusk: Trainees
The order is unknown to almost all of Verden.
THE HOUSES OF VERDEN
Each House is tied to an animal symbolizing a specific form of emotional endurance.
Houses are ranked by Legacy Weight:
How deeply the House has suffered
How well they survived
How their trauma shaped them
A House can be rich but rank low.A dying House can outrank all of them.
Example Houses:
House Lion - Courage Born From Shame
Strongest presence, but decaying legacy.
House Hawk - Clarity Born From Loss
Masters of reconnaissance and emotional precision.
House Turtle - Endurance Born From Long Sorrow
Oldest House, almost extinct.
House Serpent - Transformation Born From Betrayal
Manipulators of emotional metamorphosis.
Each House governs a world-sized territory.
RELIGION - THE FOUR GODS
The faith is run by the Church of Celestial Veins.
The Gods:
Luna - mourning
Sol - creation/rebirth
Midnight - endings/judgment
Eclipse - balance of contradictions
Their doctrine interprets DOMAs as divine echoes of sorrow.
Key Factions:
Guardian Knights - 10,000 soldiers strength
House Knights - 1,000 soldiers strength
Oracles - so spiritually elevated their DOMA presence is lethal (they are often called one-man armada, even though I put them under the church think of them as a neutral existence, they do not participate in anything like nomads or monks.)
Law:"War is for fools. Killing is for the faithless."
THE FORGOTTEN
The scariest faction.
What they are:
People erased from records, memory, and history.Only the Covenant senses their existence.
Purpose:
Maintain balance by removing anyone or anything whose power threatens the natural order.
Rules:
Their names vanish
Their DOMA signatures vanish
Their accomplishments vanish
Their deaths vanish
It is rumored:
"When a Forgotten dies, the world sighs - as if something heavy finally left."
SETTING
Far-future but spiritually ancient.
Think along the line of:
Floating cities
Solar-carved temples
Ancestral archives
Tech that responds to emotion
Starships that hum like drums
Rituals done with holographic ink
Houses ruling planet-scale homelands filled with unique ecosystems
Hope this was useful to clear up any confusion the rest will be revealed in detail in the chapters to come.