Damovoi and Domovoi
Domovoi and damovoi look very similar, as their names might suggest. Each one consists of 90% beard and 10% everything else. The difference is damovoi stand 6in tall and domovoi at least 8ft. Obviously this makes one faemiliar more portable than the other.
(If you're unclear which, it's the smaller one)
The large domovoi were particularly popular with the early scribers of the intermesh. Scribing was a real boys club in its early years, and what could be more macho than a giant beard on legs?
Creation Notes
Domovoi (or domovoy/domovoj) are household gods from Slavic tradition. I first read about them while researching folklore in the prep stage before I started writing the Tumultiverse books.
My plan was to create a world in which magickal beings replaced technology and machines. This is something that you got a bit of in the Discworld series - notably with the imps that sat in iconographs and painted 'photographs'. I wanted to take that to the nth degree, and make it more like The Flintstones. If you're unfamiliar with that show (it's literally prehistoric at this point), the characters existed in a world in which talking dinosaurs performed the tasks of modern contraptions.
So yeah - I ripped off The Flintstones, basically. What are you gonna yabba dabba do about it, Hanna-Barbera?
As part of my research (browsing Wikipedia on my lunch breaks), I came across all sorts of gods, spirits, faerys, monsters, and thingies. Household entities like the domovoi felt like they'd be a good fit for some sort of household appliance. When I came to write The Quest Factor, Mucal needed a creature to connect him to the intermesh. A domovoi seemed like the perfect fit.
The damavoi came about because Mucal left his bedroom. This proved unfortunate, as he and his faemiliar had good banter. Realising it would be ridiculous for the 8ft domovoi to follow him around, I created Little Bruce.
In terms of appearance, I took inspiration from images like this one and the one below in which the domovoy had impressive beards. From there I amped things up a bit until my domovoi were more beard than thing.
Looking into the work of Ivan Bilibin, he's created some real masterpieces. While we're here, we might as well take a look:
In this one, Mr Armour On-Horseguy aims a bow mere metres away from his target - a man who seemingly intends to defend himself by blowing the arrow back.
UPDATE: it turns out the blower is a monster-man named Nightingale the Robber who could lay waste to buildings with his magickal whistle. Reminds me of a character I have in an upcoming book, actually...
Here we can see a depiction of Internet Reply Guy continuing to proposition this woman despite her laying waste to all who came before him (either that or it's the middle act of a story about a murderous cockerel).
This one is just titled 'Brexit', weirdly.
Further Reading
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(If you're unclear which, it's the smaller one)
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| Damovoi by Zuza Gruzlewska |
These days, most people have mobile faemiliars rather than the big, lumbering home kind. Thankfully for those who love beards, majologists discovered the damavoi. These faemiliars are so much smaller that they can actually function as beard toupees.
In The Quest Factor, Mucal Slycep employs a domovoi named Bruce and a damovoi named Little Bruce. There was likely an element of overcompensation on Mucal's part, as the goblin couldn't grow a beard of his own - no matter how long he spent in tense concentration - desperately trying to will one into existence.
Much to his dismay, the goblin later discovered that Little Bruce was female. While faer beings don't actually have sexual organs, they do enjoy gender. They probably enjoy it more than physical entities, as they can embody the one they're comfortable with without someone shouting, "YOU DON'T HAVE THE CORRECT GENITALS FOR THAT, AND THAT'S SOMEHOW MY BUSINESS!"
Mucal did try returning Little Bruce, but they refused him a refund. The responsibility for checking a faemiliar's gender rested on the purchaser. On top of that, he'd clearly been wiping his hands on her, as she was covered in bright orange cheese puff dust.
Damovoi and Domovoi Facts
Much to his dismay, the goblin later discovered that Little Bruce was female. While faer beings don't actually have sexual organs, they do enjoy gender. They probably enjoy it more than physical entities, as they can embody the one they're comfortable with without someone shouting, "YOU DON'T HAVE THE CORRECT GENITALS FOR THAT, AND THAT'S SOMEHOW MY BUSINESS!"
Mucal did try returning Little Bruce, but they refused him a refund. The responsibility for checking a faemiliar's gender rested on the purchaser. On top of that, he'd clearly been wiping his hands on her, as she was covered in bright orange cheese puff dust.
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- Damovoi can't naturally fly; they're one of the faemiliar species that make use of strap-on faery wings.
- Both faemiliars come in a variety of different beard colours - from darkest black to fieriest ginger.
- A related faemiliar in the 6in bracket looks like a giant moustache. They're known as demivoi, and come in a selection of styles - the most popular being the handlebar, the horseshoe, and the walrus.
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| Click here to buy The Quest Factor on Amazon and here for info on my other books. |
Creation Notes
Domovoi (or domovoy/domovoj) are household gods from Slavic tradition. I first read about them while researching folklore in the prep stage before I started writing the Tumultiverse books.
My plan was to create a world in which magickal beings replaced technology and machines. This is something that you got a bit of in the Discworld series - notably with the imps that sat in iconographs and painted 'photographs'. I wanted to take that to the nth degree, and make it more like The Flintstones. If you're unfamiliar with that show (it's literally prehistoric at this point), the characters existed in a world in which talking dinosaurs performed the tasks of modern contraptions.
So yeah - I ripped off The Flintstones, basically. What are you gonna yabba dabba do about it, Hanna-Barbera?
As part of my research (browsing Wikipedia on my lunch breaks), I came across all sorts of gods, spirits, faerys, monsters, and thingies. Household entities like the domovoi felt like they'd be a good fit for some sort of household appliance. When I came to write The Quest Factor, Mucal needed a creature to connect him to the intermesh. A domovoi seemed like the perfect fit.
The damavoi came about because Mucal left his bedroom. This proved unfortunate, as he and his faemiliar had good banter. Realising it would be ridiculous for the 8ft domovoi to follow him around, I created Little Bruce.
In terms of appearance, I took inspiration from images like this one and the one below in which the domovoy had impressive beards. From there I amped things up a bit until my domovoi were more beard than thing.
 |
| 1934 illustration of a domovoy by Ivan Bilibin |
Looking into the work of Ivan Bilibin, he's created some real masterpieces. While we're here, we might as well take a look:
In this one, Mr Armour On-Horseguy aims a bow mere metres away from his target - a man who seemingly intends to defend himself by blowing the arrow back.
UPDATE: it turns out the blower is a monster-man named Nightingale the Robber who could lay waste to buildings with his magickal whistle. Reminds me of a character I have in an upcoming book, actually...
Here we can see a depiction of Internet Reply Guy continuing to proposition this woman despite her laying waste to all who came before him (either that or it's the middle act of a story about a murderous cockerel).
This one is just titled 'Brexit', weirdly.
Further Reading
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