The Fiction Mill
Beyond Dominia: The Fiction Mill
This is Somnium Beta. It won't be deleted, so as soon as I turn everything on everybody who wants to can have at it without fear that anything they do will be later negated. The Beta simply means (somewhat misnomenically) that Somnium is still under construction. The companion page will exist as soon as I can get it together, but isn't there yet.

There are no dice, no stats, no real "game." You're looking at a cross between role-playing and story telling. Somnium role-playing takes place on a single world. Magic exists, but isn't exactly common. Everybody and his sister aren't mages. Players make characters who participate primarily from within guilds. Players are not required to join a guild, but it is strongly recommended for newcomers.

Power in Somnium comes from a few important sources:

A) Somnium's only god, known by no distinct name, but many aphorisms (The Power(s), The Ruler, etc.). This god is seldom an active one, but appears at seemingly random though often critical times. Any appearance brings forth a curious sort of apprehension, for The Power always seems to leave the world greatly changed when it comes.

B) The government. Countries appear as you might expect, and they are ruled mostly by despots and monarchs.

C) The guilds. Many people (though not a majority of the population) of Somnium belong to some sort of guilds. These guilds principles are highly varied, but they tend to be very influential and powerful. Guild conflicts do not frequently flare into war, because the guilds fear that they might lose access to the Spire.

The Spire was created by the power, and policed quite effectively by the Power's worshipers, the mysterious Umbras. It does not exist as a part of the world, but can be accessed from it by portals that exist in national and guild seats. The nature of the portals is somewhat curious. They seem to appear at the physical apex of any concentration of political power. The Spire is a diplomatic and economic godsend. It allows quick travel throughout the world. Somehow, the Spire seems to repel ill-will. Twice, invasions have been planned carefully enough that the masterminds behind them were able to sneak troops through the Spire past its mortal and ethereal guardains. These invasions, however, crumbled to dust. The most foul streaks of unimaginably poor luck befel the invaders. In both cases, no invader survived yet their targets were essentially unharmed.

This information and more, including a rough world map and descriptions of countries, guilds, and characters can by found on the Somnium Companion Page (coming soon).