#BeneathTheMask
In Xwe, the Land of Red Earth, every promise kept gives life to a Dahoman: a small masked creature that only shows its face to those who tell the truth.
We don’t catch. We keep our word.
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Xwe, the Land of Red Earth
In Xwe, the red earth listens. Every promise kept leaves a seed in it, and from every seed a Dahoman is born: a small creature that hides its face beneath a carved calabash half-mask.
You can’t win a Dahoman by force. You complete its Key: tell a truth that costs you, come back the next day as promised, share your water, listen to an elder all the way through. Then the mask falls. One half stays on the Dahoman. The other becomes its Keeper’s pendant.
Beneath its mask, every Dahoman hides a baby face that only its Keeper has seen.
Every Dahoman is born somewhere in Xwe and carries a number: its distance in kilometers from Milestone Zero, in Kútɔ̀nu.
Every Dahoman waits for a challenge: truth, promise, patience, listening, sharing, care, courage, or respect.
#BeneathTheMask — Starting Monday, November 2, 2026, one Dahoman a day: Mask of the Day No. 1 drops that day, ready to guess in the games. Sombafang keeps his mask on until Unveiling Night, Saturday, February 6, 2027.
Series 1 · the 5 Beacons
The first five Dahoman to step out of the shadows. Five types, five regions, from South to North. Which one is your favorite?
Hover over a card or tap it: the mask falls.
Drum · Atakaru · Yatari · 447 km · 3 Keys · Key: Truth
A fearless little night creature, sleek as a genet, with ears shaped like clay turrets and two tiny ivory fangs. He eats lies… and around Ayo, he’s always hungry.
“He gobbles up lies… and the truth makes his mask shine.”
Lagoon · Wémaya · Dondoya · 32 km · 1 Key · Key: Listening
A little marsh mongoose who drums with the tips of his long fingers: every beat brings out dewdrops. Koffi’s Dahoman.
“He doesn’t talk. He drums. And the lagoon drums back.”
Storm · Aliboré · Liyamba · 532 km · 3 Keys · Key: Courage
A guinea fowl whose every white dot is a spark. Malik’s Dahoman.
“Every white dot a spark. Every call a shelter.”
Ember · Litora · Kútɔ̀nu · 0 km · 1 Key · Key: Promise
A catfish with ember whiskers who swims through the smoke of the fish smokehouses by the lagoon. Enzo’s Dahoman.
“An ember you keep warms a whole house.”
Laterite · Kolinaya · Kéyobé · 179 km · 2 Keys · Key: Patience
An aardvark with a ridge of rose quartz, who digs to find what shines. Lan’s Dahoman.
“He doesn’t dig for gold. He digs for what you lost.”
12 regions · 30 Dahoman
Every Dahoman is born in one of the 12 regions of Xwe, from the Great Aliboré River in the north to the Great Sea in the south. Find the region you love, and the Dahoman waiting for you there.
Map legend
The South plays fast, the North plays strong. No region is weaker than another.
Straight-line distances across Xwe from Milestone Zero, in Kútɔ̀nu, rounded to the nearest kilometer.
Tap a region or a dot on the map, or pick a region from the list.
A long red sandstone ridge, villages of raw-clay tower houses, and waterfalls in green gorges.
Rocky green hills, hilltop villages with pointed thatched roofs, and basket weavers at work.
A wide golden savanna, horses decked out in leather and tassels, round granaries, and sorghum fields.
A wide, slow river with sandbanks, white cotton fields, and dunes that sing in the harmattan.
Pink granite domes as round as sleeping heads, yam fields, and ponds that sing at night.
Artisan courtyards on red earth, hung with bright appliqué cloth: here, fabrics tell stories and remember.
Forests with trees as tall as towers, palm groves, a blue river, and villages that replant together.
Lagoon islands linked by canoes, an old town of pastel arcades, and drum workshops.
A red-earth plateau, palm groves, a winding river, and giant termite mounds.
A river mouth between mangroves and sandbanks, a great lake, salt pans, and a village of potters.
A calm lake with wooden houses on stilts, salt pans, pineapple fields, and firefly marshes.
Kútɔ̀nu, a lagoon city of evening lights: its markets, its port of a thousand colors, its smokehouse quays, and Milestone Zero.
Which region of Xwe feels like yours? Pick your favorite, then find all its Dahoman in your Keeper’s Book. Our dream: a Dahoman for every village in Xwe.
For grown-ups
For adults and teens 16 and older: new Dahoman, dates, and the arrival of the cards. First, 5 emails over 10 days, then one newsletter a week. Under 16? Ask a grown-up to sign up to get the news when the cards arrive.
Open the email we just sent you and click “I confirm.”
Test mode: the form isn’t connected yet. No address was saved or sent.
Questions
A world of masked creatures, the Dahoman, who live in Xwe, an imaginary land inspired by West Africa. First come free games for kids and families, with no account and no ads, and an app you can install from the website; then stories, short films and, later on, cards.
A Dahoman has to be earned. You complete its Key: a challenge of truth, promise, patience, listening, sharing, care, courage, or respect. That’s the Word Pact.
Starting Monday, November 2, 2026, one Dahoman a day: that’s Mask of the Day, in the games. Sombafang keeps his mask on until Unveiling Night, Saturday, February 6, 2027. Printed cards will come later: ask a grown-up to sign up to get the news.
No. In the games, everything is earned for free, with no draws and nothing to buy: all 144 Dahoman can join your Keeper’s Book. The quiz isn’t a draw either: your answers decide.
The games and stories are for children aged 4 to 12 and their families, with an adult for the youngest. The card waitlist and offers are for adults (the waitlist is open from age 16): see the Parents page.
The games and the Keeper’s Book keep your progress on this device only: nothing is sent, and a grown-up can erase everything from the Parents page. The waitlist, for adults only, keeps just the email (and favorite region, if given) to write about DAHOMAN. Never sold. Unsubscribe in one click.
It’s the name of the capital of Xwe, a lagoon city by the Great Sea, written in the alphabet of Xwe’s languages. Milestone Zero is there: it’s where every Dahoman’s kilometers are counted from.
