The Rest of the Story: The rest of
The History of the Domini can be found
here.
This is another chapter of Randall Aurelius's
History of the Domini. In this part, Randall reveals the origins of those who call themselves Domini. The name, and the society it represents, was a relatively late development in our history.
The History of the Domini
by Randall Aurelius
Part VIII: The Domini
The term “Domini” was ascribed to the Shades by the First Legion. In the language which they spoke at the time, it meant “master” or “lord,” and was a term of respect and awe with which they addressed the powerful creatures who took them from their homeland. They had never encountered magic like ours where they came from, and regarded us almost as gods. While the awe faded eventually, the term remained, and continued to be the term used by the First Legion and their descendants for the Shades. These Legionaries founded a city they called Novaro, and thus came to call themselves the Novari. The Shades who settled in Novar lands adopted the name the Novari used for them. Considering its meaning, this may have been an act of hubris, but these early Domini were soon humbled by reality.
The Novari are, even to this days, not particularly strong in magic. Thus, while the Domini could recruit from the Novari, their numbers did not match those who found more fertile lands from which to harvest recruits. This led to a dilemma. They simply did not have the numbers to be tempted by power in the same way their brethren were. So instead, the Domini and the Novari learned to co-exist, in the sense of ignoring one another. Novar law did not attempt to govern the Domini in their domain, and the Domini returned the favor. This allowed the Domini to take boys for training without interference. Of course, some Domini attempted to take advantage of their immunity from Novar law, but the others quickly dealt with any Dominus whose actions threatened their understanding with the Novari. It was this need to govern their own members and keep the peace with the Novari which led to the founding of the Ordo Dominorum, the Order of the Domini. This central body was responsible for governing the individual Domini, and maintained control over sects spread throughout Novar lands. In imitation of the Novari from whom they had been recruited, they formed a Senate to govern themselves.
The Novari had an eye towards expansion. While they produced few with the talent for magic, they bred rapidly. At first, this posed little trouble, as there was a great deal of land and few humans occupying it. Eventually, however, the Novari bumped up against other human settlements. These encounters inevitably caused conflict, sometimes due to the Novari’s expansionism, and sometimes due to the expansionism of these other settlements. The Domini decided not to take part in these conflicts, although they were happy to recruit from any people the Novari conquered, not least because the conquered people usually had more latent magical ability than the Novari themselves. The Novari, despite their often unjust conquests, did apply their laws fairly where they ruled, and over time absorbed the conquered peoples as near equals in their system of governance.
It was inevitable that the Novari would eventually come into contact with lands ruled by some of the more aggressive sects of Shades, and this is where the Order’s rules of non-interference did not apply. The Order viewed its actions as consistent: no magic-user, either Dominus or Shade, was allowed to interfere in the affairs of the Novari. Thus, when the Novar legions came to a region ruled by a Shade sect, the Domini would not use magic to help the Novari conquer, but they also made certain that the other side did not use magic against the Novari.
By this point, the Domini had grown in numbers. Although the ratio of Domini to Novar subjects was small, the number of people owing allegiance to Novaro was vast. The Domini had the numbers to surpass most of the other Shade sects, but those numbers were widely dispersed over Novar lands. When gathered into one place, though, the Domini could easily neutralize the Shades while the Novari either conquered or liberated, depending on one’s viewpoint, the mundane subjects of the Shades. Rather than destroy the defeated Shades, the Domini most often offered amnesty to any who were willing to join the Order and follow its rules. This was not a hard and fast policy, and at times they utterly destroyed sects whose practices they found repulsive.
However, the Domini’s wide dispersion made it more and more difficult to bring their members together for any kind of offensive. The entire Order may have become too unwieldy to not only fight other Shade sects, but to even govern itself effectively, if not for the invention of the Doorways.
This has been the latest 756 words of a 4,963 word story in progress.