Shadowhold Dominion

Overview

The Shadowhold Dominion is a centralized state ruled by The Obsidian Order under Valerius, the Dark Lord. It values strict control, predictable schedules, and uniform results. The realm uses shadow magic and military law to remove uncertainty. Towns and roads follow fixed plans. Fortresses and watchtowers are placed to control movement and stop unrest. Ordinary life runs on work quotas, curfews, and inspections. In Shadowhold, the state defines safety and truth, and the population is taught to comply.

Origins and Mandate

The modern Dominion formed in 1017 Thal, when Valerius unified regional command posts and legal codes into a single system. This event marks the rise of the present Obsidian Order and the start of the current era of Shadowhold expansion. From that year, the state’s mandate has been the removal of chaos and the elimination of uncontrolled magic or unlicensed heroes.

The Land

Shadowhold is known for its twilight skies, barren plains, and layered defensive works. Obsidian fortresses anchor each region. Survey lines, boundary markers, and engineered embankments divide fields and corridors. The regime has carved geometric patterns across the land to guide patrols, channel travel, and prevent mass gatherings. Thorned brush and low, hardy trees are common outside the garrison belts, with patrol routes cut through them for clear sightlines. The air often carries the cold aftertaste of shadow workings that power the realm’s wards and alarms.

Ruler: Valerius, the Dark Lord

Valerius leads through planned pressure instead of open spectacle. He uses predictable formations, repeatable rites, and long campaigns to tighten control. His mask and formal speech reinforce distance and authority. Internally, his officers are expected to report with precise logs and to act only within issued doctrine. Externally, he frames the Dominion as the only reliable cure for disorder, portraying summoned heroes as uncontrolled hazards that must be regulated or removed.

Government and Law

Shadowhold is a command state. The Obsidian Citadel issues policy and interprets it as enforceable law. Regional Legates administer districts; Fortress Prefects run garrisons and prisons; Compliance Clerks keep citizen ledgers and production records.

Core statutes:

All movement after curfew requires a stamped pass.
Spellwork is illegal without a license or a military writ.
Oaths and contracts must be recorded by a Compliance Clerk.
Assemblies larger than twenty citizens are unlawful without a permit.
Summoned heroes must register and submit to ability testing; failure to comply triggers detention and transfer to a secured facility.

Courts issue sentences based on quotas and guidance tables. Appeals exist but are rare. Punishments prefer control and labor over execution, unless treason, demonology, or undeclared necromancy is proven.

Administrative Divisions

Citadel District: Central command, archives, military colleges, sorcerer cadres.
Garrison Belts: Fortress rings around key towns and resource sites.
Production Wards: Organized quarters for miners, smiths, and state workshops.
Compliance Quarters: Housing blocks tied to work sites, with curfew signals, tally boards, and inspection halls.
Reconditioning Facilities: Indoctrination centers for offenders and deserters.

Each division follows standard layout and clock cycles. Sirens time the day. Patrols record compliance. Public boards display quotas and penalties.

Major Sites

The Obsidian Citadel: Seat of rule, doctrine vaults, licensing office for military sorcery, and the central scrying lattice used for threat routing and field orders.
Black Geometry Works: State foundries and rune-carving yards that craft ward plates, restraint sigils, censor seals, and survey stakes used across the Dominion.
The Counting Hall: A ledger complex that holds labor books, rations accounts, curfew exemptions, and travel permits.
The Drill Gates: Parade grounds where cohorts practice shield walls, mark-step advances, and capture rites. The gates also serve as public courts for summary violations.

Society and Daily Life

Citizens live by posted schedules. Food, housing, and medicine are provided as rationed services. Work teams rotate by bell. Education focuses on literacy, arithmetic, obedience to law, and basic emergency drills. Festivals are limited to state anniversaries and loyalty oaths. Private worship is allowed only for registered temples of law and order.

Indicators of status:

Black Bands: Service marks for soldiers and wardens.
Grey Pins: Senior clerks and licensed engineers.
Red Tabs: Probationary workers and reconditioned offenders.

Most households keep a wall slate listing shifts, curfew, and notices. Complaints and requests go through Queue Offices and are resolved by score thresholds and availability, not by petition.

Economy

The Dominion exports disciplined labor, warded metals, siege hardware, and standardized construction kits. Imports include specific reagents, food supplements, and specialized crystal stock. Contracts are rigid. Delivery windows are enforced by bond. State buyers prefer bulk orders and recurring supply. Production Wards use quota sheets tied to meal rations and housing points.

Priority industries:

Ore and Stone: Quarried and graded for fortress repair and road control.
Runecraft: Ward plates for prisons, chains for creature control, and seal frames for vaults.
Arms: Pikes, crossbows with restraint bolts, tower-shields, and launcher rigs for ward-stakes.
Logistics: Road camps, survey crews, and field kitchens designed for long sieges.

The Dominion distrusts luxury trade and open markets. All stalls require licenses. Traveling merchants are escorted and searched at every gate.

Military

The army fields heavy infantry, pike blocks, shield cohorts, and licensed sorcerers. Officers train to hold lines, deny ground, and encircle targets. Scouts fix enemy positions for slow advances. Sorcery units use shadow-bound patterns that reduce misfires and contain spread.

Standard equipment:

Layered armor with anti-charm rivets
Ward-stakes for quick perimeter locks
Restraint chains with rune clamps
Beacon javelins to mark targets for scrying relays

Doctrine emphasizes capture and processing of opponents, not chase kills. Heroes are treated as unstable assets that must be contained unless a commander issues a limited-use writ.

Magic and the Pantheon

Shadowhold regulates magic as a state resource. Licenses cover binding, warding, transport seals, and scrying. Forbidden categories include unrecorded summoning and any rite that draws on rival pantheons without approval.

The Dominion favors the gods of the Silent Dominion:

Aess (Tyranny, Domination, Law) — used as the model for legal authority and temple design.
Reilk (Ambition, Shadow) — permitted for covert service and counter-intelligence.
Gorr (Destruction, Fury) — restricted to war rites and state-controlled shock cadres.

These approvals align with the regime’s belief that law exists to impose order, ambition is a tool when managed, and destruction is justified when licensed and accounted for. The broader pantheon is acknowledged for diplomacy, but worship is capped by permit.

Law on Summoned Heroes

Summoned heroes must register within seventy-two hours. The process includes an interview, power tests, hazard classification, and the assignment of a control officer. Approved heroes receive a Limited Action Token listing their scope, duration, and area. Unauthorized hero activity triggers pursuit teams and containment wards. The Obsidian Order considers unlicensed heroes a source of disorder and an immediate threat to public stability.

Relations with Other Powers

Gilded Abyss (Infernal Syndicate): Shadowhold views Abyss contracts as corrosive and destabilizing. Trade is minimal and restricted to essentials under inspection. Diplomatic contact exists to avoid three-front conflict.
Frozen Necropolis (Silent Chorus): The Dominion rejects Aethelred’s pursuit of stasis but respects his discipline. Borders remain tense. Joint operations are rare and focus on sealing rogue breaches.
Aertos: Strategic rival on ideology. Aertos prioritizes stewardship; Shadowhold prioritizes control. Border incidents involve permits, harvest rights, and sanctuary claims.
Solara: High suspicion due to Solara’s rapid R&D culture. Shadowhold blocks Solaran devices unless audited. The Dominion accuses Solara of enabling wild magic through technology.

Internal Factions

Order Collegium: Legal-theological council aligning state law with Aess doctrine and approving rites for public use.
Shadow Ledger: Intelligence branch licensed under Reilk; monitors smuggling, sabotage, and traitors.
Iron Choirs: War cadres that use Gorr rites under heavy oversight for siege breaches and riot suppression.

Civil Defense and Control

The Dominion treats disaster response as a security mission. Flood barriers and grain depots are garrison-held. Evacuations move by column and headcount. Public messaging runs through sirens and wall slates. Every region runs drills for breach events and firelines. Compliance metrics affect rations and travel permits. This system reduces panic but also keeps the population under constant review.

Crimes and Sentences

Tier I: Curfew break, paperwork failure — reconditioning shift, point loss.
Tier II: Unlicensed charm, assembly without permit — labor sentence, relocation.
Tier III: Conspiracy, hero aid, foreign rite — prison, brand, asset seizure.
Capital: Treason, demon pact, necromancy cell — execution or permanent binding.

Sentences may be reduced by service in hazardous works or by cooperation with the Shadow Ledger.

Resistance and Control Measures

Small cells exist in border towns and in mine tunnels. The state counters with informant networks, bait permits, and audits. Patrols use beacon javelins to flag fleeing targets for scry routing. The Dominion also sponsors “rehabilitated” guides to lure cells into controlled capture zones. Public postings list captured offenders and the sentences assigned.