Race: Humans
Government: Militarized Autocracy
Theme: Conquest, scorched earth, war magic, industrialized warfare
The Ashen Dominion arose from the collapse of several lesser human kingdoms during the late Second Era, when prolonged wars, famine, and magical devastation rendered traditional rule ineffective. In the chaos, military commanders and war-mages seized control, arguing that only relentless strength and preemptive conquest could ensure survival in a world as hostile as Andorea.
What began as a defensive coalition hardened into an empire built on domination. The Dominion embraces a brutal philosophy: land exists to be taken, people exist to serve the war effort, and peace is merely a pause between campaigns. Forests are burned, soil exhausted, and cities rebuilt as foundries and garrisons. The Ashen Dominion represents human will stripped of mercy, believing that weakness invites annihilation—especially in a world threatened by undead, shadows, and divine absolutism.
The Ashen Dominion is ruled by a Supreme Marshal, an autocrat who holds absolute civil and military authority. Leadership is not hereditary by law, but in practice power passes through force, loyalty, and control of the army.
Key elements of governance:
The Supreme Marshal
Head of state and supreme commander
Rules by decree
Legitimacy is derived from military success
The War Council
Senior generals, logistics masters, and sanctioned war-mages
Advises on campaigns, resource allocation, and internal security
Can depose a weak Marshal—but only through force or coup
Provincial Commandants
Military governors ruling conquered territories
Responsible for taxation, conscription, and suppression of dissent
Civil law is secondary to military necessity
There is no meaningful civilian government. Industry, agriculture, and population movement are all directed by military mandate. Citizens are classified by usefulness to the war effort.
The Ashen Dominion’s military is both its army and its state apparatus.
Heavy infantry supported by siege engines and war-magic
Soldiers are professional, conscripted for long terms or life
Units specialize in scorched-earth tactics: fire, alchemy, and destruction of supply lines
Battlecasters trained specifically for large-scale destruction
Employed to burn forests, freeze rivers, and shatter fortifications
Their actions are a primary cause of the Dominion’s wars with:
Sylvanreach Enclaves (deforestation)
Frostvein Hold (northern expansion)
Military police and internal enforcers
Root out dissent, desertion, and religious movements deemed “inefficient”
Known for brutal public discipline to maintain order
Constantly mobilized forces along contested regions
Especially concentrated near:
Sylvanreach forests
Frostvein tundra
Obsidian Satrapy borders (despite alliance)
Allied with:
Obsidian Satrapy – Shared militarism, conquest ideology, and scorched-earth tactics
At War with:
Sylvanreach Enclaves – Forest destruction and expansion
Frostvein Hold – Northern territorial aggression
The Ashen Dominion views alliances as temporary tools, not bonds of trust. War is not a failure of diplomacy—it is the Dominion’s preferred state of being.