The Dominion
As discussed in the World History write-up, the Dominion (or ‘Aarmala’s Dominion’) is one of the oldest surviving societies in the world, or at least the eldest society with an unbroken span of written history. It is also impossible to speak much on the current state of the Spire without mentioning the Dominion; its omission in the introductory article on the university was intentional, as I felt the Dominion itself deserved an article of its own which could act as a companion to that page.
1. Introduction
In purest terms, the Dominion is a nation that spans the eastern coast of the eastern continent, a distance of several weeks’ flight by a cruising longwing. The coast is unlike the densely forested western side, instead it is largely quite dry and less marshy, with a more permeable transition between land and water and few of the towering cliffs seen around the Dry Breaks and the Spire. The Breaks themselves represent a small city-state independent from the Dominion but entirely surrounded by it.
Because the sea ingresses into the permeable coastline quite a distance, it has allowed phocids to exploit more of the land than they would elsewhere. When discussing the phocids of the Dominion, you will largely find the royal family to be the subject. The ‘family’ itself is a construct which is mostly alien to a Spire native, although a bit more familiar, perhaps, to someone of the Dry Bowl persuasion, such as myself. But where our families are relatively small; birthing parents and children living together, mostly, the Dominion royal family is sprawling.
In fact, nearly every phocid living along the coastline of the Dominion is part of their royal family. This is an outgrowth of the western pelagic attitude towards the mythical ‘Kin’ figure, a common ancestor to all phocids (associated with, but largely divergent from, the very real historical figure of Ishmael himself). From this we can surmise that culture of the Dominion hails from the west – as do we all, if you look back far enough in history, as the western continent was the site of first settling. Myths get twisted in the telling over just a few generations, and can be traced like the languages held so dear by Tektei-vas into several lineages of their own.
In this particular lineage, the notion of a single ancestor has transmuted itself into the commonly held belief of the Dominion phocids that all phocids are of a single family. Moreover, that single family represents a greater, more superior lineage than all others. They call it ‘royal’, an old word cribbed from the myths of settlers, and this is said to reside within their bones, rather than their blood.
The ruling of the Dominion is what draws the judgement of all surrounding nations; there is a lineage within this monumental family which is superior to the rest, and can (so it is said) trace their family tree all the way back to the first phocid in an unbroken line (as it is somewhat relevant to my area of study, I believe the phocid in question to be Ketripen from the original beta cohort, but we’ll expand on that later). Even tertiary members of the great Dominion ‘family’ practice some form of genealogy, albeit none so fanatically as the royal core, which numbers in the hundreds.
2. Founding
As I previously mentioned, there is a clear pattern of succession in the myths and storytelling of the Dominion’s culture that point to its origins in the western continent. I believe, after consulting my own reference material, that the first people arrived to the coast after having travelled west from the First Settlement. This contrasts with the Spire, which arose from a population travelling east from the First Settlement. It is a long journey on both sides, and took several centuries to fully form, resulting in two centres of population (the Spire and Waela-an, the palace city of the Dominion) which are geographically rather close, but culturally extremely distinct.
The first government of the western continent was led by Davide of the beta phocids during the Era of Settlement, once the war of rebellion was concluded. Davide was not the most popular of leaders and fought continually for compromise between vastly different ideologies. This drove away the Sirenian faction who went on to settle at the Spire, but it also sowed discontent among the government itself. On one hand there was Ishmael arguing for his own questionable projects, and on the other there was Ketripen, who could only be described as a Precursor Eliminationist.
Ketripen had been harmed, as many had, by the humans of the settlement. Their beloved had died before the war’s conclusion and this seemed to have scarred Ketripen for life, making them notoriously cold and bitter. Following Davide’s assassination, there was plenty of speculation that Ketripen was the culprit (though it was believed, more credibly, that the population of unaltered precursor humans were starting to fall victim to anxieties about extinction; it is no coincidence that Davide was killed shortly after the last humans born on Earth died on Siren, leaving behind only Siren-born precursor humans who were culturally unmoored and facing down their eventual end).
Ketripen eventually led a schism from Davide’s government and struck out west with a large contingent of followers who, like the Sirenians, wanted little to do with the First Settlement or the echoes of violent conflict that still filled it for those who had been born there. Of course it is unlike that Ketripen personally sired every single phocid claiming to be a descendant of ‘Kin’, but they were the eldest of that cohort, as well as one of the only first-generation beta phocids left. Unfortunately, records of Ketripen’s arrival to the coast of the eastern continent are held out of my reach in Waela-an, so I cannot comment on their actions after they left the First Settlement.
3. The Royals
It is a dream of many a historian to visit the vast archives of Waela-an, where the rulers of the Dominion live. They have to hand some of the most complete records on this planet. The First Settlement, whose archives I personally pored over, can only offer a glimpse of the first 98 years of settlement. So, while the Dominion archives are less complete where those 98 years are concerned, they have some of the only surviving written histories from Siren’s Era of Decay at their palace.
If you have read any of my many agonising rants about the Era of Decay, you will understand that these texts and artifacts represent something of a dream treasure trove for me. But I am not permitted to access them.
The royals know the power of knowledge, and the control and gatekeeping of such. It is for this reason that they have always showed a keen – and occasionally destructive – interest in the university at the Spire, particularly as its own influence grew and mixed enrolment was permitted. The records at Waela-an are accessible to Spire scholars who please the royals sufficiently with the tone and character of their publications.
But who are they? Well, they live in the amphibious city Waela-an, in halls made of every precious stone that exists, or so they tell us. The current ruler of this family – and of this entire coastline – is Aarmala the Thirteenth. Each ruler is called Aarmala, in fact, though I understand that it is not merely a title, but an identity which a child must step into once it is bestowed upon them.
Aarmala will choose a favoured consort among those in the royal family, or even beyond it at times (this has historical precedent, in the case of unexpected royal deaths). This consort must be able to prove definitively that they have a favourable lineage that ties them back to the first phocid. Of course, it means that those living in Waela-an, with its abundant archives, are most often chosen as consorts.
The offspring of their union with Aarmala wears a veil until it is time to be Aarmala. It is considered bad luck to see the face under the veil until they can be confirmed in their new name and position, but it also functions as a means to deny them any identity other than Aarmala, when the time has come for them to take it.
Within the past few generations, the elder Aarmala has also chosen lesser consorts, often siring many offspring, though only the single heir is veiled. The other offspring are still given preferential treatment, as they too have strong lineages which elevate them above the rabble. The elder Aarmala will pass on their name when they die, or when their genealogy is successfully challenged or disproven by a rival...
4. The Barrs
It is not unusual for people of the Dominion to fabricate a more impressive family tree than what they truly have – in a society where the substance of one’s bones is everything, of course they will find ways to embellish those bones. And, equally, a phocid who does not wish to become a consort against their will would do well to uphold an illusion of poor genetics.
For this reason, the Dominion is also a nation of law-readers. There exists a profession of law-readers, or ‘barrs’ in their terminology, whose purpose is to prove or disprove one’s genealogy. Because phocids are incredibly long-lived, this is easier than one expects, when you can interview the great-great-great-grandsires of your research subject.
Barrs are held on retainer by members of the royal family, of course, but they can be hired by anybody. They can also be hired by someone to investigate a rival, in which case the barrs act as investigators, moving in secret in Waela-an and other Dominion towns, in a class of their own.
To prove themselves trustworthy, barrs must commit to celibacy from the moment they assume their roles. This was not always the case; in the first few centuries of the Dominion, barrs were permitted to procreate, but not permitted to keep records of their own lineages. This has resulted in a period of confusion wherein many phocids were born without record of their ancestry, which might otherwise have been very impressive indeed, and the descendants of these make up a very large portion of the population, adding to the overall labyrinthine confusion of the average Dominion phocid’s genetic history, and a perception – commonly held, but not voiced aloud – that the vast majority of phocids’ proudly-held family trees are in fact completely fabricated.
Nonetheless, barrs enjoy a position of relative privilege and mystique in society if they can carve out a name for themselves, particularly those who can access the archives at Waela-an.
With the assistance of a suitably qualified barr, any royal phocid can mount a challenge of lineage against a sitting Aarmala. What follows is a duel of sorts, though not the brief clash of swords and words we are known for at the Spire. A challenge, from start to end, can take decades, allowing for court sessions, cross-checking of witnesses and records, and information gathering sessions. They are forbidden from physically clashing, of course, during this time.
Aarmala the Twelfth is the most recent ‘scandal’ outcome of such a challenge, in DD 68, when it was found that they had fabricated almost every connection in their family tree, with the aid of their own barr and a handful of false witnesses they had planted up and down the coastline. The barr who overturned this truth was rewarded with a grand palace of their own and a permanent mark of merit on their bones, which would elevate the lineages of any of their descendants.
But most of these cases do not amount to scandal – more often (and most often, it seems), Aarmalas are found to simply have fractionally less worthy bones than the challenger, and thus their title will pass on.
5. Conflicts
The Dominion is a highly wealthy nation and makes for a fantastic trade partner. The Spire has been importing their famous black pigments for centuries for its use as an archival-quality ink. But the sheer size and power of the Dominion is such that they are not to be taken lightly, even as allies. They exert a considerable control over the Spire itself, and what may be published in the fields of biology, anthropology, and history in general (on a personal level – my colleague Ami-var’s palaeontological graduate thesis study on phalangeal anatomy commonalities between phocids, selkies, and harpies was rejected for publication unless he removed the section on phocid anatomy. We do not need to look very hard to see who may have influenced this judgement! They are not particularly subtle about it, either).
Aarmala visits each year to reinforce the relationship between the Dominion and the Spire, at great expense to the Spire. One may wonder why an institution with roots in shortwing exclusivity has such a great love for what is essentially a nation of phocid dominionists, but I suppose
But that is the stuff of alliance. What of their enemies? Well, there are many, but most notably the independent territory of Dry Breaks. This cliff-dominated region is in the south-east, and was once claimed by the Aarmala lineages in DD 12, during the Era of Trade. This act was not a peaceful one.
A catastrophic tidal event resulted in a sea level drop that left the cliffs rather too tall for the average aquatic person to manage, and the palace was relocated to a deeper portion (in what is now Waela-an). But while their centre of control had shifted north, they still maintained a strong grip over the Breaks, as it was the gateway to the Dry Bowl and the terrestrial heart of the eastern continent – and the fastest method to ship goods from coast to coast.
Under remote rule, the people of Dry Breaks were able to foment an independence movement that lasted half a century before its final success. In many ways I was born under the long distant shadow of this movement in the Bowl; even in my time, the local attitude towards the Dominion was unfavourable. Not least because the Dominion attempted to recapture Dry Breaks multiple times since their flags were torn away form the ramparts at the Breaks. They have succeeded in retaking the city five times, and been driven out an equal number of times.
Currently, Breaks are independent, but whether or not the Dominion rules it seems to be a coin flip, in the greater context of history. There are long-lived zeta that run the trade routes who have worked under multiple different Aarmalas and independent rulers, and I’m sure not much about their lives has changed during that time other than the flag they bear.
The Dominion has also had to maintain a border in the ocean, as of course it is separated from the western continent by the sea, and the sea is full of pelagic villages of various political alignment. There exists a persistent line of tension in the north, at the edge of the Dominion, where their warriors clash with the polar populations around the ice caps who have, thus far, been able to prevent their incursion. Given the quality of the historical artifacts found in the polar regions, it’s likely that the Dominion have an interest in acquiring those, as they may be of use to anyone trying to embellish their ancestry.
Finally, the Dominion has a longstanding conflict with the Hall of Faces, and visored individuals are not welcomed in their halls of power. I am told that this position has only recently been relaxed.
6. And What About Everyone Else?
Naturally among all of this, one must wonder where other peoples stand among the royals and the extended Kin family. As you have probably surmised, precedence is given to phocids, but this is because the royals are phocids and this naturally elevates the bones of phocids in general as they are all said to descend from Kin. But outside the immediate royal family, the Dominion is a largely mixed nation, certainly more than the Spire has been during its existence, so we hardly have a moral higher ground here.
Generally, the Dominion is strictly coastal and thus coastal communities are favoured; selkies and phocids make up the bulk of the people living there, especially where the cliffs are shallow and flight is more of a chore for your average harpy. Similarly, zeta often don’t figure prominently among their towns as they would be restricted to the smaller terrestrial half, though I am aware of at least two historically renowned barrs who have been of the zeta persuasion.
If one can prove that they are related to someone of merit, they will enjoy the privilege this imparts regardless of whether they are a phocid or not. The aforementioned zeta barrs, for example, would be considered individuals of merit. ‘Merit’ itself is a more problematic construction, because it is granted by the royal family, who would naturally use it as a tool to prune their enemies and enhance their sycophants. But this does not result in a uniform division of “favoured by the royals” and “not favoured by the royals”, simply because the dominant Aarmala lineage has shifted so many times due to endless challenges, and this has resulted in differing factions in the royal family developing bitter, generational rivalries. Add to this the fact that merit can be granted for any reason but not ever revoked, and you have a very chaotic mixture of merited lineages who are hated, favoured, forgotten, and notorious in their own circles.
In the Dominion, therefore, the least favoured position one can be in can often be in a position of merit, but merit granted by the former rival of the current Aarmala. And so on.
7. Black Dye
This is the most characteristic product of the Dominion, aside from their labyrinthine legal system and royal family nonsense. The pigment is sold in the form of dense, waxy tablets, and its providence is unknown – only select dye-makers of the Dominion are permitted to pass on the knowledge of its production, but I believe it is herbaceous in nature.
We used to receive bricks of them at the docks of the Spire and they were among our most expensive imports, but they are invaluable. Mixed with the right oils, it produces an ink of the deepest black which produces clear, clean, legible writing and illustration which does not bleed through paper and does not fade in sunlight.
Most scholars at the Spire will write in charcoal and then, when it is time to publish their work, or make an archival copy, they practice writing their manuscripts several times over in charcoal ink before finally placing an order for Dominion Black, or ‘darks’ as it is known colloquially. Scholars must use a significant chunk of their budget for it, but their work will never be accepted for publication without it.
Darks are found elsewhere, of course; members of the royal family are well known for wearing darks as clothing, often in combination with purest white, to create a striking example of the depth of their black pigment. The veils of nascent Aarmalas are also coloured with darks. Fashion in Waela-an has adopted the veil as general wear.
The pigment is also used unconventionally to produce microscope lens tubes, though I have less experience with this type of usage. It is also purchased by people the world over to be used as tattoo ink, as it does not react unfavourably with the body. Spiral villagers from the western continent commonly use this ink to tattoo themselves. (Those of the Dominion have a favourable view of Spiral villagers, according to my companion Huarvaa, but there is a whiff of fetishism there, as the Spiral villagers are characterised as rather simple warriors, lacking the sophistication of the Dominion)
The dye's exclusivity does of course lead to a thriving market of fakes; charcoal inks marketed as true darks which are only revealed to be charcoal when they start to fade or bleed. Sometimes, less neutral substitutions are used, and this can have rather dangerous consequences when they are tattooed into the skin.