[donaldscrankshaw] Donald: *Ordo Dominorum*, Chapter 4 of *Fire*

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Posted by Donald:
*Ordo Dominorum*, Chapter 4 of *Fire*
http://www.donaldscrankshaw.com/posts/1185228074.shtml


   The Rest of the Story can be found [1]here.
   This is the next chapter of [2]Fire, a first look at the inner
   workings of the mysterious Domini.
     _________________________________________________________________

                                 Chapter 4
                               Ordo Dominorum

   The white-robed students watched as their Dominus instructor took his
   place at the podium. No shift of restlessness stirred them in their
   hard wooden seats. No one showed boredom, or excitement, or for that
   matter, interest in the material. Only a strong desire to advance
   drove them, and they came to this lecture with that motivation in
   mind. So they sat in their uncomfortable chairs and noticed nothing
   but the instructor before them, ignoring the austere stone walls and
   the equally sterile tile floor. They could not ignore the early
   morning sunlight which streaked through the tall, narrow windows in
   the east, however, and they blinked in the glare.
   The Dominus examined his thirty or so pupils, squelching the
   uneasiness which the Initiates always caused him. They seemed inhuman,
   stripped of every motive except the drive to succeed, which was stoked
   to an unnatural level. The conservatives in the Senate claimed this
   was necessary in order to keep young men who had been forcefully taken
   from their homes manageable for their training. Redleaf, the drug
   which allowed the Domini to direct their motives, not only suppressed
   normal emotions but also sharpened concentration. Thus most of the
   instructors saw no reason not to keep the pupils on it until they
   became Acolytes, when they could continue in their training without
   the need for compulsion. This instructor feared that the drug might
   have lasting effects, since many of its users never seemed to lose the
   drive to ascend. Options for advancement ran out more quickly than the
   ambition.
   Suppressing a shudder, the Dominus began his lesson. Like all the
   Domini instructors to the Initiates, his black robe completely
   concealed his body while his hood, aided by a simple obscuring
   Circuit, hid his face. The Dominus considered this a nuisance, but
   however much he disliked them, he always followed the rules. âToday,
   we will study the Undead,â he said. The class he taught focused on
   supernatural and dangerous creatures. While the Order did not love
   knowledge for its own sake as the Philosophers did, it studied the
   worldâs dangers assiduously in order to fulfill its role as humanityâs
   defender.
   âThere are two types, the Soulless and the Bodiless.
   âThe Soulless are bodies risen from death. People give them various
   names: Zombies, Wights, Ghouls, and others more fanciful, but they all
   describe this particular... species of undead.â The word âspeciesâ was
   hardly appropriate, but it was the best he could come up with. âThese
   are corpses, usually human, reanimated by magic. This causes the
   bodies to move about and act, but not with any real intelligence,
   since the magic which drives them cannot duplicate human intelligence.
   It goes without saying that they can no longer think for themselves.
   Death, by definition, is the death of the brain. No magic can
   reanimate that.â The students did not take notes; they would remember
   the details of this lesson without them, another advantage of Redleaf.
   A Novar named Victor asked, âWhat about Skeletons? Are they Soulless?â
   The Dominus smiled at the naivete of the question. The Novari prided
   themselves on their pragmatic yet superstitious beliefs, which left
   them ignorant in the ways of true magic. Unsurprisingly, considering
   their origins, Novar Patricians produced few with magical talent, and
   those usually weak. With one or two exceptions, he thought. Aulus
   Principius was as strong as they came. He looked at the young man more
   closely. Two. Most definitely two. Somewhere along the line
   considerable talent had entered the Imperial family.
   âNovar legends to the contrary, reanimated skeletons are quite rare.
   One animates a human body to make use of the structure already there.
   Reanimating a skeleton, or any far deteriorated corpse, defeats that
   purpose altogether. Youâd do better animating a wooden puppet than a
   skeleton, unless you just want to frighten people.â The boy showed no
   sign of shame or anger at the mild rebuke, absorbing the information
   without emotion. The Dominus tried not to let a tremor disturb his
   voice.
   âOne doesnât need magic to destroy one of the Soulless. It is
   dependent on its muscles to move--hamstring it and it cannot walk,
   slash the muscles of its hand and it cannot grasp. This is not as easy
   as it sounds. A corpse doesnât feel strain or weariness, nor does it
   feel pain. The second death requires more effort than the first. A
   Soulless must be destroyed either by completely destroying the body,
   or by unraveling the magic which animates it. Destroying the body may
   be done by fire, by magic, or by cutting it to pieces. This will
   render most types of Soulless impotent, even if the magic which
   animates it persists. For any Soulless where this doesnât work, youâll
   have to completely incinerate it. Once one destroys the substance to
   which the Circuit is bound, the magic will dissipate.
   âFor the most part, though, one can unravel the magic more quickly and
   easily. Domini know how to do that as a matter of course.â
   âCan Domini create Soulless?â asked one boy, a Kairnin named Sularin.
   He was younger than most of the students; adulthood came early in
   Kairn.
   âSome Domini study Necromancy, but practicing it is Forbidden.â The
   capital meant an immediate Expulsion for even attempting it.
   Necromancy had divided the Domini once, and they had little tolerance
   for anything that smacked of it. The boy didnât ask anything more, so
   the instructor continued, âNext we need to discuss the Bodiless, who
   are far more dangerous than Soulless. First are the ghosts, also
   called phantasms. These are not truly Undead at all, but rather
   memories.
   âIf a man walks the same path every day for sixty years, the path may
   remember him long after he dies. Another person could trigger that
   memory, and witness the man behaving as he did in life. Ghosts are
   memories of someone doing not just what he did in life, but doing what
   he always did in life, again and again, until that action embeds
   itself in the objects involved. You can find these memories in
   buildings, paving stones, family heirlooms, or particularly treasured
   possessions.â
   âIf a ghost is just a memory, then can it exist while the person still
   lives?â asked Sularin.
   It pleased the Dominus that one of his students had thought of that
   question. âItâs possible, but unlikely. Note that for a habit to
   become so ingrained in the inanimate that it creates a ghost, it would
   have to first be deeply ingrained in the person himself. Youâd be more
   likely to encounter that person, doing what he always does, than to
   find a ghost in his place. A truly significant event, something of
   life-changing meaning to a person, can create a ghost even without the
   continuous pattern, but the usual source of such a powerful event is a
   violent death.
   âA ghost has some rudimentary intelligence, knowing what its source
   had in mind when creating the memory. A pattern-ghost has a foggy
   recollection of the personâs entire life, while a death-ghost only
   remembers dying. A ghost will re-enact its memory unless some outside
   influence interacts with it. Trying to communicate with a ghost can be
   frustrating, as it will not know anything about the present or even
   that its source has died. I wouldnât recommend trying to talk with a
   death-ghost, but you can learn a lot from a pattern-ghost through
   careful questioning.
   âGhosts have no real power over the physical world. They cannot move
   objects or touch people--â
   âThen what makes them dangerous?â one of his pupils asked. This boy,
   Nicholas, came from Manuel, as did most of the other students.
   âA ghost is a threat because it draws its life from the living. An
   object containing a ghost is just an object until a living person
   comes near, when it begins to drain energy from that person in order
   to create the ghost, weakening, or even killing, the living source.
   Generally, this happens slowly and requires hours to kill the
   observer, but a ghost can draw strength more rapidly if the energy
   drawn drives strong emotion. A death-ghost can kill in a matter of
   minutes. A few ghosts, and I mean very few, are even aware of what
   they are doing. If one of these decides to kill its observer, it can
   do this in seconds.
   âEliminating a ghost requires Binding the object which holds the
   memory so it can no longer draw from someone elseâs life energy.
   Alternatively, one can wipe clean the memory, but this is
   irreversible. Domini sometimes raise ghosts deliberately in order to
   learn from them. Note that this is not Necromancy, since it deals with
   memories of the dead rather than the dead themselves.â This fine
   distinction, just one of many that separated the Domini from
   Necromancers, gave them a much needed tool without tempting them with
   the horrors of true Necromancy. âSo we prefer to Bind the memory
   rather than to erase it.â
   He drew a deep breath as he came to the most serious part of his talk.
   âFinally, there are the wraiths, souls Bound to this world and unable
   to leave. Nothing is more dangerous than a wraith, which cannot be
   destroyed. We know of no power in this world that can physically
   injure the soul, although a few things can cause it pain. A wraith
   possesses all the knowledge it had in life, but not the sanity: this
   unnatural existence drives most of them mad. If the wraith had the
   talent for magic in life, rest assured it can use magic in death as
   well. There are some wraiths who learn magic in death. The wraithâs
   very nature makes its touch hazardous, since two souls cannot inhabit
   the same space. Thus its touch displaces a living personâs soul,
   killing him if his soul cannot quickly return. Worse, wraiths can
   possess bodies once the native soul departs.
   âWhile wraiths have no substance, they are somehow able to move
   physical objects, and yet physical barriers provide no obstacles to
   them. Wraiths are perfectly able to walk through walls. Finally,
   unless they want to be seen, only magical means will allow you to
   detect them.â
   âHow do you kill something like that?â Victor asked.
   âYou canât. A Dominus can defend against a wraithâs attacks, perhaps
   even cause it pain and drive it off. Only Unbinding it can permanently
   banish it from our world, and that is very difficult. Any Bond which
   can hold a soul to this world is very strong, and only a few Domini
   have the power to undo that.
   âNow that weâve covered the basics, letâs consider each of these more
   carefully. While itâs not my task to teach you anatomy, some basic
   understanding of human musculature can help you to deal more
   effectively with the Soulless.â The Dominus focused on his lesson and
   blocked out thoughts about the studentsâ dead eyes, which disturbed
   him more than wraiths.
   The Ordo Dominorum, the Order of the Domini, hid their headquarters on
   a small island northwest of the Novar Empire. The Domini, their
   students, and their slaves all occupied a single small city and its
   surrounding farmland. In truth, most of the Domini did not consider
   their servants slaves, since the greater part of the Order came from
   the Kingdom of Manuel, which had supposedly outlawed slavery.
   Supposedly, in that Manuelâs serfs had as few rights and worse working
   conditions than most Novar slaves. The Manuelitesâ religion simply
   kept them from calling it slavery. The non-Domini who worked on the
   island were bought from the Novar slave auctions and still considered
   slaves by the laws which governed the Domini and their island, but on
   the whole they had more freedoms and better living conditions than
   either Novar slaves or Manuelite serfs. They lived independently, in
   homes outside the City, where they grew crops to feed both themselves
   and the Domini. Only a few ever left the island, and none entered the
   City without permission, although a few worked daily in the Outer
   City. The school and its students dwelled there, while only Domini and
   those they escorted entered the Inner City. The only way on or off the
   island was also in the Inner City--the Domini kept away any ships that
   might have braved the treacherous waters to reach the rocky
   shores--and the strictures that kept any but the Domini out of the
   Inner City effectively trapped both students and slaves on the Island.
   The entire Order lived in this city, but still the population did not
   even approach that of a good-sized Manuelite town. Most of the younger
   Domini, and a few of the older, lived in one of the large compounds
   filled with small apartments. More senior Domini could choose to live
   in private dwellings. The Dominus instructor had ascended over ten
   years ago, but he still did not have his own home. Instead, having
   finished his teaching duties, he entered the large dormitory and
   headed for his apartment.
   Though none of his students knew it, the Dominus did have a name.
   While Randall didnât think it was necessary to keep up a full public
   persona for the students, the Order considered it essential that the
   students retain their awe of their Domini instructors until they
   became Acolytes. Randall agreed with Aulus Principius that many of the
   traditions of their Order had outlived their usefulness, that the time
   had come to examine them and decide what they should keep and what
   they should discard. Unlike Aulus, though, he understood that change
   could not come too quickly. Too many Domini opposed any change at all.
   Randall found himself face to face with one of those as he rounded the
   corner of one of the compoundâs corridors. While in the Inner City,
   the Domini did not hide their faces magically, nor necessarily wear
   their customary black robes. Randall thus had no trouble recognizing
   Kulsin in his tan desert garb. The Kairninâs dark skin had not grown
   paler from the indoor lifestyle most Domini preferred, and his years
   had left him with heavily wrinkled skin and only tufts of white hair
   encircling his bald pate. Though much shorter than Randallâs tall and
   gangly form, he could tower by sheer willpower. Fully as ruthless and
   ambitious as any Kairnin, he was the most rabid of the conservatives.
   Randall wished he did not have to deal with him so often.
   âRandall,â Kulsin said, giving a smile undoubtedly meant to be
   friendly. Kulsin had identified Randallâs awkward height and red hair
   as easily as the younger Dominus had spotted him. âI was hopinâ to
   talk to you.â As usual, the clipped Kairnin manner of speech got on
   the young Dominusâs nerves.
   âWhat about?â Randall didnât need to ask. Kulsin and Aulus both
   courted his vote in the Senate constantly, as they knew he
   unofficially led the small group of moderates. That the Orderâs Senate
   had the same name as the Novar ruling body, even though it operated
   differently, served as a reminder of how closely Domini and Novar
   history wove together, even if only the Domini knew it. The Order
   selected its Senate every five years in a vote by all Domini, each of
   whom voted for two of their number to represent them. The fifty
   candidates who received the most votes served as Senators until the
   next election. Randall had gotten in by the skin of his teeth, making
   it even more peculiar that he had ended up leading any faction, even
   the smallest. He just spoke as reasonably as possible and it seemed
   that those willing to listen to reason heard him. No great ability or
   desire for power made him a leader, just the willingness of others to
   follow. Somehow he thought that truly great men became leaders through
   more active means.
   While he was certain Kulsin wanted to win him to his side in some
   issue before the Senate, Randall didnât know which one yet. To his
   surprise, rather than just launching into his usual tirade then and
   there, Kulsin led him to his own apartment, all the while keeping an
   eye out to make sure no one watched them.
   Kulsinâs apartment, like himself, was typically Kairnin. Rather than
   attempting a tasteful collection of furniture and decorations, it
   brought together the most expensive and luxurious items possible with
   no thought for the whole. A brilliantly red-cushioned Manuelite chair
   opposed a subdued Novar couch, while small golden idols from the
   Sovereign Cities sat on a rough-hewn table of Kairnin marble backed by
   what looked like an Orcish tapestry. Orcish pieces were exceedingly
   rare, the only source being loot taken in the last war, and only a few
   Orc commanders had brought their most prized possessions into the
   field with them. Randall wondered whether Kulsin had stolen that
   tapestry from some Novar Patrician.
   As soon as they entered, Kulsin created a Circuit which made the air
   surrounding them less susceptible to vibrations, keeping their words
   from traveling any farther than the room. It could also suffocate
   those inside if improperly designed. Randall now felt both curious and
   apprehensive. Kulsin made him nervous most of the time, but this was
   downright frightening. What was going on? âI want to talk to you about
   Principius,â Kulsin said. He didnât ask Randall to sit down, but the
   young Senator didnât feel like sitting anyway.
   âWhat about him?â Randall asked. Kulsin talked to him about Aulus all
   the time, usually in very unflattering terms. Why all the secrecy now?
   Everyone already knew how much Kulsin hated Aulus. The Novar Senator
   wanted to transform the Domini into an educational community similar
   to the Philosophersâ University, allowing all who wished to learn to
   come voluntarily. He thought it was time that the Domini did away with
   forcibly taking any boy found with talent and training him whether he
   wanted to learn or not, that they needed to become trusted and
   respected members of the international community, rather than the
   objects of fear, suspicion, and hatred that they were now. While
   Randall found the idea appealing, especially since he had been raised
   among the Philosophers himself, he didnât think it would work. Unless
   they could convince people that the Domini were not the hated monsters
   most saw them as, who would come voluntarily? For at least a century,
   the more progressive Domini had argued that the old ways were no
   longer necessary, but no one could offer a way to break with them
   without destroying the Domini completely. Besides, Randall wasnât
   certain that he agreed with Aulusâs other postulate, and even if he
   were willing to go that far, few of the other Domini would be.
   Aulus was convinced that the Domini no longer needed to serve as the
   self-appointed defenders of mankind. The threats which they trained so
   hard to fight, covered so meticulously by Randall in his class, had
   either faded away or fallen to the Domini. The Order had cleared the
   civilized lands of dragons, gryphons, and cerbers generations ago. The
   Orcs had not shown their faces in centuries, the Kawyr seemed content
   with their current border, and, though as persistent as weeds, the
   Necromancers had vanished with the destruction of their cult in Quian.
   The only threat that required the Orderâs intervention came from their
   own Renegades, and the Domini did a pretty good job of keeping their
   own house in order. In spite of all this, Kulsin and others of his
   faction argued that their role as protectors remained as necessary now
   as it had ever been, although they were hard pressed to point to any
   specific threat aside from the vague and shadowy Malwer. They
   maintained that all the traditions that Aulus wanted to do away with
   were vital to fulfilling that role, and thus they intended to stop the
   Novar at any cost.
   This instance, it turned out, was no different. âI believe Principius
   has acted improperly. He may even have done somethinâ Forbidden.â
   Kulsin hinted at such crimes constantly, but he had never before
   spoken of them outright.
   Randall decided he should listen this time. Technically he always
   listened, but he had become good at not hearing Kulsinâs more
   groundless accusations. âWhat do you think heâs done?â
   âThere are stronâ indications that he may have revealed himself to his
   brother, Marcus Principius. If so, he probably told him the truth
   about what was goinâ to happen to Victor Principius.â
   âThatâs a serious accusation, but itâs not really Forbidden, is it?â
   It came close enough to lead to a public censure and forced
   resignation from the Senate if Kulsin could prove it. Although Randall
   didnât want to think Aulus guilty of this, he could believe it of him.
   It would be just like him to do something of this magnitude as a
   statement and make himself a martyr, only to be restored to the Senate
   next election. Heâd probably consider it well worth the price if it
   furthered his goals. Aulus had personally requested that he be the one
   to take his nephew.
   âThereâs more. He may be secretly traininâ his niece.â
   That Randall certainly could not believe. It was strictly Forbidden to
   train anyone not initiated. âDo you have evidence?â
   âPeople have seen him at his brotherâs morninâ audience quite often.
   In each case he appears to have been watchinâ his niece.â
   âAnd?â
   âMy agents have reported some strange thinâs happeninâ arounâ her.
   People changinâ their minâs suddenly and unexpectedly, for one.â
   âMind manipulation is way too complicated for even the most skilled
   Dominus. Aulus Principius has never shown anything like that
   particular ability. I donât see how you think he could have taught
   this young girl to do it in a few months. What is she? Twelve?â
   âBut itâs theoretically possible, isnât it? Anâ she has the talen'.â
   âMany things are theoretically possible, but the odds of her doing
   what none of us have ever been able to do... I donât think itâs worth
   considering, do you? And her talent is hardly... extraordinary. As
   many girls have it as boys.â The talent was as common in females as
   males, but the Order only trained boys. Domini could not marry or have
   children, since familial attachments were a hindrance to performing
   their duty as guardians of humanity. Since the Domini knew the talent
   was hereditary, they had feared that it would die out if they took
   every child with the ability. Thus they only took the boys, leaving
   the girls to grow up, marry, have children, and hopefully produce more
   boys with the talent. Randall did not think that the Order had studied
   this thoroughly, and with his Philosopher education he had a better
   understanding of hereditary traits than most of the Domini. After all,
   it looked like the talent had gone through the male side of the
   Principius line. Aulus Principius agreed with Randallâs reasoning, but
   he considered it moot since he thought the prohibition against
   marriage and children should be done away with altogether. Whatever
   Aulus might think about heredity, he did not agree with Randall that
   girls should be taken as well. He believed there might be an explosion
   among the populace if the girls started vanishing too, and Randall had
   conceded that point.
   Kulsin did not let Randallâs logic dissuade him. âItâd be one thinâ if
   we could examine her, but Principius has been very protective of his
   niece. He wonât let any of the resâ of us near her if he can stop us.
   Given that, I donât think my suspicions are completely unreasonable,
   do you?â
   Maybe not, but Randall still didnât want to believe it of him. Aulus
   might like the idea of being a martyr, but he wouldnât throw it all
   away like this. Expulsion would hurt his cause rather than help it.
   Still, having admitted to himself that Aulus may have committed the
   first crime, could Randall say for certain that he would never do the
   second? If the girl was doing things, someone must have taught her.
   The ability to create Circuits only came from training. He just
   couldnât see what Aulus might hope to gain through it. âItâs not
   impossible, I suppose.â
   âSo you think itâs worth an investigation?â
   âWhat particular course of action are you proposing?â Randall couldnât
   come up with any other reason to object.
   âI think we should examine and question both his niece anâ his
   nephew.â Kulsinâs eyes went so wide they looked as if they would pop
   out of their sockets as he fixed them on the younger man.
   Randall always had a hard time reasoning with him when he managed to
   look this insane, but he forced himself to demand a final condition.
   âI donât want either of them hurt.â
   âWe should also keep Principius away from both of them,â Kulsin
   continued as if he hadnât heard, continuing his maddened stare.
   âI donât want them hurt,â Randall repeated.
   âYes, yes, I heard you the firsâ time.â
   âIf you do harm them, Aulus will want your censure, and Iâll be happy
   to help.â
   âYou probably would. Donât worry, I wonât touch a hair on their heads.
   I will deliver the proposal in a few days, at the nexâ Senate meetinâ.
   Do I have your word that you wonât say anythinâ to Principius before
   then?â
   âOf course I wonât tell him what youâre planning. I canât promise that
   I wonât talk to him at all.â He probably shouldnât speak to him much
   anyway; Randall couldnât hide things very well.
   âItâs jusâ as well that you keep speakinâ to him. Heâd probably get
   suspicious otherwise.â There was that as well. Now Randall didnât know
   how he could keep Aulus from guessing that something was afoot.
   Randall took his leave and headed toward his own chambers. Not until
   he was seated in his favorite chair in his more subdued sitting room,
   having a cup of tea, did he realize how well Kulsin had manipulated
   him. Randall had essentially agreed to help Kulsin launch an
   investigation into Aulus Principiusâs actions, headed by parties
   sympathetic to the Kairnin, based on nothing more than the second-hand
   information and conjecture that Kulsin had fed him. His mother would
   have been ashamed of him. She had always been a flawless debater, able
   to control any conversation, and he knew for certain that she would
   have caught the flaws in Kulsinâs argument in a moment, torn it apart,
   and thrown it back at him. Neither Randall nor his father had ever won
   an argument against her. For whatever reason the moderates looked to
   him as their leader, they had chosen the wrong man. Maybe it wouldnât
   hurt to let Aulus get suspicious. Though he often disagreed with him,
   Randall liked the Novar, which was more than he could say for Kulsin.
   He would have broken his word to the Kairnin and just told Aulus
   Principius the truth if he didnât think Kulsin would make him pay for
   that. Not for the first time, Randall wished he had the courage his
   position demanded of him.
     _________________________________________________________________

   This chapter is a 4,512 word excerpt of a 90,110 word novel.
   This chapter is the first time I got into the head of a Dominus, and I
   wanted the Dominus whose head I got into to be quite different from
   the image of confidence and mystery which the Domini project. Randall
   is a little bit uncertain, a little bit frightened by the powerful
   figures around him and the way which the Domini work. He looks like a
   wimp, but he may be stronger than he appears.

References

   1. http://www.donaldscrankshaw.com/posts/chain_1103045361.shtml
   2. http://www.donaldscrankshaw.com/files/Writings.html#WotE