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worldbuild. ( praefiscine )
A VERSE PRIMER FOR Praefiscine
» A Brief History.
They've been around for— well, a really long time.
Operating out of an unassuming building in Prague, the Dominica (the Dome to some of its men) is a clandestine organisation of men and women sworn to protect, encourage, or otherwise destabilise the balance of the world's politics for the sake of humanity's survival. Their fingerprints are everywhere; from peace efforts in Asia, to civil unrest in Europe, to silent political participation in North America, the Dome's reach is vast and often imperceptible.
They manage this by using gifts — preternatural abilities that are given to the Dome's field agents and a handful of its executory officers. The Dome's agents have been depicted as monsters several times throughout history. The werewolf, the vampire, the beast, the demon-possessed — the Dome's agents have been called these things at some point.
In these modern times, the Dome and its people prefer to hide in plain sight. These days they are professors, homemakers, clergy. They lead normal lives while performing illicit work in the name of keeping humanity from destroying itself — and their work has never been so crucial.
» The Coven of St. Dominica of Campania.
The Origins of The Dome.
She lived a pious life — and she was the first to have a gift.
Very little by way of written records have survived regarding the beginnings of the Dome, but most agree that St. Dominica of Campania was the starting point of their collective history. She was a whisperer, capable of controlling beasts to her will - a record of her powers exist in public media, ascribed to divine intervention due to the life she led.
It was after her death that The Coven of Dominica of Campania was formed by three sisters, whose names have been lost and are referred to as Gloriana I, II, and III. History tells the formation of the coven as such: The sisters were witness to Dominica's death, and upon Dominica's death her gift had passed on to the sisters equally, granting them powers they would soon use to form the coven.
The coven was formed initially by dissenters of Diocletian's rule, spurred on by his persecution of the early Christians; it was only later that the sisters moved away from their Christian leanings and attempted to protect humanity as a whole.
The first sister was a whisperer as well, differing from Dominica in that her dominion is that of humans and not beasts. According to surviving records, she was a great beauty, and paired with her gift she made great use of it to her and the coven's advantage. The second sister gifted with a great power: she could not die, not by any weapon or disease, nor could the progress of time age her. The third sister could change faces, and was commanded by her older sisters' will; to the men and women of the Dome, the third sister was the first ever field agent, for it's greatly suspected that she committed the most murders for the coven's benefit.
Diocletian is popularly believed to have committed suicide, but a testament from the second sister argues otherwise.
(She is, after all, still alive and among the folk of the Dome.)
» The Dome in Modern Times.
An assortment of information.
Throughout the centuries, the Coven of St. Dominica of Campania (the name of which was later shortened to the Dominica, due to cultural and social sensitivities), has worked in secret to keep the world stable as much as it can manage. They have worked quietly through rebellions, wars, and political upheavals, though given their relatively small numbers there were battles that they had lost, and had lost painfully.
During the height of the War of the Roses, the core members of the Dominica - led by Gloriana II herself - formalised what would become the rules of the organisation:
The operations of the Dominica are funded by old money; the first sister, Gloriana I, solicited from then later usurped her lovers' fortunes to fund the coven during its early years, and Gloriana II managed and invested their finances throughout the centuries. There have been lean financial years, by necessity; the economic crash during the Great Depression is one such example.That any member of the Dominica must devote their life to fulfillment of the organisation's intentions; That any member of the Dominica maintains the secrecy of the organisation for its protection; That any member chosen for the gifts must use these gifts for the benefit of the organisation; That no member of the Dominica is above the intentions of the organisation; That only death will release any member from its responsibilities to the organisation.
Only a handful of members within the Dominica know the full extent of the organisation's accumulated wealth, but it is assumed to be enough to sustain the entire organisation in full for generations to come even if Gloriana II were to suddenly stop her efforts in growing the organisation's wealth.
In 1974 the Dominica moved its headquarters from Italy (where it had centralised its operations for the past couple centuries) to Prague, the Czech Republic, by Gloriana II's request. The reason for the move remains undisclosed.
» The Field Agents.
The Dominica, at any given time, has a total of thirty-two field agents who have gifts. They are further divided into two groups: the provocators, who perform the bulk of the Dominica's wetworks, and placators, who perform the organisation's statecraft.
Within the Dominica, however, the two camps are simply referred to as "black" and "white". Given the number of gifted agents per group, each side is assigned a handle based on chess game pieces: a King, a Queen, two Bishops, two Knights, two Rooks, and eight Pawns.
Parterships are encouraged within the Dominica, either with fellow gifted agents or with non-gifted ones. Typically, partnerships are formed organically between agents with no discrimination between their assigned camp; even more common still for partnerships to form between gifted agents, whether they're from the same group or otherwise.
With partnerships, one half acts as a handler or mentor, while the other acts as a trainee or mentee. Partnerships of equal standing are fairly uncommon, but not unheard of.
As for the gifts: the method of transference occurs through one specific action — the temporary death of Gloriana II. Those selected for a gift are brought to her, after which she instructs them to pierce her heart with a knife. This act, along with the witnessing of her temporary death, allows for her power to transfer to the chosen. This power then manifests in a different manner within the chosen; Gloriana II herself has no ability to predict the outcome of a transfer.
Among the notable gifted are the following:
— Philippa Riley, or Ms. Ripley; possesses the ability to reverse the effects of metabolism, giving her functional immortality and the ability to stall or reverse aging in others
— Karla Anderstrom; an empath with an incredible range
— Alan Barrie; a functional telekinetic, capable of controlling velocity and inertia
— Parker Davies; can inflict wounds on others, as long as she inflicts them on herself
— Cha Seo-Jun, or June; capable of controlling sensory input, especially from remote distances
— Nadezhda Lebedeva; a poison well, who can turn any part of her body into a poisonous substance
— Ashley M. John; capable of perceiving through another person's senses at any given time
» Present Concerns.
There are whispers of a faction within the Dominica that intends to unseat Gloriana from her place of authority, with plans to divert the efforts of the organisation towards a more controlling leadership. No more hiding in the shadows - the faction is alleged to have plans to upset the global political scene, forcing a new world order with the Dominica at the helm.
Whether true or not, the persisting rumours regarding this have agents and officers uneasy. Claims have been made that Gloriana II herself is investigating the veracity of these rumours personally.
In the meanwhile, the organisation operates at a fragile status quo.
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