Book of Domination

Back when the world was young, the mortal races discovered the arts of magic. The elements, emotions, the sun, the moon and the dark of the cosmos. Such were the powers that have shaped the world to this day. But some arts were lost or eradicated with time. The skill of necromancy, mastery of life and ****, has become a forbidden art, practiced only in secret or by those with the power not to care about scrutiny. But one particular form of magic is lost to history. The Art of Domination, the power to alter one's will and mind, chain and control it. The very power once used by the gods to enforce their laws and rules upon the universe. None remember what the times of Domination were like and how mortalkind lost their ability to draw upon it.

Even the accounts of its limitations are flimsy and unreliable. The truth is that domination is a double-edged sword. Domination in the hand of the crafty, the strong of will, can be a tool of absolute rule, but such power has its price. It drains the arcane reserves of the user, opening them up to vulnerability. Those that used it in the past have let it tear at their very lifeforce. For to exert one's will on the universe, even on something as simple as another living being, one has to commit to the act of sacrifice. Energy does not become invoked from nothing.

All of this would be of little importance. The realms of Dragaan have known relative peace since the old citystates and principalities formed up into the imperial council. Elves and Orcs and Men and many others live together in comparative harmony. The times of decade-long wars is over and old prejudices are slowly overcome. That is until a shipment from a recent archaeological expedition at the imperial academy procures a hidden gem, a tome of lost value. It would have been wise to cast this one into the fire, but ancient powers have a will of their own and Domination wishes to be known. So, it finds its way into hands of desire and ambition, either to destroy and subsume them, or to become an eager tool for their wrath.