THE TERMINUS SYSTEMS – THE GREATER QUARIAN DOMINION - LogicalPremise, Sodium (SodiumEnriched), Xabiar (2024)

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THE TERMINUS SYSTEMS – SPECIAL REPORT T-1138Z

THE DARHAS'QUARICLAVAR TAS TERMINUS

[THE TERMINUS CONCLAVES OF THE GREATER QUARIAN DOMINION]

SUBSECTION 2: GOVERNMENT, MILITARY, AND THE PROTECTORATES

[BRIEF 1 – THE DOMINION MODEL, LESSER SPHERES, AND GREATER SPHERES]

OVERVIEW

I apologize for the length of this particular subsection.

It is incorrect to classify the Dominion as a mere 'power' of the Terminus Systems. It is a stellar nation with a government as expansive and complex as any that would be found in Citadel space. While other Terminus powers echo this, they are ultimately constrained in important ways that Citadel states do not have.

Omega is an organized warlord power designed to manage the myriad of interests and factions. The Terminus Clan is focused on their own survival and security first and foremost. The Circle of the Fallen is closer to a decentralized corporation than a central power. In contrast, the Dominion boasts millions of citizens, has a sprawling state apparatus, dozens of worlds, and a central government. It is different, and even a cursory read should demonstrate this.

Understanding how the Dominion operates, along with the underlying systems that enable it, are critical to being able to analyze and react to it. The Dominion Model, as it is termed, is the critical foundation by which the entire Dominion is built upon. Understanding their military doctrines and grand strategy grants not only insight into how and why their forces are organized as they are, but reveals their plans for the Terminus and beyond.

It is important to stress that all information here – which is extensive, and enough to draw some concrete conclusions – comes with a large asterisk. While not all of it was directly sourced from Dominion officials and authorized disclosures, a significant portion of it was, as they were notably open and willing to answer questions.

This was not a universal constant, of course. There are certain Spheres and subdivisions which were unwilling to disclose details. In addition to official sources, further details and insight was taken from rumors, interactions with personnel throughout the Dominion, and personal observation. There will be parts that are more speculative than concrete, and these will be clearly identified.

I highlight this to say that the Dominion is aware of who this information will be disclosed to, and are almost certainly are aware of my efforts to solicit information not from authorized sources. Despite this, they have not taken action to dissuade or stop me. They appear to be expecting me to disclose everything I learn – indicating that they do not believe anything critical was shared.

If there are any instances where the Dominion demands that I do not include information, or request it be erased, I will update this document when I have departed the Dominion. I do not expect this will be the case, as the Dominion seems intent on maintaining the (poor) illusion of autonomy I have here.

Please keep the context this was written in mind as you peruse this report. Even if it is accurate to the best of my ability, there are almost certainly things that they are keeping secret from myself, and the galaxy at large.

THE DOMINION MODEL

OVERVIEW: The Dominion Model can be best described as an authoritarian system that prioritizes flexibility throughout its stratification. Calling the Dominion a representative democracy, republic, or something that implies significant citizen input or influence would not just be misleading, but outright false.

However, the Dominion is not exactly a dictatorship, or an inflexible hierarchy. The ability to adapt and change when appropriate is an important part of the Dominion Model. The Black Admiral may be the most important individual within the Dominion, but if the Black Admiral was taken out of the picture, the Dominion would continue to function.

The most critical element of the Dominion Model, which the Black Admiral built into it, is the degree of configurability within government. Departments, institutes, agencies, each aspect of the state can be easily configured based on need, personnel, and context, the exact extent of each determined by the set level of autonomy by the central state apparatus.

This allows these government organs to, to a reasonable degree, set their own priorities, while maintaining a degree of autonomy in management and execution that most traditional authoritarian regimes would not permit. This is allowed because at any point, if a Sphere or sub-department is stepping beyond their mandate, they can be swiftly reeled back in and brought under tighter oversight by the central government.

These thresholds or red lines are not something that is personally defined by the Black Admiral either. He can make this determination, but there have been plenty of instances where Dominion policies have been violated, contingencies were activated, and the Dominion state apparatus reeled in several Spheres that stepped outside their ring without his involvement at any point.

There will be people who will – incorrectly – assert that the Black Admiral is the linchpin for the entire Dominion. He is not. It is actively detrimental to tie the Black Admiral to the continuation of the Dominion. It sets incorrect expectations if he was ever removed or otherwise deposed.

The Dominion is a self-sustaining power, and filled and run by people who fully endorse the Dominion Model and seek to maintain and improve it. Those who expect it to fall apart without him are in for a very rude awakening.

VOTING AND APPOINTMENT: Promotion and placement within the Dominion is primarily done through formal appointments. Superiors across the Dominion are given the authority to select appropriate subordinates and staff – and subsequently are responsible for their performance, conduct, and integration. The Dominion makes it easier for superiors by providing criteria that every respective candidate must meet for their respective role - but in the end it is down to the superior to make the choice of who to appoint.

For the majority of Dominion positions, this is how one rises through the ranks. It is a system that is designed to enable the exception to quickly rise, while the mediocre or unmotivated remain in their places. This is not framed as a bad thing, as the Dominion acknowledges that not everyone can be good at everything, and this is fine. They do emphasize, however, that dedicated effort and attention should be given towards those who are skilled, interested, and most of all – motivated.

As far as elections and the popular vote are concerned, they are selective tools that the Dominion can technically employ more often than you'd think – but rarely do. The times where elections are employed, they are primarily at the highest levels of Dominion government and leadership, and only when there is a genuine question as to who is better suited for the positions.

If there is no clear consensus, then an internal vote will be held, and the victor the one who gains the majority of votes. Voting is not universal, and there has not, nor likely ever will be public elections. It is questionable how much the average Dominion citizen knows or cares about such elections, and it likely would not matter even if they did know.

Such is their faith in leadership to make the right choices.

CITIZENSHIP AND CIVIL STATUS: Citizenship is handled somewhat differently within the Dominion than other established states, primarily because it is something that cannot be exactly earned. The Dominion does not have immigration for obvious reasons, and thanks to the natural border of the Hangman's Relay, they can control everyone who enters or exits. Because they also claim the entirety of the Deep Terminus, there is nowhere that Quarian emigrants could settle that wouldn't be claimed by the Dominion.

This is also accepting the theoretical concept of Quarian emigration – something that the Dominion currently does not tolerate.

All Quarians are automatically granted citizenship at birth, and while this has yet to occur, the Dominion has systems in place to process the immigration and integration of Quarian – and only Quarian immigration. As of this report, the Dominion does not allow non-Quarians to hold full citizenship.

That obviously raises questions concerning the aliens within the Protectorates, who live and travel throughout the Dominion, as well as non-Quarian visitors, what few of them there are.

All aliens living on Protectorate Worlds are registered as Protectorate Citizens, a designation that allows them free movement on their respective Protectorate world, and the ability to travel to other Protectorate worlds. These IDs are is easily modifiable, and can be virtually updated to allow freedom of movement across the wider dominion, enables the ability to settle on Dominion worlds, and work throughout the Dominion.

Over time the list of rights at a baseline has steadily increased, both because aliens haven't been a genuine security issue in decades, and because the vast majority of aliens prefer living on Protectorate worlds among their species than in the Quarian-dominated Dominion. In practice, there is very little that differentiates a Protectorate Citizen and a Dominion Citizen in terms of rights – outside of the fact that the Dominion can take away these privileges at a whim.

There are also Guest IDs which can be equally configured to be as permissive or restrictive as the Dominion likes – one of these was issued to me – but the rights and privileges for each can be adjusted or revoked at will. Comparatively, full citizenship is something that can only be stripped by a specific body in the Sphere of Internal Security.

While movement towards reforming citizenship classifications has continued, as it stands there is a very clear two-tiered system in place with the Quarians and everyone else. There is a clear trajectory of reform, but how soon that will be remains nebulous.

CLASSIFICATION | RESOURCE WORLD: While a self-explanatory designation, Resource Worlds are identified as locations that have significant exploitable resources, together with a minimal ability to sustain civilization – in other worlds, these locations are not fit for colonization.

Resource 'World' is also something of a misnomer, as this classification includes moons, asteroids, and other celestial bodies that aren't conventional planets.

Resource Worlds are maintained and scaled upwards until the world has been completely stripped of anything useful. As these locations will never be used for colonization, the Dominion has little qualms about destroying them entirely in the pursuit of resources – though since most worlds are uninhabitable, it is doubtful that anything of value was lost.

CLASSIFICATION | DOMINION WORLD: The most ubiquitous settled planets within the Quarian Dominion are the Dominion Worlds themselves. These are distinct from Protectorate worlds as only Dominion citizens are able to live on them, as well as Core Dominion Worlds which are significantly more developed and settled.

Every planet in the Dominion capable of sustaining life is categorized as a Dominion World. This does not inherently mean that all are equal in importance, size, or resources – but for the purposes of categorization they fall into the same category. Usually, these worlds are lightly or partially settled.

It is intended that each Dominion World will continually develop to the point where it will be re-categorized, but there are some exceptions to this rule. Agricultural Dominion Worlds for example, can reach most of their potential with a respectively small population – a favorable scenario that most worlds cannot achieve.

CLASSIFICATION | PROTECTORATE WORLD: Home to the numerous alien species within the Dominion, the Protectorate Worlds serve dual purposes. The first is as a means of isolating and containing non-Quarians within the Dominion, and the second as the mechanism for utilizing these additional labor pools.

However, this is marred by the fact that Protectorate worlds are not created equally. They are relatively few in number, as alien populations are heavily outweighed by Quarian populations Dominion-wide, even if the dedicated Protectorate worlds are considered heavily populated.

Salarians, Turians, and Asari have their own dedicated Protectorate Worlds, with the Salarians having the most, and Turians having the least. Salarians are the most numerous alien species outside of Quarians, and have been granted more Protectorate worlds because their relationship to the Dominion is far better than the other species.

Salarian Protectorate Worlds are often equivalent to baseline Dominion Worlds, and are treated more as alien colonies than containment planets. Salarian citizens enjoy significant freedom of movement, inter-Dominion travel, and autonomy. The relationship Salarians have with the Dominion is strong enough that there is a strong possibility that the remaining restrictions on the Salarians will be lifted and they will be fully integrated into the Dominion as full members.

The same cannot be said for the other species.

The Asari and Turians have only recently had the stricter restrictions against them lifted - and even still they are watched closely, as there remain some garrisons son their Protectorate Worlds. The Asari have largely been compliant during this period, and have now begun taking a more active role managing their enclaves – helped by Salarians who are trusted enough to be allowed to help assimilate other aliens into the Dominion Model.

The Turians have also had the heaviest of the restrictions lifted, but unlike the other Protectorate aliens, they have required a much stronger and violent hand from the Dominion over the decades. They have been known to rebel, riot, and foment short-lived insurrections.

The reason this didn't delay their own reassessment was because of Salarian-proposed and led initiatives that created spy rings within Turian dissidents, which both enable dissidents to act, and subsequently be captured while preventing collective punishment, which was a regular consequence, as turians tended to be unwilling to even speculate against their own.

Concerning other aliens within the Dominion, specifically the Volus, Drell, and Elcor, they lack the population numbers to justify dedicated worlds, and have been offered choices on where to settle. The majority have settled on Salarian worlds, though recently there has been increased interest in helping the Asari Protectorates establish themselves.

While the Turian Protectorates have some immigrants, they are far less popular due to how closely the Dominion still watches the enclaves, and few want to risk being caught up in trouble Turian dissidents might inflict.

CLASSIFICATION | CORE DOMINION WORLD: It is important to understand that Core Dominion Worlds are not "Dominion Worlds but with more people." Population size is one factor, but classification as a Core Dominion World requires meeting several distinct criteria. Population, industrialization, economic output, resource output, and geographic position all contribute to this classification.

Core Dominion Worlds are ones that have reached a level of strategic importance that their loss would be a significant blow to the health of a Dominion as a whole. They can contain a large chunk of the Dominion population, be the primary source of a specific resource or product, or even just inhabit a strategic point within the Deep Terminus.

Some Core worlds achieve this status easier than others, but all of them fulfill a specific, critical place within the greater Dominion. The classification is not made frivolously, and there are expectations for each Core World – and this status can be removed if it is deemed no longer a critical world.

This is not inherently a black mark on the world. Indeed, the fewer Core worlds there are, the chances are reduced that losing any singular planet could deal a serious blow to the Dominion. Examples of Core World downgrades have usually been the result of certain important resources discovered on other worlds, instead of already-settled ones, making its primary output no longer critical to the Dominion's economy.

With this said, such a demotion is rare, as the number of criteria to meet means that it is subsequently difficult to take away something that is still applicable in the majority of contexts. Due to their importance, Core worlds have dedicated garrisons, fleets, and tend to serve as the central trade and logistics hubs throughout the Dominion.

It has been implied to me, and there is evidence to suggest that the Dominion has 'secondary' worlds lined up for promotion in the event of war, or the loss of existing Core worlds. Though as it was explained, this is primarily for organizational and strategic purposes than a reflection of the world's actual ability to meet the demand.

The Dominion has contingencies, and like all contingencies, everyone hopes they will never have to be activated.

GOVERNING BODY | LESSER CONCLAVE: The smallest administrative governing body within the Dominion is the Lesser Conclave. It is responsible for the administration of a sector on a Dominion planet, either a Dominion or Core world. While the size of these sectors varies, the Dominion tends to make the relative workload or importance of each of them equivalent.

It is the responsibility of the Lesser Conclave to manage the state on a 'local' level, integrating with other Spheres and military functions as applicable, as well as ensuring that the logistical and administrative gears of the state run smoothly. They have a reasonable degree of autonomy as far as how they execute their tasks, enabling them to tailor policies, processes, and certain laws to the local environment.

It is primarily viewed as a necessary first step to rise to the highest ranks of the Dominion. Every civil leader of note started first as part of a Lesser Conclave and upon proving their ability, was promoted accordingly. To be part of a successful Lesser Conclave is a necessity for anyone whose ambitions are high.

GOVERNING BODY | PROTECTORATE CONCLAVE: A core way the modern Protectorates mirror the Dominion worlds is their own integration of the conclave format. In terms of function, the Protectorate Conclaves serve the same purpose as Dominion Conclaves and are organized along the same lines. Each Protectorate Conclave is responsible for the administration of a certain region of a Protectorate.

Unlike the Dominion conclaves, only aliens are – technically speaking – allowed to fill Protectorate Conclave roles. However, the Protectorate Conclaves are hamstrung in comparison to their Dominion cousin organizations in several key ways – chief of them being they have far fewer tools at their disposal.

The Protectorates are subordinate to the Dominion in a way that the standard Dominion Conclave are not. While various Spheres do integrate and support the Protectorate Conclaves, each of them has the authority to change, reduce, or even deny support if they see it as necessary, with little recourse possible for the Protectorate.

The authority the Protectorate Conclave possesses is fully at the pleasure of the Dominion. Anything they implement or manage can be reversed or overwritten by the respective Overseer. On paper, they have relative authority to manage their sectors, but in practice they work very closely with Dominion officials to move tasks along or simply out of an abundance of caution. They are generally unwilling to risk their own positions and autonomy for the sake of a policy or project that the Dominion might not approve of.

As a result, the Protectorate Conclaves are very conservative and tepid when it comes to actual administrative adjustments and changes beyond basic state management. Even the Salarian ones exercise restraint, though theirs is more tactical as they see it likely that the Dominion is moving in a favorable direction for them.

Asari and Turian Protectorate Conclaves are more pessimistic, and deeply concerned with taking initiative that may be seen as against the Dominion's interests. This has created a state of affairs that is likely to continue until more expansive reforms to the Protectorate system as a whole are made.

GOVERNING BODY | GREATER CONCLAVE: As the name implies, the Greater Conclave is the governing body that is responsible for the worlds of the Quarian Dominion; administering and managing affairs on the scale of a planet, rather than an individual sector. They are to whom the Lesser Conclaves of a world ultimately answer to.

Greater Conclaves are responsible for ensuring that the various Lesser Conclaves, Spheres, military forces, and state personnel are working together in an efficient manner. In this way, they are perhaps better classified as coordinators rather than governors, though they can and will set planetwide policies, issue edicts, set quotas and define output goals.

If a Lesser Conclave needs resources or specialists, the Greater Conclave has to provide them, or at minimum make the attempt to acquire them. If a world is failing to meet its goals, it is the Greater Conclave's responsibility to identify the problem – and correct it. Greater Conclaves have the ability to remove and staff Lesser Conclaves if it is deemed appropriate, though most prefer to let the Lesser Conclaves select their own personnel.

The composition of the Greater Conclaves is divorced from the actual organization of the world itself. Administrative aptitude and interpersonal skills come before representation. While most Greater Conclaves attempt to have people with backgrounds from all sectors, this is not a requirement, and there have been instances where Greater Conclaves are primarily comprised of outsiders of that particular planet.

It is worth noting that Protectorates do not have a Greater Conclave equivalent. As the Lesser Conclaves are already tightly integrated into Dominion oversight, it is currently viewed as unnecessary – and that it denies aliens a stronger position of power over their own worlds is likely a secondary benefit of this policy.

GOVERNING BODY | SECTOR CONCLAVE: This is a designation that has caused some confusion in the past, but one the Dominion seems reluctant to change, are the Sector Conclaves – specifically star sectors, which are regions of Dominion space. These particular conclaves have a much wider range of responsibility, but like their lesser organs, have similar missions in that their primary roles are administration and management.

They are charged with working with not just the Greater Conclaves of worlds that fall under their sector, but also any Resource and Protectorate worlds that do as well. As a result, the Sector Conclaves tend to require a much larger body of personnel to appropriately manage the demands and needs of the various worlds.

Unlike planetary sectors, star sectors in the Dominion are primarily determined by factors like geographical location, resources, and overall population. The Dominion makes sure that no single star sector contains more than a few Core worlds or other critical resources. This makes the size of star sectors sometimes significantly larger or smaller than the other.

While both are important, smaller star sectors tend to have fewer, but more critical worlds, whereas larger star sectors have more worlds, but few if any would be deemed critical. Neither is necessarily viewed as more desirable than the other, since both come with different challenges.

Though for the ambitious, the management of sectors that have more critical worlds come with higher standards – difficulty that is not necessarily envied, but which is noticed of managed successfully.

GOVERNING BODY | COUNCIL OF PROTECTORATE CONCLAVES: This is a very recent initiative, and significant victory for Dominion reformists who are seeking changes to the Protectorate system as a whole. The Council of Protectorate Conclaves is, officially, a governing body in the vein of some Dominion councils further down this report - though as usual, comes with some caveats.

It is the only body which has representation from all established Protectorates, each member chosen by the Protectorates themselves, who are intended to convey their needs, asks, and requests directly to ranking Dominion officials who are obligated to respond. A secondary purpose it serves is for the Protectorates to synchronize efforts, raise concerns, share best practices, or develop specific Protectorate agendas.

Anything permanent, as usual, rests on the approval of the Dominion. It is ultimately little more than an advisory board to the Dominion – but one that does represent that the Protectorate system is changing, and the Dominion appears open to such changes.

As expected, it is primarily dominated by Salarians who control the majority of Protectorate worlds, who also have the strongest relationship with Dominion officials. Asari and Turian worlds are represented, but each of them are playing catch-up, and are for now largely content to let the Salarians take the lead.

GOVERNING BODY | COUNCIL OF DOMINION CONCLAVES: The Council of Dominion Conclaves serves two purposes. It is comprised of representatives from each Dominion world (selected by the Greater Conclaves), Core or otherwise, who use this council as a mechanism to interface with other officials and worlds across the Dominion. Coordination between Dominion worlds tends to begin here, be it single planets, or entire sectors.

The Council as a singular body can perform a range of internal and external actions. They can make specific asks to the Central Conclave for one or multiple worlds, with other worlds endorsing the ask. They can present Dominion-wide policies and gain consensus for their implementation before sending them to the Central Conclave.

If there are intra-Dominion disputes or issues, they can be raised and adjudicated within the Council by a select group of peers or military officers, as applicable. Exactly how powerful or not the Council is largely depends on how synchronized its members are. Historically, a well-led Council can make significant changes and reforms, provided they do not cross well-known lines the Central Conclave has.

Other times, when there is less unity, or less of a general focus, the Council is primarily employed to facilitate tighter relations and trade between specific Dominion worlds. The Central Conclave tends to not encourage major reforms or changes, even if it is obligated to consider them. Currently, the Council has taken a more active, reform-minded role, and one of their most recent actions was facilitating the formation of the Council of Protectorate Conclaves.

While technically they cannot force the Central Conclave to make sweeping changes, and on paper are more of an advisory body, they do represent every Dominion world, and that consensus can be a powerful one in the right hands.

GOVERNING BODY | CENTRAL CONCLAVE OF THE GREATER QUARIAN DOMINION: The highest governing body within the Greater Quarian Dominion is the Central Conclave. It is a massive, sprawling body which is responsible for administration and governance for the entire Dominion. In this way, the core missions echo the lesser incarnations, but for all intents and purposes, they are the highest authority around.

The Central Conclave sets policy, mission, and expectations as they see fit. While they do coordinate heavily with Sector and Greater Conclaves, they tend to use them as additional perspectives and advisors rather than final authorities. They may not set exact quotas, but they may set expectations as to how sectors and worlds are to develop, while allocating resources to see it succeed.

It isn't as though there is no recourse against the Central Conclave, and challenges to certain decisions can be made, but doing so is seen as very risky and not to be done without ironclad reasons. For their part, the Central Conclave doesn't usually act explicitly against the wishes of Sector and Greater Conclaves and will tend to find a middle ground if there is resistance to implementation of certain objectives.

However, this has not stopped them from acting when they saw fit – and punishing those who refused their direction.

The Central Conclave is comprised of the most powerful individuals within the Dominion civil system, and the ultimate ambition for many officials. Very few will reach these coveted positions, but turnover within the Central Conclave is rather high due to the responsibilities and expectations, and so there is a greater chance for the driven than might be expected.

GOVERNING BODY | DOMINION COUNCIL OF THE BLACK ADMIRAL: The Dominion Council of the Black Admiral sits apart from the official governing structure of the Dominion, but is worth including because anything concerning the Black Admiral deserves coverage.

This is one of the most volatile and fluctuating bodies in the Dominion bar none, because it is comprised of whoever the Black Admiral requests on it. There is no set member count, no explicit mission beyond advising the Black Admiral, and no formal requirement of rank or experience – an almost unheard of rarity within the Dominion.

This is the only body where you can have officials with backgrounds in all Conclaves, members from all Spheres, aliens, and Geth in the same governing body. The Black Admiral handpicks each and every individual for his personal Council, purportedly to advise him on projects or plans that concern the Dominion as a whole.

Sometimes they are allowed to continue in their primary roles while also advising the Black Admiral – or carrying out specific taskings – and other times they leave their positions for a short time. There is no permanence on the Council, and the average tenure of each member is three years.

The Black Admiral appears to tailor and adjust his Council depending on his own interests and objectives, known only to him. Attempts to discern what those are have largely been an exercise in futility, due to the secrecy surrounding it, and the irregular nature of its composition.

Nonetheless, it is seen as one of the highest honors in the Dominion, and without exception, those who have served for even a short time generally tend to rise high in the ranks of the Dominion – or in the case of aliens, gain a certain status that makes even Dominion officials wary of dismissing too quickly.

POSITION | CONCLAVE ADMINISTRATOR: The position where most aspiring citizens of the Dominion begin their climb through the ranks is as a Conclave Administrator. This position is critical to the overall function of the Conclave, with it being analogous to a representative and a manager. This if anything downplays what kind of effort is needed to hold the position, for Lesser and Greater Conclaves alike.

Each Conclave Administrator needs to know the intricacies of the Dominion World they are a part of, as it is their job to manage and balance their needs, wants, and demands. It is a job with a significant amount of responsibility, and anyone who thinks these are simply high-ranking positions with little actual work are in for a very rude awakening.

In fact, burnout in the Conclave Administrators is very high, especially within the Greater Conclaves. Many only last for a few months before voluntarily stepping down before they are removed, and their reputation stained due to poor performance.

The Dominion tolerates the high attrition rate and turnover, so long as they didn't make any catastrophic mistakes before their departure. Sometimes people with potential don't work out, and the position serves as a great administrative filter, so to speak, where only those able to work or thrive in this environment succeed.

POSITION | CONCLAVE DIRECTOR: Those who have not only been able to succeed in the intense administrative environment of the Conclaves, but thrive, often end up as the Conclave Directors. These individuals are the nominal superiors of the Conclave Administrators, and are responsible for not only setting the direction of the Conclave – and in the case of Greater Conclaves, entire worlds – but are also responsible for ensuring the Administrators perform up to standards.

For many, reaching this position is seen as an extremely successful career, as Conclave Directors do not gain their positions without forging connections and contacts across the Dominion, especially within their Sector, and with the respective Sector Conclave. They know their own worlds, the dynamics within it, and ongoing operations in or outside of their control. There are few who are as seasoned or skilled within the Dominion – or as hard of workers.

Their reward for often decades of service is that they are among the number of elite in the Dominion whose words have sway and influence – which also applies to Directors of Lesser Conclaves. They have context and insight into Spheres that others don't, they will meet the Black Admiral and other senior officials, and they and their families will want for nothing.

The responsibility for Directors is significant, but for those who can withstand the pressure, long hours, and consistent demands, the rewards are almost certainly worth it.

POSITION | PROTECTORATE OVERSEER: Among the positions within the Dominion, the Protectorate Overseers hold a unique role. They are not administrators or directors – officially they are supposed to perform, as their name implies, an oversight role to make sure the Protectorates are not acting out of line. They are instilled with significant power to intervene if needed, and expected to do so if necessary.

However, many Overseers come from security backgrounds, and do not often inherently have experience with governing planets, or seeing to their prosperity. Most will try to learn as best they can, but have to rely on aides or their alien subordinates to provide critical context. Because they are filling a security role, this knowledge is seen as unnecessary.

This has resulted in Overseers who tend to be more cautious with their interventions, if at all. It is further helped by the fact that the Protectorates often aren't troublesome, and the aliens prefer to cultivate positive relationships with Overseers, which is returned in kind. Overseers usually don't have a negative bias against aliens, as those that do tend not to apply for roles where that kind of interaction is necessary.

As a result, most Overseers have good relations with their alien counterparts, and in many cases have become reliable advocates for expanding their rights and responsibilities. What this will lead to is unknown, but it is not a trend going unnoticed in the Dominion. It is especially notable because it reflects the softening views on aliens throughout the Dominion.

Historically, the idea of Overseers being sympathetic to the Protectorate worlds was unheard of, and Overseers were critical and judicious in their authorities. The dynamics have clearly shifted, and few seem to find reasons to distrust the Protectorates, and the Protectorates are eager to encourage this trend.

POSITION | COUNCILOR: The position of Councilor can be best compared to an appointed representative or diplomat, though in this case they are not representing nations or states, but worlds within the Council of Dominion Conclaves. It is considered a prestigious position, though one that is much easier to do, with narrower responsibilities than Administrators or Directors.

Each Councilor is expected to represent their world or Conclave to the best of their ability, as they have been directed to by their superior – almost always the Conclave Director, but occasionally by the joint Greater Conclave. This is a very important point – Councilors are not speaking by their own interpretations – they are required to stick to the narratives and points that their superiors approve of.

A superior can allow some degree of flexibility to the Councilor, but it is expected that they ultimately function as their mouthpiece so that there is no conflict in demands or representation. The Dominion takes this seriously, and 'going rogue' or even slightly deviating from set priorities set out by superiors is cause for immediate dismissal.

It is rare, but it has been known to happen, and when there is a discrepancy in what a Councilor and respective superior want, it becomes very clear – and is rectified just as quickly.

POSITION | PROTECTORATE-COUNCILOR: In most respects, there is very little that differentiates the purposes of the Protectorate-Councilor from the Councilor – outside the fact that it can only be held by aliens from their respective Protectorate. It is intended as a mostly symbolic, concessionary role that does not have any actual power, but it does give a voice to the Protectorates in a way that didn't exist before.

Each one is appointed by the Protectorate administration, and they choose each one very carefully. They are among the best examples of Protectorate citizens, because they see this as critical to gaining more autonomy, or even full Dominion status one day. Thus it is important that they make strong, but positive impressions.

Ironically, despite having looser expectations for their role, the Protectorate-Councilors arguably take their jobs more seriously and strictly than their Dominion counterparts. While they may not have power, there has been shifts in how they are perceived, and even skeptics seem to have been won over.

More than a few have stated they are glad that they have better insight into the Protectorates, and reformists are seizing these chances to perhaps one day use this to accelerate reforms to the Protectorates as a whole.

POSITION | COUNCILOR-DIRECTOR: Within the Council of Dominion Conclaves there is a leader, and that role falls to the Councilor-Director. Practically speaking, they don't have many additional powers to the role of Councilor, but their responsibilities include organizing and managing meetings, setting agendas, and handling disputes. Adjudication and procedure are important roles they perform that no other Councilor can do, even if what they can do with them is strictly defined.

The Councilor-Directors are notable, less because they are substantially different from their colleagues, but because they tend to be among the most senior and respected figures not just in the Council, but across the Dominion. With only a few exceptions, every Councilor-Director is directly voted into their position by the Council, due to a prevailing belief that their speaker must possess a consensus of the majority.

This gives each Councilor-Director a significant amount of soft power in the Dominion, within the Council itself, but also in the military and across the Spheres. They are often friends with their colleagues, and have worked with them for many years. They almost always also have connections and insights into the wider Dominion to inform their decisions, as well as being the main representatives when hosting senior Dominion officials or the Black Admiral.

A final note of interest is that the Councilor-Director does not need to come from the Council – in fact in the initial decades, the position was held by a senior military official in the interest of having a neutral figure. This shifted over time, as views on the value of military influence changed, but there is precedent for non-Councilors to hold the position.

It is unlikely this will happen anytime soon, but it is possible, and the Council has not showed any interest in removing the possibility – which they likely perceive as a red line that the Central Conclave will not allow.

POSITION | DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL CONCLAVE: In terms of single positions of authority, there is no greater one than the Director of the Central Conclave. As the governing body that affects the entire Dominion, there is no civil position that has even remotely the same amount of power. It is the highest a civil official can rise in the Dominion, and competition to achieve it is extremely fierce.

This is partially because each Director has to have to have the Black Admiral's approval, and that more than anything is the wild card. At this level of government, qualifications are less important. Anyone who is remotely in contention is qualified several times over – which is why it comes down to the preference of the Black Admiral, which is not as clear as one might expect.

The Director of the Central Conclave is better thought of as not just a powerful civil leader, but the head of state for the entire Dominion. Along with the Black Admiral, they are the face of the Dominion, and how they conduct themselves, and what they seek to do, plays a role in their selection.

Sometimes the Black Admiral wants people to keep the ship steady and the status quo maintained. Sometimes he wants a particular focus to take center stage. Sometimes he wants people with far-thinking or new ideas. And when he believes it is time for change in direction, he will request retirement for the current Director.

Unlike almost every position in the Dominion, being asked to retire as the Director of the Central Conclave is not seen as a slight against the individual. It is generally accepted that the position is intended to achieve specific objectives by the Black Admiral, and once those have been met, it is only proper that another step in. Being asked to retire by the Black Admiral is seen as a successful tenure, as it means they fulfilled the expectations the Black Admiral had for them.

It is usually for this reason that almost all candidates are much older by Quarian standards, usually sixty to seventy years. This will be the last position any of them hold, and so long as they are allowed to retire, they can breathe a sigh of relief knowing they will likely be remembered fondly by history.

POSITION | COUNCILOR TO THE BLACK ADMIRAL: Separate to official government, but relevant to it due to their proximity to the most powerful individual in the Dominion, are the Councilors to the Black Admiral. They are individuals who have been personally handpicked by the Black Admiral to serve in his personal Council, who advise him on matters, or provide direction and input, and when needed, represent him throughout the Dominion.

This is not a traditional cabinet, as the Black Admiral technically does not operate in the role of head of state, even if he is the de-facto leader of the Dominion. The membership of the Black Admiral's Council regularly fluctuates, and follows no discernible path or reason. There are no neat set positions. Sometimes the Council will have representation from all Spheres, sometimes half of them will be from one Sphere, sometimes they will be filled with military officials.

It is usually unclear to the outside why the Black Admiral selects individuals for his Council, even if they universally accept the honor. Councilors to the Black Admiral are not permanent either, or even have a set tenure. Some have been Councilors for literal decades, while others have only served months before departing.

This is normal, and there are only a few who end up remaining on his Council for more than three years. This is also a notable group because it is one of the few where aliens and Geth can have substantial representation. The Black Admiral has consistently had no fewer than three aliens on his Council, all from Protectorate worlds, and no fewer than one Geth mind. Sometimes even more than that.

Their inclusion has raised questions of course, but no one has thought to question it. To be selected for such a role is an honor, one that some of the most senior officials haven't received, and something that is recognized as a major boost to any citizen's career.

TITLE | HERALD: Before moving forward, it would be remiss of me to not note that there is one final position of note - though it is technically not even part of the Dominion hierarchy at all. These are the Heralds, who are individuals – all aliens – chosen by the Black Admiral to fulfill a specific role when certain conditions are met.

Most of the Dominion does not know they even exist, let alone that they have a place in the Black Admiral's plan. They will be elaborated on in significantly more detail, but understand that the title of Herald is a very specific and intentional one; they answer to no one but the Black Admiral, and are even outside the authorities of the Dominion – granting them effective freedom of movement, and effectively immune to the restrictions most aliens have.

There is a very good reason for this, though they tend not to utilize these rights too often. However, considering they almost exclusively deal with the Spheres of Para-causality, and the Grand Chorus, it perhaps speaks to what their interests and capabilities are.

Heralds are important – and extremely dangerous. Keep them in mind for later.

SPHERES OF GOVERNANCE

THE SPHERE MODEL: The Dominion state is organized within a framework that they call 'Spheres of Governance.' This particular shape was chosen to reflect the idea of flexibility and expansion. A sphere can expand, contract, and adapt to the needs and mission of the state. Of course, in practice this is easier said than done, but the concept is logical, and is reflected in their execution.

On a macro scale, the entire Dominion government is designed to be able to autonomously react to the needs of the state. Spheres will rise and fall in importance depending on the current situation or focus, people will be moved around, and departments and institutes will be created, merged, or dissolved as appropriate. If a mission requires more resources, the Sphere is positioned to be able to appropriately absorb an injection of personnel or resources.

It is important to note that the current list may be different in the future from what it is today. It is not unprecedented for Spheres to be split, merged, or dissolved entirely as new ones are created to address different needs. With that said, that historically only happens to less important Spheres with limited mission scopes.

This dynamic is one that Dominion civil servants and citizens are now very familiar with, and before they even take positions throughout the Spheres, they have alternative transfers worked out in advance, so that no time is lost or wasted in the event of a re-prioritization of resources. The Spheres themselves fall into three distinct categories, each one more foundational than the last.

LESSER SPHERES: Those most at risk to the dynamic nature of the Dominion state are the Lesser Spheres, which as a rule tend to be smaller in size and scope. This does not automatically translate to being less important – indeed there are several Lesser Spheres which have critical missions, but do not require extensive resources to be executed successfully.

In the event of major events or emergencies, there are likely to be a collection of small Spheres that would exist solely to immediately address the situation, as the rest of the Dominion reorients its priorities before those Spheres are dissolved or absorbed back into more established Spheres.

This is one hypothetical of how the Sphere Model works in practice. In practice, there has not been a recent need for a complete reorientation, and even the Lesser Spheres have been relatively stable and aren't expecting significant upheaval anytime soon.

GREATER SPHERES: If one wants an immediate look into the priorities of the Dominion, a list of the Greater Spheres will provide immediate and accurate insight. The Greater Spheres are what the Dominion is putting much of their resources into, and each piece of it can bring together a largely coherent image of what they consider important – or are concerned about.

Greater Spheres by their nature are all medium to large organizations which have more expansive missions or purposes. They will tend to have much larger impacts on day-to-day activities or policy – though when Dominion priorities change, Greater Spheres may find themselves downsized or downgraded to Lesser Spheres as a consequence.

CORE SPHERES: What differentiates the Core Spheres from the other definitions is that the Dominion considers all Core spheres critical to either the continuation, foundation, or mission of the Dominion to such a degree that their position can never change. They are, with few exceptions, the largest and most important Spheres in the Dominion.

While technically they are subject to the same dynamics the rest of the Spheres follow, Core Spheres almost never face even minimal downsizing, and there is no precedent for a Core Sphere to be even demoted to a Greater Sphere. It is for this reason that Spheres which might execute critical missions will never be designated Core Spheres.

If it is not critical to the continuation of the Dominion, then it is better served as a Greater Sphere. There have been several Core Spheres that were elevated to this position, but it took decades for each one to be justified, and there are no others that are planned to be elevated to Core Sphere status.

LESSER SPHERES | THE SPHERE OF REDUNDANCY AND PREPARATION

OVERVIEW: This is a Sphere that has been only recently constituted, and its missions had previously been handled by the military and several other Spheres. The establishment of the Sphere of Redundancy and Preparation stands as a clear sign that the Dominion is looking towards the future, and sees it necessary to make serious preparations for a large scale war – and the multiple contingencies that come with such an effort.

While relatively small in size and focused in scope, this is an important Sphere for understanding how the Dominion is approaching the possibility of a major war, how they view the possibility of defeat, and their response to each.

The Dominion intends to make any offensive into their territory a slaughter, and make any campaign they conduct victorious – and they have many tools at their disposal to achieve both.

THE INSTITUTE OF VULNERABILITY REVIEW [IVR]: Despite its connection to a relatively new Sphere, and a Lesser one at that, the Institute of Vulnerability Review is considered one of the most important departments currently active - one which regularly interfaces with the highest ranking officials in the Dominion, including the Black Admiral, who personally ordered its creation.

The IVR conducts regular audits and reviews of Spheres, Dominion Worlds, military doctrines, and the Dominion fleets from a defensive perspective. Usually these measure and simulate how well they would hold up against various compositions of invading forces. Notably, the Dominion regularly simulates themselves against the theoretically gravest threat to them – which is currently the Hanar Ascendancy.

This, in effect, means the Dominion is testing themselves to see if they could survive a theoretical Refusal against them. To be clear, this does not mean the Dominion only tests themselves against the Hanar – they also conduct simulations against theoretical Asari, Turian, and even Human force compositions.

But when it comes time for the critical tests and simulations, they will use the Hanar as a baseline to judge if they are on the right track, or they need to improve. With dedicated Geth minds devoted to this project, the range of simulations they can test is extensive and impressive.

Supposedly, the Dominion is confident that it could withstand an offensive by the Hanar, though it is difficult to determine how credible this is without the reports themselves, which they declined to show me in full.

However, based on the reports they did show me, it indicated that these aren't rubber stamps or half-baked tests. There are apparently too many important people who rely on these to cut corners. As it stands, the Dominion is reportedly in a sufficient state where the largest vulnerabilities have been addressed, though there remain minor deficiencies and openings for improvement that have yet to be addressed.

According to several individuals working in the IVR, it's expected that simulations will always fail to account for every possible scenario, and there will be issues that arise in actual instances of conflict. To this end, they expect that their work will actually increase in the event of a conflict, as they will have new data to work with, which will refine their recommendations further.

Now while this is what the majority of the IVR is doing, there are smaller teams within this department that run simulations which are entirely different, and test against criteria that are highly unconventional and done in conjunction with specific Spheres. I was only able to confirm that the Sphere of Para-causality and the Sphere of the Grand Chorus are directly working with some of these teams. There are very likely others.

It is almost certain that in addition to conventional warfare, the Dominion is also testing their resiliency against more exotic threats to include the anomalous. No matter the details, what is known is that all reports concerning these secondary teams go directly to the Black Admiral – and only to him.

THE INSTITUTE OF CONTINGENCY PLANNING [ICONP]: The Institute of Contingency Planning has a mission that is not unique on the surface – any halfway functioning government would have preparations for the worst case scenarios and how to respond to them. What makes the Dominion stand out in this regard is the specific nature of their contingencies.

There are what are called 'Major' contingencies, which the Dominion summarizes as ones addressing an exterior (non-Terminus) state conducting an invasion against them. Officials were willing to reveal that the Dominion currently possesses contingency plans for invasions by a Citadel alliance, the Hanar Ascendancy, the Batarian Empire – and most recently, the Systems Alliance.

I initially believed this was an outdated contingency, and inquired as to why the Systems Alliance was broken out from the rest of the combined Citadel contingency. Instead, they confirmed that the SA contingency was developed before their ascension to the Citadel, but also confirmed that it remained in force. They declined to elaborate on why.

They also declined to explain what exactly would justify contingencies that are directed towards very specific scenarios – considering no one even knows the Dominion exists. They reiterated that the Dominion is prepared for many scenarios that are unlikely, but 'plausible' – according to them. These 'open' contingencies are the ones the Dominion was willing to acknowledge to me, and are common knowledge throughout the Dominion state.

However, there are other batches of contingencies that I was able to learn about for several officers and officials, only one of which had firsthand access, and subsequently was the most reluctant to speak. However, there were some key pieces of information I learned.

The first is that these contingencies can be best described as 'esoteric,' and in the realm of fiction according to this individual – take everything that follows this paragraph with appropriate skepticism.

Supposedly, the Dominion maintains contingencies for the return of precursor species. To be clearer, if a Prothean or even Griannon army suddenly attacked them, they would have a contingency on how to appropriately respond. It's impossible to say if the Dominion actually considers these legitimate possibilities – but it appears they have dedicated resources to preparing just in case.

It begs the question why. The individual had no knowledge of what could have triggered this in the first place, but he did claim that it was likely initiated by the Sphere of Para-causality, or the Sphere of Ascended Species and Countermeasures. He didn't rule out a direct order from the Black Admiral either.

The second point of interest is that the Dominion has prepared contingencies for the Reapers – and this was disclosed directly to me, and I was able to review one contingency that had been recently declassified to a wider pool of state employees. That this was declassified at all is likely indicative of the Dominion preparing the public for a wider disclosure.

That isn't the interesting part – what is interesting is that the Dominion reportedly had this contingency years before the Reaper showed up with Saren.

However, there were some key points stressed to me by several sources. The first is that the contingency had undergone revisions following the attack on the Citadel, and secondly that the contingency originally didn't refer to the 'Reapers' but a force they knew existed, but had limited information on. While this is slightly more comforting than the Dominion knowing this before they should, that the Dominion still saw fit to have some contingencies in place for something they had slight warning for, is noteworthy on its own.

The Dominion is, for better or worse, preparing for a range of plausible and implausible scenarios, and it is going to be difficult to surprise them if they're wasting time theorizing about what would happen if the Inusannon returned out of nowhere.

THE DEPARTMENT OF INVASION PREPARATION [DINPR]: This is and is not what you think it is.

The Department of Invasion Preparation serves two purposes, each of them the inverse of the other. The first focus is making any invasion by an outsider an extremely painful one. They are responsible for the security of the Hangman's Relay, along with any relays found within the Dominion. They work to make sure Dominion Worlds are adequately prepared for a siege, disseminate defense standards to Dominion worlds, and outline strategies on how to best exploit the Deep Terminus to their advantage.

As one might expect, they work closely with the military, and defense-oriented Spheres. The Black Admiral has quarterly consultations with them, and they are obligated to provide a status on the Dominion's ability to resist an invasion. According to officials, the Dominion has maintained a satisfactory standing for several decades running.

The second focus of this department addresses the opposite question – how to ensure an invasion by the Dominion is successful.

In the event of an invasion by the Dominion into the Terminus, this department will be responsible for coordinating the efforts needed to prepare and execute this. They are considered a key element for the Dominion launching a successful invasion – one that is focused on the Terminus Systems now, but presumably could be applied to any theoretical campaign.

This is currently a secondary, and very quiet effort taking place, but make no mistake – if the order was given, this department would spring into action, and enable the Dominion fleets to invade.

Based on what I've heard from officers, assuming it is accurate, this topic is becoming more and more common. It is also likely that the largest sign of an impending invasion is this Sphere being promoted to a Greater Sphere – something that is reportedly being seriously considered.

Considering what the Dominion is preparing for, and what they already have in place, it is likely this is not a matter of if it happens, but when.

THE VICTORY DENIAL DIVISION [VDD]: A small and secretive group, the Victory Denial Division is responsible for only one thing – revenge. A crude, trite description, but even they would not deny its accuracy.

They are charged with determining what the Dominion should do if they are facing an imminent defeat against a foreign power. All options are on the table, and the goal is simple – to cause as much devastation as possible against the invading force, and render any victories Pyrrhic at best, and meaningless at worst.

The plans ultimately boil down to different methods of ruining worlds. How quickly bodies of water can be contaminated, the smallest nuclear explosive needed to kickstart a nuclear winter, how much black nano is necessary to destroy a city, these are all questions and conversations the division holds.

They apply the same standards to foreign and domestic worlds. There is a consensus that they would rather deny the enemy any captives and resources rather than surrender to them. The most benign plans propose emergency guerrilla units that would adopt asymmetrical tactics to inflict causalities on an occupying force, whose options range from standard insurgency tactics to increasingly fanatical acts of terror, including suicide bombings.

Very few people appear to think these extreme measures will be necessary, and the reputation the division has is a mixed one at best from what I've learned - but ranking Dominion officials have reiterated it's place in their overall strategy.

Enough people clearly consider what they produce valuable, and until the Black Admiral decides it isn't worth his time, it will continue. I suspect that the existence of this also serves a propaganda purpose – perhaps to dissuade any enemies from invading, if they know they risk their own people even in the event of 'victory.'

LESSER SPHERES | SPHERE OF ENTERTAINMENT, MEDIA, AND CULTURE

OVERVIEW: The Dominion is a very serious, hierarchical, and demanding society to live in, one that has a very reduced importance on leisure or pleasure compared to societies of equivalent size and development.

What separates the Dominion from other overbearing authoritarian state is that they have taken steps to alleviate this to a certain, controlled extent. The opinion of most Dominion officials is that, unless regulated, entertainment and culture can hurt a society more than help – but not allowing it at all, or controlling it too harshly, can be just as bad, if not worse.

The compromise is that, so long as it can be overseen and controlled, it can be guided. Their methods and intentions are clear in their approach. Be too heavy-handed, and it will spark discontent, and make it more difficult to identify and respond to quieter subcultures that will develop. Be too lenient, and ideas, contrary values, and movements can form that are difficult to curtail without risking backlash. To this end, they seek a middle ground, one that is executed by the Sphere of Entertainment, Media, and Culture.

Through this Sphere they are able to keep the vast majority of the public sufficiently entertained, while also giving them a certain amount of personal stake and ownership into the culture of the Dominion. It's a clever solution to what has been an issue for more authoritarian-minded states across the galaxy.

It is successful enough that it is almost certainly self-sustaining. It's doubtful that even if the Dominion relaxed their standards and enabled a more open society artistically, Dominion citizens would radically deviate from what they have grown accustomed to.

THE INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL SUSTAINMENT [ICS]: When it comes to the matter of culture, the Dominion decides what they will approve of based on the results of the Institute of Cultural Sustainment. This group is responsible for monitoring popular trends throughout the Dominion, taking stock of existing sentiment, popular opinions on entertainment and culture, and making recommendations based on this.

They are the ones responsible for proposing and greenlighting the various projects to be given to Dominion citizens. If there is an interest in a certain piece of Quarian or galactic history, a vid, documentary, or book on that will be approved and produced. If more visually creative sentiments are being expressed or gain traction, art pieces may be sponsored on various subjects or topics. If questionable ideas are spreading, or the Dominion wants to introduce new ideas, projects propagating the Dominion perspective or narrative will accomplish this.

They don't just take the trends themselves into account, but also the overall cultural health of the Dominion itself. They do see worth in developing a cultural distinct and unique not just from the rest of the galaxy, but from previous or alternative Quarian societies.

To this end they attempt to have a balanced focus, to ensure a well-rounded society. It is common for them to factor in underrepresented fields, ideas, and people into what projects they approve of. If there is a dearth of public knowledge on certain events, or minor historical figures, and so on, they see these projects as ways of raising awareness, and enriching the Dominion as a whole.

It is for these reasons that this institute is one of the most impactful to the perspective of the average Dominion citizen. Even if they work in concert with other Spheres and officials, the works they produce do have an impact, individually and cumulatively, and they have certainly been instrumental in keeping the Dominion stable.

THE INSTITUTE OF CIVILIAN CULTURAL SELECTION [ICCS]: Once projects have been proposed, approved, and applications opened, it is the responsibility of the Institute of Civilian Cultural Selection to actually staff these projects. There is no shortage of interested volunteers, no matter the project. The Dominion attempts to reduce the sheer number of applications by emphasizing that only citizens who have the skillsets or interests should take part, but unless the project is exceptionally niche, that still includes thousands of applications to review.

The ICCS does have methods that accelerate the process of weeding out the obviously unqualified, but that still leaves many more left to review. Each applicant goes through several rounds of filtering, as they are compared against the criteria of project itself. Projects have targeted applicants, and the ICCS notably does not always select the most qualified.

They have an interest in letting amateurs have their moment, and approve numerous smaller-scale or minor projects to allow regular citizens to make a mark on the Dominion's cultural history. That means that someone who is too qualified may find themselves eliminated early on.

Granted, this only applies to a subsection of overall projects, but the Dominion actively works to prevent the formation of a celebrity culture, something they see as extremely detrimental. This is a major reason why individuals chosen for these projects are forbidden from taking part in any other ones for a full five years following their participation.

As far as the actual qualifications, for selection, the citizen has to be in good standing in their current job, meet the criteria posted for the project, and not be involved in any critical ongoing projects. Selection is intended to be a reward for dutiful, loyal citizens, and those who consistently go above and beyond or fulfill their jobs exceptionally are given extra consideration in the process.

Once the final applicants have been selected, they are informed, their superiors are informed of their involvement, work on the project begins, and enters the next stage of execution.

THE PROJECT PROCUREMENT DIVISION [PPD]: While the Dominion gives most of the responsibility to the citizens chosen for the projects, they do have a role in making sure they have what they need. All projects, if applicable, have an estimated budget for completion – but it is important to note that this budget is not set in stone, and one of the first meetings officials from Project Procurement Division hold with project leads is what they will need.

For the most part, the individuals selected try not go overboard with what they want, especially for major productions. They will explain their vision, or their ideas, and the PPD will draft a preliminary procurement list based on what they intend to do. If this is agreed to by the project lead(s), then the actual procurement will begin.

This is not a one-time event, and in the event the project requires something that was not accounted for, or there are other needs that emerged as production continued, the PPD will generally provide it without much fuss. However, if this happens repeatedly, they will become less tolerant.

There haven't been instances where projects were canceled due to going heavily over budget – but there have been some productions that have resulted in the individuals involved being blacklisted from ever taking part in any future cultural projects.

Perhaps the trade-off is worth it, though having reviewed some of these more controversial productions, I can confirm that a larger budget doesn't necessarily translate to quality.

THE QUALITY CONTROL DIVISION [QCD]: At the conclusion of every project is the review by the Quality Control Division – where the final product is put before a group of judges, for lack of a better term, who assess if the product meets the standards for release.

This is generally more of a formality, but it is an interesting part of the process because it requires that all citizens who took part in the project have to go before the QCD judges, and answer questions from them. These primarily revolve around their creative intentions, experiences during the project, and what they hope the wider Dominion public takes away from it.

These interviews are released simultaneously with the project, and while they're never as popular, it gives some very interesting insight into how the people involved saw what they were doing. There are archives of nothing but myriads of ordinary Dominion citizens describing how much they enjoyed working on a holovid, writing a book, painting, and so on.

The closest thing I can compare this to is a press tour – if the press tour was held on the same day as release, everyone involved in the production was in a large room, and they were interrogated by glorified film critics.

Now, not everything survives review by the QCD, but the project has to genuinely be a disaster of exceptional proportions to be so bad that it cannot be seen publicly. In those instances, the project leads are blacklisted from future selection, and the post-completion interviews are never publicly released – though it is likely the recordings are still kept somewhere.

While there are only a few projects that fail in this way, they do exist, and I suspect that it's probably for the best.

LESSER SPHERES | SPHERE OF INDOCTRINATION AND CIVILIAN INTEGRATION

OVERVIEW: Whole-of-society efforts are considered among the most difficult projects that any government can undertake. Every government wrestles with the question of how to bring citizens in line with the goals, ideals, and ambitions of the state. While it is only one part of this larger effort, the Sphere of Indoctrination and Civilian Integration is a core part of the Dominion's efforts to achieve this.

While it is primarily known as a public relations sphere, as communications and state media is managed from it, the sphere has a significant role in developing strategies to shape and direct public sentiment, goodwill, and raise warnings if certain trends emerge.

This is where much of the Dominion's domestic propaganda is birthed, some of which the public knows about – and much more they don't.

THE INSTITUTE OF CIVILIAN MOBILIZATION [ICIVM]: A state is most efficient and prosperous when its citizens are engaged with the efforts that are being undertaken. The Institute of Civilian Mobilization is responsible for developing strategies to harness as much of this engagement as possible, and expand the number of engaged citizens. The Dominion believes that regular engagement between citizens and officials on projects, events, and gatherings strengthens community, reinforces camaraderie, improves inter-Dominion connections, and aligns ideals of individuals to the state.

In theory, the Dominion could mandate engagement with community projects or gatherings, most of which are usually minor, such as volunteer work, a holiday celebration, or even something like fixing the fence of an elderly neighbor. Some are aimed towards resolving an issue, others improving the local community, and some are just intended to be 'relaxing.'

The Dominion realized that mandating public relaxation would not have the desired effect, as well as defeat the purpose, and decided on a more subtler approach to encourage participation.

This is a mostly practical solution – if the encouragement was too obvious, citizens would see it as a bribe. Too little, and they won't bother. As a result, the easiest way ICIVM sustains engagement is employing time-substitution vouchers. By submitting the vouchers, you can spend two or three hours of your workday every few weeks doing something else instead of your job – so long as it's one of the numerous activities the Dominion officially offers.

Incentivizing people to give up their free time is a difficult ask – but if it comes out of your regular workday? That is significantly more appealing because nothing has been 'lost,' so to speak, and you're still getting compensated for it.

This approach has been very successful, and has created a culture where many times there are more volunteers than are even necessary, and the Dominion is a notably communal people, even if the way it happened could be considered engineered.

THE INSTITUTE OF COMMUNICATIONS AND PROPAGANDA [ICP]: The Institute of Communications and Propaganda executes two distinct functions, one that is public-facing, and one that is internal. The public facing-organization is effectively the official communications arm of the Dominion, and all official statements from the Central Conclave are propagated by the ICP.

The internal mission of the ICP is distributing the internal talking points and narratives across the Dominion to the applicable spheres and Conclaves. They are extremely important to ensuring that the Dominion speaks with a unified voice on any subject, and have at least one person who reviews statements before they're released to ensure there are no contradictions.

This does not mean they catch everything, or are perfect in their messaging, but there are notably few instances of contradictions from Dominion officials. When there are, this is quickly resolved, and is usually accompanied by a penalty or strike against the individual at fault. After a certain level of authority, people will be dismissed if they spread contradictory information.

As a result of this harsh penalty, anyone of any importance within the Dominion makes sure to check with the ICP first before saying anything. It is a habit picked up early, and any Dominion official will tell newcomers that if you haven't gotten it approved by the ICP, its better to say nothing at all.

Additionally, if there are specific narratives or announcements that the Dominion or Black Admiral want to propagate, they will use the ICP to achieve this in a way that is not organic, but is expansive enough that no matter where they are, or what job they work, the average citizen will hear about it.

This is not something deployed often, but it is a known operation the ICP has and is able to execute.

THE DEPARTMENT OF INDOCTRINATION MATERIALS AND CURRICULUM [DIMC]: This is a fun one.

If there is an ambition for any of the media-and-artistically-inclined, it is to one day join the Department of Indoctrination Materials and Curriculum. All propaganda material for the Dominion begins here, and it is a staggering amount, intended for the myriad of demographics and audiences in the Dominion, including the Protectorates.

This is a large department that employs thousands of artists of all kinds, who are given a very free hand with how they are allowed to make propaganda. While there are standards and expectations on what they should focus on, personnel within the DIMC are given a lot of creative leeway in what to make.

They are generally given a theme, format, and demographic to target. So, for instance, if the Dominion wanted material focusing on reporting suspicious individuals with the audience being young children, they would give that off to the DIMC, who would then take that idea, and then produce, for example, a short picture book with a child and her Geth friend/program who catch some suspicious dissident, complete with a nice moral at the end to tie it all together.

This is a basic example – but one that is based on the general thought process. While propaganda is their main focus, they are also responsible for producing the indoctrination materials for Spheres across the Dominion, which they usually treat as creative projects of their own. These are developed in conjunction with Sphere officials, who have final approval, but it is DIMC who actually produces the materials.

Dominion propaganda is much more than the many (often well-done) posters and official PSAs from Dominion officials. It includes short films, animation, short books, and music. Many of which have cross-demographic appeal, but some are geared towards specific audiences, and because of the pervasive security apparatus, these audiences can be easily targeted.

The average Dominion citizen is awash with so much propaganda shrouded as entertainment they are hardly aware of it – and it's unlikely they would care much, even if they were. As this is the central place where the Dominion's creatives go, there is genuine passion there that resonates with citizens, and as long as the Dominion lets the DIMC manage propaganda with minimal interference, this will almost certainly continue.

THE MEDIA DISTRIBUTION DIVISION [MDD]: Media Distribution works hand-in-hand with departments like the DIMC, along with some other Spheres, though has a much more narrow focus and mission than their sister organizations. As the name suggests, they are responsible for the distribution of official state media – as well as the myriad of propaganda materials available from DIMC.

They are integrated into the Dominion digital infrastructure, allowing them to deploy materials through official, unofficial, or otherwise controlled channels. They retain records of every piece of media the Dominion has released, and have services where any citizen can request a specific piece of media if they have the name or an ID.

A secondary function MDD performs is reviewing foreign media materials. Foreign media has become more prevalent in the Dominion, and there is very high interest from Dominion citizens for foreign media, especially Migrant Fleet Quarian, Turian, and Human in origin. Protectorates also have requested materials from their respective species.

The Dominion has taken a cautious approach towards allowing foreign media into the Dominion, while not banning it entirely. Instead, MDD reviews foreign media, usually popular media in the wider galaxy, assesses if it is appropriate or dangerous or not, and makes the decision to release it, or block it.

An amusing anecdote to this is that the MDD has almost certainly broken Citadel (and numerous individual stellar nation) copyright law to the tune of billions of credits by distributing media to the entire Dominion without charging any cost, or intending to compensate the original copyright holders.

It is unlikely they will ever rectify this unfortunate error, and will likely be remembered in history as the only open state sponsor of digital piracy.

THE CIVILIAN ADAPTATION DIVISION [CAD]: Public sentiment is a very important metric to track, and one where the truth is paramount above all else. The entire purpose of the Civilian Adaptation Division is to track this sentiment, and present unvarnished results to leadership for them to develop strategies to respond to. The Dominion is not perfect in their plans and execution, and they will do things that make people upset.

However, upset people can be swayed back around if the right steps are taken - but to take those steps, you need to also know that sentiment exists in the first place. This is easier said than done, since most citizens are careful what they publicly say unless there is a mass disagreement where they feel safe enough to voice their discontent.

With that said, thanks to how pervasive the security services are in the Dominion, the CAD is able to review and listen to sentiments expressed in presumably private or isolated settings, with Geth assistants working to highlight particularly notable events for review. Without the Geth in the surveillance infrastructure, it would almost certainly be impossible to manage an operation of this scale, but the CAD has enough tools to gain an accurate view on the true sentiments of Dominion citizens, sometimes in collaboration with Internal Intelligence.

CAD differs from other state organs in some key ways. The first is that they are very restricted in what they can and cannot share, and sequestered from inter-sphere bodies. Due to the sensitivity of their work, they are forbidden from sharing anything learned to most Spheres, with overrides only able to come from senior officials or the Black Admiral.

The second is that CAD reports directly to the Black Admiral and his Council. The Black Admiral is very sensitive to the perceptions of the citizenry, and based on the regular (biweekly) reports to him on sentiments, he will either personally, or through his Council, direct the Dominion to take steps to rectify shortfalls if it is considered appropriate.

This effective shield the CAD has from the Black Admiral has made them very willing to provide accurate sentiments to the Black Admiral and senior officials. The Black Admiral has also made it clear that deliberately hiding or misconstruing data is grounds for criminal prosecution – or execution.

That likely speaks to how much the Black Admiral cares that he is not being misled by people telling him what they think he wants to hear. It's unknown what specific impact this has made, but considering the stable state of the Dominion, it likely has played a part in helping the Dominion prevent any negative sentiments from taking root.

LESSER SPHERES | SPHERE OF PROTECTORATE ADMINISTRATION

OVERVIEW: Despite the unique place that the Protectorates have within the Dominion as the only alien enclaves where aliens can ostensibly manage their own affairs, they hold a fairly minor role in the hierarchy of Dominion priorities. The explanation for this ultimately comes down to scale – while the Protectorates serve a purpose, there are ultimately not many of them – certainly not enough to justify the resources needed by Greater Spheres.

Furthermore, while some Protectorates have higher security classifications than others, there have not been credible threats of insurrection or rebellion in a very long time. Even the Turian Protectorates have not had any problems in decades, and the power disparity between Dominion and Protectorate is so great that even if there was trouble, it would be quickly put down.

A final note is that this Sphere may not be needed in the coming years, especially as the status of the Protectorates themselves is being debated, thanks to campaigns by the Salarian Protectorates and allies in the Dominion to elevate them to full Dominion worlds. In this scenario, the need for dedicated institutions such as these is greatly reduced.

But that is only a possible future. In the present, the Sphere of Protectorate Administration still serves a purpose, and fulfills a necessary demand.

THE INSTITUTE OF PROTECTORATE DEVELOPMENT [IPDEV]: The Protectorates may not possess the strategic autonomy that most Dominion worlds enjoy, but they are still expected to add to the greater Dominion economy. To this end, the Institute of Protectorate Development is responsible for assisting Protectorate officials, recommending plans of development, and working within the Dominion and respective Protectorate Overseer to provide said resources to enable development.

Initially the IPDEV took a very heavy hand in practically spelling out what and how the Protectorates were going to develop, with very clear implications if they were countermanded by the local (powerless) officials. However, as time has passed, and views on aliens softened, personnel in the IPDEV have seen their role as simply facilitating the plans of local officials.

While they retain the ability to approve projects and development, it is much rarer to find the IPDEV outright planning how they will develop, and what they will focus production on. They will still make recommendations, but have become significant more willing to defer to local alien authorities on both the feasibility and specifics of their development.

These days, the only times the IPDEV will take a heavy hand is if the Protectorate Conclave in question has limited or no administrative experience, or are suggesting plans so unfeasible that the IPDEV are doing a favor by vetoing them and proposing their own.

This shift in their approach has not come without controversy, and those not connected to the Protectorates in numerous Spheres, who are responsible for supply the Protectorates with various materials, have questioned the wisdom of letting the Protectorate development be driven by aliens – a challenge that the IPDEV has steadfastly refuted as an unfounded criticism.

It is generally recognized in the upper ranks of the Dominion that this is mostly lingering distrust concerning aliens, as even the most skeptical critic is forced to admit that development has generally not been mismanaged. The few exceptions have been swiftly dealt with by the IPDEV, as well as Protectorate Oversight.

Which is all to say that for all intents and purposes, the argument for the necessity of this institute is reduced - though until Protectorates can deal directly with the Dominion for needed materials, they will need Protectorate Development to facilitate this purpose.

THE INSTITUTE OF PROTECTORATE OVERSIGHT [IPO]: The Institute of Protectorate Oversight functions as the final authority on everything concerning the Protectorates. They are the judge, jury, and law over what can and cannot be done, what is and is not acceptable, and how lenient or strict life will be. By far the most powerful department in the Sphere of Protectorate Administration, their word can directly and radically affect any individual Protectorate.

They can institute blanket laws, rules, and regulations that affect all Protectorates, or tailor them to specific worlds depending on local dynamics and contexts. They set the expectations for what the Protectorate will produce, their paths towards greater autonomy, and how much oversight and security is needed.

This body directly appoint the Protectorate Overseers, and are charged with reading the reports submitted from the various Sphere organs, and responding accordingly. The body itself rarely interacts with the Protectorate officials, but only through Dominion personnel - most explicitly the Overseers. However, they usually work with every department in the Sphere to gain a holistic picture for any individual Protectorate.

In the modern day, it is very rare for Protectorate Oversight as a whole to directly meddle in the affairs of Protectorates. Usually, they are willing to let the Overseers act as they see fit, and only step in if directly requested, or given sufficient reason to override or bypass their appointed representatives.

Originally, they were very involved in the Protectorates, making regular recommendations, and directing other departments to manage the Protectorates in specific ways. These ways have largely been retired in favor of a more passive management style, which has reduced the needed size and scope of the department as a result.

Oversight has a critical role in the Protectorates, but even they appear to be thinking that their need is coming to an end, as there hasn't really been a need for oversight for a very long time.

THE PROTECTORATE INTERFACING DIVISION [PID]: Originally a direct subunit of Protectorate Oversight, the Protectorate Interfacing Division has morphed into a more distinct and critical piece of the Dominion's Protectorate management. While the Overseer works directly with the Protectorate leadership, the PID interacts with the rest of the Protectorate state apparatus.

They are effectively embedded, unofficial overseers, though they don't classify or see themselves in that way, and their job is to filter up needs, requests, and reports from Protectorate officials to the Overseer, IPDEV, and to the wider Dominion as applicable. Because the Protectorates cannot directly interact through formal Dominion channels, they are forced to use the Interfacing Division to achieve this.

This is seen, even within the division, as a largely archaic and unnecessary process given that the Protectorates have not been a genuine security risk for decades, but until the Dominion decides to adopt Protectorate Reforms, or the Black Admiral directly intervenes, this will remain the status quo.

Something that is a pervasive rumor among the Interfacing Division and Protectorate personnel is that the Black Admiral is purposefully not pressuring Protectorate Oversight to change this to increase the support for more radical Protectorate Reformists. It would be simple, trivial to alter laws like this, but it could sustain the Protectorate System for decades more if it was made efficient.

Of course, this begs the question of why the Black Admiral would not simply accelerate the process if he believes the existing system has outlived its purpose. The answer I have heard, and I believe, is that the Black Admiral does not want to make such a change unless it has clear, genuine support from the wider Dominion.

He is cognizant of the possible destabilizing effects of such radical changes – but if the same result comes from motivated Dominion officials in and outside the Protectorates, that is a significantly better outcome that demonstrates a genuine desire for change. Time will tell the results of this approach.

THE PROTECTORATE PACIFICATION UNIT [PPU]: The importance of the Protectorate Pacification Unit has steadily declined as the decades have passed. At one point, every Protectorate had dedicated units intended to respond to any unrest, violence, or insurgency. Today all of these units have been collapsed into the singular Protectorate Pacification Unit, which is intended to intervene in any act of insurrection or rebellion on a scale that the local authorities are unable to manage.

This is also a reduction of their responsibilities. Historically, security was directly managed by the Sphere, and local authorities had no influence over security. This has steadily been eroded with the Pacification Units being withdrawn from public view entirely, and placed on an eternal standby.

As the Protectorates have successfully mellowed and integrated into the Dominion ecosystem, so too has this aspect of Protectorate management declined in importance. Nonetheless, the Dominion has deemed it necessary to maintain the PPU as a contingency. These days, most of their responsibilities are drawing up specific and detailed contingencies on how best to destroy any insurrection.

With nothing better to do, their plans are exhaustive, detailed, and exceptionally well-done. Few within the PPU expect they will ever be utilized, and most of them believe that the next logical step is their own disbanding.

Even if the Protectorates never transition into proper Dominion worlds, there is a quiet – and sometimes open – understanding that the purpose of this group has come to an end.

LESSER SPHERES | SPHERE OF RECLAMATION

OVERVIEW: On the short list of Spheres that is expected to quickly rise to prominence when the Dominion emerges from the Hangman's Relay is the Sphere of Reclamation. I would posit that this naming convention is somewhat misleading, as this Sphere is primarily focused not on the reclamation of Rannoch, but the reintegration of the Migrant Fleet Quarians into the Dominion.

It serves as useful insight into how the Dominion views the Migrant Fleet, the Admiralty, the ordinary Quarians who comprise it, and the lengths they intend to go to not simply replace the Admiralty, but turn them into historical pariahs, before burying the surviving incarnation of the Aristocracy forever.

It is difficult to see any of the Greater Families willingly integrating themselves into the Dominion – but it is equally clear that the Dominion clearly believes that the Admiralty poses no legitimacy threat to them, and that when given the opportunity, the majority of Quarians will join them.

This Sphere is comprised of several different institutes, all of which focus on a specific aspect of the overall Reclamation. These are relatively small, focused teams in an equally small and focused Sphere. Their role is not to execute the plans around the Reclamation, but anticipate, prepare, and advise the Dominion on the likely outcomes, and ideal course of action.

THE INSTITUTE OF QUARIAN REASSIMILATION [IQR]: The largest of these Institutes is focused on Quarian Reassimilation. This notably does not cover how to entice or convince Fleet Quarians to join them, but rather on how to seamlessly integrate those who do into the Dominion system. IQR personnel openly acknowledge that this will be a difficult task due to the stark differences in culture, politics, and of course, biology.

As such, one of the most concrete plans is one to put Fleet Quarian immigrants on genetic modification programs that over several generations will soon allow descendants to reach the baseline immune system that the Dominion Quarians enjoy. Optimistic estimates suggest that within a decade of treatments, most Quarians would be able to walk on Rannoch without suits, and potentially within three decades they would be able to live on most worlds suitless without a significant risk of illness.

Programs for assessing Fleet Quarian skills, education, and talents are also conceptualized, as the Dominion intends to immediately integrate them the Dominion system after a period of indoctrination and cultural assimilation (suggested to be a full year) for those who pass initial assessments.

The Institute has highlighted a need for the Dominion to be able to absorb for a major influx of immigrants, and suggested that prior to significant assimilation efforts, several new Dominion worlds be established to make room for immigrants to be placed on established worlds and subsequently integrated.

These, note, are for Fleet Quarians that the Dominion classifies as 'Willing, eager, and compatible.' For the less compatible Fleet Quarians, as well as anyone from the Admiralty, or Greater Families, they have very different plans, handled by a different Institute.

THE INSTITUTE OF RANNOCH PLANNING [IRP]: One would expect this Institute to have a relatively straightforward purpose. The reclamation of Rannoch is a universal ambition of the Quarian species, and it's unsurprising that the Dominion has a group dedicated to determining what the reconstruction might or should look like.

On paper, this is exactly what the Institute of Rannoch Planning does. It was explicitly created to develop a roadmap for full reconstruction, resettlement, and revitalization. They are anticipating a worst-case scenario, where the Geth and 'Assimilated' Quarians have converted large swathes of the planet into industry, and made it minimally habitable.

On this note, this is the only clear place I've found that defines how the Dominion sees the Quarians who are presumably still on Rannoch. They have assessed that the Quarians, under the control of a self-iterating Geth intelligence, have either been completely removed, or are maintained as an engineering and labor force.

There are several strong arguments that the Geth have no practical use for organics, and strongly suggest that there are no Quarians on Rannoch. However, this has been disputed by the Black Admiral, who believes that the Quarians are still on Rannoch, but converted to serve the Geth. For what purpose is unknown, but the Black Admiral at least adheres to this belief.

It is expected that if Quarians are on Rannoch, they have undergone significant cybernetic conversions to either make them more efficient or easier to control. What is certain is that the Dominion believes these Quarians are unsalvageable, and who see their extermination as a mercy.

Beyond this notable insight, there is something noticeably…off about how all of IPR's documents are written.

The proposals, papers, and documentation this Institute produces are not exactly concrete plans. They are longform research papers on the ideal environment for the Quarian species to thrive. There are no fewer than four papers on the ideal atmospheric composition, complete with several in-depth models.

Upon review of these documents, it reads like this Institute is supposed to fulfill an entirely different purpose. They theorize about how Quarians would handle worlds of varying environments and temperatures (often utilizing data from their own colony worlds when applicable), how well said environments are self-sustainable, and comparisons between limited and expansive biome worlds.

I've yet to find a single document that explicitly discusses what they intend to do when they reclaim Rannoch – nor was one provided to me. It appears that they are more interested in theorizing the conditions necessary to create a new, perfect Rannoch, rather than address the one that exists. I suspected this related to terraforming, but that word was similarly absent in their documentation.

As it stands, their efforts have appeared to produce a theory for an 'ideal' Rannoch. What impact that has, or how it applies to the existing Rannoch, remains unclear. There is almost certainly a secondary purpose to this Institute, and there are no answers that fit to my satisfaction.

THE INSTITUTE OF DEARISTOCRATIZATION [IDA]: If it has not been made abundantly clear, the Dominion harbors a special hatred for the Aristocracy, and by extension the Admiralty which they view as its modern continuation, where the same Greater Families still hold domination. To this end, they are interested in destroying what influence and hold the Aristocracy holds over Fleet Quarians, and ideally convincing them to adopt their hatred.

There is an obvious question of how the Dominion intends to reintegrate the Greater Families, for they must have some plan – so conventional wisdom says. The answer is they do have, but one that requires their the Greater Families to accept their own destruction. The Dominion is willing to allow individual Greater Family Quarians to enter the Dominion - but only after undergoing what they call Dearistocratization Programs.

There are two kinds of Dearistocratization Programs – those for resistant non-Family Quarians, and for the Family Quarians themselves.

The former are primarily targeted towards Quarians who either hold high opinions of the Admiralty, the Greater Families, or the values, norms, and prejudices perpetuated by them (many of them around race, the Geth, and so on). The exact specifics vary based on what the identified problem is, but the Dominion does not appear to be taking a soft hand in addressing them.

For the Families, the programs involve the individuals being forced to apologize for their role in the degeneration of the Quarian people, and list each of their 'crimes' as defined by the Dominion in a public setting. They will have to renounce their family, denounce the Aristocracy, the Admiralty, and whatever else the Dominion identifies as a cultural touchstone or value incompatible with the Dominion.

In their final act, they will forsake their own name, adopt a new one, and once the Dominion believes they have been thoroughly prepared, they will undergo the more normal assimilation process. The Dominion intends to make sure that each of the Family Quarians that assimilate are permanently separated from each other, and never encounter their family again, and eventually end the lineage of each of the Families forever.

This, mind you, is for the Family Quarians that want to join the Dominion.

While it is difficult to determine if the Dominion intends to actually conquer the Migrant Fleet, the fact that this Institute exists appears to be a hint that the Dominion is anticipating being forced to handle groups of Quarians who do not like the Dominion, and has to plan what to do with them. It may be tipping their hand as to their ultimate plans, or a contingency they are prepared to expand.

As for the Family Quarians who do not want to join? The Dominion makes no secret what their fate is. Executions. The Dominion does not want them, and thus the only path for them is to die - or destroy themselves.

LESSER SPHERES | SPHERE OF ALIEN STUDY AND EXPLOITATION

OVERVIEW: The attitude that the Quarians of the Dominion have towards aliens is a complicated one. To call them tolerant would be misleading, but labeling them with blanket accusations of bigotry is similarly inaccurate. The Dominion approach to aliens is one that doesn't fit neatly into a black and white dynamic, and is as complicated as their actual policies towards them.

It has been said that attitudes and policies towards aliens are softening, but it is not necessarily changing in a fundamental ways. The old views on aliens that the Dominion was founded on remain held by a majority, and it's worth discussing the reasons why the Dominion views aliens in this light.

It is accurate to say that the Dominion sees aliens as an inherent risk to the state, whom have different goals, mindsets, and outlooks than Quarians, which will naturally lead to conflict. It is important to remember that the Black Admiral came from a period where tensions between Quarians and the rest of the galaxy were exceptionally high.

He, and many Dominion officials, believe that the rest of the galaxy will consider the Dominion a threat, and they will be at war eventually. Furthermore, as they define aliens as a risk, and it is important to prepare for, and mitigate risks.

A large part of the argument against a change in Protectorate status is because the Dominion was not intended to be an inclusive society. It was built by Quarians, for Quarians, and is not attuned to the differences in species. While one can argue that Quarians can live normally with Turians or Humans, that becomes less tenable when considering species like Asari or Krogan, whose lifespans alone make them less compatible.

So, what does this mean concerning the relationship between the Dominion and aliens? According to the Black Admiral, it is critical to understand that aliens are different, and that inclusive societies are difficult, if not impossible to execute in a way that does not undermine the state in the long term.

The separation of the Protectorates is not just for security reasons, there is an underlying idea that aliens should be best left to their own devices, because they know their inclinations and norms better than an alien overlord. So too is this perspective that the Black Admiral extends to the rest of the galaxy.

He believes that positive relationships with aliens are possible, and that they are not inherently better or worse than Quarians – but the Dominion in particular is not, and likely never will be accommodating to aliens - and aliens at large will not impose their own priorities at the expense of Quarians.

To this end, the Sphere of Alien Exploitation and Study appears and sounds ominous – which is not an incorrect impression. The Black Admiral does not trust alien governments, but believes it important to understand how they function, how they think, and incorporate the results into his overall strategy.

THE INSTITUTE OF ALIEN STUDIES [IALST]: Within the sphere, the most benign of the organs is almost certainly the Institute of Alien Studies. It can be summarized as a organization that focuses on the holistic picture of a species, and intended mostly for personnel to get general, accurate overviews on a particular species, to include their history, their government, figures of note, and their culture.

If someone has a question about an alien, they can usually find an answer by inquiring with IALST. They are primarily concerned with acquiring up-to-date history and reports on alien species and governments, and have connections to the public extranet which feed them publicly available information.

Dedicated classes on specific aspects of alien species, particularly their history, important figures, and the systems of government, are all available for those willing to devote the time, and which IALST facilitates regularly, and hold accredited classes for some specializations offered by the Sphere of Education. While their body of knowledge is extensive, in this respect there is little about it which is unique to similar contemporary bodies.

THE INSTITUTE OF ALIEN PSYCHOLOGY [IALP]: A breakaway from IALST split into its own dedicated body, the Institute of Alien Psychology is a more specialized, focused group that conducts classes and studies on the psychology of aliens. Their foundations, worldviews, dynamics, and drivers are examined in detail to inform and educate on how the alien mind approaching the galaxy different from Quarians.

Much like its sister organization, there is little that is unique about this institute in what it does, but it does serve to educate and produce materials that are used by the less benign parts of the Sphere. Those who find the study of alien psychology fascinating may eventually go to a group that does more than study – but intends to incorporate it in a tangible way.

IALP is likely to be found as advisors or embeds into other Spheres and departments across the Dominion, particular as they concern intelligence, the Protectorates, and military. The Black Admiral is also known to occasionally visit, and assess the current research products.

THE INSTITUTE OF ALIEN SUBORDINATION [IALSUB]: Every species has certain psychological triggers and vulnerabilities, be they biologically innate, or societally normalized, and if fortunate will never be exploited. The Institute of Alien Subordination has a very specific mission, and that is to destroy the willingness of an alien to engage in a conflict against them.

This is specifically approached through the lens of propaganda. IALSUB is primarily interested in identifying psychological or societal triggers which can be employed through propaganda and messaging which will reduce the will of alien populations to fight, or encourage surrender or submission to invading forces.

IALSUB categorizes their efforts into two categories – Negative Activities and Positive Activities. Negative Activities are intended to worsen or lessen the willingness of their targets to fight, and induce heightened emotion, stress, and strain alien interpersonal dynamics.

Positive Activities are intended to encourage submission, surrender, and conflict resolution, typically by appealing to cultural norms or psychological inclinations that are prioritized over conflict, which generally portray the Dominion as a responsible, reasonable party.

To use as an example, it is known that Asari are psychologically vulnerable to sustained attrition. Messaging that includes demonstrations of lethal power against Asari forces, videos of mass casualty events, statistics denoting losses, or actively slandering or targeting important societal figures (like Matriarchs) are known to damage morale. This is an example of Negative Activities.

An example of Positive Activities in action would be Dominion messaging that promises respectful treatment of POWs, care for wounded soldiers and civilians, and willingness to work with collaborators and allow autonomy for cooperative personnel. All of these may encourage an asari population to surrender and cooperate rather than fight.

IALSUB is also interested in what to avoid to not trigger a hardening effect where a population will become more resistant to capitulation. The most obvious example of this intent is their guidance when fighting Turians. They stress caution in making blanket threats against turian population centers (I.E. don't threaten children), but instead recommend that Dominion forces clearly identify and message that hatcheries, schools, and locations with children will be not harmed.

This combined with messaging targeted towards the respect and honor culture of the Turians (such as it is), could lead to Turian populations being more willing to negotiate and come to mutual agreement. They acknowledge that 'subordination' is not a blanket outcome; different species have different thresholds of success. What is an acceptable threshold for the Asari is different from the Turians and so forth.

IALSUB has had a major impact on military policy, and if the Dominion goes to war, it is certain that they will be involved in shaping propaganda targeted towards alien populations. If it will be as successful as they expect will be another story, but it might prevent some unnecessary mistakes and battles.

THE INSTITUTE OF ALIEN EXPLOITATION [IALE]: If IALSUB is focused on the propaganda aspect of war, the Institute of Alien Exploitation is intended to focus on the practical, on-the-ground part of it. IALE studies alien war tactics and grand strategy, and the psychological elements that drive them to make certain decisions or approaches – and subsequently, how best to exploit them.

They work to identify potential blind spots in their tactics or in their psychology that can be taken advantage of, where and in what conditions they can be best engaged in for maximum advantage, and if there are any physical limitations that are worth considering.

This kind of data is useful when plugged into large-scale Geth-enabled simulations, allowing Dominion forces to make predictions with varying degree of confidence how an alien force would react to different tactics. IALE has cautioned the military to not become over-reliant on their products, but there is a general consensus among officers and personnel that the data is useful for making an educated predication on what could happen.

THE INSTITUTE OF ALIEN LIBERATION [IALL]: In what is one of the most interesting groups within the Sphere, the Institute of Alien Liberation by its very existence gives some very important insight into how the Dominion sees aliens outside their place in the Dominion, and the governments that are currently in power.

These are studies on the current governments, systems, and individuals conducted by IALL from the perspective of the most effective ways of undermining them. Members of IALL are directed to, sometimes without restrictions, or sometimes with specific tools, engineer the downfalls of states, and propose the most effective way of doing so.

The Dominion considers most alien species as subordinated, sometimes willingly, sometimes not, under a separate elite that does not have their best interests in mind. The Thirty, the SIX, the Palavanus, the Admiralty, and so on. Each government in question has had their ruling elite identified – and they are seen as a hostile power.

As a result, the Dominion perceives the collapse, fall, or removal of said governments as leading to a subsequent 'Liberation' from which the Dominion can empower the oppressed citizen underclass to build state reflective of their needs, which the Dominion can forge a genuine, positive, and friendly relationship with.

This is, as you might perceive, is not as altruistic or idealistic as is claimed. The Dominion expects that any alien state that emerges in the aftermath would be aligned with them on key positions, and would have some degree of indebtedness and loyalty to the Dominion, who would almost certainly have influence over the new government.

At the same time, they appear to genuinely believe their narratives, and have identified the groups across species they would empower, from dissident or reformist Turians, the clanless Asari, the Class I and II Humans, and so on.

There is very little that is off the table within these plans. Geth-powered social engineering, fomenting violent rebellions, sabotage and recruitment campaigns, puppet governments, all of these are valid options. In some simulations, when appropriate, they incorporate variables such as introducing information that is deemed potent enough to destroy a government – such as the information on the Temple of Athame.

What is notable about the inclusion of such knowledge bombs is that with few exceptions, it causes irreparable damage, and accelerates the fall of said governments. The Dominion has and intends to use such information, no matter the consequences, as they consider the current ruling species a danger to the Dominion and their people.

One very important note about IALL is that their reports don't go just to ranking Dominion officials and the Black Admiral, but also to the Heralds. Given what role the Heralds play, this is not surprising, and it is almost certain they assist in some of the studies, or even provide advice on how to proceed.

THE INSTITUTE OF ALIEN CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES [IALCRS]: The final, relatively small body of the Sphere, is the Institute of Alien Cultural and Religious Studies which does exactly what the name suggests. It is not innately clear why this required a dedicated research body from IALS, but nonetheless they produce exactly what they claim.

IALCRS primarily studies the founding, spread, and beliefs of numerous alien religions, and if applicable, their offshoots. They examine the evolution of religion over their history, and what impact it had or continues to have on the species. This also includes the study of 'secular' spiritualities like Siari and the Wheel, which are not traditional religions, but have a focus on spirituality that justifies their inclusion.

Both Siari and the Wheel particularly have dedicated researchers. While deeper study on the Wheel is rational, it is less clear why they put Siari on the same pedestal. Religions like the Hanar's Enkindlers, and the Batarian Dark Gods also unsurprisingly get a lot of focus.

Throughout all of this, one gets a feeling that IALCRS is looking for something in particular from all of this information. It has the attention of people from the Grand Chorus and the Black Admiral himself, who have praised IALCRS for their efforts. They do produce classified reports, and have held briefings with senior officials.

Whatever they are actually looking for, they seem to be having success, and the rest of the Dominion is paying attention to what they produce next.

GREATER SPHERES | THE SPHERE OF ARCHITECTURE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

OVERVIEW: The masterminds of the cities that reside on the various Dominion worlds begin in the departments of the Sphere of Architecture and Infrastructure. While its name implies a specific, self-explanatory focus, its scope is larger than just engineering and design. It encompasses each aspect as it relates to the standards, labor, and preservation of buildings, infrastructure, and other architectural endeavors the Dominion undertakes.

It is a vast mission scope with a relatively small number of departments for how many people it employs, but perhaps that crystallizes its criticality to the Dominion. This Sphere has risen in importance as the decades have passed, and there are more than a few who believe it will be elevated to a Core Sphere as the Dominion enters into an unprecedented era of prosperity and expansion.

THE CIVIL LABOR CORPS [CLC]: The name of this department could be reasonably called a misnomer. Most would expect the Civil Labor Corps to be comprised of laborers and the working class that defined the Quarian species for a very long time. However, that is not really the case. The Labor Corps is a state-controlled labor force – but the Quarians who comprise it are not conventional laborers.

Specialized Geth units carry out the majority of physical labor within the Dominion. The Labor Corps itself is comprised of specialized technical experts, Geth mechanics, and managers who oversee and direct the Geth to perform the actual hard labor of construction. It's not unprecedented for the Labor Corps to directly help themselves, but for the most part they serve in very specific, direct roles, and are better understood as an administrative arm of the Dominion managing Geth labor than the division itself performing the work.

This is seen as a great achievement and a step towards progress. The original official purpose of the Geth has been realized, and the age of primarily Quarian labor has definitively passed. There will always need to be a Quarian to oversee the work of the Geth, but no more will Quarians need to sacrifice or risk their bodies to perform the tasks essential to the state.

THE CIVIL ENGINEERING CORPS [CEC]: It is not entirely correct to call the Civil Engineering Corps the 'elite' Labor Corps, but it can't be denied that they are complimentary towards each other. If the Labor Corps is general operations, the Engineering Corps is specialized. If the Labor Corps keeps the Dominion running, the Engineering Corps endeavors to make it better.

The Civil Engineering Corps is responsible for three distinct mission sets. The first is directly overseeing what is deemed 'complex critical infrastructure,' which includes most energy infrastructure, Geth mind hardware, and the surveillance and security apparatus throughout the Dominion. This is restricted to the Engineering Corps for both security and proficiency concerns – though in emergencies, the Labor Corps will provide support.

The second responsibility is urban redesign – or in less flashy terms, demolition. All controlled demolitions are handled by the Engineering Corps. They also will be the ones to conduct regular surveys and confirm if construction is safe or recommended.

Their final responsibility is overseeing major engineering infrastructure projects of the Dominion itself. If the Dominion approves the construction of something that goes beyond the standard, its handed to the Civil Engineering Corps to execute it. This typically include mega-projects on Dominion worlds, which can range from building dams, military outposts, or even terraforming projects.

The CEC are experienced, skilled, and will quickly draw upon the vast reserves of resources and manpower to complete their objectives assigned to them. To be part of the Engineering Corps is seen as a great honor, and one that is highly sought after by the many engineers of the Dominion.

THE EMERGENCY RESPONSE DIVISION [ERD]: The placement of civilian emergency services within this Sphere is not necessarily the one that makes the most sense, but for the tenuous connection to maintaining and protecting the construction and infrastructure. A logic that would make sense if only fire response and the like were included - but this is not the case.

There is very little which distinguishes the mission of the Emergency Response Division from many civil emergency response units across the galaxy. Search and rescue, firefighting, on-site medical and transport, anything you'd expect any competent state to have, the Dominion has in this division.

With this noted, they can be differentiated in a couple ways. Most emergency personnel, no matter their role, carry with them small extinguishers, as apparently the majority of accidents come from Geth malfunctions which cause electrical fires. As a result, the firefighting units are more numerous than traditional, but otherwise there is little more to say.

More notably, the Emergency Response Division does integrate Geth into its operations, and there are indeed Geth which are designed and equipped for firefighting, rescuing people from burning buildings, and providing medical treatment. The Quarian-to-Geth ratio is in favor of the Quarians, but they utilize the Geth extensively to augment their operations.

The Dominion suffers accidents and natural disasters like any other. It is equally unremarkable that they have personnel ready to respond, and from everything I have learned, they are generally successful at it.

THE DOMINION CORPS OF ARCHITECTS [DCA]: A relatively small department for its vast reach throughout the territory, the Dominion Corps of Architects belies what I would consider the most far-reaching and important of its work besides simply designing buildings – regulation.

Every regulation concerning engineering, architecture, and construction comes from the DCA, who disseminate it to the other Dominion Corps. The majority of the DCA focuses on nothing but creating, reviewing, and implementing regulations. It's for this reason that a very large chunk of 'Architects' are not architects at all, but specialized engineers.

It is unsurprising given the need for experts to set regulations which encompass multiple disciplines of study, but it is a fact that is understated due to the name of the Corps to begin with. The DCA doesn't act in a bubble, and will usually consult with stakeholders on how existing regulations are performing, if there are suggestions for additional ones, and revising accordingly based on feedback.

The other focus of the Corps is more in line with what the name suggests. The Architects as they are called, are responsible for the design of not merely cities, but entire worlds. An Architect is one of the most prestigious and difficult jobs to gain in the Dominion, but as a consequence they are often the ones who can make their own mark in a way very few can.

The DCA is very selective of who can join their ranks. The reason is due to a mixture of limited need, high standards, and inherent elitism from such a prestigious group that regularly rubs elbows with the most powerful Dominion officials. They would deny this, but it is clear they enjoy their work, and the privilege that comes with it.

That doesn't take away from what they have done, which is impressive – but it is worth noting, as it is one of the few places in the Dominion where such elitism can sustain itself with minimal interference – for now.

THE DOMINION CORPS OF ENGINEERS [DCE]: This is not to be confused with the Civil Engineering Corps, as the Dominion Corps of Engineers is much, much different in focus and execution.

First, the Corps of Engineers is much smaller than the Civil Engineering Corps. A fraction of the size, if that. Also unlike the CEC, the Corps of Engineers are tightly controlled, utilized, and comprised of handpicked individuals by ranking Dominion officials up to and including the Black Admiral himself.

They do not have an explicit mandate – they are only charged with overseeing and executing the projects that are deemed the most important or critical to the Dominion. Their work is often secret, and has involved work with multiple Spheres, as well as the military. It is believed that the Corps of Engineers is involved in projects ranging from new kinds of Geth, to cutting-edge cybernetics, to even radical terraforming technologies.

The Dominion refuses to confirm or deny rumors, and were unwilling to state exactly what they do on behalf of the Dominion. However, it seems almost certain that when the Dominion needs the best engineering minds possible, they call in the Corps of Engineers. They are critical to the Dominion's plans, and hold some of their best and brightest minds.

We should assume they are involved in anything of consequence.

GREATER SPHERES | THE SPHERE OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

OVERVIEW: In many governments, there is a distinction in the research and science departments between the military and civilian efforts. This is not the case within the Dominion, as the Sphere of Research and Development approaches even their civilian-oriented projects with the open possibility of military application

While there is a higher ration of civilian-focused projects to military ones, it would be a mistake to classify this sphere as a conventional R&D wing with a conventional focus or mission. They consider military usage of the sciences to be critical to their defense, and have every intention of doing so when possible.

THE INSTITUTE OF BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH [IBR]: The Institute of Biological Research is one of those departments that has a multitude of civilian and military projects proceeding simultaneously. On the civilian front, they have fairly conventional biological programs, including the study of disease, pandemic prevention strategies, and other biological research. This makes up roughly half of their efforts.

The other half is focused on military objectives.

Sequestered far away from any civilian centers, the IBR operates several testing facilities across multiple worlds that research numerous kinds of bioweapons. Currently, the IBR has four products that they consider 'battlefield viable,' each of which is a lethal biological weapon to differing degrees. There are three more of these products in testing that are approaching this threshold.

They declined to provide many details on exactly what their bioweapons were capable of, or what they even consider the most effective, but they prioritize lethality and species-agnostic agents. There are rumors that the products are actually just one lethal agent, but are tailored to different biomes, environments, and even weather conditions.

This is plausible because if the Dominion has developed an exceptionally lethal bioweapon capable of cross-species spread, it is unlikely they would develop different or less effective variants. It is far more likely they would seek to maximize its possible impact, and that means taking into account conditions that may not be favorable compared to a lab setting. That the IBR has outposts across multiple environments reinforces this theory.

Ultimately, when the objective is the proliferation of biological warfare, the specifics become semantic after a certain point. Understand their biological programs are extensive, and will continue to mature.

THE INSTITUTE OF GENETIC ENGINEERING [IGE]: What is arguably the most important and celebrated department of the Sphere of Research and Development is the Institute of Genetic Engineering. With the direct support of the Black Admiral, they have led the careful genetic engineering of the Quarian species over decades to reconstitute their immune systems, allowing them to walk the galaxy free of masks and suits.

That was their first major success – one that had fueled larger plans.

Since the most glaring biological vulnerability of their species has been addressed, they are shifting efforts to projects that are intended to further improve the Quarian genome in incremental ways. These are the early days of such projects, but in the future they intend to increase the tolerance of cyberware, fully eliminate remaining genetic and hereditary diseases, and if possible improve the median physicality of the species.

If these efforts bear fruit, we will unfortunately not know for many years. The IGE operates on a timeframe of decades, as they cannot afford to rush such modifications that are ultimately intended to be rolled out for every single Quarian. Currently there are only candidates and test subjects who are all volunteers.

Such an effort would normally be very difficult to pull off, but the IGE has earned the trust of the Dominion, and they are more than willing to accept any risks if they can lead to further successes.

THE INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY [IAT]: 'Advanced Technology' is a broad term within the Dominion, which ranges from what can loosely be defined as conventional cutting-edge technology, to precursor technology that has been successfully reverse-engineered, and is capable of mass production. Practically speaking, the Institute of Advanced Technology studies and engineers that which is too dangerous or sensitive for other groups to work on.

To this end, the IAT is focused less on developing new technology wholesale, and instead optimizing existing cutting-edge weapons and technology. Element zero, nanotech, and precursor-based technologies are all studied within the institute, with the intended goal being how best to utilize and optimize them.

As a result, the breakthroughs that the IAT produces are largely incremental. Large breakthroughs are not what comes from this group, but that isn't really their purpose. If they can make the existing trump cards the Dominion holds that much better, then that is justification enough for their existence.

THE INSTITUTE OF CYBERNETICS AND TRANSQUARIAN EFFORTS [ICTE]: This institute has actually undergone a recent expansion. Previously it was just the Institute of Cybernetics Research, but within the past ten years it was renamed to the Institute of Cybernetics and Transquarian Efforts as extensive cyberware and personality digitization has become a topic of theory and interest.

Currently the core of the institute has remained the same. The ICTE first and foremost focuses on cybernetics of all kinds for Quarians. This is one instance where civilian efforts take up a greater focus than military applications, as cybernetics are becoming an means of self-expression and also convenience.

There are trends that estimate that non-critical cybernetics (as in cybernetics replacing healthy organic body parts) will become widespread within the next two decades, and the ICTE would have a role in making that viable. There are cybernetics that exist for pretty much everything one could need, and are without question among the cutting edge in the galaxy.

However, military cybernetic research is a growing focus. More conventional military cybernetics exist, but newer pieces showcase how more invasive and extensive they are becoming, in return for significantly improved combat power. Including complex weapons, info-war suites, rapid mobile reposition gear, and drastically improved survivability, the Dominion appears to be embracing full-conversion soldiers, and we can expect more of those to fill the Dominion ranks within five years.

The newest wing within the ICTE concerns memory and personality digitization, and dedicated transquarian research. Right now it has not gone much beyond limited testing and theory, mostly centered around Redbox research, but with the interest and attention, it is likely some major strides will be reached sooner than later.

THE INSTITUTE OF ALIEN BIOLOGICAL EXPLOITATION [IALBE]: Obscured from the public is a small and secret group that is only known to the authorized as the Institute of Alien Biological Exploitation. It is unclear if this degree of secrecy is because the Dominion believes there might be public disapproval, or because they don't want it public that they are researching this at all.

It is not clear, but likely the latter.

The IALBE has a very straightforward goal – to research the biology of aliens and determine if there are any physical or chemical weaknesses that can be exploited. If aliens have inherent susceptibility to certain chemicals, can reliably have allergies induced, or are affected or not affected by certain stimuli or diseases.

They have been working to either find viruses or diseases that can be tailored to only target specific species, or barring that, create ones on their own. It is unknown how successful they have been, but they are one of the groups that conducts experimentation on aliens abducted from mercenary or pirate groups in the Terminus.

While they tacitly include all species in their mission scope, their primary focus is on Asari, Turians, Salarians, and Batarians. While a secondary focus, they also take note of existing physical or psychological limitations that can be exploited in combat or estimate how best to accelerate the rate of physical or psychological attrition.

While I cannot determine a pattern of success, I do know that reports from IALBE have informed military policy. Whatever is being done, there appear to be plenty of people who find it useful.

THE INSTITUTE OF TERRAFORMATION AND BIOME EXPLOITATION [ITBE]: Terraforming and the process of massive ecological modification has been an interest of the Dominion since its founding, and one that has slowly grown into a priority. Ostensibly, this is driven by the eventual intention to reconquer Rannoch and make alterations to it to improve habitability, but the use cases have clearly existed elsewhere.

The Dominion has on occasion experimented with large-scale terraforming efforts to improve habitability on the Dominion Worlds, to varying degrees of success. Right now, the Institute of Terraformation and Biome Exploitation is currently residing on some colonized and uncolonized worlds of various types and have turned them into planet-sized labs where techniques and theories are put to the test.

This is one objective of the ITBE, and they supposedly have been successful in acquiring knowledge that has allowed them to slowly modify weather patterns and temperatures on worlds to improve habitability – or at least make it more predictable. However, the secondary objectives of the ITBE are militant in nature.

They are interested, not just in being able to change worlds to be better for them, but also how to achieve the inverse. They are seeking knowledge on how to kickstart efforts that can render worlds uninhabitable or hazardous in a matter of months or years. While I was not able to confirm this, there are rumors that the ITBE successfully set into motion the collapse of a planetary ecosystem by rapidly increasing the temperature.

It again, cannot be confirmed, but the Dominion is working towards this goal, and it should be assumed that they will achieve some success.

GREATER SPHERES | THE SPHERE OF EDUCATION

OVERVIEW: It should not be surprising that most states, especially the Dominion, possess an extensive educational department, in the Dominion's case managed by the Sphere of Education. The Dominion considers an educated population critical to their future ambitions and development, and invest heavily into educational efforts and high standards for students accordingly.

Beyond managing the educational mission, the sphere also handles the matter of job placement for those who successfully graduate, as in the Dominion, both of those are tied closely together. No one who completes their education is lacking for a place to work – though there are no guarantees that you will end up where you want.

THE INSTITUTE OF INITIAL EDUCATION [IIE]: For the first ten years of a Dominion citizen's life, their education will be taught through the Institute of Initial Education. The IIE is primarily focused on giving children foundational skills that enable them to organically follow their interests. By the end of their initial education period, children are expected to be literate, possess an understanding of Dominion society and history, have foundational math, science, and social skills, and some technical ability.

There is not much that differentiates the Dominion standards during this formative period from many other galactic education programs, with perhaps some more emphasis on the technical potential of children than usual.

Secondary to the educational efforts, the nature of Dominion schooling is such that many behavioral issues are likely to be identified and addressed before they progress. Dominion policy is that the best time to establish expectation and conformity where it matters when children are young.

As a general rule, children are almost always universally more disciplined when they leave initial education than when they started. Troublemakers and the disobedient tend not to last much longer, and the more they indulge in those traits, the harder it becomes for them.

THE INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED EDUCATION [IAE]: This period of education is when the Dominion becomes significantly stricter on what the expectations and standards are. They make it clear that to participate in the Dominion at even a basic level requires successfully completing the Advanced Education period, administered by the Institute of Advanced Education.

This progression of education proceeds under a fairly conventional framework. In addition to advanced concepts of many subjects, the number of other electives and educational tracks is significantly expanded, allowing the students to study more of what they are interested in, which is intended to given them an advantage if they seek further education on said subjects.

However, what might define this period most of all is that it is difficult. Students aren't just expected to coast through – they are expected to meet the minimum standards and if they fail, they will not be moved forward or allowed to graduate. If is for this reason that a sizable minority of students do not graduate on time, and have to take additional years of study before they succeed.

There is no such thing as "dropping out," the state considers students as a resource that they track, who will eventually enter the wider labor pool. From the Dominion's perspective, every lost student is a lost engineer, scientist, or soldier who they need. They are more than willing to spend several extra years of investment to produce a productive citizen that will give them fifty or more years of productivity.

There are escalating systems of support in place for struggling students, which teachers and administrators will employ should things progressively worsen, but there's not been any known instance of standards being lowered or students aging out entirely. Everyone will eventually graduate, and it will be at the same standards, even if it is through brute force.

It is worth also noting that the darker side of this is that the Dominion does have a notably higher percentage of student suicides. Either due to the shame it brings on their families, sheer frustration, or spite and rebellion, it is not unheard of for suicides to occur rather than continue their education.

This is not restricted to especially struggling students either – those make up a minority of overall suicides. The majority come from students who performed poorly on exams and learn they will require an additional year of schooling. Even if it is only one extra year, they perceive themselves failures, and believe it is more appropriate to remove themselves than tarnishing their families. These pressures especially compound for children of high-ranking Dominion officials.

The Dominion is aware of this phenomenon, and have initiated efforts to destigmatize the idea of additional or remedial schooling, and post-exams they have created monitoring units for students who may be at risk of suicide. The good news is that this has worked at preventing some suicides, the bad news is that the Dominion doesn't believe they have a solution that does not involve lowering their standards.

There are some reformists in the Dominion who have suggested changing or even removing the graduation requirement for certain low-ranking or less critical positions in the Dominion, which ever many reformists are not in favor of. In their perspective, the suicides of students are a tragedy, but the solution cannot come at the expense of weakening the state.

As a result of the intensity of education, there are many graduates who are mostly eager to enter society, and have little or no desire to return for additional schooling following graduation, if ever again, even if it may stagnate their careers.

THE INSTITUTE OF SPECIALIZED EDUCATION [ISE]: It is generally understood, though rarely stated openly, that if you want to advance through the ranks of the Dominion hierarchy, you are going to need some Specialized Education – the Dominion equivalent to collegiate or university degrees. These have a similar intensity and focus to Advanced Education, though the Institute of Specialized Education is much more tailored in scope.

There are numerous options for specialization that students can choose from, and they will enter into a program exclusively oriented around it. Students aren't forbidden from attempting to acquire dual specializations, but it is often not recommended due to the sheer workload of each program. Each specialization is intended to last one to two years, as the higher education cycle is intended for workers over their careers to occasionally return to increase or expand their credentials, while contributing to the Dominion more practically.

It is very rare for an individual to enter into a specialization program and spend the next six or seven years achieving the highest certifications available. Again, it isn't forbidden, but it is frowned upon, as the Dominion prefers citizens to gain both educational and workforce experience. It also tends to not help career prospects, which is a deterrent in and of itself – as just because you have the highest certification will not entitle you to roles if you don't have workforce experience.

Because of this dynamic, classes within the programs have surprisingly wide diversity in age. You will have students just graduated from Advanced Education, along with seniors who are expanding their horizons or getting the next level of specialization.

Specialized Education is not just a place to learn, but is also an unofficial means of building connections across the Dominion, throughout the levels of leadership. You never know who you will run into, and if you make a good impression, you will be remembered when it comes time to review applications for work.

THE DIVISION OF TALENT AND PLACEMENT [DTP]: As students go through the education system, at every step of the way they are assessed by the Division of Talent and Placement. Their role is simply to determine what the aptitudes of students are, and once they enter into Advanced Education, help guide them on the path to achieving their ideal job.

DTP personnel make it clear to students that the job they want is not guaranteed, but the better they do in classes, and have a clear, strong idea of what they want to do, the better chances they will achieve their goals. They provide recommendations and advice based on grades, psychological inclinations, and open positions and needs within the Dominion.

They are strictly agnostic when it comes to recommendations, in the sense that they are monitored to make sure they aren't seen as glorified recruiters for specific Spheres. While sometimes they have opinions on better spheres or departments, they have to provide recommendations that are feasible and appropriate for the students in question.

Their final responsibility is identifying any students that are particularly talented or gifted. This is one instance where they may bring in personnel from other Spheres to make their own assessments to confirm their aptitudes. The Dominion is extremely interested in developing their smartest citizens, and will take extra efforts to ensure they are successful.

THE DIVISION OF DISCIPLINE AND CONDUCT [DDC]: Discipline and conduct within the schools are extremely important within the Dominion. The officers of the Division of Discipline and Conduct are among the most intimidating authority figures any student will encounter, as when they are involved, someone is in a lot of trouble.

The DDC is responsible for all matters concerning conduct between students, parents, and teachers. Lawbreaking, disrespecting adults and teachers, and other altercations, physical and verbal, are equally unacceptable, and are severely punished if confirmed.

These rules also extend in certain ways to how students treat each other. They have a special focus against the formation of any kind of racism (directed towards intra-Quarian racism, but it has been enforced when applied to the very rare alien students), and racially-charged or motivated bullying or harassment between students is one of the worst charges that a student can receive, one that will have implications for not just themselves, but their known friends and family.

Beyond actively breaking up fights, detaining students, or serving as silent overseers, the DDC has a critical role in the subsequent remediation efforts.

They are the arbiters of what disciplinary actions can be taken. These can range from monitored education in specialized classrooms, monitoring school grounds and personal devices with Geth units, or in rare cases, suspension. Depending on certain violations, penalties can be leveled against the parents, especially in cases of disrespect, insubordination, or racism, which DDC identifies as a failure of the parents to instill discipline and respect at home.

Depending on the severity or continuation of violations, DDC may open an investigation into the household of the student to assess the home conditions, and how those are contributing to their performance. Depending on the findings, students can be removed from dysfunctional or dangerous households, or the household can be put under other restrictions.

This is a very rare step, and one the DDC will usually not take until all options have been exhausted. Usually in those cases, the family is involved in actual criminal activity, and more Spheres are involved to support the investigation. Nonetheless, the DDC possesses this authority, and have little reservation in utilizing it if they see it necessary.

THE DIVISION OF TESTING AND STANDARDS [DTS]: A small group within the wider Sphere of Education, the Division of Testing and Standards is simply the department who releases guidelines and policies for each year of education. These are set as the minimum standards, with other 'ideal' standards highlighted as the goals for teachers to aspire to for their students.

The standards for success do change the higher the educational year. Memorization and book-type tests are slowly phased out when possible in favor of more interactive, practical, or involved tests of knowledge – something that has helped students retain interest and engagement in higher educational grades.

Sometimes final assessments will involve working on or supporting a real-world problem with the oversight of respective Sphere officials, other times it will be a more curated form of test, such as programming a Geth intelligence to perform a specific task.

These standards undergo staggered reviews every three years to adapt to changes and recommendations that emerge in different fields. There are mechanisms for accelerating this process if it is accepted as a critical need (such as if factual errors were made, or an understanding of a scientific principle changed).

Some subjects have unique designations that require concurrent reviews throughout the year, but those are primarily restricted to fields that can have information be regularly discovered, such as history and political subjects.

THE DIVISION OF POST-SCHOLARLY INTEGRATION [DPSI]: At the end of the long and hard education road is the Division of Post-Scholarly Integration. This group is responsible for integrating each new graduate into the Dominion workforce. Taking into account their performance, interests, and openings, they present each graduate with their assignment, and expected start date.

Not everyone will get what they want. The DPSI does try to align the jobs with the graduates as best they can, but this is impossible to do for everyone. The highest performers tend to get their desired positions, and it proceeds from this point. It is a major incentive to highly perform, as low performers will likely not get their first choice of job.

However, something that DPSI does emphasize to those who don't get what they wanted is that this is not their permanent position. Transfers to different jobs and roles is acceptable, and even encouraged after a period of time in the workforce.

Additionally, there are some systems in place to make it easier for these graduates to transfer and get priority if a position they want becomes open – provided their own credentials are strong.

GREATER SPHERES | SPHERE OF INTERNAL SECURITY

OVERVIEW: Within the Dominion, the concept of 'internal security' is a far-reaching mandate which includes, though not limited to, law enforcement, prosecution and judicial processes, domestic surveillance, social manipulation, and protest management. The Sphere of Internal Security simultaneously has power it employs extensively, while also making significant efforts to stay out of the public eye.

The hand Internal Security stretches throughout the Dominion, embedded in every facet, and at every level of society. The Dominion is a nominally stable society– and a large part of that is due to the efforts of Internal Security.

And should that stability be threatened, they ensure the source is identified, targeted, and excised.

THE INSTITUTE OF CIVILIAN CONTROL [ICIVCONT]: Protesting is a dangerous activity in the Dominion, one that has been understandably unpopular for a very long time. The policy the Dominion takes towards public discontent is to express and highlight complaints, issues, and problems through appropriate channels - expressing this through methods that actively disrupt public life crosses a red line they will not tolerate.

This does not mean that the Institute of Civilian Control had blanket policies concerning how to handle protesting. Their internal policies take into account the grievance, size, and demeanor of the protest in question. While technically their authority allows them to intervene in any 'unapproved civil gathering' in practice they will assess before intervening.

What this does mean is that when there are marches, protests, or other gatherings that directly challenge state authorities, ICIVCONT will appear as if descending from nowhere. Heavily armored Quarians and Geth march out, firing riot control agents into crowds that show any indication of violence and disruption.

The ICIVCONT doesn't restraint itself in riot control. They don't use tearing agents, but chemicals that will induce unconsciousness or suffocation to neutralize crowds swiftly and allow capture of offenders. If one is unfortunate enough to be caught in a situation where the ICIVCONT has intervened, your best course of action is to immediately surrender. Anyone who took part is automatically marked for detention, no matter their role.

Their policy for active riots is more severe. The few riots that have taken place in the Dominion – most of which were on Protectorate worlds – were put down violently, with standard operating procedures being lethal neutralization. Legally speaking, 'Rioting' is not an officially recognized term. The ICIVCONT treats riots as insurrections, and participants as enemy combatants.

This is not a genuinely open society, and it is thus unsurprising that Dominion citizens tend not to express their grievance and frustration through the mechanism of protest. The very sight of ICIVCON showing themselves, even if they are just observing, is often enough for everyone nearby to consider if they should be present or not.

THE INSTITUTE OF MEDIA REGULATION [IMREG]: While the output of unregulated media of any kind is far less in the Dominion than other societies, there is enough of it to warrant a dedicated body to manage its regulation. The Institute of Media Regulation does, as the name suggest, set the standards, expectations, and laws concerning presentation and distribution of media.

Be this domestic Extranet content (fairly rare), physical/digital literature (surprisingly common), or artwork, all of it must be reviewed, or is subject to oversight by IMREG, who will review to make sure that standards are being met or laws are not being violated. While this is very clearly intended to operate as a censorship tool if appropriate, around ninety-four percent of media is approved or untouched.

It is important to note that this is not necessarily because the Dominion has recently relaxed its standards. Rather, it is almost certainly the result of generations of Dominion citizens being raised on Dominion norms, values, and laws. They know what is and is not acceptable, and are socially and culturally inclined to view creative and media pursuits in ways that are inherently friendly to Dominion standards.

It isn't necessarily a display of self-censorship, but rather a notably striking triumph of the Dominion system for its citizens. While there will always be those who push boundaries, even those 'rebels' largely operate within the confines of the acceptable.

A final addendum is that even rejected or stricken media doesn't mark a citizen for additional investigation. All rejections are accompanied by explanations, and they are allowed to resubmit without penalty if they so choose.

Though this comes with an asterisk – knowingly producing foreign propaganda, active intelligence assets, or those attempting to encourage or incite criminal behavior do not get off with mere warnings.

THE INSTITUTE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT [ILE]: The Dominion, like every functioning government, has a law enforcement branch, aptly named the Institute of Law Enforcement. However, they are a group that has little public visibility, and they are rarely, if ever seen by the citizens.

There is so little crime in the Dominion that the Institute of Law Enforcement is a relatively small group, closer in function to a specialized intervention force that is deployed whenever crime is actually reported. They function closer to investigators than what is considered traditional law enforcement.

Unless they are very close by, or extremely fast, by the time they arrive, the perpetrators are gone with few exceptions. As a result, their efforts are primarily gathering witness statements, evidence if applicable, and restoring the security of the area. They are trained to use firearms, but are instructed to only carry them if they're entering a dangerous situation. Otherwise, ILE officers are unarmed.

Once their work has been completed, they send what they've gathered to other specialized teams that are geared towards tracking down criminals. While they do have the authority to detain and arrest, in practice they tend not to exercise this authority.

THE INSTITUTE OF DOMINION INTERNAL INTELLIGENCE [DII]: There is an important fact about the Dominion which should be known to anyone who would consider entering – privacy does not exist.

To call the surveillance apparatus of the Dominion extensive would be an understatement. I do not think there is state government that possesses anything even remotely comparable to the sheer scale of the surveillance apparatus employed in the Dominion – one that is managed by the Institute of Dominion Internal Intelligence.

Of course, the reason that the Dominion is able to maintain such a massive network at all is due to the Geth, which are extensively deployed to monitor every aspect of the Dominion. Every Extranet post, every comment, every action taken is almost certainly undergone some kind of observation and quantification by Geth, which funnel points of interest to their Quarian masters for manual review.

Every device in the Dominion is part of this system. If there is a foreign device that enters, it will soon be compromised. I am acutely aware that everything I am typing is being appraised by Internal Intelligence, along with my location, daily activities, and whatever else might be worth their interest.

This is simply a fact of life, and you have to make peace with it. If you think someone is watching you – they are.

Now, to put the activities of the DII in context, their mission is what drives this expansion of surveillance. They are first and foremost concerned with identifying, locating, and mitigating what they perceive as material or ideological threats to the Dominion. Individuals that express or carry out activity against the interest or values of the Dominion are marked for special surveillance and potential investigation.

It is nearly impossible for anyone who even holds even moderately dissenting beliefs to the core tenants of the Dominion status quo to keep their anonymity, let alone organize or make an impact for change. For the most part, Internal Intelligence views intermittent or off-hand remarks or statements to be just that – irregular and one-off.

They are only interested in if those become a pattern, or more critically, if these sentiments are being shared with others to influence them. One of these will get some additional scrutiny, another could very likely result in detainment and reeducation. As a result, most of the individuals that Internal Intelligence monitors aren't real threats – just people they are keeping an eye on – which often includes ranking Dominion officials, particularly those who identify as varying flavors of reformists.

Ruthless and overprotective as these efforts might be, it has been successful in curbing even the beginnings of genuine dissent in the Dominion – for better or worse.

THE INSTITUTE OF CITIZEN REEDUCATION [ICITR]: Something that the Dominion justice system has that is atypical of other governments is that they do not have a prison system. They have detainment facilities, but these only exist to house suspects and criminals until their sentencing, and are not intended to be for long-term incarceration.

The Dominion takes the stance that criminals can either be reformed - or they cannot. They tend to lean more towards the idea that even those who carry out criminal actions can be reformed, and even most dissidents who express those sentiments are largely misguided or frustrated. There exists a perceived is a lack of malice, which is an important prerequisite for reintegration.

With this framework, if a suspect is judged to be capable of rehabilitation, they are given to the Institute of Citizen Reeducation to begin the rehabilitation process. Each individual is given to a handler, who tailors a curriculum towards them.

Psychological profiles are compiled and given to their handlers, who are trained therapists and psychologists, whose job it is to correct the deficiencies in their worldview and values, based on the information collected on them, and shape them into model citizens.

There is no standardized process for this, as the Dominion assessed that standardized methods of reeducation would fail due to subjects having different values, worldviews, and varying strengths of their conviction. While a standardized model might work on some, or even most individuals, it lacks the needed flexibility to truly change minds.

A more flexible model is employed, one that can be reactive to the expressed thoughts and sentiments of the individual. Some individuals can be swayed very easily and are genuinely contrite, others require more investment and will respond to certain logical or emotional arguments. It is up to the responsibility of the handler to identify what will be most effective.

The handler must report regular progress on their subject, and upon conclusion, must be appraised by a peer to confirm there has been a genuine shift in worldview and mindset. The goal of Citizen Reeducation is to turn dissidents and minor criminals into upstanding citizens. Should an individual successfully complete the program, they are released, with their citizen records updated to effectively purge their criminal record.

However, there are individuals who fail the reeducation process, and if progress is not made in a sufficient amount of time, then they are deemed incapable of reeducation, and executed.

THE INSTITUTE OF CIVILIAN JUDGEMENT [ICJ]: The Dominion does maintain a justice system of sorts – though not one many would characterize as open or fair to all parties.

The Institute of Civilian Judgment handles all legal affairs concerning those who have been detained as criminals. It is a closed-court system whose internal functions are completely obscured from the public. Even the names of the members are hidden, and the only publications are the results of judgments.

It should be clear that this is not a civil court – Civilian Judgment deals only with those accused of criminal conduct. It is a system that is fully stacked against the defendant in almost every conceivable way. The court operates on the presumption of guilt, and see their job as determining what degree of consequence to impose.

To this end, the ICJ is less concerned with questions of guilt, evidence, and argument – as the criminal is already guilty and they review the provided evidence before the hearings begin. It is instead focused on the motivations and psychological state of the accused. This is what informs their verdicts, which can be reduced down evidence that they either can be reeducated and reintegrated – or they cannot.

If any accused criminal wants another chance, its in their best interests to convince the panel that they can reform into a better citizen. Those who fail to do this will be considered incapable of reformation, and subsequently for execution. Executions are carried out very soon after the judgments are rendered, and appeals are almost unheard of.

It raises some questions as to how the ICJ is capable of rendering such swift judgments for even cases that seem to be less open-and-shut than would be expected. There are rumors that the ICJ has taken cases to the Black Admiral, and strangely, the Sphere of the Grand Chorus, at times – but its unclear if they were using them as final arbiters, or simply advisors.

Nonetheless, it does not change that fact that if you are unfortunate enough to stand before the ICJ, you are likely going to have a very bad time.

THE DIVISION OF LOCATION AND DETAINMENT [DLD]: As most criminals within the Dominion manage to flee the scene of the crime, it is up to the Division of Location and Detainment to hunt them down and complete the arrests, or terminations, as the case may be. A small, specialized, and powerful team comprised of a mixture of detectives and sharpshooters, they are the force that takes the reports from the ILE, and follows up on them.

Utilizing modern detective tools, along with Geth, and the inherent surveillance apparatus of the Dominion, it usually takes Location and Detainment very little time to pinpoint the culprits, and once they have the location, to plan their angle of attack.

Despite often having a major advantage in engaging the suspect, the DLD will usually tailor it proportionally to the crime, and the assessed state of the individual. If they don't have to go in guns drawn, they won't. If the suspect is armed, jumpy, or is otherwise a danger, they will consider termination options.

DLD doesn't just handle criminal suspects, a part of their work is executing orders from Internal Intelligence to detain people of note, before delivering them to DII agents. These are usually individuals engaged in dissident activity of some kind, but not yet deemed an active threat.

Those are simpler, and rarer operations, yet their response to tasking by the DII is something important to note.

THE DIVISION OF DISSIDENT REMOVAL [DDR]: There have been stories of people who have disappeared from the Dominion. It has become almost routine that when stories of insurgents, rebels, or insurgents living throughout the Dominion, these stories strangely rarely receive a follow-up beyond the fact that they have been found and dealt with.

In the event that problematic individuals have been identified as being incapable of reeducation, they are instead marked for termination. These are often the result of conclusions by Internal Intelligence on certain citizens who have been fomenting or spreading ideas that undermine or threaten Dominion interests. Usually, it isn't severe enough that they can't be reeducated.

Sometimes it is.

To this end, the Division of Dissident Removal exists. A small force of soldiers who function as a mixture of kidnapping or death squad the Dominion employs against dissidents who cross lines that can't be ignored. They are master assassins, skilled in the art of removing people without leaving a trace. They have legal significant authorities, and everything done is with full sanction and support of the authorities.

Usually, they prefer to capture dissidents, primarily to conduct interrogations or for use as subjects in research projects. However, if it is judged to be preferable to conduct a simple termination, they will simply execute the dissident and dispose of the body. The sophistication ranges from outright kidnapping them in the middle of the night, to arranging a more elaborate "accident."

Their approach depends on what level of disruption will be caused by the removal of the target. Those with higher public profiles often require a more plausible explanation for their disappearance. Those who do not are not given the same courtesy. This has created an interesting perception where many Dominion citizens openly believe the Dominion removes problematic people - while at the same time being very willing to believe public stories of accidents.

In this way, the DDR exists in a strange spot between being an open secret, and completely invisible in the minds of the public. It seems that the average Dominion citizen believes that if the government wants to remove someone, they won't bother with a pretext or cover-up.

Something to make a note of.

GREATER SPHERES | SPHERE OF PARACAUSALITY

OVERVIEW: Given what has been revealed or implied throughout this document, it should not be surprising that the Dominion maintains their own department dedicated to anomalous activity, research, and response. However, there are some important differences between how the Dominion approaches these matters compared to their contemporaries.

The first is that traditionally, the very existence of anomalous activity is hidden from the wider population for numerous reasons. This is not the case in the Dominion. The Sphere of Para-causality is a public-facing organization, and any citizen can look up what they do, and even mark their interest in working for such an organization.

This does not mean that they reveal many specifics – only that the Dominion acknowledges the existence of the anomalous and that they have an interest in studying and exploiting it if appropriate. They are much vaguer on what the anomalous looks like in practice, and the majority of the public believes it is mostly a benign phenomenon.

Second, the Sphere of Para-causality handles the majority of immediate research into precursor species, and in fact, most precursor technologies. This is purportedly for reasons of safety, and because there are many precursor technologies that the Dominion defines as employers of paracausal (anomalous) technology.

Finally, the Sphere is deeply integrated into the Dominion state in a way that very few others are. They often consult, or are consulted by numerous other Spheres on a regular basis. Leadership across the Dominion regularly interfaces with experts in this Sphere, who are acutely aware of the projects, operations, and research that takes place.

The soft disclosure of even the existence of the anomalous has allowed the Dominion to have many dedicated departments and teams devoted to it, even if the details of all of them are heavily shielded from the public. It enables them to be more open in public disclosures, especially when it comes to technological developments derived explicitly from research into the anomalous.

The Sphere of Para-causality is almost certainly the largest organization of its kind. It is a sprawling body with thousands employed, and is almost certain several times larger than the Citadel's Celestial Council, or the Alliance's Aurora Division – both of which are closest to the Sphere of Para-causality in scope.

Where it is more difficult to make comparisons is their respective knowledge bases. From what has been gathered on similar anomalous organizations, the Sphere of Para-causality operates differently in a few ways. Anomalous organizations tend to focus on three objectives – neutralization and mitigation of anomalous activities, containment of anomalous objects or entities, and research on anomalous activity.

The Sphere of Para-causality differs in this key way – in that their policies for 'containment' are significantly more strict, and as a result they almost certainly have the smallest number of anomalous items in their vaults compared to their contemporaries. The reasons will be elaborated on later.

On a final note – despite the fact that they handle a number of precursor-related topics, this Sphere does not handle any matters related to actively dealing with or mitigating active precursor species or suspected interference. That is handled by a separate Sphere.

THE INSTITUTE OF PARACAUSAL INTRODUCTION AND DEFINITION [IPARAID]: It was said that the Sphere of Para-causality is heavily integrated into the rest of the Dominion, and this is the primary Institute through which this happens. Before this, it is important to define the usage of 'paracausality,' whose definition can be summarized as 'phenomena that violate the natural laws of causality (reality).'

There is a longer, more formal definition, but that is the important part. Readers will be more familiar in this context with the term 'anomalous' and for our purposes, these words can be used interchangeably, as the Dominion uses paracausality in the same context. I note this because you will rarely find the term 'anomalous' in any formal documentation, as they view it as an informal term, with paracausal being the term used for official or academic settings.

Concerning the department itself, if there is a primer for the anomalous, IPARAID is the department that handles it. It is oriented entirely around contextualizing and explaining the anomalous, and how to integrate this knowledge into their policies and plans.

These are not traditional classes, even if they are organized as such. Most overview classes are short, lasting only several days, while more specialized classes can last for several months at a time. This is also the branch which handles the onboarding and orientation of new members of the Sphere.

There are other introductory classes are invite-only, and tend to be part of the indoctrination for ranking Dominion officials as they rise higher in the ranks. It is why the anomalous is strangely accounted for throughout the Dominion – at a certain point you are brought into the fold and have to take it into account in your day-to-day operations.

A secondary function that the Institute performs is regular academic work, particularly around official definitions and policy review concerning anomalous subjects. It is the final authority on what is and is not anomalous, the feasibility and effectiveness of policy, and language to employ when explaining concepts and ideas grounded in the anomalous.

They were willing to allow me to attend one of these introductory classes, and I can confirm that it is very well-structured and explained for someone who has limited background in these matters. There is a useful mixture of academic jargon, physical and video evidence, and pre-emptively addresses the most common or obvious questions.

It demonstrated to me that the Dominion is almost certainly preparing for a much larger disclosure of what the anomalous really is to the wider public, and when it happens, it will likely be driven by this Institute.

THE INSTITUTE OF PARACAUSAL ASSESSMENT [IPARAA]: One of the most important bodies in the Sphere is the Institute of Paracausal Assessment. It is obscured from the wider Dominion, but it ultimately acts as the final gatekeeper or arbiter for what is studied or allowed to be researched at all.

Every single artifact that is anomalous or precursor-origin comes through this Institute before anything is done with it, without any exceptions. Upon initial containment, they perform a complete assessment on what it is, what it is capable of, and the level of danger is poses to users or researchers.

The Dominion, despite its interest in the anomalous, is more paranoid than any peer organization I am aware of. They will not ever research things that they believe pose a risk to their people. In particularly, their standing policies for anomalous entities are based on the belief that such entities are inherently untrustworthy and seek to utilize and manipulate.

For this reason, anything that even possesses a rudimentary intelligence or sentience is automatically marked for destruction. Be this anomalous entities, AIs, or even more benign machine intelligences, each are treated as a threat to be destroyed. Virtual intelligences or computer systems are treated on a case-by-case basis, and policies around their research are the strictest in the Dominion.

Technologies which more often than not pose a risk to the user are also marked for destruction. The Dominion does not keep or horde technology for the sake of it. It is either something they can safely research or use, or it is not. If it is not, it is destroyed. If it eventually becomes dangerous, it is also destroyed.

They do not take risks, and as a result, the number of research incidents is effectively negligible, while conversely, the amount of anomalous or precursor-derived technologies is far greater than almost any other stellar nation due to their active reverse-engineering efforts. While the Institute has not always caught all risky technology, it has isolated and destroyed the vast majority of it.

There are questions on how much this has limited their own knowledge and research, a topic that is routinely debated within the Sphere at large, but this is a mandate that comes directly from the Black Admiral – and no one expects him to lift or amend it anytime soon.

THE INSTITUTE OF PARACAUSAL EVENTS AND EFFECTS [IPARAEE]: Partially a research body, partially an observation team, and partially a scouting unit, the Institute of Paracausal Events and Effects is a multi-role organization that is explicitly intended to operate in regions or on planets which are under active or passive anomalous effects or influence.

These are regions of space in the Dominion which are marked as off-limits to everyone except this specific Institute, who act as gatekeepers for anyone else who wants to enter for one reason or another. They are responsible for conducting initial assessments and deciding which other elements of the Sphere to bring in, if any at all.

They hold oversight authority over all activities that take place in these regions, and have final say if spaces should be quarantined or opened, and rates their level of safety for civilian travel. In some regions where the risk is minimal, the Institute will permit very strict lanes of travel for non-Sphere-vessels, but this is exceptionally rare.

There are unconfirmed rumors that this group has operated at times beyond Dominion space and in some regions of the Terminus, possibly in conjunction with, or under the cover of DELTA Operations, but I have not been able to confirm this.

This possibility has arisen after reviewing reports submitted to the Celestial Council by the Precursor Authorities who identified unknown ships operating in regions where there was known anomalous activity.

With this possibility raised, it is just as likely that these were DELTA, Aurora, or even other unaffiliated groups. It is impossible to say, but given their mandate, it would not be surprising if IPARAEE was operating beyond the Dominion, if only briefly.

THE INSTITUTE OF NON-ASCENDED TECHNOLOGIES [INAT]: This is a strangely-labeled department for several reasons, as it raises questions, and obfuscates just how important this Institute is within the wider Sphere.

To begin, there is another important definition to make – 'Ascended.' This is a term that repeats multiple times throughout this Sphere, and in several other ones throughout the Dominion. To summarize, 'Ascended' is a catch-all term for anything during the 'Era of the Ascended,' which is theorized to be a time where the oldest known species that existed controlled an unknown swathe of the galaxy.

In Citadel circles, the Ascended, or High Ascended as some claim their formal name was, is a widely debated topic simply because of how little is known about them. While most believe the Ascended were a singular master species, there are others who propose that the Ascended were a term that encompassed several ruling classes of aliens. Neither has acquired definitive proof for this.

The size of their empire is similarly debated. There is general agreement that the Ascended controlled, or at least heavily influenced several galaxies – our own included - but there is significantly more skepticism of the claims that the Ascended controlled dozens, or even the majority of the known universe.

What is agreed upon is that there was some calamity that occurred that caused the collapse and (suspected) extinction of the Ascended, a seemingly cataclysmic event that left very little behind, we only know that it happened. Note the highlight of suspected – this is very important later.

Another point of agreement among scholars of the Ascended is that the technology left behind is borderline incomprehensible. It isn't actually known if anyone actually has any Ascended technology, but instead derivatives created by other precursor species who tried to emulate the Ascended.

So, to return to the suspected extinction of the Ascended – the Dominion has not assessed if the Ascended were a single species or not, but they do not believe the Ascended went extinct, but instead went into hiding, and have on occasion created or meddled in the development of species various species. Hence the definition of 'Non-Ascended Technologies.' These are technologies that come from a species that the Dominion assesses has not been tampered with by an Ascended.

To address the topic at hand, what the Institute of Non-Ascended Technologies actually does is research and study on these precursor species that do not have a (suspected) Ascended patron. It is primarily oriented around major precursor technologies, which include weapons, but primarily has a focus on technologies that could have civilian applications.

Note that this is only technologies which have already been confirmed as 'safe,' and does not include certain known technologies or weapons by precursors. The clearest victim of these policies were the Arcann, which to be honest, is probably a good thing. Every other known precursor, on the other hand, has dedicated teams focused on researching and assessing their technologies.

While I was unable to gain a full list, it was shared that this Institute does work on Prothean, Pentafar, and Griannon technologies, and it is almost certain they have units for other major precursors such as the Inusannon. A final note on this group is that it focuses strictly on technology that has no known anomalous properties (again disqualifying almost all Arcann technology).

Anomalous technologies are handled by other branches, and usually the results from this Institute are given to others within the Sphere to utilize.

THE INSTITUTE OF REPLICABLE TECHNOLOGIES [IRT]: Among the linchpins in not only the Sphere of Para-causality, but within the technological research of the Dominion itself is the Institute of Replicable Technologies. To summarize, this institute is responsible for the reverse-engineering or replication of anomalous or precursor technologies that are assessed to be non-unique and can be feasibly produced.

As one can imagine, this is an extremely narrow-scoped department, and has strict requirements to even consider a piece of technology for a replicable effort. Prior to any work beginning, there has to be enough examples of said technology already, since at least several of these will be lost in reverse-engineering, initial research has to confirm that it incorporates no extremely exotic materials, and there must be at least either confirmation or two peer-reviewed theories about internal functionality.

The IRT is a smaller corps of elite engineers. Their focus, energy, and time is valuable and cannot be wasted. These precautions have not always resulted in successes, but it has ensured that they've not wasted time on futile efforts. More than a few breakthroughs, particularly in energy conservation, weaponry, and mass effect optimization have been explicitly due to the efforts of the IRT.

They are a key reason why the Dominion has been able to make significant technological breakthroughs despite their isolation. The rest of the galaxy – and their anomalous contemporaries - could learn from their example.

THE INSTITUTE OF NON-REPLICABLE TECHNOLOGIES [INRT]: The inverse organization of the IRT is the Institute of Non-Replicable Technologies, which might appear straightforward, but in actuality has a radically different purpose. If its counterpart works to determine how these technologies can be produced, the primary purpose of Non-Replicable Technologies is if they are safe at all.

The Dominion is willing and able to employ precursor and anomalous objects, technology, and weapons if they have sufficient understanding of their function. They don't horde their artifacts or keep them in vaults or containers. It is either usable for them, or it is not. Elite military units (in the Dominion military, and within the Sphere) will often have access to a restricted armory that holds weapons and gear that are one-of-a-kind.

This is the department that decides what goes into that armory.

For artifacts that are deemed potentially usable, but not replicable, they are sent to this group, who will put it through a series of tests and examinations to assess its origin, function, durability, and risks to the user. If an artifact passes these tests, the engineers will write a briefing intended to be distributed to any who might use it, approves it's usage in the field, and authorizes its transfer to the armory.

The regulations are unsurprisingly strict. To qualify as safe to use, the artifact must pass every test. If it even fails one, it is given to Artifact Disposal to be destroyed. The Dominion doesn't utilize anything that they don't believe they have a sufficient understanding of or might risk the user's safety.

THE DIVISION OF DANGEROUS ARTIFACT DISPOSAL [DDAD]: While my own insight into the operations of most anomalous organizations is limited, I know enough to understand that a major part of their operations is the containment of technologies or entities for study, and occasional usage. This includes objects and artifacts that they do not understand, or are actively dangerous to the user.

The Dominion takes a significantly different approach to the matter of anomalous artifacts – namely that its better to destroy them then risk them harming others. Anything that can be considered an 'entity' or possessing a consciousness and personality is immediately marked for destruction with no exceptions. The same for knowingly dangerous technology, or that which is indecipherable.

When that happens, the destruction is carried out by the Division of Dangerous Artifact Disposal. A very small, specialized unit that is not often needed, but who are experts in the art of destroying things that are very difficult to be destroyed. If it can be moved, the typical procedure is to load the artifact(s) into a sealed container, and fire it into a black hole (if it cannot be safely destroyed through more conventional means).

I will note that this does not include anomalous entities. Disposal or termination of such entities is handled by a different group entirely, though in emergencies, the DDAD does have the knowledge to at least neutralize more entities – or so it was claimed to me.

Ultimately, DDAD is very successful at their mission, and more than likely could extend their capabilities in other ways, if the need ever arose – though for now, militancy is outside their scope of duties.

THE DIVISION OF CONTAINMENT AND CONTROL [DCAC]: Every anomalous group has a field operations unit, and for the Sphere of Para-causality, that is the Division of Containment and Control. It is a relatively large division (for a military unit), with each of its members training to fulfill multipurpose roles due to the sheer possibilities one can encounter in such situations.

My impression, both from speaking of actual operatives, reviewing some redacted mission reports, and what the Dominion was willing to share is that DCAC is not intended to be a combat division (those come next), but rather closer to a specialized archeological team charged with scouting, assessing, and recovering unknown artifacts.

If there is danger suspected, standard procedures are for operatives to pull back and call for additional support. That does not mean that DCAC operatives don't encounter dangerous situations, but those are usually of a milder danger, or rise unexpectedly. In those events, they have training to protect themselves, but primarily they're the first boots on the ground when such events are detected.

DCAC has nodes and outposts spread everywhere throughout Dominion territory, and are certainly not centralized in a singular place. The moment that something unusual is detected, they are very quickly on the scene. The Black Admiral clearly wants an immediate handle on all anomalous incidents, and given the consequences they can have if ignored, it is difficult to blame him.

A final note of interest concerning DCAC is that there are at least some of them that take part in rotations to DELTA, primarily to gain field experience and train non-Dominion DELTA operatives. DCAC has also been known to surge reinforcements to DELTA in emergencies if requested – which has only happened three times.

THE DIVISION OF PRECURSOR CAPTURE OR TERMINATION [DPCT]: The implications of this division are…concerning.

The Dominion did not formally brief me on it, and would almost certainly have been quite content for me to never notice it at all. At the same time, they didn't hide its existence, which allowed me to speak to some officials who did provide some information on it, limited as it might be. As a result, please treat this with the appropriate skepticism.

The Division of Precursor Capture or Termination is one of two dedicated combat units under the Sphere of Para-causality Its members are drawn from across the Dominion military, given specialized training, and are all veterans within the service. It wasn't clarified the criteria for qualification, but we can assume that the standards even for consideration are high.

The statement officials were willing to give me is that, on occasion, there are sites or locations that have active precursors on them. This does not, as I initially wondered, immediately mean living precursors – but can include constructs or machines. With that caveat noted, they do include living precursors in their mission scope.

Regardless of what it is, if active precursor activity is confirmed, the DPCT is sent to investigate and deal with it. The Division is reportedly organized along species lines – as in there are internal teams that handle specific precursor awakenings.

No one was willing to confirm if the DPCT has been successful, or even if it was deployed at all, instead directing me to other parts of the Sphere, who were similarly vague. Officially, this Division exists as a 'contingency' for such situations.

With this said, I am highly skeptical that the Dominion would employ elite soldiers and keep them idle for years. That is a complete waste of some of their best military personnel – and if it needs to be said, the Dominion does not waste people like this.

It would be one thing if this was more or less a small, skeleton crew, like some other departments that have been discussed in this report. But it isn't. The DPCT is actively operating. If it were just a contingency, they would either not be active, or they would be significantly smaller in size, and staffed by competent soldiers, not elites.

That it exists, that it is active, and that it is supported has disturbing implications. The rumors that they either have or can work with the Sphere of the Grand Chorus only adds to the concern I feel about it. Unfortunately, what secrets the Dominion and DPCT possess are ones they are unlikely to part willingly with. Perhaps this is enough to draw some conclusions from.

THE DIVISION OF PARACAUSAL EXORCISM [DPEX]: This is the second dedicated combat unit within the Sphere, which the Dominion was far more eager to talk about. This division is explicitly organized, trained, and equipped to destroy hostile anomalous entities – or any anomalous entities at all. It is claimed that these soldiers utilize some of the Dominion's most advanced and exotic equipment to achieve this.

The Dominion stressed that the focus of this division is limited to its mission statement, but reading between the lines, it is heavily alluded to that this unit is primarily intended to combat any force that employed or possesses anomalous capabilities, be they entities, or employ anomalous technologies.

I do not know if this is sufficient to identify the Division of Anomalous as the military arm of the Sphere of Para-causality, but the Dominion did not try very hard to deny it. They noted that, if necessary, the division would be utilized for military purposes 'as necessary to combat anomalous threats.' Nowhere do they promise that it will be restricted to their supposed mission.

The DPEX is also big. It is big enough that it would be the size of a standard military division, rather than a department in a moderately-sized Sphere. These aren't a small, specialized team that only handles some one-off incidents. This is a dedicated special forces unit, one that is trained in employing some degree of anomalous technologies.

While it would be comforting to think that all DPEX does is emerge when the Dominion needs to exorcise an anomalous entity, there is little to base that on besides their word – which they barely denied in the first place.

This is something important to keep in mind. This is not a regular military unit. These soldiers possess unknown capabilities, and are almost certainly as dangerous as the anomalous entities they excise.