Item from The Black Company by Glen Cook
The era when the Dominator and the Lady ruled together — a period of magical tyranny so total that centuries later, its shadow shapes every political decision on the continent.
The Domination was the era when the Dominator and the Lady ruled the northern continent together through sorcery and the Taken — a period of magical tyranny so comprehensive that it reshaped civilization. The Dominator was the architect; the Lady was his partner and eventually his betrayer. The Domination ended when the Lady turned on the Dominator and buried him in the Barrowland, but its consequences didn't end — the Taken still exist, the Lady still rules, and the knowledge that it happened once means it could happen again. The entire political structure of the north is built on the Domination's foundation: fear of its return. For the Company, the Domination is ancient history they're now living inside the sequel to. They serve the Lady. The Lady was the Domination's co-ruler. The moral implications of this are something Croaker records without resolving.
The Domination has no physical form — it's a historical era referenced with the weight that 'The Dark Ages' or 'The Holocaust' carries: a name that signals scale of atrocity. Its legacy is physical, though: the Barrowland, the Taken, the Lady's empire, and the institutional terror that keeps the north in line.
Also known as: The Domination, The Era of the Dominator