Editing Severan Dominate (section)

==Overview==
[[File:SD_Map.jpg|440px|left|thumb|Astrocartography of the Severan Dominate.]]
Originally part of the Imperium and consisting of worlds Severus acquired in the Periphery Sub-Sector of the Calixis Sector with the [[Heresy|help]] of [[Dark Eldar]], Severus I was nothing short of pragmatic to the point of rustling the [[Inquisition]]'s jimmies. The reason why the [[High Lords of Terra|higher-ups]] did not touch Severus was due to the fact that he was already considered a hero of sorts during the Angevin Crusade that added the Calixis Sector to the Imperium of Man in the 39th Millennium. Without the Rogue Trader’s influence and [[Creed|tactical genius,]] the war to control the Calyx Expanse would have taken centuries to complete.

Heck, some people with [[Extra Heresy|super heretical opinions]] even suggest that the revered Saint Drusus might not have completed his conquests without the successes of Severus. Of course, Severus’ biggest flaw was his enormous ego and ambition; the Duke was pretty jelly at the power of the High Lords but also viewed them the same way as /tg/ views them: [[That Guy|useless old ballsacks that spends more time bickering over laxatives than improving the]] [[Administratum]]. So when the region began to plunge into chaos during the Spinward Front wars, Severus saw the opportunity and proceed to pull a Postumus, [[Tactical genius|announcing his annexation of the worlds under his influence into a private fiefdom]] and popularizing the move as [[Communism|a revolution against Imperial tyranny.]]

The Dominate has a bastardized version of the [[Imperial Cult]] used to enhance the power of the current Duke, Severus XIII. To sum it up simply, it claims that the Dominate are the true Emperor Loyalists while the High Lords of Terra are super Heretics. To this end, the Dominate maintains a corps of political officers known as Ducal Legates to enforce its ideology; essentially the Legates are ideological police that maintain the loyalty and support of the subservient Planetary Governors. Unlike the Imperium, however, the Severan Dominate actually know how to do [[Diplomacy]], as the Ducal Legates maintain interplanetary relations via excellent oratory speech and charisma. If anything, Middle Power Diplomacy and Finlandisation are one of the key foreign policy goals for the Severan Dominate; the Duke's ability to play the Great Powers against each other whilst currying favour with various neutral or aligned powers is actually competent from a strategic perspective. This is necessary as the Severan Dominate is in an astropolitically precarious situation, besieged on a two-front war between the Imperium of Man and the Orks of WAAAGH! Grimtoof.

Dominate ideology emphasizes three pillars: Interdependence, Justice, and Honesty. While they seem lofty and progressive on paper, in truth Dominate ideology is twisted to allow for a functional totalitarian state.

So why hasn't the Imperium crushed these upstarts as an example to others?

The Severan Dominate is very small, remote, and comparatively new. They're only a nuisance to the Calixis sector, not to the larger Segmentum or the Imperium as a whole. It's unlikely a report of their existence has even made it to the High Lords as of yet. But more importantly, because they're notionally still loyal to the Emperor, it makes their dispute a little more difficult to simply crush. As long as they have A church that worships Him, and as long as their version of the Mechanicus isn't practicing tech heresy, their dispute can be waved away as the sort of job the Arbites are supposed to sort out (purge the leaders and bring them into conformity). Nevermind that the Calixis Arbites aren't exactly equipped to fight a war against an entire subsector. The Dominate seems to know that they're safe from a full blown crusade as long as they have the right answers to a couple key questions.