Dominion Dogs
The Dominion Dogs are what happens when bandits get organized. Roughly fifty years ago, when the Highway Patrol's largest recruitment surge began filling the roads of Old Dominion with armed guardians, the scattered highway raider bands realized they had two choices: unite or die. The largest band, already calling themselves the Dominion Dogs, assembled the rest under their banner. What had been a loose collection of opportunistic thieves became a coordinated coalition that has survived and adapted ever since.
The Dogs have done extensive work to learn the Highway Patrol's patterns, studying their routes, their timing, and their checkpoint schedules with a discipline that would be admirable if it were applied to anything other than robbery. They avoid direct confrontation with Patrolmen whenever possible; the Patrol is too well-trained and too well-supported by the local population for head-on engagements to be worthwhile. Instead, the Dogs watch for merchants and travelers moving without protection, wait for gaps in the Patrol's coverage, and descend from the dark forests to rob them before retreating to hidden bases deep in the woods.
The Highway Patrol has attempted multiple traps to locate those forest bases. Short of sending patrols deep into the dark woods, where the terrain favors the Dogs and the trees swallow sound and light, they have been unable to find them. The Dogs know the forest better than the Patrol knows the road, and they exploit that advantage with the patience of predators who understand that desperation is the enemy of survival. They take what they need, disappear before the response arrives, and return to bases that have never been found. It is an ugly, efficient operation built to outlast the heroes sent to stop it.
The Dogs have done extensive work to learn the Highway Patrol's patterns, studying their routes, their timing, and their checkpoint schedules with a discipline that would be admirable if it were applied to anything other than robbery. They avoid direct confrontation with Patrolmen whenever possible; the Patrol is too well-trained and too well-supported by the local population for head-on engagements to be worthwhile. Instead, the Dogs watch for merchants and travelers moving without protection, wait for gaps in the Patrol's coverage, and descend from the dark forests to rob them before retreating to hidden bases deep in the woods.
The Highway Patrol has attempted multiple traps to locate those forest bases. Short of sending patrols deep into the dark woods, where the terrain favors the Dogs and the trees swallow sound and light, they have been unable to find them. The Dogs know the forest better than the Patrol knows the road, and they exploit that advantage with the patience of predators who understand that desperation is the enemy of survival. They take what they need, disappear before the response arrives, and return to bases that have never been found. It is an ugly, efficient operation built to outlast the heroes sent to stop it.
Structure
The Dominion Dogs are a coalition of formerly independent raider groups unified under the banner of the largest band. They operate from multiple hidden bases deep in the dark forests of Old Dominion, locations the Highway Patrol has repeatedly failed to locate despite setting traps. The coalition is highly organized, with extensive knowledge of Highway Patrol patterns and schedules that allows them to target unprotected travelers while avoiding direct confrontation with Patrolmen. No named leader is identified in available sources.
Public Agenda
The Dominion Dogs prey on travelers along the highways of Old Dominion. Their purpose is straightforward: rob merchants and unprotected travelers of their goods, return stolen cargo to their forest bases, and avoid the Highway Patrol while doing it. They have no ideological mission or territorial ambition beyond sustaining their operation. The highways are their hunting ground, the dark forests are their sanctuary, and anyone traveling without a Patrol escort is a potential target.
History
The Dominion Dogs began roughly fifty years ago as multiple independent bands of highway raiders operating across Old Dominion. When the Highway Patrol launched its largest recruitment surge, the scattered bandit groups faced a choice: unite or be destroyed one by one. The largest band, already calling itself the Dominion Dogs, assembled the rest under its banner, creating a coalition capable of surviving the increased Patrol presence.
Since their unification, the Dogs have evolved from disorganized highwaymen into a disciplined force that studies and works around Patrol patterns with professional precision. They target merchants and travelers moving without protection, descending from the dark forests to rob them before retreating to hidden bases that the Patrol has never been able to locate. The forests themselves serve as their greatest defense, and the Patrol's inability to send forces deep enough into the woods to find the bases has kept the Dogs operational for decades.
Since their unification, the Dogs have evolved from disorganized highwaymen into a disciplined force that studies and works around Patrol patterns with professional precision. They target merchants and travelers moving without protection, descending from the dark forests to rob them before retreating to hidden bases that the Patrol has never been able to locate. The forests themselves serve as their greatest defense, and the Patrol's inability to send forces deep enough into the woods to find the bases has kept the Dogs operational for decades.
Organized highway bandits who study the Patrol's patterns.
