Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire

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Dominic Deegan: Oracle For Hire
Dominic Deegan, as seen in Panel #3 of Strip #1
Author(s)	Michael "Mookie" Terracciano
Website	http://www.dominic-deegan.com/
Current status / schedule	Daily
Launch date	2002-05-21 ^[1]
Genre(s)	Fantasy, Humor

Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire is a daily fantasy webcomic by Michael "Mookie" Terracciano that began in 2002.

The comic is a character-driven story, with individual arcs often lasting for months at a time. Its tone is generally upbeat. Attempts at humour are almost always present, and of particular note is Mookie's use of bad puns ^[2]^[3]^[4], from homonyms to alliteration. The strip has, however, utilized frequent graphic depictions of violence and adult storylines, including a controversial and oft-criticized subplot involving rape.

Starting in October of 2005, Dominic Deegan is hosted on ZeStuff^[5]. Formerly it was hosted for two years on Keenspot^[6], moving up from free hosting at Keenspace. It is an extremely popular webcomic, by some accounts one of the top 20 most read. ^[7]

As of recently, the plot has turned to smaller-scale, more character driven storylines, in favor of the quasi-epic tone seen in previous plot arcs.

1 Plot
2 World
3 Characters
4 Collected Editions
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Plot

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Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

The plot of Dominic Deegan is divided into chapters. These chapters take place in sequence, one starting where the other left off, yet they are generally not directly related to each other. The chapters involving the day to day life of the characters are shorter, whereas the chapters involving longer adventures can run for months at a time.

Chapters generally focus on the titular character of the strip, Dominic Deegan himself, but some of the other main characters have had chapters revolving around them as the central character.

[edit] World

[edit] Geopolitics

The world in which Dominic Deegan takes place in has not been named, nor has its geography been greatly explored. Magic is commonplace, while technology seems to be at roughly the level it was during the Renaissance. Mundane animals such as cats and squirrels exist, as do more fantastic monsters and sentient races.

The majority of the story takes place within the Kingdom of Callan. Other realms include the Semashi lands, the Plains of Maltak, and the Winter Archipelago. The geography has not been greatly explored within the strip. The Plains of Maltak are inhabited by the Orcs and the Winter Archipelago by the Spellwolves.

Callan is a monarchy run by a King^[8] that has been denounced by the main character as "run by a bunch of criminals"^[9]. Until recently, Callanian law enforcement was provided by the now-disbanded Royal Knights, who themselves seemed to be well above the law. However, all of the towns yet explored in the storyline are at least semi-autonomous, with at least one having an elected mayor and most having local law enforcement.

[edit] Races

Humans appear to be the dominant sentient race. The Callanian humans are white, while the Semashi humans are darker skinned - there seems to be prejudice and little racial integration between the two. Few Semashi characters have appeared in the story as of yet, Ilario "Bumper" Ciarenni, Donella Luciani - one of Dominic's students, and Donovan's Ex-Girlfriend. All the others appear to be of Callanian heritage.

Orcs in the Dominic Deegan cosmology mainly stray from the traditional depiction of orcs as warlike savages. The orcs are herbivorious^[10], and their government functions along tribal lines, each tribe with their own laws and customs. Many orcs practice Nature Magic. Many humans are highly prejudiced against orcs, frequently using the racial slur "piggart". Orcs for their part tend to be distrustful towards humans, although the extent of this level of distrust varies between tribes. Many different orcs have appeared in the comic strip, and have filled both hero and villain roles.

The Spellwolves are native to the Winter Archapelago. They are extremely territorial, with a government style that revolves around family hierarchy. Milov Danovich is a Spellwolf.

Elves exist in Callan as well. Raf Maliksh, the founder of The Chosen, was an Elf, and Donovan was trained as a bard by the elves.

A race called the 'Nagasta' that appears vaguely similar to the Nāga exist. The only one that has appeared in the strip is Fierla, a teacher at the School of Magic.

[edit] Sociality

Social integration of other races into Callanian culture is incomplete. Orcs are often the victims of insulting taunts and other forms of discrimination; and some Callanians have demonstrated prejudice against the other currently known human race, the Semashi. Orcish attitudes vary between tribes, with some being xenophobic.

In most cases, however, the social attitudes are clearly that of the early twenty-first century. Characters are often seen in modern clothing up to and including fetish attire. Homosexuality is generally accepted, though retains a slight stigma, more present in certain areas and cultures than others, as in modern day. Almost all the heroes show strong modern progressive leanings, whereas most villains tend to be fiercly bigoted. The comic is often noted for its political progressiveness^{[citation needed]}. Terracciano claims he "tries to keep politics and sexed-up overtones out of his stories" and "tailors the majority of the strips toward more wholesome plots" ^[11], yet he has written entire storylines revolving around homosexuality^[12].