Some Goofy Questions about Preaching and Dominion

[tinkthank]

I am wondering about the effects of Dominion in battle. We have all noticed that dominion-dependent units will have seemingly contradictory information regarding HP (and other stats) in battle, e.g.: Basic HP: 100 Dominion Bonus: +50 Current HP: 200. Sometimes these stats will change during the course of a battle, without the unit in question having taken damage or having drained life. I still havent figured out what the heck is going on, but I am wondering if it has something to do with this:

Since the effects of Prayers take place before movement and battles, does the game draw some sort of average between the dominion before the battle and the dominion after battle?

Here's another one:
If province X has, say, dominion +2 on turn Y, and I see this, and fly in (by non-magical means) my immortal Phoenix to singlehandely (or more accurately: single-beakedly) capture this province with little risk of "dying", can I be brutally suprised on turn Y+1 by, say, having province X contain 15 enemy stealthy preachers, so that turn Y+1 starts off as, say, Dominion -2, and hence my Phoenix, if "killed", will be "really" dead? How does this tie in to those changing HP- and other stat readings you get in-battle?

(Just as a reminder:

RECRUIT
RESEARCH
EMPOWERMENT
FORGE
RITUALS
MAGIC BATTLES
SEARCH
++++ PRAYERS +++++
BLOOD HUNT
LUCK
ASSASSINATIONS
FRIENDLY MOVEMENT
+++ MOVE BATTLES ++++
STORM CASTLE
ENCHANTMENTS
MAGIC ITEMS
SNEAK
BUILD
SPECIAL ORDERS
INCOME
STARVATION
UPKEEP
DOMINION
SITE EFFECTS
HEAL
MERCS
SCOUTING )