CharlesGray/EmpireoftheMoon

The back ground fluff for a new alternate setting I have been playing around with. Not yet ready for prime time, but getting there.

History

When the Great Contagion slaughtered 9 out of ten of the people of Creation, and the Fair Folk invaded, a small group of Dragon Blooded attempted the Manse controlling the sword of creation. They failed. The devices within the Manse would only respond to the true rulers of Creation—the Solar Exalted and their consorts and allies, the Lunar exalted. But perhaps by accident, or fate, a Lunar Exalt had also decided to dare the mysterious of the Defense Grid—and came upon the group of desperate Terrestrials. The problem was, that Shya couldn’t breach the barrier herself—at least not without help. She was Anathema, but the world was ending, and so a desperate bargain was struck. The heroes entered the Manse, and it was the No-Moon Shya who activated the defense grid. The Fae were driven back and the Blessed Isle was purged of the Wyld and Shadow Zones that had grown up during the Contagion and invasion.

Rise of the Empire

After the power of the Fae had been broken, the two exalts, one dragon blooded and one Exalted by the Touch of Luna, stood opposite each other in the quiet manse. Ballads and songs speak of their meeting, ranging from battles to the near death to (often illustrated) erotic tales of sudden love.

The truth was somewhat more prosaic. Shya and the Shogun-to-be didn’t trust each other, but they quickly realized they needed each other. There was no way a Lunar would be able to hold onto the Blessed Isle, and Shya knew just how savagely the ranks of lunars had been winnowed by the invasion. An attempt to take the island might very well complete the destruction.

Not only that, but she was a comparatively young Lunar, exalting in the late shogunate era. She fought dragonbloods, but more due to necessity than hatred. As a member of the Swords of Luna her interest was in defending creation first.

Her compatriot, for her part, knew that creation was safe as long, and only as long as the Sword of Creation could be used. She couldn’t, that had been proven, but on the other hand, she was not about to simply submit to the rule of an Anathema. And yet, the power of the Anathema was greater than hers.

The two remained in the manse for several days, while Creation (not knowing what had happened) waited for the other shoe to drop. Finally, Shya and her compatriot, now known as the Shogun of the Empire of the Moon, exited. Shya was first among equals, taking the title of Legate of the Empire (and later Empress), while the Shogun would have dominion over the Dragonblooded host and be first in the New Deliberative. It was a dangerous, unstable arrangement, yet neither could see any other way to handle things.

When they emerged, It was to a realm in chaos. Many Dragonblooded refused to accept the idea of an Anathema, and fled, but others were willing to take any authority, especially one backed by a Dragonblood who had entered the Manse and helped save creation. Both Shya and the Shogun used the Sword to announce their new era.

If they had hoped people would accept it, they were badly disappointed.

Not surprisingly, the Sidereals were dead set against the idea. A realm ruled by a celestial exalt would permit direct access to Yu Shan, and in any case the Lunar exalts would be unlikely to heed Sidereal suggestions. Soon, temples of the Immaculate faith were preaching against the inhuman Anathema who had come to the Blessed Isle, perhaps in cooperation with the fae. Astrological assaults were made on the groups that associated with the two exalts, and plans were drawn to assassinate Shya. Meanwhile, some of her Lunar associates came to the island, to serve as bodyguards and aids…and to bring unnerving news from her Lunar fellows. The Lunars were themselves divided. Some argued that the time had come to crush the dragon blooded host once and for all and saw her as a traitor. Others saw her as a hero, but by and large, the Lunars, as a group, were not likely to take action. Some might help her, some might hinder her, but it would be as individuals or small groups. This caused Shya to grit her teeth—in the back of her mind during her negotiations had been the fact that 300 exalts would likely allow her to be able to renegotiate from a position of strength. Now she needed the dragon blooded even more.

The fifteen year war

The next fifteen years were not kind to the Blessed Isle. Dragonblooded groups, among them the Seven Tigers, tried to invade, and were repulsed, sometimes with the help of the Sword of Creation, although it was used with great reluctance. First age weapons were deployed on both sides, and with celestial exalts fighting on both sides, so were second circle demons, celestial level sorcery and on the part of the Sidereals, Sidereal MA. Uncounted thousands of mortals died, as did ten lunar and 6 sidereal exalts. Outside of the realm, the rest of creation struggled under the effects of the war. While Lookshy formed itself into a powerful military force, other states found continual chaos as one or another side intruded into their zones, or struck them to keep them from allying with the other side.

The final straw was the detonation of a Soul Breaker orb by Sidereals in a battle over the city of Gem. The entire city fell into a shadowland, and more importantly, at the same time the loom of fate started to strum with an unnerving tenor. The Sidereals realized that the battle was over stressing an already weakened creation—more and more gaps were opening into creation, more and more demons and fae were coming in, and with the loss of so many celestial exalts, mortals and dragonblooded, there was no way to stop them. The great offensive of the fae had been defeated… but creation might still fall.

This was made more apparent by the fact that Shya had to fire up the Sword once again, this time to destroy a large wyld incursion moving into the West—despite the damage to Meru and the rest of the Blessed Isle, there was no choice.

The war ended via mutual agreement, but not due to any real meeting of the minds. In Heaven, gods and neutral Sidereals alike demanded that the conflict at least be ratcheted down to the level where they could concentrate on their job. Dragonblooded and mortal alike were beginning to revolt against the continual war, and Yozi and Deathlord cults were springing up all over the Island, which now once again had shadowlands in it.

Among the Lunars, the same thing was happening, with the Swords becoming increasingly concerned about the conflict. Others were not so worried—Mu-ha-Suchi had become increasingly aggressive, leading ever more brutal incursions against settled cities and rumors of an alliance between Amoth City Smiter and some lunars were given more credence by observers. Shya and her allies realized that she wasn’t only fighting Sidereal influence, but at least one first age lunar’s machinations. Finally an agreement was reached. The Sidereals would end their direct assistance of the rebel forces on the Blessed Isle, and Shya would agree to avoid the use of the Sword of Creation against Sidereal interests in the Threshold. With that, and with the general exhaustion of much of the stocks of First Age weaponry, the age of open war between celestial exalts came to an uneasy end.

== Rebuilding ==

But the fighting wasn’t over, of course—the Blessed Isle had huge numbers of “rebel” organizations and groups that refused to accept the rule of the Shogun and Legate. Many of them were indirectly supported by the Siderals, while others were simply groups of former Shogunate forces. The forces of the Empire were actually outnumbered, but even so, the presence of 10 Lunar exalted was enough to turn the tide, albeit slowly. Over the next twenty years, the Empire reduced each rebel movement in turn, before finally declaring victory.

It was a hard fought victory and a costly one—the realm was in ruins. On the other hand, many gods were eager to work again with the celestial exalted, and lent their assistance. Many of the Swords of Luna were also eager to work with Shya and the Shogun, seeing the realm as a force that could serve as a desperately needed reserve against the onset of the enemies of creation.

Other Lunars, most notably some of the first age Lunars, despised Shya for her alliance with the hated Dragonblooded, and plotted to destroy the new realm. Ingosh silver claws remained neutral, but the Gathering of the Lunars produced no single decision, and presaged even more division among the children of Luna. Tamnuz and other members of the Winding Path were especially concerned that the Empire might follow the old Realm down the path of decadence and destruction.

Meanwhile, the Empire was gradually recovering. The Shogun helped establish the first of the Dragonblooded families while Shya imported her own allies, including beastmen. The Empire started to grow again, with towns and settlements rising across the deserted lands. There was much work to be done, as many ghosts and uncontrolled demons had to be brought into line. In addition, there was the need to restore, or at least stop the slide of learning from the First Age levels.

By 100 years after the entry into the Manse and the first activation of the Sword of Creation, the Blessed Isle was beginning to return to a semblance of normality, at least compared to what had come before. Between them, Shya and the Shogun forged a powerful alliance, as well as establishing the government of the Empire. Human and beastmen alike grew up over the Blessed Isle, this time in a series of smaller, fortified cities. Others lived in villages or in some parts, more or less nomadically, especially in regions where predatory beasts were deliberately allowed to flourish.

Rather than pure stability, the stress was on self reliance and strength. All mortals were expected to test themselves and this went double for dragonblooded—in fact every dragonblood on the island was officially part of the “Host of the Shogun” and expected to keep themselves active and fit. Mortals were provided education, but every mortal was also expected to do at least two years military service, and maintain a set of basic weapons and proficiency with same until they were fifty. Methods of awakening essence were also made available, and lavish praise was heaped on families that produced more than their share of heroic mortals. The same went for those beastmen or godblooded with awakened essence who were expected to serve the state—to keep themselves tough and ready.

The system of challenges helped maintain this, insuring that at every level people faced something that was, if not impossible, at least challenging. It wasn’t mandatory, but those who avoided it were seen as shirkers at best, cowards at worst. One of the greatest challenges started in year 120, when selected mortals and dragon bloods were allowed to join the Swords of Luna on the fringes of creation, fighting the fae and other deadly forces, or the navy, scourging the lintha and other pirates from the sea. Others engaged in the occasional war against threshold states, including the Lookshy shogunate, although this wasn’t was serious as the other two conflicts.

The rise of the Sunhunt

But in year 200, something happened that would forever change the Empire. A mortal became a solar exalted. Originally a member of a cult worshipping the Yozi’s, he exalted and hid and finally gave his soul and exaltation to the Yozi’s, becoming Akuma. In 201, what looked like a minor rebellion exploded into something far worse across the western parts of the Blessed isle. Over the next year, dozens of villages and towns were slaughtered, and an exalt who deserved very letter of the word Anathema sacrificed people by the hundred to his dark gods. Shya, the Shogun and a picked team of exalts, celestial and terrestrial finally cornered him in a temple just as Calibration was about to begin and prevented his attempt to summon one of the dreadful third circle demons to creation. The sights seen by the survivors were horrifying and for Shya who had never met another solar, they only too well confirmed the stories of the end of the Old Realm.

She met privately with some Sidereals, and a new agreement was made—the Empire of the Moon would hunt down and destroy solars on the Blessed Isle, and in return the Sidereals would offer their assistance if it was needed. This infuriated the Sun King faction of the Lunars, and led to a large portion of the Silver Pact pulling it’s support from Shya. The Swords remained, as did some of the Winding path, but increasingly the Lunars were becoming a largely neutral, or even hostile group to the new empire.

The First River Province War

Over the next hundred years, the Empire stabilized. The Sunhunt took care of solar Anathema on the island—and conducted Lunars to the Silver pact for tattooing and indoctrination. Shya had tried to get the right to do that herself, but the Elders of the Pact were united—the Empire would not have a lock on new Lunars.

Neither Shya nor the shogun were interested in a fight with the Lunars, especially given the tenuous truce with the Sidereals. Not all of the shadowlands had been eliminated and the Sword was a weapon that could not be used very often—if at all. The new Dragonblooded, led legions of the Empire continued to rebuild, this time with the Celestial aid of the nearly 20 lunars who lived on the island. One, the Legion of Creation, became a commonly deployed unit to the far corners of creation, Battling the Fae, often along side the Swords of Luna, despite hostility from other elders, notably Leviathan and Mu Ha Suchi.

Unfortunately, all was not well—the Bronze faction had agreed to avoid direct conflict—but they also threw their weight behind the 7th legion, providing it with immaculate training methods and as many favorable astrological effects as they could get away with. The Legion declared itself the legitimate successor of the Shogunate, and moved in and started to bring other states under it’s sway. No state could resist the powerful military, but the Empire tried to avoid direct conflict.

However, in 240, Lookshy took to interdicting trade along the Yanaze River, specifically seeking any “Anathema” That were moving along it. A stand off between an Empire ship and Lookshy ships turned into a confused fight (nobody was certain who fired the first shot) and left nearly two hundred dead, including a number of Terrestrials. Shya and the Shogun demanded apologies and reparations, but Lookshy, with prompting from the Bronze faction, not only did not apologize, but declared the rivers closed to Imperial shipping.

The Yanaze River war was a war that neither side truly wanted. Lookshy had hoped that they would be able to force the Empire to back down and the Empire for its part wasn’t eager to test the loyalty of the Dragonblooded against former companions. However, it also proved to be a curiously anticlamatic war. By unspoken agreement, first age WMD’s were not deployed, and forces that were on the verge of being destroyed were allowed to retreat rather than die.

Both sides saw celestial involvement—mighty lunar champions wearing their war forms and clad in moonsilver armor battled Sidereal martial artists wielding reality changing arts—and in most of those cases, all around, mortal and terrestrial, gave the combatants a wide berth. But here too an odd formality ruled—nobody could risk the loss of experienced exalts that all out war could cause, or the damage to creation that mass use of celestial sorcery or SMA might cause so while many were injured, few died.

The “war” continued for two years, until finally, the Treaty of Calin agreed that the Empire would have use of the rivers—but only in unarmed ships. Lookshy agreed that Anathema actually on ships were immune from assault by any Lookshy allied force.

The lessons of the war were not lost on either side—the Empire found that teams of immaculate trained dragon bloods could drive celestial exalts from the field of battle—and Lookshy found that the expectation that the dragonblooded serving the Anathema would be demoralized and easy to defeat incorrect.

Less then a decade later, the two forces would be fighting together….against something neither one had ever expected.

It started with raids on farms and towns—savage raids, involving hordes of beastmen. Many of the hundred kingdoms appealed to Lookshy, which accused the Empire of supporting them. The Empire pled ignorance, although Shya had a feeling that she knew the source of the raids…but the Raids soon became an all out offensive. Goatmen and gigantic Ape beastmen, supported by behemoths from the wyld started advancing on town after town, leaving little in their wake but rapine and death. The armies of Lookshy sallied forth, but found themselves driven back by the sheer numbers of their enemies, including strange monsters bred with sorcery. The Arczhecki hordes joined in as did other wyld barbarians and suddenly the entire east was aflame with war, cities falling all across an arc described by the Grey and Yellow rivers—the Republic of Chaya was destroyed, and those survivors spoke of a mad woman who dined on babies while attended by her beastman.

Chya found the Silver Pact hopelessly deadlocked. Racksi and Mu Ha Suchi were elders, and the other elders were unwilling to risk a confrontation, especially as Leviathan had given his support. They misliked the course, misliked it greatly , but they were not going to go to open war to stop them.

Chya did not have that option. The terrestrials of the empire were demanding to go to war—and with every atrocity, they looked more askance at the lunars with them. The beastmen in the empire found themselves shunned, or fawned over, as mortals feared that they might behave as had their fellows. The entire structure of the Empire was tottering.

Finally, before the Shogunate Council, with the Shogun and all the Lords of the Empire, Chya appeared, clad in moonsilver armor, wearing her war form. She spoke of her brothers and sisters of the Silver pact. Of the danger of the wyld, of the horror occurring on the Threshold.

“But we cannot use the Sword of Creation.” She said, “Nor shall we. As mortals must stop their fellows from doing harm, so must the Chosen. We shall aid the people of Creation, and stop this carnage.” With that, she proclaimed that she would not return to the Blessed Isle until the forces of Mu Ha Suchi and Racksi were driven back, and commanded the Shogun to make the forces of the Island ready for war.

The wars for the survival of the Empire had ended, but the first true Civil war between Lunars was about to begin.

The Civil War

The Civil war was traumatic for the Silver Pact- Elders took the field against both the Shogunate and worse, the Empire, for it meant that Lunar would be fighting Lunar.

And this was no minor war, or battle of maneuver. Celestial sorcery was used with abandon and moonsilver clad warriors battled amidst beastmen, mortals and dragon blooded. Shadowlands erupted like Cankers across the land, as the dead marched to add to the chaos. Much of the recovery since the Contagion was lost, as First Age weapons were used with abandon, shrinking armories that would be needed for other uses.

The Climax of the war came at the city of Nexus. The economic power house of Nexus was key to the wealth of the region, and the ability of the Shogunate to support it’s armies. If it fell, most of the threshold would fall with it.

The beastman armies of Mu-ha-suchi and Racksi were augmented with at least 30 other lunars, second circle demons, fae and other, less namable creatures…. Including a Heckontire obtained by some fell bargain.

Against him stood the mortal armies of the Shogunate and Empire augmented with Nexus’s mercenaries—and over 1000 Terrestrial exalts and nearly fifty celestial exalts.

The Battle of the Shattered Plain lasted a full week, and was possibly the greatest conflict since the Usurpation—some believed since the Primordial war. At its climax, an earthquake ripped through the region, disrupting dragon lines and manses as far away as Greyfalls, and a vast chasm opened up, turning Nexus into an island. As the water from the Grey and Yellow Rivers roared in, drowning tens of thousands, the Battle Centered on the Shogun of Lookshy, The Shogun of the Empire, and Shya, battling against an enraged Mu-Ha-Suchi.

They lost. The Shogun of Lookshy died, his body cast into the chasm, while both Shya and the Empire’s Shogun were critically injured, and would have been slain by the enraged elder lunar had not their elite guard born their broken bodies away.

But they had achieved their purpose—as Mu-Ha-Suchi looked across the battle, he realized that most of his beastmen had been routed by the superior coordination of the dragon blooded, his Lunar champions unable to turn the tide in the face of the collective charms and weapons of their enemy. Behind the battle, the army had left dust and destruction—there was nothing to support a siege. Racksi had already withdrawn from the battle, pressed by a team of Sidereal martial artists, and even if Mu-Ha-Suchi could kill any one enemy, he was rapidly becoming outnumbered.

Roaring in fury, he retreated from the battle, and led his forces back to his nameless lair—those that weren’t slain by the pursuing forces.

The Aftermath left all shaken.

Over the course of the war, nearly 2000 terrestrial exalts had died. Countless thousands of mortals had been slain, much of the river province was utterly devastated, the recovery from the contagion lost. Fifty lunar and sideral exalts had died during the conflict, and more had been critically injured. The Loom of fate and the dragon lines were still in flux, and in addition to the numbers of uncontrolled first and second circle demons left after the war, more were seeping through the cracks that had been made in Creation.

The Shogunate had born the burnt of the offensive, and was in mourning for it’s Shogun and many of it’s most senior officers. The Empire was hardly better off—while both the Shogun and Shya would recover, it would be months, even with exalted healing before they would be able to take up the reigns.

The Silver Pact was in an uproar. Lunars had slain lunars in numbers unimaginable. The Swords demanded both Racksi and Mu-Ha-Suchi’s head, while others demanded that those who had fought against them be punished for their allegiance to the Dragon Blooded. Ingosh Silver Claws and his fellows were barely able to avert more violence, but however much they were infuriated with Mu-Ha-Suchi and Racksi, they could not move against them without risking another conflict. At the most they were able to get an agreement that the Silverpact, as a body, would not engage in war against the states of Creation, but smaller groups and individuals supported the radicals—and fought lunars who disagreed. It got bad enough that Ingosh Silver Claws felt the need to push through another agreement—that Lunars on their way to or from silver pact meetings would be immune from challenge, either at the meeting or on their way to it. Still, the unity of the Silver pact had been shattered.

In Yu Shan, the Sidereals faced even more conflict. The Usurpation it was whispered had brought this upon Creation—the breaking of the Creation Ruling mandate was the root of all the disaster, and until it could be restored, Creation would continue to stagger along from conflict to conflict. The Bronze elders maintained control over much of the mechanism, but many youthful Sidereals (and there were quite a few) felt that the entire disaster had been a mismanaged botch. The Siderals should stick to defending creation from demons (of which there were no lack now, thank you) and other such dangers. Let the Stewards and Dragon Blooded work out who was going to run it themselves. The Wyld hunt in the Shogunate hadn’t stopped the disaster—a Lunar Empress had, by coming to the Shogunate’s aid with her dragon blooded Shogun and other lunars. The Elder Sidereals pointed out that the whole mess had been started by a Lunar, but by this time the shouting had gotten to the point where real conversation was impossible. And in Creation, refugees looked around at their shattered homes, their pathetic belongings piled on hand carts, and wondered… what next?

The Age of Rebuilding

It would surprise some to realize that even the Exalted can have enough of war. Not all of them, but enough. The Shogunate and Empire had fought together and while far from allies, were less than the enemies they had been. More importantly, the mess left in Creation was enough trouble without any more wars.

The Two powers signed an agreement, essentially restoring everything to the status quo antebellum, and promising to launch no aggressive actions against each other. It was putting a good face on the fact that neither could do so.

Even the Exalted took time to heal from the injuries inflicted, and Shya wasn’t able to take over again until nearly six months had passed, and the Imperial Shogun was as badly off. Looking over their realm, they both realized just how desperate things were. Many Dragonblooded had been slain, while the losses in trained sages and Thaumaturges were if anything worse. Much of the infrastructure that was left was gone, and armories were empty—the weapons left, such as the Thousand Forged Dragons, were too terrible to use. Something had to be done, and The Emergency Declaration hopefully would do it. It allowed all citizens to learn Thaumaturgy, and encouraged them to try. Other declarations swiftly passed, offering rewards, both monetary and social to those who found better ways to achieve goals, preferably ways that didn’t require the same investment of infrastructure, especially first age infrastructure.

The Shogun commanded draconian breeding rules for the Dragonblooded (well, for many not so draconian). Female Dragonblooded were only allowed to become pregnant by approved mates, and it was a serious crime to render themselves unable to bear children. Male dragonblooded… were encouraged to father as many children with mortals as they wished. Godbloods, halfcastes and other essence wielders were also encouraged to dedicate their service to the Empire of the Moon.

During this period, the meritocracy that was to define the Empire started to take hold. At every level of society, Shya and her allies created challenges. The goal was to insure peace and prosperity and stability, not by keeping groups underfoot, but by allowing every group, with sufficient effort and labor to rise at least one step up the ladder. The Peasant could become a land holder, the private a captain, the ambitious school child a respected mortal thaumaturge—and more. It was at this point that the yearly and five year games were instituted, with a variety of rewards—rewards intended to drive the recipients to further work.

This applied to every level of society, with the Dragonblooded being evidence that the individuals had been blessed by the dragons, due to their work ethic. That, of course was the main reason Shya had encouraged the breeding statutes beyond the need for more exalts—the further the blood was spread the greater the hope that some ambitious farmer might find herself taking the second breath.

Meanwhile, the Blessed Isle slowly got things back in shape—the shadowlands were fenced off and shrunk with geomantic work, even as the demons and rogue spirits were hunted down. The new state religion—the Order of Heaven was established, temples and chapter houses in every city even as the organization of the state was finalized, moving beyond the more or less military dictatorship to a civil structure.

IN the Threshold, things were worse—the wandering second circle demons had largely been banished, in some cases by campaigns that would have been considered wars but for what had gone before. Many cities were ruined and the growing power of the Guild entwined others in a mesh of corruption and slave trading. The Empire and Shogunate didn’t like the Guild, but they couldn’t do anything about it—or rather they couldn’t replace it. The lack of cooperation between the Lunar factions resulted in more fae entering creation, and although invasions were a thing of the past, more than a few bubbles of the Wyld established themselves solidly in creation.

The city of Great Forks, established by refugees and Gods became a major establishment, people flocking to it, feeling that it was powerful enough to provide protection from the dangers that were so prevalent, while the Kingdom of Halta grew under the tutelage and care of two first age lunars. In the West, the Lintha took advantage of the distraction of the powers and extended their networks further. In the forests of the East Mu-Ha-Suchi licked his wounds and vowed revenge, while many of the small states in the Hundred Kingdoms warred and allied, depending on the situation, the need, and according to some wags, what side of the bed their kings got up on.

As the states recovered, they found that the world had moved along with them—the Guild now had powerful protectors—Fae and it was rumored, exalted of their own, and made the most of their vital place in trade and commerce. The Empire restricted their trade to authorized ports while the Shogunate did the same, but neither power could risk trying to destroy the guild.

Meanwhile, the Empire entered into a variety of relationships with Threshold powers, trying to secure needed resources. The relationships generally involved aid from the Empire, both in terms of military and trade agreements. The Empire was also willing to play hard ball—although they went to war with none, some leaders who were hard to deal with tended to develop the kinds of health problems that come from seriously antagonizing people with access to sorcery and charms. Others found themselves seduced by agreements, or in some cases, seduced by more conventional methods.

There were conflicts and battles, but by and large the world became more stable over the time, as the two great powers focused on their own prosperity and infrastructure. But then, in 760, the Autocrat of Thorns made a deal with…something. Soulsteel clad warriors issued forth from the city and started conquering the region around it—and using weapons not seen since the first age.

An Anathema named the Bull of the North, with the aid of other Solar Exalted started expanding his empire, even as Mu-Ha-Suchi once again began to move. By 762 he had conquered a wide swath of land. Attacks on the shipping of the Empire and Shogunate alike started increasing, with rumors that Leviathan was once again on the move, even as the Skullstone islands started to send for more raiders.

And then, in 766, Shya died, remarkably for a Lunar in her sleep, the long ago wounds of Mu-Ha-Suchi finally overcoming her. Within a few weeks, a new lunar exalted on the Blessed Isle, carrying her essence shard. With all due pomp, she was tattood and trained, and in 767 granted the Throne of the Empire, a newly exalted No-moon very much aware of just how deeply out of her depth she was. At the same time, the Solar Exalted started to return, not in a trickle, but a flood—and so did darker Exalts, wielding twisted powers of the solar exaltation. Many of these warriors came from Thorns, and with them came a name of the new ruler of the darkened Nation.

The First and Forsaken Lion.

And with that, the present begins.

PoliticalStructure : how the Empire Functions.