The Faceless Emperor

The Faceless Emperor on the white gold throne.

> *"I know what is best for you, even if you don't realize it yet. Everywhere my influence spreads, order rises. Savages living in mud houses are replaced by clean, well-mannered citizens and mortared stone. Regions at war for centuries over pointless traditions and petty slights are united under my power. The unruly nations will be brought to heel with the might of my armies and the unyielding lash of my law, and for this you dare call me villain."* Faceless Emperor to Immortal representatives of the Eastern Block, Council of the Undying transcript
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**The Faceless Emperor** is the Immortal leader of the Tallet Empire, also called the **Pale Emperor**. It is known for its tendencies to consider anything outside of its rule as uncivilized and for having complete control over its territories and peoples, often forcing its standard of civilization on other nations "for their own good".

## **Current Era**

### **Appearance**

The Tallet Emperor dresses in white silken robes with silver woven directly into the fabric, a mask of white gold inlaid with the tenets of Tallet law written in the **God's tongue** cover the mask. This character can be physically described as tall, lean, and though no one except for the inner circles of Imperial royalty have seen his visage, those that have describe this immortal as having noble features such as pronounced cheekbones and a narrow nose.

### **Persona**

The Faceless Emperor carries themselves with the utmost dignity and control wherever he goes. Personal control and measured words, the Faceless speaks with clarity, certainty and brevity, believing in saying as few words as possible to accomplish the desired goal.

The Emperor remains calm and collected, having no recorded instances of outbursts. Though he speaks to his underlings, it is almost always in formal settings with stringent rules of conduct.

While striving for complete control of himself and surroundings, the Emperor realizes that the mortals under his command will fall short, and seeks to inspire them to the same level of personal control as himself through fear and awe.

The Pale Emperor does not indulge in intoxicants, excessive rest or gluttony, or any of the behaviors considered unseemly within the Tallet Empire, preferring to do everything necessary for health and not a bit more or less.

### **Activities**

What is the immortal currently doing? Do they rule a nation? Do they travel? Are they a researcher?

### **Creed**

Does the immortal have any strong beliefs, messages, or agendas they push in the world?

## **Outlook**

> *"Yes, I am taking your freedom, and for good reason. Look around you, look at the horrors most of your people have to endure day after day, borne of the mistakes you mortals continue to make era after era. Free will is only a gift if one has the strength to use it, to everyone else, it is a rope to hang yourself with. I will take away your freedom, but I give you a better life, and your children, their children, and their children's children's children will thank me for it."*
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The Tallet Emperor sees himself as the lone force of order in an otherwise chaotic and poorly run world. Pre war, the Emperor lived among the people of silver in the heartlands as a carefree aristocrat, having been born sharp of wit and strong of body to a noble family in the old **Silver Kingdom**. After discovering his own immortality, he swiftly rose to prominence through a combination of conquest and hostile takeover of his most immediate neighbors, but soon ceased his aggression and simply ran his small kingdom content.

After an issue with imported luxury goods, he left the heartlands for the first time to see if he could sort out the issue for himself. What he saw outside of the silver heartlands horrified him. The poverty, famine, disease, and general lack of law compared to his kingdom shocked him to the core. He immediately went to see the rulers of the kingdom, demanding to know why they had so poorly managed their lands. They responded with anger, having no idea what he was talking about, and responded by cutting off his trade deal to acquire the exotic fruits grown in their orchards, further impoverishing their own people.

The immortal left, donning a silver mask to hide his expression of disgust, and rode to his homeland. He returned with an army to conquer the land, and bring it up to standard, executing the noble families and giving the land as strategic diplomatic gifts to other kingdoms in the heartlands. He then traveled the world for decades, seeing the disorder of the world. When he returned to the heartland, he conquered and consolidated the remaining silver kingdoms into the newly formed **Tallet Empire** bent on bringing his rule to the world no matter the initial cost.

## **Relations with other Immortals**

> *"We are all playing this game. Some simply play it better than others." -*Spoken to the Truest King at a Council of the Undying, in response to accusations of enslaving humanity
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Pre-war, the Faceless Emperor made it his policy to find Immortals with fledgling power and stamp out their influence as a way to ensure as few competitors as possible in the long game of world conquest. The Immortals were to be paraded through the capital as trophies before being exiled to some far corner of the world with the warning to never rise to power again.

In later eras, it became policy to no longer release captured Immortals, but to encase them in a skin of bronze and place them in the God King's garden within the Ivory Tower near a mirror so they could see themselves as vanquished every day they were alive. This was kept a close secret from the rest of the world.

### **The Technocracy**

The Technocracy considers the Emperor to be enemy number one, a clear and present threat to the freedom and happiness of all humanity, and have made his eventual capture a long-term goal. The Circle has been at war with the Tallet Empire since contact.

### **14th Councilmember**

The relationship between the 14th and the Emperor is not fully understood by most other nations, as their two nations often come into conflict with each other. A Tallet legion will purchase Ashed made goods and hire contractors from a city state, then be attacked by a mercenary company from the same city state later in the year who were hired by the people they were tasked to civilize.

The two immortals have been in contact with each other since the early days of the **Dawn era**, with the 14th being one of the few immortals to ever set foot in the imperial gardens without being captured, and allowed to leave. The 14th ordered the Ashed confederacy to fight against the Tallet during the **Great War**, then ordered them to stand down during the betrayal at Ivory tower, decisively preventing Tallet defeat. When able, the 14th visits the ivory tower. They appear to not work together in any capacity, but appear to maintain a friendship.

### **Fire God**

The Tallet and Fire god have been at open war since their two nations' borders first began approaching each other. Both have declared in one way or another through their actions and policy that the world is their own, with which both of them disagree.

Though the Tallet and Goran are at a state of open warfare, the Emperor's hostility towards Gorr is in a way tempered with respect as he sees Gorr among his few true rivals for greater power. While this does make him the priority threat.

### **Truest King**

The Truest King holds a special place of disdain within the Tallet Emperor's heart, being the immortal leader of the **Broken Kingdom**, a nation that is almost the antithesis of Imperial high culture. Before the **Great war** the two Immortals were constantly in disagreement, with the Faceless demanding the Truest be held accountable for the actions of the mortals under his command when they interrupted Tallet Expansion, a demand that was met with inaction and antagonism. The Truest and his ilk were seen as a coveted territory to be brought into the fold, but refused and resisted out of sheer stubbornness and ignorance.

After the Great war, the Emperor regards the Truest as as a force of chaos that intentionally wishes to disrupt his attempts to organize the world. As the Truest constantly antagonizes the Faceless, he responds in kind with attempts to destroy the Broken Kingdom.