Great Empire of Dawn

China (Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC; Chinese: 中华人民共和国; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of more than 1.4 billion people. China spans five geographical time zones and borders 14 countries, the second most of any country in the world after Russia. Covering an area of approximately 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the world's third or fourth largest country. The country consists of 23 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macau).

## History

The Great Empire was founded by the God-on-Earth and his companion and close friend, the first Empyreal Master, sent by the Maiden-Made-of-Light and the Lion of Night to protect their only begotten son. With the flaming breath of qilin, fire so hot it burns violet, he declared his capital to be what is now Asshai-by-the-Shadow, establishing a flourishing capital larger than any other ever seen. Spells built towering, intricate, beautiful buildings of black stone, and soon, the entirety of Eastern Essos had been completely transformed to hold metropolises which boasted the glory of its empire. The lands were rich, treasures bountiful, created by lucky animals and the lucky spells of Masters.

When the God-on-Earth ascended to the stars after ten thousand years of rule, the first Empyreal Master left this world to ensure the safety of his journey, setting a precedent for his successors. And so the second Empyreal Master came to be during the reign of the Pearl Emperor. He was an intelligent man, continuing his father's work of experimenting with human incubators and wyverns, eventually creating the firewyrm with the help of the Dragon King.

In these days the Dragon King was still but a child. Even though the Masters jealously guarded the mythical creatures of Dawn, long were an entirely different matter and simply could not be controlled. They were rare creatures, tending to dwell in the clouds or the depths of bodies of water, and the Second went through much pain in order to get his hands on a young Dragon King.

He befriended the Dragon King and convinced him to live in the sacred rivers of the Holy Land. Charming him over many centuries, he showed the Dragon King the wonders of the land, and only when he had finally softened the Dragon King's heart did he take cleave a hole in his heart and use it as an incubator for proto-firewyrm eggs, modeling them after the Dragon King. It was only when he did this did he succeed. He performed many experiments with the Dragon King's body, using sorcery and the dark arts. And when he was done, he tossed the Dragon King back into the rivers, where he would stay there, recuperating, for thousands of years.

Firewyrms were managed through sorcery, and many tunneled deep into the earth, searching for its warmth, where they would eventually appear on the opposite end of Essos. When the Great Empire conquered the edges of Sothoryos, they found wyverns in the mountains. Thus, the Second crossbred firewyrms and wyverns, of which were plentiful amongst the mountains of Sothoryos. Small, baby firewryms were placed inside wyverns, where they would combine with the wyverns and emerge as something new. He took shepherds, using them as wombs for the wyrms and and wyverns, having the beasts lay their eggs inside. He used spells to crossbreed the two, and from this was born the first dragon.

Before he made dragons, however, he went through much trial-and-error, bringing forth: brindled men, Shyrkes, eyeless cave-dwellers, winged men, bloodless men, and many more which are now extinct. He formed more dragons, and at the end, yielded eighty. The shepherds that had bred with the dragons could no longer be truly called human and were shown to be able to more easily ride the dragons, who were their kin. This, however, mattered not, as the Master had a wide arsenal of magic that would make the dragons bend to his every whim. The Pearl Emperor was greatly pleased with this new invention and had the Master demonstrate the prowess of dragons by raising the Five Forts—formerly, qilin breath had built all the black stone structures in the Great Empire. Now, no longer needing to overwork the sacred beast, they were free to use dragons as they pleased. As a gift, the emperor gave the Second the mountainous terrain of Yi Ti, which would be the second home of the Masters, and where he would jealously keep the sacred animals of Dawn.

Once the experiment was finished, dragons spread all across the world, even to Westeros and the lands west of it. Dragons were used by the imperial family, and they commanded beasts of unimaginable size, bred for war. Unlike the Valyrians, they were never limited to riding only a single dragon. They used spells and songs to strip the dragons of their free will, turning them into mindless weapons. They conquered the entirety of Eastern Essos, and with other animals at their side thanks to the Empyreal Master, raised many structures.

The great majority of dragons remained within the Empire. The scrolls say there were hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, and because of this surplus, weaker dragons were taken to pits to fight for the peoples amusement. Others were used solely for construction so as to not overwork the great qilin, and each was bred for specific purposes. There were large, hulking ones, used for war, smaller yet lithe ones used for travel and speed, and even smaller ones, who built the entire city of Asshai. Ones for strength, tenacity, and temperament, as well as beauty, color, and intensity of flame. The dragons, with their tunneling abilities, dug deep into the mines, assisting miners, and greatly boosted the wealth of the Empire.

The Second passed when the Pearl Emperor passed in order to shepherd him to the stars, and so his son became the Third after a thousand years. The Third took a wife, a female long, and she bore him a daughter, who would become the Fourth.

The daughter was a close advisor to the Jade Emperor, and it was quite clear the two were in love. The Third, however, disapproved of their union, as this would spell the end for the Masters. Furious at being denied his love, the Jade Emperor sought to kill the Third. His anger was quelled when, as a sign of good faith, the Third sent four of the most beautiful women in the empire to tend to his lusts. Heartbroken, the Fourth instead tended to the great animals of myth who were closely guarded by the Masters, and eventually took a phoenix lord as her husband. The phoenix lord doted upon his lovely wife and, together, they had two children, a boy and a girl. When the pair grew, they convinced their parents that, to keep the bloodline pure, they were to wed each other. They were granted this boon, and for five generations, incest was practiced amongst the Masters.

Masters led to the inventions of a great many incredible objects that have since been lost to time; a select few have made it to this day, being bought and sold in Asshai. The glass candle is an example, thought it was considered primitive, and used only during the reign of the God-on-Earth. They made a certain kind of steel, pale as milk, tempered in the waters of the Holy Land in which the Dragon King resided in and smithed with bloodmagic and sacrifice. They lit with pale fire when imbued with magic, and no other steel could rival their strength. The Valyrians saw this and tried to mimick it, somewhat succeeding, yet their steel was black and evil, filled with the impurities the abominations called the Valyrians carried.

It was near the end of the reign of the Opal Emperor did things begin to turn south. The Ninth had been a woman, wed to her brother, and was close with the heir to the throne, the Amethyst Empress. It is said that the Ninth and the Bloodstone Emperor were romantically involved, and he had been scorned by her in favor of her younger brother. The Bloodstone Emperor then slew his sister and took the throne, taking a tiger-woman as his empress. The Ninth called down a meteor to strike him for his crimes and thought herself higher than the gods whom she derived her abilities from. For her hubris, the twelve floating islands above the Masters abode in Asshai came crashing down, as well as a meteor, which splintered into a thousand different pieces. One landed in Asshai, turning it into the bleak landscape it is today, and the Ninth fled to her second home in Yi Ti, where all the creatures within were turned into sculptures of oily black stone.

Night enveloped the entire world, and the Lion of Night attacked the Empire, sundering it to pieces, erasing all record of its existence. Regretful, the Ninth sought out a hero, Yin Tar, and gave him instructions as to how to smith a sword of pale fire. He did so, saving the world as we know it, and the Ninth helped rebuild the Empire and founded Yi Ti. Eastern Essos was no longer safe for the early Valyrians, so they migrated west, riding their dragons. More were found nestled within the Fourteen Flames, and so was the beginning of the Valyrian Freehold.

Animals are killed in Asshai because of the anguish of the magical beasts that died there; it is an evil curse, still permeating for many a millenia.

The Valyrians, still remembering how their masters bred them, mixed their genes with that of the little Valyrian monkey, giving themselves the silver-gold hair of their forebears, but none of their gemstone eyes. Yet their appearance still remains inferior to a true gemstone emperor. Dragons boosted their spells, thanks to the supernatural nature of the Dragon King.