Zhuyin Empire

This article is about **the empire**. You may be looking for **the autonomous region of space they controlled**.

## Societal Information

### Official Language(s)

Common

The **Zhuyin Empire** was a dynastic, monarchical order in the Cassiopeia Galaxy that oversaw hundreds of worlds throughout its history. As the empire of the draconic Zhuyin people, their territories and areas of influence were found in their own pocket of space in the southern Central Expanse region. They quarreled with the Drazarian Empire in the northern Central Expanse during what was known as the Dragon Wars, and afterwards maintained a deeply-rooted and mutual hatred for the opposing empire.

## History

### Neutrality

Throughout its history, the Zhuyin Empire and its colonies often kept to themselves, staying out of major galactic conflicts like the Artifice Wars unless such struggles directly involved them. This placed the Zhuyin Empire in a position of neutrality for most large-scale galactic conflicts.

### The Dragon Wars

→ *Main article: Dragon Wars*

At some point in history, a supposed Hamadry diplomat from the Zhuyin Empire visited Drazaria Prime, the capital of the Drazarian Empire's domain, under the guise of defection from the Zhuyin. In reality, the diplomat was sent to assassinate the current monarch of the Drazarian Empire, to which they were successful.

This act of regicide sparked the beginning of the Dragon Wars, and thus began the constant feuding between the Zhuyin and the Drazarians throughout thousands of years of galactic history. Over the course of thousands of years, many citizens from both empires had forgotten the initial reasons on why they hated the other, but such rivalries and hatreds continued to persist throughout history.

Most if not all of the fighting during the Dragon Wars took place on uninhabited or abandoned planets.

### Sparks of the Second Crusade

The First Crusade, carried out by the Vespasian Empire, ended c. 2400 ASA and began an era of galactic peace known as the Two-Hundred-Year Calm. As a sign of good faith, the Vespasians dispatched diplomats all over the galaxy in order to apologize for their transgressions during the First Crusade. This included the Zhuyin Empire, which was especially notable due to the Zhuyin's reputation of neutrality. This diplomatic decision under the Vespasian Empire was ordered by the then-current Sentinel of Vespasia, and as such the current Caesar.

But at the end of the Two-Hundred-Year Calm, an unexpected tragedy struck the many empires of the Cassiopeia Galaxy. Many rulers of galactic polities and empires were suddenly found dead, including the Sovereign of the Zhuyin Empire. Having lost their Sovereign, the Zhuyin Empire was thrown into chaos as its territories were much more varied and heterogenous in terms of population and nature.

With the Zhuyin Empire and the other polities of the galaxy in despair and confusion, the Consultum Senate of the Vespasian Empire sent out a message to both Vespasian civilians and former military personnel currently living on planets that were either liberated or taken away during the end of the First Crusade. Vespasian embassies across the galaxy began to close temporarily for unknown reasons. All of these decisions on behalf of the Vespasian Empire began the Second Crusade, in which the Zhuyin were forced to take part in due to the sudden, mysterious death of their Sovereign.

## Organization

The Zhuyin Empire was ultimately ruled by different dynasties throughout its history. The absolute monarch and ruler of the empire was referred to as the **Zhuyin Sovereign**, or simply the **Sovereign** by the Zhuyin themselves. Sovereigns either went by the title **Emperor** or **Empress** depending on their gender. These dynastic rulers passed down the crown through a right of primogeniture, meaning that the firstborn heir of the current Sovereign was the first candidate to the throne.

The children of the Sovereign were sent to oversee eleven specific and prized planets of the Empire, excluding the capital of Zhudia itself. Alongside these children of the dynasty were planetary sovereign rulers, who were given special titles as the rulers of one of these twelve planets. Such titles included:

* The **Lord/Lady of Survival**, who ruled over Varmni.
* The **Lord/Lady of Claws**, who ruled over Siamau.
* The **Lord/Lady of Fangs**, who ruled over Hamad.
* The **Lord/Lady of Roots**, who ruled over Sileno.
* The **Lord/Lady of Righteousness**, who ruled over Lopho.
* The **Lord/Lady of Fortune**, who ruled over Kexin.
* The **Lord/Lady of Guardians**, who ruled over Shishi.
* The **Lord/Lady of Waters**, who ruled over Caifu.

## Society and Culture

Like those who govern them, the people who lived under the Zhuyin Empire focused on the ongoings of their own pocket of space instead of the galaxy as a whole. This gave many imperial citizens a neutral standpoint in most galactic affairs, unless such affairs directly involved their empire.

## Astrography

The territories of the Zhuyin Empire were situated in a region of space within the southern Central Expanse referred to as Zhuyin Empire space. These territories stretched across tens of thousands of light years and were composed of hundreds of colonized worlds, with the planet Zhudia as the capital. The Former Zhuyin Territories were a smaller region of space just east of the Zhuyin Empire's reach, composed of worlds that gained their independence from the Zhuyin Empire through either war or peace.