Excerpt from Prince of an Empire, by Head Scholar Panmoru and Scholar Einar of the Fallen Star Pavilion.

Published last year, the 1424th year of the Sun.

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It is incredible how the most famous Titled One in our era has a relatively unknown history. Despite being over two centuries old, there are precious few surviving records of how the Empire's Prince came to be, perhaps due to the amount of war waged during his lifetime and the collateral damage inflicted upon each city's Library. As such, most of the few surviving records of the Prince's time before the War of Crowns can only be found in the Fallen Star Pavilion.

For us, the most striking thought when poring through the Prince's records is the contrast between who he was and who he is today. While all accounts are second or even third-hand hearsay, many scholars agree that the Prince has markedly changed over his lifetime. It bears repeating that even legends are human — prone to learning, growth, and change.

Though the Prince is rumored to be born around the year 1180 of the Sun, he spent his formative years living in the Red Emperor's shadow in Crimson City. If there are any records of this time, they may only be found in the Library of Crimson City's Palace. This summary starts with the commonly accepted theory that the Prince himself killed the Red Emperor during Spring's Blessings in the 1200th year of the Sun.

Without the Red Emperor's authority and the Prince having disappeared in the wake of the Red Emperor's death, the remaining six of the Nine Lords publicly agreed to not wage a fight over succession and broke off their respective territories from the Empire: HaiFeng, Exabell, Falysos, Teljumaya, Northern Plains, and the Formosan Islands, in an event now called the Empire's Fracturing. They became known as the Six Crowns.

The Six Crowns divided up the Empire amongst themselves and only Crimson City, the original seat of the Empire, was declared a neutral territory. Each of the Six Crowns led their kingdoms into their respective Golden Ages based on what the monarch prioritized and proclaimed their desire for peace with the other monarchs, not to be broken so long as they lived.

There are no records that indicate where the Prince had gone or what he was doing during his disappearance, but he resurfaced almost five decades later in the year 1248 of the Sun and met with the Six Crowns. Based on all known records, the Six Crowns offered the Prince a place as the Seventh Crown and Crimson City as his own territory to avoid a war of succession.

The Prince accepted the Title as the Seventh Crown and took Crimson City. For a decade, all was silent; then he launched a preemptive strike on Falysos and Exabell. The other Crowns condemned this act and united against the Prince in the War of Crowns. Despite the Prince's pursuit of a speedy victory, the combined might of the Six Crowns dragged out the war, which raged between the years 1257 and 1288 of the Sun. During this period of war, it is estimated no less than a third of the land's population died. Though many begged the Oracle and the Leviathan of ZhiXia to intervene, they did not leave the shadows of YiZhi Mountain. The Prince never engaged in a battle near YiZhi Mountain's borders despite the Six Crowns' best efforts to lure him there.

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In the wake of all the deaths and destruction, the Prince offered the Six Crowns a fight between just the seven of them at Argentine Mountain. The Six Crowns agreed, and they fought the Battle of Argentine Cliffs during Autumn's Colors in the year 1289 of the Sun. Despite their advantage in experience and numbers, it is surmised that the Six Crowns never fully recovered from their previous subjugation of DuskWing and the final Battle of Argentine Cliffs resulted in the Prince's victory. Half of Argentine Mountain itself was carved out in the process, and the Prince granted that land to the soldiers who surrendered to him so they could bury four of the former Six Crowns in the center of what is now known as Crescent City.

The two surviving Crowns, the Lord of Sands and Chieftess of Formosa, surrendered in exchange for peace. The Lord of Sands would keep Oasis and agreed to never expand his territory beyond the Endless Sands. The Chieftess of Formosa and her people were exiled to their Islands, never to set foot on the mainland again. Flangel the Wise, the Prince's own advisor and tutor, was said to protest this treatment of the people and returned to Techoria, the City of Alchemy. The Northern Tribes became scattered after the death of their monarch and in-fighting soon broke out between the Tribes across the Northern Plains over the empty role for Mother of Hjornheim.

The next few decades would see the Prince re-establish the Empire of the Sun while reclaiming most of its original territories, though several of the breakaway territories maintained their status as Free Cities. This period of peace lasted until the year 1330 of the Sun when the Northern Tribes accepted the Frozen Saint — then known as the Frost Saint — as the new Mother of Hjornheim. The Frost Saint led the Northern Tribes to capture Crescent City and launch another rebellion against the Empire of the Sun. The rallying call of the Frost Saint spurred the Empire's city of Kamisukawa into a bid to become Free. Later, the Spear and Shield of Oasis joined the resulting turmoil with their regiment of Sand Spears, forming the events known as the Frost Saint's Rebellion.

This decade-long rebellion resulted in the Prince personally leaving Crimson City and the infamous Massacre of Kamisukawa. After the Prince burned down Kamisukawa, he ordered the Eclipse to deliver the bodies of the Spear and Shield of Oasis to their father, the Lord of Sands. He then turned the Red Army to the Northern Plains and met the Northern Tribes in battle, culminating in a clash with the Frost Saint upon the peak of Hjornheim. The Northern Tribes eventually surrendered after the Prince imprisoned the Frost Saint within the Blue Rose, on the condition that no more lives were taken.

The Northern Tribes have yet to name a new Mother of Hjornheim. It is unclear if they can while the Frozen Saint remains imprisoned within the Blue Rose on Hjornheim's Peak, unresponsive but alive.

No city of the Empire has challenged the Empire's rule in the decades since the Frost Saint's Rebellion.