This is the history of the Scarlets and the state of the Realm in Kerisgame, where things are... significantly different from canon.
On the Scarlet and the Current Affairs of the Realm
The first Scarlet, the saviour of Creation, was a woman of incredible will and amazing capacities. The world may not see her like again for another Age or more. In burning fire she forged an empire from the ashes of a world ravaged by plague and fae. The Shogun of Shoguns was a torch to the shattered Gens of the Shogunate, bringing them under her wing as the first and mightiest Great Houses of the Realm. Her great failures, as she always saw it, was the failure to add the Scavenger Lands to her triumphs and the pernicious independence of the Gens of the South West, who withstood her fury. Despite that, as she became advanced in age she chose to hand over the throne and induct her successor to the Realm Defence Grid, knowing that no man lives forever. It was this act of blazing foresight which may ensure her name survives in glory, and upon her death the whole Realm mourned for a decade.
The second Scarlet, her chosen successor, was more moderate in her inclinations and more cold in her passions. She established the Peace of Thorns with the forces of the Confederation of Rivers, bringing an end to the Realm's great wars against the Scavenger Lands. Her eyes were instead turned to the ocean, and under her the Realm turned its eyes to the West, building up their naval forces. A sorceress and weather-worker, she directed the Immaculate Order and her favoured sorcerer-engineers to tame the storm gods around the Blessed Isles and subjugate the wild Air Elementals to their service. Under her guide, the Shogunate-era docs of An Mathane were salvaged and brought back into working operation, laying the foundations for the continued naval dominance of the Realm. She was like the lightning - sharp and blinding in her brilliance. Despite all this, she was more advanced in years than might have been liked when she took the throne, and she chose to abdicate early, to focus on her love of the Realm's fleet.
The third to wear the scarlet was the first male to take the throne. In contrast to his predecessor and much like the first Empress, he lead the Realm in an aggressive policy of expansion. Like the strangling kudzu vine he spread across the lands, choking all dissent with strategy and pragmatism alike. Though he maintained the naval dominance, he promoted the idea that any lands washed by the Inner Sea should be within the Realm's sphere of influence, if not outright controlled and the Legions saw power like never before. This led to a growth in tensions with the Scavenger Lands, even though the Emperor focussed instead on the fertile lands south of the Inner Sea. By the time of his retirement, he had crushed the post-Shogunate empires of the South West, leaving jungles to grow in the ruins of their once-proud cities.
His successor, the Fourth Scarlet Empress, was chosen as heir only after the first heir had become inconvenient. She was selected as a capable administrator and negotiator, to ensure that the lands conquered by the Emperor did not slip away - and the retired Emperor showed full intent of adding more lands in his old age. Calm and still as a mountain pond, it is said she rowed in private with her predecessor and that they nearly came to blows over his provocations of her hard-negotiated peaces. She chose to focus on building up the dominions on the Inner Sea and sought to bring the eldest satrapies into the metropolitan Realm - preferring to slowly wash away at the resolve of an enemy than risk everything in battle. A strong devotee of the Immaculate Faith, she led them to immerse other cultures in the proper ways and to drown once and for all the Hundred Gods Heresy and the wicked ways of the ancestor cultists.
Alas, tragedy has struck the Realm. Ten years ago, the Emperor-Dowager and the Empress-in-Waiting were slain defeating the Anathema barbarian known as the Bull of the North and his vile compatriots. This military disaster left but one alive who could activate the Realm Defence Grid and no heir in training, a state unheard of since the days of the first Scarlet. The dragonfires of the First Temple went out that day, and have not been relit. Ill omens and dark tidings have been seen in the stars. The Anathema return in numbers never seen before.
And five years ago, the Empress vanished. Princess Nemone, her mother's reserve candidate - in itself a mild breach of protocol - had not successfully activated the Realm Defence Grid and been accepted by the arcane mechanisms. The Council of Ministers and the Deliberative refuse to acknowledge her claim to be the Empress-in-Waiting. By Imperial law, they are right to do so. Nemone sits and stews but waits for now.
Now the Scarlet Throne is empty. Princess Nemone, the half-trained would-be Empress, reaches for power but fears to risk everything in the Imperial Manse. Her sister, Princess Vanefa, flits from backing her sister to throwing the support of her faction to block her - and the Imperial House is split between the two sisters. Tepet Ejava, twin sister of the deceased Empress-in-Waiting and a famed general, considers if she might attain what her sister successfully did. Hotheads say that Cathak Cainan, the Minister of War, exemplifies the virtue of the Dynasty and should be appointed ruler by general acclaim. Idealists suggest Ledaal Kes as the only man with the cunning to rule in this Time of Tumult, though he speaks out against his own candidacy. Some politicians in the Deliberative ask in whispers if they need a new Scarlet. Perhaps they should look to the Shogunate for inspiration and elevate the Daimyo of the Treasury to the first among equals, ruling as long as he can maintain the backing of the Chambers and pass a budget.
In the meantime, the Council of Ministers rules from day to day. They are backed by the political factions of the Upper and Lower Chambers who possess the power to authorise taxation of the Houses. The Imperial House claims that the Scarlet Legions should answer to it, but should Princess Nemone start issuing orders unsupported by the Chambers it is unclear if they would obey. The All-Seeing Eye interferes in the political games, even as the Shogun of the Interior denies any involvement. The magistrates loyal to the scrupulously neutral Grand Minister of Justice refuse to get involved, and any magistrate who violates those orders will face the sanction of their peers. And the Immaculate Order seeks to extend its influence, hinting at its backing for any Minister and any House who act in the 'proper manner'.
