"You must conquer or submit; you must triumph or be disgraced; you must be the hammer or the anvil." —History of the Fourth Empire, Chapter 24, Section 1.
Late May, 20 BBY, Dawn City, capital of Dawn Star Planet.
An incomparably grand ceremony unfolded here—Dawn Star Planet, which had already become the largest military and political faction within the Confederacy of Independent Systems, formally took that final step upward.
Tang Xiao, Governor of Dawn Star Planet, announced that he was assuming the title of Grand Duke of Dawn, formally placing the more than 1,700 star systems within Dawn Star Planet's sphere of influence under his rule!
Before this, the title Governor of Dawn Star Planet had, like the Queen of Naboo, the Queen of Zyggeria, and the King of Toydaria, merely been a planetary-level title. After all, whenever they were mentioned, the word "planet" was placed before their titles.
Therefore, although Dawn Star Planet's actual sphere of influence had already become vast, Tang Xiao, as Governor of Dawn Star Planet, was nominally only on equal footing with those other planets.
In terms of formal standing, it truly no longer matched his current status. After all, when meetings were held on Raxus Prime, the capital of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, did the likes of the Queen of Zyggeria or the Grand Duke of Geonosis dare so much as let out a peep in front of Tang Xiao?
And during those meetings, although Tang Xiao sat in the front row alongside Trade Federation Governor Nute Gunray, InterGalactic Banking Clan Co-Chairman San Hill, and Corporate Alliance Chairman Passel Argente, these leaders of galaxy-spanning mega-corporations only dared sit on the edge of their seats. They absolutely did not dare show Tang Xiao the slightest disrespect.
Tang Xiao had long become an authority within