Great Qian

Biodata

Territory

History

Founding and Unification

Great Qian emerged after Emperor Gan's campaigns against the Seven Kingdoms. The former royal houses met different ends: some surrendered and entered the new order as nobles or ministers, while others were exterminated or disappeared into hiding. Great Xiang's royal house was specifically marked for complete eradication. 5

The surrendered Xu royal house and its retainers were absorbed into Great Qian's order. Over centuries, descendants of the former Xu court established deep connections throughout the imperial bureaucracy, with the Changle Marquis remaining the sole surviving Xu royal bloodline known to the public. 16

Before unification, Great Qian was known as Yu. After the founding, the former name and the history preceding the dynasty were systematically erased from common knowledge. 87

In the second year of the New Calendar, Emperor Gan ordered the construction of empire-wide official roads. One million conscripted laborers cut through mountains, filled valleys, built bridges, and incorporated terrain qi into the road formations. 14

Erasure of Earlier History

The Book of Imperial Exegesis, written by the Grand Historian, recorded events following Great Qian's founding. Its original manuscript was locked in the palace after the Grand Historian's death in the 454th year of the New Calendar. 3

Records from before the dynasty—including the wars of the Eight Kingdoms and earlier eras—were erased by Emperor Gan through unknown means. References to those events may vanish or bring backlash when discussed openly. 18 199

An exception is the Indra Scripture, Emperor Gan's personal writing. Only the Emperor may interpret, bear, or preserve it. 198

Imperial Tomb Commandery

The Imperial Tomb was constructed to secure the golden veins of the Thirteen Provinces and establish an enduring order. It contained a vast replica of Great Qian's geography at a ten-to-one spatial ratio, with time flowing nearly seven times faster than outside. 50 99

Beneath the central burial mound, the landscapes of the former Seven Kingdoms encircled Emperor Gan's coffin in symbolic submission, alongside many relics seized during the wars of unification. 81

Emperor Gan later decreed Imperial Tomb Commandery abolished, lifted its sealing net, and permitted the Hundred Schools, officials, and commoners to enter and resume ordinary livelihoods. The territory was subsequently reorganized as Old Tomb Commandery. 99 101

Old Tomb Commandery was reorganized according to its altered terrain rather than restored to its former administrative arrangement. It was placed under a Commandery Governor and divided around the eight former tomb-guarding towns, which received Town Pacification Bureaus. 101 103

Taiyi Xuanpin Disaster

Taiyi Xuanpin was the first and only Outer God to descend upon Great Qian in a form powerful enough to devastate an entire province. Its manifestation in Bing Province created a catastrophe that killed seven Creation Realm experts and required Emperor Gan's personal intervention to erase. 232

Bing Province has remained desolate and sparsely populated for centuries afterward despite continued state resettlement of prisoners and laborers. Emperor Gan gradually withdrew from direct governance after the disaster, leaving routine court affairs to the Left and Right Chancellors. 232

Government and Administration

Imperial Authority

Emperor Gan is the empire's sovereign and the source of its political order. Although the Left and Right Chancellors govern in his absence, unrest has grown as the Emperor has remained out of public view. 1

The Left Chancellor is traditionally associated with the Confucian School, while the Right Chancellor originates from the Legalist School. Their joint administration of the realm has endured for more than three centuries 85, though Right Chancellor Gu Zhizhong recently announced his retirement 342.

Despite his seclusion, Emperor Gan retains decisive authority. His decree abolishing Imperial Tomb Commandery immediately overturned an institution maintained for thousands of years and compelled a realm-wide administrative reorganization. 99 100

Great Qian places exceptional weight on hierarchy. Officials with sufficient rank and official seals may bypass normal checkpoint procedures, though military emergencies can remove those exemptions. 50

Official Cultivation

The official school is Great Qian's most widespread and orthodox cultivation path. Recognition by the court grants officials extraordinary strength through the blessings of sages; even physically weak people may gain the power to split mountains and shatter stone. 32

Officials cultivate the Twelve Longevity Method, which borrows lifespan from Heaven. Their connection to this method also binds them to Great Qian's Heavenly Dao. 25 201

The state prohibits private circulation of gold and silver in part because lifespan-borrowing cultivators can use them to exploit Heavenly Dao contracts, potentially provoking the catastrophic Tribulation of Law Discord. 106

Ninth-Rank Official System

The court introduced a revised official evaluation system under which Great Qian's Heavenly Dao assesses officials according to thousands of established standards of conduct. 201

All offices throughout the empire have also been formally arranged into ranks from ninth to first. The initial Heavenly Dao assessment was intended as a baseline period for officials to adapt to the new system. 191

The top three grades bring promotion and noble titles; the middle grades pass; the lowest grades may lead to mandated self-reflection, removal from office, or investigation. 201

Officials' Towers are to be established in prefectures and counties, publicly displaying officials' names, backgrounds, and achievements. Decrees must also identify responsible officials. 202

Celestial Calculation

The central court maintains detailed records of each prefecture, commandery, and county's revenue, deficit, and expected circulation of resources. Fluctuations within these predetermined calculations may be tolerated as “human loss,” while unexplained surpluses can trigger official punishment as evidence of changes beyond court control. 37

Institutions and Forces

• Heaven Oversight Bureau — Reports directly to Emperor Gan and stands outside the ordinary hierarchy of the Three Excellencies and Nine Ministers. It oversees astronomy, calendars, stellar divination, and yin-yang rhythms. It also monitors shrines throughout the realm to indirectly supervise the circulation of Mystic Yellow aura. 104 136
• Imperial Academy — A core state foundation built to cultivate individuals capable of resisting Outer Gods. Located in the Ancient Heavenly Court Ruins and guarded through extraordinary secrecy, it contains rare resources such as Outer Heavenly Dao Marks and the Thunder Pool. 259 261 275
• Celestial Array — The empire-spanning formation that incorporates Great Qian's prefectures, earth veins, celestial phenomena, and human fortune. It preserves the realm's stability and obscures Great Qian's location from Outer Gods. 230 257
• Hundred Schools — A network of cultivation traditions active within court and society. Major schools include Confucianism, Mohism, Daoism, Legalism, and Militarism; smaller hidden schools include Yin-Yang, Diplomacy, Medicine, Agriculture, Miscellaneous, and Fiction. 32
• Black-Robed Envoys — Imperial envoys who took the captured Great Xiang leader Xiong Jin into custody. 9
• Imperial Guard — The Sacred Capital's armed force, capable of enforcing arrests against even major aristocratic clans under imperial authority. 193
• Blood Armored Guards — Guards associated with the Imperial Tomb's sealed grounds; they kneel before the authority of Emperor Gan's bloodline. The Mu Clan Blood Seal can compel their submission. 94 105
• Mohist School construction corps — Maintains major imperial works, including the Imperial Tomb. Mohist disciples rebuilt the ruined Langya Replica Commandery in just over thirty days. 82

Economy and Infrastructure

Currency Reform

Emperor Gan approved Gongshu Yuan's proposal to abolish the various currencies of the former states and establish the Yuan as Great Qian's sole circulating coinage. Gold, silver, pearls, and jade were delivered to the public treasury and stored in the inner palace. 3

The suppression of gold and silver also reduced cultivators' ability to use precious metals to evade or manipulate the consequences of Heaven-borrowed longevity. 106

Labor Service

Large-scale labor service has supported Great Qian's infrastructure and imperial projects since the dynasty's early years. The official-road project alone conscripted one million able-bodied workers. 14

Imperial Tomb Commandery also imposed labor service on its tomb-guarding population, though its officials argued that such service prevented unchecked overcrowding in a region free of famine, war, and natural disasters. 58

Political Situation

The empire's stability is strained by Emperor Gan's prolonged absence and lack of a publicly recognized heir. Remnants of the former kingdoms, especially Great Xiang, remain a source of rebellion and political unrest. 1 68

Although the Seven Kingdoms fell more than five centuries earlier, the Twelve Longevity Method allows some people who lived through those events to remain alive. Old loyalties and grievances therefore persist beyond ordinary historical memory. 68

The attacks on the Sacred Capital and the temporary severing of its communications intensified speculation about the Emperor's condition and the court's internal balance of power. 196 198

The Ninth-Rank Official System has intensified tension between the state, its officials, and the populace by placing officials' conduct under continual Heavenly Dao scrutiny while granting common people a formal role in their promotion or demotion. 201 202

The unresolved forged-document affair connected to the Kong Family exposed the vulnerability of the court's internal communications and triggered a broad but inconclusive investigation in Sacred Capital. 193 201

The retirement of Right Chancellor Gu Zhizhong has triggered intense competition among high court factions—such as Dong Chunqiu—for the vacant chancellorship, coinciding with lingering uncertainty over aging leadership 191 237 342.

Outer-Domain Defense

Great Qian regards the repair of its Heavenly Dao and the preservation of the Celestial Array as matters of survival. The court gathers Outer Heavenly Dao Marks from other worlds, seeking the rare marks that can merge with and mend Great Qian's incomplete Heavenly Dao. 232 256

The court has dispatched cultivators into other fragment worlds in search of methods to mend the heavens, though such expeditions carry immense casualties. 232

An earlier attempt to expand Great Qian by driving the entire realm through the Primordial Ancient Domain attracted Taiyi Xuanpin's attention and ultimately led to its descent. Since that disaster, territorial annexation beyond the realm has become a taboo subject. 257

Notable Imperial Decree

“Heaven and earth are boundless; Great Qian has no end. I hereby instruct all under heaven to look up toward the zenith of everlasting radiance and each remain in their proper place.”
— Emperor Gan's decree abolishing Imperial Tomb Commandery 99