The Twenty-Thousand year reign of the
Cruel Emperor Tzon Chon
"YouuuuuuUUUUU!" the deep and terrible voice blows from the great machine fueled tubes that echoed from the palace in the City of Perfect Celestial Order.
"YoouuuuuuUUUU!" the voice unmistakeably the voice of the Divine Imperial August Wisdom Mandated by Heaven Tzon Chon of the Eternal Red Dragon Empire.
"You...!" the deep voice hissed
"I have a question for you, you who conspire against me... You who think even if you have never spoke a word against me conspire against the Mandate of Heaven and perhaps vandalize my kingdom, disrupt my productivity schedules, somehow even if in your mind work a way to try to thwart my rule... I have a question...
"How great is your HATRED of ME!?"
"You may think you can do injury to my right rule. You may think I have not caught you. Perhaps you are right, my Mandarins in charge of Justice are very busy and a few of the lesser filth slither by even my best of servants of my Justice. I am forgiving to those whose every breath and act is to support me.
"But know this; I will know. If I do not know now I shall find out. I have much time and my servants are tireless and many. Go ahead, think you can sabotage my rule and defy the Mandate of Heaven... Have a nice life, a warm family, much rank and recognition...
"I will know. I will find out. I will suspect.
"One day, like any other harmonious day you will fall asleep.
"You will wake in the Ministry of Punishment with your bones bolted to a vivisection table. My agents will have come for you and your family in the night and anesthetized you. Then we will remove the sleep and inject drugs which magnify pain and those that keep the heart from stopping. You will wake when we put the scalpel in you, perhaps to cut across your chest, perhaps to remove the cornea from one of your eyes...!
"You will awake screaming to see your family including your children and servants also being slowly worked upon by my State Torturers. You will awake to your screams!
"And - you will be honored to an audience with me, your Emperor!
"You will see my eyes staring at you and you will know then you know nothing of Hatred!"
--Recordings from daily broadcasts during the Twenty Thousand year Reign of the Cruel Emperor Tzon Chon who came into absolute power approximately five thousand years after the first space flight. Cited from "Histories of the Far past by an anonymous monk of the Agnost Orthodox Church..."
I have up to this point talked about the mostly legendary "Dawn Age" of Mankind's long past times. I have discussed creation myths and historical supposed facts and have tried to keep them in appropriate eras. However all of this has been wiped out with the Reign of the Cruel Emperor and what has become agreed upon as the beginning of history from our perspective.
The Cruel Emperor Tzon Chon began his rule a mere five millenia give or take a few decades after Man's first known spaceflight. By then Mankind had sailed through the dark between the stars on ships and crossed the distances that make our nearness to Sol infinitesimal. Our world was becoming a backwater an 'ancestral homeland' already when Tzon seized power. The Empires of the East had been dominant and had naturally returned to their orderly dictatorship of Mandarins and officials. He did this in a mass-murder of his relatives and a particularly bloody coup amongst the bureaucrats in a move so perfect and bloody a city was literally flooded with blood that killed thousands more.
A tyrant seizing power is nothing new but the scope of the Cruel Emperor's wrath was beyond measure. He managed to control through fear and brutal tortuous execution and a network of spies and counter-spies to keep each individual alone and frightened even up to top Mandarin level. None could trust another enough to express any discontent much less plot a coup. He used the advancing technology of his time to make himself effectively immortal. Then came the final murder of the entire Imperial family and the purging of history and the conquest of the world. This was all done with brutal efficiency.
What followed was twenty millenia of pain and fear. His rule was absolute, his word law, his justice swift and without mercy. He would have no heirs for he would live forever and he would have no family for they would betray him. His society would simply obey him, the perfect Emperor who would hold the Mandate of Heaven forever. Those that opposed him were mere cancer that he would often assist his torturers in cutting out himself.
I shall not go into much great detail on the particulars and years of his reign. In the dim far past they talked about earlier tyrants sometimes saying "To know his atrocities would destroy you." All of these past despots were as children compared to the Cruel Emperor. To live in his realm was to live a life of utter fear from the humblest of peasant to the highest official. Life was regimented and decided by his complex bureaucracy and save slight variances such as by success in education or performance one had no say in how their lives would be lived, save the option of voluntary suicide by public booth though a few of those were reputed to lead to torture chambers for even ending one's life was in a way a betrayal of the Emperor's will. His crimes are cataloged in a matter that perhaps approaches a third in the "Codex of Jade and Blood" or the allegedly self penned "I hate my enemies - they shall scream!" book of Asian poetry. Both are restricted as reading them can cause insanity it is said and "Ill" advised on many levels to pursue.
Of note I shall say he made countless walls to protect his empire as did the Lord Mandarin Emperors of Far Cathay in the dim past of Man's pre-history. Those walls were made with their own people allegedly enslaved and when they died working they were cemented into the walls. That was unlikely given the technology of the times. It is undeniable - and an archaeological milestone if an official building in FarCathay was from before or after the times of the Cruel Emperor in that his buildings indeed were made of substances where the countless persons executed by him were incorporated. This is a material alchemists use and man has used en-masse during times of Technological waxing called "Poly-Mer". He simply converted the flesh of his endless victims into this and sealed them in a type of artificial resin which was mostly dyed Jade Green. The great defensive walls had crystal hard dark green rock while the paper on sliding doors was replaced by thin and flexible light jade green of this hellish substance. His workers of course did their best to twist the bodies and faces of his victims into expressions of horror and pain. Even after the end of his reign the material was used though rarely with any human remains if ever. Thus digging in some ancient ruin one can tell if it was after, during or before his reign by this substance.
All Empires are immortal in their own eyes and all fall.
His terrible reign lasted for at least Twenty-Thousand years. It is difficult to find any truthful record of its end and the particulars. This is even considering how monitored and recorded each and every day of each and every citizen his monitoring was and how these records have been kept in documents that do not wither with time written in the unflinching 'Asian Basic' as we call it, or the old devices that contain moving pictures and sound - of the daily lives and countless horrific deaths of his subjects. His death and the end of his empire is unknown.
On that note - if any who read this are of Adventuresome spirit and seek to plunge the Entropic Ruins those of his era are especially ancient, full of exotic treasure and utterly deadly! If you encounter the Jade-like reisen with slices of humans in horrific pain in a simple room with scrolls and ink seals (often carved from compressed infant bones) and see a 'projector' - a metalized and poly-mer like device the size of a loaf of bread - do NOT manipulate it. These usually show historical records of the day; Men and women marching in unison on day to day business, recordings of street activity - a window to this far past. The scenes will then cut so to speak to the horrific tortures and slow agonizing executions and prolonged mutilations and maiming.... I have had this experience myself.... I think it not some cruel trick; The era was so full of such suffering day to day images of children playing, men working, monks chanting, armies marching and horrific executions and tortures were part of the normal day. The 'poetry' I crudely translated was broadcast several times a day as were the screams of the days victims.
Oh, by the Increate, I have faltered in my penmanship and the Fuligan ink is smeared. I care not. I shall not erase. Let me warn you if any warning will do you do not wish to see infants blinded with acid and their parents forced to praise the emperor as he continues the atrocity at the slightest rumor of disloyalty... IF you encounter a "Device of Public record" from his era I urge you to wrap it up and bring it to some official who can appreciate it with this warning. I shall vouch for the "Agnost Church" being an ordained priest perhaps bias - we pay not too much but a tidy sum and give a blessing. Some people rich in coin but sick of mind do wish to see these and other who merely have much coin and foolish curiosity. We often consul the latter but fear the former. Again the Agnost church holds much of history to study by trained professionals like myself, we should be the caretakers even as I shudder to be given another "Box of Yellow Hell" and ordered to at least skim its horrific contents...
His death and the succession wars that replaced him seem gone from this history. Some argue there was an effort to erase his name as he had erased much of the history before him also. However there is no attempt recorded or uncovered to do so. In this age the problem is usually there is too much history save Mankind's Dawn Age and the difficulty is to sort it. There is nothing on his end or a century or so after. We have even tried to ask people of the Far East and they only respond "The monster was destroyed..." and give no details.
Unless my superior forces me to erase from the Algal parchment my Fulligin ink and re-write I shall also leave my unprofessional opinion on this sloppy page;
I do not think the Cruel Emperor was a sadist in the manner much of us define the term.
You are likely aware of the term from Ribald Tales of decadent Noblemen taking a young maid to a punishment room and ... I hope that happens be it silly or serious a thousand times versus real life but the Holy Agnost Church tries to get people not to read such rubbish.
Again I do not think Tzon Chon was a sadist. I think he came to power in very brutal times and history does back it up and merely killed those he saw as enemies first and never stopped. There is no indication he gained any personal pleasure from this but saw it a mechanical duty. He saw himself as the right Eternal Emperor of all humanity or at least all Earth though was biased towards the realm of Far Cathay of the distant past and did whatever was necessary to achieve some far off goal. He was full of hatred for those he assumed worked against his plan but to destroy them in agony was merely a chore of the endless burden a 'true' Emperor must bear.
There was no attempt to erase him from history for he had ruled as long as those in the late "Dawn age" recognized mankind's official history to be - Twenty Thousand years. There are legends that man's history goes back nearly a thousand thousand years before that, almost as far behind as the age I write in is ahead. Ancient empires destroyed by flood, wars of giants and divine beings ravaging the earth much like the end of the Age of Wizard-Lords that occurred long after the Age of the Cruel Emperor. Man would love to forget him but would only erase their own history and ensure the next one has no warning to hinder him.
Furthermore the Cruel Emperor left his mark on Humanity far deeper than any historical record and even across the world that suffered the least of his evil reign he is still known today many thousands of years after his time. He cut into mankind much as one of his State Torturers did with a scalpel and left indelible marks.
Of the most note is that even many thousands of years later the East and West are still different cultures though logically they should have merged so many times as to be unrecognizable from that dim age in the far past. There are occasional wars and periods of merging. Travelers go to distant lands and we have those from there come here. Sometimes they settle and live their final days among us as one of us. However the West is still West and East still East.
Another aspect is what he taught us by his negative example - to respect life and dignity and true justice. We have had tyrants and despots West and East since but most have been deposed. The Wizard Lords achieved far more power and did abuse theirs but not to a scope even approaching the Cruel Emperor though even attempting would be an unthinkable endeavor such as an immortal building one of his many walls with bricks by hand over tens of thousands of years. As a general rule those who fall to tyranny and cruelty usually get deposed much faster than those who show reasonable mercy.
"I claim safe passage" - an ancient saying from before the Dawn Age but it is a boon to many of those of Adventuresome spirit; In the Reign of the Cruel Emperor moving anywhere without permission was instant painful death though at least quick execution like slow hanging. Permission could be asked for and was usually denied. One would not be executed for a mere request, their butchers were busy all day and night, but if one made a few unusual requests and a negative rumor popped up the requests would ensure the death of the individual. Thus it became a point of just rule to respect the right of persons to move at will including those from different nations and different cultures. Unless there was good reason such as with evidence to assume banditry or espionage any could claim this and any ruler who denied it was marked a tyrant and had a much greater chance of being dethroned quickly. Most lords of any fiefdom or Provence usually respect the Right of Safe passage and have their officials talk to those from far away to prevent problems with culture and language from creating a disturbance. Powerful travelers get more scrutiny but it is often to be invited to the Lord's table to feast with him so they have a soft bond of loyalty with him and he can then set them to task chasing bandits for coin or otherwise providing services. Often maids and attractive peasant girls will chase the most heroic and can bond a hero to their fiefdom or Provence.
Those truly untrustworthy try to steal his silverware at the table and can be justly dealt with!
A final note is the horrific Isle of Uccastrog aka "The Isle of the Torturers"...
It is a mid size island somewhere in the Sea of Cathay where there should be no islands for the Black Oceans are terrible and deep. These islands are jagged peaks of rock with sharp edges sticking almost vertically out of the deep black ocean and many are just under the water only coming just above the surface with rare extremes of the Moon and tides. These destroy most ships venturing nearby who sometimes are unlucky enough to swim to shore or float on driftwood or the many 'safety rafts' the inhabitants 'generously' launch when they see a ship with their spyglasses.
This island is full of a special race of specialized "Torturers" that in his last Millenia the Cruel Emperor twisted the life-matrix of some of his Asian people into beings specially toned for torture as he was increasingly demanding more and more of mere human agents of pain and even after millenia finding atrocities they'd hesitate to commit. The Torturer race was too pure for this, their humanity removed save appearance and re-shaped to be perfect instruments of the Emepror's Justice. They were like Asians but slightly larger with in the males a slightly bunched and hunched chest that caused them to naturally lean forward. Their skins were pure yellow with very slanted eyes and fanged teeth. Their arms spindly and long with long and strong fingers ending in almost claws. Beyond their bodies their minds were stripped of any empathy and turned into analytical machines only capable of following orders and traditions with a passion and those were to be of course to re-commit the Emperor's countless atrocities.
The women tend to be more normal in appearance except that they have idealized beauty and often larger breasts and hips than normal Asian women. They also have natural makeup of pale white faces with blood red lips and natural black teeth that are fanged also. The women assist both in the tortures but also to give false hope to the captives, sometimes pretending to visit them secretly to massage them, heal their wounds perhaps even have sexual relations with them - anything to give them hope for a few days then as the final tortures are applied they greet them to laugh at them and leer at their despair.
He then left them on this Island as "Perfect Followers" and they merely waited for his sky-ships to drop off those he felt the need to express his justice upon but not waste his personal attention. It was assumed that any who arrived on the island without being the Emperor or one of his officials with an official edict and guards was sent there for a prolonged tortuous death.
These "Servants of the Divine Emperor Tson Chon" have never wavered in their devotion and even many thousands of years later they merely chuckle at shipwrecked victims who try to tell them that the "Cruel Emperor" is long dead - it is merely proof of their treason and why they were sent there. Like their emperor they seem mostly polite and courteous though perhaps some sadism is emerging without his hand. There are few survivors of that island so details about it are rare. The various empires of the East that came after have often tried to send their Navy there to purge the isle and its horrific inhabitants but the unique geography and perhaps some ancient magical machine has kept the isle hidden and every expedition has been lost. It seems to be quite easy for ships blown off course by sudden black clouded storms in the Cathay Seas to find however...
The only reason there are records is that some have escaped the island - including inhabitants! They live in harsh laws and when no ship-men paddle to shore to be greeted warmly then slowly murdered they can often turn on each other, finding an 'odd man out' who violated even the most mild of their endless laws. Thus sometimes a Torturer escapes what some would consider "Poetic Justice" though be it his or her fault to be born there? They usually will take a captive to hidden boats that many construct or salvage from wreckage and use their sailor skills to reach the mainland, guiding them through the sharp rocks. It can be a male torturer seeking escape lest he be the next victim during idle times or a female perhaps angry her brother was so killed. Sometimes they are bored with their lot in life and like those with the "Adventurer Spirit" do seek to escape their chosen role and risk all on the road to adventure.
Note that most of the Isle try to reach the Western lands. They would be put to death on the spot if they land in the East. Even in the West most visiting "Asians" will try to kill them or shout to officials they must be killed and why. Th
ey tend to be very intelligent and resourceful people who while trained in the arts of torture are rarely dangerous sadists or else why leave their Isle? Most of the Eastern lands are very tolerant of Western mistakes; Mispronouncing everything, assuming wild and fanciful behaviors and customs... But to say an Easterner is from that Isle they will often become enraged and attack even if they said nothing to one not taking off their boots entering their homes, eating with both hands, asking if women of the house could sexually service them... Do NOT do any of that in the last sentence - try to be respectful and polite and if they seem hesitant just ask them - they will teach you much if you are willing to learn and will reciprocate kindness and courtesy.
What follows this dark chapter:
The Second Age of Wandering Heroes
The Rise of the Wizard-Lords
From "Codex historiae antiquae"
--Written by MaxxFeral for Orange Sun / Far-Tomorrows TTRPG project - all rights reserved
