Timeline of the Celestial Empire (Xian)

The periods of the Celestial Empire is counted in Dynasties, from whence the Celestial Empire gets its name in each period as well. While the history is roughly counted in these Dynasties and one might refer to, for example, an ancient occurrence as happening 'during the reign of the Xi', more recent events or more specific events are counted using the lifetimes of various Emperors or Empresses. So one might say that something happened 'during the reign of Empress Han Yu-Liu VII', or even 'in the fifth year of the reign of Empress Han Yu-Liu VII' if one pays an exceeding amount of thought to careful dating of historical events.

Prehistory
Before the time of the Lin Dynasty, the realm of man was one of chaos and darkness. The Jade Emperor, in His eternal benevolence and wisdom, saw that it was wrong, and shaped the pillars of the Empire that was to come. The Jade Emperor and His divine army spent many thousand years hunting demons and other monsters, as well as teaching primitive man of wisdom and law. When the time finally came for man to rule the realm of man, the Jade Emperor, in His eternal benevolence and wisdom, granted the Divine Mandate of the Celestial Heavens to the Lin, while He Himself went to the Celestial Heavens to rule the Celestial Bureaucracy. It is with the crowning of the first Empress that history as humankind know it begin. From the Celestial Heavens came the idea of the Celestial Empire, and upon the earth the Celestial Bureaucracy was mirrored in a much more mortal, and much more imperfect bureaucracy.

Lin Dynasty (Year 0 to 317)
The Lin Dynasty is later to be known for providing the basic structure of the Empire as ruled by man. It was the Lin who first tamed the Lin Lake, and gave it is name, making large-scale agriculture possible. During the reign of the Lin, the heartlands of the Empire were secured, and its oldest fields and cities were established. The construction of the Imperial Seat, Lin-Shi, was begun by Emperor Lin Luo-Yu V in 69, and still stands today as a reminder of the glory and stability of the Lin. Due to the unfortunate decadence of the later Lin Dynasty, the twilight years of the Dynasty is marked by disasters and internal instability. The Lin Dynasty as a whole prior to the reign of the last Lin Emperor Guan-Cao is marked by benevolent and wise rule, and is largely lacking in aggressive warfare or internal instability. The Lin Emperors were known as the Wise Emperors, with the exception of Guan-Cao, who is known as the Wasteful Emperor.

Significant Years
Year 0 – Empress Lin Da-Xia I is proclaimed, the Wise Empress is known as a forceful and ambitious woman whose heart beats only for the people.

Year 0 – The province of Guan-Lin is acquired by the Empire.

Year 12 – The province of Shai-Lin is acquired by the Empire.

Year 23 – Emperor Lin Shai II is proclaimed, the beloved first son of the Emperor turns out to be an entirely unambitious but skilled man, continuing the course of civilizing begun by his father, but looks more inward.

Year 36 – Emperor Lin Cao-Wei III is proclaimed, his reign is marked by internal stability.

Year 47 – Empress Lin Hui-Wei IV is proclaimed, her reign is marked by great wealth.

Year 66 – Emperor Lin Luo-Yu V is proclaimed, his reign is marked by great wealth.

Year 68 – The province of Luo-Lin is acquired by the Empire.

Year 69 – Construction of the Imperial capital, Lin-Shi, begins. The construction of the Imperial capital never really ends, and is still ongoing today. It expands as slowly as the Celestial Empire itself, and is in many way a microcosm of all its factions and power struggles.

Year 78 – Emperor Lin Wu-Cao VI is proclaimed, the Wise Emperor creates the foundation for the legal system, penning the Code of Wu-Cao, which is still used in heavily modified form today.

Year 95 – Emperor Lin Lu-Wei VII is proclaimed, the Wise Emperor heavily expands the institution of the Imperial Guard, and sets forth new protocols of security at court. Until the end of the Lin Dynasty, the Lu-Wei Imperial Guard stop many assassination attempts at court.

Year 132 – Emperor Lin Lu-Bu VIII is proclaimed, his reign is unremarkable.

Year 173 – Empress Lin Huan IX is proclaimed, her reign begins a period of techological progress.

Year 202 – Emperor Lin Hozen X is proclaimed, his reign largely continues the trend of the Wise Empress Lin Huan IX, improving large-scale agrictulture and extraction of precious metals.

Year 220 – Empress Lin Huan XI is proclaimed, her reign is unremarkable.

Year 248 – Empress Lin Hui-Fei XII is proclaimed, her reign is unremarkable.

Year 262 – Emperor Lin Lu-Bu XIII is proclaimed, his reign is unremarkable.

Year 282 – Emperor Lin Lu Bu XIV is proclaimed, his reign is somewhat erratic and he is known as an eccentric man to his subjects. Nonetheless, he manages to keep together the Celestial Empire but leaves it much weaker and more fractured than every before to his son, Lin Guan-Cao.

Year 311 – Emperor Lin Guan-Cao XV is proclaimed, the Emperor spends more time hunting and dining than seeing to matters of court, and the Emperor as well as the court grows fat and decadent.

Year 313 – Lake Lin floods, killing many thousands.

Year 316 – Rebellion grips Lin, blamed on the decadence of the Lin court.

Year 316 – Lin loses the Divine Mandate

Year 316 – The Lu-Wei Imperial Guard lay down their arms, refusing to serve Guan-Cao.

Year 317 – The last Lin Emperor, Guan-Cao, is killed by an assassin empoisoner at court, finally ending the Lin Dynasty on a somber note.

First Interregnum (Year 317 to 327)
The first interregnum was a time of great strife and internal warfare. When Guan-Cao died, leaving behind a broken shell of the once mighty Lin Empire, the people lost faith in Imperial authority and for ten horrible yeas there was no such thing as a Divine Mandate. Out of this chaos, from the state of Luo in the modern Luo-Lin rose a great warlord and statesman known as Han-Wei, defeating the other two successor states Guan and Shai and re-taking Lin-Shi, he named himself the first Emperor of the Han Dynasty, the Benevolent Emperor Han Zu-Wei I, and once he managed to wrest order from chaos his descendents regained the favor of the Jade Emperor and thus the Divine Mandate.

Han Dynasty (Year 327 to 1222)
While no one will object to the fact that the Lin built the pillars of what was to become the mortal Celestial Empire, almost every subject of the Emperor will tell you that the Han were the Dynasty that truly made the culture of the Empire what it is. While the Han were founded by a warlord from the state of Luo, they spent much of their time and gave much of their influence to matters of court, philosophy, science, and culture. Indeed, some scholars are of the opinion that the 'pre-Han' period of culture is more properly understood as a culture unto itself, entirely different from the Imperial culture that is perhaps erronously named 'Lin culture' in the modern Empire. The Han Dynasty as a whole was marked by greater internal instability than the Lin Dynasty, but also with more efficient ways to handle this instability. The Han doubled the size of the Empire and broke the power of the neighboring Taijo people, who have since become loyal Imperial subjects. The Han Emperors were known as the Benevolent Emperors.

Significant Years
Year 327 – Emperor Han Zu-Wei I is proclaimed when he enters Lin-Shi after ten years of warfare against the Guan and the Shai. The Benevolent Emperor later managed to quell two large-scale rebellions started by cliques affiliated with former Shai officials, and completely break the power of the Shai in his later years. Han Zu-Wei I is the first Emperor to standardize the Imperial army, and though his system does not survive to the current day it has strongly influenced the standards of the later dynasties.

Year 349 – Empress Han Huan II is proclaimed, during her reign she is an active and brilliant general who manages to quell four large-scale rebellions started by cliques affiliated with former Guan officials. While the Shai had been entirely quelled during the reign of her father, Han Zu-Wei, the Guan were only finally put down for good under her leadership. During her reign, 'Art of War' is penned by a skilled general under her command by the name of Taizu, a book that became standard issue to all Imperial generals following the fact.

Year 392 – Empress Han Huan III is proclaimed, the Benevolent Empress had been taught the art of war since a young age from a clique of loyal and dependable generals who served under her mother. During the early years of her reign, the Benevolent Empress put down one final large-scale rebellion and finally solidified the rule of the Han. Some scholars put the date of wars end at year 398 when Empress Han Huan III broke the power of the last rebellious clique rather than in the year 327 when Emperor Han Zu-Wei I took Lin-Shi, since it is at this date that it could no longer be doubted that the Han had taken the throne for good. During her latter years she expanded the infrastructure of the heartlands and especially the damaged capital, Lin-Shi.

Year 402 – Empress Han Huan III regains the favor of the Jade-Emperor, and the Divine Mandate.

Year 424 – Emperor Han Xiao-Lu IV is proclaimed, his rule is one of great wealth and stability.

Year 463 – Emperor Han Lu-Bu V is proclaimed, he has always been a sickly child and dies very soon after his coronation, leaving the Empire in the hand of his younger brother, Cao-Pi.

Year 463 – Emperor Han Cao-Pi VI is proclamed, his rule is unremarkable.

Year 476 – Empress Han Liu-Yu VII is proclaimed, her rule is unremarkable.

Year 492 – Empress Han Liu-Tsu VIII is proclaimed, her rule is marked by a period of economical growth.

Year 532 – Emperor Han Liu-Xian IX is proclaimed. The young Benevolent Emperor quickly establishes his reputation for the dramatic when he orders a festival spanning two entire years following his coronation. His reign is marked by the spread and popularisation of new art forms such as theater, poetry, and new genres of music. Han Liu-Xian IX is known as the first of the 'Three Cultural Emperors'.

Year 575 – Emperor Han Lu-Bu X is proclaimed. The child of Liu-Xian shares his taste for the cultural, and during his reign the first large-scale constructions of centers of culture take place. It is during his rule that some of the oldest and most prestigious theaters, podiums, and other venues of the arts are built. After Han Lu-Bu X, the construction of cultural centres is increasingly seen as one of the duties of the Emperor, on par with the construction of infrastructure and the upholding of the law. Han Lu-Bu X is known as the second of the 'Three Cultural Emperors'.

Year 613 – Emperor Han Zhao-Wu XI is proclaimed. The Benevolent Emperor is far more melancholic than his father or his grandfather, and much more introverted. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, during his reign yet more new genres of music, literature, and plays are invented and codified. He is known as the third and last of the 'Three Cultural Emperors', the final Emperor of a remarkable era in the history of the Celestial Empire, where much of what is known as 'high culture' in the modern Empire was created within the span of less than a hundred years.

Year 662 – Emperor Han Wu-Fei XII is proclaimed, his reign is unremarkable.

Year 684 – Emperor Han Luo-Fei XIII is proclaimed, his reign is unremarkable.

Year 712 – Empress Han Liu-Wei XIV is proclaimed, her reign is unremakable.

Year 723 – Emperor Han Cao-Pi XV is proclaimed. The Benevolent Emperor is an ambitious man who wishes to see the Celestial Empire expand beyond the heartlands. He is the first Emperor to popularise the notion that the Celestial Empire owes it to the world that all of humanity should be ruled by a monarch with the Divine Mandate, a viewpoint that becomes very popular in all future dynasties save the Xin. During his reign, the first officially recorded