“The Celestial sovereign has a great need of many satrapies, vassals, and governors, far more than his (admittedly extensive) bloodline could ever handle on its own. So far out of the province of familial bonds he has turned to the only other bond he seems to find reliable: that of violent bloodshed.”
-Payapop Pritram
>Every single warrior that comes to that gods-cursed ring thinks they have a chance at their drop of blood. The great tragedy is their inability to perceive that the long line of contenders has stretched not only over months, or years, but over many times the natural lifespans of wiser and saner men who have died old in their beds. What the Emperor wants to see in them, I don't dare to know. He will drink oceans of blood before he does.
