Written by Aelyzabeth von Thors.
For five hundred million years, the House of Caesar–Thors reigned over the world — a dynasty of solemn majesty and merciful dominion. From the first dawn of civilization to the last flicker of imperial flame, their blood had been the axis upon which mankind revolved; their law, the pulse by which the world endured.
Yet in the fullness of ages, even the most radiant sun must set. Thus came the fall of the line — under the last emperor, Caesar Augustulus Caesar–Thors IX, whose throne trembled before the rising tide of rebellion and the treachery of his own nobles. Betrayal seeped through the marbled halls like poison through a dying vein, and the banners of the once–eternal Empire were torn asunder.
The world descended into a night of ten times ten million years — an era the sages later named The Great Age of Blood and Agony. Kingdoms perished like dust in a storm, and men forgot the grace of their forefathers.
But when all hope seemed buried beneath the ruin of aeons, there arose from distant blood a man — faint of kin yet fierce of spirit — Quintus Thorstulus Caesar I, who lifted the broken scepter of mankind once more. Upon the ancient soil where now stands the capital of Berlin, in the German Reich, he founded his dominion anew.
He was of fair skin, with dark curling hair and eyes of emerald fire — the mark of the sacred lineage. For thirty years he waged war unceasingly, drenched in the iron rain of his own making, until the world once again bowed before the banner of man. And though his empire was born of blood and tempered by pain, it shone as proof that the human spirit cannot perish — it only sleeps, awaiting a will strong enough to awaken it.
Yet fate, cruel as ever, planted within his triumph the seeds of ruin. For he begat more than a hundred sons and daughters, each bearing a shard of his might but none his unity. When the great Emperor passed into the realm beyond stars, his vast dominion was sundered into a hundred realms, each sovereign to itself, none loyal to the throne of all.
Thus ended the last age in which mankind was ruled beneath a single crown. Never again would the world be bound under one dynasty, nor the name of Caesar–Thors command all of Earth's dominion.
And I — Aelyzabth von Thors, descendant of the fading blood, offer my eternal mourning and reverence to those forebears who gave their lives, their hearts, and their dreams for the burden of humanity. May their memory be as stars unending, and their sacrifice the silent hymn that binds the ages.
Thus ends Chapter B-VII.