Many thousands of years ago, when the cosmos was still yet young, two great empires struggled for domination of humanity's cradle: Old Terra.

The first was an ancient and powerful, but autocratic civilization of great cities and monuments founded near the nexus of Earth and Heaven, and thus called by its contemporaries the Middle Kingdom. For a long time, this famous state remained without equal until the upstart Ghost People, a race of pale faced warriors led by a loose confederation of elected leaders, began a series of stunning conquests that not only made them fabulously wealthy but threatened the integrity of all other human societies, including that of the Middle Kingdom.

These two empires fought most bitterly, seeding such chaos and destruction that many barbarian peoples situated unfortunately between the two rivals were forced to flee to the stars, most never to be seen or heard from again. The warfare and desolation brought on by these foes became so rancorous even, that Heaven Itself grew furious over this disdainful division of the Earth and wished to punish the warring factions for their continual violations of the Laws of Nature.

Heaven chose, in Its fury, to raise the seas of Old Terra, flooding numerous cities and low-lying nations, drowning millions and displacing millions more. Soon, it became obvious to all that in order for the human race to survive, a great wall would have to be erected, a tremendously tall barrier made to bar the floods and push back the sea, but there remained a problem. Who could succeed in undertaking of such size and ambition?

The Ghost People were rich beyond all compare, but their leadership was divided and prone to corruption, and so they lacked the political will to begin such a project. The Middle Kingdom had the labourers and a resolute will but lacked the resources to finish without starving its people and leaving itself vulnerable to attack. So, after much deliberation and standing near the precipice of mutual annihilation, these two races joined as one to meet their common challenge.

Realizing that their disunity had so displeased the Heavenly order, the citizens of the Middle Kingdom and the Ghost People elected a new God Emperor, known to history as the Yellow Thearch or "Huangdi" on a platform of Twelve Syntheses: essential compromises between the races' two traditions that reflected the Way of Heaven and allowed it to be rendered onto the Earth.

Together, these two people became an unstoppable force, the strengths of the one each shielding the weaknesses of the other. When Emperors grew too tyrannical, the democratic spirit of their population reigned in their power. When the government became too corrupt, powerful Emperors excised the rot at the point of their sword. All learned to love and respect the Son of Heaven who ruled in harmony both with nature and His people, and soon ruler and ruled alike came to find respect and love in one another.

Seeing their great success in healing the once poisoned and infirm Old Terra, this new kingdom set its sights upon greater projects. First, it terraformed the formerly inhospitable rocks of its solar system into the Home Worlds, and then, after a brief period of disunity and conflict between these newly colonized planets, it reorganized itself under the martial valour of Emperor Qin Shi Huang into the Home Empire. Emperor Qin began the largest and still uncompleted endeavour: a Dyson sphere that would encompass the whole of the Home's system sun, collecting solar energy that will once day power our civilization for all eternity.

Later, during the reign of Cai Lun, the Home Empire undertook a massive investigation into shared human consciousness that would help expand our state far beyond just the Home system but into dozens of star systems beyond: the Haruspex. This device allowed our armies to predict the outcome of nearly any battle before it took place, and with it, our Legion was able to submit almost every outlying barbarian kingdom to our Heavenly dominion.

For a time, the Home Empire was threatened by a fierce and savage band known as the Cassian Order, but thankfully it collapsed many decades ago. Now, as our brave legions seek to colonize and integrate the remnants of that Order into our glorious Empire, we remain watchful and vigilant, never allowing the barbarians to rise to our level again and never descending backwards into the chaos and disunity that so offends the righteousness of Heaven.