“In the impressionable youth of my reign, I was encouraged to believe in the precious nature of my imperial blood. The ‘divine claret’, as one fool of a courtier would repeat with tiresome regularity. Unfortunately, my divine claret refused to pour from one cup to another. Try as I might, with a lovely procession of young and ever dutiful wives, my noble seed simply would not sprout. Who, then, to choose as my worthy successor? With the candidates on hand either mediocre at best, or maniacal at worst, I found myself in quite the quandary. That’s when Fortune took me by the hand and led me to a forgotten tome on a forgotten shelf in the quietest corner of Sarn Library. A tome entitled, ‘Ancient Traditions of Azmerian Ascendancy’. The rest, one might say, is history.” - Emperor Izaro Phrecius