Emperor Heqai

Emperor Heqai (Sengwō Heqai; 11 November 758 - unknown), sometimes known in the ouside as Ernim of the Fire, was the 28th Crescent Emperor of the Citrang. Born on 11 November 758 as Prince Ernim, the day a great volcanic eruption destroyed most of the imperial capital of Shiqai, killing Emperor Dāňugzan, his wife, and his three children. A nephew of the Emperor, he became the most suited heir to the throne of the Crescent Empire. During his infancy, a council of noblemen from the capital ruled the country in regency, while the young prince grew up in the Celestial Gardens, an imperial residence in the north of the Sengor Province.

Heqai is mostly known outside the Citrang lands thanks to the book The Fireborn Emperor: Tales of the Tsitrang Kingdom and Its Rulers by the Vahay naturalist and explorer Egassio Corie, who became a close confidant to Heqai early in his reign. Heqai's most remarkable feat was the move of the capital of the Empire from the half-destroyed Shiqai to the promising port of Bagwa, which had been opened by Empress Trangsudaw fifty years earlier. After Corie's departure from the Empire, Heqai took a minor nobleman, Yuwo Mengdu, as his consort, and dedicated his reign to the expansion of the new imperial capital. Heqai's reign was also of importance as it was the first to be under the supervision of the Forty-Three of Bagwa, a group of forty-three noblemen from major clans of Sengor and other provinces that would become very influenial in the Capital in the following century.

Heqai ruled for nineteen years in a period which has been described as one of peace and properity. The Emperor went missing in 615, aged 36, during a trip to the Ri Imperial forests. Despite multiple efforts to find the Emperor, the imperial forces were unable to locate him. He was pronounced dead a month after his disappearance. Having left no heir behind, the Crescent Throne entered a succession crisis, with different factions of the Imperial Clan producing rival claimants in what would be known as the War of Jade and Ruby, which lasted for seven years until 622.

Early life
The Prince Ernim was born on 11 November 579, in the Celestial Gardens of Wezan, in the north of the Sengor Province. The Gardens were the preferred imperial residence of his parents, Prince Imperial Qameng and his consort, Lady Erye of Clan Awbwi. Ernim was born on the unfortunate day of the eruption of the Twin Shiqai volcanoes, which destroyed the capital city killing the Emperor, the Empress, Prince Qameng and many other members of the Imperial Family. As the direct heir to the throne, the newborn Ernim was declared the new Emperor by a council of nobles from different high-status clans of Sengor, which was to rule until the new Emperor came of age.

As the capital was now destroyed, the young Emperor was brought up in his native Wezan, surrounded by other children of Sengor nobility and Trangru monks of different denominations. In Winter of 589, Lady Erye died of a fever, leaving the Emperor and orphan at age 9. From then on, Qebai was educated and disciplined in different arts by the Bwequnyel monks, and through the Boyi and Nujj servants of the Gardens, he learned to speak the languages of the West.

In 594, a year before he reached the majority of age, Ernim moved to Rimeng to learn the ways of the Imperial Court and prepare for his accession to the Crescent Throne. There, he met the Vahay explorer, merchant and naturalist Egassio Corie, one of the few early Vahay sailors to reach the Citrang realms. Corie presented hiself as an emissary of the Sea Lord of Tharabor's court, and soon the young Emperor and the explorer developed a mutual fascination. The Emperor spent many hours of the day in meetings with Corie, in which the Monarch reportedly asked questions of the world outside the Crescent Empire, beyond the Nujj lands and the Smokey Sea. Corie, for his part, was interested in the life of the ancient emperors of Ath.

Early reign
On his 16th nameday, the Emperor was declared fit to rule and was given authority by the Council of Nobles. Ernim chose the reigning name of Heqai, meaning "Earth's fire", referencing the eruption of the twin volcanoes that destroyed Shiqai the day he was born. The name had been suggested by Corie, who had a certain fixation with the Shiqai eruptions. Initially, the nobles were reluctant to hand over complete power to the young Emperor, and attempted to persuade him to name several of them to important ministerial offices. Instead, the Emperor named many of his former monk instructors to important offices in the city, and named the Vahay Corie as his most trusted advisor, going as far as to have him in several imperial meetings and ceremonies.

The most pressing issue concerning the Emperor in his early reign was the need for a capital city; the Empire had been governed from the small holdfast of Rimeng, under the jurisdiction of the Clan of Buyaimeng. Realizing the importance of the Capital City as the seat of the Imperial Power, Heqai decided he would move the capital, and following Corie's advise, the Emperor chose Bagwa, a young port city to the west of Rimeng, as the new seat for the Imperial court.

Bagwa had been founded fifty years prior by Empress Trangsudaw, and it had been one of her favorite places in the Empire. The young city had grown exponentially over time as it was one of the two major international ports in the Empire alongside Awngnui. Protected by the Cingyel Coastal Mountain Rage to the North, facing the Smokey Sea to the west, and blessed by deep natural ports, Bagwa was also remarkably close to the first capital of the Empire and home to Emperor Ni's Ath Imperial palace, Sennui.

The Summer Palace built by Trangsudaw to enjoy during her reign was turned into the new Imperial Palace, and expanded to accomodate the needs of the entire court. Many nobles and clans were forced to relocate to Bagwa and leave Rimeng in order to maintain their influence and status, making the new capital grow even further. It is estimated the population of the city grew from 20 thousand to 70 thousand inhabitants during Heqai's reign.

Advances in foreign diplomacy
There are accounts of several nations of the Orient and Occident that received diplomats and officials from the Empire during Qaizi's reign. The Emperor was especially interested in contacting the states to the West, the Nahiir Kingdoms and the Vahay cities. Heqai invested in trade with the Nahiiris, following the precedent set by his grandmother Empress Trangsudaw, and with the Vahays, whom Heqai saw as trustworthy and resourceful.

In 612, the Emperor left his ministers in charge of the matters of state and went himself on an official state visit to Yaghari, the capital of the Atalik Zatay kingdom, becoming the first Crescent Emperor to ever leave the Empire while still reigning -and the last up until the Age of Bronze. The Zatay were so moved by the visit, it is said, that they held celebrations spanning an entire month and renamed a city after the Emperor, the city of Taramazan, which was renamed as Khekayaghar (renamed again in 782 as Ozaratan).

Titles

 * 11 November 579 - 11 November 595: His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Ernim of Ath.
 * 11 November 595 - 24 June 615: His Imperial Majesty The 28th Crescent Emperor, Heqai.