In the fifty-sixth year of the Era of Vast Virtue

His Royal Majesty Gyousou Saku, by the Grace of Tentei King of Tai, remains bound within his spelled sleep as he has since his discovery fifty years before. To maintain what small semblance of order there is to be had within this kingdom, we yet continue to bide under the co-leadership of His Eminence the Tai Taiho, and her Grace, the Royal Consort. The Tai kirin lacks the fortitude to attend to the harsher affairs of State and affairs continue to be harsh indeed thus necessitating the continued guidance and management of the Royal Consort.

This Kingdom of Tai, deprived of the leadership of his most gracious majesty walks upon the knife-edge of civil war. Out of the destruction wrought upon this kingdom by the usurper, former General Asen, has come a shaky situation. In place of the rule of the king, a court led by the co-leadership of kirin and consort has arisen. The Royal Consort is appointed by the Taiho what authority is judged necessary to continue to stabilize the throne though she cannot, of course, rule outright in place of the king. Her authority to act is limited and she cannot assume certain imperial prerogatives, such as the right to appoint new officials or fire ones that are corrupt or less than useful. Thus the imperial court remains riddled with corrupt officials, though Her Grace has managed to isolate those officials over time and put them to tasks that will not harm the daily running of the kingdom. His Eminence, the Taiho, of course is against her suggestion of dropping them all down the side of the mountain. Her Grace notes (of her solution to the problem) that it is fortunate there are so very many situations in Tai that require a great delay rather than an immediate action, as it gives her leave to appoint those corrupt and useless officials to as many committees as will keep them from doing real harm. "Committees are indispensable when you don't actually want anything done," she has been known to say in private.

The Provinces under Golden Rule, as taken from their previous shuukou by the Royal Consort in the seventh year of the current era, are stable and continue to prosper. The Ministry of Winter reports that in every aspect of living, from economy to employment, the people gather all of the blessings of stability and prosperity that the Taiho and Royal Consort are able to provide. The Northern Provinces, under the rule of the rebellious shuukou appointed by the usurper, continue to exceed their mandated allotments of Provincial Troops. The shuukou continue to augment their increases in troop size by selling the gems produced by the mines overseas and since the army cannot be taxed they elude paying as much as thirteen percent of the tax revenue owed the crown. Her Grace has had some success in limiting the size of the troop movements by cutting off all official gem trade to the other kingdoms and relying on the other marketable goods to augment the needed income of Tai.

Trade in some of the newer products Her Grace has found or created new foreign markets for has encouraged a growth in production and industry in the southern Provinces. Tai's main has traditionally been gems but difficulties with the gem-springs persist even to this day, necessitating the exploration and cultivation of other options... options which has led to an increase in jobs due to the need for skilled labor for increased production. Those products have sold better than the Ministry of Winter had at first predicted they would. Water-silk and sap-glass, cheaper to produce than their guild-run counterparts, support a growing southern population and economy. The Ministry of Earth continues to express concern over the population-shift from the north to the job-markets and better economy available in the southern provinces under Golden Rule. To which her Grace replies that she is interested in a stable realm and not desirous that the citizens of Tai should be caught in the crossfire should those northern shuukou decide that make good on their threats and march their armies upon the capitol.

While the economies of the south improve, the Youma are still a problem and are being dealt with by bands of licensed youma slaying companies as well as the thinly-spread provincial armies. The solution His Eminence the Tai Taiho proposed for the slaying of Youma in the Twelfth Year of the current era still seems to be holding fast, for the Youma population is down, but while His majesty remains unable to assume the throne due to his current condition, the problem will never truly be able to solve itself. The Northern shuukou continue to be a pernicious threat to Her Grace's health as this chronicaler is certain that the last three assassination attempts made in this year alone were initiated on the orders of at least one of those shuukou. Her Grace is all that stands between the power-hungry lords of the north and their desire to turn the soft-hearted Taiho into their puppet to rule the kingdom through while Tai's king remains trapped in bound sleep.

Though this realm is, for the time being, stable, His Majesty is greatly missed, and not only for the fact that his presence is sure to bring about an end to this interminable series of proxy-wars waged via economic and political maneuvering. His Majesty's strength and compassion, his unwavering dedication to the health and prosperity of this kingdom, all of these are remembered by those officials who managed to last out the horrible reign of terror that general Asen performed upon the land before he was ousted by an armed confederacy of the armies of Kei En (and the remainder of Tai's forces) led by the royal Consort on the Taiho's orders in the seventh year of the Era of Vast Virtue. It is in every prayer being said by ever citizen of tai from highest to lowerst this New Year that His majesty may soon wake and restore Tai to it's full and rightful glory under the eyes of Heaven.

Chronicler of Tai.