"More recently, one of my ancestors managed to unite the world into a sane and stable empire with a functioning legal system. His name was Tezru Zierni Diakor." (Tezru: 'true, strong, right, just'.) "He reigned peacefully for a while; but when he died, the throne passed to his son, Far-seeing Arime, who immediately tried to have all his living relatives assassinated. This started a war, which my grandfather won: All-enduring Zierni Esarkan, so named because one of his soul's powers is self-resurrection, meaning he cannot be permanently killed. His own son, my father, Tekhesin Zierni Seofar, objected to spending his entire life an imperial prince with no hope of ever becoming emperor. Since he couldn't possibly have succeeded in an outright coup, he gathered up a lot of like-minded friends - including more than one powerful soulbearer - and took over one of the southern island provinces. That is where we currently are: Tairasante, capital of Atialemain, in what is now effectively my father's palace."