One year after descending to the Earth, Towering-Justice spoke to his scouts saying thus: "Because you have already beheld all the land within the four seas, from this day forward you will no longer serve me as scouts, but as messengers. Deliver to every country where the descendants of Lord Tengir live my proclamation: to the effect that every lord who is a scion of Tengir is to assemble here in the Central Meadows to contribute merit to the founding of the New Realm, to hear the veritable Law transmitted to me by my father, and receive appointments and enfeoffments. If anyone comes who cannot demonstrate that he is truly a descendant of Tengir, his name will be disgraced and he will be ousted from this place in shame." And the scouts, now messengers, did so. Within little time of this proclamation going out, several thousand men from all over the world descended upon the Central Meadows claiming to be true scions of Tengir, and their tents and the tents belonging to their relatives and retainers sprung up in a broad city surrounding the reed lodge of Towering-Justice.
Every man was required to state his genealogy candidly to ascertain which of Tengir's children he was the descendant of, but as the men did so, inconsistencies and contradictions arose that made their claims dubious. Since there was no way that all of them were truly as they said they were, Towering-Justice declared that all the claimants were to undergo an ordeal by boiling water to ascertain the truth. A large pot of sacred water was set up in a field next to the Axial Dendron and a roaring fire was lit beneath it. Every claimant was required to stake the truth of his words on the pot of boiling water by submerging his hand, and with the permission of the gods above, those who were true would naturally remain unharmed, but those who were liars would be scalded and, afterwards, driven out of the Central Meadows. As soon as news of the ordeal went out, a majority of the claimants packed up their tents and went home, until only about a thousand were left. These thousand were then conveyed to the large open meadow where the boiling water was, and one by one each man, after making his claim, was subjected to the ordeal. And sure enough, those men whose claims were true were unharmed when they put their hands into the boiling water, and were allowed to stay in the Meadows, but those who lied were scalded and driven out of the Meadows, along with those who were too cowardly to submerge their hands.
The very last man to undergo the ordeal claimed to be heir to the house of Leaf-on-the-Wind, but since nobody had heard that name before, he was thought to be a liar, and Towering-Justice was on the verge of having him thrown out of the precincts. But the man insisted and was prepared to undergo the ordeal. When he submerged his hand in the pot of boiling water, he was unharmed. This was to the amazement of everyone, but since the ordeal was infallible he was allowed to stay. The man did not have a surname, so he was given one on the spot by Towering-Justice, it was Dark-Leaf. At the end of the day, only about a hundred true claimants remained, and these men became known as the Scions of Tengir. All of them belonged to the first type of people, and the speech of any given man, while filled with quirks and subtle disparities, was similar enough to be understood by any of his fellows.
After the true Scions of Tengir had been ascertained, Towering-Justice made them undergo a series of trials devised to sort the true ones according to their skills and merits. There were tests of strength, speed, proficiency with various weapons, as well as tests of wisdom, literacy, language and poetic composition. The results of these tests, which the men were required to endure for six excruciating weeks, were then weighed against the excellency and magnitude of the divinities they were descended from, and from this reckoning Towering-Justice divided the Scions of Tengir into five ranks of nobility, creating each lord in his own ceremony conducted in a fragrant field in the shadows of the Axial Dendron and the fluttering green flags bearing the Emperor's Crest erected around it. Five ranks he decreed: King, Duke, Knight, Master and Baron. And he decreed that each rank, starting from the most optimal, was to contain more lords than the last according to this proportion: One-tenth of the lords were created Kings; Three-twentieths Dukes; One-fifth Knights; One-fourth Masters; and three-tenths Barons. After creating each lord, Towering-Justice then bestowed upon them a ceremonial dagger, a seal of authority and charter of enfoefment upon which was inscribed the name of the land that was to become their domain, basing his decision on the eminence of the lord's clan and the recent history of its residence and migration.
Towering-Justice also employed members of high-ranking clans as Ministers to head the Treasury and four Departments, of Public Works, of Justice, of Sacrifices and of War. The five Ministers also doubled as Councilors of State, who had full access to the Palace, held privy audience with the Emperor daily and managed the highest affairs of state. Besides them, there were five to ten others who held the office of Councilor of State singly. Eight ranks were established, each with a Senior and a Junior subrank, and everyone in service to the Court was assigned a rank. The Chancellor was the highest of these, at 1st Senior. The Councilors of State (including those who were Ministers) were at 1st Junior. Their deputies, the Generalissimo, the Grand Shaman and the Grand Magistrate were at 2nd Senior. And lower officers, including the lesser generals, shamans and judges held 2nd Junior, and dozens of lower offices were created to fulfill the various functions and missions of the court. Personnel for the top three ranks were sourced only from the Imperial House and clans holding the title of King, and from Duke or Knight on occasions of outstanding talent. Every titled lord was required to pledge a certain number of his own warriors and horses to the court proportionate to his title, which were placed under the control of the Ministry of War. The Ministry maintained barracks in and around the Capital. A Capital Guard and Palace Guard were also established parallel to the main army, whose officers usually held dual posts in the civil institutions. The Capital Guard was restricted to the 6th rank and above and the Palace Guard to the 4th. Since the titled lords had their own states to run and were not in the Capital at all seasons, they were assigned generic offices, for Kings this was Councilor; for Dukes, Secretary; for Knights, Controller; for Masters, Procurer; for Barons, Hearkener. Since Kings could come and go in the Palace as they pleased and were entitled to an audience with the Emperor at any time, when they were in the Capital their office was equivalent to a Councilor of State. Everyone else could only enter the Palace or have an audience at the Emperor's discretion.
That year the dynasty was inaugurated, the Emperor was crowned and the new Law was promulgated.
The ceremony of enthronement was held in the sacred meadow where the Axial Dendron was located. It began with a hallowed chant invoking Heaven and the names of the ancestors. Then youths clothed in nine-layered silk costumes fringed with streamers brought forward the regalia. First was brought the Emperor's crown, furnished by the famous goldsmith surnamed Far-Deep: it was of solid gold and inlaid with nine precious stones representing the Center, the Four Cardinal and Four Ordinal Directions. Next, there was the Blue Jade Tripod, specially commissioned and crafted by a man surnamed Wood, that was a fathom in diameter and required the combined strength of five youths to raise to the podium. Next, an enchanted bronze sword with a gilded grip and ruby-encrusted pommel was presented to the Emperor by the True-Pillar King, which he had forged himself using pieces of bronze taken from all the Scions of Tengir. The name of the sword was Loyalty. The last thing to be presented was the Sacred Mirror which had been retrieved from the Always-Flowing River earlier. With the sword in one hand and the mirror in the other, the Emperor, the crown on his head shining sun-tones, swore an oath to uphold the Law and extend it to all the corners of the Realm while offerings were loaded into the Tripod.
After each enfeoffed lord had finished building a residence in the Capital, he would typically split his year in half between his Capital residence and his residence in his domain. Every lord was required to be in the Capital during the two Great Sacrifices at the equinoxes, and the spring equinox also coincided with the annual All-Congress. Any lord who failed to attend one of these three events was liable to demotion and fines barring absences excused by sickness or mourning. Outside of their obligations to defer to the Emperor's will in all matters and uphold the Law of Tengir, every lord exercised absolute power over his domain and maintained his own army, staff and retainers. The lords did not pay any taxes to the Emperor since his domain was so perfect that it more than provided for every means and luxury befitting the dignity of his house, but at the Emperor's Birthday they were expected to send lavish gifts.
The women of the Palace were ranked accordingly. The Emperor's principal wife was the Empress, and the Law stipulated that she could only come from a clan holding the title of King, or from one attached to a clan holding that title. The Consorts could come from any titled clan or its attache, and they were ranked into First, Second, Third, etc. according to order of marriage. A foreign princess could also become a Consort. The Intimates could come from any untitled clan and could even be promoted to a Consort. Below the Intimates were various maids and ladies-in-waiting, any of whom had the chance of promotion to an Intimate or higher. Consorts and Intimates waited on the Emperor and Empress directly, while maids, ladies-in-waiting and nannies assisted the Consorts and Intimates. Any girl who was not promoted eventually married, and after marriage would often leave the palace, but some stayed on wearing a different costume.