Kao Dynasty

The Kao Dynasty (meaning "the High Dynasty") was a dynasty of the empire of Shou Lung that lasted from Shou Year 1025 (−225 DR) to Shou Year 2050 (800 DR). "Kao Dynasty" was also a byword for this period of Shou Lung's history.

History
In Shou Year 1025 (−225 DR), Wo Mai, a noble who claimed descent from the first emperor Nung Fu himself, retrieved the Emblems of Imperial Authority from the crypts under the Imperial City. He rallied the armies and nobles to his cause and put down rebellions in the outer provinces of Shou Lung. Wo Mai was coronated as the first Emperor Chin of the Kao Dynasty, thus ending the Black Cycle of Years.

Wo Mai, now called Chin Hu, opted to expunge various records of the past dynasty, as was a dynastic founder's prerogative. Chin Hu was quoted by scribes as saying "All knowledge must come from my rule, as all streams come from the mountain fastness."

In Shou Year 1072 (−178 DR), the second Emperor Chin of the Kao Dynasty was crowned and decreed the Spreading of Knowledge, also called the Opening of Wa. This demanded that the people of Wa be pacified and instilled with Shou customs. Wa's war-torn and fractious daimyos acquiesced.

Following the Invasion of the Horse Barbarians, the fifth Emperor Chin of the Kao Dynasty and an army mostly recruited from T'u Lung routed them in the Battle of the Silver Grasslands in Shou Year 1330 (80 DR).

After Shou forces were driven from Wa two years before, and facing defeat there, the twelfth Emperor Chin of the Kao Dynasty instead decreed The Unleashing of Shackles in Shou Year 1503 (253 DR), formally recognizing Wa as an independent state. The remnants of the Regiment of the Grey Blossom were withdrawn. In the Imperial City, monuments were erected depicting the emperor as a wonderful and wise emancipator of noble foreign peoples.

In Shou Year 1761 (511 DR), the sixteenth Emperor Chin of the Kao Dynasty decreed The Revealing of Scrolls, which encouraged intellectual discussion and the founding of many rival schools. This triggered a golden age for astronomy, alchemy, and geomancy. Meanwhile, missionary priests of the Path of Enlightenment were sent out to far-flung lands such as Kozakura to establish shrines.

In Shou Year 2050 (800 DR), the last Emperor Chin of the Kao Dynasty and his family died in a fire that razed the then Imperial City. This was the end of Kao Dynasty. Ton Bor, the emperor's third cousin, was named the first Emperor Chin of a new dynasty, known as the La Dynasty.

Influence
The Kao Dynasty exerted Shou cultural and military influence into the eastern borders of the Hordelands and the nations of southeast Faerûn.

The Kao treated all nations under their influence as vassal states. If these states paid their tribute and obeyed all laws of the Shou, then the Kao left them to their own will.

However, the cultural influence of the Shou had a more profound effect upon the tribes of the Endless Wastes, resulting in strong "eastern" trends in weaponry, language, and magic.

Notable Members

 * Emperors:
 * Wo Mai, the first emperor and founder of the Kao Dynasty


 * Advisors:
 * Wei Tsao Te, a Court Historian of the Kao Dynasty.