Hinode Empire

The Hinode Empire is a human feudal imperial state on the islands of Nantojima and Kitajima. It is ruled by the Sun Emperor of Inperi City, who is revered as a god among his people. Along with the capital, the Hinodese reside in numerous villages that dot its landscape. The greatest of these villages is Kage Mura. The north of Kitajima is also home to the ancient monks of Yama-Satori who dwell in the mountains. The current Sun Emperor is Emperor Hirata Narihiro.

The First Empire
In the ancient times known in Hinode, Dragonforge and Dwarfish History as the Primordial Era, the Hinodese people were divided in warring tribes. It is possible many of these were nomadic but it is certain that some at least built villages mainly in Kitajima. These tribal hinodese lived in constant fear of the strange creatures of darkness that haunted their islands. That is, until the first Emperor came to them. The son of a Kitajima warlord, Nomura Hikotsune grew tired of the unending battles between his clan and the surrounding clans when their true enemy was the monsters of the wild. He pleaded with is father, Nomura Iwakura, to end the fighting, but he would not listen to his son. And so Hikotsune traveled to another village in the hopes that they might listen to him. The clan that his father's clan had oft raided and threatened, Clan Masayoshi, answered his message of peace with agreement. Yet Hikotsune wished to unite all the clans, and no one clan would receive him while he affiliated with another. So he met with Hosono, a clanless woman who dwelt in a hut in the wild, giving healing to injured warriors of all clans. She accepted Hikotsune's message of peace and agreed to deliver it to all those who came to her for help.

It soon came that all the clans joined with Hikotsune except for the Nomura Clan. His father still resisted him, as the Nomura clan made the greatest of its wealth off of war. And so the Hinodese Alliance made one last war to end war, striking at and burning down the Nomura village.

After this, over many generations, Inperi City was built and the Hinodese began to tame the wild. The samurai orders were formed in service to the Emperor, an elite group of warriors who had mastered the arts of combat. Explorers from the isles ventured north and into the west, building some settlements there. This is when they encountered the Dragonborn and the Loktheiren, who became violent and warred with the Hinodese for a time. The superior steel of Hinode won out and conquered land as far as Skalmarr and Oakridge before the Valamari Empire even began, according to Hinodese records (although this is disputed by Loktheiren tradition).