Imperial Jade Seal

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The Imperial Jade Seal, also known as the Heirloom Seal of the Realm (Chinese: 傳國璽) is a Piece of Eden, a piece of ancient and technologically advanced equipment created by the Isu to control humankind as their slave workforce. The Imperial Seal was made of jade and granted its possessor the legitimacy to rule China.

Owners

• Isu (? – ?)
• Qin Shi Huang (221 – 210 BCE)
• Qin Er Shi (210 – 207 BCE)
• Ziying of Qin (October – December 207 BCE)
• Emperor Gaozu of Han (202 – 195 BCE)
• Successive Emperors
• Cao Pi (220 – 226 CE)
• Cao Huan (260 – 266)
• Emperor Wu of Jin (266 – 290)
• Successive Emperors
• Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (713 – 756)

History

Following Qin Shi Huang's successful campaign during the Warring States period conquering the other kingdoms surrounding the state of Qin, he united China under his sole rule and established the Qin dynasty. As one of his prizes of war, he claimed an invaluable piece of jade from the former state of Zhao and ordered that it serve as his Imperial seal; the words "Having received the Mandate from Heaven, may [the emperor] lead a long and prosperous life" (受命於天, 既壽永昌) were soon engraved upon the mineral.

Qin Shi Huang ruled China through the use of the Seal and with the help of the Order of the Ancients, but soon grew increasingly paranoid of threats against his life. During one of his eastern China tours in 210 BCE, Wei Yu assassinated him with a spear, and the Seal passed to his son. With Qin Ere Shi's own death a mere three years later, his successor Ziying would offer the Seal to Emperor Gaozu of Han, and established the tradition of Emperors conveying their divine right to rule to their heirs.

The Seal would go on to become a physical symbol of the power passed through consecutive dynasties and was regularly fought over, with every claimant self-declaring themselves as the legitimate ruler and establishing their own family line. By the end of the Han dynasty in the 3nd century, the abandoned Imperial Seal was found by General Sun Jian when his forces occupied the Han capital of Luoyang. He gave it to his warlord chief, beginning a rapid series of attacks and counter-attacks by warlords over the next few years for possession of it until the Seal reached Cao Pi of the state Cao Wei, who established the Wei dynasty in 220.

The Seal remained in Wei hands until the last Wei emperor Cao Huan was forced to abdicate to Emperor Wu, who would establish the Jin dynasty. From there, the Seal would be passed without issue all the way through to the Tang dynasty, but was lost sometime in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in the 10th century. Various theories have been proposed to explain its disappearance, ranging from the last Tang emperor Li Congke failing to pass it on before committing suicide, to the Seal being lost to the Mongol Empire when Genghis Khan claimed it as plunder and established the Yuan dynasty, but none have proven conclusive. By the time of the Ming dynasty, the original jade piece was definitively lost, and the following Emperors of the Qing dynasty obsessively created numerous personal seals in attempts to replace it and recapture the aura of power from ages past

Powers and capabilities

Designed to control humanity, the jade piece activated the neurotransmitters implanted in human minds to compel obedience to whomever wielded the gemstone, granting them the undisputed legal authority to rule China.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: The Imperial Jade Seal