The Shi take it as a matter of course that the Mikado-Shi has never changed, never aged, and is eternal. It is the Emperor of Us All, the god-like ruler who the Shi venerate and honor with their meaningful lives.
When the Eldar were in power and establishing their dominion, they either drove the other creatures born from the Forest of Twilight’s life away into hiding or enslaved them. Those they enslaved they began to change and reform to make them more useful to their purposes. At that time a young gold dragon, devastated by the enslavement of its brethren and friends, resolved to rid the world of the Eldar. Taking refuge in a cave on a peninsula to the south with as many of the other creatures it could persuade to flee with it, Mikado-Shi started the long process of creating a resilient force. It used many techniques stolen from the Eldar for this process, including the voluntary warping of the humans and halflings who had fled with it.
Thus the Shi, or the Essil (which means chosen peoples in their own language), came to become a culture of indomitable reverence. They are highly ritualistic and believe in the eventual ascendance of the Essil way of life over that of the barbaric Eldarspawn. Over time, they have come to forget many of their own origins, including the true identity of their emperor, but still cling to their purpose of eradicating the Eldar taint from their world. They are more concerned with the good of the people and the country and have learned from birth that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.
The Mikado-Shi itself propitiates this belief to keep its lifestyle intact, as it wants only to live in luxury as it has done for centuries. It selects servants from the island to come to Rokudai permanently to serve it in whatever capacity it wants. High-ranking members of the Crane Clan are the only mortals allowed to enter and leave the walled city.
Whenever a creature that can understand a language sleeps or enters a state of trance or reverie within 10 miles of Rokudai, the Mikado-Shi can establish telepathic contact with that creature and converse with it in its dreams. The creature remembers the conversation upon waking. The Mikado-Shi tries to determine the purpose of the creature’s presence so close to it, and convince it to depart upon awakening. However, if it learns of the creature’s involvement with the three exiled clans (Spider, Cobra, or Scorpion), it will send the creature and all nearby creatures into a deep slumber, then send Badger guards to bring them to the walled city. It will make them guests of the walled city, that can’t leave or use magic or weapons, and will interrogate them politely (without revealing its true form) until it discovers everything about them it needs to, including any possible plots by the Kän. It will then use modify memory to erase their memories of the walled city, and have them deposited on the mainland with all their items and a significant item of worth for each, with a note telling them not to come back to the Land of Silk.
Shadows of Dakaron 