If the Empress isn’t the immortal, monolithic individual of canon, but merely the first or latest in a line of tyrants, wouldn’t the Sidereals have somewhat greater control over the Dynasty AND have wrested control of the Imperial Manse?
– Sunder The Gold
Why?
No, seriously, why?
Keep in mind that, as we are talking from the authorial stand point there is nothing we can’t change about canon to suit our whims. If a Dragonblooded was capable of fighting off Sidereal social magic and pressure enough to retain control of the weapon herself then there is no reason her heirs could not do the same thing.
And if this reduces the monolithic power of the Empress over the dynasty and makes her partnership with the Sidereals and their puppet the Immaculate Order that much more precarious… good. The dynamic of secular versus religious power, especially in a society that bases so much of its secular power on religious beliefs, is an interesting one to explore. It’s less interesting when one is clearly dominant. The canonical Empress didn’t need the Order. A Realm which does need it to not only hunt down Solars but as the key to the ground level social control required by all empires in history is a much more interesting place.
And this isn’t just speaking from a Dragonblooded perspective. A game about Sidereals is much more interesting when any assignment to the Blessed Isle is a massive political move, and games about Solars and Lunars become much more interesting when you can exploit the differences between dogma and law in your enemies.