Emperor Xian (centre) as represented in the base campaign in the 190 CE start date.
Emperor Xian of Han, personal name Liu Xie, is the last emperor of the Han Dynasty in China. At the age of eight, Emperor Xian was manipulated by the warlord Dong Zhuo. As a child, Xian has no meaningful power to control the Empire.
In-game, Emperor Xian is represented by two distinct entities;
The first is the Child Emperor, who at the beginning of the game resides in Chang'an. Any character claiming the Child Emperor for themselves becomes Prime Minister of the Han, able to annex cities owned by the Han faction. The Child Emperor is only represented as an icon, not as a distinct character and is not deployable as a general, instead only residing in the capital city. Should the capital city be moved, the Emperor will move with it to its new location, the Emperor can also escape the grasp of a warlord if 1. Another warlord reaches a rank equivalent to/surpasses the player's rank in which the Emperor will flee to them or 2. The player/another warlord catches the capital city of which the Emperor resides in.
In Total War: Three Kingdoms - Fates Divided[]
Emperor Xian in the Fates Divided DLC.
Emperor Xian becomes represented as a new distinct entity following the Fates Divided DLC release in which the character, now 19 years of age is represented with a distinct new portrait. The new faction mechanic called "Imperial Intrigue" represents how the Emperor views a faction and its actions with high intrigue bringing acceptable benefits and public order bonuses while low intrigue reduces public order and increases corruption, this is known as "Imperial Favour". Intrigue is influenced by a factions actions, acts of treachery or looting and razing settlements may lower favour, intrigue does not come into use until Emperor Xian comes of age in 197 CE, as a result the mechanic is unusable in the base campaign and both the Mandate of Heaven and A World Betrayed DLCs as their start dates begin in the years 190, 182 and 194 respectively. The Warlord controlling the Emperor when he comes of age is known as the Emperor's "Imperial Protectorate", once the Emperor comes of age in 197 CE control of the Emperor brings other benefits through the intrigue system which is unlocked when he comes of age in 197 CE. Warlords can lower the favour of other factions at the cost of -10 imperial favour, declare a faction as an enemy of the Han and issue "Imperial Decrees" via the diplomacy system in which a Warlord can coerce a faction to agree to certain deals.
Emperor Xian as he appears if he is restored to the throne.
As part of the Fates Divided DLC release, a new mechanic now allows the player to restore the Han through the restoration mechanic, in this mechanic if the player controls Emperor Xian and is the first Warlord to reach the rank of King, they will be given the option to either claim the throne for themselves and form their own dynasty or alternatively they may restore Emperor Xian to the throne which will effectively make Emperor Xian their new faction leader. This mechanic will only function if the player controls Emperor Xian and is the first to obtain the rank of King, should another Warlord proclaim themselves Emperor before the player, the option will not pop up and the player will simply proclaim themselves Emperor upon reaching the rank of King. Like Liu Hong, Liu Xie is non-deployable unlike his generic version in which he could originally be deployed, if the player restores Emperor Xian then Xian will replace the players current faction leader with their faction being renamed to the Han Empire and their flag being adjusted to the Han's flag.
Trivia[]
- Xian is the posthumous name for the Emperor. The personal name of the Emperor is Liu Xie.
See also[]
- Emperor Shao, Liu Xie's half-brother, previous Emperor.