The First Empire of the Galaxy

210,000 characters. Complete.

Space Rome / younger partner / pseudo-incest / gene editing / artificial intelligence / Messiah and Apocalypse

After his younger brother dies, Xizer, a scientist of the Alliance, uses his brother's genes to create a new human named Gratian, said to have perfect genes, perfect looks, and perfect intelligence.

The new human's love for Xizer grows ever stronger. So does his ambition to seize the Alliance's highest office.

Gratian launches a revolution. After failing to take power, he is exiled, where he establishes the Galactic Empire.

Thus begins a war that lasts for years between the Alliance and the Empire. Xizer clashes with Gratian on the battlefield many times. After the Alliance falls, Gratian, now Emperor of the Empire, captures Xizer and imprisons him in the Empire. There, Xizer writes his memoirs.

The story is told from the perspectives of Xizer and Gratian's next generation, Theodosius and Ye Wanzhou, with excerpts from Xizer's memoirs interspersed throughout.

BL. Main couple: Gratian × Xizer (Emperor of the Empire × Alliance scientist)

Secondary couple: Theodosius × Ye Wanzhou (a prince who doesn't know he's a prince × a well-behaved top student)

"This name is to commemorate Gratian, to commemorate their love. 'Theodosius': that is the name of an emperor."

We have warships that can travel wherever the light of the stars can reach. We have new biotechnology that ensures every person born is perfect. The Galactic Empire conquered the universe and built the greatest civilization. But when we looked within ourselves, we found an enormous void.

Gratian often said that I was special to him. Of course I was: I was his elder brother and his creator. But how did he repay me?

He gave me a golden cage. Here, I have nothing, not even freedom, except to mutter to myself in my diary.

The early story is a coming-of-age campus romance and revolution. The middle is an interstellar war, a space opera. The later story is court politics: a tangled, highly dysfunctional mess.

Theme: "This name is to commemorate Gratian, to commemorate their love. 'Theodosius': that is the name of an emperor."