Imperial Aura

The Imperial Aura, often shortened to 'the aura', or 'her aura', is the supernatural energy-field which surrounds the Empress Oseuda at all times and from which she either derives her Divine Right to Rule and/or which signifies the same.

Aura Display
While normally invisible, it is established fact that an Empress Oseuda is easily capable of causing her aura to manifest visually. In the very rare instances that this has happened, it has variably manifest as either a blinding white light or a scintillating curtain of every color. The shape and size of the aura seems variable, despite Court tradition (see below) which assigns a concrete value to its radius. It is believed that each individual Empress Oseuda manifests her aura differently, and that it changes throughout the course of her life.

Practical Observation
A large variety of practices within the Oseudan Courts revolve around the circumference of the Imperial Aura, and these practices have spawned countless turns of phrase and epithets.

Most commonly, the Imperial Aura is described within Court parlance as the distance of fifteen paces. Traditionally, when an Imperial Princess assumes the title of Empress, and at a public function each century thereafter, her tread is measured ritually and this distance impressed upon all who need know it. Furnishings at the Imperial Palace, most importantly the dais upon which rests the Opal Throne, are adjusted accordingly within one day of this ceremony.

Less commonly, though without diminished importance, is the distance of the gaze of the Empress. This is measured the day after the above in a ceremony called the 'tako no hi' or Day of Kites. A highly specialized, yet otherwise mundane, looking glass is presented to the Empress and she is escorted to the roof of the Imperial Palace. From there, a series of paper kites in a wide variety of colors is arrayed throughout the surrounding settlements. By training the spyglass at these kites and identifying the most distant one by color, the Dalam Lands - meaning 'lands within (the aura)' are prescribed for the proceeding century. As settlements and lands within the direct purview of the Imperial Aura, these are accorded both highest honors and highest taxes.