The Reluctant General

It's depressing. The Dowager is still around, but her princes and princesses are already sharpening their knives and marshalling their armies for the spoils that will follow with inevitable break-up of the Empire.

It's a little ironic that the Dowager herself witnessed the decline and destruction of an earlier one; the collapse made complete by the Japanese Occupation. Her demise will bring about another one in the 21st century. A sense of déjà vu.

Sibling against sibling, cousin vs. cousin. Neutrality is out of the question. Everyone has vested interests.