okay, so, i've not really thought about this before, but apparently one can become Emperor by being simply acclaimed by … one's soldiers? the people in general? (i don't think the protesters in plaza central seven are meant to be military?)

and sure, the general expectation is that this'll work out, and that one has enough military prestige that one either actually becomes emperor (is there any body deciding if an emperor is 'official'? i don't think one is mentioned?) or is defeated by whoever currently holds power.

… but like, this feels weird? like it feels like the lead-up to a crisis-of-the-3rd-century style empire fragmentation once the yaotleklim realise they can just have themselves be acclaimed emperor and try to take power, and that's an accepted mode to become the legitimate ruler that's not seen as even slightly iffy; Nineteen Adze says it's not even illegal to try. Like does this state just periodically fragment itself when multiple emperors can't defeat each other?

on the other hand, they claim to have been a stable empire for multiple thousands of years, so ig they have some way of dealing with that without too much instability and a year of five (or more) emperors every hundred years or so …