DTNS Special Report: Bodii Kherlen in Bor-Öndör, Stephanie Williams in Tlālacuetztla
After years of subterfuge and veiled operations in multiple countries, the Xiomeran Empire has abruptly decided to rip the veil off. The revelation that Ebegei, self-proclaimed “Khatun of Taragai”, was a royal imposter should have derailed Xiomeran ambitions in the country. After all, it was support for her claim to the ancient Qoriqacha throne that gave Xiomera a plausible reason to be in Taragai in the first place.
But the revelation that Ebegei was no more a Qoriqacha than your average yak on the Taragaian steppes was has not forced Xiomera’s hand – at least, not in the way many expected. Unlike the Xiomeran playbook in places like Auria and Huenya, the Empire is no longer hiding its intent behind local “rebels” and mercenaries. Unlike that same playbook in places like Roucourt, the Empire is no longer bothering to claim that a local government has invited them there. Instead of retreating, the Xiomerans have decided they like Taragai. They have decided to stay. And if the Taragaian people, their government, or the world, don’t like it, the Xiomerans have made it clear they no longer care. They haven’t officially said so in direct words. But Imperial press releases no longer mention Ebegei, or her “Khanate of Taragai”. They do mention, suddenly, an “Imperal Colony of Taragai”.
After years of propping up the multitude of Imperial obfuscations and schemes abroad, the Imperial press is openly singing the siren song of Empire and colonization. Led by the Ministry of Information, which controls Xiomeran media, every single media outlet in the country is calling for its citizens to help build “a New Empire in a new land”. The government and private organizations are both organizing “settler expeditions” for Xiomeran citizens to move to Taragai and set up new settlements. Xiomeran corporations are fiercely fighting each other, salivating at the chance to exploit the potentially rich resources of western Taragai and expand the industrial base that feeds the Xiomeran economic machine and war machine alike. Those corporations are also organizing their own “economic missions” to set up shop in Taragai as quickly as possible.
And to protect the citizens and the corporations alike eager to move into Taragai, the Imperial military is gearing up to entrench itself even more firmly in the country. This time, Xiomera isn’t relying on mercenary outfits like CSSC. While the mercs are helping to provide security and build infrastructure, they are totally subordinate to the Imperial military this time. And just like the Xiomeran people and the corporations, the military appears all-in on staking the Empire’s claim in Taragai.
But why now? After so many years of hinging everything on plausible deniability, why is Calhualyana’s regime suddenly throwing caution to the wind? The answer lies as much in Xiomeran politics as it does in Xiomeran ambitions. One could be forgiven for asking what politics? Xiomera is, after all, a one-party state where the XCP theoretically rules in lockstep with the Empress and at her will, and everyone else falls in line. The reality is much more complex. In a country of over 83 million people, even leaders such as Calhualyana and her minions have to respect the prevailing winds among their populace.
Those winds have not been as favorable to Calhualyana and her regime, of late, as the XCP and the Palace of Flowers like to project to the world. Voices of unrest and displeasure with the regime have begun to emerge, despite the best efforts of the Ministry of Loyalty and Imperial Security to shut them down. As many nations have soured on the Xiomeran regime, so has the international trade that Xiomera once depended on to keep its mighty economic engine running. The effect of sanctions and trade re-directed to nations such as Eiria and Huenya by Imperial trading partners angered by Xiomeran actions have become too noticeable to hide. This has led to increasing calls from many for Xiomera to develop new resources and territories to offset the damage done to the economy. Xiomera’s powerful corporate leaders and everyday workers alike have formed a strange alliance making these calls.
Xiomera has also increasingly struggled to deal with one significant change from their civil war – the decision of as many as 30 million ethnic Xiomerans to abandon the newly independent Huenya and flee to Xiomera instead. The Imperial government has tried to offset this by moving many of those fleeing from Huenya to smaller cities and the countryside in a bid to spur development in those areas. But this has proven to only be moderately effective, leaving Xiomera seeking some kind of relief valve to siphon off those demographic pressures.
Coupled with economic worries, the less-than-impressive track record of Calhualyana’s regime at delivering on its promises to restore (and even surpass) Xiomera’s prestige and power pre-Huenyan independence have also become too noticeable to hide. The failure of Xiomeran plans in Auria and Huenya, and Xiomera’s still-diminished stature since the civil war, have caused the promises of a “New Empire” by the Palace of Flowers to ring more hollow with each passing year. The few minor victories Xiomera has achieved on the international stage, and the small conquests involved, have proven as satisfying to the Xiomeran people as a single chicken wing from Huenya Fried Chicken would be to a starving man.
One month from now, Xiomera will be “celebrating” six years that Calhualyana has been on the Obsidian Throne. The gifts for the celebration laid before the Xiomeran people are frankly looking a little sparse. And no one – especially Xiomerans – likes that kind of disappointment at a party.
So, that’s the why. To fend off that disappointment and keep herself on that throne, Calhualyana has decided to make a sudden lunge for glory. A grand new colony in Hesperida, its size and riches promising to make up for what the Empire lost in Huenya and then some. The foundation for the New Empire she promised Xiomerans. National and personal glory and enrichment, with a big dash of self-preservation and a tiny sprinkling of power-hunger. For such an uncommon leader as Calhualyana, it is a surprisingly common (and oft-repeated) tale.
Xiomera’s bid for Taragai is thus yet another remake of an imperial-colonial saga that has been bad every time someone tried it, but keeps popping up because tyrants always run short of ideas and also always think they’ll be the ones to succeed where everyone before them failed. But is Calhualyana the director behind this remake? Not by herself. There are three pivotal figures who, behind the scenes, are both supporting Calhualyana and pressuring her to make a move now. Their names are worth knowing.
Camanahuac – Director of the New Empire Program
Camanahuac, 45, hails from Huitzitaca and has been involved with Xiomeran politics since he was 21 years old. He gained a reputation as a masterful political strategist (and an equally masterful manipulator). He first gained the ear of the Empress when he worked with Prime Minister Toquihu as one of the principal architects behind the creation of the XCP and the Imperial Parliament. As a reward for that success, Calhualyana appointed him as the leader of the New Empire Program, her signature initiative to “restore the Empire to a position of greatness and power in the world”. Over the past six years, Camanahuac has often clashed with other advisors to Calhualyana and the more moderate segment of the XCP in the Imperial Parliament. He has openly and publicly chafed at the use of subterfuge and tactics such as deploying mercenaries. Camanahuac has often expressed his contempt for the international community, declaring that it was too disunited, self-interested and soft to interfere with Xiomeran ambitions. The phrase he has often repeated on Xiomeran talk shows and in government meetings alike is that “empires do not ask for permission.” Given the growing restlessness within the Xiomeran population at the slow pace of “restoring the Empire”, it appears that Camanahuac has gained a much stronger voice with the Empress.
Almahuatzan – Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on National Defense
Almahuatzan, a 43-year-old lawyer, is a Member of the Imperial Parliament from Texca. She is the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on National Defense, the powerful committee of the Imperial Parliament that oversees the Imperial military and defense matters. As one of the most powerful figures in the Imperial Parliament and the XCP, Almahuatzan has been even more outspoken than Camanahuac about what she sees as Xiomera’s destiny. “It is our heritage and birthright, gained from our ancestors, to grow and bring new lands into our civilization. It is our mandate, from the gods themselves, to ensure that the Empire extends to every corner of the world, bringing its light and its progress to all as the sun itself warms the land and brings new life,” Almahuatzan said in an interview with the Xiomeran state media service XIN in February 2026. “If we do not do so, the gods will see that we are weak and unworthy of their grace, and will abandon us to our well-deserved failure, decline and eventual disappearance from the planet.”
Like Camanahuac, Almahuatzan has been increasingly critical of the supposedly slow pace the Xiomeran regime has taken at “restoring” the Empire she sees as her peoples’ birthright and purpose for existence. She has led a relentless effort to silence or purge members of the Imperial Parliament, and the XCP overall, who she sees as insufficiently supportive of that mission. With her warhawk, expansionist faction gaining the upper hand in the Parliament, she is in a unique position to be able to challenge the Empress to take a stronger stand on expanding (without losing her head for it). And as the unrest of the Xiomeran populace at what many see as unfulfilled promises by the Empress grows, Almahuatzan has emerged as one of the most prominent voices in the government demanding the “New Empire” right now.
Xiyāōtl – husband to Empress Calhualyana and leader of the Imperial General Staff
As both the husband to the Empress and the top-ranking officer in Xiomera’s military, Xiyāōtl has emerged as a strong proponent of strengthening both the Empire and its military. He first gained recognition for spearheading the “New Empire Navy Program”, a plan aimed at making the Imperial Navy the strongest naval force in both Caxcana and the wider world. The plan called for doubling the size of the Imperial Navy and funding it at a level equal to that of the Aerospace Force and the Imperial Army. He later proposed the “Total Military 2030” program to greatly enlarge the Imperial military as a whole.
Xiyāōtl has also been a leading proponent of the “Future Force Program”, a Xiomeran effort to rapidly develop networked AI, drone systems, and unmanned air, ground and naval combat systems to supplement the Imperial military. The program is also rumored to include research into cybernetic and biological enhancements to boost Imperial military capabilities. While most of the program’s goals are years or even decades away from realization, Xiyāōtl has touted the program as “the future of warfare and defense, which will be led by the Empire.”
Xiyāōtl is easily the closest advisor and confidant the Empress has. If, as many suspect, he has fallen into the New Empire now camp, it is extremely likely that Calhualyana will be influenced by this.
Conclusion: With the pressure growing on her to deliver her promised New Empire, and top leaders and advisors around her putting the pressure on as well, Empress Calhualyana could end up making her first serious misstep – and potentially her last.
