Heavenly Mandate

Imperial propaganda explains that only those who have the Heavenly Mandate may sit on the Imperial Throne and live. Those who do not have the Mandate will be incinerated by the Celestial Dragon as false claimants.

Bai Meizhen suggests that instead, "the clan holding the imperial seat is chosen by who can hold it, and nothing else." This is so because the Sage Emperor, the first emperor and forger of the throne, was very free with his seed and almost every noble family is descended from him at this point. In the case of the Mu, the current holders of the throne at the time of Forge of Destiny, Bai Meizhen points to "their control of the supply of spirit stones through the great mines in Mount Tai" as the reason for their hold on the throne.

In practice, the field of legitimate claimants is not as large as suggested because the throne will check just how closely descended one is from the Sage Emperor, and a few drops of the Sage Emperor's blood will not save the claimant from being incinerated. As such, a lot of research into genealogy is conducted before someone actually seats themselves on the throne.

If one wants to be Emperor or Empress though, they must successfully claim the seat as those who cannot do so will never gain the legitimacy needed for a stable dynasty. Since the founding of the Celestial Empire, there has been three recognized dynasties.