A History of Kings and Royalty: Preface

A scholarly work devoted to a full and lively portrait of Mondstadt's long, turbulent history, jointly compiled by the Northern Continent Historical Society.

In the age of the aristocracy, Mondstadt's usurpers never wrote history, and forbade popular historical satirical verse. Legend says they knew their own corruption well, and so tried hard not to share the pages of glory with their heroic ancestors.

Yet the wind of history will not stop for high walls. This book gathers poems and legends that have survived from the old aristocratic age, and examines the ruins of former sites, aiming to re-excavate the long history from the age of kings to the fall of the old aristocracy. Many details are already beyond recovery, and some distortion is inevitable; I only humbly hope this history may inspire later readers, or at least spur them to uncover more of the old truth.

The whole is in three parts: "The King of the Tower of Fierce Winds and the Wolf King of the North Wind," mainly the history of frost kings contending in old Mondstadt before Barbatos descended; "The Age of Mondstadt's Expansion," mainly after Barbatos gave Mondstadt new life, the pioneering history of Mondstadt's early people and noble ancestors on this land; "Tyrants, Nobles, and Rebels," mainly the old aristocracy's long rule in Mondstadt.

Readers may hope this book becomes a mirror for later generations—but that is by no means my intent. The "freedom" Barbatos granted is also freedom from past shackles and freedom to seek the truth. I only hope this book can as truly as possible set before readers the stories that were once forbidden.