Creation

Gallidon is the name of an Emperor and the name of his Empire.
As laid down in The Orders:

“Before the arrival, before the world, before thought, before time, there was Na’naat.
Na’naat opened her mouth. Na’naat breathed. Na’naat bent her will, and Na’naat split the skies.
Na’naat cut her hand. Na’naat bled. Na’naat bent her will, and Na’naat formed the seas.
Na’naat reached down. Na’naat stirred the seas. Na’naat bent her will, and Na’naat formed the land.
Na’naat looked down. Na’naat saw the spirits. Na’naat bent her will, and Na’naat fashioned the spirits.
Na’naat bent down. Na’naat touched the spirits. Na’naat bent her will, and Na’naat created mortals.
The world was beautiful, the spirits were happy, and the mortals were prosperous.
Na’naat was pleased. Na’naat looked away. Na’naat bent her will, and Na’naat was no more.
After Na’naat, the spirits and mortals did not share the skies and the seas and the land. The spirits became discontent, and the mortals became fearful. The world was no longer beautiful.
Na’naat returned. Na’naat viewed her world. Na’naat was no longer pleased.
Na’naat thought. Na’naat motioned. Na’naat bent her will, and Na’naat was no longer alone.
Na’naat called her sisters and brothers together. They wept, and their tears formed a new sea in the middle of the land. They bent their will, and they created an island in the vast sea, and on that island, they built a city, and in that city, they placed the Nobility, and within that Nobility, they named an Emperor to rule over the world.
After the Emperor, the spirits and mortals shared the skies and the seas and the land. The spirits heard the Nobility, and they became content. The mortals listened to the Nobility, and they became prosperous. The world was beautiful once more.
Na’naat and her sisters and brothers smiled, bent their will, and were no more.
Thus did the Nobility come to bring light, hope, and wisdom to the world. And so shall the Emperor and his Nobility protect the world until the return of Na’naat and her sisters and brothers.”

The Orders state Gallidon was imbued with the ability to control the Spirits. In the Age of Disorder, before Gallidon, the spirits very nearly brought about the extinction of the people before Na'naat returned to set the world in order once again. The commonly held belief is that the Spirits became envious of the people's enjoyment of the world, while the people slowly stopped appreciating all the Spirits did to make their world inhabitable, safe, and satisfying. Na'naat placed Gallidon in charge of the world, and gave him the ability to keep the Spirits in line to ensure the people were able to flourish.

The Orders state that Na'naat had her brothers and sisters place their own agents in the world to assist Gallidon (these agents became the founders of the Greater Noble Houses). The Emperor and the Greater Noble families were given gifts of extended life spans, an increased resistance to death, and an innate and heightened ability to use various schools of magic to enable them to keep the world safe for the people.

The Emperors had five times the life-span of common man. They always chose a wife from among the Greater Noble Houses. Each Emperor had only one son, called the Childe of the Isle until he ascended the throne. The Childe is always named Gallidon. In the 5,108 years of the Empire, there have been thirteen Emperors Gallidon.

Imperial temples and houses of worship exist for the purpose of providing solace, religious instruction/guidance, and places of refuge. In rural areas, citizens often offer prayers not just to the Emperor, but also to the local spirits who inhabit the land. These spirits are said to coexist with and within the land, dwelling in natural structures or areas (rivers, lakes, mountains, groves, fields, trees, rocks, the sky, rain, etc.).

When people die, their soul returns to dwell with Na'naat. The Orders allow various interpretations of this, provided those interpretations don't endanger or conflict with the status quo. Mortal souls are not the same as spirits.