Later Zhao Faction Crest

The Later Zhao (319–351), also known as Shi Zhao, was one of the major dynasties of the Sixteen Kingdoms period. At its height under Shi Le and Shi Hu, it dominated most of northern China. The dynasty also developed an unusually close relationship with Buddhism: the Kuchean monk Fotudeng became an influential adviser at court, and Buddhist institutions expanded considerably under Later Zhao patronage. The black stone and white lotus at the center of this fictional emblem are references to that connection. The white armor is a more deliberately anachronistic joke. An obscure novel once made an unlikely connection between Shi Le and Zhao Yun, so I borrowed some of the pop-cultural visual language of the "white-armored lancer hero" and reassigned it to a very different Zhao. The empire's dominance proved short-lived. Shi Hu seized power after Shi Le's death and is portrayed in traditional histories as an exceptionally cruel and extravagant ruler, despite his continued patronage of Buddhism. After Shi Hu died in 349, a succession struggle among the ruling family and his adopted grandson Shi Min spiraled into coups and civil war.