Five Empires of Maisraln
In legend and official history, the Five Empires of Maisraln preceded the Kingdom of Maisraln and established its national culture. They were founded by the Five Emperors, whose personal excellence allowed them to establish organised states with refined high cultures. After the deaths of the Five, the empires squabbled amongst themselves rather than harmoniously co-operating, and their culture degraded, with written records from the golden age being lost. A historian of the Five Emperors, Maya, united the empires and restored the dignity of their founders to the new central throne of the Kingdom of Maisraln.
The reality (within Glastieven mythology, that is—the Five Empires were a "myth within a myth") was that the so-called Five Empires were early civilisations with simple, tribal political structures. The Five Emperors were probably the gods of a proto-religion that was later stamped out by Renmei, or perhaps figures invented in the early kingdom as a charter myth.