Dragon Empire

The Dragon Empire is the name of an empire located near Federation territory. The throneworld of the Dragon Empire is the planet Pai which is located near the Dragon Nebula whose appearance was an inspiration for the name of the empire.

Current beliefs are that the Dragon Empire are Human descendents from colonists that left Earth shortly after the Eugenics Wars and based their society around medieval China. After colonizing the planet Pai, they proceeded to form an 'empire' based around less then a dozen planets that all orbited the same star.

Despite this though, the Empire suffered from civil war struggles between the emperor and his rivals. These uprising's were conducted for several years by the noble Lord Lu Tung. In addition to this, the blood thirsty G'kkau race were also known to prey on the people with Starfleets primary worry being that the G'kkau would begin an invasion of the empire.

After the discvoery of the Dragon Empire, attempts were being conducted on accepting them into the Federation. However, to do so would require peace which was being conducted when the son of the Dragon would marry the daughter of his chief rival, Lu Tung. The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) would be present during these negotiations and marriage ceremony as Starfleets representatives for the treaty being formed that would accept the Dragon Empire into the United Federation of Planets.

The Dragon Empire is led by an Emperor who is known as the Dragon with the child of these powerful individuals being known as the Dragon-Heir.

(TNG novel: Dragon's Honor)