Empire · League Bible · draft 1 · for red-pen

The Empire Bible

Everything the invitations will claim as true — the law, the ledger, the twelve owners — assembled from Yahoo and the league’s own emails. Your pen decides what becomes canon.

Draft for Robert’s red pen · nothing sends until this survives it
Nothing reaches an owner until this page survives your pen. Every fact below was read from Yahoo or the league’s own emails, or computed from the harvested schedules. Every “dial” is a draft you can turn. The last question on this page is the most important one.

I · The Law

The rules as you wrote them in the Season 2 kickoff email (Aug 10, 2025), plus the Yahoo settings currently live for 2026. Anything the invitations say about how Empire works will come from this section.

  1. Keeper Tags. Three per franchise. One is the Protected Keeper Tag — that player cannot be raided. Keepers cost a pick that decomposes the longer you hold the player: a 12th-round pick in year one, then a 10th, then a 7th, then a 3rd.
    ↘ go deeper — the evidence
    The 2025 FanDraft board shows every keeper sitting in its cost round: your Lamar Jackson at R1P3, Nico Collins at R6, Chase Brown at R12; Greg’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba at a 10th-round cost (decomposing to a 7th if kept again). Deadline in 2025 was Aug 31, results published Sep 1.
  2. Raider Tags. Each franchise is assigned one team it may raid: take any one player off that roster as an extra keeper — void if the victim spends their Protected tag on that player. Raid targets are declared alongside keepers. Tags are tradable assets; a dead tag is worth whatever someone will pay for it.
    ↘ go deeper — the tag market, on the record
    Aug 2025: R S held the raider tag on Nate’s relegated (disbanded) roster. Derek bid his last-round pick for the dead tag; R S countered that under an 8th-rounder he’d rather forfeit it — “Rather that then help you heathens!” This market is part of the league’s soul; the product should treat tags as first-class objects.
  3. New blood. Incoming managers hold no tags; they get compensatory draft picks instead — the 2025 package was one extra pick between rounds 2–3 and another between rounds 7–8. A manager who inherits a living roster gets nothing extra (Clint, 2025).
  4. The purse. $100 entry. The champion takes the pot — minus $100 that goes into the Empire Pool, claimed only by the first back-to-back champion. Two seasons in, nobody has repeated. The Pool sits untouched.
  5. Relegation. The bottom of the regular season falls — bottom two at twelve teams. The relegated sit out a full season, then may return. It has fired every year it has existed: Nate after 2024; John and Bill after 2025. This is the law that makes Empire real, and the invitations will say so.
    ↘ go deeper — the 2024 precedent
    Nate’s 5-9 was the worst regular-season record in 2024; the archived final-standings order (post-consolation) differs, so the standard we’ll print is regular-season finish — confirm below. His roster dissolved into the 2025 draft pool; the raider tag pointed at him died with it.
  6. The floor game (Yahoo settings, live for 2026). Twelve teams, head-to-head, half-PPR, superflex plus four flex spots, no kickers, no defenses, FAB waivers, six-team playoffs weeks 15–17 with reseeding, commissioner trade review, draft-pick trades legal, offline draft.

II · The Ledger

2024 — Matt, “Malik Maye Bijan.” Champion as the 6-seed with a 6-8 regular season — still the greatest heist in league history. Beat Torrey 148.70–101.66 in the final.
2025 — Keith, “Pack to the Future.” Champion as the 5-seed, in his first season, with zero keepers — through the 1-seed, then through the commissioner, 149.68–134.04.
No favorite has ever won Empire. The two champions’ combined regular-season record: 15-13. The best regular season ever played (Dave, 11-3, 2024) won nothing — and its owner left the league.
The record book. Highest week ever: Matt, 181.10 (2024 playoffs). Highest season: Greg, 1,733.48 (2025). Longest win streak: Keith and Dave, 8. Longest losing streak: Derek, 7 — and John’s 0-16 forever.

III · The Twelve (and the two at the gates)

All-time numbers cover both seasons including postseason. Each owner carries a suggested invitation angle and a roast dial — the dials are drafts; turn any of them, and flag anything true that must never be said.

Robert — Boutte Rockin Everywhere · commissioner

18-14, averaging 113.1. Last season: 10-4, one game from the crown, beaten by a rookie in the final. 0-2 lifetime against Keith. Renamed the franchise mid-season over a Kayshon Boutte waiver claim.
Angle: unfinished business — the emperor who built the arena and hasn’t worn the crown in it. Dial: full roast; the league should see the commissioner bleed first.

Derek — The Gang Tries a Dictatorship

13-20, averaging 104.3, owner of the longest losing streak in league history (7). Kept Stroud, Tua, and Swift. Bids on dead raider tags for sport. “The Gang…” is an institution — a new regime every season.
Angle: the loyal opposition; a chaos agent with a GM’s eye for distressed assets. Dial: standard roast.

Clint — The Monarch

6-11, averaging 86.3 — the lowest scoring average in league history. Inherited Dave’s roster fresh off the best regular season ever (11-3) and went 5-9 with it. Keeps Saquon and Mark Andrews.
Angle: a throne inherited, not yet earned — a monarchy awaiting a reign. Dial: careful-medium, your call — the “Hey Sexy Man!” energy suggests he can take more.

R S (Robert Stewart) — IndyJones’GoldenIdol · co-commissioner

Dead even at 16-16 all-time, 7-7 last year, averaging 106.9 — the most precisely .500 man in Empire. Kept Hurts and A.J. Brown. Famously doesn’t check his Yahoo mail; sold a dead raider tag threat-first.
Angle: the balance point of the league — the idol keeper whose ledger always settles to zero. Dial: standard roast.

Matt — Malik Maye Puka

19-14, averaging 120.8. The founding champion — and it was a heist. Owns the highest single week ever (181.10). 4-0 lifetime against Torrey, once by 0.70 points — the cruelest margin in league history. Keeps a young core: Gibbs, McLaurin, Drake Maye, Nabers.
Angle: the first king — one repeat away from the Pool himself. Dial: standard-plus; he’s been in these trenches since 2011.

Chris — Druid on the Runway

19-14, averaging 118.4. Second in points last season and a semifinalist — then scored 67.64 in the third-place game, his worst week ever, when nothing was left to play for. Keeps Kyren, Tee Higgins, Bowers.
Angle: always in the hunt, never at the feast — the league’s most reliable October team. Dial: standard roast.

Greg — JoshKosh b’Gosh

19-14, averaging 125.2 — the best among returners. Third place in both seasons. Last year: the most points in the league (1,733.48) and the 1-seed — eliminated by the rookie who won it all. Deepest keeper portfolio in Empire: JSN kept at a 10th-round cost, London, Brian Thomas Jr., Rashee Rice. Family: Nate’s return puts two Pudewells in the empire.
Angle: the bronze curse — the best team that never plays on the last day. Dial: full roast on the medals; warm on the brother’s return.

Torrey — Parsons of Interest

19-13 — the best all-time winning percentage of any three-year survivor — and the 2024 runner-up. Last season he went 8-6 and missed the playoffs: four 9-5 teams squeezed him out. 0-4 lifetime against Matt. Kept Justin Jefferson and Achane.
Angle: the wronged man — the empire’s best record with the least to show for it. Dial: standard roast; the Matt rivalry is the centerpiece.

Ryan — Fresh Blood (Corpse of Perc)

9-7 rookie campaign, made the playoffs at 9-5, Josh Allen in hand. The franchise name is a standing joke on Brandon’s fallen “Perc Rodgers.” Of his 2025 entering class: one championship, one 10th place, two relegations.
Angle: year two of the insurgency — the class of ’25’s last insurgent standing (besides the king). Dial: standard roast.

Keith — Pack to the Future

12-5, averaging 119.0, an eight-game win streak, and a championship in his first season — as the 5-seed, with zero keepers, through the 1-seed and the commissioner. 2-0 against Matt; 2-0 against Robert. The Pool is one repeat away.
Angle: the reigning villain-king; everyone below him spent the offseason thinking about him. Dial: the crown treatment — reverence with a target painted on it.

Nate — returning from exile · new franchise, name his to forge

Held the #1 overall pick in the founding draft and finished with the league’s worst record — relegated by the law he helped found. And yet: the highest scoring average in Empire history, 125.7 a week. The most talented loser the empire has produced. The oldest fantasy hands in the league (playing since ’01). Sat out his sentence in full.
Angle: the exile returns — the empire’s best offense never died; it was banished. Dial: the roast IS the honor — lean into the tragedy, crown the comeback.

Alie — the newcomer · new franchise, identity forged at the gate

No record, no debts, no scars — the first owner to enter Empire after the founding and expansion classes. She arrives as two fallen rosters dissolve into her draft pool.
Angle: the true origin story — the only owner whose page is written entirely in future tense. Dial: warm welcome, zero roast, first season.

The Fallen · lore only, no invitations

Dave — D’s Big Tiddys. 11-3, the best regular season ever, no title, walked away. His roster lives on under The Monarch’s crown.
Brandon — Perc Rodgers. One season, 6-8; mocked in perpetuity by Ryan’s franchise name.
John Dillon — John’s Pancakes. 0-16 all-time. Never won a game in Empire. Relegated.
Bill Tancredi — Wild Blitz. 3-11; the seat ran on a dummy account by season’s start. Relegated.

IV · Season 3 — the stakes as they stand

The repeat hunt. Keith chases back-to-back — and the Pool. Matt is the only other living champion.
The return. Nate walks back through the gates with the league’s deadliest average and nothing to lose.
The pool of the fallen. Ja’Marr Chase, Tyreek Hill, Derrick Henry, Jonathan Taylor, Breece Hall, Marvin Harrison Jr., and Travis Kelce dissolve into the draft.
The clock. Season starts ~Sep 9. No keepers declared, no raid targets set, league-wide. Every decision is live.
The date. No draft date exists — by design. Claiming your seat includes declaring availability; the league watches the date crystallize.
The channel. Invitations go out by text from Robert’s phone — one private link per owner.

V · Your rulings

1 · Raid assignments for 2026

How are raid targets assigned this year — random draw, your hand, rivalry-seeded? The invitations can stage this as theater if we know the mechanism.

2 · Comp picks for the two at the gates

Nate and Alie both get the new-blood package (picks between rounds 2–3 and 7–8)?

3 · The Empire Pool total

You said ~$200, not sure. No dollar figure prints anywhere until you confirm; until then the copy says “two seasons of gold, untouched.”

4 · The relegation standard

Confirm it’s regular-season finish (the 2024 precedent implies it; the archived final-standings order differs).

5 · The Monarch’s lineage

Does Clint’s franchise carry D’s Big Tiddys’ history (11-3 and all), or start fresh in 2025? Affects every record we print for him.

6 · Manny in the lore

He drafted in the founding draft; his seat’s story is unclear. Does his name appear in Empire’s history at all?

7 · The roast dials

Every dial above is a draft. Turn any of them — and tell me anything that is true but must never be said. That list is the one thing I can’t compute.

8 · Alie’s details

Full name as she’d want it in the record, the email she’ll use for Yahoo, and her number lives in your phone for the text.