As the Great Dragon rose to power in China, there was a handful of individuals who were particularly instrumental in her rise to power, and whose devotion to the New God was unwavering. Such individuals became the inner circle of worshippers, and great powers were bestowed upon them by the Great Dragon. Constantly uplinked to the massive information processing centres of the China nanosphere and surrounded by innumerable nanites, such citizens became living and conscious extensions of the will of the Dragon: they possessed the intelligence and power of lesser gods themselves. No other physical being has ever had so much power, and God Soldiers became the most important element in the Dragon Empire that was not directly governed by Great Dragon in person.