Character from remembrance-of-earths-past by
Supreme leader of Trisolaran Civilization Number 200 — the consul-king who authorized the launch of the colonization fleet, the construction of sophons, and the long quiet patience of an extinction operation conducted at half lightspeed.
Princeps governs as Trisolarans must — by transparent thought, since their species cannot lie. Decisions are made in real time, in front of the entire leadership, and dissent is processed by dehydration. They are not cruel by nature; they are pragmatic in the way of a species that has watched its planet die repeatedly. They hold humanity in low regard for most of the trilogy — bugs, in their own famous phrase — and shift only slowly when Luo Ji's spell-curse on a distant star demonstrates that the ape can in fact light the forest on fire. They authorize the Great Resettlement, the Droplet attack on the gravitational antennae, and the eventual peace overture, in that order, without apparent emotion.
On Trisolaris, a being whose visible form humans would not recognize as a face at all — a structure of folded protective surfaces and bioluminescent panels that broadcasts thought directly. In their VR avatar inside Three Body, Princeps appears as a tall robed figure, ageless and glowing softly along the seams. There is no body language a human reads as expressive; only ceremony.
Also known as: 元首, The Princeps, The Consul-King