But he is playable if you inherit the title.
Have you had the opportunity to play as the Emperor after inheritance? I had not thought about how that might go.
As has been stated before, the reason why we have the Emperor as a theocrat is because his reign was no longer literal. It was a symbolic construct used by the powerful bureaucracy around him. Although Emperor Ling gets a lot of flak for being the end of the Han Dynasty, he actually tried to combat the bureaucracy (proscription) and reassert Imperial authority. But the emergence of rebellion all across the empire signified the end, forcing him to rely more and more on local warlords who had less and less inclination to stand by a figurehead.
Also, I wanted to explain why it takes long for me to add characters... I am a history fanatic. When I find 1 character for a province, I need to find all of his brothers, fathers, sons, wives, mothers, and daughters too. This leads to a long search for maybe just 1 or 2 playable characters. Why don't I just put in a bunch of characters first and then worry about history later? Cuz that'd be a lot harder on me in the long run. Just wanted you to understand why it takes me a while!
Please continue to report any problems or bugs here!