Geis Basics: Timeline - The Sroloc Empire

Geis is a relatively young setting.  There are 6 epochs defined by the sages of Geis, although not all agree on them for various reasons; the Sroloc Empire, the Dragon Kings, the Kol Draahl, the Age of War, the Age of Dreams and the Rune Age.  The 'current' epoch of the majority of the books is the Rune Age.

The Sroloc Empire

Even the Sroloc do not have much information about their own glorious history.  Theirs is the oldest and longest established civilization in Geis.  Time reckoning starts after the First War.  Only a few sages and leaders of churches are even aware of the First War but they have only vague details.  For this reason, they do not commonly start to account for time until after the end of the First War.  The Sroloc refer to this time as the "dark days" when the dragons had left them to wage their war against the Owaha.  It comprises a thousand years of constant warfare until the creation of the Helguar race.  

That started a time of peace which had the unfortunate effect of separating the Sroloc and Helguar races.  The Owaha, their presence on land virtually eliminated by the presence of the Merfolk, plunge into the depths and isolation from the world of daylight.  Surface sages are largely ignorant of what the Owaha have done in the ensuing years.  All that is known has come from the Merfolk who also reside in the depths.  In recent times, the advances of rune enchanting have opened the undersea world to the eyes of those who dwell on the surface.  Merfolk cities are clustered on the edges of the deepest trenches and the Merfolk yet maintain their purpose and forever separate the Owaha from the surface folk.

The Sroloc have diverged into three sub races over time.  The first split was between those who sought to continue to war and those who sought to embrace the peace that was given to them.  Those who sought to continue the fruitless war on the Owaha developed permanent changes, becoming consumed with thoughts of revenge they devolved into a brutish, savage and strong amphibian people.  Long, heavily muscled tails extend from their backsides and propel them easily and quickly through the water.  Their frames, heavy with sinew, have hunched over.  So absorbed were they with their pursuit of war that their society degenerated into one based on brute strength and brutal logic.  They have lost much of their higher thinking and are now among the most brutish of races, called the Crocus.

The others embraced peace and eventually their intelligence rose as they sought out the higher paths of thought.  They created an empire that spanned the entirety of Geis.  But for the scattered settlements of Helguar that grew on and within the land, the Sroloc were by far the greatest civilization during the time.  For hundreds of years they lived in peace, settling themselves to higher pursuits of magic, philosophy and religion.  Their culture grew and as it did, so did the differences within them.

The first Sroloc civil war created a great schism within the elder race.  The reasons behind it are still lost to antiquity, but the result was the creation of a regulatory force that educated and policed magic and mages.  It was as a result of this war that some dragons chose to return from their self-imposed exile.  They partnered with the Sroloc and developed a strong and lasting bond.  As always, power corrupts and soon enough the regulators soon became the rulers.  Those without magical ability were shunned at first then ultimately oppressed.  

Enraged, the Manitou of magic beseeched the Creator for aid.  The Creator responded and created the races of Humanity and the magically resistant Minotaur as well as the Ancilene, whose magical might rivaled that of the Sroloc themselves.

This was the rise of the Dragon Kings.  Their allies worked closely with them.  Magic and alchemy was worked to strengthen them.  The Dragon Kings sought to overcome the Vipak and Centaur under their rule. The Helguar fought back alongside an army of Sroloc who had no magical ability, seeking to throw off the chains of the oppressive rule.  Humanity, Minotaur and Anciliene also joined in the fray, their fledgling civilizations learning the arts of war from the elder Helguar and Sroloc.  Freedom was won but the Dragon Kings were not destroyed, only defeated.  The ensuing war waged for over a millennium and during the conflict, more changes were wrought within the Sroloc race.  Some sages have been able to learn that it was through sacrificing the young of both dragons and Sroloc that the Dragon Kings sought to create a greater race.  This was the final schism of the Sroloc.  From this were created the Drakus and Chameus sub races.  The time of the Dragon Kings began in earnest, some five thousand years after the rise of the Sroloc race.