The long history of Saqquar is one of relentless wars and ideological crusades. An endless sufferage of the people whom have survived against all odds and made an Empire that all envied for it's richness and technological advances. A story about two brothers whom started a war which would last generations and engulf the nation in flames. A fairy tale of how a war torn nation could reclaim it's former glory thanks to their strong beliefs in their gods, and the leadership of benevolent Sultans appointed by foreign powers.
Era of AncientsOnce upon a time, a group of merchants decided to settle down after a life long travel around the continent at the delta of the Ifrit, and found the earliest form of what is now Markath. They built sturdy ships from the palms around the river, and ventured north to trade gemstones that would wash up on the shore in exchange for food and supplies. Many would seek out the settlement in hope of gaining wealth from this business, and the years would see Markath become a decent sized town. At the time, the city was one of the only settlements in the Saqquar area. The original traders who have founded the city soon became known as the Merchant Kings, and Markath continued developing as a city state.
The gem of the Ifrit grew with the generations, until it would attract more people than it could hold. Soon, the descendants of the Merchant Kings, now known as the Merchant Princes would wander out into the lands nearby to find a palce to settle and form new colonies. This would lead to the founding of El Shamul, in an oasis not far north of the Ifrit. Her people worked tirelessly to make aliving from herding wild Krollans for their milk, and venturing south to the Ifrit for the seasonal harvest of wheat and reed. Most of the Merchant Princes decided to stay in Markath in the end, but some of them travelled to El Shamul to help with the developemment of the small colony.
Era of CrusadeMany years passed by, until El Shamul outgrew Markath, and became the larger city state. Thought the people of these two cities shared the same language and had similar ancestry, El Shamul was highly religious, whilst Markath was strictly focusing on wealth. A divide between these two town arose, and it would lead to the outcome humans have always resorted to in their tiemes of dofference: war.
Some of the deepest beleifs in modern Saqquar history can be dated back to this era, as the almost fanatical believers from El Shamul interconnected war and their religion. Their belief, however, is heresy by modern standards. They beleived that the path of war and forceful spreading of their beleifs was the way to go about every day life. They blieved in the ways of the dragon: a merciless rage that is within every living being, ready to be unleashed upon their foes. Heated by this divine rage, it is no surprise that the fanatical warriors of El Shamul crushed the mercenary soldiers of Markath, conquering all the settlements in between the two major cities. In the end, Markath would surrender rather than to fight a war it couldn't win, letting in the armies of El Shamul to ransack the city, and ending the conflict in favor of the attackers.
During the following decades, the El Shamul would expand along the river Ifrit, and start crusades against their northern neighbours. In these decades, they have pludnered villages as far north as the modern capital of Torivia, establishing the deep rooted traditions of cavalry tecniques in Saqquar. The earliest recordings of Ixclidis being rode to battle come from this time, where a band of incredibly daring fanatics rode nearly 20 of these lizards into battle, and becoming highly infamous as they ransacked many villages to the north.
But this raiding lifestyle wouldn't go tolerated for long, and the northern city states around Granat would form a coalition to finally end the tyrannic rule of El Shamul over the region. This was the beginning of the Great Crusade, an era of time loosely defined by more than hundreds of years during which El Shamul waged a constant war against the coalition, and the two would exchange blows from generation to generation.
This particular era defined the lifestyle of the people in Saqquar. They would make weapons instead of jewelry, and they were all trained in the arts of war. The religion of the Dragon was brainwashed into every man and woman in El Shamul, and people would willingly give their life for the ultimate victory. Those captured would commit suicide, and anyone captured by them would be executed by tying them to a pole in the desert. This blind devotion, and absolute hate against all those deemed heretics by the church led to the naming of this era full of bloodshed.
Many doubted this war would ever end, but no-one expected a religious coup from within their own borders to end the war. A prophet by the name of Inara spoke against the violent ways of the ir religion, and told the people or Markath about a more peaceful way of existence, one lead by the shifting of seasons and a man's natural desire to live a fullfilled life. One by one, towns and cities abandoned El Shamul, and left it alone to fend off the coalition by itself. Meanwhile, Markath began construction on the Temple of the Halconics, as instructed by Inara, who was revered almost as a god amongst mortals. Thought she asked her followers not to revere her, her teachings were already spreading too fast for het to not be viewed as some goddess who ended this long war.
When the coailition finally conquered El Shamul, and came to Markath, they found no army, but instead the citizens of the town following Inara into the grasslands to meet the armies of the north. On this sacred day, she would strike a deal, that would place Markath as the capital of this new coalition with the city states of the Granat. How she did it, is a mistery lost to time, but all believers are tuaght that the divine Halconics interfered to strike the deal.
Through her life, she spread the ways of the 10 Halconics through the coalition, which would eventually take in El Shamul too, and convert it to the new religion. For nearly 56 years of her life, she has achieved something no-one before her could: she united the many young towns of the Granat, and the large cities of the Ifrit under a single banner: one she would call
Saqquar after a divine dream. With her death at the age of 64, millions mourned her passing as they carried her body through the streets of Markath to set her earthly remains ablaze as the last rays of the sun had disappeared over the horizon. She would not live to see the temple of the Halconics be finished a year later, and her death meant the end of the Crusade Era.
