The Promethean Resurgence
Horok the Great Ape, first Half Breed ruler of the Promethean Empire
By the dawn of the third century, the Promethean Empire was all but exhausted. Tall Ape Grishartd Gritig's disasterous campaign in the mountain realm of Uthein had not only ended in complete military collapse, but had also resulted in the birth of the Scalethein Empire - a foreign entity that now had the infrastructure and warriors to lay siege to the last bastions of Promethean kind.
The Uthein Campaign had also cost the lives of many Lesser Apes (Warlords), leaving a giant vacuum of power all across the ruptured borders of the Empire. Brother now fought brother over their father's vacant seat, and precious Promethean blood was loosened upon the grass to no avail other than to settle petty rivalries. The Empire's vast stocks of copper and tin had also been heavily depleted, meaning that for the first time in centuries, the Prometheans were unable to equip themselves with metal-based weapons.
In all, Grishartd Gritig's invasion of Uthein had set the scene for the extinction of the Prometheans. It is little surprise then, that in 207 A.E, he was murdered by his own body guards as he slept.
Though Promethea's bad fortunes did not end there. Without the Tall Ape to rule, various factions broke into out right civil war - vying for the ancient throne that had ruled the continent for so many years.
And as thousands died in the stupid and pointless strauggle, thousands more died from the Promethean Plague. By now, it was estimated that only 26,000 females of breeding age were alive, in contrast to some 210,000 males - and the former figure was shrinking daily. It would take a miracle to turn things from the brink, and in the year 208 of the Ancient Era, such a miracle was granted.
Horok was born from the union of Man and Promethean, whose parents had been executed upon his birth. He'd served as a slave ever since, living in misery like so many of his kind - until the assassination of the Tall Ape, and the collapse of the Empire.
It was he who led the Slave Revolt, and it was he who broke the Lesser Apes at the Battle of Promethea City, and rose to power on a fertile bed of popular support not just from his slave-kin, but from the common Prometheans who had been driven to despair. Horok was an intelligent being, blessed with a human's intellect, and within days of seizing power of the Promethean Throne, he unleashed a range of sweeping reforms.
Slavery was immediately banished, and cannibalism was also outlawed - both of them dismissed as decrepit acts that the Great Ape in the Sky had never sanctioned. Then he turned his attention to the Promethean Plague, and in a feat of ingenious social engineering, went about separating females; indeed, it became punishable by death for two females to be within fifty feet of each other. This led to a chaotic period within urban centres, as females were herded out into the country under armed guard, to start life anew in specially built camps. His hopes were that the plague would struggle to spread, if it could not so easily find a host.
By 211 A.E, Horok had survived seventeen assassination attempts, and had put down six separate rebellions. Yet, already his reforms were having effect, as the absence of slaves gave the economy an unexpected revitalisation, and the Promethean population stabilised for the first time in a hundred years.
Looking north, Horok understood that sooner or later the Scalethein Empire would come. Without mines, the Promethean Empire's ore income was little to none, and so, Horok looked to the thick jungle-like vegetation that inhabited much of Promethea. Trees were felled by their hundreds, and were used to create heavy clubs, long pikes and bows. These weapons were primitive, but in the hands of the muscular Prometheans, they would stand against the amassing forces of their northern neighbour.
In 227 A.E, the Promethean Empire's fortunes had transformed miraculously. The Plague had not been seen in some areas for more than a year, and the female population had started to recover - though it was still decades from equalling out with that of the males. Horok's soldiers numbered in the thousands, and he had them drilled daily; the ancient stone walls of Promethea City had been repaired and revitalised where possible, and food stores swelled the granaries.
She wasn't what she had once been, but in 227 A.E, the Promethean Empire had transitioned from a graveyard into a regional power - and would not easily be dislodged.
