History of Saurid Enslavement

An Indepth Look at the History of the Saurian Enslavement as told by Saurid Historian and former Dri'Kaloss of the Ssss'll'mand'tah, Eris'Suu'Tirs

The First Enslavement​

For as long as we can remember, we were enslaved to them, the snake people, the Lamia. We paid tribute to them, and they didn't kill us. That was their bargain. And some bargain it was. We still kept our privileges, and our lives, and we lived peacefully. The Lamia were generally good to us, and as we paid our tribute to them and built their structures for them, they were more grateful than they were terrorizing. But even so, at darkening our children feared for their lives, that the stories we told them about the serpent gods would come down to eat them if they didn't pay tribute to their Lamia captors. All in all, it may have been us, ourselves, that made us become captive under the Lamia. We were too weak as a race at that point to do anything about it, other than give them what they wanted.

The sad fact is, that we didn't grow stronger until much later, and originally we were weaker than those fleshlings called Humans. Humans never knew what it was like to fear for their lives at the hands of their captors. Their race was a strong one, but we... we became even greater than them, something better. We were a tributary state at the hands of the Lamia, and they treated us with decency. We never questioned what they did, we simply obeyed, and didn't get ourselves killed like other races might have. We crafted great structures for them, and made their temples, their palaces, and their homes. It wasn't uncommon to see several thousand Saurid in a Lamia city after all. We would work for them, build for them, and ask for nothing in return, but to hone our crafting Skills. Perhaps this was why we were such excellent craftsmen.

The Building of the Ziggurat and the Freedom of the Saurid​

In the year 7500, the Saurid that were working for the serpent queen, Nakasha, began a great project. We cannot specify what it was that they were building, as it has somehow been blocked from our racial memory, but we do know what it was called the Ziggurat. It was an extremely well crafted piece of work, to our knowledge, and was also what truly granted us our freedom. We built it, and the serpent queen freed us, giving us our own independence. We did not have to pay tribute anymore, and were granted our freedom from their kingdom. The lands that were once ours were given back to us, and even some of the cities that the Lamia had us build were given to us. Our Capitol, Rokhan, and its sister city, Rakhan, were released to us, and we were allowed to live in it in peace.

We were granted the autonomy that we so desperately sought as a race, and given the rights we should have been given quite some time ago. The jungles were ours to rule again, and the tribes gained their freedoms. Even the Ai'Kur'Ss'Kk, whom hated all saurid races, and everyone in general, were thankful for their freedom. Within the capitol of Rokhan we built a great citadel, one that marked the end of our enslavement, and the beginning of our race as its own race. We were finally free, and we would take that freedom and run with it for so long as possible. To the north, the Sss'Rak'Kk made their homes in the dunes. To the west, the Ai'll'gai'tah made their home in S'rakhar, by the river Eis'Su. Near the center of the jungle, the Ki'Ssss'kk made their home in Rokhan, along with the Mon'Rak'tah and Sss'Ai Err'Rah. The Ki'Rak'kk lived within their Citadel City of Siblick, burrowed into the side of a mountain range running through the jungles. The Ssss'll'mand'tah made their home in the swamps to the east, but would soon build a great metropolis known as Rak'harin, along with the other tribes of the saurian race.

The Building of Rak'harin​

After our freedom was obtained, we began to build the magnificent metropolis of Rak'harin. The center of the city was built with solid gold obtained through trade from the Lamia. Huge blocks of gold were made using our excellent crafting Skills, and were put together in a huge block tiered pyramid that loomed over the entire city. Most of the rest of the pyramids, mounds, and buildings were built out of bronze and iron, also via trade with the Lamia. The wall stood at least a hundred feet high around the city, and was built from solid iron blocks. It was an amazement that our race could build something so strong, but then again we were the best craftsman of the time period. Our excellent Skills allowed us to create such a magnificent metropolis, and we were able to use the ancient magics of the time to power the city.

It had platforms that moved from tiered pyramid to tiered pyramid, as well as to the ground. The citadel created out of gold within the center of the city held the government, and Rak'harin became the new location of the Council of Ten. The Leaders of all of the saurid tribes would hold sentinel there, and command the government with a stern fist. The city was split up into ten districts, each having the qualities of one of the saurid tribes. It housed over one million saurid when it was finally completed, and the city guard was made up of about a third of those saurid. It was the mastery of all of the saurid artisans that had created the city, and was one that would show their love for creation of architecture.

First Contact with the Xet​

Word came quickly to the river Eis'Su when the Lamia had seceded to the Xetan Alliance around era 8700. And soon after it arrived, not even a full season, strange foodlike creatures made their way towards S'rakhar. It was an emissary from the Xetan Alliance, and we stood by and watched as they entered the city unharmed, and made their way towards the central tiered pyramid of S'Rakhar. The Dri'kaloss of the Ai'll'gai'tah made her way down to greet them, and she queried what they were doing within the city. They spoke in a strange language, but had a translator there that somehow knew the saurian language, or at least the dialect of the Ai'll'gai'tah. When the Dri'Kaloss heard the words of the Xetan Emissary, she nearly collapsed. The Three Annihilators that had come to the city of S'Rakhar demanded that the saurid there submit to their empire, and become a subservient state, or be annihilated.

Standing firm in her place after her brief wavering moment, the Dri'Kaloss of the Ai'll'gai'tah looked towards the huge beetle like creature, and told him, "We Ssshall not sssubmit to your rule, or anyone elsssesss... go back to where you came from..." Her words brought war down upon our people. For instead of trying to reason with the creatures, she stood her ground. Possibly one of the braver moments of our race, or the most idiotic. One could never tell what the buglike creatures were thinking as they looked towards her, but for sure they were savoring to taste the blood of the saurid right then and there. Surprisingly enough though, they left without another word to her. We thought for a moment that they wouldn't come back. But we were wrong. They came back, and with a vengeance they came. The Dri'Kaloss of the Ai'll'gai'tah was smart though, she had sent word to the rest of the nation, to prepare for war, but little did they know what they were in for.

Siege of S'rakhar​

Peace would not be known for our people anymore, for so long as we saurid opposed the Xet, we unknowingly opposed peace. It all started one summer day within the heat of the jungle. We saurid seemed to be at peace, but we were all on edge since that day that the Xet had come. Terror settled in the hearts of the younglings, and we couldn't help but feel a desperate plea for help needing to be shouted out. What happened then was even more terrifying, and it was the beginning of our war, and end of our peace. The Xet had come, and they had come with a vengeance no one had ever known. The era was 8710, and the siege upon S'rakhar started.

They came in droves, hundreds of beetle-like creatures marched towards the city. The Ai'll'gai'tah, led by S'riu Ss'rah, closed the gates of S'rakhar and formed their lines in front of the gates. But soon hundreds of Xet turned to thousands, and then tens of thousands. Only about seventy-five thousand saurid were within the city of S'rakhar, not even a third of them were battle ready. Ten thousand Xetan soldiers marched upon the city, and immediately clashed with the saurid that were rapidly swarming on the outskirts of S'rakhar. S'riu sent messengers to Rokhan to relay what was happening within S'rakhar. The remaining saurid outside of the gates were wiped out, only about a thousand managed to get within the city limits, out of three thousand standing sentinel. Within the gates, the saurid began to formulate plans. They were not like the fleshlings and were much stronger.

Soon the gates were broke down, and the Xetan Annihilators began to swarm inside of the city. Drawing them in, the saurid appeared from holes within the ground, stabbing their spears upwards towards the stomachs of the Xet, aiming for any weak point they could find in the armor the Xet wore. This tactic proved fruitful as the Xet fell into the trap that the saurid had laid out for them as soon as they entered the gates of the city of S'rakhar. Truth be told the Xetan annihilators didn't expect any resistance from us, at least not one this strong. They didn't know what they were in for, and neither did we. Valiantly fighting from their mounds, the saurid launched assault after assault, drawing the Xet even deeper into the city, but picking off their numbers one by one. We were much faster and more agile than the slow moving annihilators, but they had tougher skin than us.

Then the terrible had happened: after repelling them from the city for about ten eras, using the same tactics over and over again, the Dri'Kaloss of the Ai'll'gai'tah got careless. A Xetan Annihilator grabbed her and rendered her into pieces. Encouraged and heartened by their moment of victory, the Xetans redoubled their efforts and drove us out of our beloved city and towards the river...

Battle of the Eis'Su River​

If there was one thing that the Xet didn't understand, was that these were our lands. We knew them inside and out, and could use the terrain to our advantage every time. As the Xet finally regrouped and approached the River Eis'Su, the remaining Ai'll'gai'tah hid deep beneath the waters. Setting traps happened to be something we were extremely good at, and to the Xet the waters looked as if they were still, very still. It wasn't till they entered them that we attacked. The Ai'll'gai'tah surged up from beneath the Xet, latching onto them, and pulling them down into the deep waters of the river till they could no longer breath, and died of suffocation from taking in too much water. Even though they were winning the battle at first, time seemed to not be on their side for long.

The Xet began to pile up on the bottom of the river, and then finally after so many had died, and they kept coming, the river was filled with dead Xetan Annihilators. But they continued to come forth and the Ai'll'gai'tah were forced to fight upon land once more as they could no longer fit within the river. The river had become a river of Xetan blood, as thousands of warriors were drowned within it during the first few moments of the battle. About ten thousand Ai'll'gai'tah surged up from beneath the river when they could no longer fit within it, and began to assault the Xetan Annihilators head on. But the annihilators were called such for a reason, and they began to tear the Ai'll'gai'tah apart despite their amazing resistance to increasingly overwhelming odds.

The Xet won the battle by shear numbers, and began their trek towards Rokhan. They would find resistance along the way, some Ai'll'gai'tah, some Ki'Ssss'kk, and it happened to be enough to stall them until many eras had passed. The Xet had never experienced this kind of resistance in a race before as they were used to destroying entire cities. But this was different, this they would find was something that they had never expected, and we would soon show them how menacing we could really be. But by 8762 it was too late for the Ai'll'gai'tah. Many of them had been captured and sent back to Xetan lands to work as chattel and be nothing more than property.

The Burning of Rokhan​

In 8770 the Xetan Annihilators finally made their way to Rokhan, and stopped outside of the gates. This time they were thinking about how to deal with the saurid instead of just rushing in and getting themselves killed the hard way. But as they approached the huge closed gates of Rokhan, only destruction awaited them. The gates opened up once again, welcoming the Xet into the city, and as they entered all hell rained down on them..or from under them, I should say. We assaulted them from under ground once more, coming up from beneath them, from out of our mounds, shooting spears at their weak points, aiming for the kill, and showing no mercy to the creatures that had enslaved our brethren.

A full era had passed when we finally received reinforcements at the city of Rokhan, but not from who we had expected. The Ai'Kur'Ss'kk arrived and with them, they brought their demons as well as necromantic spells. Their help was all that was needed to destroy the Annihilators within the city once more. The Dri'Kaloss of the Mon'Rak'Tah was later killed the next era, and we lost our foothold in Rokhan because of it. It nearly destroyed our morale once more to see another one of our leaders, as slow moving as she was, be torn asunder by these creatures that we brought into the city.

By 8773 we were losing the city of Rokhan, our foothold was failing. Then they began to burn the city, our temples, our workshops, anything that could catch fire. They would try to burn us out of our mounds, light fire to them, and pull us out using the smoke from the flames. We fought them even as they did this, but we began to fall back. The Ki'Ssss'kk and Ai'kur'ss'kk began to defend the city from the main citadel within the center of it, surrounded by the Xet. The Mon'Rak'Tah and Sss'ai Err'rah began to fall back to the outskirts of the city, and made their way to Rakhan, sister city of Rokhan.

It wasn't long before the city of Rokhan fully burned and the Xet managed to take it over. The remaining saurid died and the Ai'kur'ss'kk fell prey to the Xetan wrath. The dark scaled saurid were obliterated even as the Ki'Ssss'kk defended them. The Ki'Ssss'kk managed to make it out of the city via use of tunnels they had created long ago, and managed to get to Rakhan though. We has lost one of our capitols, the major cities within our empire, and not only that, but we had lose another very important player within our ranks, the Dri'Kaloss of the Sss'Ai Err'rah and their tribe. They were enslaved along with the Ai'kur'ss'kk tribe.

The Sister City Rakhan​

As the Ki'Ssss'kk and Mon'Rak'Tah retreated towards the sister city of Rakhan, they were flanked by a great deal of Xetan Annihilators. They fought valiantly and managed to avoid too many casualties, successfully routing the Xetan Annihilators at many points of their escape. The Dri'Kaloss of the Ki'Ssss'kk, Man'tix'Sus, led them further east towards the city of Rakhan, and as they did, they began to pull as many of the Xet as they could together in a group around the giant gates, for they knew something about the gates that the Xetan annihilators did not. Being the size of a small fortress, the annihilators' weight was more than enough to set off this trap that was laid out before Rakhan. Pits began to open up under them, and they fell to their deaths, hundreds of feet below.

The city of Rakhan was surrounded by these pits, created by none other than the Ssss'Rak'Kk, the Dune Winders. Excellent at laying traps and superb tacticians, the deaths of thousands of Xetan Annihilators outside of the city of Rakhan was key to their plans in defense. But once again, the Xet's overwhelming numbers were beginning to catch up. After they regrouped, they formed a camp directly outside of Rakhan to prepare for their next assault and campaign against the saurid nation. The city of Rakhan was a key point against the saurid nation as it separated the tribes areas; to the north of it was Siblick, the citadel fortress of the Ki'Rak'kk, burrowed in the side of a mountain and carved with magnificent stonework on the front of it and even further east was the metropolis of Rak'harin, a city beyond cities crafted of gold and bronze. Rak'harin would be the final defense in the saurid nation as it housed over three million saurid of about five different tribes.

As the Xetan forces gathered outside of Rakhan, they began to make their advance. Carefully disarming the Sss'Rak'kk's traps as they made their way forwards, they managed to reach the gates of the city. They didn't expect what happened next. As the Xetan Annihilators entered the city, all was quiet, not a single saurid in sight. They had won the brightening as it seemed like the saurid had retreated. When nearly their entire force was within city walls, suddenly behind them came a great deal of hissing. It was the hissing of the Sss'Rak'kk, and they burrowed out of the ground and began to assail the Xetan forces. In front of the Xet, the Ki'Sss'kk and the Mon'Rak'tah surged forwards with a valiant effort to pincer the Xetan Annihilators within the center of the city. The battle quickly ended, and the saurid were victorious in the end, killing most of the Xetan Annihilators and sending them to the great beyond.

But our victory was short lived, for more reinforcements arrived, and the same tactics didn't work twice very often. We tried to pull them into the city once more to trick them, but cautious by the fact that their first battalion appeared to have vanished, the Xet were clearly dubious to enter the accursed city a second time. Giant buglike creatures crawled all over our temples, killing our children before us, and enslaving anyone old enough to talk. The Mon'Rak'Tah were taken, and the Ki'Ssss'kk and Ssss'Rak'kk were forced to retreat to the Citadel City of Siblick.

Attempts at Assault​

There wasn't much chance of success for what the saurid were going to try and do now, but we had to try, there was no other choice. Regrouping at Siblick, we began our march south towards Rakhan. We were going to try and take the city back from Xetan Forces, and died trying to do just that. The Xet held the city with such ferocity that we lost many saurid in the attempt, and we couldn't even gain a foothold within the city. We had to withdraw, or lose risking more saurid that could easily be used to defend the city of Siblick. So we retreated once more after attempting to seize the city of Rakhan. No tactic we used would work, as the Xetan Annihilators began their advance once more this time towards Siblick.

Upon reaching the city of Siblick, the Xet were met full force by the saurid within the city, and the death that happened was unimaginable. Giant pincers verses spears. But there was a secret weapon that the saurid had this time, a weapon newly created, that would become legendary within this war, because of what it could do. It was crafted of Aetherium, which the saurid artisans had found a very rare vein of within the mines of Siblick. Many died trying to harness its craftmanship, but finally we were able to do it. We created the Spear of Kal'srak.

The Legendary Spear of Kal'srak​

The spear was about six feet tall, almost as tall as the average saurid, and could only be wielded by the best out of all of them, in this case, the Dri'Kaloss of the Ki'Ssss'kk. When the Ki'Rak'kk gave it to him, he held it within his hand, and it began to glow brightly golden, and the saurid that wielded it could feel a strange sensation within him, as though all of his wounds were healing. As he mounted his Velocisaurus, a lizardlike mount used by the saurid, and began to make his way towards the front lines of the saurid, he set for a will to the saurid to push forwards, and keep the Xet out of Siblick. Launching himself towards the Xetan Annihilator's leader, he jumped off of his mount, into the air, and with a downwards slash took off the leader's head in one fell stroke. Downing one Annihilator was not enough to turn the battle, but after he killed several of them by himself, with very little damage to himself, the Xet were becoming a bit uneasy with this battle, especially after losing their leader.

The saurid began a major push forwards to the south to push the Xetan forces away from Siblick. Managing to hold the city, they cheered once more as the Xet retreated, without one of their leaders and several hundred of them dead. The Aetherium spear known as Kal'srak was laid down within the Temple of the Unknown God in the city of Siblick, and wouldn't be touched for a decade, until the Xet's return to the city.

The Destruction of the Citadel City of Siblick​

As they returned, they moved forwards towards the Citadel City of Siblick. Carved out of a mountain, and running vastly through its stony corridors, the Citadel City would be difficult to take over. The Annihilators approached the huge gates within the side of the mountain, and then began their assault. Launching themselves at the saurid who had gathered outside of the gates, they began the killing once more. Rendering them to pieces, within the city, the Dri'Kaloss of the Ki'Ssss'kk took the spear of Kal'srak within his hands once more, and made his way out towards the entrance of the city. He would never know what he had to face, for out of the Annihilators came a Vindicator, a gigantic spiderlike creature that was much more fearsome than the Annihilators could ever be.

As the Dri'Kaloss made his way towards the Vindicator, riding atop his mount, he launched from it once more as he gripped the spear of Kal'srak within his hands. Coming down towards the Vindicator, he slashed at one of the legs. But the Vindicator reached forth with its huge pincers and caught the Dri'Kaloss of the Ki'Ssss'Kk within them. Tearing him asunder, the pieces of the Dri'Kaloss fell to the ground, as did the Spear of Kal'srak. Quickly picking it up, a younger saurid watched as his leader was utterly destroyed by the Vindicator. He quickly left the battlefield, and made his way to Rak'harin.

As for the Citadel City of Siblick, the saurid began to use the mountain paths to escape from it, while the Xet were destroying building after building that had been carved out of the mountain. We made our way east once more to the Great Metropolis of Rak'harin, where we would make our final stand as a race. This was what it had all come down to, the last battle between the saurid and the Xet, and it would be a long one, lasting over a hundred eras. Their campaign against us would bring us victory, and make the world respect us as a race, the race that defied a greater power, one that would only rule us in tyranny and persecution.

Assault on Rak'harin​

The Ssss'll'mand'tah joined the fight when the Ki'Ssss'kk, Sss'Rak'kk and Ki'Rak'kk arrived at Rak'harin. Our forces there numbered in the millions, and there was no way the Xet could take hold of the city, we had to hold it, it was the last point they had to take, and we wouldn't allow them to take it from us. This was when the Spear of Kal'srak was passed onto my grandfather, the Dri'kaloss of the saurid tribe of the Ssss'll'mand'tah. He wielded it with pride, and would kill a great deal of Xet with it before passing it onto my father, and then to me.

They would come once again, from the west, towards the great bronze gates of Rak'harin. We opened them, welcoming, and retreated into our mounds. As the Xet began to infiltrate the city, almost careless in how they were attacking, we came out from our mounds and drew them into the city, picking them off one by one. With a city of near three million saurid, the battle for our lands would intensify as the Xet continued their assault. Where it would take nearly three hundred softskins to kill an Annihilator, we were doing it with twelve of thirteen of us. The Xet would not take Rak'harin, and we would protect it with out very lives.

But even as we drew them in, fought in the streets, in our homes, our temples, and our workshops, we were losing our foothold. Something needed to change with this battle, or lest we be prepared to lose everything, and gain nothing. The Xet seemed to keep coming, and nothing we could do would stop them from coming at us. Explosions of workshops burning, temples falling to the ground, they were starting to overrun us, and the control we had over them was failing. But not all was lost, for what we had hoped for finally happened. The G'll Ai'tah, and Seru'll Iru arrived.

The Arrival of the G'll ai'tah and the Seru'll Iru​

They came by air, flying towards the Xet as they were infiltrating the city. The G'll Ai'tah began their assault as they flew down towards the Xet. Taking off from the ground, the Xet flew up towards them as well. It was an amazing sight, to see perhaps hundreds of thousand of G'll Ai'tah flying towards the Xet, latching onto them, and striking at them with their powerful beaks and whiping them with their incredibly strong tails. Xet were falling out of the sky like they had never fought anything like this before. They fell to their death, and the Seru'll Iru began to push them back out of the city.

The giant Xet could no longer hold ground within the city with the arrival of near a million reinforcements, between the flying saurid, or the strength of the Seru'll Iru, the True Raptorians, the strongest out of all of us. They pushed the Xet back, and forced them out of the city, disabling most of them, and showing the Xet how a true saurid fights. We managed to force them out of the city with the added reinforcements, and won the brightening over. Later the Sss'rak'kk decided to make an assault against the Xetan camp that was directly outside of Rak'harin, which happened to run right next to the river Ras'li. Their assault would turn the tide in our favor once more.

Tactics of the Sss'Rak'kk​

As the Sss'Rak'kk began to burrow down below the Xetan Annihilators camp, they would form a huge cavity within the ground under the camp. Once it was big enough, they knocked out all of the wooden planks under it, causing a cave in throughout the entire Xetan Camp. A large rumbling could be heard, and all anyone could see was the entire Xetan camp landsliding into the nearby river. The Xetan Annihilators were so suprised at the turn of events, they couldn't even counter attack when the Sss'Rak'kk made their assault on them. It was in this fashion that a great many victories were won by the Sss'rak'kk, because of their burrowing Skills, and abilities to attack from under the ground. Because of the Sss'rak'kk's attack on the Xetan outpost, they were forced to retreat back to Siblick to regroup. They wouldn't attack us for another twenty-five eras, but we were ready for them when they came.

As they began to assault us once more, we pulled them into the city again, not afraid to destroy our great metropolis, for we could rebuild it without a problem. But using the terrain against them was the key to winning this war. The Xet kept sending more reinforcements into the area, to try and overwhelm us, but the Dri'Kaloss of the Ssss'll'mand'tah was a great leader. Even with the overwhelming odds against them, the saurid resistance was amazing. They locked the Xet into a stalemate, even thought the Xetan forces were bringing in more reinforcements to try and break the saurian defense.

The Sss'Rak'kk then began their next manuever to outflank the Xet, and protect the city of Rak'harin. The began to dig underground, around the city, forming an immensely deep moat around the city, and allowing the river's waters to divert into it, and fill it up, barring the Xetan forces from entry to the city save for one point at the main gates, where the saurid then gathered the majority of their forces. Even the Xetan forces, with the numbers they had, didn't prepare for the tactics of the Sss'Rak'kk. But even so, it didn't seem to be enough. Constructing a bridge to the grand gates of Rak'harin, the Xet then destroyed them, and entered the city once more.

The Great Western Push​

Almost allowing the Xet to enter the city, and then destroying a better portion of them, the saurid pushed the Xet out of the city once more, expelling them, and then launching a massive assault against their base on the western edge of the city. Near a million saurid made their way towards that huge base, and destroyed it in less than an era. They were led by the Dri'Kaloss of the Ssss'll'mand'tah, who began to push the Xetan forces westward back towards the citadel city of Siblick. As they continued their trek towards Siblick, they managed to free a few villages under the Xetan control as well during the campaign.

With the Xetan forces dwindling, the saurid were sure to have a victory with this push that they were making. But even as the huge saurid force departed Rak'harin, and freed the villages along the way, the Xet were building their forces up in the north. They were preparing to attack Rak'harin once more, this time with tens of thousands of Annihilators, led by the vicious Vindicators. As they began to build their bridges across the gigantic moat that surrounded Rak'harin, messengers were sent via way of underground tunnels to meet up with the Dri'Kaloss of the Ssss'll'mand'tah. When he received word of the Xet's impending attack, he sent half of his force back to Rak'harin, while leading the rest onto Siblick.

Liberation and Loss of Siblick​

As his force continued to push the majority of the Xetan Annihilators back towards the mountains that the citadel city of Siblick nested within, the Xetan forces became desperate in their resistance against the immense saurid force led by the Dri'Kaloss of the Ssss'll'mand'tah. When they began to reach the wall, they decimated the Xetan forces and ruthlessly but honorably slaughtered them and retook the city of Siblick. All seemed to be going well, the city had very little damage to it, and the Xet decided that it could become a key fortress in the battle against the saurid. But when they were pushed back to it, they hadn't transformed it into the fortress that they wanted to create, and were forced to abandon it. Very few Xet made it out of that campaign alive, and the Vindicators retreated before the saurid could reach them.

From the north though, the Xet were amassing their forces, and by the time the saurid had returned to Rak'harin, it was under assault once more. Erus'Sss'k'lash, the Dri'Kaloss of the Seru'll Iru led the saurid forces against the Xet, pulling them into the tunnels created under the city of Rak'harin by the Sss'rak'kk. As they did, the Seru'll Iru caved the tunnels in, killing a great number of Xet, but also taking out portion of the city along with it. This allowed the Xet to invade the city once more. As they did, the saurid gathered at the great Citadel of Ex'sus, in the center of the city. Erus called a meeting of the Council of Ten, and they decided to test out their final weapon against the Xet, a weapon that might give them the peace that they so desperately desired for their race, the Orb of Ssss'Rak.

The Orb of Ssss'Rak​

As the saurid engineers within the Citadel of Ex'sus began to work upon the arcanically crafted orb, using their knowledge of the old mystical magics that once worked within the lands of the saurid, the orb activated. The city was on fire, but that didn't matter. When the orb activated, an invisible wall expanded outwards, pushing the fire and the Xet towards the outside of the city. When this happened, the Vindicators pulled out of the city before the arcanic wall could hit them, and the explosion of Xetan warriors happened. Their bodies instantly disintegrated, and the shield finally stopped expanding at the moat that was around the city. The Orb of Ssss'Rak had been fully activated--a power beyond imagination--and allowed the saurid some peace of mind.

In Siblick, the Dri'Kaloss of the Ssss'll'mand'tah got word of the Orb's power, and decided to abandon the city of Siblick for now, leaving it desolate, and moved his forces into the city of Rak'harin once more. As they returned to the city, they were blocked by the Vindicators, but the Sss'Rak'kk had created tunnels for them to get under the vindicators and back within the city, collapsing the tunnels as the last of the saurid entered the self sufficient city. Once inside, the saurid civilization thrived and worked together for a peaceful time. On the outside of the arcanic barrier, the Xet couldn't do anything, but sit, and set up camp, testing various areas of the barrier to find a weak point. Whenever a Xetan warrior touched the barrier though, his body would explode and dissipate, as though there was nothing there before they touched it. It was impenetrable, and nothing the immensely powerful race could do would break it.

Peace​

Finally, the saurid had attained the peace of mind that they wanted, and their civilization thrived as it never had before. But the city was becoming over populated, and the saurid arrogance decided to start expanding the barrier foot by foot, allowing themselves more space within the city for the saurid civilization. Three million saurid lived within the city at this point in time, and they managed to become fully self sufficient, creating food for themselves in their fields, having livestock to raise, slaughter and eat, as well as have tournaments of strength, which even the Dri'Kaloss of the five remaining saurid races participated within. The Spear of Kal'Srak rested within the grand citadel of Ex'sus, not to be used unless the saurid began their campaign against the Xet once more.

The Council of Ten met every era to discuss issues within the city, and decide how to run things. saurid lived in peace, and thrived within the city of Rak'harin. They lived and they died in peace, but what they didn't know, was that there was a traitor in their midst. One that had made a deal with the Xetan warriors a long time ago, before they had arrived to save the city of Rak'harin from the first Xetan invasion of it. The G'll ai'tah warrior slowly worked his way up until he was one of the Orb of Ssss'rak's guards, and one summer brightening, decided it was time for the dome of Ssss'rak, as the shield had once been called, to come crashing down around the city.

Devastation​

The energy output of the orb was increased to maximum, and it was pushed to its limits as the G'll ai'tah betrayed everything the saurid held dear. The orb cracked, and arcanic energy flooded from it, exploding outwards, slicing through the citadel of Ex'sus. The fire rushed down the citadel, and throughout the city. The Dri'Kaloss of the G'll ai'tah and the Seru'll Iru were immediately killed as they rushed down to see what the explosion was. The engineers' bodies exploded, and the fire began to spread faster and faster. The orb remained though, even cracked, and continued to power the shields. The G'll ai'tah that betrayed the saurid race was killed as well. One of the Council of Ten was brave enough to make his way through the arcanic energy, somehow surviving and getting to the orb. As he reached it, the shield dissipated, and the Xet began their assault upon the city, even as it was up in flames already.

The Dri'Kaloss of the Ssss'll'mand'tah began to evacuate his family, as did most of the other saurid, not even trying to survive the Xetan assault this time, as the tongues of flames licked through the city, and the explosions reigned free. All the member of the Council of Ten that managed to reach the orb could think was that they could not let an artifact this powerful fall into the hands of the Xet. Using the last of his energy as he reached it, he grabbed ahold of it, feeling the arcanic waves flow through his body, and with all of his strength, shattered it, destroying the remaining pieces along with his body. As he did this, the explosion was like a firestorm. The entire citadel exploded outwards, and the flames formed a wall as they expanded.

Enslavement​

By the time this had happened, most of the saurid had submitted to the Xet, and the remaining resistance within the outskirts of the city had been dispersed and killed. The saurid had finally fallen, but not due to something they as a race had done wrong, but due to the betrayal of the G'll ai'tah, a single saurid that had been promised riches beyond belief within the Xetan empire. As many saurid were escorted back to the city of Siblick, which had finally become a city of the Xet, they were made into mere chattel and property of the Xetan warlords. Close to two or three million saurid fell into enslavement that brightening, with about two million deaths within the city of Rak'harin, the grand metropolis of the saurid. Ruins of the city survived somehow, and the Xet abandoned it as an arcanically unstable zone, filled with contamination, one that they should not enter, due to the unstable nature of the remnants of the Orb of Ssss'rak, which rested in the ruins of the citadel of Ex'sus.

Speaking the saurian language became forbidden, and the saurid were forced to learn the language of the Xet and Lamia once more. They were put to work building the cities for the Xet, as well as working to do anything the Xet wanted, without any freedoms or liberties. They were finished as a race, and even though it had ended this way, a great deal of saurid still wished for that day that they would be free from the enslavement to the Xet. Though that brightening may never come, they still wished for it, and hoped that it would happen in their future.

To the Future​

Now, as we look back upon our race's violent history, we can see our mistakes, though we do not think of them as mistakes, for we fought valiantly against the Xetan warlords, and struck a name in history for ourselves. We are the saurid race, and few of us escaped the clutches of the Xet, and into the northern reaches of the Jungles of Rokhan, as well as into the country of Aelyria, whom took amnesty to our race, though they couldn't truly keep track of us as we kept most of the locations of our mounds secret, for fear of the Xetan retaliation against a nation that took us in during our time of need.

I myself live within the northern reaches of the Jungles of Rokhan, with my family, and the Spear of Kal'srak, which will never be used in combat again, unless some brave saurid decides to wield it's power against the Xetan Warlords. But until that saurid comes forward to claim this spear, we shall be enslaved forever. This is our future now, and now is the time to strike back. It is time for us to win the brightening once more against the Xetan Warlords and their cities. It is time for us to rise up once more. This is why I tell my children this story, the story of our enslavement, so that we may once again take on the Xet, and this time, win the brightening for our race, and for the world of Telath, a world that all should live in equally, and none should be enslaved as devastating as we have been. This is our future now, the future of the saurid...

Credit​

Pescado Branch