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EXPONENT:
HISTORY
Long ago, there existed three species that dominated the face of the earth.The Rafistani, an intelligent race whose technology remains unsurpassed. The Nakitori, great ebony beasts that roamed the wilderness. And the Ayili, a race of half breeds, whose strength and wisdom led them to become the ruling class in a world where all three could co-exist.
The rule of the Ayili was fair and just, and their empire spread across the globe. But at the height of their civilization, a great tragedy occurred. For seven days, a meteorite shower rained fire and stone, destroying much of what the Old Kingdom had accomplished, millions were displaced and the death toll was staggering. On the seventh and final night of the great calamity, a giant burning rock the size of a mountain was cast into the sea. The meteor slammed through the ocean into bedrock, flash boiling billions of gallons of water, and sending plumes of noxious acidic dust into the atmosphere. A third of the sun’s warming rays were blocked out by the smoke for a thousand years. But that was only the beginning of the end for the Old Kingdom. Great tidal waves and earthquakes destroyed much of what was left after the meteor shower. All that remained of the once proud and thriving civilization gathered in the Maricopa valley between the time eroded Kanai Mountains, and the craggy peaks of the Ayundai Range where the floodwaters had not reached. Here the last remnants of the Old Kingdom struggled to live in the perpetual darkness, and the unnatural winter that followed.
At first, attempts to grow crops in the fertile valley were successful, but great clouds of locusts, displaced by the flood, came and devoured entire fields. Pestilence reigned until the Rafistani devised a pesticide to ward off the insects. Already thousands had died of starvation, and soon, crops began to fail of blight and infertility. To make matters worse, disease, brought on by the use of pesticides began spreading through the Rafistani ranks. Rafistani leaders began to ask questions of their floundering rulers, and the Ayili had no answers to give them. When attempts to find a new food source failed, the Rafistani took to rioting and violence. Suffering turned to anger and hate. The Ayili turned to the Nakitori and the Ayiliite priesthood, the N’Kai, to keep the peace, which they did with brutal efficiency. But the Rafistani mindset was not so easily swayed. A handful of Rafistani scientists fled to the mountains, and in the ruins of a derelict mining facility they created great war machines called the Nitahmenkep to wage war on the seemingly invincible Nakitori. And so it was that the Rafistani wrested their independence from the Ayili. During the course of the war with the Ayili, the disease had turned to plague, and it was spreading like wildfire. All attempts to find a cure had failed. Sensing an opportunity to make peace with the Rafistani, the Ayili offered them assistance. The Ayili had proved thus far immune to the plague, and it was assumed that from their blood, an antibody could be produced. During this time of relative peace, the N’Kai secretly developed a weapon of such awesome destructive force, that its’ mere existence would prove enough to end the war, and prevent future attacks by the Nitahmenkep. At the same time, the Rafistani were developing a new breed of war machines called the Jatki, which could outmatch even the powerful Nakitori Lords, the Manowa. Eventually the Rafistani scientists, losing their battle with the plague, demanded that the Ayili volunteers submit themselves to research involving retroviruses. Citing the dangers involved to themselves, the Ayili refused. Weary leaders of both sides frantically attempted to broker an agreement, but dissension in the Rafistani ranks ended all hope for peace. The N’Kai had completed their weapon, but it was too late. The Ayili were either annihilated by the Jatki, or captured and forced into experimental medicine. The N’Kai’s weapon was dismantled, and carried to the four corners of the world, never to be found again. The Rafistani victory was not to last, however, as the plague continued its’ deadly reign. The retrovirus was never completed, and when the last of the Rafistani medical workers died of plague, it was released into the air. The mutated strain soon took the place of the plague, and though not as lethal, the physical effects were devastating. Horrible disfigurements and dwarfism affected the Rafistani, and even their children, through the rest of their recorded history would bear the mark of the plague until they ceased to exist altogether.