Lore of Tashara - The Empire of Mor

Long ago, or so the tales say, the lands of the Sunrise Sea were ruled by a magnificent and gigantic empire.  Within the sea's center was a mass of island archipelagos whose name has been forgotten, but from which came a seafaring people; famous first for its trade and wealthy investors, and later for its mighty naval powers and fitting rulers.  Colonies from these seafarers spread throughout the surrounding coastlines, including the western lands near the Desert of the Khurem.  They spread their language, culture, and way of life to the various nomadic shepherd peoples of the west, while in the east they traded with the great Maoese Empire across the Silk Road.  Records of this time period are scant, but from what can be deduced the empire of this seafaring people ruled peacefully and were well loved by their subjects and their neighbors.

But like all good things in this world, eventually they must come to an end.  And from idle hands bad things will follow.  Princes from this great empire began to question their ancient rules and began to rule in a more personal fashion.  This was believed to be an attempt to break from a steadily building bureaucracy, but instead backfired as, over time, future rulers became far more tyrannical and, eventually, war-like.  During this time period the empire was at its largest, because its rulers began to grow expansive, taking by force various lands up and down the great Desert of the Khurem to the Twin Peaks to the far east, spreading their empire wherever their ships would take them.  

Eventually it got to the point, or so the stories say, that the gods of this old empire turned their backs on them.  Instead of repenting their ways like any sane man should, they turned to other, darker powers.  Human sacrifices were said to be regularly practiced in their temples, and dark magics were called upon as demons were said to lay with women and form monstrous abominations in the name of future conquests.  In just a short amount of time this empire, once hailed as the greatest civilization in the world, was cursed openly as one of the most savage, barbaric, and evil of all nations ever before conceived in the known world.

But like all evil things in this world, there is a comeuppance for them.  And by righteous hands, justice shall be done.  In a cataclysm known only as the Sinking the vast, central island stronghold of this people was crushed and sank beneath the waves.  Without its central administration and seat of power, the other island cities in the empire turned to civil war.  Brother fought against brother, and children wept openly in the streets as blood flowed into the sea and turned the waters red.  When the dust cleared, and the sea spray once more turned from pink to sapphire, the people of that island empire were no more, and by now the colonies of those seafarers seceded or crumbled as the peoples they had subjugated declared their freedom and independence.

Thousands of years have passed since the Sinking, and the stories of that ancient empire have been relegated to legend and myth.  Even the name of that ancient place is forgotten, but the islands and surrounding seas still stand.  Its ruins sit hauntingly upon the Sunrise Sea, and the setting sun brings with it wailing winds and haunting mists, turning the ocean's waters red.  Of that empire and its people none remember its former name.  Instead it is known by another, more terrifying title...Mor.