Rise of the Imperial Dragons

Over 300 years ago, the dragons of the Dragoncoil Mountains decided that raiding villages was a pleasant pastime, but the subsequent incidence of human, minotaur, and gnollish incursions into their territory was growing alarming. It was time, they decided, to found a kingdom of their own. After years of discussion and negotiation among their children, the kobolds, and the dragonkin, the dragons swore a compact that they would allow a human to rule and administer the land, as long as a tithe and tribute was paid to the dragons every 10 years. In return, the dragons swore to fight together to destroy any army arrayed against them, or to send the “children of draconic blood” in their place—meaning, legions of kobolds and dragonkin.
This was the founding of the Mharoti (Mah-ROW-tee) Sultanate, in which humans, kobolds, and dragonkin successfully seized all the lands of the eastern elves from Sephaya to Nuria Natal. They plundered far afield, demanding tribute from the Ruby Despot and the
Daughters of Perun as well as the Southern realms of gold and salt. They took much of the land that was once the Kingdom of Illyria and the far eastern realms of Khandiria and Beldestan. They seized land near the Dragoncoil Mountains, and even reached beyond Nuria Natal to destroy two coastal cities of the minotaurs, Roshgazi and Cindass, ending the so-called Moon Kingdom period. The minotaurs of Cindass resettled in Capleon and Kyprion, but in Roshgazi the devastation was so great that the people sought more distant sanctuary. These Roshgazi minotaurs boarded a great fleet of ships and sailed west, and they were never seen again. The Lost Fleet of Roshgazi remains one of the mysteries of the early Mharoti Empire.
The Nurian counterattack against the Mharoti coastal invaders drove the dragonfolk back in one of relatively few major defeats.
The dragons learned from those mistakes, yet still they lust for gold. To that end, each year the sultan or sultana leads the armies into the field in search of gold and silver to make up the next tribute to the dragons of the realm. These dragon-generals have grown to more than 20 in number, and each considers itself a master of earth and sky. The Mharoti Sultanate grows as they do, and its people are certain their destiny is to rule the earth as the elves once did. Their greed is great, and their ability to make war and conquer lands seems unstoppable.