The Extermination of the Wild Men

Extinction

The Cracked Earth Emperor waged a campaign of genocide against the wild men, until his assassination at the hands of his own bodyguards.

In the year 413 AS, during the reign of the Cracked Earth Emperor of Daqin, the land was afflicted by drought and a plague known as the bloody sweats. Oracles prophesied that this disease would land so long as "monsters who walk as men" were allowed to roam the land. Believing these prophecies referred to the hairy men the Emperor led a campaign of genocide; killing even children of his own people born with hirsute features. Five years into the slaughter, hairy men had been driven to only the most remote regions of Daqin and the drought showed no signs of subsiding, but the Emperor persisted. It was only halted when one of the emperor's own bodyguards came down with the bloody sweats and attacked his lord in desperation. With the Cracked Earth Emperor's death the land was immediately inundated with rains and all those afflicted were cured, but it was too late for the hairy men. The only survivors were the yeti, saved by the remoteness of their home territory and the skunk apes, now known as fen maulers, who pledged their very souls to dark spirits of the swamp in return for survival.