Kal-Oni

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The Kal-Oni bloodline were the successors that came to rule after the fall of the Cal-Thaoun family. Thereafter, lands and peoples beholden to the Kal-Oni family were called the Kal-Oni Empire. Destined to become a dynasty, the Kal-Oni replaced the seven century dynasty that ruled the Cal-Thaoun Dynasty.

Before becoming heads of an empire, controlling all the important posts in government and society, the Kal-Oni were heavy into land bound transport and construction. Under the Cal-Thaoun Dynasty, they controlled dozens of mines sprinkled across the Gulimbor region. They were good at working on the edges of conflicts, profiteering and even encouraging things that would drive up the cost of raw materials and transport expenses.

In their home city Sourm-Gar, they flaunted their wealth, proudly displaying hundreds of minotaur slaves toiling away in the family's expansive gardens. This was a tourist attraction, collecting fees to walk the garden's great steps. These gardens spread across step pyramids leading up to the family's citadel. The minotaur slaves came from the First Khazarkar Empire, often purchased at below market rates. It is said the Kal-Oni worked closely with Khazarkar's upper cream, the Minâth-Nôrî, stoking tensions and other machinations to enrich themselves.

The Kal-Oni are said to have been behind the murder of Emperor Cal-Thaoun X, the last of the Cal-Thaoun rulers, and his entire family. This is rumored to have happened half way along the 2500 mile voyage from Sourm-Gar to the newly built Zayr relocation settlement. Once on these distant shores, and before the gates of Zayr, the refugees of a fallen empire had to swear fealty to the Kal-Oni Empire or go into the wilds. The Kal-Oni family proclaimed the empire would be founded on the principles of the old ways, with the best leading the people by ability rather than blood. Considering that the Kal-Oni ruled in dynastic fashion for the next two centuries, these words proved hollow.