Har'kish

Har'kish is the third githyanki empire to come to power since In the Incarsabec Rebellion (1531 HE - 1544 HE), the slaves of the Suellk Empire escaped to the Astral Sea. The first githyanki empire was founded in a period of history they call the Age of Gith. This was the B'lailleth Empire, one that thrived for a thousand years. Things got bad in the reign of Vla'akith CXV, one better known today as Lady Hunger. This vampire empress and her many vampire spawns turned on the population. A sprawling empire, with some holds and outposts months away by astral skiff, many escaped before they could be subjected to the pruning of their numbers. The Har'kish, the descendants of those that escaped the district of the same name on Ráglauth, were one of those groups that fled the coming of the Lady Hunger and the blood orgies to follow.

For the next twenty years, they lived as nomads in the Astral Sea, always looking over their shoulder, always on the run. Under the leadership of Ta'keen, a powerful githyanki mentalist, they settled down, claiming Astral debris fields as their own. On 29 Dreamer 820, Ta'keen became Vla'akith CXVI, ruler of the newly minted empire of Har'kish; a petty state of roughly 10,000 githyanki and their 2,000 slaves.

In 899, one of Har'kish's astral skiff discovered a bastion lost since the Creation War (1486 DE - 8777 DE). A larger githyanki force followed up this expedition, taking claim of a place they named after the legendary figure Gith, naming their aerial platform, the Eye of Gith.

In 1003, the empire moved its capital to Rib'git. The choice of this place on an instrument of war, was necessitated by the people's lack of faith in a government that had drifted too far from the githyanki warrior tradition.

In 1312, the Har'kish Civil War (1292 - 1312) ended. This resulted in a schism, two sects of githyanki, those determined to follow the theocratic tradition of the githyanki and those determined to follow a path of political and religious freedom. The latter group became known simply as the Separatists. These separatists, with militants dominating decision, would go on to put their faith in the war god Ares. Most of these Separatists fled the Astral Sea. They found refuge on the world Bal-Kriav, occupying an ancient Zeymah'kein bastion named Vith Niigol.

In 1318, a traitor gave information on the location of the separatists. They were driven out of Vith Niigol, fleeing south to the protection of the Paradomea Empire. Over the next decade, they became citizens of their new empire. Their military skills were such that they became one of Paradomea's elite units, the Githlarâk.

In the Black Tide War (1465 - 1504), Har'kish worked both sides. It was obvious on one side, with the Eye of Gith called out, making air strikes for a fee. The Black Tide was the first to purchase the services of Har'kish's aerial platform and its dreaded Hand of Gith. Once it rained energy bombs down on the civilian populace of the Lands of Purity, Har'kish became an enemy of the Farinteen Alliance. What this Alliance never learned, or intentionally overlooked, was the shipments of holy grenades they were getting. They passed through so many hands, and the records intentionally messed up, that the buyers never learned that the sellers of these undead killing grenades were the Har'kish; her clandestine services to be more specific. These holy grenades, better known today as pos-grenades, were manufactured in Tritium-Psyche, only a few miles away from the barrel of the Hand of Gith.

In 1483, Har'kish bombed the cities of Vraga Moltus and Voruner. They were miles above the city when they fired their Voices of Gith upon the streets and buildings, killing mostly civilians. With blasts of positive energy, the casualties were horrendous, each city losing close to ten blocks. Years after the Black Tide War, a captured githyanki spy revealed the details of the transaction between Har'kish's clandestine arm and the Black Tide, saying 150,000 gold was the going price for each block. By the end of the Black Tide War, the Har'kish Empire had made over twenty million gold from their "bombardment services."

The attack on Voruner led to it's government secretly employing the services of the Sanguine Whispers. In Operation Precision Strike, they sent a team to the Eye of Gith, putting the Hand of Gith out of action for six months. In the last month of 1483, repaired, the Hand of Gith was moved into position, targeting Outpost Prime, headquarters of the Sanguine Whisper. Har'kish followed this with a large close-air and ground assault. An entire army, six red dragons, including the red dragon Slag went on to capture the place.

Har'kish has dozens of land-based outposts scattered across Bal-Kriav; Vith Niigol is one example. Spread across many worlds, Har'kish is a largely nomadic empire. They use the Eye of Gith to visit their holds, making alliances when they need, extorting when they have the advantage.