Senpet

The Senpet Empire, the Empire of the Scarab, was an ancient nation north-west of the Burning Sands, roughly the size of Rokugan, ruled by a Pharaoh. The Empire lied along the Nahr'umar river, downstream from Medinat al-Salaam. Their history claimed they were the first humans to construct a building anywhere, and any visitor could witness the majesty of their architecture. They worshipped a pantheon of Ten Thousand Gods, many of which were divine aspects of death.

Territory
Half of the Senpet Empire existed on the desert itself, while the rest of the Empire existed on arable land. Occasional rainfall and two large rivers had kept the people of the Scarab alive for over a thousand years.

Worship
The Senpet believed the Ten Thousand Gods controled all aspects of the world, and each of them attempted to advise mortals on how to live. In the Senpet view, it was simply a pity that only they were wise enough to listen to the Gods' words.

The Senpet believed that at the beginning of the world, nothing was there except for Shilah and Kaleel, the Sun and the Moon. They existed together during this First Age, a time of power, magic, and mystery. Mere mortals could not understand the events that occurred during the First Age, and it served as the foundation of all creation and magic in the world.

Organization
The political structure of the Senpet Empire was very simple. The Pharaoh was the absolute power of the land and his words were final. While his advisors and judges could spend countless hours poring over counsel and arguments, it all meaned nothing if they failed to convince the Pharaoh. He was the final arbiter, the head of the religion and the leader of the Senpet armies. In short, the Pharaoh controled everything in the empire.

Military Structure
Before the Yodotai Invasion of Senpet lands, the Senpet Empire boasted of a highly trained and loyal army that numbered in the hundreds of thousands. These warriors could fight in any situation, regardless of whether they were in the middle of the desert or in the mountains of the Yobanjin. The Senpet Legionnaire was the paragon of skilled ruthlessness.

First Age
The Senpet believed Shilah, the Sun, and Kaleel, the Moon created the world and its creatures. The place later known as the Burning Sands was a lush and fertile land.

Second Age
Shilah and Kaleel created the stars, and the fundamental truths that ruled the life. Deception, truth, love, justice, and death were shaped, and gained power drawing it from their influence on the day to day life of the mortals. The Senpet called these forces the Ten Thousand Gods.

First Jinn War
The jinn, children of the Sun and Moon, staged a coup against her parents led by the Jinn Lord Kaleel, and began a reign of fear and pain. The mortals and Ashalan joined to fight the evil, and used the Hakhim's Seal to free Shilah from her prison, but the Sun had become mad in her solitude. She enacted the Day of Wrath, transformed the area in the Burning Sands, and defeating the Jinn.

Founding the Senpet
After the Day of Wrath, in the Third Age, several groups of human wandered the Burning Sands looking for water and farmable land. One of them was led by Senpet, and after marching inland the found the Nahr'umar river, and built a city, calling it Senpet, in honor of their leader who had brought them here.

Senpet Empire
In the year 30 the Senpet Empire was created. They took the scarab as their emblem, a creature that had survived the wrath of Shilah. They built many shrines and altars to the Gods, and this was the true origin of the Ten Thousand Gods. The Senpet Sahirs discovered how to master the power of the jinn and used it against their enemies. In the year 60 was founded the capital, the Great Eye of the Desert. In the year 110 they built the Great Pyramids.

Disease Contagion
In the 10th century a scouting Senpet ship arrived a port of the Thrane Empire. It carried explorers who intended to make peaceful contact. Sadly, the Senpet failed to realize that they carried with them certain diseases, diseases that their own people had been immune to for many centuries. Almost immediately after landing here, people began to die. The Senpet did what they could to save them, but that was not much. The Thrane Empire disappeared and the nearly kingdom of Merenae was able to survive from the plague.

Isolation
The Senpet Empire remained apart from other empires, spending their time and resources in building. It made them to lost many opportunities, and eventually it had worked to chip away at the foundations of their civilization. For centuries, the Empire of the Scarab built the very trade routes, but their importance diminished while the trade center of Medinaat al-Salaam raised. It gave to the Caliph the key to trade across the sands.

Lack of Food and Water
In the 11th century their supplies of food and water had been dwindling, and it continued for almost fifty years entering in the 12th century. In 1128 a severe draught happened. If the trend continued for another fifty, the Senpet Empire would disappear. There was concern that, finding themselves in desperate straits, they could turn their might against Rokugan. However, they were currently losing a war against the more powerful Yodotai, so the danger seemed to have disappeared.

Alliance with the Caliph
In 1129 the Immortal Caliph Hanan Talibah made an alliance with the Senpet Empire to renew the strength of the city guard and provided them with a standing army. Senpet began to buy states in the Jewel and some said they owned half of the city buildings.

Scorpion Exile
The Senpet were met by the Scorpion Clan during their banishment to the Burning Sands. The Scorpion were taken as slaves for an amount of time, until they were freed along with the Kami Shinjo.

Erba'a Alliance
The Senpet fought the Moto Ujik-hai in the Moto-Senpet War. They were defeated in the Shattering of the Jewel by the Erba'a Alliance.

Yodotai Invasion
The Yodotai empire crushed the Senpet in a lengthy and bloody war, from 1130 to 1150. The Senpet Empire was eventually absorbed into the Yodotai, and about half of its most elite forces went into hiding and led a guerrilla war against the conquerors. In Medinaat Al-Salaam, surviving Senpet leaders such as Kesseth plotted against the invaders, hiding within the local Senpet population. A mixe of refugees, Yodotai collaborators and families gradually settled in the city from the time of Caliph Hanan Talibah onwards.