After the fall of Ürüne Düré, Yhera left the Heavens to wander the Underworld in search of the spirit of Agdah Cosmopeiia. In her absence, Illiki Helios was overthrown from his throne as the Sun King by his older brother Irré the Black, who accused him of abandoning the defense of Düréa to hastily claim the mantle of the Sun God after Agdah's death. And for a brief time Irré the Black ruled the Heavens as the Sun. But Islik, the King of the Earth and once heir to his father Illiki's throne, denied the validity of Irré as the Sun King, and so withheld the sacrifice due the Sun.
Islik's general, Israha, used this to foment rebellion against him, and Islik was overthrown. Wandering in exile, Islik met three other Kings who had rejected the rule of the Black Sun: ancient Agall, in exile from his Kingdom after the disgrace of his war on Düréa and the loss of his army; Coromat of Vanimoria, roaming the earth after the binding of Geteema, Queen of the Dark Earth; and Jala the Good Prince, son of Surep, King of far Samarappa, exiled by a magician of the Celestial Court after the death of his father.
While the exploits of the Kings in Exile are part of Divine King lore, no mention is made in traditional Sun Court or Phoenix Court texts of Islik having children while in the Far West. The Ten Victories of Islik includes a Victory over the magics of the Kings of the West, and a Victory over the treachery of an enemy called the Blooded prior to his descent into the Underworld and his victory over Death, but no mention of descendents.
But according to Golan scholars of the Great Schools who have studied them, the Isliklids make this claim: that the four Kings in Exile, while pursued by Ceram the Thunderer, came across the Midlands to lands near Jala's Samarappa, where they dwelt in safety amongst the Rajiks, and took wives and bore children. Islik, who called himself 'the son of the True Sun,' was greeted by the people of the desert West as the son of Irré, who blazed black in the sky, and they conquered the nearby Khaghals for him, and for a time he ruled the Kingdom of the Sun by Lake Hazrat. But in time his sons and daughters asked why they made no sacrifice to the Black Sun, as was considered proper; and Islik revealed his true paternity, and proclaimed his rebellion against Irré. His children gathered in great dismay, and chose to sacrifice to Irré and the other gods, and war broke out between the Kings in Exile and thier children. Jala left with his children and returned to Samarappa, and became King, and made sacrifice to the gods; Coromat killed his children and lost his mind; and Agall was slain by his sons. Islik fought his progeny, but could not kill them such was their strength. When he saw Agall dead, he mourned his great companion, and descended into the Underworld to save his friend, and while in the Underworld, Islik cursed his rebellious children.
Islik's descendents — the Isliklids — held thrones in the West despite the curse of their father, though they now called their domain the Kingdom of Hazrat-Ghal. They extended their rule over the peoples of the Western Midlands, the Rajiks and the Khagals and the Urghals, and eventually over parts of Samarappa, challenging the princely sons of Jala. The Isliklids ruled with an iron grip until the coming of Dauban Hess, the Conqueror King, and his army. At first, hearing that Dauban Hess claimed descent from Islik, they greeted him as their brother and cousin. But Dauban Hess denounced them and their false claims, saying they were the children of Israha and Irré, and condemned them for sacrifice to the gods and other unseemly and degenerate practices. For 16 years the armies of Dauban Hess and the lords of Hazrat-Ghal fought throughout the West until at last Dauban Hess drove the Isliklids into exile, in the year 262 (of the Imperial Avellan calendar, marked as i262).
For a time, the Isliklids disappeared from the Known World. According to their own histories, they took service with the Emperors of Califa in the Unknown World for several centuries. They reappeared in the Far West in the Winter Century, leading an army of warlords and thralls through the Valley of Hooves. They first reconquered the Lake Hazrat region, driving out or enslaving the Kessite lords, then the entirety of Samarappa, destroying the Celestial Court and ending the direct line of descent of the sons of Jala the Good Prince. The Isliklids proclaimed thier lands as the Kingdom of the Düméghal, and ruled for four dark centuries.
In i1038, the new ruler of the revived Thessid-Golan Empire, Akkalion, finished his conquest of neighboring Ramoristan and established a temporary court at the City of Opals. He sent emissaries to the Isliklids, proclaiming his ancient right to the lands of the Kessites and the Samarappans, but the Isliklids sent back the bones of his messengers. Akkalion launched campaigns against the Isliklids for ten years, and despite some victories was thwarted at every turn, and so he returned to the East having learned humility.
At the Black Day Battle against the Middle Kingdoms, Akkalion fell under the spell of what would come to be called the Gray Dream. When word of this reached the Isliklids, they abandoned the Kingdom of the Düméghal, leading their warlords and thralls into Ramoristan. They conquered the City of Opals by i1083 and invaded Thelea and the Sea of Sands, warring against both the Empire and the Ceraics. The Isliklids came slowly East, spreading darkness and death and pestilence and slaughter; first Thelea, then Metea, then Pfalk, until by i1150 they had invaded Vanimoria. For over fifty years, the Empire poured the armies of the East into Vanimoria to fight off the predations of the Isliklids, but finally in i1206 the Isliklids sacked the ancient city of Tir-en-tiel and were on the verge of invading the lowlands of Galia and Thessidia.
The Empire offered the Isliklids any price for peace then. For six years, the Isliklids were silent, and held their warlords in check, poised above the Thessid-Golan lowlands, until they finalled assented to a truce and alliance. The Isliklids led their thralls and warlords north, across the Red Wastes and into the Dain Éduins. With the help of the Empire, they subjugated the wild Kings of DjarMael, who ruled in the far reaches of the mountains, and by i1214 they had proclaimed three kingdoms — Boradja, Ugeram, and Morica. The Defender Kings of Maece, who had led the Middle Kingdoms against Akkalion, sought to aid their distant Mael cousins against the conquering Isliklids, and launched a series of crusades to liberate them. Their wars were in vain, and over the course of the next fifty years the strength of the Defender Kings was broken in Lost Uthedmael and the Dain Éduins, and Maece ceased to exist. Over time the Isliklids' warlords, the Düméghal, were granted places in the Emperor's court, and became the chief generals shaping the the Empire's military might, displacing those Vanimorian princes and warlords who had held those positions. In the western reaches of the Empire, where the Isliklids carved their path of depreadation, a period called the 'Fire Crusade' is somtimes spoken of, when the lords of the West purged all remnants of their passage, but given the Isliklids' place of power in the Empire they are not openly criticized. Thier goals and interests in the East are a matter of great speculation, even in the Empire amongst their nominal allies.
