Qilan

The Qilan are a chimeric race of humanoids native to the oriental continent of Maztica, exclusive to the Aeon of the Champion story series. After the War of Dragon, they grew exponentially in power and enslaved the weakest of their kin as well as the other native races on the continent, forming a powerful empire on the backs of their slaves.

History
After defeating the Dragon Kings of Maztica, the Earthen who had been infused with dragon spirit essence evolved into a powerful race known as the Qilan, chimeroids with fiery scales and antler-like horns growing out of their heads. The project had been a success ostensibly speaking, as the result was a powerful race who could keep evil at bay for years.

Things started going wrong when the Qilan themselves became evil; they began expanding and soon colonised the majority of Maztica for themselves, building powerful kingdoms based on the slavery of the less-powerful of their race. They also began government-sanctioned violent crackdowns on any outsiders. Ten Tsux, the most powerful Qilan Emperor to date, then entered the Spirit Isles where Ragnar's tomb lay and did battle with keeper Naz'gomal for control of the centre, believing it to be a source of ancient power for which would increase the might of their civilisation. Successive generations of dragon essence-breeding had groomed him into a fierce opponent, and Tsux killed Naz'gomal and his allies in a single thundersweep all by himself, dooming all the other races of Maztica to millenia of slavery and darkness. He is said to have cackled like thunder itself as the moon set on the continent that day.

Thanks to Tsen Tsux, Qilan ruled Maztica for what seemed like eternities afterwards, with successive Emperors taking over and making the empire stronger and stronger, while their greed grew greater and greater. All of this being the work of Beelzebub, who had turned the once-noble race into materialistic savages who wasted their power and resources on trying to acquire more. 9,000 years before the opening of the Genesis Portal, Ao Qin - the malevolent, deposed red Dragon King - returned to the living world as a vengeful spirit looking for a host body. Forshad, the reigning Qilan Emperor, was overconfident in racial power and was determined to build for his people an empire that transcended the frontiers of reality. By this time the effects of Beelzebub's corruption were becoming severe, and though they grew in power, the Qilan lost their sense of direction. They began to fight among themselves, and this factionalism nearly led to a civil war between Forshad and the other Qi sorcerers. This meant that they lost control over their slaves, and the other Maztican races - particularly ticapan - were able to slip out of the iron grip of serfdom that had held them for so long. The ticapan revolutionaries were led by the spiritual, nature-minded Seer Kwang, who had spent his free years learning the ways of the monk. By the time of the real revolution, he was a powerful practicioner of martial arts, and taught the other pan his ways. They were the only family he ever knew, the students, and became powerful enough to stand up to the cruel Qilan.

After Forshad sorted out his popularity problems at home, he was disgusted to see that the slaves had revolted. He sent qilan soldiers in force to re-subjugate them, but the chaos instigated by Beelzebub's taint caused disorder within their regiments which Forshad had been far too ignorant to see. Indeed, though outnumbered, the slaves slowly pushed back the Qilan, whose losses in the war resulted in regression to prior ways. Furious with his accumulation of defeats and the loss of face they caused, he accused the Qilan of softening over the years, claiming that prosperity had made them weaker. He became single-mindedly committed to purging Maztica of the genetically inferior, and thus retreated to Spirit Isles once again to reclaim his former glory...somehow. The rebels gained ground as a result, all the way to the Isles themselves.

Reaching the Shadow Summit, Forshad followed the trail treaded by his ancestors, in search of the legendary power source that lay at its crux. Unbeknownst to him, it was the spirit of Ao Qin looking for his old body. Both of them appeared in the same place at the same time, and when they met, the result was not pleasant. As soon as the evil spirit came across a free body, it attempted to attached itself onto Forshad's soul, but Forshad's own inner spirit resisted him, pushing him out. A furious battle of the spirits emerged, with fireworks and thunderclaps galore atop the Shadow Summit. The two spirits clashed bitterly such that the Summit around them began to collapse, first regularly, but then pyroclastically. Seeing the danger, Kwang instructed his now-victorious rebels not to chase Forshad into oblivion. Instead, they began to hastily combine their monk powers to build a shield around the Spirit Isles, locking them off from any outside intervention and containing the effects of the Summit standoff. Kwang knew that Forshad had doomed his people, and did not want to see his pan make his mistake. Thus, the pan returned home to establish their own kingdom.

The Shadow Summit did eventually collapse. Forshad and the spirit of Ao Qin fell through it, continuing their battle for supremacy for years afterwards under the ground, which led to continual instability in the region. However, Qilan power had collapsed in his absence, and their cruel regime of millenia was brought to an end.

Trivia

 * The Qilan are based on Chinese chimeroids, the Qilin.
 * They are also based on the Mogu from Warcraft.