2. The Marquesian Alliance

Around the year 400 PD, an exploration vessel from the distant land of Marquet was nearing the end of its provisions when it reached the Swavain Islands. Discovered and captured by the ever-watchful Ki’Nau, the desperate explorers made trade offerings of foreign gold, spices, and fine silks. This diplomatic approach won over the leaders of the Ki’Nau, and an alliance was made with the Marquessian travelers to return with trade goods and establish a Marquessian outpost, which was to be named Damali.
During this time, a cruel seafaring culture called the Vukan discovered the Ki’Nau and coveted their lush homesteads and rich, sea-gathered jewelry. These Vukan began a series of coordinated assaults on the Ki’Nau, killing and kidnapping a number of them under the shadow of night. The Marquessian guilds who had sent the exploration ship agreed to offer naval support to combat these attacks, but it was Uk'otoa whose fury ultimately annihilated the Vukan at their home villages and erased them from Exandria.
Having lost a portion of their fleet in these fights, the surviving Marquessian naval ships remained to build small settlements along the coast to aid in their trade with the Ki’Nau. The Ki’Nau leader Tauan kept a tentative peace with the foreign sailors, but Uk'otoa wanted to dominate the new arrivals who refused to renounce their old gods and bow to him. These tensions came to a head when a secret sect of Marquessian worshipers of the Cloaked Serpent Zehir were given a task by their enraged god from beyond the Divine Gate: to destroy Uk'otoa for his insolence. With the aid of a powerful cult leader within an archeological guild known as the Allegiance of Allsight, a series of temples built to Uk'otoa were corrupted with Zehir’s influence and used to seal Uk'otoa deep beneath the rock of the ocean floor, robbing the Ki’Nau of their patron.