Great Drought

Nobody knows how long humans and surre have been living in Shra. Guesses range from one to several millennia. However almost all knowledge of the early periods has been lost during the Great Drought. Myths tell of that time as a cataclysm where there was an extreme shortage of water, accompanied by dust clouds that blocked the sun. It lasted several years, nearly wiping out the sapient population. Possibly only a few hundred individuals managed to survive. Only when the dearth lifted did the people recover. Many oases had been lost; a few new ones appeared, which were (re)occupied.
Many religious myths speak of the time before the Great Drought as an era where the gods ruled and the time after as the era of men, or claim that the alternation between prosperity and destruction is cyclic. A handful of inquisitive individuals have unearthed remains of the civilization(s?) that existed before the Great Drought, yet the majority of the current population of Shra are too busy surviving to take heed.

Calendar

The people of Shra for most part depend on agriculture and horticulture in the oases for their food. Like all agricultural societies, they pay close attention to the change of the seasons and keep track of the days and years. As Shra has no moons, there are no months. The people do not care about weeks either. Instead, they divide the year into four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. The boundaries between them, like the ancient Celtic festivals on Earth, are great religious feasts.
The calendar was invented in several places more or less at the same time. Humans claim that the oldest is the Human Calendar, established by Sanghe of Ibulhayra. In it, years are counted from that invention onward, which is called the Year 0. The Surre say that they were first and humans just shifted theirs backward to be able to claim ancestry. Their Surre Calendar, set up by Oghwe of Zenj, starts in year 3 of the Human Calendar. As both strictly follow the seasons, the difference is exactly 3 years, not one less or more.
Years also have names. Some years are named after dramatic events or count the number of years that a ruler has been in power. As these namings vary from place to place and are sometimes applied to both calendars, they can be quite confusing. Therefore historians usually fall back on the numbered years of the calendars.

Isgassn

By Earth standards, Shra's history is quite dull. There are no great empires and small ones do not last; there are no prophets who sweep the world with new faiths; there are no inventions or scientific breakthroughs of note. There is just "isgassn", the flow of the years. This does not mean that nothing happens in the region. Ambitions soar, loves sprout, intrigues wind and twist, hopes are dashed, people fight for wealth, power, love or just to stay alive. It is just that almost all of it is small scale, at the level of a community, family or individual.

Chronology

Below is a chronology of major events that have been recorded by the historians of Shra. Years are listed in both human and surre era.

Human	Surre	Event
18	15	Slaying of the beast: The great surre hunter Utm of Rngma hunts down and kills the giant nnniyh of Argaba.
145	142	The Far East: Lanky Gizzn returns to Shra. He claims to have crossed over the Adrar Illa, wandered far to the east and have found Ijnt. However his descriptions are incoherent and his route cannot be be verified. Nonetheless he inspires many adventurers to seek out the paradise also.
234 - 247	231 - 244	The Punn Terror: The mighty human bandit god Punn sweeps though Shra as a wind of terror. His army, made up of criminals and lunatics, disciplined with terror and frenzied with religious fervor, overwhelms once town after another, human and surre alike. Each spring and autumn he conquers one, bleeds it dry during the subsequent summer or winter, then moves on to the next. Only his death, which is shrouded in mystery, puts an end to the terror.
278	281	God-king of Qurqimi: Huighi of Qurqimi survives the Ritual of the Salt Meal and is proclaimed god-king. After his death, he passes his secret on to his successor, starting the unbroken line of god-kings. Some say that the spirit of the original Huighi rules the physical body of each descendant, which is considered blasphemy by people across the Erg Tisnt.
293	290	Iqun and Matiha: Iqun is a high ranking surre from Gma Azgzaw, Matiha a human princess from Gma Azggway. Despite the law which forbade contact, they love each other. Their fathers fight a war over them, but the couple cut it short by giving up their titles and disappearing. Some say they reached Ijnt. Since then, the two towns have lived in peace.
506	503	Azru Ghnna: Huhhkk of Gma Azggway orders the construction of the Azru Ghnna, the Singing Rocks. Over the ages, the corridors are expanded many times.
522 - 529	519 - 526	The Blue Fever: Disease sweeps through Shra, killing more than half of the camel population, bringing trade almost to a standstill. It starts in the south and spreads north in fits and starts. It takes many years before the number of camels is back to normal.
658 - 662	655 - 659	The Fire War: The human god Armughrb of Tughrye uses White Fire to blaze villages and towns into submission, conquering one after another. Those who resist are put to the torch. He conquers a vast empire, covering all of the south and the Ighrb Tim. But when he marches his armies into the Erg Us, they are vanquished by the Dust Rage that is wielded by the northern god Imsqu. Both Armughrb and the secret of the White Fire vanish from the world.
726	723	The Golden Rat: A miner in the Dhabnq mine finds a very large gold nugget which is shaped somewhat like a rat. Master craftsmen in Gma Azgzaw make a jewel out of it, enhancing the original form but not disturbing it. It becomes an heirloom of the ruling house of the town.
732	729	The Grand Theft: The Golden Rat is stolen from under the noses of the guard in Gma Azgzaw. The theft is rumored to be the work of a master thief. The jewel disappears from public view.
756 - 764	753 - 761	The Jillal Heresy: Jillal of Ibulhayra denies the ddruj and proclaims that neither yann nor ilwah exist, that the lifetime of every being is confined to a brief period between birth and death and that there is no afterlife. He persecutes priests, destroys idols and even tries to dismantle the town ziggurat. After a couple of years the opposition against him grows too strong and he is toppled from power. Ironically, according to Swhn chronicles, he is considered to be a god himself.
783	780	The Rat Strife: The Golden Rat resurfaces in Tuiga. The rulers of Gma Azgzaw demand it back, the demand is refused. This leads to the 'Rat Strife', a kind of cold war between the two towns that expresses itself in insults, occasional kidnappings and murders.
924	921	The Mzine: Tyuftru of Gma Azgzaw composes the Mzine, a fantastic piece of iqishtinim, which requires a humongous amount of forty artists to be performed properly.
948	945	The Great Run: Camel driver Urqbit wins a bet by racing his dromedary from Neftan to Tuiga in just 10 Shra-hours. Officials in the village and town track the time by measuring the alignment of the stars meticulously.