The Skrekin People were a goblinoid culture that were the first permanent inhabitants of the central oasis of the desert. The beginning of their habitation marks the start of the Wahatan Era. This Era began in 2308 PS and lasted up until the Kha'anj invasion in 2451 PS.
The first permanent settlement of the oasis was constructed in 2308 PS by the Skrekin Alliance. It was very small, consisting almost entirely of small wood and clay hovels. The Skrekin called their settlement Skrei, naming it after themselves. Skrekin culture was incredibly accepting and adaptable, and consequently it evolved rapidly. The Skrekin assimilated many different groups of people into their culture, and expanded Skrei to fit. The village doubled in size in the first 5 years, and doubled again by the turn of the first decade.
Skrei had quadrupled in size after only a decade, and Skrekin culture had evolved just as much. What had initially formed as a society focused solely on gathering enough food to survive day-to-day, became an advanced society focused on scientific, philosophical, theological, and technological discovery. With the growing aggregation of knowledge from across Chandaria, the need arose for a place to store all of it. This is what prompted the beginning of construction on the Library of Skrei. The construction finished in 2320 PS, and the Library of Skrei became the largest collection of knowledge and texts outside of the Sanctum Arcana in Spellhaven. Historians consider the end of construction on the Library of Skrei to be the beginning of what they call The Wahatan Enlightenment. For the next century, Skrei saw progress like no city before it. The Library of Skrei continued to expand its collection and became the driving force of innovation. Any text that travelers had was taken to the Library and copied by the master scribes and given back. Scholars started traveling from across the continent to peruse the Library's collections. During the Wahatan Enlightenment, Skrei, which had once occupied a small amount of the Oasis's shore, expanded to encompass the entire Oasis, and the population grew exponentially as Skrei became the most luxurious place to live in the desert.
One of the most prevalent inventions from the Wahatan Enlightenment Period is the modern sand skiff, known as a Sandsail. The Sandsail was created in 2343 PS by a collective of goblin inventors drawing on tram technology from Bippenbol and naval technologies from the Atrisean Dynasty. Sandsails are usually made of wood with a sail made from giant snake skin. Sandsails are still in use today, but they are banned from Kha'anj and the surrounding area.
The second major invention of the Wahatan Enlightenment was the Skrekin Calendar. For all of recorded history, time has been documented via the Celestial Calendar (once called the Anteitic Calendar). The Celestial Calendar is based on the solstices and equinoxes, with the months divided evenly between them. The Skrekin people found this calendar to be inefficient, with its multiple holidays separate from the actual months, and the ten-day division of months inauspicious for good work week balance. They came up with the Skrekin Calendar, which instead is 13 months that are 28 days each. They kept Deepwinter separate from the other months still, since it wasn't based around the seasonal changes. They called the thirteenth month Skreitan, and it fit in between Messime and Planimor in the Celestial Calendar, with all the other months the same.
The Skrekin Calendar never caught on, but some scholars still argue for its adoption over the Celestial Calendar.
In the 10 years leading up to 2451 PS, the Kha'anj coalition gained influence and power across the central Scorch. The coalition was made up of the most brutal, power-hungry warlords and they all banded together under the mission of claiming the peaceful civilization of Skrei for them themselves. The Kha'anj invasion lasted for only 5 days, and was one of the shortest sieges Chandaria had ever seen.
The lack of defenses around Skrei, and the clear mismatch in combat superiority between the two cultures led to quick and brutally efficient fighting. During the sacking of the city, the Kha'anj burned the Library of Skrei, as it represented the heart of Skrekin civilization. They killed indiscriminately, and the Skrekin either had to flee or try to fight back.
Most of Skrei was rebuilt and expanded by the Kha'anj, who renamed the oasis to the Kha'anj Oasis. The Kha'anj civilization that replaced the Skrekin couldn't have been more different. Harsh, oligarchic governance took over streets that once housed some of the continent's greatest thinkers and peacemakers.