The Srothi were originally a collection of nomads living on the more marginal worlds of the Locus. They are named because the group that began their historic campaign of interplanetary conquest began on the planet Srothi. However, to say that all "Srothi" are from Srothi would be a misnomer, as they Srothi recruited allies extensively as they expanded their frontiers; without the support of other nomadic cultures, the Srothi would not have had the manpower reserves to subjugate such a large empire.
The Srothi Empire was founded by a warlord called the Dathlan Lhadenakh. Dathlan Lhandenakh was a brilliant military strategist and tactician, and it was his reputation of invincibility that allowed him to unite many tribes under his command. By the time of his death, his armies had subjugated nearly a third of the Locus. His descendants further expanded the frontiers of this empire, conquering more than half of the Locus (the criterion used to define the four Great Empires) at its height.
Despite its early success, the Srothi empire crumbled within a few generations of its founding. This was largely due to the intense unpopularity of the Srothi among its conquered subjects. During its height, the Srothi relied on brutality and intimidation to keep conquered subjects under control. As soon as the Srothi showed signs of weakness, these subjects revolted. The opportunity to revolt came as a result of a shortage of healer mages throughout the empire, which permitted the Srothi to be struck by a deadly plague.
In the aftermath of its collapse, the various Srothic tribes moved to marginal worlds in order to escape retribution from their former subjects. In many cases, this meant simply returning to the worlds from which they had originally been recruited. For the Srothi proper (the original Srothi army), this was not possible, as the Srothi had imported large numbers of slaves to their home world. As the empire collapsed, these slaves revolted and took the planet for themselves. Thus, the Srothi would suffer an ironic fate as the conquerors became the conquered.
The Srothi were most noted for their mastery of the energy school of magic, particularly the use of telekinesis. Their armies were carried and supported by vast fleets of hoverships and windchariots. They were also noted for refining and popularizing the pod city.
Modern descendants of the Srothi are mostly peaceful, as they have learned the lessons of history, and lack the manpower reserves to attempt campaigns of conquest at any rate. However, there are a few notable exceptions. The Shaideth Empire is a fragment of the old Srothi empire that seems bent on re-establishing imperial dominance. They are not particularly well liked, for obvious reasons.
The Srothic language is notable for its lack of voiced fricative consonants. This tends to give it a characteristic sibilant and guttural sound. However, some dialects have relaxed this, pronouncing fricative consonants in a slack manner to produce a more buzzing sound.