The Tale of the Saejenjou - Book 1 The Great Desert

For thousands of years while the rest of mankind slept in barbarism and ignorance, they refined the arts of civilization. They are the Sarithans, the most advanced and cultured race in the world. When barbarous stone-age tribes washed up on their shores, the Sarithans taught them how to read and write, taught them their calendar and the days of the year, and taught them mathematics and agriculture. These barbarians repaid them with war. Now the Sarithan Commonwealth is the richest, most powerful, most cultured, coldest, most ruthless, most populous, most technologically advanced nation on the planet. And they worship a dark, inscrutable god who wants to destroy the world and all Creation. And Aren Elderwood is afraid that they might actually be able to do it.