The Sky Wars

The Sky Wars was the war between the griffin race and the dragon race which took place 200 years before the events of book 1. It ended in the massacre of almost all griffins and dragons as well as the establishment of the Higharc, which is still the ruling body on Eray during the series.
Prior to the Sky Wars Eray lived in relative peace with the dragons and griffins using their superior wisdom to police the less intelligent civilizations like the humans and drem. Racial tensions broke out and the two fought over ideals. The griffins thought that civilization needed to be encouraged and that exploration of the sky could usher in a new era of society. The dragons favored the hunter-gather lifestyle and thought that with civilization came pollution and destruction. They believed the sky was to be used to fly around in to stay above the heads of the "lesser" races so to make remaining superior to them easier and that exploration was futile. Unable to agree, war broke out.
The demons saw the war as an oppertunity to take over Eray. Their reasoning was that if the dragons and griffins killed each other off then they could simply march into Eray and assume control of the lesser Erayic peoples who, at the time, relied on the dragons and griffins for guidance.
The name "Sky Wars" suggests more than one war. Technically the Sky Wars was two seperate wars. First was the war between the dragons and griffins and the second was the war between their supporters. Those who supported the draconic goals were known as "Draconites" and those who supported the griffins were called "Griffians". These two ideologies fought a war of attrition to eliminate the supporters of the rival species so that when the war in the sky was over the victors could guide the world without opposition. Sometimes these two wars crossed over and many times a dragon army would fight with the ground-based Griffians or a fleet of Draconite blimps would take on a flock of griffins.
The victors were the griffins and the Griffians. The Draconite cause died with the dragons, but there were enough griffins still in the world to show the Griffians how to run their own society. The Griffians became the Higharc-the government which is in control of the planet of Eray in the books.
The Sky Wars is largely background material, it helps give the story some context and makes the setting more believable. The consquences of the Sky Wars as well as the lessons Anar learns from the conflict also play a key role in the plot of the series.
The Sky Wars plays a key role in Rook's character. One of the reasons he is so anti-social is because of certain events he took part in during the Sky Wars (Rook is centuries old).