I was actually already looking at the history of this world as progressing from submission to domination of the ruse, so its a great fit. I suggest the startpoint is specifically the birth of the first cities.

I also am game for using microscope rules. There are a few things I don't like about our existing content, mainly that some of it is disconnected from everything else and it lacks thematic unity. I don't think we should just wipe it all away though. Maybe one thing we can do is require that people go heavy on the whimsical/folklore aspect of their contributions going forward?