Legend of Sotokusieja
Legend of Sotokusieja
1In the days of first flight, when scales were just born,
even still new from egg and tired from breaking forth,
2A soul of green, of infectious disease and broken mind,
brought forth greed, of jealousy and insatiable hunger.
3Shukugûjuno brought forth wanton desire for the soulless,
into the hearts of the elder scales he brought lust,
4The scales whose purpose was still wet ink and damp clay,
became tools of gold, tools of iron, tools of war, tools of hunger.
5It was in those days when it seemed all elder scales lost to lust,
lacking hope and losing faith, the scale gods broken in character,
6An elder scale of pure light brought forth another way,
an alternative to the consumption of all, a redemption.
7But what is redemption without sacrifice but more consumption?
What irony lays at the feet of needing to take what is given?
8The scales wanted nothing more than to consume his light,
so many scales consumed with the intent to consume it all,
9For as light banishes darkness from its presence,
Sotokusieja satisfied the endless hungering.
10He sacrificed his own being to satisfy the lust of many,
To give the ultimate gift, the provide for the final taking,
11To be the irony and the iron, to break the material cycle,
To end the sickness of gold, to stop the circle of greed,
12The consumption of his essence ended the consumption of all,
For his light satisfies the scales, like the elder scales ne'er be.
Summary & Analysis
The Legend of Sotokusieja is one of the few things Kajuzurie may consider sacred. It is their primary differentiator from their enslavers, and what they believe sets them apart. Because the Dragonborn and Kajuzuries did not have a traditionally written language, the legend was passed on orally and as a result there are many permutations of it. In 3128 AoK, the legend was formally written down as part of a collection of Kajuzurie legends that guide the people on matters of values, character and culture.
The legend itself is rather a Urien poem, that describes their dragon creators or the elder scales as being sick with a disease of the mind or character. Some scholars believe this is related to the notion that dragons hoard wealth and gold. The idea is presented that they are all essentially sick with greed, including the lower dragonborn race or the scales.
The story's antogonist, Shukugûjuno, is the personification of greed, lust and insatiable hunger. He is also considered and element of both destruction and self-destruction. He receives the blame for infecting the scales with the most horrific of destructive behaviors.
Then the hero is introduced, Sotokusieja, for whom the legend is named. While there are debates among Kajuzurie scholars over whether or not Sotokusieja is also a personofication or if he was a real entity, it is clear that he represents satisfaction, sacrifice and charity. The irony of the story is that Sotokusieja dies through self-sacrifice to finally satisfy and cure the dragonborn of their moral sickness, thus allowing them to stop the cycle of greed and to some degree emulate Sotokusieja.
In more modern Kajuzurie culture, Sotokusieja is the spirit of giving, which is believed to be a part of all Kajuzurie. To lack Sotokusieja is to essentially be equated morally to the dragons who created and enslaved the dragonborn, and so the Kajuzurie take this ideal very seriously. Rather than building a holiday around the legend, they incorporate these ideals daily, making an effort each day to do something that is to the benefit of another. They consider this practice to be strengthening good and moral character the same way a training exercise might strengthen one physically.
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