Soyaewa
Soyaewa, who later came to be known as 'Dawnbringer', was the first of the twelve Sun Kings of the First Dynasty, and the one to unite the Lower Valley as a single realm. His tale was one known to all of Nīwulā Valley since the dawn of his nation through songs and poetry both written and performed. Unlike his descendants whose birth names were recorded before their chosen ruling names, Soyaewa is known only by his ruling name, as well as the nickname 'Dawnbringer'.
Personality
Soyaewa was often described as fierce, brave and unrelenting against his enemies, yet kind toward his friends and allies. He preferred to lead from the front, leaving strategy to others. Despite this he was never said to be hungry for blood or perfection with the arts of combat like his brother, Kēhmao.
Though his life ended in the midst of a bloody battle, Soyaewa enjoyed the peace he had gained with his family on the shore of Lake Akao. Whether it had been determination or simple stubborness, or even ambition which made him leave this haven and go against the Upper Valley was and remains unclear.
Birth & Childhood
Soyaewa was born during "the Height of Sun", possibly referring to the month of midsummer which would later be adopted into the Yuiwian calendar. Though the exact date is unknown having not been recorded until after his reign as Sun King began, most place the date at various years before the beginning of the First Age. The Yuiwian calendar placed its beginning at the year of his birth, placing it at 21 years before the beginning of the First Age.
His family was fairly small, as most of his siblings came out weak or stillborn. Still, he had a brother and a sister, both of whom he was close during childhood. His father, Tūdyo, had married into the clan and became an invaluable member depended on by the rest of the family.
From the moment he could talk Soyaewa would tell his parents of strange dreams, where he could walk and think as well as he could when awake. To the clan this made him dreamwalker, a gifted individual whose sight wasn't bound to the waking world alone. A rare gift by itself, and rarer still that it would come to one so young. Though the clan elders worried what it could mean, for it was surely an omen, his parents worried only that the revelation might set him apart from other children and force him to grow alone.
The clan had not had a dreamwalker in their midst in generations, and so the young child was left largely to explore his dreams alone and unguided. Soyaewa came to enjoy his nights more than the days, for in the day he had no time to slip into a dream and away from chores. But when he did sleep, Soyaewa found himself wandering through endless fields and slithering, dark corridors. He flew with strange, nameless things and sank beneath the great sea and into the primal waters of the world itself. And every night he would learn how to reach a little further, to sink a little deeper.
Dream of Unity
Soyaewa's ambitions began to unveil themselves only after the death of his father few years before the dawn of the First Age. For a while he had wandered the Valley in his dreams, further and further every night, and in those dreams he saw only darkness, battle and desperation.
"His heart wept", or so the tales say, "for the people whose false gods had abandoned them in the midst of such darkness, where only silence prevailed."
Over the years his siblings Kēhmao and Sībyēmu revealed their own gifts for dreamwalking. Though less advanced, the siblings learned to walk their dreams together and soon enough became as inseparable in the waking world as they were in dreams. Sometime between their childhoods and the beginning of the conquest they began to plan for the unification of the Valley.
In 21 Y.Az. an attack led by a neighbouring tribe from the mountainside west of Lake Mīzlaega left Soyaewa's clan devastated. It was after this attack that Soyaewa united the clans of his tribe and marched against their attackers first, and the rest of the Valley later.
The conquest took up over half a decade, and even then Soyaewa managed to unite only the lands downriver from Lake Akao, forming a realm which came to be called the Lower Valley.
Death
Soyaewa fought for a decade against the belligerent wildmen of the Upper Valley. It was during one such battle when a duel with the enemy forces' leader was interrupted by a stray blade slashing the Sun King's side. The wound, though not fatal in itself, served as a fateful distraction as his opponent swiftly slashed through Soyaewa's defenses and punctured through him with his blade. Soyaewa's own weapon found its way similarly into the stomach of his killer, and the both of them collapsed on the field.
First Sun of the Valley
Pronunciation
/soˈjaewa/
Title
Sō-Thadi
Born
"Height of Sun", Lake Mīzlaega, Nīwulā Valley
Died
36 Y.Az, Hill of Kings near Lake Akao, Nīwulā Valley
Related Events
Conquest of Nīwulā Valley
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