Yjouhg the Conqueror

Yjouhg the Conqueror (Old Juagdeon [jʒoəg], Modern [yd͡ʒʊːɡ͡ɣ]), known also as Yjouhg the Bloodthirsty, Yjouhg Blood-On-His-Hands, Yjouhg the All-Slaughter, and Yjouhg One-Is-Divided, was a warlord of Sasatn'a in the late -9th century. He is notable for the extent of his empire, as well as the degree of carnage he is said to have brought. His conquests were a key historical event in the histories of the Juagde, Shoripi, and Gwynghani peoples.

Names

In fitting with Juagdeon culture, Yjouhg in life was rarely refered to by his own name, except for by his close family and his enemies, and his people instead refered to him by a number of nicknames, which are taboo to say since his death. As the Juagde were not natively literate, only a handful of these nicknames are documented, the most prominant of which was Choroyumdal ("blood on his hands"). Other nicknames included Etsu'oyjeh ("one is divided"), Ohgpumketaen ("too many horses"), Hoefirgoksari ("teeth smasher"), and Gotekah ("all will burn").

Early Life

According to the Song of Juagde, Yjouhg was named after his maternal great-grandfather, who died at the age of 100, and who was named after his own maternal great-grandfather, who died at the age of 150, who was "born when Adeysa was still in memory". His tribe was known either as the Obodemeke, or the Ojoekehm, and his father was the reigning chief, E'ayuhg Paegoketa. E'ayuhg was already an old man when Yjouhg was born, yet Yjouhg was his eldest and only son, for all his other children were female or dead. Yjouhg was a wild youth, who took to the art of combat at a young age. When E'ayuhg was growing too old to continue acting as chief, he initiated a ceremonial combat-dance with Yjouhg's second cousin Ybah, to pass down leadership unto him. Despite direct blood succession being frowned upon in Juagde culture, Yjouhg desired the position for himself, and intercepted the dance with an actual attack on his cousin and father. Ybah fled from this and, seeing his cowardice, E'ayuhg continued the ceremony with his son, making him his successor. Ybah returned some time later and challenged Yjouhg's authority as illegitimate, to which Yjouhg responded by furiously beating him with the chiefly cane. Even when Ybah relented, Yjough continued attacking him, drawing a blade and threatening to behead him. Ybah ran and Yjouhg chased, eventually catching him, drawing his blade to his throat, only to state that he has granted Ybah his mercy, mercy which he shall forever remember. Ybah swore complete fealty to Yjouhg, and would go on to be his most devouted follower.

An apocryphal story says that on the first day of sacrifice following Yjouhg's ascension to chief, he was to sacrifice a bull to the deity Yeoyn with a dagger. When he stabbed the bull, however, he proclaimed it as a sacrifice unto himself, for he was of and above the gods. At the moment of this proclamation, he was struck by lightning, which set the bull ablaze (sacrificing a second time) and leaving himself unharmed.

Unification of the Juagde

Likely in an attempt to legitimize his grab for power, Yjouhg's first action as chief was to attack a neighboring tribe, known either as the Ojoekehm or Obedemeke. This neighboring tribe had been conducting raids across all the other tribes of the area, including his. The attack was a success, but instead of the traditional result of a tribal conflict (a proportional allotment of wealth, women, and slaves), Yjouhg opted to behead the chief and declare himself chief of both tribes at once.