Sadees

Sadees
Family Descendants Alethi highprinces
Abilities	Shardbearer
Titles	King of Alethkar, The Sunmaker
Nationality	Alethi
Homeworld	Roshar
Universe	Cosmere

“ All wars are games. The greatest kind, with the pieces lost real lives, the prizes captured making for real wealth! This is the life for which men exist. To fight, to kill, to win. ”

— The Sunmaker

Sadees, also known as the Sunmaker, is an ancient king of Alethkar on Roshar who reigned about five hundred years before the True Desolation, and was the first to unify the kingdom after the fall of Alethela.

Appearance and Personality

Little of the Sunmaker's personality is known. He is an ambitious man, constantly going above and beyond on tasks others thought impossible. He is a lover of battle and considers it to be a great game. There is a streak of cruelty to his conquests, with Sadees killing thousands to achieve his dream of a unified Roshar. He is insane and has a tendency to kill even ordinary citizens in his conquest, such as in the genocide he instituted against the Azish people.

He has little tolerance for other cultures, claiming that the Azish were uncivilized since they did not use eye color as a basis for their social hierarchy.

Nothing is known of the Sunmaker's physical appearance, beyond the fact that he refused to wear a crown. The man wielded a hooked Shardblade known as Oathbringer.

History

Early Life and Defeat of the Hierocracy

Little is known of Sadees's early life. At some point in his life, the Sunmaker bonded the Shardblade known as Oathbringer. At age seventeen, he began his campaign to unite the highprinces of Alethkar into a single nation. Sadees used two tactics to help achieve his aim. He made use of an entire company of cavalry, with legendary speed and maneuverability. The Thrill also drove his soldiers to victory. After completing this task and claiming a mandate from the Almighty, Sadees crowned himself king of a united Alethkar. The Sunmaker led the overthrow of the Hierocracy. He questioned the ardents about their claims of prophecies from the Almighty, going through their correspondence. The Sunmaker proclaimed that the ardents had been lying, so Vorinism was broken into devotaries.

Later Conquests and Death

With the Hierocracy defeated, the Sunmaker turned his attention to a conquest of all of Roshar. He began with a conquest of Herdaz, which he successfully completed. However, this was not enough for him, and he turned his attention west. It is uncertain whether he conquered Jah Keved, or if that kingdom even existed at that point. What is known is that he conquered his way to Azir in western Roshar, then under the rule of Prime Aqasix Snoxil. Upon reaching Azir, the Sunmaker claimed that as the Azish did not properly respect eye color they needed to be conquered and civilized. He sacked the capital of Azimir and took the kingdom easily, more easily than he had assumed. Unable to leave a city behind with a force of fighting men, Sadees instituted a policy of genocide against the Azish. He issued arbitrary decrees, such as ordering all men with hair beyond a certain length be executed. Other times he ordered each of his soldiers to kill a specific number of captives each day. It is said that the highstorms blew up piles of skulls in Zawfix. During his time in Azir, Sadees had one in ten people in Azir killed. As his conquest continued, Sadees suddenly fell ill with an unknown disease and died.

Legacy

Upon the Sunmaker's death, his empire did not last long. He had never bothered to choose an heir, and his ten sons could not decide among themselves who they wished to support. His sons quickly turned to infighting and the empire collapsed in less than a generation. These ten sons founded the princedoms in Alethkar, crowning themselves the highprinces of a disunified kingdom. As the kingdom turned insular, their influence beyond their own borders decreased greatly. However, the Sunmaker's conquests had a lasting impact on Alethkar. His campaign forged the modern trade routes between Alethkar and Azir, Herdaz, and Jah Keved. His contact with other kingdoms brought science and culture back to Alethkar. This influx of contact with the outside world triggered an Alethi cultural revolution. His defeat of the Hierocracy and the division of the Vorin Church into devotaries prevented the ardents from gaining the same amount of power or wealth they once enjoyed.

In modern Alethkar, Sadees is revered as a cultural hero. To be compared to the Sunmaker is considered to be a great compliment. The Sunmaker Mountains in central Alethkar were named after him. King Gavilar Kholin revered the Sunmaker. He was Gavilar's inspiration when Gavilar united the highprinces himself. In fact one of the titles of the refounded king of Alethkar is heir of the Sunmaker. When Dalinar Kholin was determined to forge a coalition against the Voidbringers, he tried to avoid using conquest as a tool, as he considered the Sunmaker to be a tyrant and wished to do better. Memories of the Sunmaker made the other nations of Roshar hesitant to trust Dalinar and the Alethi.

Trivia

• Sadees is the Rosharan equivalent of a persona such as Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan.

Notes

Preceded by disorder (After the fall of the Heraldic Epoch Silver Kingdom Alethela)

King of Alethkar c. 660 to c. ?

Succeeded by Gavilar Kholin

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Windrunner (talk) 02:24, 15 November 2017 (MST)