Tot Jol-jit

Tot Jol-jit ( Sak: Sak language) was a Sak general, leader of the short-lived Tot tribe and a close ally of Ryung Shäpbät, the father of the later Ryung Sôdung who would conquer the Shár Empire. His perception is mixed in the eyes of the Sak - some viewing him as a cruel opportunist who backstabbed his way to his position, others viewing him as a great warlord -, and in the eyes of the Shár, he was never more than a ruthless warlord who terrorized innocent Shár people and took part in the bloody First Sak Invasion of Shár. Even those who have positive perceptions of him do not dispute that he was a cruel man and was well known for his cruelty.

Early Life
Tot Jol-jit's birth name is Jú Song-il ( Sak: Sak language). It is said that he was born into a large and stable family within the Gim tribe, and all was well until he was around 16 years old - it is said that the young Song-il's father killed a prestigious man in self-defense, which led to a feud between his family and the family of the murdered man. As a form of revenge, the offended family's men went ahead and murdered Song-il's mother - the father swore blood-vengence, and would go on to collect his friends and massacre the whole offended family. For this transgression, the chieftain of the Gim tribe issued a manhunt against the Jú family, forcing it to flee - Jú Song-il's father was killed, along with all of his siblings. Only Jú Song-il himself managed escape with his life.

The 16-years old Jú Song-il spend the next ten years of his life as a bandit, first operating on his own - surviving on stolen food, extorted goods, constantly on the run from the law, but then he would gradually assemble his own team and go on actual raids. In 2980 BEKE, he and his raiding party were hired by the Kal tribe. Under Kal service, he would conduct raids and attacks on various other tribes during the next two years.

Foundation of a new tribe
In 2978 BEKE, when he time was right, he would betray his master Kal Jong-ji - after he came across the Helmet of the Unicorn, a mythical artifact that was long believed to be a nonexistent myth, the troops previously loyal to only Kal Jong-ji would begin blindly following Jú Song-il's orders and follow him on a final countdown against the Gim tribe. In this act of unsanctioned aggression, both the Gim and Kal tribes called for a manhunt against Jú Song-il, but the man wearing the mythical helmet would emerge victorious: he first completely wiped off the Gim tribe, leaving only sexually attractive women alive to be taken as concubines by his men - he would take the chieftain's three daughters as his concubines, and would rape the youngest one of them in front of her sisters and his own soldiers.

Afterwards, he led his warriors against the remaining Kal tribesmen who were loyal to Kal Jong-ji. Song-il would defeat Jong-ji, but would not kill him - instead of killing Kal Jong-ji, Jú Song-il left Kal Jong-ji alive on the condition that he would become his vassal and grant him his daughter Weimung's hand. Jong-ji agreed.

Afterwards, Jú Song-il changed his name to Tot Jol-jit - meaning "golden ironfist" - and would announce the foundation of a new tribe: the Tot tribe.

Alliance with the Shár
In his search for glory, Tot Jol-jit allied himself with the Shár Empire against the Yeder (Proto-Elves) during the Yeder Wars, and personally took part in campaigns against them. For this, the Shár gave him gold. Despite his alliance with the Shár, there were complaints that his soldiers forcibly took "living booty" from the Shár - they demanded the company of Shár women and would get violent if they weren't allowed to rape young Shár females. If they were presented with the females they wanted, they would go onto hold orgies with them, many of which in the chieftain himself took part. Then the soldiers would demand a "lock on the lips" - demand that the villagers don't report it to the imperial authorities.

The Shár authorities were outraged by his actions, but the threat of allying with the Elves against the weakening Shár, and threats of massive raids kept the Shár in check. Additionally, his demands to hand over Shár women for his unmarried warriors were accepted by the weak-willed Shár Emperors. Most of his own concubines were Shár too.

At home, in Sak territory, Jol-jit would go on campaigns of terror to intimidate those who did not recognize him as a legitimate sovereign chieftain. In 2974, Jol-jit's wife Kal Weimung died in childbirth, although many claim that it was suicide caused by her abusive husband who not only treated her little better than a toy but refused to listen to her, slept with other women right under her nose - including the Gim sisters, all of whom were carrying his bastard children. After the death of his daughter, Kal Jong-ji turned against Tot Jol-jit.

The Kal rebellion was put down with utmost cruelty: Kal Jong-ji was boiled to death after having his fingers cut off, his then-infant son Kal Mong-kei was eaten alive by dogs, and the rest of the Kal family burned alive. After the eradication of the Kal chieftain's family, the remainder of the Kal tribe swore blind loyalty to Tot, merging the two tribes into one. Afterwards, Tot Jol-jit would remarry, taking Mun Jichú from the Mun tribe, which had to be "persuaded" to hand over their daughter's hand the hard way - via a demonstration of power. Mun Jichú, fully aware of the fate of his other wife, and also aware that Jol-jit was a disloyal man who is capable of sleeping with concubines instead of his wife on the honeymoon, did not confront her husband like his previous wife did, but instead always acted affectionate towards him, and used her sexuality to convince him of several things: it is said that Mun Jichú was a dark-hearted woman herself, who influenced her husband to be even more cruel than he used to be.

From 2970 to 2933, would keep his "dual life" of participating in the Yeder Wars on the Shár side, and playing kingmaker within the various Sak tribes that were warring against each other. Under Shár payroll, he also hunted down various Shár traitors, many of which commited suicide or turned themselves over to the Imperial authorities the moment they heard the name of Tot Jol-jit - they would rather commit suicide or accept rotting in the dungeons than be tortured to death by the likes of Tot Jol-jit. When ever he felt like his payment was not enough, the greedy warlord would also "tour" the Shár countryside to collect protection money - those who refused to pay would be massacred cruelly, and then their deaths would be blamed on the Elves.

Switching allegiances
In 2933, the Yeder Wars ended, and Emperor Shiu Wí Ching of Shár terminated the alliance with the Tot tribe, also sending a threatening message to Tot Jol-jit that "his lies are no longer believed as the Emperor will not pretend that they are true just for the sake of fighting an enemy that now has been vanquished". As a response, Jol-jit led a short invasion into the Shár heartland, but was beaten back. What followed was a truce.

Disillusioned with the fate of his relations with the Shár, Tot Jol-jit would take interest in Sak tribal politics again and began the harassment of neighboring tribes. Successfully riling up several of the major tribes, the Tot tribe was now making enemies with big players in the Sak lands. To make matters worse for Jol-jit's sanity, his wife Mun Jichú died of childbirth. Heartbroken, the chieftain personally led a roaring rampage against the more powerful tribes, managing to win several battles against them, but risking his own life by being at the front. However, after having been outnumbered several times and losing men, he realized that he needs allies.

Three years later, Jol-jit found his ally in the form of Ryung Shäpbät, a chieftain of a major tribe who had aspirations of uniting the Sak people and leading a major invasion against the Shár. Jol-jit, having his days of glory-hounding behind himself, had no such aspirations - he merely wanted booty to enjoy, unwilling foes to torture and women to abuse. In the same year, the ageing chieftain married Sê Yuyu, an ordinary peasant girl - 16-years old at the time - in whom he fell in love with upon first sight. It would be her who would bear him his children - twins, a boy named Tot Rong-jô and a girl named Tot Yuyu.

Tot Jol-jit and Ryung Shäpbät expected that their alliance would produce a united Sak state within two years, but instead, it took twenty years for them to subdue all the tribes and consolidate their power. Then, after having finally done with that by 2910, they launched the Sak Invasion of Shár: it was agreed that Ryung Shäpbät would become the Shár Emperor, and he would hand over rule of the Sak lands to Tot Jol-jit, who would also be granted border provinces, so he can commit to his favorite pastime: raiding on foreign lands.

The fearsome chieftain would ruthlessly lead his army into Shár settlements, and extort resources and women from them, then massacre them. Those who surrendered to him would receive fast and painless deaths, while those who fought back against him were tortured. In his warpath laid countless dead civilians and burned villages.

Death during the Sak Invasion of Shár
The then--year-old Tot Jol-jit personally led the Sak army against the defending Shár. It is said that it was him who baited Jompeu Lálo into a trap and personally killed him by slicing his throat. The old Sak chieftain then, drunk on overconfidence, went on to lead a direct charge against the Shár. After losing many and many men, the formerly competent general would begin retreating, but Shár cavalrymen have managed to capture him alive.

The Shár general Sher Wák-ner had Tot Jol-jit executed: at first, it was ordered that all of his fingers would be cut off one by one, then his limbs would be cut off, and finally his head would be cut off. The dreaded chieftain's remains were sent to Ryung Shäpbät, who in his anger would order the exact same to be done to the messenger. Despite that, there are still some conspiracy theories that Ryung Shäpbät himself ordered the Sak soldiers to betray Jol-jit, so he can have all his conquests for himself without having to compromise with the untrustworthy warlord who is well-known for massacring and torturing anyone who ticks him off by the slightest.

Perceptions
It is universally agreed that Tot Jol-jit was a very cruel man who killed large amounts of people, often just for personal amusement. In the eyes of the Shár people, he was little more than a cruel warlord, who ruthlessly bullied the Shár Empire, raped Shár women, stole Shár resources, burned Shár villags, and lied to several Shár Emperors, pretending to be their ally while at the same time conducting raids on their lands.

The Sak perception of him is a bit more divided: some view him as a negative character, a cruel opportunist who killed legitimate tribal chieftains in his rampage, an evil man who had anointed and recognized chieftains burned or boiled to death, a sadist who treated his own people the exact same as his enemies; others view him as a more positive figure, a determinator who rose from the bottom of fugitive status to the height of de facto kingmaker among the tribes, a competent general who won many battles against overwhelming odds, a charismatic leader who convinced people to turn against their original masters and swear blind loyalty to him. The fact that he was an associate of Ryung Shäpbät and Ryung Sôdung also gives him more of a positive perception among the Sak.