The Legend of Iskandar

The ***Legend of Iskandar*** is an epic poem from an ancient pre-Axiphosi civilization that is often regarded as the earliest surviving great work of literature. The first half of the story discusses **Iskandar**, king of **Akkadia** (***Arcadia*** in Axiphosi), and **Enkidu**, a wild man created by the gods to stop Iskandar from oppressing the people of Akkadia. After Enkidu becomes civilized through an encounter with a mysterious woman, he travels to Akkadia, where he challenges Iskandar to a test of strength. Iskandar wins and the two become close friends, adventuring together for the rest of their lives. In the second half of the epic, Enkidu's death at the hands of a powerful entity known as the **Illithid** caused Iskandar to awaken a powerful weapon, causing a great cataclysm. In the aftermath, the world was said to have burned for a thousand years after annihilating the Illithid.

## Iskandar, Enkidu, and the Illithid

### **Iskandar**

Iskandar is tied to several epithets, including the "Hero King," the "King of Kings," and the "He Who Saw the Deep." He is commonly depicted as a handsome man, wrestling or handling lions; his totem or zoomorphistic representation takes the form of a **winged lion**. Born with a body that was of the highest grade by mortal standards and with a breadth of near-omniscient knowledge, Iskandar was born, designed, as king and the bridge between the rising humans and the fading old gods. He was an ultimate, transcendent being so divine as to be two-thirds god and one-third human, and no others in the world could match him. The gods would eventually create Enkidu to punish and humble the arrogant king.

After being tempted by the Illithid, Iskandar was gifted impossible power. Using this power, construct a **vault** is said to contain all of the swords in the world, as well as an almighty weapon known as **Enuma Elish**. Eventually, Iskandar would become corrupted by this power, growing cruel and insatiable in his thirst for dominion ver the whole world. In his madness, he would slaughter thousands on a whim, finally killing Enkidu in a blind rage. In his sorrow, he unleashed Enuma Elish upon the Illithid. Some scholars that his despotic rule was indicative of his personal arrogance and paranoia rather than by an outside force (the Illithid).

### **Enkidu**

Born from a clod of earth, Enkidu was clay shaped by hands of the gods as neither male nor female, but merely a monster made of mud that descended onto the earth and awoke in the wilderness. As a beast, they are most commonly depicted as **a wolf with the horns of a stag**. Though Enkidu was given superb power, they were unable to give Enkidu a Soul. Though Enkidu had a purpose, given the task of being the chains to reign in the king Iskandar back under control of the gods, without a soul they could only live like a feral animal. Lacking the will of a human, Enkidu's happiness came from being free in the wild, neither perfect nor flawed. Eventually, Enkidu would find a mysterious woman bathing in the forest. The beast was tamed by the beautiful woman, and they spent six days and seven nights together. The beast Enkidu, ignorant of mankind, slowly allowed their form to approximate that of a human. Enkidu made the woman's beauty their own, losing much of their strength and divinity in exchange for wisdom and reason. Enkidu acquired knowledge and rational thought, all the truths of heaven and earth. Filled with the soul needed to fulfill their task, Enkidu spoke its name for the first time.

### **Friendship**

Iskandar encountered Enkidu for the first time outside of the Temple of Akkadia, who immediately stated that he would reprimand the King and rectify his arrogance. They entered a battle that spanned several days, and Iskandar was forced to use all his strength to the transforming Enkidu. He was both angered or surprised at having found his equal for the first time, playfully insulting Enkidu as a clod of mud. Iskandar was forced to draw out his treasures that had been carefully stored away, using the half of the swords in his vault. And although it was a reluctant and forced humiliation at first, he eventually began to enjoy it and exhausted his vault without regret.

Rather than continue, Iskandar let himself fall backwards onto his back while bursting with laughter, with Enkidu following in suit. He remarked that there would only be once chance to strike for each of them, and without any means of defense, it would leave only two foolish corpses. Enkidu asked, "Do you not regret the treasures you have spent?" to which Iskandar replied, "Why, if it's someone I should use it on, then it's not unthinkable to do him the favor." Praising each other's valor, they became peerless friends who went on to have many adventures. There is a growing school of thought within archaeology that interprets Iskandar and Enkidu's relationship as a romantic one.

### **The Illithid**

The Illithid (roughly translating to "flayer of minds," or titularly "Mindflayer") is said to have arrived to the Kingdom of Akkadia on a donkey asking, "Where may I seek audience with the Hero King?" Eluding almost all of the palace guard, the Illithid presented himself irreverently to the Hero King.