The First Sand Burial

A tale of the Shamō Temple

Written by: General Longwei Xiao

The tribe had traveled too long, through too much, when they first came to that land. The eastern desert was a harsh place, rampant with bandits and storms, yet they had fled from the northwest when the reach of the Earth King grew too harsh and long.

However, the chief would not make it. Prince Iken had them camp at the base of a great sand-mountain, in view of the Great Rock where all navigation pointed, and the tribe’s finest caretakers tried every medicine they owned. Chief Igider had been sickened by a fouled wound.

Kneeling before the base of the mountain, the sickly chief clasped his hands and offered faith to the desert gods. Iken stood vigil, that day, until twilight consumed the sun’s last lights. He waited patiently for his father to finish, thinking of where they might acquire finer cures.

Chief Igider of a name lost to time, ruler of the Hami Tribe, did not rise from that prayer. Instead, the mountain of sand and stone swallowed him whole as he took his last breath, and Iken realized how small they were before it. He dug for nine days and ten nights before he found his father’s remains.

Legend & Myth

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Type: Lore & Legend
Lore Origins: The Earth Kingdom
Tribes and Clans: The Hami Tribe, Huichen
Important Figures: Chief Igider, Prince Iken

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The First Sand Burial: A Tale of the Shamō Temple

“We have disturbed his rest” the tribal shaman warned, seeing the carving wrought into the mountain. Iken took a shaky breath and wished he could return his father to nature again, in deep regret.

Sand obeyed his will and made a grave for the fallen leader. Chief Iken rose in shock, having once thought it a land barren of that which earthbending could move, yet he felt the words rise from his chest. They echoed of sadness and sorrow, of pride and of humility alike.

“We are but dust in this new land, so dust shall rule us.” He swore, bending the sand into a small shrine for the first chief of sand. “Our line will be named anew, Huichen, and when I fall, my child will bury me here, with this art. Let it be remembered that this is a sacred place.”