In Early Bokisig mythology[]
The mythical city of Pessig (pronounced /'pɛssig/ in Early Bokisig [EBKSG], meaning “gathering of stones”; Classical Bokisig [CBKSG] Pezgh, pronounced /peʒg/) plays an important role in Bokisig religion and historiography. Stories featuring this city likely came to be told for the first time in the epoch after the founding of Egpessot (EBKSG /ɛg'pɛs.sot/, AUG-stone-shelter; CBKSG Kwestot /'kwes.tot/), the huge fortification around which the capital of the Bokisig Confederation with the same name grew; during this time, many similar cities were being founded or developed further across the lands commanded by the confederation. About the founding of by the – then still unnamed - god Sothuka, a tablet from the library in the Tower of Knowledge has the following to say:
- Long ago, just after time had been born, in a time when nothing was old, a god needed shelter for himself and his people. There was dust and large rocks, but no other (building) material. He was aware that the sun owned a few shiny pieces of clothing. In order to find the sun, he went towards the place where she sleeps. After the god arrived at the sun’s house, he grabbed all of her clothes, and then left. The god melted all the clothes, together with dust, in a kiln. Using weapons from metal, the god commanded the rocks to gather, and they obeyed and formed a fortress. The sun, however, got mad (about the theft) and did not come out again for five hundred years. It finally did rise again, but began to shine mercilessly all year, except for the rainy season; there no longer were other seasons. The god and his people had to leave the city to go hunting animals and gathering plants for food.
- A link to the Early Bokisig original, including a gloss and comments, can be found here (gloss and comments can be accessed using the grey buttons underneath the text in Early Bokisig).
This myth not only gave the deity Sothuka (EBKSG /sot-hu-ka/ shelter-builder-god, CBKSG Sosvka /so.'sɯ.ka/) his name, but also came to be used as the primary dating system in Bokisig historiography. Theologian-scientists dated the founding of Pessig to -11,750 AG, and started using this year as their year zero from the later years of the First Confederation on.