The Fall of the Saudeleurs

The Legends of Lainjin series concludes in the pre-contact city of Nahn Madol. The aging hero Lainjin sails there from his home on Lae Atoll, pursuing his daughter and Ijokelekel, a young man with bold plans to lead a revolt in Pohnpei. When Lainjin arrives, he discovers that the city, now ruled by a tyrannical leader, has changed.

Although multiple oral versions of Ijokelekel’s story exist, all conclude that he ended the reign of the Saudeleurs, the hereditary rulers of Pohnpei.

Pohnpeians settled this area around 2,000 years ago, and Nahn Madol —“the ancient Venice of the Pacific”— was built between AD 800 and 1500. For centuries, Saudeleurs ruled over the city, once a thriving crossroads with 129 structures built with gigantic basaltic crystals cleaved from the cliffs of Pohnpei island. The islanders transported these multi-ton crystals by raft to a reef flat off the island’s east coast, where the canals between these mammoth structures could flood with the tides. This ancient city, now a National Historic Landmark, still exists and can be visited.