Sasamo's 80 Sins

Has anyone else wondered who Sasamo was, and what his 80 sins might be?

Didn't trim his nose hair! Didn't brush after meals! Skimped on his taxes!

Well his name indicates a Lalafel. At a guess I would say he was a past Sultan of Ul'dah.

I haven't really looked for anything in the area, but from pure imagination I would say he did something bad for the city then had a moment of revelation, and as penance built the flight of steps to the western entrance. There are 4 flights of 20 steps so each one probably represents a crime or a life lost in his scheme.

Well, that entrance (the Gate of the Sultana) wasn't actually there in 1.0, so if the original design of the city isn't being retconned I'd say that was built post Calamity, suggesting a more recent namesake for the unusual title of that staircase. However, given the fact it leads from the Gate of the Sultana, a connection to Ul'dah's royal family is likely.

I think only Ferne could truly answer this question sadly, given so little explanation is provided in game about this.

Although it doesn't give us any insight in what the 80 sins might be, isn't Sasamo a female Lalafell name?

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Originally Posted by JeniLinsky

Has anyone else wondered who Sasamo was, and what his 80 sins might be?

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Every single time I go through the Gate of the Sultana.

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Originally Posted by Zorzi

isn't Sasamo a female Lalafell name?

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Most likely. Dunesfolk male names are also AAB but the B is two syllables. There are exceptions on occasion where an old, now-unused lalafellin vowel is silently implied - so there's a small chance Sasamo could be male.

I can't find any information on them whatsoever, though. As others have said, the stairs are new - but I don't think they'd just name a staircase after some random person in town, no matter how many sins they committed. It could be a member of the royal family, but those are generally the people you want to glorify and naming parts of their city after their flaws might not be a great way to do that (nor do I imagine that it would go over very well with them or their descendents).

My best guess is that it's tied to some Dunesfolk legend - something between history and mythology; an unverifiable historical anecdote with possible religious undertones.

My theory:

=> Most locations in and around Ul'Dah are related to Nald'Thal.
=> "Sin" specifically relates to divine transgressions.

I'm guessing Sasamo is an important figure related somehow to Nald'Thal, and his sins somehow play into some kind of legend/mythology.

...or basically what Moose just said.

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Originally Posted by Magnesium02

Well his name indicates a Lalafel. At a guess I would say he was a past Sultan of Ul'dah.

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Yup, I've been doing a little digging and turns out he was the first Sultan of Ul'dah.
Here's some information on the City-states and their histories

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Originally Posted by Erana

Yup, I've been doing a little digging and turns out he was the first Sultan of Ul'dah.
Here's some information on the City-states and their histories

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Thanks for the find.

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Originally Posted by Erana

Yup, I've been doing a little digging and turns out he was the first Sultan of Ul'dah.
Here's some information on the City-states and their histories

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This is cool stuff!

...Although, this just makes me stand by my previous post even more. "Sasamo" by itself could possibly be a male name (with how Lalafell names work in Japanese I don't think it's possible, but how lore differs between languages is a different topic) but "Sasamo Ul Samo" is definitely female.

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Originally Posted by Zorzi

.....but "Sasamo Ul Samo" is definitely female.

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That article clearly states that Sasamo was a sultan, not a sultana, which is the female form of the word (and is often misused as being the wife of the male sultan).

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Originally Posted by Wolfandre

That article clearly states

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The article is [as far as I can tell] clearly mistaken. The first sultan of Ul'dah was Sasagan Ul Sisigan.

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Originally Posted by Owyne

When the sultan Sasagan Ul Sisigan, first of his line, founded the nation of Ul'dah, he decreed that the Royal House of Ul would ever be attended by a sworn brotherhood of elite warriors. Under Captain Jenlyns' leadership, we carry on that sacred tradition. The captain himself labors tirelessly to keep the sultana safe from those who plot against her. Alas, there are many who would welcome her fall...

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Moreover, Google "Sasamo Ul Samo." That thread is the sole hit on the entirety of the interwebs. Methinks there was an assumption made in error.

I'm kind of surprised there's been no effort to come up with more silly "original sins."

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Originally Posted by JeniLinsky

I'm kind of surprised there's been no effort to come up with more silly "original sins."

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• Attempted to incite a mutiny of the Silver Bazaar "in the glorious name of Sasamo Ul Samo, First Sultan of Ul'dah"
• Sold moko grass to children
• Denied the superiority of Seventy-seven Caravans' coffee
• Attempted to summon a phurble primal
• Engaged in RMT Activity
• Practiced inappropriate charms on an aldgoat
• Wore bone white after Foundation Day
• Hecked the bed
• Created and distributed a wildly popular yet completely unacceptable Wind-up Ramhorn Zucchini "minion"
• Left boiled eggs and ginger cookies in the inn room bedding
• Painted "all your jinglyshine are belong to Sasamox" across the Gold Court whilst impersonating a goblin entrepreneur

Ahh, I see. It is an honor to have been bested by the Moose.

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Originally Posted by Magnesium02

There are 4 flights of 20 steps so each one probably represents a crime or a life lost in his scheme.

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I was wondering if anyone made this count before me. I just went into the game, and there's actually 77 visible steps, likely the last 3 are buried under the dirt at the first flight (going down). And yeah, my suspicions were on the steps too. Maybe the 3 covered ones were lesser sins or something?

Or maybe the '80 sins' thing is simply symbolic and not to be taken literally? It's an odd name for a staircase in any event, so I presume the name is more metaphorical and not a literal interpretation of the amount of steps actually physically there.

I'm counting 73; three 19 step flights and one 16 step.

Maybe it's something scandalous like each step being commissioned by his wife for every affair he had. ;)

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Originally Posted by Artamie

I'm counting 73; three 19 step flights and one 16 step.

Maybe it's something scandalous like each step being commissioned by his wife for every affair he had. ;)

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Originally Posted by JeniLinsky

I'm kind of surprised there's been no effort to come up with more silly "original sins."

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I was going to say, "they're all lust".

Here's some possibilities

1. Mentioned actually enjoying FFXIV on the forum
2. Refused to run WP/AK with someone who didn't have a relic weapon
3. Decided FATES were too slow and asked for an EXP buff
4. Flooded the market with crap for less than the NPC asking price
5. Did Titan carries for free
6. Told people that HM Ifrit was "too hard" and needed to be nerfed
7. Bypassed the 1000 character limit without editing his post
8. Had a different opinion than someone else
9. Complained that the Myth cap was too high
10. Bought from RMT
11. Bot-farmed diremites
12. Uttered the phrase "damn lag" in Titan
13. Ogled the Miqo'te dancers in Ul'dah
14. Built his entire skill rotation into a single macro so he'd only have 1 button to press in battles
15. Bought the game for PS3
16. Thought WAR was just fine
17. Amassed a Lalafell army to conquer Limsa Lominsa
18. Said army drowned due to high tide
19. Complained that a 8 minute WP speed run was "too slow"
20. Commissioned a robe made of Miqo'te pelts
21. Set fire to the Black Shroud
22. Hacked the town market boards
23. Created a line of quests which rewarded 15 items that could only be single-stacked
24. Refused to rub oil on Godbert
25. Urged players to watch more cutscenes
26. Still grinds CM for tomes
27. Was already level 50 when he ran Sastasha for the first time
28. Suggested the game have more fetch-quests
29. Dated Livia sas Junias for 7 months
30. Thought it was a good idea to start "fracking" just outside of Sil'dih
31. Smuggled a legacy chocobo onto a non-legacy server
32. Decided that WHM don't generate nearly enough emnity
33. Threatened to quit for 18 months straight
34. Tried selling FATE runs to players
35. Left a party after 1 wipe
36. Thought FFXI was inferior to FFXIV
37. Sabotaged cutscenes by wearing the Wailing Spirit costume in every dungeon
38. Gave constructive advice to a newbie
39. Shaved Cid's beard off
40. Passed a law making it legal for Lalafells and Roegadyn to marry

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Originally Posted by Gespenst

I was going to say, "they're all lust".

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Perhaps the steps led to his harem of 80 Lalafell mistresses?

Pardon me for a bit of thread necromancy, but as I've always enjoyed the idea that the area got its name from weary merchants cursing the name of whoever they considered responsible for those damned stairs.

I consider each ascent to be a "step", which yields 77, and I believe I've found the missing 3. The bottom most step of the top flight appears to be missing, by which I mean it *used* to be there. In relation to the lanterns on all the others there should be one there. So 78. The last two? At the top of the stairs you'll find two more ascents, this time ramps into the city itself, but no less a bother for the weary.

So. 80 distinct ascents that take you from from Western Thanalan into Ul'dah proper. Looking at old maps it seems the Gate of the Sultana is a relatively recent addition to the city. Thus, my best guess is that Sasamo is a builder who designed and/or oversaw the Gate of the Sultana and the surrounding area.

There is a saying in Ul'dah, more among the common folk than the affluent: it is a sin to waste even a gil.

In the wake of the Calamity, the influx of refugees into Ul'dah proper was unsettling to the affluent population of the city. Ul'dah, ever full of business men savvy enough to see an opportunity and wealthy enough to pursue it, saw a flurry of interest in the area directly west of the city. Vast tracts of the area were quickly snapped up, and efforts began almost overnight to pack down the earth in the area and make it suitable for lavish housing. Pressure grew for a western gate to decrease the cost and time of transporting supplies and workers to and from the area.

A relatively unknown architect and builder, Sasamo Samo was selected to oversee the Gate of the Sultana's construction. A capable manager and an overall practical Lalafell, the gate itself was completed 5 suns ahead of schedule, but this still left the challenge of the area immediately outside the gate. While work to make the cliffs passable had met with some success, the trail was still too winding and too rocky for easy passage. Worker and chocobo injuries were not uncommon. However, the path was never intended for such traffic. It had been left deliberately unfinished.

Sasamo feared, as did many others, that a gate in Western Thanalan might invite the attention of the remnant Garlean forces that still held Cape Westwind. Smoothing the path any more than was necessary for the construction of the gate itself had been put on hold until fortifications could be installed. Facing mounting pressure from her clients and finding that many and more in Ul'dah find those who hold the purse strings more threatening than Imperials, she acquiesced. With the promise of more funds to double-time the work, Sasamo ordered three landings paved and stairs installed between, rather than the more time-consuming effort of smoothing the slope of the land between the planned fortifications. The landings and stairways were completed before midday on the date promised in the revised schedule, and the first bricks of the fortification walls were laid that afternoon.

That morning, as Sasamo left her completed gate she expected to see workers and materials arriving to begin the fortification walls in earnest. Instead, she was greeted only by a messenger.

"You are Sasamo Samo?"

It sounded more like a statement than a question. Sasamo gave a small nod, at which the messenger walked forward, handed her a small pouch and a sealed missive, and then briskly walked away without another word. The pouch contained seventy-eight gil. The missive was brief.


"As your project has gone massively over budget due to your unapproved acquisition of additional supplies and labor, we are cancelling your contract for this project. Please find your payment, less your budget overage, included with this missive.

"Dictated, not read."

There was another saying in Ul'dah, more among the affluent than the common folk: get it in writing.

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The Gate of the Sultana had been a high visibility project. The kind of thing that can make or break a fledgling artisan. Appeals to any authority within Ul'dah with jurisdiction over the matter had proved fruitless.

As the weeks past, so too did the gossip. For a brief time, Sasamo was the subject of many loud jokes and a few quiet whispers. The agreement for more funds and a revised schedule had not been accompanied by documentation, and all anyone knew of the situation was what had been reported in The Mythril Eye, a publication not known for kindness and understanding in such matters. The barely-started fortification walls had been left where they didn't quite stand. It appeared the Garleans had no interest in expansion beyond Cape Westwind, and therefore interest in proper fortification of the gate had waned, along with any investment in further developing the area immediately outside the gate.

Among the workers of The Hammerlae, who most frequently used the gate, the rumor spread that the stairs had been a cost-cutting measure on the part of Sasamo when her mismanagement of the project finally reached a head, and that the original plan was to even out the entire area to a gentle slope. It spawned a working song, briefly popular, expressing frustration at the climb that awaited them after a long day's work. It never had a definitive set of lyrics, but popular choices involved claiming the stairs, or "eighty sins of Sasamo", were an affront to each of The Twelve in turn. There are actually only seventy-eight steps, but the workers seemed to include the two inclines leading through the gate proper in their tally.

Eventually the area itself became known as "The Eighty Sins of Sasamo", thanks in no small part to traders overhearing the working song on their way in to the city. Sasamo herself faded away from public attention as time passed. She never found work in Ul'dah again, at least as far as any one can tell. After a brief and vocal attempt to receive full compensation, it seems Sasamo resolved to stay very private in her affairs.

Her current whereabouts are unknown. After becoming a pariah in Ul'dahn society, there were few acquaintances who stayed in touch. There is, however, one unconfirmed story that suggests she left Ul'dah permanently, and through the very gate she made. The guards claim to have neither seen nor heard anything out of the ordinary on this particular night. However, the story goes that in the morning a man leaving the gate (some stories claim a guard relieving the night shift, others a worker bound for the hammers) found a single gil piece lying in the middle of the landing underneath the Gate of the Sultana, and another on the next.

As the nameless individual continued down the path, he found another gil lying on each step and landing, all the way down the path, totaling seventy-nine gil; not eighty, as one of the steps, the bottom-most of the first set, descending from the gate, had been broken into rubble in the night, a pickaxe carelessly discarded near by. Sasamo Samo has not been seen in Ul'dah since, and the place thought to be her residence was found completely bare shortly after this supposed incident.

The name for the area, The Eighty Sins of Sasamo, remains to this day. Once the traders found a fondness for the moniker, it spread much farther than the story behind it. Among the locals in the area, however, it goes by two additional names. Precisely which an individual prefers depends on their view of the namesake. Some call it The One Hundred and Fifty-Nine Sins (of Sasamo), while others prefer The Seventy-Nine Sins of Sasamo. Though these two groups disagree on the character of Sasamo, they both share a belief in an old Ul'dahn adage: it is a sin to waste even a gil.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

The article is [as far as I can tell] clearly mistaken. The first sultan of Ul'dah was Sasagan Ul Sisigan.

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Where does it say he was the first. The only mention of him I know of is from the Monk quest line and those story exerts only mention him as the Sultan at the time of the fight with Sil'dih. Couldn't he of been her son of grandson?

Also does anyone know or have any ideas when the Ul's lost their power in Ul'dah and then regained it, since Ul'dah was ruled by Hyurs at one point ( Little Ladies Day).

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Originally Posted by Eloah

Where does it say he was the first.

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Originally Posted by Owyne

When the sultan Sasagan Ul Sisigan, first of his line, founded the nation on Ul'dah, he decreed that the Royal House of Ul would ever be attended by a sworn brotherhood of elite warriors. Under Captain Jenlyns' leadership, we carry on that sacred tradition.

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Originally Posted by Well-Schooled Steward

Three blades forged from the same steel, one each bestowed to the three great warriors who would attend the Royal House by the hand of Sasagan Ul Sisigan, first of his name and founder of our nation.

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/10characters

Sasamo in installing the stairs failed to provide wheelchair access thus breaching the building code. Thus the stairs in question became known as Sasamo's 80 sin.

Ok, not really.

I thought two of his sins were using illegal performance enhancing drugs, and lying about it in front of Congress.

Hey guys!

I remember touching on this subject briefly in past post. I love that there's interest in the lore behind the name!

Way back in 2012, when the lore team was fleshing out the new ARR maps by naming previously unnamed landmarks, I came up with a story about a sultana and her scheming sister, and named the stone staircase leading down to Scorpion Crossing after the tragedy that took place on those steps. My hope was to write a quest about the whole affair and get it into the game sooner or later. Well, sooner has grown into later, and later into even later, but my plan still stands (the quest is pretty much written, now it's a matter of convincing the quest team to get the mechanics working). So, for now, I'm going to keep the secret of Sasamo under wraps, with hopes that you'll be able to experience the story in-game. If, it turns out, this won't happen, I'll ask the team for permission to post the back-story up here (and in all other languages, as well).

Thanks again for the interest!

(Oh, and Fangul's multi-part story was a great read! How close it is to the actual story...well, time will tell. :) )

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Originally Posted by JeniLinsky

Has anyone else wondered who Sasamo was, and what his 80 sins might be?

Didn't trim his nose hair! Didn't brush after meals! Skimped on his taxes!

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Probably was a ninja and used Doton on single targets or trash mobs that die in 10 seconds. That's worth 80 sins right there.

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Originally Posted by Fernehalwes

Hey guys!

I remember touching on this subject briefly in past post. I love that there's interest in the lore behind the name!

(Oh, and Fangul's multi-part story was a great read! How close it is to the actual story...well, time will tell. :) )

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Hurray! Lore!

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Originally Posted by Fernehalwes

I came up with a story about a sultana and her scheming sister, and named the stone staircase leading down to Scorpion Crossing after the tragedy that took place on those steps.

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Oh... I was hoping the 80 sins / stairs involved losing weight.