Overview
The Shikku conlang is one of my first conlangs, if not the first. It was actually my brother who came up with it, as part of the background of my Pokémon companion Sandshrew. The project originally had much to do with the Pokémon Sandshrew.
The early times: ~2009
My brother came up with the Shikkus in about 2009. Originally, the Shikkus were a race of Sandshrew who came to Japan from China, led by an explorer whose name I forget. I'm pretty sure I have a document detailing how I saw their history somewhere, but I can't find it. My brother and I probably wrote more about them, too, but I can't find any of it right now. So this is going on memory.
Hellenization: 2010
Sometime in late 2009 or very early 2010, I changed the Shikkus from Chinese/Japanese to Greek. This was most likely influenced by the reignition of my love for the Greek language, which I've always had, as well as a change in the part of the world I was particularly interested in, to say the least.
On 1/18/2010, I wrote a document titled Η Σικκυς (The Sikkus). It was a basic overview of how a Shikku (or "Sikku"—more on that in a bit) warrior conquered what is now Naples, Italy and Casablanca, Morocco (two cities with which I was very interested). The story, which is peppered with untranslated Greek and Shikku words, begins with the warrior, a Spartan named Αδριυσ Σικκυ (Adrius Sikku; it should be Αδριυς, but I had some trouble with the Symbol font. I will retain any final σ because I just will). He is also called a κατακτητησ, the Greek word for "conqueror". I am pretty sure I chose to use this word in the original Greek instead of using the English word because, in school, we were learning about the conquistadores and I suppose I liked the idea of using the word in another language. I do remember, also, that I was very fond of saying this word.
Adrius is described as a "harsh man", as his conduct throughout the story shows. It's hard to tell how I felt about his harshness at the time, since a lot of my writing on the Shikkus was very...racisty? Very supremacist. Anyway. Something that features largely in the story is Adrius's "secret word". I was interested in weird and special words at the time, so that's probably why this is in there. The word is written on the back of a price tag, which came from a scroll Adrius had stolen. It is said that he would only tell this word to "a true Σικκυ". Adrius orders the ships to stop just as they're ready to leave the docks, because he must go back home real quick and get the word back.
Basically, they set sail and end up in Italy, around Naples. When they land at Naples, Adrius's first thought is that the people would make good slaves. The Roman emperor had kept them as slaves, apparently. It's funny to see my idea of how things worked back then; Adrius just goes up to the Roman emperor, asks to buy his slaves, and declares war when he refuses. During the war, which consisted of six years of Greeks and Romans hitting each other with swords and sticks, Adrius's secret word falls out of his pocket. A Roman slave attempts to pick it up, only reads one letter, and then Adrius beats him and sticks his head in the water so he'll forget.
So, after six years, the Romans give up and the Greeks, led by Adrius, now own the area around Naples, which is given the name Σικκυλοπολισ. Ρυβερτ Δαυδλε, the son of Adrius, leads the Shikkus to Morocco, where they encounter King Mihan. Mihan is worried that they will conquer his land, but Rubert claims they will not. He checks his pocket for the secret word, it is not there, and it turns out that Mihan has read it. Evidently "it was a Σικκυ combat skill to sink [people who've read the secret word] until the memory was gone", as we've seen. Rubert does this to Mihan, who stays underwater for five days. After he comes back from the sea, he has forgotten the word. (And, yes, the secret word is in the story, but like...I'm not just gonna spill the beans for the whole internet.) Rubert then asks if they can share the land, but Mihan informs him that he is not actually the king, he is just pretending because the French are the actual rulers of the land. The Shikkus conquer Casablanca, but they only have it for one day before the French retrieve it. The Shikkus go back to Sikkulopolis, where the secret word remains today, in the mansion of my Sandshrew.