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Nepantian Nurab War
A Nurab warrior
Date 1530–1560 Location primarily Inik Xalisco Result Tepanec victory Nurab driven off of Nepantia the Teenek and Western Peripheral Nahuatl are integrated into the Tepanec Tlatholoyan
Belligerents
Pavirata	Tepanec Tlatholoyan Template:Country data Te Inik Kingdoms Template:Country data Xalisco Template:Country data Michcuaco

The Nurab Holy Wars in Nepantia were a series of campaigns launched by Pavirata against the Teenek kingdoms and Nawal kingdoms at first, and then against the coalition led by Azcapotzalco. These campaigns had been thought by the Nurabs as "aggressive proselytism and its participants as both holy warriors and missionaries. A more material goal was to gain and hold onto lands and an access of rare resources such as chocolate, rubber and precious gems after Pavirata was cut from the Thae Kaew Empire's trade network.

During the war, the Nurab established a few short-lived settlements and tried to convert the local populations. Their violence and tendency for raids and plunders, however, made these attempts fruitless. By the 1550s, native rulers had called on Azcapotzalco for help and, after it had recovered from the Teltetzaltin Plague, it was free to do so and sent armies to fight against the Nurab invaders. As such, while the Holy Wars failed to expand the Nurabinic world, it did allow for the weakened Tepanecs to reaffirm their dominant position and kick start the Second Wave of Expansion of the Tlatholoyan, bringing the western Nahuatl and the Teenek into its orbit.

Background

The Nurab Wars took place in a context of political fragmentation all around the Daeshan Ocean. The Thae Kaew Empire and Azcapotzalco had fought for over 20 years during the Totonac Wars. The displacements, troops movements, and death provoked by these wars led to the creation of the Teltetzaltin Plague which greatly weakened the Tepanecs. Hearing of the news, the Thae prepared a new campaign against their Nepantian enemy. But the collect of the funds and manpower required for such an expedition sparkled unrest in the populations that considered they were already overburdened by the taxes previously raised for the other militaristic endeavors of the Empire. This unrest became riots and then rebellion. Among the successful ones there was the Keiyan Revolution, but also the Nurab Revolution that led to the independence of Pavirata. This revolution was spear-headed by the Nurab warrior-societies and their gurus. The resulting theocracy quickly revitalized the non-theistic teachings of the religion, rejecting the numerous gods worshiped by the populations, including "foreign importations" such as Quetzalcoatl.

Nepantia-Pavirata relations

There are very few remnants of the Quetzacoatl cult in Pavirata left

Since before the Thae Kaew, the kingdoms of today Pavirata and Calpullali had extensive trade contacts, leading to trader communities living in each others lands, slowly building up syncretic cultures where contacts were especially commons. The presence of the Thae and their control over trades had greatly diminished these contacts, but communities of Teenek and Nawals still existed in coastal cities of Pavirata. These communities had preserved the worship of their own gods, especially Quetzalcoatl. Despite participating in the anti-Thae revolts, they were quickly targeted by the Nurab because of their "amoral practices" such as bloodletting and animal sacrifices and because of their refusal to convert. The following massacres are seen by some historians as a prelude to the following holy wars.

Inik kingdoms

At the start of the 16th century, the region known as Inik was divided in five kingdoms. The dominant ethnies was the Teenek, but other ethnies living in these states were the Xiuy, the Ñuhmu, and the Nahuatl. At first, the coastal kingdoms were the dominant power in the area, enjoying the profits of trans-Daeshan trade. But with the rise of the Thae Kaew, their power waned in favour of more inland settlements such as Tamohi, a religious center who greatly expanded during the 15th century. By the 16th century, its priest-kings had become the de-facto hegemons of Inik. This position however, was still unstable, contested by most of the other Teenek kingdoms and threatened by both Chichimecas incursions and Azcapotzalco raids.

Nawal Kingdoms

Glyph-Emblem of Xalisco

The Nawal are a branch of Nahuatl speakers that settled in the northwest of Calpullali. Contrary to their more central brethren, quickly unified under the Tepanec banner, they remained a very divided people. However, by the 16th century, two main polities had emerged : Xalisco and Michuaco. Both were in competition over the control of the lucrative salt market and had their respective networks of inland vassals and clients to fight alongside them. Densely populated for its time and well integrated to the larger maritime and continental trade-roads, the Nawal had to face the Teltetzaltin Plague which had reached their kingdoms between 1525 and 1530.

The War

First Campaign

Though united through the religious Nurab Revolution, the land of Pavirata was still politically divided among feuding Kings. By 1500, Thae-Kaew influence had fully ceded from Pavirata with the ongoing collapse of the empire. The Queen of the Vatram, Sanjukta, ruled the land like a theocracy, becoming relatively close to the Nurabi and inviting them as council. With support of the Nurabi, warriors loyal to her across the land, Sanjukta led a conquest of much of Pavirata. Consolidating its power, Nurab religion spread across this new Vatram Empire during the revolution.

Politically, Empress Sanjukta needed to unite her diverse court and drive the revolution further. Economically, dominance could be attained by opening a new trade lane with the fall of Thae-Kaew, as well as new converts. Nepantia was rich in items such as chocolate and gems. The Nurabi already held contempt for what they broadly defined as "Nepantian religious practices". So in 1530, the Great Jathadar, Vivekbir, listened to Sanjukta's advice, calling for a new revolution against the "Demonic Pagans".

Sanjukta would personally lead the Nurabi, headed by her Vatram Army. A fleet of thousands would depart southern Jinhong Khem, planned to strike Xalisco. The fleet would be mostly destroyed by a storm in the Daeshan, with Sanjukta having perished and the rest of the fleet led by second-in-command, Balchandra. He landed the battered fleet remnant's in Oxti, where he scouted the land. Balchandra now wanted to leave, stranded in a foreign land with little resources, against an enemy who surely outnumbered them.

Battle of Labeth and alliance

Supposed portrait of Balchandra made before the first Nepantian Holy War

At first, Balchandra planned to repair his fleet, and possibly to wait for signs of other ships that would've been dispersed by the storm. foraging parties were sent to seek wood for the repairs and food for the troops while they sat camp. After a few days, these expeditions would start fighting skirmishes with local warriors, the first signs of what was to come.

Tsemelon, king of Oxti, had gathered an important army to repel the Nurabi and the foragers had battled against its scouts. With the approach of the main army, Balchandra and his men were forced to quickly fortify their camp and get ready to withstand a siege with only the meager resources they had managed to gather beforehand. The Battle of Labeth, named after the landing point of the Nurabi army, ended up quicker than either side predicted. Balchandra's men were heavily outnumbered but had the advantage of having annons, a new weapon lacking in the Teenek arsenal. Impressed by these and the Nurabi resilience, Tsemelon ended up sending emissaries to the encircled force, to negotiate with them.

Following the advice of his guru, Balchandra agreed and met Tsemelon outside of the fort. Ultimately, after much explanations of both men's positions, they came to an agreement: Tsemelon would offer food and shelter to the Nurabi, allowing them to move through his lands. In exchange, they would fight alongside the Oxti troops in their war against Tamohi. Balchandra was all the more willing to accept as he possibly didn't wish to return to Pavirata empty-handed, nor either he or his guru had yet entirely given up on the idea of fostering a "Revolution" against the Nepantians polytheists. It is possible that the Teenek played on this by outlining the nature of Tamohi as an important religious center for the kingdoms of the region.

Battle of Pop Batan

Balchandra's cannons helped Oxti take over a few Tamohi border fortifications and reach the mountains that encircled the plateau on which the holy city was built. A serie of fortified passes protected the most direct route between Oxti and Tamohi and the combined Nurab-Oxti forces planned to force their way through and force the surrender of their adversary. Even with the support of the Nurabi artillery, the battle proved very difficult and after many cannons were lost, either to malfunction, mistake, or enemy assaults, they were forced to retreat back to their pre-campaign positions. Nonetheless, Tsemelon had obtained what he wished for and was able to begin negotiations with Tamohi's leadership as an equal and not as a potential tributary.

Battle of Oxti-city

Use of rockets proved capital to the swift takeover of the Oxti capital

Returning from this campaign with little gains beyond the pension Tsemelon was giving them alongside the freedom to continue working on repairing their ships, the Nurabi's morale was low. News of the negotiations between their "allies" and Tamohi reached them and both Balchandra and his advisors started to fear what could Tsemelon do once he no longer had a use for them. Rumours of a secret clause being discussed by the two party where Oxti's king would turn the Nurabi in to Tamohi and its clergy especially scared them. Unwilling to take the risk of waiting to know if these rumours were true or not, Balchandra ordered his troops to rush to Oxti's capital and capture Tsemelon and to keep him as an hostage alongside as much of his court as possible.

Through their surprise assault, the Nurabi were able to quickly overrun the defenders of the capital and take control of the palace. They then presented their demands to the Teenek king: he was to immediately supply the wood and manpower required for the full repairs of the Nurabi fleet, to continue to provide for the foreigners' food and equipment for as long as they were present in his kingdom, and to deliver them three chariots full of gold and luxury goods taken directly from his treasury by the Nurabi.

As the "negotiations" stalled, the Nurabi started their pillage of the city. First it was the palace that was searched for gold or any objects of value. They notably killed the High-priest and a number of clergymen and holy women alongside him, destroyed the idols of Quetzalcoatl, and plundered the treasures kept in the Palace's temple. From the palace, the plundering then expanded to the rest of the city and once again the Nurabi ended up torching a number of pagan temples and kill both clergymen and civilians opposing them.

However, after a few days, they found themselves trapped inside the palace. Slowly but surely, the city's inhabitants had organized and mobs of citizens began a siege of the city center. Tsemelon had yet to give in to the demands of his captors and they were starting to fear that their hostages were somehow communicating with the rioters outside. On the final night of the week, their fears were confirmed were Tsemelon and a few other nobles managed to escape and join the rioters. In response, Balchandra executed the remaining hostages. Then, he ordered his men to get ready for a sortie and to push through the rioters. They had no artillery with them, it had remained outside of the city walls and had fled from the rioters back to their main base at the start of the uprising, but they were still better armed and equipped than their opponents. Ultimately, Balchandra was successful, even managing to cross the river that served as a natural moat despite the rioters destroying the bridges before hand. However, some of his men didn't manage to cross the water : slowed down by both their armors and the gold they had kept with them despite the advices of their officers and gurus, they were caught up by the Teenek and brought back to the city. Their fate remain unknown.

March to Xalisco

After their failed kidnapping of the Oxti authorities, the Nurabi once again found themselves alone in hostile territories. Balchandra decided to divide his forces in two: skeleton crews of sailors would man the ships they had managed to repair and take with them as much of the troop's luggages as they could. Meanwhile, the now-lighter rest of the army would go by land, and meet the fleet back outside of Oxti. They chose a bay just north of the border, in the Kingdom of Xalisco, as the meeting point.

During their march, they were constantly harassed by local militias, slowing them down while the Teenek army was closing up on them. They nonetheless managed to cross the border, suffering heavy casualties in the process. Attrition was worsened by the fact they couldn't take care of the wounded or diseased, so anyone unable to follow the troop's pace had to be left behind by fear of slowing down all of them and thus falling prey of a vengeful Tsemelon. The latter whom, seeing his ex-mercenaries escape, sent envoys to Xalisco's king asking for the right to pursue them. It was granted in exchange of gifts of slaves and silk, with spies sent to monitor the Teenek's actions.

Battle of Xalaztapiltic

Tzome, king of Xalisco during the First Holy War

Once they reached their destination, the Nurabi were distraught to see that the boats had not made it yet. With no food to speak off, they resorted to pillaging to countryside, taking captives to serve as workers for the construction of hastily made defenses and also as potential hostages. Hearing of this, Xalisco's king, Tzome, decided to send troops to help the Oxti.

What followed was a siege that lasted weeks, until the boats finally reached the bay. The Nurabi tried to evacuate during the night but were spotted by Nepantians scouts. The following assault led to Balchandra's capture, as well as the loss of a third of his remaining men who couldn't make it to the already-overloaded boats in time. The ships sat sail westward despite their relatively bad condition. Of these, only half reached their destination, and a larger pourcentage of the crew was lost during the travel due to diseases and thirst. This event concluded the "first Nepantian holy war" more than two years after it began.