Hands of Thunder

Hands of Thunder
H'um Ch'ak K'ab
The Hands of Thunder's insigna, the White Hand, over a black flag. During the Tikalese Civil War, it became the unofficial battle standard of the organization
Leader	The Oracle
Foundation	2015
Dissolved	2019
Country	Tikal
Headquarters	Tikal City
Active regions	Tikal
Ideology	Chilanism Insurectionist White Path Chan Nationalism
Size	c. 10.000 (max)
Allies	Tikal's Workers Party
Opponents	2017 Tikalese Junta
Battles and wars	Tikalese Civil War

The Hands of Thunder also called H'un Ch'ak K'ab in Xut'an, was a revolutionary and insurectionary movement that operated in Tikal during the Civil War. It's inspiration and methodology have been caracterized as "Insurectionist White Path", using both religious and socio-economic framings to unify the Chan community in Tikal whom it consider has been oppressed and marginalized by the Arthuristans. To reach its goal of liberating the Chan people, it employed terrorism and armed resistance.

The Hands emerged as an organization during the early 2010s after the arrival of the anonymous Oracle who gathered around him a small but cohesive circle of young Chan people of various social origins. This circle then evolved into an underground politico-religious movement, with suspected dealings between it and political parties such as the Tikal's Workers Party as soon as 2014.

After the 2017 December Massacre and the collapse of all state institutions on the islands, the Hands of Thunder occupied most of the ethnically-Chan neighborhoods of Tikal City and unilaterally proclaimed the creation of autonomous Batabils, replacing the mayors previously in charge of these districts with their own structures. In reaction, the Auxilliaries Militia attempted to retake control of these neighborhoods, only to face heavy casualties in the face of armed resistance. This resistance would lead to the proclamation of an Emergency state by the Tikalese Military which then established a Junta to oversee the situation. The conflict between the Junta and the Hands of Thunder would be the driving force behind the Tikalese Civil War until the Belfrasian Intervention.

Following the end of the Civil War and the 2019 Tikalese Extraordinary Elections, the Oracle announced the dissolution of the Hands of Thunder. Studies show however that most of its members were recruited into Tikal's police forces during the service's reforge following the Civil War, and many of its leaders have become important figures in the new Tikalese political scene. Notably, the Oracle is now the leader of the Serpent Gate Temple which he established in the aftermath of the Civil War. Since then, the Serpent Gate Temple has become the main religious institution of the island. The Temple is at the object of many criticism and controversies, one of the most common accusation being that it is merely the "reincarnation" and public face of the modern Hands of Thunder, who still exist unofficialy through unofficial networks that have survived the civil war. Such accusations have been denied by the Serpent Gate Temple and condemned by the Tikalese executive as "conspiracy theories".