Yajawil of Kupul

Yajawil of Kupul Yajawil Kupul
Flag
Motto: Respect and Loyalty
Anthem: The Opening Ceremonial
Location of the Yajawil in Mutul
Capital and	Uk Yabnal
Official languages	Mutli Kowoj Etaan Utaan
Ethnic groups (2016)	Kowoj Xumanec Ytze
Demonym(s)	Pukulese
Government	Absolute monarchy
• Pukul Yajaw	I-Tzaam Keh
Legislature	Pukul Ch'ob
• Upper house	Pukul Sajal Ch'ob
• Lower house	Pukul Mam Ch'ob
Province of the Mutul
Area
•	52,800 km2 (20,400 sq mi)
Population
• 2018 estimate	1,584,000
• 2016 census	1,583,299
• Density	30/km2 (77.7/sq mi)

Kupul, officialy the Yajawil Kupul, is a first-level administrative division in the Mutul. It is bordered to the north by the Yajawil of Ekab, to its east by the Yajawil of Kayapan, to its south by TBD, to the west by the Oxmal, and to the north-west by Kaniktun. It's divided into nine Kuchkabals and its capital is the city of Uk Yabnal.

For most of its history, Pukul was home to successives kingdoms and then duchies or provinces that had great control or influence over most of the Xuman Peninsula. But since then, it has been sidelined compared to other Yajawils, and is falling behind in term of economic development and political clout. Despite this, its rich history, important religious sites such as the Jachit’echen, sportive accomplishments, and position as a transport hub for most of northern Xuman, make it so it remains a prestigious Yajawil in the Mutulese administration, and one heavily fought for between the Xiu-Tutul and the Yakawek, alongside other less known lineages.

Etymology

The name of the Yajawil come from the verb "Ku" and the adjective “Pul", which means respectively “Throwing” and “bouncing”. It seems that the current name is the reduction of its previous long form : Kupuloomnal, or “land of the ball-throwers”, referring to the great passion of the local aristocracy for ballgames, even when compared to their neighbors. Some of the largest and most detailed ballcourts in the Mutul can be found in Kupul, especially its capital city of Uk Yabnal.

History

Ka Ytze

One of the sacred cenotes around which the Ytzas built their second capital

Kupul was originally the heartland of the Second Ytze Kingdom. It was founded in AD 130 when the city of Uk Yabnal was conquered by the Ytze leader Chan Witz and his warband. From there, he crowned himself Ytze Ajaw. The region quickly grew through the immigration and settlement of Ytze warbands and rebels who fled the Mutul, which gave Chan Witz the man-power necessary to extract tribute from other settlements in the Xuman Peninsula. They notably took the city of Yaxuna away from their rival kingdom of Kob’a to the north. In AD 250, the Mutul broke down in a collection of independent successor states, all fighting to reclaim the Divine Throne. After a prophetic vision, Sak Xib Chaak declared himself the earthly incarnation of the Red Chaak and the K’uhul Ajaw of the Ka Ytze kingdom, thus starting the Xib Dynasty.

the Ka Ytze were the dominant party in their alliance with Oxmal. The Ekab Federation, at first led by their old rival of Kob’a, formed as a way to resist the growing threat of the Ytze, but they were defeated and forced to pay an important tribute to the Ytze K’uhul Ajaw. It also conquered other important sites, such as Kanma, the “Yellow City”, an important place of worship for the cult of the Solar God.

Ek Xib Chaak's stelae commemorating the pacification of Oxmal

An intense drought in the early 4rth century CE was the triggering factor of a serie of massive revolts in Oxmal. Not willing to lose their main ally in the region, the Ytze K’uhul Ajaw Ek Xib Chaak invaded Oxmal and installed on the throne a loyal nobleman. Further campaigns to pacify the regions transformed Oxmal in an official vassal of the Ka Ytze. Thus, by 350 CE, they had gained control over all of the north-western Xuman.

In 370 CE, coordinating with K’ol rebels, the Ytze K’uhul Ajaw Zak Xib Chaak invaded and conquered the Xuman Mutal, retaking the heartlands of the old first Ytze Kingdom. Like in the previous Ytze conquests, this led to a sharp demographic decline in the area. The capital of the Xuman Mutal, Xu Chanma, returned to its original name of K’ah Ytze ("land of the Ytze"), as a symbol of the return of the Ytze from their exile.

This period of prosperity and expansion for the Ka Ytze ended with the slow rise of Danguixh during the 5th century CE and of the Kuy Dynasty. In 440 CE, Kukulkan, a general of the Kuy Dynasty, started the invasion of the Xuman Peninsula by defeating the K’ol. in 443 he took K’ah Ytze and all of the southern regions of the Kingdom. He then allied with a vassal warlord of the Ytze who led a failed rebellion a few years before but survived his ritual sacrifice in a Cenote : Hunak Keel Kawich of the Kawkom Family. With the help of Hunak Keel Kawich and other insurgencies, such revolts in Oxmal and Ekab, Kukulkan conquered Uk Yabnal on the first of september 450. What would become the Yajawil of Chakjasaw was carved out of the heartland surrounding Uk Yabnal. the capital of the Ytze was abandoned, and a new city was built : Ekpan. Kukulkan ensured that Hunak Keel Kawich was crowned as a vassal king of the Kuy, and that he became the leader of most of the Ka Ytze old territories.

Kawkom Family

The Kawkom, Hunak Keel Kawich’s family, became the new rulers of most of the Xuman Peninsula as ‘’’Jasaw Yajaw’’’, but they proved to be difficult vassals with aspirations toward greater autonomy or even independence toward the rest of the Mutul. They used the quick succession of the "Chik’in Dynasties” : the Kuy, Tzamkuy, Nehn, Oxkuy, and Chankuy, and exploited the general instability of the court fractured by the conflict between the “Mutun” and the “Tatinak” aristocrats and the conflicts inside these factions, to become almost independent from the central government and expand their power further.

Xiu Revolt

After the invasions of the Kayamuca Empire during the 9th century, the Chankuy Dynasty aimed to regain control of their empire. They notably supported the Halak Winik of Oxmal, Xiu Xupan, in his rebellion, quickly followed by the other vassals of the Kawkom. The reasoning behind this was that the Jasaw Yajaw had become too powerful and was now capable of contesting the authority of the K’uhul Ajaw, and needed to be checked. It is also possible that Chak Keel Zak, the Jasaw Yajaw at the time, was almost ready to declare himself independent from the Mutul now that it had been weakened by the Kayamuca. The Xiu Revolt ended with the massacre of almost every member of the Kawkom Dynasty, except for one, Bolon Te, who was away in a trade venture, and fled to the Kayamuca court afterward. This, however, was only the start of a localized civil war that opposed the ex-partisans of the Kawkom, such as the Keh, the Pech, and the Chel families, against the Xiu and their allies. It ended with the arbitration of the K’uhul Ajaw, who offered their pardon to all the revolted leaders and created new Yajawils to appease the situation. Thus, the Kupul Yajawil was officially created in 891, alongside Kankab’, made of Kanma and its dependencies, Motun, and Ikanziho, centered around the towns of the same names, which were offered to the Kawkom “loyalists”. Kupul, meanwhile, became the dependency of the Tutul family.

Cousins War

After the final court intrigues of the Chankuy led to the dislocation of central authority into a collection of successor states in 991 , Kupul became the refuge of one of these claimants to the throne. K’in Chan Chaak, uncle of the late Divine King, declared himself K’uhul Ajaw and took the still depopulated city of Ekpan as his capital. K’in Chan Chaak and his inheritors would create one of the most important claimant-state during this period of civil war, holding firmly on the Xuman Peninsula and, at their greatest extent, having even retaken vast sway of the central regions and the old capital of the Chankuy. They would only be definitively defeated a century later when in 1090 they were pushed back to the Xuman by the combined forces of the Tazumal Mutal and of the K’umarkaj Kingdom. Four year later, the forces of the K’umarkaj Ajpop, now officially a claimant to the Mutulese Throne, captured Ekpan and ritually sacrificed the last claimant of the northern Mutal, Kan K’awiil.

early K’iche dynasties

Following the end of the Cousins War, the Xuman was temporarily put under the rule of a single Yajaw, until the pacification process of the Mutul was completed and local rulers could travel to K’umarkaj and pledge their allegiance to their new sovereign, and reclaim their titles or gain new ones. In this reshuffling of the cards, the Tutul definitively lost the title of Kupul Yajaw, but were confirmed as one of the Great-House of the new Mutul. The Yajawil instead was offered to a member of the Kawek lineage, founding the House of Yakawek. The new K’iche rulers rebuilt both Ekpan and Uk Yabnal, taking the latter as their capital.

Xuman Crusade

In 1301, the crusaders led by Leon Aegidius reached Ekpan in their desperate scramble for water and supplies after they were cut off from their bridgehead in the Yajawil of Oxmal. They were ultimately forced to retreat, unable to lay siege to the city and pursued by the Mutuleses. Thus Ekpan was the furthest point inland the Latins were able to reach during this Crusade.

Geography

Example of a Cenote

Relatively flat, the surface of the Yajawil is made principally of sedimentary rock, much of which is from marine origin. The few hills visible here and there, mostly in the south, are separated by large expanses of lower flat land. Only a few of these hills reach an altitude of over 100 meters and all of these are located in the south of the state.

Rainforest areas subdivide into a number of types from perennial tall tree to deciduous low height tree rainforests. They are concentrated mostly around cenotes and other natural, or artificial, sources of groundwater, and are interspersed with relatively large savannah areas. Most of these rainforests are exploited in one form or another for agriculture, serving as source of food, cash crops, and hardwood. The areas of rainforests not part of the Milpas cycle, or created through the use of Pet Kot, are natural preserves dependents of a Temple or another public institution.

Rainfall rapidly filtrates into the subsoil and there’s no above-ground river in Kupul.

Kupul is in the tropics; it has a humid climate, with a defined rainy season, and a relatively dry season from late winter to early spring. It’s relative distance from the coast give it a clearly defined dry season from late winter to early spring and temperatures can be pretty cold when compared to other Yajawils of the Xuman Peninsula closer to the coasts.

Government

Exterior of the Ducal Palace, residence of the Pukul Yajaw, in Uk Yabnal

Kupul is ruled by the Kupul Yajaw, nominated by the K’uhul Ajaw and confirmed in his functions by the Kupul Ch’ob. Executive and judicial powers over the Yajawil reside in him, but it’s the Ch’ob that is competent over matters like the development and growth of the province and divide the allocated budget.

Currently, the control of the council and of the position of Yajawil is being wrestled by two families : the Yakawek, of K’iche ascendent, and the Tutul-Xiu, a branch of the indigenous Xiu Nimja that inherited the Tutul’s name and responsibilities after the extinction of the main line. The current K’uhul Ajaw since 2006, I-Tzaam Keh, is the official head of the Yakawek Family. They had lost the title since 1967 because of their proximity with the Orientalists spheres that were in power before, but I-Tzaam Keh and his family have since become known Rezeists and this made them politically viable once again after the tenuous alliance between the Orientalists, represented by the Xiu-Tutul, and various Traditionalists movements, dislocated itself.

Even if they have lost the Yajawil, the Tutul-Xiu still possess key positions, such as the Kuchkabals of Tz’enot and B’inakab, plus the Batabils of Ekpan, B’inama, and Zaki, among others. This plus good relations with the Elders of the province have allowed them to retain their presence in Kupul’s political and administratives spheres, at default of the title of Yajaw.

Kuchkabals

Kupul is divided into nine Kuchkabals : B’alamnah, B’inakab, Kanlotmul, Panja, Ta-zeemul, Tixkumul, Yabnal, Wamunja, and Ekpan

Economy

Slash-and-burn is commonly used in Kupul as part of the Milpa system

Most farmlands in Kupul is state owned and organized under a Cooperative System, where members individually farm designated parcels and collectively maintain communal holdings. Some exploitations, however, belong to a landowners and farmers who exploit these lands are considered to be salaried. These two systems have always more or less co-existed, but the former has overtaken in the other in proeminence and in the number of hectares exploited since the reforms of the eighties.

The most important crops is corn. Other includes chili peppers, chocolate, watermelon, and various tropical and non-tropical fruit bearing trees, especially citrus and mango. Most commercially raised livestock is domestic fowl mostly chickens and turkeys, but domestic fowl is raised in most rural homes all over the region, but Kupul is mostly known for its deer farming industry, with the third highest concentration of deer farms in the Mutul. Forestry, including the extraction of precious tropical hardwoods, remains an important economic activity for most farmers, done in alternance with cereal farming through the Milpas system, ensuring the preservation of the soils.

A cement and concrete plant on the outskirt of Uk Yabnal

Pukul does not have metal deposits but it does have deposits of building stone, such as sandstone, marble and limestone, sand, gravel, lime, clay and other minerals. The most common type of industry relates to food and food processing including soft drinks, cakes, flour, and honey. Another common industry is that of building materials such as cinderblock, wood products and the processing of building stone, but also cements. However, most of the manufacturing industry is aimed at the production of parts for both the automotive industry (ex: rubber tyres) and the electronics industry (ex:batteries) and an important textile and furniture industry processing cotton, hemp, and other vegetal fibers, but also of synthetic fibers. Pukul thus mostly has a light industry that produce raw materials and manufactured parts that support the rest of the Mutul’s economy, but can also be exported to Tsurushima and Sante Reze.

The commerce sector of the economy is mostly traditional with small establishments catering to local or regional needs.In the larger cities, supermarkets and malls can be found. The presence in Kupul of one important holy site, the Jachit’echen : the most famous cave sanctuary dedicated to the Underground Mamlab, thought as a symbolic reproduction of the water’s course through Xibalba and famous for its grand stone pillar naturally shaped like a tree. Beside this regular source of pilgrims, a large project started by the Kupul Yajaw since the 2000s aimed at promoting his region’s archeological heritage and specific culture. Museums, alongside other infrastructures, were built, and agencies were created to attract foreign tourists, either to come directly in Kupul or as a new activity while they are already visiting the coastal areas.

Rural residences are usually built from local materials which may have roofs of laminate, palm fronds or even cardboard, walls made of laminate or wood, with foundations generally of cement or packed earth.Even if running water, garbage collection and electricity is available in almost every settlements, the sewer system reach only the urban population. Countrysides settlements have to rely on dry toilets and septic tanks. Urban residences, when for a single family, have cement foundations, with cinderblock walls and brick or cement roofs. Otherwise, apartment buildings are constructed similarly than everywhere else in the world.

Demographics

Estimates of the Province's population place it at around 2 millions inhabitants. The Kowoj represent the main ethny of the region, making up 74% of the population of Ekpan for example, and 33% of Uk Yabnal. An important historical Ytze minority exist, representing about 45% of the population of Uk Yabnal, with pockets of Ytze speakers spread all around the province. Remaining minorities are the various Xumaneses speakers (Etaan, Utaan...) and more recent migrants from other regions of the Divine Kingdom.

Culture

Life in Kupul is rythmed by religious festivity. Many Kupuleses perform minor pilgrimages thourough the state during the year to participate in ceremonies in Calendar Temples. Beyond these, major festivities take place in Ekpan, Uk Yabnal, and Jachit’echen year round and can even attract participants from outside the Yajawil.

Museums detailing the rich history of Kupul have been built to attract visitors and tourists. This has also attracted many galleries of famous Mutuleses artists, including neo and post-classical or post-modernists painters, sculptors, performers, etc… Ekpan in particular became a regional hotbed for artists of all kind, the most popular of which are often under the patronage of the city’s Priesthood.

Sport

Pitz is the most popular sport in Kupul. The Yajawil as also been the “homeland” of many famous, oftentime idolized and divinized, players. Ekpan and Uk Yabnal teams have a long-lasting rivalry, but supporters of one team are known to support the other when against “foreign” teams. Ekpan notably has a long tradition of being a “nursery” for players, with a tradition for Ekpan coaches to themselves go scout young promising players, train them intensively, and then sell their contracts to wealthier teams once the player has made his proofs during official competitions. It is not unheard off either of teams sending their more troublesome players to Ekpan to follow their famous training programs. Such a tradition has given birth to the saying : “Uk Yabnal care for its players, Ekpan for its coaches”, caricaturing the stance of both teams.

Food

An example of Tapibo typical of the Yajawil

Like almost every regions of the Mutul, Kupul has corn as its staple, accompanied by a variety of other food sources but essentially beans, vegetables, tropical fruits, all of this with some meats, essentially poultry and venison. The staple bread is corn tortilla. Uk Yabnal is known for its large collection of juggings but also for its specific recipe of fried pastry, filled with corn, peppers, and red meat from Terror Birds or Ostriches. Chocolate sauce is also famed beyond the Yajawil’s borders, served with rice, carrots, onions and other vegetables.