Cousins War

The Mutals and important neighboring states in 897

The Cousin War was an era of political upheaval and division in the Mutul spanning most of the 10th and 11th centuries. Traditionaly, the era start with the death of the last K'uhul Ajaw of the K'uy Dynasty, Nuhn Ujol K'inich II, and end with the coronation of K'ukumatz, first K'uhul Ajaw of the Nimabal K'iche Dynasty. The name is derived from a tradition saying that all of the first generation of pretenders were cousins of the late Nuhn Ujol K'inich II.

Many of the Mutals the pretenders formed had been de-facto independent long before 895, as the Chank'uy ability to control their territories crumbled after their disastrous wars with the Kayamuca Empire. there was near constant warfare between all the emerged Mutals, all claiming to be the sole legitimate inheritors of the Chank'uy.

The last of these regimes was the Western Mutal, conquered by the Nimabal K'iche Dynasty in 1093. It's only then that the K'iche were able to reclaim all of the former territories of the K'uy.

Background

The 8th century was a time of constant warfare and devastation for the Mutul with five conflicts against the Kayamuca Empire or its vassals. Almost all of the eastern regions of the Divine Kingdom were lost, as well as almost all of the eastern coast of the Xuman Peninsula. This left the K'uy Dynasty greatly diminished in prestige, wealth, and power. To ensure the security of the borders, they began to rely more and more on local generals, the Kaloomt'e, who were given the control of multiple market-cities in exchange for raising personal armies and defending the core regions of the Mutul against external threats. In an attempt to secure the loyalty of these "Imperators", the Divine Throne only granted the position to members of the House of K'uy, either minor lineages or cadet branches of the mainline. Similarily, the position of Kaloomt'e was not supposed to be transmissible from father to son, nor were they supposed to do more than perceive the tax revenues and organize the levies of "their" cities. But quickly, the Kaloomt'e acquired more and more powers due to the constant weakening of the Divine Throne.

The death of Nuhn Ujol K'inich II without an immediate heir nor a clearly defined successor accelerated the dissolution of the Divine Kingdom's institutions and brought the tensions between the cadet branches to new heights. Six pretenders rose up, all cousins of the late Divine Lord and five of which held positions as K'aloomt'e. Hun K'in K'uy, K'aloomt'e of the East, was the most prestigious of them but it's Sahal K'awiil, the only non-general among the potential candidates to the throne, who invited all the other pretenders to a "Convention" so they could negociate and elect a K'uhul Ajaw. Only five of the pretenders came to Uaxakatz'am to participate in the Convention. The sixth, Jasaw Chan Kan, K'aloomt'e of the West, declared the Convention a "mockery of the Law" and instead marched on Danguixh, occupying the ancient first capital of the K'uy and proclaiming himself K'uhul Ajaw there, convincing the prestigious clergy of the city to crown him.

The Convention was a failure and the pretenders couldn't find an agreement. Hun K'in K'uy returned to the eastern border, and he was imitated by the other Kaloomt'e soon after. Only Nuhn Kan Mah, the K'ol K'aloomt'e, did not return to his capital. instead, he joined a small mobile army he had gathered a few days on foot from Uaxakatz'am and then marched on the second capital of the K'uy. Sahal K'awiil managed to drive back his cousin's party, leading the levied citizenry of the capital despite his lack of military background. The K'ol K'aloomt'e then returned to his domain, his army plundering the lands on the way. Strengthened by this act, Sahal K'awiil convinced the Clergy of Uaxakatz'am to crown him K'uhul Ajaw. When news of it arrived to all the other pretenders, it sparkled protests and contestations, leading to all remaining four K'aloomt'e to proclaim themselves K'uhul Ajaw and reading their troops to defend their rights.

First War

War for Tzib’ajab and Muyalwitz

Between Jasaw Chan Kan, "Divine Lord of the West", and the rest of the Mutul were two provinces: Tzib'ajab and Muyalwitz. Neither of these provinces had been assigned to a K'aloomt'e and were thus "neutral" buffers between him and Sahal K'awiil who immediately moved troops to secure these regions. He successfully occupied Tzib'ajab, but the valley of Muyalwitz, too far away south and culturaly more amicable to the West than the East, recognized the K'uhul Ajaw of the West as the sole legitimate heir of the Mutul without a single battle.

In 897, Jasaw Chan Kan launched a massive offensive against the Tzib'ajab region, defeating his rival's armies and conquering the province in a single campaign season. But as he drew nearer to Uaxakatz'am, the resistance became more fierce and he was forced to stop a few dozen of kilometers away from the capital to strenghten back his army, secure his lines, and prepare a new campaign next season.

War for Uaxakatz'am

After his failed attempt to take Uaxakatz'am, Nuhn Kan Mah, the K'ol K'uhul Ajaw, decided against immediately launching the bulk of his troops against Sahal K'awiil as he was too concerned by his northern rival building up his own forces. Sensing the incoming conflict between Sahal K'awiil and the K'uhul Ajaw of the West, he waited and built up his own forces, only launching them in the direction of Uaxakatz'am in 898. Once again, his men plundered the lands on their way but on a much larger scale, until they finally the old capital and besieged it.

At the same time K'in Chan Chaak, K'uhul Ajaw of the North, led an army southward, following the eastern coast of the Xuman Peninsula until he finally reached Tzib'ajab in 898. Jasaw Chan Kan, K'uhul Ajaw of the West, worried by this unforseen intervention, abandoned his plan to attack Uaxakatz'am and moved his troops north to meet the Northerners army. He defeated them in battle, but was forced to wait another year before he could continue his onslaught eastward.

In a desesperate attempt to relieve the capital, a minor general loyal to Sahal K'awiil, B'alam Ek Witz gathered his own troops and launched an assault directly in the K'ol Mutal. At first unwilling the break the siege for such a minor action, the news of increased raids from K'in Chan Chaak to his north forced him to return to his Mutal to deal with both problems. Sahal K'awiil commited the mistake of following him, wishing to seize the occasion to destroy the K'ol army and secure his northern border. This weakened his western border, and Uaxakatz'am was seized by the Divine Lord of the West in 900.

War for Apikal

Sahal K'awiil met Nuhn Kan Mah in battle in 898 but was defeated. He was forced to rest in the Apikal Bassin to restore his strength, but the Divine Lord of the K'ol did not rest and fell on him in 899 in a bloody but undecisive battle. It's only the following year that Sahal K'awiil was defeated on both his eastern and western front, losing Uaxakatz'am and the Apikal Bassin.

Sahal was forced to flee south to the Mak'ab Plateau. There, he was able to repell the assaults of the K'ol and defeated a number of small western armies and parties in the Ch'ich Mountains. Jasaw Chan Kan and Nuhn Kan Mah facing each other in battle at Tupilchan also relieved Sahal K'awiil. Finaly, a new campaign from the Northern Mutal against its K'ol southern neighbor forced Nuhn Kan Mah to return back to his lands. The Westerner army led by Jasaw Chan Kan, tired by seven years of constant warfare, was further weakened when Sahal K'awiil's general, B'alam Ek Witz, was able in 903 to retake the city of Yaxalak at the feet of the Ch'ich Mountains and from there raid the westerners' supply lines, isolating them. Their K'uhul Ajaw tried to hold on to Uaxakatz'am, but was forced to abandon it in 907 and finally returned to Danguixh after a decade of warfare. By 911, Sahal K'awiil had also recovered the Apikal Bassin.

Eastern Front

Hun K'in K'uy, in his position of "Kaloomt'e of the East", was one of the most prestigious pretenders to the throne, having fought against the Kayamuca Empire and its allies many times, and had an important reserve of veterans in his cities and fortresses. For unknown motives, he remained passive for the first few years of the war, seemingly taking no action toward reclaiming the Mutul in its entirety. But in 901, the Yajaw pf Humpat, a vassal of Ak'ab K'in B'alam the "Divine Lord of the South", rebelled against his nominal master and invited Hun K'in K'uy to seize control of his Yajawil. After a rapid victory over Ak'ab K'in B'alam forces the same year, the Divine Lord of the East saw his hegemony greatly expanded.

Possibly pressured by his advisors and generals, Hun K'in K'uy then launched a serie of campaigns against Sahal K'awiil, who at the time was distracted as he had been forced to abandon Uaxakatz'am. As a result, Hun K'in K'uy was left free to secure most of the mountains and hills that separate him from the Central Valley, as well as pushing his expansion northward to the sea. By 911, the Eastern Mutal had thus known the second greatest territorial expand of the past 15 years, just behind its western counterpart. But it did so with a lot less casualties. Hun K'in K'uy policy of appeasement with the Kayamuca Empire also bear its fruit, allowing his Mutal a greater access to foreign buyers, thus limiting the effects of the economic crisis that was devastating the other pretender states.

The Six Cousins

Hun K'in K'uy

A high-relief in-the-round sculpture from Oxwitik of Hun K'in K'uy

Recognized as First among the Chank'uy officers and most prestigious of the pretenders, the Kaloomt'e of the East had the most military experience of all the pretenders and the most well-trained and experimented troops, controlling an important serie of permanent garrisons at the start of the conflict. His income, however, was entirely dependent on the Throne's goodwill, having little to no source of profit of his own. This placed him in a difficult position for most of his reign. It's only after AD 900 when he had secured diplomatic and economic deals with the Kayamuca Empire and gained to his cause an important number of officials in the east of the Mutul that he was finally free to act and expand his Mutal's borders. But despite these vast territorial gains, Hun K'in K'uy would never be able to expand in the core regions of the old Chank'uy Mutul.

The lineage birthed by the Kaloomt'e of the East suffered greatly from its precarious position. None of the K'ink'uy K'uhul Ajaw managed to pass the "Warlord" stage and develop actual political institutions or apply the advanced K'uy administrative methods. By the late stage of the Counsins War, the K'ink'uy had devolved into little more than a regime of generals, led by a junta of officers who rose and fall depending on their military successes. Another problem faced by the K'ink'uy was their difficult economic situation: dependent on trade and peace with the Kayamuca Empire, they were constantly at risk of becoming little more than vassals to the Yevdinehi, an unfortunate position some of their K'uhul Ajaw indeed fell into. When it happened, their legitimacy would be shattered and this led to rebellion among their generals as well as their tributaries stopping their payments to the K'ink'uy. These tributes were vital to the Eastern Mutal as it lacked the capacity to collect taxes to the same extend as its rivals. To stabilize the situation, the only solution would then to be to overthrow the current Divine Lord and placing one of his relative to the throne, which would then trigger a war with the Kayamuca. The K'ink'uy had extreme difficulties with halting these downward spirals and explain why their Divine Lords were either vassals of the Kayamuca, extremly talented generals, or puppets of an extremely talented general that placed them on the throne.

Jasaw Chan K'an

Counted second among the six cousins, Jasaw Chan K'an was under the Chank'uy the Kaloomt'e of the West, tasked with upholding order and peace in the old Dynastic core of the K'uy Mutul, the modern Yajawil of Kanol. Like the other "Imperators" of the late Chank'uy, Jasaw Chan K'an used his position to build an extensive network of clients and allies, securing the loyalty of much of the old Chik'in Kingdom. Despite the lack of prestige associated with his position compared to the other pretender, after the death of Nuhn Ujol K'inich II he was the first to claim for himself the title of K'uhul Ajaw with the support of Danguixh nobility and clergy. Despite initial successes, even sizing Uaxakatz'am in AD 900, only 3 years after the Five Lords Convention (Ho Ajaw Mulin), his advance was ultimately stalled and his successors would never be able, or willing, to expand beyond these early conquests.

Jasaw Chan K'an lineage, which he renamed the K'ak'uy, were much more secure in their power than their rivals. From Danguixh, they presided over the old culural centers of the Tatinak culture and tied their legitimacy deeply to it. The Western Mutal they led is, for example, the last place where a cult to the Mother Goddess is recorded to have existed. Certain of their wealth, power, and legitimacy, the K'ak'uy made little to no effort to expand, only defending their border regions from the other Mutals with rare sudden burst of short-lived conquests that were quickly abandoned or retaken.

Another reason for this passivity at the antithesis of the very warlike energy of their founders is that the Western K'uhul Ajaw were quickly overshadowed by the Assembly of the Kingdom's Noble Houses. Power shifted from the throne to this Oligarchic "Senate" reminiscent of the Chik'in Kingdom earliest institutions.

Nuhn Kan Mah

A mural detail depicting Nuhn Kan Mah preparing for a religious ceremony

Recognized as the third most prestigious of the Kaloomt'e, Nuhn Kan Mah was only matrilinealy related to the K'uy Dynasty, making his claim to the throne one of the weakest. This was compensated by the staunch support he received from his clan and his soldiers, veterans of many conflicts with the Kayamuca Empire. This gave him control of both the K'ol provinces, where his garrisons were stationed, and of the ancient Ytze Kingdom where his clan was a dominant force. He was the first of the pretenders to use violence to seize the throne, rushing to the capital Uaxakatz'am with a small elite task force after the failure of the Five Lords Convention. Driven back, he would return a year later with a much larger force and enter a four-sided conflict with the other pretenders for both the prestigious Uaxakatz'am and the rich Apikal Basin.

Nicknamed the Divine Lord of the K'ol, Nuhn Kan Mah would continue to rule from his capital of Xu Chanma, the ancient core of the Ytze Kingdom and where his lineage was most proeminent. However, pressure on his northern border from his cousin [K'in Chan Chak]] would prevent him from gaining the upper-hand in the core regions of the Mutul. Nuhn Kan Mah quickly lost all his early conquests and was forced on the defensive afterward as the critical situation of his economy could no longer be ignored.

The descendents of Nuhn Kan Mah are simply referred to as the Mah Dynasty. All of the following K'uhul Ajaw of the K'ol were also Patriarch of the Mah Clan, and contrary to some of their rival, maintained a good grasp on their administration staffed mostly by trusted family members and feudal clients. Their army was famed as one of the best of the warring competitors as the Mah were able to preserve and maintain training facilities, forming disciplined recruits supervised by veteran soldiers. However, this professional army would continuously shrink down in size thourough the Mah Dynasty' existence as its coffers were emptied by wars and plunders.

A critical moment in the Mah Dynasty existence was the loss of its first capital Xu Chanma and their retreat southward to the then-recently-reconquered Apikal Basin. In Sakkan, their new base of power, the Mah Clan would be forced to deal with the local nobility, on which they had much less control than on their equivalents back in Xu Chanma. Chief among them was the Max Lineage, who were placated at first through political marriages. But this also gave the opportunity for the Max to play a greater role in court policies, as examplified when the Dynasty was thrown into a crisis when a Max Queen became the regent of a succession of young K'uhul Ajaw whom she forced to abdicate and replaced as she pleased until a palace coup deposed her. The late Mah Dynasty was thus never able to fully recover from its loss and was an easy prey for the K'iche. In fact, the last K'ol K'uhul Ajaw Mah ended up surrendering to the Numabal K'iche Dynasty, sparing his state from what could've been potentially a bloody one-sided conquest.

K'in Chan Chak

The Northern K'uhul Ajaw celebrated their victories through the erection of triumphal arcs

The Kaloomt'e of the North was the most recently established of the Imperators, taking over parts of the prerogatives of the old Jasaw Yajaw. The Kawkom House, which had been the dominant, quasi-independent, power of the Northern Xuman Peninsula, had recently been massacred during the Xiu Rebellion, an event possibly organized with the support of the K'uhul Ajaw Nuhn Ujol K'inich II. Kin Chan Chak thus only arrived in the region, with the mission of upholding social order and the judgment of the Divine Lord when it came to the division of the Kawkom territories, 2 years before the death of Nuhn Ujol K'inich II and the Five Lords Convention. in 898 he tried to rush to Uaxakatz'am to seize the capital, but was defeated by Jasaw Chan K'an the K'aloomte of the West. Following this defeat, K'in Chan Chak would prove himself more prudent, only harassing and raiding the borders of his southern neighbors while he was himself busy solidifying his power over the Xuman Peninsula.

K'in Chan Chak strategy payed off and he managed to secure the support of important local families such as the Xiu, the Tutul, and the Mai. Generally, these were Houses that had opposed and revolted against the Kawkom. Meanwhile, Kawkom "loyalists" still received positions and titles to placate them and maintain the Ruling of the previous K'uhul Ajaw. This facade of neutrality and impartiality maintained by the Northern K'uhul Ajaw as they played the Houses against one another using old feuds would remain a staple of the lineage established by K'in Chan Chak, the Xuk'uy Dynasty.

From their position, isolated from the rest of the conflicts but well connected to international trade networks, sometime even paying a discret tribute to the Kayamuca Empire to maintain peace and trade, the Xuman Mutal was able to slowly build up its strength without being victim of the devastation brought by constant warfare in the core regions of the old Mutul. They still had to face the threat of invasions from the Western Mutal, which pushed along the coast as far north as Kan Pech, and from the Mah Dynasty which desired to secure its northern border before it could go on and reconquer the rest of the Mutul. The Xuk'uy and the Mah would prove to be one another worst ennemies as well as the most pressing existential threats they had to face.

Contrary to other Mutals, the Xuk'uy were at their strongest by the time they faced the K'iche: they had secured the Xuman Peninsula, had a well-behaving and functioning court, and could levy armies as they pleased without it representing a threat to their solid economy. They were notably on their way to conquer the Tzib’ajal region from the Western Mutal and give the finishing blow to the K'ol Mutal when the latter surrendered to the K'iche in exchange for their protection. A series of military defeat against these newcomers on the political scene would prove to be the end of the Northern Mutal, its last K'uhul Ajaw being sacrificed alongside other high-ranking officials, their spared family members and partisans deported all over the K'iche and their allies' territories.