Ytze people

Ytze

Ytze worker with carving of Kukulkan
Regions with significant populations
Mutul	9 million
Languages
Ytzaj
Religion
White Path

The Ytze are a Macro-Chan ethnic group within the Mutul populating, for the most part, the interiors of the Xuman Peninsula. They are related to a number of other ethnies : the Kowoh, Yalain, and Kehache. The Ytze proper are often themselves subdivided between Western and Eastern Ytze. Some historians also subdivide the Ytze into three groups : Western, Northern, and Central. In both cases, the western group is a small pocket of Ytzaj speakers on the Makrian Coast, centered on the city Ch’akan. They are the descendents of Ytze groups who fled the collapse of the First Ytze Kingdom and settled in the area. The division between Northern and Central Ytze is more debated because of their stronger historical, cultural, and linguistic ties.

Ytze, Kowoh, Yalain, and Kehache all speak Ytzaj languages that evolved from dialects spoken within the Second Ytze Kingdom and thereafter. Modern Ytzaj is considered to be intelligible with Kowoh and Yalain, but otherwise all languages within that group are mutually unintelligible. While they often share a common “cultural background”, Ytze-related groups have often developed their own original social and cultural structures. For all of these reasons, the division of these groups by sociologues and historians is never really disputed and espouses reality rather well, with many social divisions perceptible between these groups wherever they meet.

Etymology

There are a number of alternative spelling of the Ytze’ names. Nonetheless, it seems they inherited the names of their potential predecessors, named the Aj Itz Ek, “They of the Enchanted Star”. This seems to be corroborated by the Chan and K’uy era codices which often referred to the Ytze as “Sorcerers” or “Water Witches”. This reputation for black magic still plague the Ytze to this very day and play into their rather distrustful relations with their neighbors.

Language

Ytzaj belong to the Northern branch of the Macro-Chaan languages alongside the Putun, Puk, Ch’en, Xu, and Mopan languages. It forms its own subgroup with the Kowoh, Keht’an, and Yalain languages.

Languages within the Ytze group are closely related, however speakers of different Ytze-related languages may have difficulties understanding one another. To speakers of languages in the rest of the Northern branch, Ytzaj and its relatives are considered unintelligible.

Ytze are either bi or multilingual. They all, at the very least, speak both Ytzaj and Mutli commonly. Ytze living outside of Nohixil may speak little to no Ytzaj and be on their way “Ch’oltization”.

Ytzaj is a somewhat peculiar language among the Macro-Chaan languages as it keeps many elements closer to Western Branch languages than from its own group. There is ongoing debates among specialists about whether or not Ytzaj should be classified as Western Group Language which was “Northernified” during the past two millenias, or if it’s indeed a Northern Group Language that show lingering influence from Western Macro-Chaan Speakers who settled the area during Antiquity.

Religion

All Ytze within the Mutul are White Path followers although they tend to have distinct cults and rituals.

It seems that the first and second Ytze kingdoms had their patron deity in the form of the “Enchanted Star”, most likely Venus. The modern incarnation of the “venusian deity”, Ek Chuah, remain a popular god throughout Ytze communities. Many of the modern legends, mythology, and theology surrounding the god take their root in ancient texts written in Ytzaj. The Yajawil of Nohixil is notably famous for being the only province of the Mutul to have a place of worship dedicated to the Black Scorpio : a deep cave near Lake Monha where pilgrims come to meditate as close as possible to the god’ underground House of Wealth. In other regions of the Mutul, his cult doesn’t have, or rather doesn’t need, places of worship. Pilgrims simply build every night and at every crossroad a small altar made of three stones atop one another to perform a small offering. Statues of him are also present in many temples as he is a very popular protector god.

Their association with Ek Chuah doesn’t stop there, as Ytze are especially stigmatized in popular culture for being sorcerers and witches. Just like their patron deity, who is also the god of sorcery and Apotropaic magic. Shamanism is still very present among Ytze, with cults dedicated to the Wayob being especially popular.

Religion among Ytze-related people generally differ sensibly. While the Kowoh, for the most part, are also under the patronage of Ek Chuah, cults to the Wayob and associated magic rituals are even more common. Kowoh communities are thus marked by a strong structure around Oracles, Sorcerers, and other Shamans that are not always part of an official clergy.

The Yalain, meanwhile, are much closer to the “mainstream” clergy than their cousins. Since the end of the Second Kingdom and to separate themselves from the Ytze, they have adopted en masse Kukulkan’s Serpent Cult. This cult was famous for forbidding human sacrifices, a rarity among Mutuleses religions. The Serpent Cult may have been persecuted and all but destroyed after the unification of the White Path as a singular religion, They still worship him to this day as the Kan Ek, the Serpent Star, an ancient title of royalty among the Ytze people. Kukulkan, especially as the Kan Ek, is mainly sought after for visions and wisdom, among other more spiritual gifts. He sends his blessing to the mortal world through the use of his servants : the Vision Serpents. These serpents are summoned through a number of practices, generally involving standing meditation, blood offerings, the burning of prayer scrolls and incense.

The Kehache, named after the Deer, may be the Ytze-related people who have deviated the most from the First Kingdom’ religion. Like their Kowoh cousins, they are adepts of the Wayob Cults, and venerate a number of Oracles who seek Kukulkan’ wisdom through the invocation of the Vision Serpents. Just like the Kowoh, the serpent deity is mostly known among them as the Waxaklahun Ub’ah Kan (Serpent of Eighteen Faces), the War Serpent. A very archaic title which seems to be a remnant of pre-Ytze religion that was associated with Kukulkan only more recently. But the real most popular deity among Kehache people is the Yum Kaax, the Forests’ Patriarch and Proprietor of All Hunts. Farmers and Hunters, often the same people among the Kehache, especially worship him, giving him offerings to protect their fields against the Wild and to have better results during hunts.

Population

There are around 9 million Ytze people currently living within the Mutul. The number of Ytze people living outside of the Mutul is difficult to assess. When all gathered, Ytzaj and Ytze-related speakers represent a total of 12 million people living essentially within the interior of the Xuman Peninsula but with communities in every major Mutulese city.

History

First Ytze Kingdom

The First Ytze Kingdom was centered around Lake Monha. The Ytze were ruled by four kings called the Kan Ek’. It is unknown if each of these four monarchs had the title of Kan Ek’ (which would then be translated as Star Snake) or if it was the collective names for the Monarchs (Four Stars). It is possible it was both, depending on the context.

The territory of the Ytze was divided into four quadrants, each corresponding to a cardinal direction. Each Quadrant had its own color, its own Kan Ek’, its own army, and its own capital on the shore of Lake Monha. Each Quadrant was itself divided into four Provinces, themselves expected to regroup four cities and their hinterlands, but it seems improbable that this theoretical number was ever perfectly matched. The ritual capital of the Kingdom was located on an island in the middle of Lake Monha and was the meeting place of the Kan Ek, the Ytze Clergy, and their Governors.

From historical records, it seems the First Ytze Kingdom was especially aggressive and war-like. It seems for example that, during the 7th century BC, the Northern March of the First Mutul, the Lordship of Nakabe, managed to end K’ol people’ raids on the Mutul northern borders by offering them protection against the Ytze Kingdom which had itself planned to subdue the K’ol proto-states. The Ytze would not be able to resume their imperial enterprise until the collapse of Nakabe in 320 BC. K’ol proto-states of Lakam Tun, Man T’e, and Akol submitted to the new Chaan Mutul in 293 BC after a long and exhausting war, giving the Ytze the opportunity to attack in 280 BC. This event triggered the First Chaan-Ytze War (280 - 277 BC) and ignited the rivalry between the K’uhul Ajaw and the Kan Ek’.

In AD 78, the Ytze suffered their final defeat at the hand of the Chaan. Their four capitals were destroyed, their land conquered, and their people forced to flee northward. The core regions of the Monha Bassin were recolonized and integrated into the Mutul while the periphery of the four kingdoms collapsed and devolved into a collection of opposing tribes and small city-states. The Kehache, Kowoh, and Yalain people find their origin in these small remnants of the First Kingdom. A Ytze state maintained itself around Ch’akan, on the west coast, for a couple of years but was supplanted by a Yokot’an dynasty and integrated into the Kingdom of Tamaktun in 80. The Ytze language and culture however would maintain themselves, forming the original pocket of Western Ytze.

Second Ytze Kingdom

In 130 Chan Witz, the leader of a Ytze warband, conquered Uk Yabnal in the modern Yajawil of Kupul. He then crowned himself Ytze Ajaw, “Lord of the Ytze” and proclaimed a New Ytze Kingdom which attracted many of the other Ytze warbands and migratory clans. This new kingdom was again divided into four Quarters but its central institutions were greatly reinforced compared to its predecessors : only one king who could appoint and dismiss the four governors as he pleased and with a centrally controlled tax and levy system. Strengthened, the Ytze allied with the Kingdom of Oxmal, founded at around the same time as the Second Ytze Kingdom, and defeated the Xu people federations to their north. The Ytze once again resumed with their expansionist policies, especially after the collapse of the Chaan Mutul in 250. The Ytze Ajaw at the time, Sak Xib Ch’ak, declared himself the earthly incarnation of the Red Ch’ak and Divine Lord of a new Mutul.

The golden age of the Second Kingdom happened during the third century AD. Oxmal became a direct vassal of the Ytze in 350, meaning the Ytze were now in control of the entirety of the northern Xuman peninsula. In 370 they reconquered the Monha lake and its bassin and restored the old four regions, henceforth known in official documents as the “Southern Quarters” or the Ytzekal, the “Land of the Ytze”. The K’uhul Ajaw Sak Xib Ch’ak II then proclaimed the end of the Exile.

Unfortunately for them, the Ytze soon found themselves in opposition with the new rising power of the region : the K’uy Dynasty. In 440 this new state sent one of their generals, Kukulkan, against the Ytze. Kukulkan allied himself with Hunak K’el Kawich and his clan, the Kawkom, who had launched their own revolt against the Ytze. This triggered a number of other anti-Ytze revolts, notably in Ekab and Oxmal, and allowed the K’uy to take over the entire peninsula. In 450, Kukulkan entered a devastated Uk Yabnal, marking the end of the Ytze State.

K’uy Dynasty

See also: K'uy Dynasty

Under the K’uy, the Ytze lands were once again partitioned. The Northern Quarters were amalgamated into a single Viceroyalty of Chakapan and given to the Kawkoms who moved the capital to Ekpan. K’ah Ytze also became a K’uy Viceroyalty and given to Kukulkan. His descendent, the Snake Dynasty, proved to be quite amenable to Ytze culture, maintaining their temples, honoring their ancestors, and adopting Ytzaj as a written language within the court and their viceroyalty. Their good gestion and efforts allowed the Ytze to maintain themselves as a distinct culture to this day.

In Chakapan, the Ytze were not relocated or forced to migrate but they nonetheless fell from grace. The Kawkoms favored a Xu’ aristocracy over the old lineages of the previous kingdom. It’s the Kowoch who rised instead, maintaining their reputation as proud and efficient warriors, they became the new military aristocracy of the Xuman. It’s notably because they managed to rally the Kowoch clans to their side that the Xiu was able to successfully revolt against the Kawkom. This would mark a return to grace of the Kowoh military and the Ytze Clergy under the new Viceroys of the Tutul Dynasty and the Generalship of K’in Chan Ch’ak, the newly nominated “K’aloomt’e of the North” sent to take over all military affairs within the Peninsula and restore order in 897.

Cousins War

See also: Cousins War

K’in Chan Ch’ak was the most recently established Imperator when the death of K’uhul Ajaw Nuhn Ujol K’inich II triggered the Cousins War. After a failed attempt at taking over the capital by force in 898, he learned his lesson and is now remembered as the most careful, patient, and diplomatic pretender. It paid off, gaining the loyalty of both the anti and pro Kawkom Houses while also playing the two sides against the other and also propping back old Ytze lineages. 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.

Contrary to others, the Xuman Mutal was at its strongest when it had to face the K’iche in 1090. 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.

K’iche Dynasties

After their conquest, the K’iche maintained only a very light presence in the Xuman. The entire peninsula is put under the direction of a single Viceroyalty, giving local aristocrats a high degree of autonomy and freedom from the central government. Ytze families returned to power in Ytzekal, while the Yalain and Kowoh asserted themselves as their own quasi-states.

When the Ilok’tab Dynasty asserted itself over the entirety of the Mutul, the Ytze and Ytze related people were quick to follow them in their anti-Kayamucan campaigns as soon as 1203.

It’s during that period that the Yalain affirmed themselves as a distinct society from that of the Ytze, coalescing around the old lineages' who did not migrate after the fall of the First Ytze Kingdom. This division became a feud when the Second Kingdom re-established itself in the Monha and appropriated many of the lands the Yalain lineages considered as theirs, and pushed them back eastward.

Under the K’iche, the Yalain became a sort of Marquisate on the edge of the Mutul and consolidated their strength there further. During the 12th century their, and the Kowoh’, support was vital in the conquest of Mopan and they were thus further rewarded by the K’iche. The Ytze proper were sidestepped by their new masters but allowed to continue to consolidate their hold on lands and markets in Ytzekal while the Kowoh became dominant in the Northern Quarters, supporting the newly established K’iche administrators there against the Xiu and other Xu lineages when necessary.