Kayahallpa-Mutul relations
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 Kayahallpa |
 Mutul |
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| Diplomatic mission | |
| Imperial Embassy, K'alak Muul | Divine Throne Embassy, Tupawasi |
| Envoy | |
| Ambassador Hatun Quillasumaq | Ambassador Xaltun Chel |
Kayahallpa-Mutul relations have a long and complicated history. The two countries are bound by deep religious, cultural and historical ties, but their diplomatic ties have been warm at times and hostile at others, the last war between them having ended in 1915. Ties between the two ancient civilizations and the various polities which ruled them stretch back thousands of years, with a long history of mostly peaceful exchange in culture, religion, commerce, philosophy and technology. For a two-century long period, large parts of modern Kayahallpa were either annexed or subjugated by the Mutul; this had profound effects on Kayahallpan society, such as the creation of the Kaya script and the full development of the Kayan Way. Sapa Inka Tupaq Churan waged a decisive war in 1818 that ended Mutulese rule south of the current national border.
What followed was almost a century of bitter struggle for domination in Western Oxidentale, marked by the War of 1845 which saw the Mutul succesfully invade for some of the lost territory and an unsuccessful Kayahallpan attempt to regain them in the First Belfro-Mutulese War. Whereas diplomatic escalations have occasionally involved the threat of military force up to the modern day, no major Kayan-Mutulese conflicts have broken out since the peace treaty of 1915 was signed. Relations remained largely uncooperative before the mid-20th century, after which changing economic and geopolitical conditions resulted in a growing cross-border trade of Kayahallpan raw and refined materials, helping to grow the Mutul's production of advanced industry. Both countries have embassies and consulate generals in the other's capitals. Both countries are founding members of the Oxidentale Free Trade Area, together with Sante Reze.
Country comparison
 Empire of the New Kayamucha
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 The Divine Kingdom
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|---|---|---|
| National Seal |  |
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| Population | 64.2 million (2020) | 120 million (2017) |
| Area | 1,412,768 km2 | 2,304,836 km2 |
| Population density | 45.5/km2 | 132/km2 |
| Capital | Tupawasi | K'alak Muul |
| Largest city | Tupaq Churan City | K'alak Muul |
| Government | Absolute monarchy | Absolute monarchy |
| Current Leader | Sapa Inka Tupaq Yupanki III (head of state and government) |
K'uhul Ajaw Jasaw Chan K'awiil V (head of state and government) |
| Official language | Kaya Simi | Mutli |
| Main religions | Kayan Way (83.0%) White Path (7.0%) Old Kayan Faith (6.5%) Other (3.5%). |
White Path (100%). |
| GDP (nominal) (2020) | $919.8 billion ($14,321 per capita) | $1.95 trillion ($16,231 per capita) |
History
Kayamuca Empire
Runakuna settlers were moved from Norumbia to Oxidentale by the Kayamuca Empire to improve the economy of the conquered territories and to better control the distant and oftentime rebellious Runakuna by uprooting them to another border region. Runakuna communities became common in the modern K'aksie and Kalsie, where they lived in agricultural settlements alongside the shores of the rivers and other waterways, while the surrounding hills where populated by Chibchas with whom they often intermingled. Despite the Kayamucan' tight control over all trades within its empire, border populations also exchanged with foreigners. In the case of the Oxidentalese part of the Empire, this included the tribes of the Rezeses Savannah.
In 1211, the Kayamuca Empire lost the Lamkaja valley to the Ilok'tab Dynasty which pushed the population further east to escape the dangers associated with the borderland. Already, autonomous leaders began to settle outside of the Kayamuca traditional border, within the Reze savannah.
With the fall of Gadu in 1314, the Kayamuca had lost their last remaining bastion in Oxidentale. The network of chieftains and warlords that had suceeded to the imperial administration continued to devolved into petty kingship. Tribes and clans who refused the dominion of the Mutul fled southward, through the Savannah.
The Migration
What followed was a century long migration on the southern piedmonts of the Central Mountains. This road went between the Mutul and the Ucayare Forest. In the late 14th century, the Kaya as they were beginning to be known as, were pushed away from the Yajawil of Kumakah, the old core of the K'iche kingdom. Drove further south, the Kayas finally reached the modern country of Kayahallpa 1365 and founded their new capital of Tupawasi in 1434, officially joining the High Antis' concert of states.
Crisis of the Brothers
Following Akutze travels accross the Makrian between 1511 and 1528, the establishment of the Mutulese Legation, and the intensification of trans-oceanic trades, some Mutuleses Great Companies involved in it began to rely less and less on the "Northern Makrian Road" and instead shifted their attention to the southern alternative.
Between 1530 and 1590, many Great Companies negociated with the Saka Inka the privilegied access to the portuary cities of the Kayahallpan coast. But following the Kirishtan Revolt which left the Mutul with a de-facto complete control over the Makrian Ocean, Mutuleses Great Companies began to act less and less like competitors against each others and adopted practices that turned them into a Cartel of sort, limiting the influence of the Sapa Inka over them. In reaction the central government of the Inka began to revoke many grants and concessions made to the Compagnies, in effort to keep them under pressure and to limit their field of actions.
Unable to appeal or present their case to the Kayahallpan institutions, the Mutuleses Great Companies complained to the K'uhul Ajaw directly. When diplomatic actions taken by the Divine Lord failed, Fleets were sent in 1608 to open the ports directly and reaffirm the old treaties. What followed was a disastrous war for the Sapa Inka, forced to abandon large sways of territories in its north, to sign a free trade agreement with the Mutul, and grant an open access to ships engraved with the Glyph-Emblem of the Divine Kingdom to all Kayan ports.
In the following decade, the loss of prestige and revenues provoked by the war led to a shift in power from the central authorities to local potentates who were left in charge of both the production and redistribution of resources following the traditional market-less system of the Antis regions, but who were also capable in the absence of central control to trade directly with the Mutuleses. Aristocratic clans without any ties to the Sapa Inka and his dynasty could now amass lands and troops, constituting their own little domain financed by the profits of the Trans-Makrian trade. In addition, a swathe of infectious diseases novel to most Kayans had spread when the first Mutuleses ships arrived, weakening the Sapa Inka's power base from the outset.
A second war lasting from 1619 to 1623 between the Mutul and Kayahallpa further dismembered the latter. The Sapa Inka now only had authority over its core familial holdings, while the rest of the empire was divided among many local rulers and chieftains who became their own petty kings. The symbol of this dislocation of the imperial authority was Chuliruchu, the hub city of Central Kayahallpa, becoming an independent protectorate of the Mutul no longer bound to the Sapa Inka's authority.
As compensation for their territorial and economic loss, the Sapa Inka was recognized as an equal to the Mutul's Divine Lord by the Divine Throne, a fellow aspect of Chaakh (Chak Wijakocha), and thus another god on earth. The political and diplomatic concessions made to the Sapa Inka only further highlighted the economic tutelage under which the Great Companies had placed the country.
The Dark Centuries
The era that followed the Brother Crisis is commonly referred to as the Dark Centuries in Kayan literature. It's a period of extreme political fragmentation, and many parts of modern Kayahallpa have either been directly integrated into the Mutul, especially in the north, or been placed under tutelage either as protectorates or allies. The Mutuleses introduce in the region the culture of the sugarcane and citrus. The formation of large domain dedicated to the culture of these and other cash crops made the wealth of the Kaya landlords, while also ensuring their dependency on their Mutuleses buyers who controlled the prices through their de-facto monopsony over Kayahallpa. But the main export of Kayahallpa at the time was its mineral wealth : salt, copper, silver, gold, platinium and iron were exchanged to the Mutuleses for Ochraneses goods such as silk and spices.
On a cultural level, the period was mostly the golden age of the multicultural and pro-Mutuleses landowning and scholarly classes. Economically and politically dependent on their foreign protectors, they also begun a process of assimilating the Mutulese culture, including its scripts and its religion. Their children were often sent to the Mutul to receive an upper-education while also serving as hostages in the early days of the Mutulese presence. When they returned they were rarely fully won to the Divine Kingdom's cause, but were always full of Mutuleses ideas, concepts, and culture. This prolonged and deep contact between the two civilization led to the emergence of an original syncretism in all aspect of society. This syncretism had deep consequences on the development on the post-resurgence Kayahallpa.
The Resurgence
Sapa Inka Tupaq Churan would ascend to the Kayahallpan throne after claiming the throne from his brother on September 26, 1774, and died March 11, 1829. He is by and large remembered for reinvigorating the remnants of the Musuq Kayamucha from a small, impoverished kingdom to a vast empire stretching from southern Mutul to the modern border of Zacapican, a period known in Kayahallpan historiography as the National Resurgence. He is to this day considered the greatest Sapa Inka of all time and has shrines dedicated to his legacy across all of Kayahallpa as his descendants have used his image to enhance their own cult of personality.
Tupaq Churan's first campaign of conquest did not come before the 1799 incursion and annexation of the small Apa kingdom. He had taken care to prepare his armies for lengthy, large-scale military excursions and timed his attacks carefully with the current situation in mind, such as exploiting ongoing civil wars in various smaller chiefdoms and unrest in the Mutul to score quick, decisive victories, avoiding drawn-out conflict. Looting for substinence was to be avoided in areas Tupaq Churan intended to keep hold to, with provisions managed by the military engineering of new or restored supply depots. Local leadership structures were largely kept intact as long as unconditional surrender was given, which became increasingly common as his armies continued to conquer yet more territory. Divide and rule tactics were employed to keep local rulers from assembling military alliances that could threaten his empire.
By 1818, Tupaq Churan's expansionistic foreign policy had been noticed by the political leadership in the Mutul as he began to attack Mutuleses protectorates. After a fleet dispatched to the port of Chuliruchu to force a peace treaty was sunk by a cyclone, the Kayans laid siege to the city for two years. Tupaq Churan's siege and subsequent closing off of the harbor, the base of operations in Kayahallpa for the ships of the Grand Companies, would spark a full-on conflict between Kayahallpa and the Mutulese.
War of 1818
The Mutul sent troops to support its protectorates against Tupaq Churan and re-open Chuliruchu to trade, but greatly underestimated both the Sapa Inka abilities and the effects of the industralisation on Kayahallpa' war capacities. Grossly outmatched and un-supported by their Navy (the Vespanian Fleet couldn't be sent to help both because of the distances involved and the looming threat of Tsurushima), the Mutulese military knew a series of defeats leading to the occupation by Tupaq Churan of not only all of Mutuleses protectorates, but also of the entirety of the Sihom Bassin, of the Charred Coast, and of the province of Nahatnoh. All of these territories had been directly administered by the Divine Kingdom for the better part of the past century and not merely vassal states or protectorates. Even worse, while Nahatnoh had little in the way of population or resources, it opened the way to a potential assault on Mamkab the historical seat of the Ilok'tab Dynasty.
Tupaq Churan' total victory, going far beyond the goals he had set, solidified his regime and officialized Kayahallpa status as one of the major continental players in Oxidentale, alongside Sante Reze or Zacapican. On the Mutulese side, this defeat was quickly followed by another disaster: the Second War for Kahei. Both defeats cemented in the Mutulese's mind the feeling of powerlessness and gave the certitude that their system was truly outdated and no longer fit for the modern world. However, because of their exile, the prestige of the K'uhul Ajaw remained intact, contrary to that of the ruling oligarchy. This would have important consequences during the following Sajal War.
Sajal War
Following the murder of the Divine Queen Lady Ik'skull and the proclamation of the Noble Republic of Northern Oxidentale, the Mutul was thorn in two in a bloody civil war. Kayahallpa remained mostly uninvolved, beside taking the opportunity to fill the void left by the dislocation of the Mutulese authorities to expand their de-facto sphere of influence over the borderlands and continue to secure their control over the Provinces they had obtained 7 years ago. Refugees from these border regions would prove to be both a difficult problem to handle for both sides of the war, as well as an excellent source of manpower for their military.
War of 1845
The Sajal War left the Mutul in no condition to pursue war with the Kayans. As a result, the regent Itzamnaaj B'alam followed a politics of "appeasement" toward its southern rival, leaving floating the question of certain border regions on which the Divine Kingdom had lost effective control during the civil war, creating a sort-of "demilitarized zone" to the benefit of the Sapa Inka. Nonetheless, the latter continued to be warry of its northerner's reforms and restructuration.
In 1844 the commonly nicknamed "Five Year Plan" of Itzamnaaj was deemed successful by the political class of the Divine Kingdom. They had successfully modernized their military as well as their industry, all supported by a rapidly-growing economy and a growth fed by the reconstruction effort. Itzamnaaj B'alam had also favored an "Union of the Elites" between his supporters, be they from ancient Houses or newly ennobled commoners who had been rewarded for their loyalty to the Divine Throne.
The same year, through pressures exerced by the soon-to-be-major K'uhul Ajaw B'alijaj Chan K'awiil II and other government officials, Regent Itzamnaaj began remilitarizing the southern border. What followed was a period of escalating diplomatic tensions between the two divine monarchies that led the year after into an all-out war.
The war ended a year and a half later with the Mutul retaking most of the territories it had controlled prior to 1818, but recognizing its ancient Protectorates and allies kingdoms as constituent territories of Kayahallpa. Military and politically, the war was a victory for the Mutul and solidifed the regime established through the Itzamnaaj Reforms, wiping all doubts about the Ilok'tab Dynasty legitimacy. And so, it is confident in the future that Itzamnaaj officially stepped down from his position as Regent, leaving government matters entirely into the hands of his now adult son.
First Belfro-Mutulese War
In 1852, the Articles of the Federation were signed, placing all of the Latin possessions in Norumbia under the control of a single family, the House of Dimitrios. This re-organisation process would march on until 1900 when the Belfrasian Federation was officially created. The relationship between this new country and the Mutul would prove conflictual, spawning a decade long arms race and, finally, exploding into an all-out war.
During the arm-race, Kayahallpa and Belfras got diplomatically closer to one another with the secret-yet-transparent goal being that, in case of a war with the Mutul, the two countries would ally to attack it on two fronts. Unsurprisingly, after the attack on Zuz Peten by the Belfrasian Navy, the Sapa Inka's embassy in K'alak Muul indeed transmitted to the K'uhul Ajaw his Master' Declaration of war.
Ultimately, despite great losses for both sides, the bilatteral peace treaty signed the 20 March 1915, five days after the Belfrasian Federation and the Mutul had also ended the hostilities, by the two divine monarchies would confirm the pre-war situation at the frontier, with no territorial change. the "Damocles Sword" Kayahallpa presented to the Mutul was an always present threat in case of renewed warfare with Belfras and the climate it provoked played a great role in the atmosphere of the Tense Peace.
Modern days
Relations have improved in recent decades, largely thanks to the diplomatic efforts of Tupaq Yupanki III as he sought to safeguard the Imperial Government from further conflict in Oxidentale. Official state visits have increased in frequency, trade has increased by several billion Solidus worth of products, and the ancient ties between the two nations have been more emphasized in state propaganda. Regardless, neither of the two Divine Thrones views the other as particularly trustful to this day, and significant military and intelligence efforts are conducted by both sides.