Yajawil of Nokaj
Yajawil of Nokaj | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Shield of Guarcama
| |
| Motto: The Brotherhood of Chak and Yao | |
| Anthem: To the Eternal Yao | |
 Location of Nokaj in the Mutul | |
| Capital and | Tzitot |
| Official languages | Mutli |
| Recognised national languages | |
| Ethnic groups (2020) | |
| Demonym(s) | Nokajeses |
| Government | Absolute monarchy |
| Legislature | Holpop |
| Sajal Ch'ob | |
| Mam Ch'ob | |
| Province of the Mutul | |
| Area | |
• | 111,159 km2 (42,919 sq mi) (3rd) |
The Yajawil of Nokaj is the easternmost viceroyalty of the Mutul. It represent the upper course of the Kuwajuwa and Chetzaj rivers with a highly contrasted geography between the rolling lowlands and the high summits of the Nojwitz mountains. Its capital, and largest city, is Tzitot located between the two riverbeds and is an important step for land trades going between the Divine Kingdom and Sante Reze. The Yajawil is bordered by the Xukaj to the north-west, Orun Redisus to the north, Sante Reze to the east, the Yajawil of Nobeya to the south, and the Yajawil of Yajumel to the west. With a surface area of 111,159 km², it's the third largest subdivision of the country.
Before the Kayamucan Empire, the region was home to a myriad of Chiefdoms united in confederations for military and religious purposes. The largest of these confederations were the Zipa-Zaque, the Teijua, Ette Ennaka, Tolima, and Nutabe Confederations. Despite their people and elites' inclusion, integration, and sometime even assimilation into the larger Chan culture, the people of Nokaj have retained strong cultural and religious specificities in regard to the rest of the Mutul, making it one of the most original Vice-royalties of the kingdom alongside its "sister yajawil" of Xukaj.
History
Kayamucan Empire
After the defeat of the Teijua and Nutabe Confederations, the entirety of Nokaj became part of the Kayamuca Empire. Each hamlet was recorded as an Ayllu and were grouped into Hurin administrations that matched the geography but not necessarily previous tribal or cultural divisions. Lands were redistributed, roads and bridges were built, and market were closed, replaced by warehouses and tribute collectors. As the Empire' center moved to their Oxidentale' holdings, Nokaj and its neighboring Xukaj became increasingly vital and important to the Kayamucans. But as the Empire collapsed, the Ette Ennaka emerged as a quasi-state. Their autonomy would become Independence when they sided with the Mutul during the latter invasions between 1261 and 1320.
Yao Wars
In the south of Xukaj and the north of Nokaj, the Ette Ennaka, nominally under the tutelage of the Viceroy in Puylum, had their own state and their own monotheist religion. The demands of the Mutul in 1328 to recognize the divine nature of the K'uhul Ajaw, to accept the existence of multiple creator gods, and to adopt the Bitzk'uh as part of their religious litterature were not well received by the Ette Ennaka. Aj K'inob and Aj Menob from Puylum were banished from their territory and the Ette Ennaka refused to pay tribute to the Viceroy any longer. Chimichagua was elected war leader of the Ette Ennaka in 1359. The fiction of Mutulese control over the Ette Ennaka was lost when Chimichagua's troops defeated the columns sent by Puylum to suppress the revolt.
The Purity Quarrel (1366 - 1382) prevented the Mutul from dealing with the Ette Ennaka, who were free to develop their state in the meanwhile, occupying almost all of modern Nokaj. But as the Mutulese threat lost priority and Chimichagua launched himself in expansionists endeavors, dissenters appeared who contested Chimichagua' abuse of powers and who wanted to maintain the traditional tribal social structure,something Chimichagua increasingly autocratic rule threatened.
In reaction to the rebellion, the K'iche built a new Sak B'e going from Kʼumakah to the south-west border of Xukaj. A decade long monumental work through hundreds of kilometers that allowed the Ilok'tab to reassert their control over the southern reaches of the Mutul. With the end of the Purity Quarrel in 1382, Chimichagua' coalition found itself forced to fight a two-front wars against the K'iche. The latter notably targeted the Ette Ennaka' plantations, freeing the slaves and promising them their ancient masters' lands as communal holdings. Alongside the freed slaves, the K'iche gained the support of the Ika and Kogi chiefdoms who had been in open conflict with the nascent Ette kingdom. In 1385 Chimichagua and his lieutenants took their own lives to avoid being captured and the last holdouts of the rebellion surrendered.
The Ette Ennaka were forced to recognize the K'uhul Ajaw as a deity, to accept Yao as an Avatar of Itzamna the main Creator God of the Mutulese pantheon but only one of thirteen, and to respect the Slave Code among other laws of the Mutul, further destabilising their caste-based society. The liberation of all slaves who had supported the K'iche, the redistribution of lands, the deportation of war prisoners, and the division of the Ette Ennaka' kingdom in half between the Viceroyalties of Xukaj and Nohkaj, aggravated the triple social, economic and religious crisis of the defeat for the Ette Ennaka.
A new Yaoist rebellion would be led a generation later by a new religious warchief, Upaj, who rejected the multiplicity the Divine and wanted to re-establish a Ette Ennaka state. It would last from 1415 to 1422 and end once again with the defeat of the Yaoists, the deportation of war prisoners, but also with the destruction of the main temple to Yao and its reconstruction as the modern Solar Temple of Tamaja, in Xukaj.
Chanisation
After 1385, the Ette Ennaka territories were split in half. The northern part were to be administered by Puylum in the Yajawil of Xukaj. Meanwhile, war veterans, freed slaves, and deported prisoners were settled in new urban agglomeration in the south. Tzitot, the "new house", was founded and made the capital of these new territories and tributaries, collectively known henceforth as Nokaj, "South of the two rivers".
Sajal War
At the start of the divine war, Nokaj had been sidelined from global trade networks due to its remoteness. Land trade through the mountains into Sante Reze were possible, but limited due to the lack of settlements in the Rezese Savannah and jungles.
Politics
Tzitot ("New House") is the capital of the Province and serve as the seat of its Viceroy. The province is divided in eleven Kuchkabalob, generally named after their capitals, some possess their own Customary laws that detail their administration' inner working.
The three Chibcha Kuchkabalob of Hunza, Muyquita (or Muykita), and Sugamuxi are ruled by the Hua, Zipa, and Iraka respectively. The Iraka is also the High Priest and keeper of the Xuek'uhnah, the Sun Temple, dedicated to Xue, one of Itzamna avatar in the unified White Path cosmology. He is nominated by the Batabob (Mayors, or "Sybyn" in Chibcha) of Sugamuxi, but appointed by the Viceroy. The Zipa of Muykita is chosen in a similar fashion and is also both the secular and religious leader of his Kuchkabal. He is responsible for the Cult of Baxue, interpreted as an avatar of Ixim (the female aspect of the Maize Deity) and notably the ritual offering of golden and silver objects in the sacred lakes of the Chibchas Kuchkabalob, doors to Underworld.
Under the Sybyn, the district leaders (Aj Kuch Kab in the rest of the Mutul) are called "Uta".
Culture
Religion
The White Path is the state religion of the Mutul but as a polytheist religion some level of religious plurality is able to express itself. The School of Masirguta is the most important sect in Nokaj. Originating from the Ette Ennaka own faith this school, which follow a set of teachings said to come from Masirguta, a figure linked to the broader White Path First Priest and an avatar of Itzamna which the school' followers call Yao or Narayajana. Despite its origin in a potentially monotheist faith, the School of Masirguta is nowadays counted among the "Orthodox" denominations of the Mutul.
More specific to Nokaj is Kunsamüism. This sect is especially important among the Ika and Kogi people as it emerged from their own tribal faiths. At age nine Ika and Kogi boys are selected to become a Mamo, the sect's priests. They will receive training for a minimum of nine years in a cave sanctuary while the elders teach them everything they need to know. They specialize in certain knowledge areas such as philosophy, sacerdotalism, medicine and practical community or individual counselors. The Mamos are recognized as Aj K'in by the Divine Throne. Cave sanctuaries are especially important to Kunsamüism and can be found everywhere in the Yajawil.
The Kunsamü is the name of the Universal Law, given to the Ika and Kogi by the Mamo Niankua, the boy-like avatar of Itzamna and the First Priest of their religion. It teaches that the World was created by the Thirteen Deities, presided by Kakü Serankua and Aluna. The holiest site of Kunsamüism is the Holy Mountain Gonawindua, a physical manifestation of the "First Mountain" of the wider White Path pantheon. Pilgrimages to Gonawindua count among the most important religious events of the Yajawil and attract people from all over the Mutul.