Chapter 4.1 The Baktún of Holy War part I, 830 CE
42 years before
New Tikal, Kingdom of New Tikal, 830 CE
The situation in the Atlantean-Mayan Kingdoms after the 5th Ecumenical Council was violent because the Fraticelli Priesthood burned several pagan temples in their zeal to preserve their religion pure and far from the "satanic" influences of the old faiths, all across the Christian Mediterranean the "Pagans" had to fled from their homes as the Priests who dressed, behaved and were armed like if they were soldiers in a real war and accompanied by angry mobs of zealots persecuted all people suspected of heresy, the penalty for that crime against Christianity in most cases was execution, it was an era of terror and zealotry.
This generalized persecution against Pagans from all denominations provoked that many Atlantean-Mayan nobles declared open rebellion against Papal authority in the affairs of their Kingdoms and embraced the faith of their ancestors not because they sincerely believed in the old gods, but because they saw in the figure of the Pope an oppressive and undesirable foreign interference in their territories and interests, if the religious activity of the Traditionalists (as the Mayan-Pagan and Maya-Christians ended calling themselves) had increased before the 5th Ecumenical Council, now several duchies and kingdoms during the last decade saw a revival of the proselytizing activity of the old religion because the High Priest of the faith gladly sent many of his priests to the continent in order to try to revive the old structures of power and perhaps re-create the Third Mayan Empire with himself at the head to fulfill the old prophecies and end the Christian persecutions by the use of force if necessary.
Its a syncretic faith, but as with the Egyptians, its easier for me to make them Christians for technical reasons.
Since the insurrection of Ixbalanqué Q’uk’umatz and the Traditionalists in 529 CE (1), nearly all the Traditionalists lived as exiles in the Atlantic Islands (OTL Azores, Madeira and Canarias) under a treaty that barred them from leaving said islands under the threat of execution and only a few dared to live amongst Christians hiding their true beliefs. But the atmosphere of polarization that existed in the Mayan Kingdoms was such that the priests of the old religion were no longer afraid of being executed for violating the treaty since this was a unique occasion in history, the new Baktun (2) was approaching and being one of the less frequent and more important Maya celebrations was a golden opportunity to gain influence between the mainlanders because even the Christians wanted to take part on the festivities. Because of that, despite the danger to his own life and the threat of angering the King of New Tikal , Pacal Q'uk'umatz, the High Priest and leader of the exiled Traditionalists dared to break the old treaty and sail to New Tikal together with the most talented priests of their faith to meet with the dissident noble houses nothing more and nothing less than in the main square of the ancient capital of the second Mayan Empire, New Tikal (OTL Cadiz) right under the nose of his greatest adversary.
Pacal Q'uk'umatz is the High Priests of the Traditionalists and an enemy of Christendom. The Islands of the Blessed are the refuge of said pagans and the start point of this part of the AAR
Nahil Q’uk’umatz, King of New Tikal, was outraged with this act of desobedience because the High Priest had not only broken the old treaty, but had dared to come to HIS capital and met with nobles who were questioning his power and authority as leader of the sacred bloodline of the Q'uk'umatz, something that only the ambitious traitors of the Kingdom of the Frontier had dared to do and after the meeting in the central square of New Tikal the pagan leader had requested an audience with him at the royal palace to request permission to celebrate the new Baktun in the Great Pyramid of Q'uk'umatz, in the old and abandoned temple-district of the old religion. Nahil had not been able to refuse such an insulting request without making the pagan nobles and supporters think that the King feared the nonexistent power of the old religion and he was also somewhat curious to meet the leader of the Traditionalists, after all, this was the first time in centuries that the High Priest entered the palace of New Tikal as the position of High Priest was abolished when the Kuhul Ahau took all his roles at the start of the 5th century and was a good opportunity to monitor the opposition giving it a little space to maneuver under his control…
After centuries of living in Europe, most Atlantean-Mayans have adopted not only an European religion, but also traditions, a writing system and have forgotten about their origins, King Nahil Q'uk'umatz is one of them.
The High priest entered the courtroom flanked by his 50 most talented priests and supported by several local nobles, many more than Nahil would have liked, this meant that this was more than a religious movement caused by the proximity of the next Baktun and this had taken on quite dangerous political overtones. Perhaps if the King of New Tikal did not acted quickly and brutally the High Priest could even attempt to take his place as the legitimate ruler of the Mayan world and put the Fraticelli between the Mayan hammer and the Hunnic anvil, this was not an empty threat…in North Africa the Anoki had created a pagan empire and expelled the Christian priests after a short war and with each passing day the old religion gained more followers .... with or without Baktun, difficult times were coming for the western Christians.
The King had the spiritual leader of his enemies right in front of him, such a poor and insignificant man that was surely amazed by the beauty of the Royal Palace of New Tikal and was backed by so many ambitious and powerful men…his enemy was so close to him that he could even smell the High Priest, the leader of the insurgents, of the Satanists who planned to return to the aberrations of old religion and that still sacrificed animals to the cruel gods that previously needed human blood, this was undoubtedly an opportunity to finish with them once for all. In his heart he had already made an important decision, but due to the protocol he had to first listen to the request of the High Priest, so he made a signal with his hand to allow Pacal Q’uk’umatz speak:
- “Oh wise King of New Tikal and Guardian of the sacred Pyramid of our dynasty, I present my respects to your authority and talent "-the High priest placed great emphasis in the word OUR, something that immediately tensed the atmosphere-
. "I know that I have broken the law by coming here to request the right we have to be allowed to occupy the old Pyramid to carry out the ceremony of the new Baktún, but it would be a great show of wisdom and love for our ancestors" - again the emphasis –
"to give us the permit to carry on with the celebration in such a sacred place, since apart from our differences we have many things in common ... Isn't Christ-Kukulkan who we adore and who made the maximum sacrifice so that our ancestors would stop their human sacrifices? Isn't it that we worship the same and only God above our heads? Isn't it Saint Iacobus (OTL Saint James, here syncretized with Buluc Chabtan) who we pray to before going to the battlefield? Isn't Ixchel-Maria the mother of our Savior whom we revere for being a mother being a virgin? Our similarities are greater than our differences and that is why we request to celebrate the Baktun in the Pyramid of our ancestors, if our antecessors used it for pagan purposes, we will do so in order to celebrate the change of Baktun, for the glory of Christ and of our Dynasty "
The nobles in the room murmured in agitation, some saw no malice in the High Priest's request, others instead frowned upon that heretics were allowed to speak that way in the royal court and were offended at the idea that they thought about re-occupying the old Temple-District and to use that cursed Pyramid where human sacrifices were once performed. The King was in the latter group and after silently looking at all the people in the room and weighing each word that came out of the heretical mouth of the High Priest of the Traditionalists, he spoke about it with great seriousness.
- "I do not know what you are smoking in your abominable pagan ceremonies, High Priest, but from your mouth I have not heard anything but heresies and insults to our faith, our people already have too many problems to allow heretics like you to walk through our cities and desecrate our presence with such obscenities. Guards!" -The King waved his left hand as if he wanted to clean the filth of the courtroom-
"Take these pagans prisoner but make sure the High Priest returns safely to his island without receiving a single scratch, and I warn everyone who are listening to me right now, the nobles who have colluded with the Pagans must announce that they publicly repent from their treachery or they will suffer the consequences!"
The Palace Guards, who had been waiting all this time hiding in another room, quickly entered the audience chamber armed with their spears and easily took prisoner the 50 Traditionalist priests who accompanied the High Priest if there was a bit of resistance the Guards imposed the will of their King by the force of arms as the priests have spent all their lives inside their temples studying the stars and the sacred nature of the Gods little could do to face the best warriors that the King of New Tikal had at his service, Pacal Q'uk'umatz, upon seeing what was happening, spoke in a loud and clear voice so that all who were present would hear:
-
"This is a betrayal to the memory of our ancestors !, I curse Balam-Quitzé (3) for having allowed you to deviate from the correct path for our people !, and I warn you that by not celebrating the beginning of the new Baktun you are condemning our people to forget their origins and dying like a tree after losing its roots, you are risking angering the Gods and your very ancestors, we are all children of Q'uk'umatz and our kingdoms where built thanks to the blessings of the Gods and the efforts of those whom you" -he said pointing to the King with his index finger-
"call pagans, you will regret following the Etruscan Pope! Only a Maya can rule a Maya, you still have time to change this path to damnation!"
The King, who had been sitting on his throne all this time, stood up in outrage and said with disgust at the man in front of him:
- "Stop with this nonsense! If I don't order your execution right now it's because you belong to the royal family and out of respect for our ancestors and our sacred bloodline! Go back to your miserable island and preach to your chickens if that's what makes you happy! build a clay pyramid and worship your satanic gods but do it far from us and our land! Your impertinence has far exceeded my patience ... I was thinking of doing this after the Baktun, but I want you and your people to understand that heresy has no place in Christian kingdoms! ..."
The King sat again on his throne and summoned some of his heralds while two burly guards forced the High Priest to kneel before him, the head of Pacal was almost touching the ground, the room was in complete silence.
One of the King's Heralds, dressed in fine garments woven from fabrics probably brought from the east, carried an elegant scroll on his hands and after delicately opening it read it in a ceremonious but firm voice.
- “Because of the climate of generalized disobedience, the increase in pagan activity and the acts of witchcraft and blasphemy that have been experienced throughout the Kingdom, Nahil Q'uk'umatz King of New Tikal declares that the Great Pyramid of Q ' uk'umatz will be partially demolished to allow the construction of a great Cathedral, this project will have financing from the entire Christian world, who with great joy have announced that they will support the Mayan Kingdoms to eradicate the pagans once and for all [… ], your holiness, Pope blesses this initiative that once and for all will end a situation that created so many conflicts in the era of the Mediterranean Confederation. "
Pope Honorious II was satisfied with the obedience of the Atlantean-Mayan Kingdoms towards his position against heresy.
Silence reigned in the throne room, even the most staunch followers of the Pope as the highest authority in the Christian world were in absolute shock, one thing was to combat heresy another was to destroy the legacy of their ancestors and the pride of the city of New Tikal… but nothing could be done, after all… this was necessary to overcome the religious conflict that was increasing tensions throughout the Mayan world.
The High Priest tried to look at the King but the guards forced him to remain knelt and looking at the floor.
- "No, ... you can't do this," - Pacal Q’uk’umatz muttered with great sadness knowing that there was nothing he could do to change the situation.
The king gazed at him proudly from atop his throne.
-"Of course I can” he said, slowly tapping one of the bracers on the Jade throne inherited by generations of Q’uk’umatz rulers..
- "I am the King.”
(1) Chapter 3.28 of Part 3.
(2) I explained what is a Baktun in Chapter 3.22 of part 3, basically is a period in the “bigger wheel of time” that covers 394.4 Years, in OTL we are currently in Baktun 13, in this part of the AAR they are near the end of Baktun 10 and the start of Baktun 11. If you remember 2012, that was the end of Baktun 12.
(3) Balam-Quitzé was the last "Kuhul Ahau" and the first Mayan Emperor who fully converted into Christianity, after him everything went downhill for the non-Christians in the Mayan Kindoms.
