Mayaztinca Empire

Mayaztinca territory in the Americas. Note that Cuba belongs to Ireland.

The **Mayaztinca Empire** consists of various territories previously occupied by the Aztec Empire, the Maya peoples, and the Inca Empire. It is the successor to the Aztec-Maya Empire, with the addition of the Inca Empire marking its succession. It spans from the southern tip of South America to southern territories along North America.

It is allied with the Timurid Empire, the Blackfoot peoples, the Sioux Theocracy, and other native peoples in North America under the Timurid and Native Alliance. The Mayaztinca currently have friendly relations with the United Kingdoms, and has fought a war against the Confederation of the New World (aided by the Union of Kalmaris), leaving both on somewhat negative terms. They've also accepted to form an alliance with Russia, forming the Mayaztincan-Russian Alliance of 1676.

## History

After the union with the Inca circa 1540 AC, the empire has been relatively peaceful. The northern- and southern-most peripheries of the empire have had difficulties with food due to the Little Ice Age, but due to its administrative capabilities and technology advancements, it's capable of growing food effectively near the equator, enough to provide for everyone.

A somewhat successful expedition to Antarctica was sent in order to map and explore the area. However, about half the crew died in the journey, with those left barely surviving.

### Democracy experiment

Upon being asked by a representative from England whether the empire would be interested in joining the United Kingdoms, the royal family had a hard time making a decision. There didn't seem to be any obligations for joining, but no benefits either. Was there even a point in making a decision?

A suggestion by their friends in the Timurid Empire was to have citizens vote on a decision. The was novel to the empire, but analysis of what the results would be already showed the decision would be "no" simply because people didn't know what the United Kingdoms was. This would lead to people either choosing randomly or voting no in the chance that joining would cause changes in their way of life. Regardless, the empire carried out the poll and after waiting several years to collect and count the votes, as predicted, the majority went with "no". The empire decided to go with the decision.

After studying and seeing in action how a democratic system would work, the leaders considered it effective only when people are informed on the subject being voted on or when it could affect the daily lives of those living in the empire. But because not everyone will have the same education, or the same information to make an informed decision, democracy has largely been considered a failure, and hasn't proliferated in the empire as much as it has in other countries.

### Exploration

Since around 1696, the empire has started sending sailors and explorers across the Pacific Ocean. An initial expedition was launched prematurely, without proper equipment and food to last the unknowingly long trip. They were then never heard from again.

Later expedition were arranged and better prepared with the help of advisors, and were launched on both the west coast and along the east coast. The westward expeditions have resulted in the discovery of a chain of relatively large islands which were named Chihuatlampa Atatlan (Chihuatatlan for short), meaning "western islands". Although their initial efforts led them to a place capable of having ports for further travel, all islands across the Pacific, including Chihuatatlan, were found to have deserted towns and dead bodies. Investigations concluded it was because of an outbreak of disease. Since the empire had not discovered these islands before, it was ruled to be either from other explorers or from the initial expedition that was found to have crashed onto one of the islands.

## Government and politics

The system of governance for the empire has mostly stayed the same as its predecessor, except now the ruling Inca family has joined the original Aztec Triple Alliance and the ruling Maya in performing administrative functions. Ruling families operate on a high level, deciding what large-scale projects it should take on and how it interacts with provincial governments.

### Political regions

The Mayaztinca Empire is divided into numerous regions, none of which have any official or distinct borders.

The mainland regions consist of Mēxihco (the founding land of the empire), Tawantinsuyu ("the four provinces"; the Inca Empire), and the Xochico territory ("land of flowers"; the Floridian region). The island regions include Haiti, Boriken (Puerto Rico), Xaymaca (Jamaica; this "X" is pronounced "sh"), the Bahama islands, Chihuatlampa Atatlan (Chihuatatlan for short; Hawaii), and the Carib island chain (from modern-day Virgin Islands to Grenada).

## Economy

For facilitating the growth of the empire, the ruling families decided it was best to have a somewhat-controlled economy. The administration makes sure that resources take the most efficient path, and that there aren't any resources going to waste. This mostly applies to basic necessities like food and water, as opposed to jade and exotic goods.

In order to ensure peace throughout their land and grow a strong military, the rulers decided it was best to have the farmers keep enough of their own crops to live comfortably, along with some extra to ensure any students living with them get enough energy for training. The excess is taken and distributed to the rest of the empire or stored as reserves, in exchange for other goods and services the empire possesses, such as tools, fuel, or school services. This arrangement provides a stable base (a reliable source of food) from which the rest of the empire can thrive from, and in turn create new ways to facilitate farming and maximize citizen productivity.

## Education

Education consists of two types of schools. The *telpochcalli* or "house of the young", teach history, religion, military fighting arts, and a trade or craft (such as agriculture or handicrafts). Some of the *telpochcalli* students are chosen for the army, but most of them return to their homes. The *calmecac* are focused on turning out leaders (*tlatoque*), priests, scholars/teachers (*tlatimini*), healers (*tizitl*) and codex painters (*tlacuilos*). They study rituals, ancient and contemporary history, literacy, calendrics, some elements of geometry, songs and poetry, and, as at the *telpochcalli*, military arts.

Because of the wide variety of languages among the many citizens, the empire has ruled that the Maya writing system will be the standard form of writing that's taught in schools. This greatly facilitates understanding in writing across languages, since symbols represent ideas rather than sounds. The *calmecac* also teaches the most common languages under the empire: Nahuatl, Maya, and Quechua.