Lord Akan ("Stands So Far" Series)

[madimpossibledreamer]

Sources: wikipedia, https://www.thoughtco.com/maya-gods-and-goddesses-117947, https://www.worldhistory.org/article/415/the-mayan-pantheon-the-many-gods-of-the-maya/

The other day when we were tidying up, we found an old draft of Dr. Kujo’s doctoral thesis. We asked him if he wanted it back, but he just grunted. He might have been smiling, but the other interns tell me I was absolutely just imagining things.

I would be remiss if I didn’t cover the other true Lord of Xibalba. While the rest are known as Lords of Death or Lords of Xibalba, two of the inhabitants are known with the title by their name, Lord Akan and Lord Kisin. Neither Lord Akan nor Lord Kisin can leave Xibalba, following their defeat at the hands of the Hero Twins. However, this was not quite as much of a problem for them as it was for the rest, since with a few exceptions Mayans believed most humans would end up in Xibalba and would need to try to make their way through the area. Unlike his counterpart Lord Kisin, who is shown as a ruthless hunter when the situation calls for it (and given that he has his own demonic hounds, similarities could be drawn to Arawn), Lord Akan is considered more of a demonic figure capable of self-decapitation, as was observed during the ball game.

Priests would actually dress up as him in order to perform the New Year’s ritual sacrifices, sometimes of their own blood and often with the blood or lives of others. He presides over drinking and disease, as well as suicide, which was considered the opposite of a religious taboo in Mayan religion, only considered inferior to dying in battle. He also has some kind of tie to Jacawitz, but what that tie is remains unknown, given that the two were not observed interacting much and much of the Mayan texts were lost to the conquistadors’ destructive habits. Scholars debate whether he was known by the other names, such as Uacmitun Ahau or God A Prime, but a tenuous connection had previously been identified in the literature, and a mere god of drunkenness and overindulgence would have no reason to be present in Xibalba or have earned any respect from its inhabitants. His part of Xibalba was not seen on the recent trip, since none of the rooms or areas were covered in bones, and it’s likely he regards his bony kingdom while getting drunk.