"Ajaw! Ajaw!" cried a young man as he burst into Ek'muwan's throne room.

"What is it, Yakol Chay?" said Ek'muwan to his chief servant. "And whatever it is must be earth-shaking, because you have fet again forgotten proper decorum in my court."

Yakol Chay steadied himself before Ek'muwan, then took a deep breath to collect himself. "The exploration party from Ch'ajal is here! They have amazing news!"

Ek'muwan rolled his eyes, but inwardly he was curious. To trek all the way back to Tz'amtanak'al to give a report, something of interest must have been found. Could it be the ruins of the lost third city of the Tetk'in?

Recent learned men of the Tetk'in had come to the conclusion that the lost city of the Tetk'in was not in the south as originally believed, but rather to the west! That direction was largely devoid of Chik'in Ak'al's characteristic marshes (of which the Tetk'in were fond), so this claim was taken with extreme skepticism. Nonetheless, when an exploratory party was sent to the southwest of Ch'ajar, they were told to look out for the ruins of the third city, just in case.

If those select learned men were right, then maybe the explorers had found more than empty land in the far west. "Send them in, Yakol Chay."

The servant bowed, then rushed from the room to fetch in the commanders of the expeditionary force. Four men entered, three carrying a weapon symbolic of the division they commanded, while the fourth wore a grand headdress, to symbolize his command of the entire exploration force.

The lead man approached Ek'muwan's throne, then dropped to one knee, removing his headdress as he did so. The men behind him followed suit.

"Greetings, grand Ajaw of all the Tetk'in." Said the man.

"Rise, Kelem ('strong one'), and share with me what you have come to say."

The four men rose to their feet, and the leader replaced his headdress. He then held out his hand to one of the men behind him without looking, and a bundle of feathers was placed in his hand. He brought his hand back to is front, then presented the feathers to Ek'muwan.

"From the far west, Ajaw." Ek'muwan took the feathers, withdrawing one from the bundle. It was grey, with darker grey stripes running in line with the barbules. The feather was clean, but unremarkable. Ek'muwan set the feathers aside; these were not what interested him anyway.

"You didn't come all this way to give me feathers, Kelem. What did your men find in the west?"

The Kelem began to smile. "Well, I know there was some doubt before our expedition, but it will be assuaged now. We found the lost third city of the Tetk'in!"

Ek'muwan wasn't surprised. Well, that is to say he was not overly surprised. While he did not personally expect the ruins to be in the west, he was aware of the possibility, so there was no significant shock to this discovery. "Excellent. Was anything of interest found when you surveyed the ruins?"

"Well, when I say 'We found the lost third city of the Tetk'in', the Ajaw will notice that I carefully avoided the use of the word ruins."

Ek'muwan allowed his eyes to widen. "You can't mean...."

The Kelem nodded. "The Third City still exists, and in fact thrives! They have their own Ajaw. They have a glorious city with magnificent temples, and have driven away the southern barbarians in a large radius around the city itself." Shortly after he appeared to be done speaking, the Kelem remembered a final point. "The city calls itself 'Chakat', Ajaw. I have a full report written for the scholars."

Ek'muwan looked thoughtful, then spoke, resting his chin lightly on one hand so to appear as in thought. "The lost Third City still remains? This is incredible news! I will need to visit them at once on the subject of incorporation into the Tetk'in confederacy."

At this, the Kelem looked nervous. "Ajaw, I am afraid that will likely not come to pass. We knew this would be a priority of the state, so we spoke to the Ajaw of Chakat on the subject. He was greatly offended."

One of the other commanders stepped forward to butt in. "While these people consider themselves Tetk'in by nature, they have been alone so long that they have no desire to recognize your rule. They want nothing but friendly relations, but will not permit themselves to be commanded."

Ek'muwan frowned in disapproval, but he did not suppose he could blame these men of Chakat. "Very well. Kelem, I have a new assignment for you and your men. Take my foreign advisor and return to Chakat. Do not request that they join us. Simply explain to them the benefits of walking alongside the other cities as allies, rather than going it alone. You may also take a large gift from the treasures to attempt to persuade them."

Perhaps, with time, the people of Chakat will come to change their minds on this issue, thought Ek'muwan to himself, but for now, I will respect their wishes. I see no need to cause bad blood between Tetk'in.

As the Kelem and his escort bowed, then turned to leave the room, one final thought strayed through Ek'muwan's mind, causeing him to smile wryly before he spoke. "And Kelem? Take a priest of Aumwen with you when you depart. Our newly rediscovered brothers should not be deprived of enlightenment.

Better late than never, this is brief OC for the Tetk'in Military Golden Age and discovery of the City State of Chakat.

Effect: Tetk'in uses 750 gold to attempt allying with Chakat. This should maximize chance of success.

Tetk'in also spends 2 culture to attempt spreading Aumwen to Chakat. Chakat has no pantheon or religion that would lower the likelihood.