Setting out from the long western coast and traveling two or three hundred li inland, passing through the jungles of the Lowland Maya, one would arrive at a stretch of densely populated farmland and villages. And at the center, ringed by dozens of Maya villages like stars cupping the moon, between Uxmal and Mayapan, stood the capital of the Xiu family: Mani City.
Golden sunlight fell from the sky, shining upon this ancient religious center. The Pyramid Temples of the Sky Snake God and the Feathered Serpent stood together at the very heart of it, both rippling with radiance, glittering with gold. Beneath the thirty-meter-tall Pyramids lay a broad market square. To the east of the flourishing square were the temples of other gods. To the south of the open square was a half-open ballcourt for human sacrifice, though the time for festival matches had not yet arrived. And to the west of the solemn square stood a square, two-story palace, the most important place in the city-state: Xiu Virtue Palace.
At this very moment, a feather-crowned chieftain with narrow Eagle Eye eyes and graying hair was standing on the second floor of the palace, proudly surveying his realm. In the Temple district to the east stood many ancient shrines to old gods, some even passed down from the Maya golden age a thousand years ago. And in the square before him was a busy, thriving market. The god-descended and nobles of the city-state were all strolling and resting here, sharing the wonders of Divine Smoke.
"The festival of the Sky Snake God is almost here. The nobles are all buying goods. We must requisition another batch of corn flour from the villages in every region, make it into little cakes, and distribute them to the city folk during the