Records of Hanan Pacha is a 3 volume Book Collection.
Vol. 1[]
Here is chronicled the story of how that wisest sage in all of history, Waxaklahun Ubah Kan, the one known as the Sage of the Stolen Fire, and how the tribe living upon Hanan Pacha, which he built, rose up and then was scattered.
Like many of the most ancient stories, it begins in the age when the stars and the moon held the sky, the dragons ruled the land, and Lord of the Night ruled the night realm.
The people then were ignorant, and wandered the barren lands. The first Pyro Archon had not yet been born, and so none yet had Visions, could do naught but be controlled by the elements.
Until Waxaklahun Ubah Kan brought back the kindling of phlogiston from the red and black land. Only then did humanity gain the power to vie with wild beasts and fell dragons.
Now, astute listeners might already be wondering, as a human, how could the Sage Waxaklahun Ubah Kan steal the phlogiston kindling from the claws of the evil dragons?
That is precisely the first story I am going to tell.
Legends tell us that long, long ago, in the red and black lands, there lived a winged dragon. That dragon was the scion of the great lord of the volcano, Xiuhcoatl.
In some versions of the story, it is said he was none other than Xiuhcoatl himself, but the gods only know what kind of storyteller would make such a mistake. After all, who could forget that the one who defeated Xiuhcoatl was the very first Pyro Archon, Xbalanque himself. How could things have been resolved at a point so early in the story?
Anyway, when the great lord of the volcano fell into deep slumber, this vain winged dragon claimed the treasures that once belonged to the former, and proclaimed itself to be the lone king.
Among those treasures, one of the most striking was known as "Pyrophosphorite." That was a crystal refined of the primal fire in the depths of the great volcano, and its color was that of an ever-shifting rainbow, shining with dazzling light.
Illuminated by this radiance, the winged dragon itself became bewitchingly brilliant.
"Gaze upon me and see how beautiful I am! My light illuminates the world, and I am the sun of this land."
So spake the winged dragon. But he was no sun, and his beauty was nothing but the reflection of the Pyrophosphorite's light. And in turn, that light did no more than illuminate the red and black lands in which it dwelt.
Perhaps it was the vanity of the winged dragon that offended the Lord of the Night, for he [sic] sent the Sage Waxaklahun Ubah Kan to defeat him. But perhaps that seemed not enough to some, and so the gods sent the fool, Chaac, with him.
Under the protection of the Lord of the Night, the two arrived in the red and black lands, and far away, they saw that radiant winged dragon. Waxaklahun Ubah Kan was in no hurry to rush onward, but rather made a blowdart from bamboo, and struck the winged dragon's eye with a single shot.
Chaac watched with glee, and was about to charge up to capture the winged dragon, but was restrained by the Sage.
"Foolish Chaac, though one eye is now blinded, he still possesses limitless power. With your human body, just how do you intend to contend with him?"
The wise Waxaklahun Ubah Kan thought up a better plan.
The wounded winged dragon returned to its cave to hide, and so the Sage Waxaklahun Ubah Kan and the fool Chaac disguised themselves as doctors and entered the cave.
"My word! How glorious you are! How splendid and radiant! Ah, but what a shame that you cannot see yourself, and neither can the masses behold your beauty."
Waxaklahun Ubah Kan praised him.
"It's all because a few days ago, some despicable maggot shot and blinded my eye. That is why I can but hide in this cave."
"Now that is truly serendipitous! We happen to be traveling doctors specializing in curing eye diseases. In my opinion, if you replace your eye with a bright gem, you will once more be able to see the light," said the Sage. "And not only that, but we can even replace your fangs and claws with gems, that you would surely shine a dozen times more brightly than you already do."
Hearing these words, the conceited winged dragon could not help but fantasize about how beautiful it would be when it was twelve times more radiant. It happily agreed without stopping to think about it in any detail.
And so the Sage and the fool Chaac took out the grainfruit they had earlier prepared, and one by one replaced the winged dragon's eyes, fangs, and claws with grainfruit.
Ah, the poor winged dragon! Not only was his eye not healed, but by the time he realized he had been tricked, he couldn't even eat those two little humans! And so he died in a daze, and the Pyrophosphorite fell into the hands of Waxaklahun Ubah Kan.
The fool, Chaac, thought they should offer the treasure to the Lord of the Night, but the wise Waxaklahun Ubah Kan had a different idea.
He knew that the dragons that ruled the land possessed power far beyond that of humanity, but did not necessarily have more wisdom. And the secret to power lay within that Pyrophosphorite.
And so he broke it open, and vast power poured forth. The Sage Waxaklahun Ubah Kan thus gained the power of dragons — that which is known as "Phlogiston."
Vol. 2[]
Next, I will tell you the story of how the Sage Waxaklahun Ubah Kan passed Phlogiston to the people of the tribes and built Hanan Pacha.
After leaving the red and black lands, Waxaklahun Ubah Kan and the fool Chaac came to the land of forests and mountains, where human tribes lived.
Waxaklahun Ubah Kan wished to pass on the power to use phlogiston to humans, but none wished to learn from him, for none knew just what use the phlogiston he spoke of was.
"If we want to make fire, we need only strike the flint. As for the fuel, there's firewood and vegetation everywhere. What use have we for phlogiston?"
"O shortsighted people, do you not know there will come a day when all plants and firewood are consumed and are no more? And that the most plentiful, inexhaustible thing in the world is rocks? If you can use phlogiston to burn rocks, then you will have solved the problem of obtaining energy once and for all."
Thus spake the Sage, filled with confidence.
"Haha, I'm afraid we will never see that day come."
The people then could not yet see their ancestors in the Night Kingdom, and thus they naturally did not think of the future. And so Waxaklahun Ubah Kan had no choice but to give up.
The fool Chaac, seeing the Sage troubled by this, suggested a solution that would make the benefits phlogiston could bring readily apparent to all.
"So, like, we could take this big ol' rock and raise it up higher than the mountains, where everyone can see it. Then, like, everyone will totally get all curious and come running to us."
Though they were the words of a fool, Waxaklahun Ubah Kan had little choice but to try. And so he first taught Chaac how to use phlogiston, and the two of them raised the land together. The land thus raised was none other than Hanan Pacha, the Upper Sanctum of which people today now speak.
But unlike today, the Hanan Pacha of those days was still a vast tract of land, whole and complete. It floated above the clouds, and all the humans of Natlan could confirm its existence with a glance. And so, one by one, people from all corners were driven there by their curiosity.
The kind-hearted Chaac stood guard by the lake, using the power of phlogiston to help the people ascend to Hanan Pacha. And those that ascended to Hanan Pacha learned the art of using phlogiston from the Sage Waxaklahun Ubah Kan.
And under the leadership of Waxaklahun Ubah Kan, the people founded the first permanently settled tribe upon Hanan Pacha.
Vol. 3[]
Next, I will tell the story of how the people of Hanan Pacha broke the taboos and caused the Sage of the Stolen Flame to leave Natlan.
After the people were taught how to use the power of phlogiston, they built a city on top of Hanan Pacha. Within the city were magnificent palaces and temples, all made of rare gems, brilliant feathers, and fragrant flowers.
After completing all of this, Waxaklahun Ubah Kan decided to raise Hanan Pacha still higher.
"For this, all of you must no longer eat anything produced by this land, save for water, for all the streams of this world flow from the Source of All Waters, and are not subject to the Lord of the Night's control."
Chaac had no idea why they should go yet higher, and didn't want to leave Natlan. But whenever he went to ask Waxaklahun Ubah Kan this question, the latter would only speak of the "Lunar continent" and "Newark Holy Stone" and other stuff he couldn't understand.
As Waxaklahun Ubah Kan was the smartest person in the world, everyone did as he said. And so they began to raise fish in the blue expanse and grow ball algae for food, and Hanan Pacha flew higher each day.
Finally, the Lord of the Night realized the Sage's intentions. As they feared humanity's departure, they decided to try and stop his plans.
One day, while the Sage was away, the Lord of the Night disguised himself [sic] as a human of the tribe, and, carrying a bottle of mysterious water, he found Chaac, waiting by the lake.
"Friend, don't guard the water of this lake any longer. See? The water I hold is a hundred times sweeter than that of the lake. Come, have a taste."
Though he thought of what the Sage had said, it was just water, so it should be fine. Or so Chaac thought, reaching out and taking a sip.
Trying it, he discovered the taste was truly sweet beyond compare. And so the Lord of the Night gave him more sweet water, and he brought it up to Hanan Pacha, sharing it with all.
But what Chaac did not know was that this sweet water was actually brewed from the grains grown from the land. In our modern parlance, it was alcohol.
When the Sage returned, everyone was dead drunk.
The Sage knew that they could no longer leave Natlan, and so he expelled them from Hanan Pacha. The scattered people brought phlogiston with them to every corner of Natlan.
And so the Sage of the Stolen Flame set out on the road home.
"The road home? Does that mean he went back to the red and black lands?"
"Were you listening or not? The red and black lands were where the Sage stole phlogiston. Hrm, though the legends don't actually say just where the Sage's homeland was... So I suppose what 'the road home' means is that someday, he will return."
"C'mon, that's obviously just one of those storyteller's lines you guys always use. How about you cut it with the suspense?"
Anyway, after the Sage of the Stolen Flame left, Chaac accepted the guidance of the Lord of the Night, and established permanently settled tribes on the land. The age of the humans of Natlan began, but that is a story for another time.
Trivia[]
- In Inca mythology, Hanan Pacha refers to the realm that includes the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, and constellations.
- Chaac is the Maya god of rain, thunder, and lightning.
- The Newark Holy Stone is a reference to the Newark Holy Stones, a set of fraudulent artifacts allegedly discovered by David Wyrick near Newark, Ohio in a cluster of Hopewell burial mounds in 1860.
- The reference to the Newark Holy Stones is likely a nod to the fictitious nature of this book collection.
Other Languages[]
| Language | Official Name | Literal Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| English | Records of Hanan Pacha | — |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 哈南帕查记事 | Records of Hanan Pacha |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 哈南帕查記事 | |
| Japanese | ハナン・パチャの記録 Hanan Pancha no Kiroku | Records of Hanan Pacha |
| Korean | 아난파차 이야기 Ananpacha Iyagi | Records of Ananpacha |
| Spanish | Crónicas de Hanan Pacha | Chronicles of Hanan Pacha |
| French | Registre de Hanan Pacha | Records of Hanan Pacha |
| Russian | Хроники Ханан Пача Khroniki Khanan Pacha | Chronicles of Hanan Pacha |
| Thai | บันทึกของ Hanan Pacha | Records of Hanan Pacha |
| Vietnamese | Ghi Chép Của Hanan Pacha | Records of Hanan Pacha |
| German | Aufzeichnungen von Hanan Pacha | Records of Hanan Pacha |
| Indonesian | Catatan Hanan Pacha | Records of Hanan Pacha |
| Portuguese | Registros de Hanan Pacha | Records of Hanan Pacha |
| Turkish | Hanan Pacha Kayıtları | Records of Hanan Pacha |
| Italian | Archivi di Hanan Pacha | Records of Hanan Pacha |
