Question: Why does Tlazolteotl have so many enemies?
Tlazolteotl's divine function is the temptation and punishment of anyone who commits (or thinks about committing) sexual sins. Those who repent of their sexual transgressions sometimes get her blessing and absolvement; those who don't, or who succumb to her temptations without displaying appropriate spiritual fortitude, get the full force of her wrath, usually in the form of horrible sexually-transmitted diseases and other unfortunate occurrences.
This is all fine when you're just hanging out in the Aztec culture; Tlazolteotl reflects their sexual taboos and morals, after all, so she's just doing her job. But when you start rubbing up against other cultures, you abruptly encounter the issue of the Eater of Filth being directly opposed to a lot of people. Gods across all cultures are a sexually promiscuous lot (some pantheons more than others), and Tlazolteotl has no patience for things like homosexuality, sex outside of wedlock or bestiality shenanigans. Like most justice gods, she probably gets pissy as soon as someone who is guilty of that particular kind of behavior hits her radar, even if it's something that wouldn't be frowned upon in their native culture. Dudes like Zeus or the Dagda are Target One for somebody like Tlazolteotl; they are, as far as she's concerned from her Aztec-morals point of view, serial sex offenders.
We imagine that the Aztlanti probably do not send her anywhere that diplomacy has to happen, because nobody wants to deal with a negotiation-destroying bout of Code of Heaven. Tlazolteotl's function and outlook are not very compatible with more sexually liberated cultures, so anyone who's famous for their sexual indiscretions (or even just sexual freedom) should probably avoid her lest they discover themselves on her list of punishable miscreants.
considering the loos sexual morals of many other cultures (for the men at least) I can understand. In a way Tlaz can be seen as a feminist. Since the loose sexual codes of many other pantheons are meant only for men, She can be seen as punishing men for there one sided sexual entitlements and as protecting modest women from sexual assault. Divine sluts (non-pejorative) like Aphrodite and Ishtar are on there own (though that would be one hell of a story idea diffusing a clash between Tlaz and Ishtar over sexual morals. Finally I had no idea that the Aztecs were so "puritanical" when it came to sex.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I'd call her a feminist - she comes down just as hard on women who break the rules as on men, and unfortunately, as in many ancient cultures, there are more things that women get in trouble for in Aztec law than there are for me. The idea of being able to confess a sexual sin to Tlazolteotl in order to have her take it from you was also a privilege granted only to men - women didn't get it, though again that's likely to be a facet of the culture, not necessarily Tlazolteotl herself. I've seen her played in other games as a sort of avenging feminist punishing the philandering men of the world, and I think you could do a lot of fun stuff with how she reacts to the modern world and the other gods. She's a good place for creative interpretation.
DeleteI'm not sure if I'd use the word "puritanical" - "strict", maybe? It's not as much the idea that sex is bad as it's the idea that sex has to be done properly or else it hurts the community. Sex out of wedlock is a problem, because it results in bastards who don't have a good place in society and end up draining everyone's resources. Adultery is a problem because it damages the family unit, which is one of the all-important building blocks of Aztec society. Homosexuality is a problem because it prevents you from having children, who are important to the continuance of your people, and so on and so forth ad infinitum. A very community-oriented culture tends to be pretty harsh when it comes to things that make life harder for the community as a whole.
Which doesn't mean they were all super pious in-wedlock-only sex people. As in all other cultures, people misbehaved, and some thought of it as no big deal while others thought of it as a filthy sin, often with accompanying levels of religious interpretation. A modern Aztec Scion might be able to live some interesting stories when it comes to trying to drag these grumpy old deities into the modern age, or else reconcile his or her own morals with their demands.
It's especially fun because Scions are almost always the result of either adultery or out-of-wedlock sex, which means a lot of them come with built-in stigma from the Aztecs anyway. Interesting (and sometimes hilarious) struggles against the pantheon's expectations often ensue.
Her scions are in a double bind. Children of a goddess who punishes adulterers, mostly by seducing them herself, I can't think of to many who wouldn't come from abusive or neglectful homes where the mortal parent takes there anger at the goddess who screwed them (both figuratively and literally). They can also be in a bind with other gods who think that there very presence makes Tlazolteotl a hypocrite (then again the whole seduce to test then punish thing comes in again). Do you think she prefers her male or female scions? The book says they have active sex lives, do they get a pass from mom?
ReplyDeleteThey probably do live pretty unhappy lives - I can't imagine too many Scions of Tlazolteotl being unconflicted, considering the difference between modern sexual mores and her standards. The book's mention of their sex lives is probably intended to show how they automatically mirror her, but I can't imagine she'd give them a pass for their behavior - that's pretty counter to what she normally does. It's more likely that they probably have to live in fear of her like everyone else.
DeleteMost of our PCs are scared stiff of her and they haven't even met her, just heard her reputation. Geoff, in particular, has gone on record as saying he's going to run for Asgard if he ever sees her coming.
so does she punish herself every time she has sex with someone or is that just part of her job, to tempt, test, punish.
ReplyDeleteI imagine she's fine with it - her job is to eat sexual "filth", after all, so she's probably exempt as a necessary evil, sort of like an executioner is exempt from the normal laws about murdering people with an axe. Though I do think you could come up with interesting stories for PCs who want to try to trap her into doing something she shouldn't - it might not work, but it'd certainly be entertaining (and probably very scary!).
ReplyDelete