Sunday, September 16, 2012

A Thousand Points of Light

Question: Do you think that the Aztlanti would consider taking the Stars purview a punishable offense, considering the role of stars (the Centzonhuitznahua being my main thought on this) in their mythology (other than Quetzalcoatl’s creation of the Morning Star)?

We've actually dealt with this some in our games thanks to Eztli, who has a great number of Stars boons thanks to confused Fatebonds convinced she must be a star-goddess, but who tends to shoot first and not bother with asking questions later when encountering other astrally-oriented gods.

I don't think it's necessarily a universally banned purview, but any Aztlanti Scion who picks up Stars (or Moon, while we're at it, which doesn't exactly have many thrillingly positive connotations what with Coyolxauhqui and Tecciztecatl ruining it for everybody) is probably going to engender mistrust, suspicion or even violence from the Aztec gods. The night sky tends to be the source of evil, misfortune and danger in Aztec religion, and the Aztec deities are used to opposing and fighting it rather than making friends with it. Quetzalcoatl aside, there aren't likely to be many gods among the ranks who are inclined to encourage Scions to start down a road that has so often led others in the pantheon to become traitors or forces for evil, and it's very likely that they might respond to Scions who ally themselves with the powers of the night with deep suspicion and discouragement at best, with violent removal at worst.

It's not a response that blankets all the Aztec gods, of course; Quetzalcoatl himself is a star-god, though one that pointedly has nothing to do with such miscreants as the Centzonhuitznahua or Centzonmimixcoa, and if there's anyone among the pantheon who knows that you can have those powers without automatically turning into a Titan, it's him. Tezcatlipoca, while not actually a master of the celestial purviews, is associated with the night and darkness and is notoriously pragmatic to boot, so if he thinks a Scion is using those powers repsonsibly or usefully, he'd probably be fine with it (and that pragmatism will help him have no problem deceasing said Scion if he or she becomes a problem, so there's always that). Xolotl has minior star-associations according to some sources, mostly because of his association with Quetzalcoatl as the counterpoint evening star, so he also might be more willing than most to let a Scion with those powers prove their loyalty.

But Huitzilopochtli is the very violently literal opponent of the stars and moon, so he's just as likely to murder a Scion who demonstrates those powers as look at them (or, if he's feeling charitable that day, dump the kid in Tezcatlipoca's lap and say, "Fix him, he's broken"). And since he's the leader of the pantheon and a person not to be trifled with on pain of decapitation, it's quite likely that most of his fellow deities would follow him in this behavior (not to mention that they probably aren't big fans of the celestial powers themselves).

I don't think it's totally impossible for an Aztec Scion to decide to be a night god of some variety, nor do I think it will always result in immediate death or expulsion from the pantheon for their powers to come to light. But a Scion who chooses those traditionally "evil" powers will have a difficult road ahead of her, whether she chooses to hide them for the most part, put them out in the open and hope she can win her pantheon's trust or use them in the hopes of transforming the night from a realm that the Aztlanti fear and hate to something that becomes part of their godly influence along with the rest of the world. Some of the Aztlanti will no doubt be mistrustful, angry, perhaps even fully hostile to her (and I'd be quite surprised if the Titanic powers of the stars, seeing a new recruit full of potential, didn't come sniffing around now and then trying to bend her to their will or convince her to join their cause).

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