Most Masculine of Birds

Question: You've listed Tepeyollotl as the nahualli of Tezcatlipoca, and while that makes sense I have one question. I read about a god named Chalchihuihtotolin who was also listed as Tezcatlipoca's nahualli. Is this a case of bad info or multiple nahualli?

Hard to say, actually!

"Chalchiuhtotolin" is really just a very fancy way of saying "jade poultry", which is referring to that most venerable creature: the turkey. Don't laugh. Aztec turkeys are serious business.

See? He is not to be trifled with.

Turkeys do in fact appear associated with Tezcatlipoca more than a few times in Aztec art and iconography; sometimes they even have the smoking mirror replacing one of their feet, a clear sign that we're actually looking at Tezcatlipoca in the form of a turkey. Turkeys were heavily associated with nobility thanks to their impressive size and coloring, and since Tezcatlipoca is the god of nobility himself, it makes natural sense for turkeys to be attached to him, and he also sometimes shows up wearing their feathers. Turkeys were also symbols of youth and masculine virility (which makes sense if you have ever seen a male turkey freak out over mating season), another of Tezcatlipoca's traditional domains. And finally, turkeys are delicious, which made them a perfect symbol for sacrificial victims, leading them to be linked to the cult of the ixiptla, a mortal who "became" Tezcatlipoca before being sacrificed to him.

It's really up to individual Storyteller decision whether or not Chalchiuhtotolin is actually a nahualli, or just a shape Tezcatlipoca takes sometimes, or even a minor god of his own who works closely with him (a former Scion, perhaps?). Old Tezcat is famous for turning into all kinds of things, not just random animals but also inanimate objects and various humans, and so it's sometimes a little sketchy to try to guess whether the turkey is genuinely a nahualli or just one of his many shenanigans. Certainly, the turkey isn't nearly as commonly or strongly associated with him as the jaguar, so some scholars have placed it at a lower level of importance than a full-on nahualli would have. At the same time, though, the turkey (especially with mirror-foot) definitely appears to be an aspect of Tezcatlipoca in some way, and there's certainly a precedent in Aztec mythology for gods with more than one nahualli in both Huitzilopochtli (the hummingbird and the eagle) and Itzpapalotl (the butterfly/bat and the deer).

So it's your call, really. Tepeyollotl is pretty solid as the Smoking Mirror's better half, but that doesn't mean you can't use Chalchiuhtotolin as another nahualli belonging to him if you want to. And even if you decide against going with a true nahualli, for a god as full of shapeshifting and illusiory misbehavior as Tezcatlipoca, turning into a turkey on a whim whenever it suits your plot is as easy as snapping his fingers or inducing Quetzalcoatl to commit suicide.