Religion: Mēxihcah
The Mēxihcah are a deeply religious people, steeped in ancient traditions as diverse as they are hierarchal. Their relationship with the Teōtl colors every aspect of their lives, from birth to death. The guardians of this relationship in the World are members of the priesthood. Priests and priestesses serve as advisors, educate the young, administer temples, preserve ancient knowledge, interpret omens, perform divinations, and form a crucial link between the Teōtl and their people. This final duty involves an exhaustive regimen of daily prayer, supplication, and sacrifice.
Each God has its own temple and set of rituals, complete with a dedicated host of priests and priestesses to attend them. Easily recognizable by their black body paint, blood-matted hair, and elaborate regalia, Mēxihcah clergy are a fearsome sight to behold. Their days are spent attending their duties and their evenings in deep prayer and self-mortification. Mēxihcah clergy are not unfamiliar with the battlefield, and more than a few titanspawn have learned to fear their screaming, black-clad forms. The clergy have an elaborate hierarchy of ranks, titles, and positions; most priests start as a tlamacatzon (“little givers of things”) until they attain the rank of full priest or tlamacazqui (“giver of things”). Priestesses follow a similar progression until they become a full priestess or cihuatlamacazqui (“female giver of things”). The apex of the religious hierarchy are the high priests of Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc in Mexico City, the Quetzalcoatl Totec tlamacazqui and Quetzalcoatl Tlaloc tlamacazqui. All priests are required to live immaculate lives; woe to those who fail in their calling, for the only acceptable answer is a great sacrifice on their part. No mere apology will suffice.
Mēxihcah ceremonies are extremely elaborate and largely governed by two principal calendars. The xiuitl (solar year) is organized into 18 months of 20 days and features 18 major ceremonies. The remaining five days of the solar year, or nemontemi, are ill-omened and best forgotten. The second calendar of 260 days, or tonalpohualli, is a complex ritual calendar containing a dizzying array of day/number combinations that move throughout the year. These combinations are captured in the tonalamatl or “book of days,” and contain the key to divining one’s fate, foreseeing the future, and discerning the best day for key rites and ceremonies. Interpreting the tonalpohualli is complex at the best of times and the specialized services of a professional calendar reader, or tonalpouhque are vital. Prominent ceremonies involve grand processions, singing, dancing, fasting followed by feasting, self-mortification, and at times human sacrifice.
The core of Mēxihcah faith in the World is built around sacrifice. This sacrifice can take a variety of forms, from fasting and abstinence to offerings at the temple, but the Teōtl require strength to maintain the universe, and strength requires blood. The Teōtl have long recognized that large-scale human sacrifice draws too much attention, so they have adapted by creating new sources of sacrifice that are just as painful. A Scion may have to destroy a friend’s reputation, shatter a cherished memento, or even abandon a true love in their greatest time of need.
The Teōtl of the World have also found new ways to obtain the blood they so greatly need. They organize blood drives from enigmatic blood mobiles, work as phlebotomists, and operate blood banks. Of course, the Teōtl have not entirely forgotten the old ways. Priests and lay people offer their blood and pain to the Teōtl by piercing their flesh with maguey spines. Soldiers and gang members bearing hummingbird tattoos fight “flower wars” with cartels and rival gangs to claim “prisoners” that are never seen again. Others frequent the terminally ill to offer release. The only rule the Teōtl hold inviolate is that all human sacrifice must be willing: The bond between the sacrificial victim and captor is more intimate than family, and any who challenge this dictum face the wrath of the Teōtl as a whole.
Each God has its own temple and set of rituals, complete with a dedicated host of priests and priestesses to attend them. Easily recognizable by their black body paint, blood-matted hair, and elaborate regalia, Mēxihcah clergy are a fearsome sight to behold. Their days are spent attending their duties and their evenings in deep prayer and self-mortification. Mēxihcah clergy are not unfamiliar with the battlefield, and more than a few titanspawn have learned to fear their screaming, black-clad forms. The clergy have an elaborate hierarchy of ranks, titles, and positions; most priests start as a tlamacatzon (“little givers of things”) until they attain the rank of full priest or tlamacazqui (“giver of things”). Priestesses follow a similar progression until they become a full priestess or cihuatlamacazqui (“female giver of things”). The apex of the religious hierarchy are the high priests of Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc in Mexico City, the Quetzalcoatl Totec tlamacazqui and Quetzalcoatl Tlaloc tlamacazqui. All priests are required to live immaculate lives; woe to those who fail in their calling, for the only acceptable answer is a great sacrifice on their part. No mere apology will suffice.
Mēxihcah ceremonies are extremely elaborate and largely governed by two principal calendars. The xiuitl (solar year) is organized into 18 months of 20 days and features 18 major ceremonies. The remaining five days of the solar year, or nemontemi, are ill-omened and best forgotten. The second calendar of 260 days, or tonalpohualli, is a complex ritual calendar containing a dizzying array of day/number combinations that move throughout the year. These combinations are captured in the tonalamatl or “book of days,” and contain the key to divining one’s fate, foreseeing the future, and discerning the best day for key rites and ceremonies. Interpreting the tonalpohualli is complex at the best of times and the specialized services of a professional calendar reader, or tonalpouhque are vital. Prominent ceremonies involve grand processions, singing, dancing, fasting followed by feasting, self-mortification, and at times human sacrifice.
The core of Mēxihcah faith in the World is built around sacrifice. This sacrifice can take a variety of forms, from fasting and abstinence to offerings at the temple, but the Teōtl require strength to maintain the universe, and strength requires blood. The Teōtl have long recognized that large-scale human sacrifice draws too much attention, so they have adapted by creating new sources of sacrifice that are just as painful. A Scion may have to destroy a friend’s reputation, shatter a cherished memento, or even abandon a true love in their greatest time of need.
The Teōtl of the World have also found new ways to obtain the blood they so greatly need. They organize blood drives from enigmatic blood mobiles, work as phlebotomists, and operate blood banks. Of course, the Teōtl have not entirely forgotten the old ways. Priests and lay people offer their blood and pain to the Teōtl by piercing their flesh with maguey spines. Soldiers and gang members bearing hummingbird tattoos fight “flower wars” with cartels and rival gangs to claim “prisoners” that are never seen again. Others frequent the terminally ill to offer release. The only rule the Teōtl hold inviolate is that all human sacrifice must be willing: The bond between the sacrificial victim and captor is more intimate than family, and any who challenge this dictum face the wrath of the Teōtl as a whole.
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