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Nov 21, 2015 16:39



Character Name: Coyolxauhqui (She Who Wears Bells On Her cheeks) (And in case it drives you nuts while reading this, it’s pronounced: koh-yol-shauh-key)
Series: The Florentine Codex, the Book of the Gods
Age: Ageless - though her appearance is that of as a young woman in her late twenties, early thirties.

From When?: At the end of the Huitzilopochtli creation myth, after she’s killed by her brother and has her head thrown up into the sky.

The period of the creation myth is supposedly the Aztec year of One Rabbit, at the start of the Fifth Age. I've taken Coyolxauhqui from the end of the myth, so she has knowledge of the Aztec people and is aware that she is worshipped as the Goddess of the Moon and Galaxy, but doesn't know of the fate of the Aztecs or anything of the modern world.

Inmate/Warden: Inmate

Coyolxauhqui must be an inmate, purely because her crimes against her mother and her half-brother merited her death in Aztec Society. The unborn god, Huitzilopochtli, was the patron god of the Aztec/Mexican people. He is credited with leading the Aztec people safely from their mythic home of Aztlan into the Mexican valley and choosing the location of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. Because of his importance to the Aztecs, not only as the founder of their capital and their patron god, but as their main protector and the god that they gave thanks to for their successes, Coyolxauhqui's decision to raise an army to kill her mother and the unborn Huitzilopochtli is offensive and reprehensible.

Coyolxauhqui is the main villain of the creation story. The way she and her brothers are destroyed in the codex - decapitated, torn apart, and then their hearts eaten - tell how terrible her crimes actually were in the eyes of the Aztec people. She is the jealous, enraged sister who waged war against her family, which was an unthinkable crime in Aztec society. She attempted to murder the Mother Goddess and the unborn patron God of the Aztecs themselves.

It is Coyolxauhqui that is the first sacrificial victim to be decapitated and rolled down the sacred hill - a practice the Aztecs imitated over and over again when they enacted the myth on top of their main temple, the Temple Mayor. So celebrated is the myth and Huitzilopochtli's victory over his sister and her army that Coyolxauhqui's decapitated likeness was even carved in stone and set at the base of the temple. She is literally turned into the platform that receives the bodies of fallen warriors.

Abilities/Powers:

Coyolxauhqui is a powerful woman. Despite her sex (and the secondary role women normally played in Aztec society), Coyolxauhqui stands out as a leader of men, a warrior who drove her 400 brothers into a frenzy and organized them into an army with the intent to murder their disgraced mother.

Warriors of the noble class were taught religious rites, history, politics, as well as military training. Because of this, Coyolxauhqui is more well-versed in the man's role in Aztec society, meaning she can wage war like a pro. She's skilled in a variety of weapons: the sling, spear-throwers or atlatls, obsidian clubs and knives, and the bow and arrow. Coyolxauhqui is also well-practiced in the fine art of capturing an enemy and not killing them in battle first.

She's a feared magician as well. Aside from the various abilities a magician can perform (shape-shifting, spell casting), being a magician in a divine sense means communication with the Gods and manipulation of the natural world. She's the Goddess of the Moon and of the Galaxy, and has quite a few divine connections with fellow Mesoamerican Gods.

Naturally, since she's an inmate she'll be completely without her magical powers and weapons.

Personality:

Coyolxauhqui is a persuasive, eloquent young Goddess. As a deity, she speaks like a member of the Aztec nobility - poetic, graceful, and perfectly polite. Aztec nobles valued the 'sacred word' and paid close attention to manners and propriety, as well as encouraged poetry and song in everyday conversation. As a goddess she's dignified and refined in her mannerisms and her interactions, at least to those she respects.

Coupled with that gift of persuasion is the ability to manipulate and read people. She's a masterful manipulator - she schemes and plots like a powerful general, and approaches each situation with a goal in mind.

Coyolxauhqui is also an extremely violent person. In Aztec society women were only considered warriors in one instance - childbirth. As her mother is the Goddess who watches over those warriors who died in childbirth, Coyolxauhqui has the distinction of being a woman who is actually a warrior in the male sense, which means that she's an incredibly proud person with a strong sense of honor. So great is her sense of self-importance that she is personally insulted when her mother is mysteriously impregnated and then seeks to murder her - hence that little violent streak. She has a temper which is fueled by her pride, and it also doesn't do much to quell the urge to violently strike down people who oppose or insult her.

Coyolxauhqui is also likely to be proud in another sense, as in pride in her culture and her people. She is an essential part of what makes the Aztecs who they are, and so has strong ties to her community, to her religion, to her customs. She won't be defensive straight away when she arrives aboard the Barge; rather she'll be aghast that others may think she's the strange one. Most likely she'll be more insulted at the entire situation, and then regard anyone who challenges her as an uneducated peasant.

She's honor-driven and doesn't take insult or scorn well very, especially if she views it to be a personal insult to herself or her family. Coyolxauhqui also has an incredibly short temper and is likely to meet most insults with violence. She's also more likely to snap when stressed or when pushed too hard to elaborate on certain topics.

At first sight or interaction it's also likely that people will assume the worst of her, but she'll be perfectly pleasant and polite unless she's gravely insulted. And then she'll possibly try to cut your head off.

Path to Redemption:

Coyolxauhqui did not so much commit horrible offences and crimes, but was created to bring balance to world and to justify human sacrifice. A warden who immediately begins to attack her views on certain religious practices will be met with a blank stare - for Coyolxauhqui and the Aztecs, human sacrifice is acknowledging the divine in humans and their worth. Sacrifice was meant to ensure that the world is strengthened or rebuilt, and as a ritual it was to honor and uphold the past. An understanding warden, someone able to communicate with her and not write her off as a barbarian, will get more from her than someone who attempts to demean her culture without trying to understand it first.

What she needs in order to be redeemed is come to understand that there are better ways to honor the world and the gods, and to have a healthier relationship with humanity in general. Coyolxauhqui will need to understand the worth of a human life. On that note, it might be helpful to tackle all her issues by starting with her crimes in the myth - becoming enraged by the fact that her mother 'disgraced' their family, fueling the anger of her brothers so that they want to murder their mother, and leading an army to kill both her mother and her unborn brother.

Basically, Coyolxauhqui needs to learn that her mother did nothing wrong and that bloody murder is not the solution to everything.

History:

Coyolxauhqui is the daughter of Coatlicue, the childbirth and fertility Goddess, and Mixcoatl, the ancient Mesoamerican God of the hunt, and features prominently in the creation myth of Huitzilopochtli, the patron God of the Aztec nation.

The mother Goddess was sweeping the steps of the temple one day when a ball of fluff, a ball of hummingbird feathers, fell down from the heavens towards her. Coatilcue plucked the fluff from the air and placed it in her bosom, then went back to sweeping the temple, only to later find that the fluff had disappeared and she was now, quite suddenly, with child. Upon hearing that their mother had been impregnated in the temple, her daughter, Coyolxauhqui, became utterly enraged and decided to take revenge on her disgraced mother.

Coyolxauhqui approached her brothers, the Centzon huitznahua or four hundred Southerners, and began to rile them up. "Coyolxauhqui incited them, she inflamed the anger of her brothers, so that they should kill their mother." Having gathered her brothers together, they dressed and armed themselves for war and marched to the Coatepec mountain, the scared place of the temple, with Coyolxauhqui leading the way.

Frightened, having been warned that her sons and daughter were on the march to kill her, Coatlicue waited for the army to arrive. A voice inside spoke to her, telling her to not fear, that he knew what he must do. The four hundred sons and Coyolxauhqui rushed to the mountain and out sprang Huitzilopochtli, fully grown and dressed in warrior gear, who immediately met his brothers and sister in battle. Huitzilopochtli rushed Coyolxauhqui and decapitated her in one swift swipe of his weapon, a serpent of fire, and sent her body crashing down the side of the mountain. As her body fell it broke into pieces, her arms and legs detaching as she fell further and further down the mountain.

Huitzilopochtli destroyed his four hundred brothers - he annihilated them. After their bodies were scattered about, and Coyolxauhqui's head was tossed into the sky so that her mother, Coatilcue, would not miss her face. Her head then became the moon.

Sample Journal Entry:

I am bewildered. I am perplexed. Your calender makes no sense, it has no reason. We had names. Ocelotl, Tochtli, Mazatl - Jaguar, Rabbit, Deer. Thirteen names paired with sacred numbers.

How do you recall your sacred days? How do you know what days are favorable or unfavorable? How do you know what God to feed? To Honor? To worship? How do you remain humble? How do you know sacred days?

How do you know when the world will end? Destroyed. Annihilated. The world was destroyed and then remade. It was destroyed four times. We live in the fifth age. The world will end, and you will be helpless. Sacrifice renews the world. You cannot sacrifice without knowing the days. Knowing the age. Knowing the Gods.

The world will not be renewed.

Sample RP:

Coyolxauhqui decided to walk the Barge upon her arrival. She wished to understand better the gigantic, metal beast that enclosed them all. There was much she did not know. There was much that confused her - frightened her. Her immediate concern was that it was cold. Coyolxauhqui was not accustomed to the cold, for her home had been warm and dry. She wrapped her arms around her bare chest as she continued her journey, the bells on her cheeks quietly ringing as she took the stairs.

They were large stairs too. Not like the steep steps that one climbed like a ladder to get to the top of the temple. Coyolxauhqui could easily walk up and down these stairs and not fear falling down them. She would not fear falling down these, falling over and over until her limbs scattered every which way.As she climbed these stairs, she wondered if there was anyone familiar imprisoned with her.

More importantly, Coyolxauhqui wondered if they were keeping her for sacrifice. If they were, they certainly were not treating her like a deity. She should be dressed with flowers and sprinkled with perfumed water. She should be presented with food and trinkets, and musicians and dancers should follow her and ensure a smile upon her face. To sacrifice a woman required happiness on the woman's part, for if she cried then the sacrifice meant little. Did they not know this? Did they not know an unhappy woman would make a terrible sacrifice?

Coyolxauhqui hummed gently to herself as she reached the final floor. She could go no further. Her eyes open wide, Goddess stared at the unfamiliar heavens.

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