Cuauhtemoc

CUAUHTEMOC (from the nahuatl "descending eagle", named after the eponymous 16th Century Mexican ruler who led a resistance against the early spanish invasion/colonization government in an attempt to reconquer the city of Tenochtitlán, nowadays Mexico City, capital of the Mexica Triple Confederation) is an original character from my story project - currently titled the IN LAK'ECH Mythos. Cuauhtemoc is one of the most important and proeminent characters in the IN LAK'ECH Mythos and it's "prequels", titled AZTLÁN. His role in the main story causes major changes on the point of view of the series' protagonist - William Mattoni, himself a human able to transform into a CUETZPALIN lizard-man - and also reveals secrets about the past that otherwise he'd hardly find out about.

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    Cuauhtemoc is a CUETZPALIN (from the nahuatl "lizard", in the story of IN LAK'ECH it's the name of a race of lizard people native from the realm of AZTLÁN who have coexisted with human populations across the American continent centuries before the spanish invasion), who was born in May 947 on the city of Tollan, capital of the Toltec Civilization, in a time of plain flourishment (needless to say, through the employment of military aggression against neighbor populations, the gathering of taxes and sacrificial policies. That, and of course a rational management of resources such as water and food), later regarded by the 13th Century Mexica as the somewhat idilic "Fourth Sun Era" - like with the actual pre-hispanic Mexica cosmology, the story of IN LAK'ECH, at least according to the point of view of the Aztec Confederation and other related peoples, can be divided into five major eras. The fourth Sun Era started with the foundation of Tollan in the 3th Century and ended with its destruction and conquest by different Chichimec (a generic name used to refer to different semi-nomadic peoples. It's possible literal meaning is "dog people", while Toltec - the people of Tollan - means "builder, artisan, architect") forces in the 11th Century.
    Like most of the Cuetzpalin in the Toltec social hierarchy, Cuauhtemoc was forced to join the Toltec army - some Cuetzpalin lived among different peoples in areas not so far from Tollan and central Mexico, and some made their lives as bounty hunters or Chichimeca leaders - and became a trained warrior in an early age, when the city was ruled by Huemac, one of the last Toltec rulers. The greatest military authority, the Tlacochcalcatl was a Cuetzpalin named Axayacatl, who befriended Cuauhtemoc, as Cuauhtemoc rose to higher positions after capturing more than six enemies for sacrificial rituals. The role of human sacrifice was crucial to the Toltec cosmology, its social and political organization, and even more to the life cycle of the Cuetzpalin - these reptile beings have certain regenerative abilities, but while they may die from deep wounds on vital parts or even of old age, they can extend their lifespan through their Tonalcoatl (a combination of the nahuatl words "tonal" meaning time, fate or numerical count and "coatl", meaning snake), a special organ that's both the original form of a Cuetzpalin developed on its egg and that grows into an adult Cuetzpalin (crossing through the state of a quadrupedal reptile into a human-sized bipedal reptile within three years or so), and later, a part of a Cuetzpalin's brain which stores its memories, and that can detach from its body - like a reptile shedding its skin or husk - and live for a short time, like a year or so after that. The Tonalcoatl, however, can also live in symbiosis with other vertebrates - human or non-human. In this case, they develop a telepathical ability of communication with the "host", and grant it the ability to transform into a Cuetzpalin (or something close to it, in the case of vertebrates like fish, that have fins instead of paws) for some time. The extensive usage of such form by the host, or an eventual fatal experience on it, however, can make the Tonalcoatl take over its body and regenerate its damage, to start a new life cycle. The host continue to get old, and whenever it may die or the Tonalcoatl find it better to leave, it can search for another host. The Cuetzpalin can also use the original form of the host (human, for example), and this ability was used by several of them to appropriate the goods and status which the host gathered during it's lifetime. In other words, if careful, a Cuetzpalin could experience as many lifetimes as it wished. Because the Cuetzpalin usually occupied a privileged position in Toltec society - several rulers and leaders, despite their human likeness, were usually Cuetzpalin taking hosts - this kind of sacrifice was something which they took political advantage of. In the State religion, the hosts - called ixiptla (from the nahuatl "impersonator") - were usually considered honorable ones, and even though some of them could have been commoners, they witnessed the last days of their lives as nobles. Some Cuetzpalin like Tlatoani (from the nahuatl "speaker", ruler) Huemac and the Tlacochcalcatl Axayacatl, for example, had accumulated several goods and earned quite a status after some time thanks to this.
    In 972, Cuauhtemoc's master and mentor, Cahualtzin, has been killed in a mission that Cuauhtemoc participated in the city of Tlatelolco, whose ruler, Chalchiuhnenetzin, was revealed to be a Tzitzimitl (from the nahuatl "star demon", a race of butterfly-winged beings able to take human form). The city has been taken and Chalchiuhnenetzin killed, but Cuauhtemoc lost a long-time friend, who despite of old age, has vowed not to take the hunahu (a word used to describe humans, it's meaning may be "hunter") as ixiptla, for it's unfair to consider the Cuetzpalin closer to the Teteoh ("gods") than the other creatures. After Cahualtzin's death, Cuauhtemoc has been introduced to Axayacatl's squad. Understandably, Cuauhtemoc could either opt to follow Cahualtzin's teachings or to carry on the human sacrifice in otder to pursue immortality. Because he's featured in IN LAK'ECH's Main Story (that starts in late 2008), it means he's used a variety of human hosts to get where he is, and has lived more than a thousand years following a hard task with an unearthly commitment. The story's long, so I'll just spotlight some data.

• 982 - Serving under Axayacatl's army, Cuauhtemoc fought against an invading militia led from the Mayan city of Uxmal by it's Ajaw (Mayan ruler), Chan Chak K'ak'nal, who commanded a huge, supernatural, shadowy bird of pray called Xecotovach to destroy the city of Tollan. Virtually immune to obsidian blades, the only thing that could hurt Xecotovach were blades of Yaxchilán (in a mayan dialect, it means "green stone", and can refer to a variety of elements or jade stones) that used some quantity of Teyoliatl (a combination of the nahuatl words "Teyolia", a vital energy related to the heart, and "atl", water), a green liquid that can hide as common water, and that can preserve a Cuetzpalin or Tonalcoatl's tissue, the possible origin of their restorative abilities. The Teyoliatl is usually distinguished from Atl-Tlachinolli (either "sacred water" or "burning water", meaning "blood" -human or non-human, what includes the Cuetzpalin- or "holy war" to the Toltecs) only when found in larger concentrations, which make it even more green in appearance than in a Cuetzpalin's blood. The Teyoliatl is originally the vital liquid of a race of ancient beings which rivalred the Elemental Gods, in a conflict that led to the development of the Cuetzpalin species, millions of years ago. After Xecotovach's defeat, although the city was heavily damaged, the Mayans retreated, and the rebuilding process resumed. In 995, while still serving under Axayacatl's army, Cuauhtemoc and a squad of human & Cuetzpalin soldiers accompanied a group of civilians and tax gatherers moving to the coastal city of Zama ("City of Dawn", nowadays Tulum), an important, yet distant supplier of obsidian and Yaxchilán, as they were identified and intercepted by a local Mayan faction, led by an inhuman Ajaw, Ah Muzen Cab, while on board of their traditional vessels. The battle took off to the sea, and after a bloodthirsty conflict, the survivors and the dead were sucked into a mysterious inter-dimensional vortex that rose from the misty clouds above the sea. They had just reached as far as the Sargassus sea, and in the next moment, they arrived, on broken vessels, in an unknown, extremely cold shore.

• 995-1001 - The stranded Toltecs arrive in the shores of Nordland, where the locals, known as Asgardians have a completely different culture and live in fiefs governed by a larger urban center, the village of Norrland, ruled by King Týr, in a time when groups of people meeting certain characteristics are selected to become sacrifices to the Jötunn, inhuman giants from the northeastern mountains. With the arrival of the Toltecs, differences arise, and while Axayacatl prefers to raid the locals and escape, Cuauhtemoc tries challenging the Jötunn's sovereignty to gain the trust of the Asgardians. Eventually, the Toltec warriors invade the Jötunn's fortress - Nifelheimr, an underground complex of caves extending from beneath glaciers in Finnmark and into the Finnish Lakelands. The Jötunn's leader, YMIR, tries to trap the Cuetzpalin beneath, and show some interest in "their genes", as he mentions they were created by Huitzilopochtli (a god then unknown by the Toltecs, centuries later Huitzilopochtli would be revered as the patron of Mexico), and expressed a desire to dissecate them, to find the secrets of their power. Ymir, just like the Cuetzpalin's supposed creator, is an elemental god. The survivors escaped to the other side of the caves, after trepassing kilometers underground, and found themselves at Lake Midgard (likely, nowadays Lake Saimaa), surrounding the marches of Alfheimr, an island which woods were surrounded by a dark mist, and whose inhabitants, the mysterious Banterains, claim to descend from a wide variety of ancient peoples (from Aquitani to Frisians) very unlikely to have met and migrated to such a distance. The Banterains also claim their latest generations lived in harmony with the forest's elves, who disappeared after the mist came, and Cuauhtemoc alongside some Toltecs try to investigate.

• 1001-1035 - While King Týr regains contact with the Jötunn, the Asgadian leaders take an underground fortress where dragons such as Fenris are caged, and renew the pact which oversees the sacrifice of other humans (semi-nomads, Sami, Karelians and other communities) and theis delivery to Jötunn realms; Cuauhtemoc and the Toltecs resume their investigation on the fog's origin, which lead them to the underground realm of Hel, from where the elves are released, and it's owner is challenged - unaware she's associated to the Jötunn. Following Hel's apparent defeat, the Toltecs, Banterains and Elves rediscover the great tree Yggdrasil and populate it's surroundings. Cuauhtemoc becomes one of the tribal counselors, while Axayacatl and his followers leave the Lake areas for the East. Eventually, after years of relative peace, Cuauhtemoc starts to experience visions which leads him to Basajaun, a wooden giant who claims that the Banterains are being captured by Asgardian bounty hunters, alongside dragons, and also tries to convince Cuauhtemoc to find and wake his fellows - the Jentilak giants.
  

• 1035-1070 - During his patrols alongside Basajaun, Cuauhtemoc faces dragons and mercenaries that lead them to the destination of the captive Banterains: the underground realm of Dantalia, in Karelia, ruled by the dragon Snogard, an associate of a larger slave trading network which Hel (and the Jötunn Organization) are part of. Snogard is also an ally to a human mage, Zlatan, the Grandmaster of the secret Palarokhian Society which goal was to sacrifice the captives in an attempt to wake an ancient god-like entity, "The Primordial Dragon" (Tupaq, ancient Elemental God of Darkness, trapped into the absolute darkness for ages. The sacrifice, however, would likely wake another entity, the "Baphomet"). Basajaun and Cuauhtemoc are captured within Dantalia, but eventually escape with aid from dragon rebels like Vaengbrandr. In his escape, Cuauhtemoc is faced by Zlatan's son Augustus, who nearing his death, is taken as a human host by Cuauhtemoc, who later kills Zlatan and release the Banterain survivors. During the rebellion in Dantalia, Snogard loses his fabled possession - a crystal named by the chinese dragons as Baihu - to a dragon that escapes to Alfheimr. Following the dragon, Cuauhtemoc, Basajaun and Vaengbrandr identify Axayacatl among the slave traders, as they arrive at the woods of Alfheimr, attacked by dragons and set under fire. The one who stole the Baihu is revealed to be Hel, in her dragon form -Nidhöggr- her plan being destroying Yggdrasil, the Jentilak and the elves, who according to her "kept her underground" - it's eventually revealed her role within the Jötunn Organization, which she planned to break free from, was to oversee the capture of elves and Jentilak, in a section of their underground complex. By stealing the powerful Baihu and making herself a dragon, she wanted to break free from her masters and kill the Jentilak & Banterains, alongside all wildlife of Alfheimr. As for Axayacatl, known as "Lacerta", he and his fellows became bounty hunters in service for the Palarokhian Society, and were able to capture and sell Banterains, and later even team-up with Hel in her betrayal for the sake of her fortune. After dueling Lacerta and neutralizing Hel, Cuauhtemoc released the Jentilak from their underground prison. When they arrived on the surface, however, he realized these giant guardians of wildlife wouldn't cooperate with the Banterains, who were farmers and hunters, and for the good of both has led the Jentilak into a mass migration to the South.

• 1070-1090 - Following Yggdrasil's liberation, the awaken human-sized Elf Idunna introduces herself to Cuauhtemoc, whom she gifts with a special weapon, and alongside the other Jentilak convinces him to return to the realm of Hel (whose leader he killed), which depths has jailed some of their old allies, including the ancient Dark Elf Ninsun, the Green Dragon Sleipnir and the "Mother of All", Audumla. Cuauhtemoc, however, fails to free them as he's prevented by the forces led by Ymir (who has usurped Audumla's power) and the human/Jötunn hybrid Erysichthon. As Vaengbrandr finds out, however, the elves and Jentilak planned to have Cuauhtemoc freeing Audumla just so he could become their chosen warrior, by "fusing him with a mandragora (a symbiotic creature born from some Jentilak)", what would grant him power to create more Jentilak in other biospheres, what would, one way or another, lead to civilization's destruction - something he didn't want. Still, Cuauhtemoc was already aware of Ymir and his fellows' role in international slavery, so he tried to keep them away from the Jentilak & elves of Alfheimr, at the same time keeping them away from the common people, so he and Vaengbrandr tried to come up with a B plan, which had them deciding to infiltrate both the "Dragon Brotherhood" of Snogard in Dantalia and the Palarokhian Society across members of European nobility in several towns, in order to learn powerful magic able to cast a fog which would isolate Alfheimr from all other mortals, in the way also seeking ways to prevent Tupaq's release from the Absolute Darkness.

• 1090-1110 - Starting in Dantalia and taking the identity of the missing Augustus, son of Zlatan the former Grandmaster, Cuauhtemoc has infiltrated the Palarokhian Society, and was admitted into the estate of one of its members, a previous ally of Augustus, a man named Vladek who was rather known as Draconis - from a town in the Polish-Lithuanian Comonwealth. He stayed at Draconis' estate and participated in the secret society's cult, directly contacting Tupaq while the order was governed by an undead grandmaster, Paladar (one of it's founders. In truth, a corpse reanimated by a shadow demon, Jahi, from a kind created by Tupaq that save for her was trapped alongside him millennia ago), and Augustus' inheritance, from Zlatan, was held by another member, Durian. Eventually, Durian and his mercenaries tried to kill the returned Augustus, but Cuauhtemoc had the upper hand, and both killed & took over Durian as his next host, in 1100. Within ten years, Paladar grew worried about Draconis' increasing knowledge and influence, and planned to attack him, but Durian prevented that, killing Paladar in an act which revealed the existence of Jahi and also exposed an invader in the Palarokhian Society. Mihovil, an ally of Paladar, became the next Grandmaster.

• 1110-1130 - Cuauhtemoc to avoid suspicions took over Leith, an apprentice of Durian, as his next host, but because of this lost contact with Draconis. Eventually, Vaengbrandr has infiltrated the Dragon Brotherhood, where dragons such as the alchemists Nozrak and Sucard controlled other dragons to mine Darr a "hidden element". A Gallian member of the Palarokhian Society, Nicolas Flamel, was eventually exposed and persecuted by authorities from the Roman Church & the Gallian Kingdom as "a practicer of magic", and alongside some of his Templar allies accused of "worshipping the Baphomet" - so he sought to steal the Baihu from Snogard in Dantalia and "share it's knowledge with others", what divided the Palarokhian society in two.

• 1130-1140 - Flamel and his followers succesfully stole the Baihu (that years ago was stolen by Hel, but recovered by Lacerta, under assignment of the Palarokhian Society), and carried it to one of his allies, Yarognev, who was located at the Sambian town of Twangste (nowadays Kaliningrad), where he was instructed to perform a sacrifice for the awakening of the Baphomet. Unwilling to die, Yarognev had another ally of his, Szabolc, saving him and allowing Flamel to die instead. The Baphomet entity has been awaken from the Baihu and, considered the Philosopher's Stone itself, has been taken into captivity for study purposes by the newly formed "Covenant of Baphomet", as they built a temple complex on the town which has remained as a haven for different practicers of different traditions of magic for centuries, also unscathed by the church's persecutions and even the Teutonic occupation of Königsberg centuries later. Among the Palarokhians who watched the deathly spectacle, Draconis has been instigated by this event to find out more about other hidden elements, their main crystals and the entities which inhabit them - as alongside some of his servants, he decided to move to Egypt, and later China. Within ten years, the Palarokhian alchemist Shaldor rediscovered the ancient ability to convert one's consciousness, memories and body into a sentient Duskoplasm (materialized darkness) organism. To prevent his own death by old age, Shaldor tried to take over Leith's body, but failed. He survived, and realized there was a Cuetzpalin infiltrated on the council, as Cuauhtemoc took over another unrelated host, the Palarokhian warrior sorcerer Ramach. After that, the crafting and usage of Duskoplasm as a biochemical weapon would become more common among the elite of the secret society.
  

• 1140-1170 - Ramach's true identity has been revealed, and Cuauhtemoc has been held captive by Yarognev in his estate. He escaped, however, when a rebellion broke led by the dragon-riding thief Lazslo, who was looking for a precious weapon hid among Yaorgnev's treasure. Cuauhtemoc followed Lazslo and learned he was actually Axayacatl/Lacerta, who was looking for his scythe, after learning it contained Teyoliatl and Yaxchilán, a combination that was the only thing that could save one from the Palarokhian Society's next planned biochemical weapon - Duskoplasm. Cuauhtemoc and Axayacatl fought, but had ultimately parted ways. Meanwhile, in the hellish realm of Dyiu (located beneath the Altai Mountains), part of the international network of slave-trading, Draconis and his latest mentor, Anubis, had defeated the ruling dragon Belphegor and took over his crystal -the Zhuque- which was used by Draconis to become a new dragon and ruler himself. Around the same time, on the other side of the world, Acxitl, the young Cuetzpalin successor of King Huemac, from Tollan, witnessed the destruction of the civilization by invading Chichimeca tribes and a rain of fire sent by the God Tlaloc.

• 1170-1240 - In his return to Alfheimr, Cuauhtemoc finally met up with the dragon Vaengbrandr, as he planned to use all the magic he learned in these years infiltrated on the Palarokhian coucil in order to isolate Alfheimr from the rest of the world with a fog. In a second attempt to release Audumla from the realm of Hel -now directly run by Ymir- he's been captured by Ymir and kept as a slave for years, alongside other allies such as the dragon Jörmungandr.

• 1240-1260 - After escaping from Hel, Cuauhtemoc took over as his host the body of an abusive knight who was trying to gather taxes from farmers near Karelia. Later, in Nordland, he joined with Vikings and took over an icelandic marauder, Egil Skallagrimson, who sided with "Trolls" - ruled by Lomax, the Trolls were a group of human/Cuetzpalin hybrids, descendants from a group of Banterains that split from another - in a campaign of resistance against the forced christianization of locals. Another Viking group, led by Eirik Blood Axe, has battled Egil and the Trolls, and eventually Cuauhtemoc found out Eirik was actually a host taken by Erysichthon - pointing out some of Ymir's creations mimicked Cuetzpalin abilities such as parasitism and regeneration, possibly thanks to his capture during the last years.

• 1260-1290 - Cuauhtemoc's latest contact with the Trolls made him realize another group of Banterains migrated far south, past the Northern Sea and towards the Bay of Biscay, as several of them made it into the Kingdom of Navarre, between Gallia and Castille. On his way to Navarre, Cuauhtemoc has fought against christian authorities that accused semi-nomad populations - the Basque pagans - of witchcraft practice and would've them executed in order to claim their land. Cuauhtemoc also fought alongside the remnants of Cathar christian communities that were persecuted by the Catholic church. While resisting the church's increasing influence and corruption, he has been approached by Vaengbrandr, who has identified a Palarokhian spy within the Covenant of Baphomet, prompting Cuauhtemoc to investigate, what brought him close to a powerful Palarokhian witch, Aradia, Mihovil's apprentice, whom he has taken over as a host.

• 1290-1342 - As Aradia, Cuauhtemoc has learned Yarognev and Szabolc were gone, and Mihovil was no longer the Palarokhian Grandmaster, but a spy, in his former position he was replaced by Haakon, a scandinavian sorcerer who was also a member of both Palarokhian Society and the Covenant of Baphomet - Haakon survived the fires of inquisition after forging a pact with the Baphomet. Apparently, from the knowledge Mihovil gathered from his infiltration in the covenant, the Palarokhian were closer to release Tupaq, so Aradia killed him. She also learned Axayacatl/Lacerta still lived as a banker in the Kingdom of Burgundy, and was employed by the Dragon Brotherhood of Dantalia, that in turn sponsored the Palarokhian Society. Taking advantage of Aradia's previous allegiances to Snogard's daughter, the dragon Viterna, and also to some Tzitzimimeh from Baphomet's Covenant, Cuauhtemoc persecuted Axayacatl and his dragon Tuskodon, and exposed their theft of Darr from mines in Dantalia to damage their association with the Brotherhood. Despite Aradia managed to steal his scythe, Axayacatl and Tuskodon escaped, and Axayacatl left his position in Burgundy for that of a slave-trader in Tuscany, where he worked alongside other slave traders, demons Sitri and Andras, associated to the realm of Dis, in the Mediterranean Sea, managed by forces sponsored by the Vatican. On her pursuit for Lacerta in Tuscany, Aradia teamed up with Vaengbrandr and his latest allies, Hayder the Crimean & Beithir a Norwegian Troll marauder who liberated slaves from their Crimean, Genoan, Venetian and Golden horde captors and traders. In the outcome, Tuskodon was forced to leave for the Sicilian sea, after Viterna seemingly killed Axayacatl by eating his Tonalcoatl. Aradia returned to her Palarokhian reunions, where she met beastmaker Veneficus and his son Malefactor. Using the realm of Dantalia as an authorized playground, they crafted Duskoplasm plagues which they sought to launch upon all of Europe, and that would be potentially enhanced with the planned release of Tupaq.

• 1342-1348 - Unnoticed by Aradia, the undying Palarokhians Yarognev, Szabolc, Shaldor and the dragons Snogard and Nozrak were alive, and training Umbra, a man born in 1317 who was chosen to become Tupaq's incarnation, while Haakon led the Palarokhian Society's most superficial face - which Aradia still had exposure to. In 1342, Tupaq was finally released into the world alongside his demon-children - the "Yana Phuyu" (from the quechua "Dark Clouds", known in nahuatl as Centzonmimixcoa - "Four Hundred alike the Cloud Serpent") and spread the Duskoplasm plague, which history would remember as one of the deadliest, largest Black Death epidemics on Europe and the world. Haakon is replaced by Tupaq as the Grandmaster, and the members of the Palarokhian Society follow Tupaq's campaigns on enslaving the populace - no longer seeking to take and rule the kingdom of men, they accept Tupaq's goal of converting Earth into a necropolis. Aradia desperately tries to build resistance, and in doing so is finally identified as Cuauhtemoc's current host - as she gathers allies she met from years before, either in the Covenant of Baphomet or other places across Europe: the Germanic Seidhr warrior witch Sunna, the Irish druid revivalist Bertilak, the Lithuanian woodlands' Obotrite leader and archer Malinauskas, the Basque Akelarre witch and Inquisition survivor Sorginak, the Navarrese knight Pierre Belibaste, one of the last Cathar christians who survived a persecution by the Catholic Church in Toulouse, and of course, Hayder, Beithir and the dragons Vaengbrandr & Viterna. During these years, Cuauhtemoc/Aradia, who possessed Axayacatl's scythe, still sought ways to reproduce the Teyoliatl, the substance present in the Toltec lands and in Alfheimr, that's deadly to the shadow demons and the Duskoplasm epidemics (that can disguise itself as or reproduce through the bulbonic plague) - but so far all answers led her back to the Jentilak, the elves and the "mandragoras", whom it had no intention in recurring to, as they, too, could threaten to raise the death toll across Europe.
  

• 1348-1352 - The Palarokhians take the Baihu from the Temple of Baphomet at Königsberg, and Tupaq uses it as his own crystal for some time (transforming his human body into a dragon in the process), before it returns to Snogard's hands as Tupaq suddenly disappears in the easternmost portion of the ancient forest of Iriy (nowadays Shulgan-Tash), inhabited by Leshy (how the Jentilak were known by Slavic peoples), in his quest to find an ancient relic. Yulmar becomes the next Palarokhian Grandmaster. Christian communities start to persecute, both officially and informally, populations such as slavs, jews and others they accuse as "heathens" framing them for the "Scourge sent by god", failing to address the real cause of the epidemics and existence of the secret Palarokhian Society. The Northern Baltic Crusades, carried out by the Teutonic Knights, also end up frustrating Aradia's plans of organizing resistance on Eastern Europe, and several Teutonic Knights become undead soldiers who report back to Palarokhian necromancers.

    In 1348, "Drachensohn", a young farmer from a fief near Mecklenburg, witness the transformation of his townspeople into meat-eating undead, and try to escape to Neubrandenburg, where his wealthier cousin, Rythiel, may have a place for him to stay and work. On his escape, counting on intuition and survival skills, Drachensohn invades the town's abandoned weaponry and use knightly equipment to fight the undead. He learns the fief and part of Mecklenburg has been taken by a dragon necromancer, Rokogon, and fight him in order to leave the fief's walls - in the proccess learning Rokogon was working for the secret Dragon Brotherhood, the Palarokhian Society and that some of their members held key positions within the Holy Roman Empire, that in the same year claimed Mecklenburg as "one of its duchies" (possibly, to mask its transformation into a necropolis, and under orders of a member from the secret society). Before reaching Neubrandeburg, however, Drachensohn has been found by a pack of pagan (non-christians) Obotrite Slavs who travelled from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth back to Prussia, and followed Malinauskas. Alongside the nomads, Drachensohn has fought for his survival against the Order of the Teutonic Knights, in the proccess killing it's current Grand master, Heinrich Dusemer, before parting ways with Malinauskas and finally reaching Neubrandenburg. Drachensohn witnessed the Church and the Teutonic Knights' complete omission from seeking any cure to the Black Death, investigating it's causes and addressing the role of a select group of human individuals involved on its spreading, other than their role in instigating infighting (using persecution of independent peoples like the Baltic Slavic tribes, during the Teutonic Baltic Crusades, and the popular persecution of jews throughout Europe - even though the current Pope, Clement VI, publicly stood against the persecution of the later - as a mean to supposedly stop the spread of "a disease caused by sin"), what not only prevented skilled people from working for a cure, but also endangered the entire life in the continent - that would lead to the death of 60% of it's human population (in a time the largest urban centers were either in Mongolian China, like Hangzhou, or in Mamluk Sultanate Egypt). This diminished his faith in those that spoke of God.
    Reaching Neubrandenburg, Drachensohn got in touch with his cousin, Rythiel, who introduced him to Ludolf, a Blacksmith he started to collaborate with, while Rythiel promised to "look after a cure, spread the word about the situation in Mecklenburg and eventually revert it", and also "to investigate the secret society Drachensohn believed was involved on it". While working for Ludolf in Neubradenburg, Drachensohn met a librarian, Aradia, who lived with Sorginak, a Basque refugee, young alchemist and healer who found interest in Drachensohn's story concerning Mecklenburg's destruction and his escape from it. While most people related the Black Death and the rise of the undead to abstract values such as sin and lack of faith, Aradia and Sorginak were aware it's origins were rooted in nature and its spread was artificial, and politically motivated by "a secret society of sorcerers". Eventually, Drachensohn learned the difference between magic traditions and organizations - The Baphomet's Covenant in Königsberg, the international Palarokhian Society, and many other traditions like Sorginak's own background, the basque Akelarre. Through their knowledge, Drachensohn believed to be closer to find a cure for the disease than through faith, like his fellows - Aradia knew the substance known as Atl-tlachinolli by the Toltecs could dissolve Duskoplasm and possibly cure the sick, but so far only her weapon and Axayacatl's scythe contained it, other than specific lakes and waterbed which were closed Leshy/Jentilak territories. Eventually, Drachensohn would be identified as the murderer of Heinrich and a helper of Lithuanian pagans led by Malinauskas, so he became a prosecuted criminal in the Teutonic territory, forcing him out of Neubrandenburg, and severing his contact with his cousin, Rythiel. Ludolf initially considered turning him over to the authorities, but learning from Aradia and Sorginak about the corruption of the Teutonic Knights and experiencing it first hand with the promotion of Winrich von Kniprode (then, an undead) as the next Grand Master, he rather followed Drachensohn in leaving the city, on 1351.
   That year, Drachensohn and several allies of Aradia have sided with Polish-Lithuanian mercenaries, including Malinauskas, to take a fortress previously controlled by the Teutonic Knights in the town of Insterburg (nowadays Chernyakhovsk), and from this new castle have proclaimed the foundation of the "Schwarze Ritter" (Black Knights), an anarchistic group of rogue knights that openly stood against the christian church, the Teutonic, Prussian and Polish-Lithuanian States, and which offered shelter to refugees accused of paganism, witchcraft or just plainly hated by the ignorant populace, in a time the Black Death epidemics had yet to diminish. Aradia found in Drachensohn a worthy ally, and gifted him with Axayacatl's scythe - able to cut through shadow demons and to cure people from the Black Death, but two people with the cure weren't enough, Aradia needed to find a way to spread it. Following Aradia's advice, Drachensohn also supported the Jentilak & Leshy communities, by freeing the Green dragon Zmej from Ajattara, a female dragon and jailer of Dantalia. Zmej claimed to have lived in the surface during a time before the Black Forest on Southern Teutonia was devastated, when "eastern Iriy" was united with the "western Iriy" (Belovezkhaya Forest) and the Black Forest itself, possibly during the Roman campaigns. Through Zmej, Aradia intended to identify sources of Teyoliatl other than Alfheimr and sources of Yaxchilán in Europe, and from there learn how to isolate Teyoliatl into Yaxchilán blades, what ultimately led her to western Iriy (still, she failed to understand that a Cuietzpalin's blood also contains Teyoliatl).
    In 1352, on an attempt to reclaim the Baihu from Snogard in order to take it back to the Temple of Baphomet (on Königsberg, where some Black Knights frequented), Viterna betrayed Aradia and killed her, revealing her actual allegiance to Snogard - who feared Aradia would lead the Leshy of Iriy into Palarokhian-controlled territories - but Viterna was also killed, by another dragon, Brynarr, an associate of Tuskodon, who found out Axayacatl's Tonalcoatl wasn't really killed, but preserved by Viterna, kept in stasis for Snogard to study. Following Aradia's death, Sorginak took charge of the Schwarze Ritter at their castle on Insterburg, and kept her allegiance to the Baphomet's Covenant, that still sought the Baihu crystal, still in possession by Snogard.
    Cuauhtemoc had a B plan, and returned taking the Palarokhian Beast master Veneficus as host, who helped the Schwarze Ritter by leaking Palarokhian intelligence that could bring them closer to Snogard and Yulmar, while he studied ways to spread the cure. Veneficus supported the Black Knights in conflicts against fellow Palarokhian mages Gilnor Fernier and Shaldor - the later who was seemingly killed by Black Knights Bertilak and Sunna. Following Shaldor's defeat, Veneficus broke into his laboratory and learned Shaldor studied the artificial reproduction of mandragoras and also how those created Teyoliatl, just in case some rival Palarokhian dared to steal his lot of undead army. With the resources of Veneficus and Shaldor, Cuauhtemoc didn't need anymore support from Zmej or even had to involve the Leshy in order to spread Teyoliatl in areas affected by the Duskoplasm - he only had to plant these mandragoras (called alrunas in German) alongside common plants near waterbeds on affected areas, and to prevent the Palarokhians from keep creating and using the undead army, had to destroy their remaining labs - including Yulmar's fortress, in nowadays city of Minsk. Cuauhtemoc, this time, has also learned a Cuetzpalin's blood contains Teyoliatl and can be used to destroy Duskoplasm.
    The Schwarze Ritter, including Sorginak, would come to learn Veneficus and her previous mentor -Aradia- were actually a stranger, centuries-old reptilian creature from an alien culture of another side of the world, but as it seemed to be the only one aware of the actual origins of the "Duskoplasm" (which is Tupaq, whom Cuauhtemoc first heard of as the mythical Mixcoatl in the Toltec lore), they followed his plans all the way up to the defeat of Yulmar, Snogard, and the capture of the Baihu/Baphomet. It all happened, however, at a terribe price - While leading the first generation of Black Knights into battle at Yulmar's fortress, Drachensohn has been almost killed by his own cousin, Rythiel, who revealed to be not only a Palarokhian himself - but the lord who ordered Rokogon to take Mecklenburg and hid his association by turning it into a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire; Drachensohn's familiar connection to Rythiel was the only reason he remained unnafected - Rythiel's original plan was to take Drachensohn away from Mecklenburg earlier, but Rokogon followed Snogard's demands, and didn't count with the twist of fate Drachensohn played. Either way, Rythiel has been killed, alongside Yulmar, and the Black Knights would die, if Sorginak hadn't learned how to forge a pact with the Baphomet - which kept them alive and granted them alchemical powers for centuries to come - save for Pierre Belibaste, who despite a critic of the church, has remained a (Cathar) christian up to the end, unwilling to make a pact with any entity other than God.

• 1352-1357 - After Yulmar's death, Malefactor became the Palarokhian Grandmaster. The Schwarze Ritter, from Insterburg, kept close relations with the restored Covenant of Baphomet, that managed to remain unwatched by the Teutonic Order in Königsberg, and also invited Veneficus/Cuauhtemoc to join, but he refused - through Zmej, the green dragon Drachensohn freed from Dantalia, Cuauhtemoc learned that Tupaq still lived, trapped in Eastern Iriy, that was likely surrounded by a thick fog like Alfheimr (and unlike western Iriy). Eastern Iriy was inhabited by several Leshy alongside their master Veles, and three "Prophetic Birds" whose songs made people forget their way out. Cuauhtemoc decided to enter the forest and kill Tupaq once and for all, there he's been introduced to the god Svarog, an ancient protector of semi-nomadic Slavs, who has crafted for him a powerful armor which last remaining piece is Cuauhtemoc's mask (replacing another he used since Toltec times, possibly broken during the duel against Tupaq). Tupaq, in Umbra's body, dueled Cuauhtemoc, sending him away into the dimension of Absolute Darkness, where Cuauhtemoc, thanks to his Tonalcoatl, managed to stay alive for days before Sorginak was able to open a portal and drag him out, much to his surprise, what changed his initial decision in not joining the Black Knights. As for Tupaq, Zmej and the Leshy would later report Cuauhtemoc they found his deceased body -possibly killed by the curse artifact he was looking for in Iriy- but that didn't meant it was the end for him, just the end of that incarnation.

• 1357-1401 - Between 1357 and 1385, Cuauhtemoc has grown closer to the Black Knights, and started a family with Dagny, a refugee living in the Temple of Baphomet, while the undead, though conscious Drachensohn joined with Sorginak, and Bertilak joined with Sunna. The remaining Palarokhians kept trying to restore the production of Duskoplasm and the epidemic level it achieved decades ago, but kept failing as not only they lost the Baihu, the Black Knights were armed with weapons similar to Cuauhtemoc's. It became clear, however, that Veneficus and Cuauhtemoc were the same, and unexpected enemies arrived from within one of the several magic practicing societies within the covenant - the seidhr sisterhood, that knew Cuauhtemoc as an enemy of Hel centuries ago. Eydis, the seidhr leader, claimed to be "Hel's current incarnation" - what Cuauhtemoc later found to be a lie, despite her followers believed that, even centuries later. In the next years, Black Knight Bertilak started to develop strange habits, and eventually killed his wife Sunna, as well Veneficus' Dagny, and threatened to kill their daughter, but Cuauhtemoc intervened and realized Bertilak had actually been taken over by Axayacatl as a host years ago. This time, Bertilak/Axayacatl sported Cuauhtemoc's original Toltec weapon -the one Cuauhtemoc left at Alfheimr in 1070- what hinted him that somehow Axayacatl managed to trepass the dark mist he set over Alfheimr. Axayacatl escaped, and Cuauhtemoc, unable to avenge the Black Knight, decided to leave the Black Knights, for he could only attract his enemies to them.

• 1401-1445 - Cuauhtemoc returned to Alfheimr, where this time he met an alien visitor, the ancient Abaris, a Jötunn unrelated to the organization who was overseeing the territory where he claimed to have left an ancient weapon -the Moon Scythe- which they found to currently be in possession of a pagan seidhr practicer, Birger, who was unrelated to Eydis and her attempt to kill Cuauhtemoc years ago, and who claimed to "have summoned Abaris the same way his ancestor, Odin (the first Asgardian to rebel against the Jötunn of Nifelheimr) did" - by using the scythe. This time, however, many centuries after Týr's rule, the people of Nordland were mostly christianized, and the secret pact between Týr and Nifelheimr (to keep delivering human captives, mostly Sami, or even hybrids such as the Trolls, to become sacrifices for the Jötunn) remained largely unknown in the kingdom. Either for his traditional knowledge or his possession of the Moon Scythe, Birger has been persecuted by mercenaries, among them a mysterious Glaucian, Autolycus, whose hirers remained unknown. In order to save Birger from death, Cuauhtemoc took him as a host, and continued to investigate the interest of Nifelheimr on the Scythe. Eventually, Birger discovered that nobles within the Kalmar Union (a junction of Scandinavian kingdoms, possibly motivated by the losses during the Black Death epidemics), the current incarnation of the ancient Asgardian Kingdom which Týr was part of, were part of another secret society involved with other European kingdoms and bourgeoisie - the "Novus Civilizatio", and they were the current owners of the contract between Jötunn and humans. More than that, they were the slave-trading force sponsoring international travels and also mercenaries such as Autolycus and Axayacatl himself. This pursuit brought Cuauhtemoc/Birger closer to another Glaucian, Coelacanth, who opposed the NC and also discovered it wasn't Birger who summoned Abaris, but the summoning of the God Apollo by the NC members, in a time later called Renaissance. Their objective was to create a singular consciousness over humankind, in the proccess extinguishing peoples like the Trolls, Sami, and many other races which deviated from their aesthetic preferences.

• 1445-1521 - While investigating the mercenaries sponsored by the NC, the Catholic Church, the Kalmar Union and the Jötunn Organization, Birger has been fatally wounded by Byrnhildr, a Jötunn hybrid (like Erysichthon) working for Ymir. To prevent his death, Cuauhtemoc left him for another host, the Kalmar pirate Engelbrekt. After failing to defeat Byrnhildr, Cuauhtemoc followed Coelacanth and other pirates in their pursuit of the mercenaries Axayacatl & Autolycus, who unknown to him, had travelled to the territory of the Excan Tlahtoloyan (Mexico) between 1476 and 1481, where they found ancient and powerful Cuetzpalin - Ehecatl, who had as ixiptla the Mexica high priest Tlacaelel, and Ahuitzotl, a renegade Cuetzpalin who had as his host the leader of the Purépecha of Tzintzuntzan (known as Tarascans of Michoacán by the Mexica), the later who resisted against the Mexica expansion in the northwest, and who were accompanied by Ahuitzotl's epnoymous inhuman kind of mammals. The Purepechas were completely different from most Mesoamerican civilizations of the time, their weaponry was closer to that of the far southern Incas. Autolycus' current hirer was an intergalactic warlord who wanted the Tonalcoatl of those Cuetzpalin, and while Axayacatl hasn't been originally involved in this work (otherwise, the hirer would possibly try to capture and study him), Autolycus invited his ally for this mission because it included other Cuetzpalin, and what he believed to be their homeland. Upon learning the basic political situation of "Anahuac" (how the Mexica refer to the Mesoamerica and the known world), Autolycus merged in the Purepecha society, while Axayacatl became an official Mexican warrior, as they sought to capture the Tonalcoatl of the targeted individuals, which they managed to, in 1481. In the same year, however, the Incas from the south, led by Tupaq Yupanqui, have reached the southernmost Mexica outposts, in the regions of the Chibcha confederation, the Taino and the Pipiltin of Cuzcatlan, prompting a series of conflicts which would only cease with Tupaq's death by poisoning in 1493. Axayacatl and "Ahuitzotl" (Autolycus, not the ancient Cuetzpalin nor the mamal race) avoided the conflict, however, and likely returned to their lives as bounty hunters.

• 1521-1525 - Aboard Coelacanth's fellows, a 574 years old Cuauhtemoc finally returns to Anahuac, the continent he was born in, after 526 years away from it. Searching for the descendants of the Toltec Civilization, Cuauhtemoc met the Mexica in their greatest battle against the invading spanish mercenaries, for Tenochtitlán, the capital of Mexico. It was surprisingly easy to disguise as a Cuetzpalin, despite his ancient nahuatl wasn't adjusted to its current modifications, and independent of their motivations, Cuauhtemoc decided to use his resources and knowledge to prevent the spanish settlement from taking the city - even though it practically had been taken already, months after the death of Moctezuma Xocoyotzin. The Mexica were currently organized by Cahualtzin, but he already had been infected by Duskoplasm - what worried Cuauhtemoc, that learned soon enough the spanish had biochemical weapons among them, and likely members of the Palarokhian Society involved in their colonization campaigns. It wasn't a matter of national commitment or even solidarity to a larger population of Cuetzpalin, Cuauhtemoc decided to join the Mexica in resisting and possibly obliterating the colonization as a matter of survival for the next centuries. This time, however, the Duskoplasm virus had been enhanced by the Palarokhians, and could harm even the Cuetzpalin, whose blood alone used to be fatal to the Centzonmimixcoa (beings made of Duskoplasm). Still unknown to him, this was thanks to the advancements which Snogard had in studying Axayacatl from 1342 to 1352, Shaldor's own studies and those Autolycus' hirer had in studying Ehecatl and Ahuitzotl since 1481, not to mention Tupaq's own direct participation in the war against Mexico for 12 years. Cuauhtemoc met the eponymous human (the nephew of Moctezuma's last ixiptla) who succeeded Cuitlahuac in the leadership of Mexico's resistance against the spanish occupation of Tenochtitlán, and in 1523, has taken him as a host to preserve his memory after he had been killed in battle. Cuauhtemoc led the Mexica into battle up to 1525, when he was captured alongside fellow Cuetzpalin Coanacochtzin (ruler of Texcoco) and Tetlepanquetzal (ruler of Tlacopan) and executed by Cortés' forces in Acallan in nowadays Honduras.

• 1525-1558 - Cuauhtemoc survived and took over a spanish encomiendero (slaver/landlord), Pedro Gallego, as a host, using his estate to secretly organize a resistance of Cuetzpalin and native human survivors, which would support rebellions against the colony, even if it meant fighting other indigenous peoples who were being used by the spanish as a front line for their own colonial efforts, such as the Tlaxcaltecas. Because Cuetzpalin were killed on sight and the virus kept spreading, Cuauhtemoc and his allies often remained in their human disguises, attacking when possible and necessary. The spanish colony also had conflicts of interest among it's own managers, Cortés increasingly diminished his influence to other figures sent to the continent by the crown, such as governor Nuño de Guzmán. Pedro de Alvarado, who arrived with Cortés, also sought to build his own estate after enslaving the K'iché Maya of Q'umarkaj with help of their traditional enemies, the Kaqchikel, and later betraying them for their precious stones. If Cuauhtemoc had any chance of finding sources of mandragoras or take control over the Texcoco Lake (the largest known source of Teyoliatl, as well the foundation of Tenochtitlán's metropolis), the virus could at least be fought against, however within decades the poor colonial management almost dried the entire lake, leading to severe drought. Gallego's estate wasn't close to Tenochtitlán, it was part of the Chichimeca area, north from Mexico's valley. As Gallego, Cuauhtemoc protected Tecuichpo (later Isabel Moctezuma), the daughter of Moctezuma's last ixiptla, but was identified by Cortés as a Cuetzpalin in 1530. Cuauhtemoc escaped into Juan de Andrade, a mestizo who worked for Alvarado. He could tell Cortés and Alvarado's troops may have been infected even before they arrived in Mexico on 1518, possibly when they reached the town of Hispanola, in nowadays Cuba, by forces he still didn't find. As Juan, Cuauhtemoc supported a rebellion of Mixton chichimecas on the city of Nochistlán, where Pedro de Alvarado was killed. In the same event, Cuauhtemoc learned there were more Cuetzpalin survivors and "liberators" who broke encomiendas and slave trades, including the Taino Cuetzpalin Macoel. Macoel used to be a Mexica warrior and tax-gatherer during the war with the Inca (1481-1493), but has left the army on good terms, and started living as a guardian of the Taino, when the spanish arrived. Eventually, Macoel and Cuauhtemoc organize more rebellions against encomienderos and find the missing Cuetzpalin Papantzin, Moctezuma's sister, who is disguised in human form, and apparently under control by a powerful manipulator of Duskoplasm (one of those who has infected Cortés' team). They didn't manage to free her, but follow her traces and discover entire populations of Cuetzpalin being traded in New Spain (Mexico)'s western coast, as in 1546 they fight a japanese slave-trader, Hasekura Tsunenaga, who is severely damaged. Papantzin, however, wasn't sold to him - she was sold on another coast to Jötunn hybrids disguised as humans, who intended to monopolize the ownership of the Cuetzpalin, and keep them in their underground slave pens. Shortly after, while still searching for Papantzin, Cuauhtemoc left New Spain and arrived in Spain, where he'd remain for ten years, a time when he started campaigns which resulted in the deaths of Cortés, Nuño and the Spanish King Carlos V -who was himself infected by Duskoplasm. Before he could've found another host, however, he has been captured by members of the Novus Civilizatio involved with the trade of the Cuetzpalin to the secret Jötunn Organization.

• 1556-1654 - While in captivity by the Neo Civilis, Cuauhtemoc discovers some of them are related not only to the Jötunn, but also to the Palarokhian, such as John Dee, who was the NC's "Archimedes" (a title for the member assigned to the organization's "science sphere"). "Aristotle", another NC, actually Johannes Bureus, counselor of the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus, learns through Cuauhtemoc about the true goals of the Jötunn & Palarokhians, and decide to break him free from his captivity, as he becomes Cuauhtemoc's next host, as he's opposed by other NC members like "Innocent", René Descartes. Johannes investigates the traffic of Cuetzpalin slaves into Norway, and faces the latest Jötunn hybrid, Sigurd, who has enhanced speed -an ability extracted from Papantzin's DNA, that was also present in her brother's. Cuauhtemoc and Bureus were unable to defeat Sigurd, and eventually Cuauhtemoc took another host, the british bourgeois Whitelocke, whose wealth he'd use to return to New Spain and search for more Cuetzpalin. In 1651, Macoel gathered resistance in the northern areas of New Spain, after failing to prevent an attack from the latest Palarokhian Grandmaster, Tupaq Chasqui (an immortal dragon rider from the time Tupaq ruled the Inca), in the territory of the Shipibo, Ashaninka and Huni Kuin peoples (nowadays between Antisuyu, Peru, and Acre, Brazil), where some Cuetzpalin tried to settle. In 1654, a group of Neo Civilis lead an expedition from Mauritsstad (nowadays Recife, Brazil) into the northern Colombian jungle, where they find an abandoned Ahuitzotl settlement possibly built during the 8th Century.

• 1654-1850 - Cuauhtemoc fights the spanish armada, later takes a Gallian pirate as host, who meets his old ally Coelacanth in Madagascar, where they attempt to build "Libertalia", an independent society away from the growing empires. In no time, mercenaries associated to Autolycus attempt to take charge of the initiative, and after losing control of it, are employed by the British and French states to destroy it. His contact with the British army eventually brought him back to America, in 1720, where he took as a host Buckongahelas, an Algonquian leader who started to build a resistance alongside other native leaders who later betrayed him for the American side. In 1783, he returned to Spain, where the kingdom of Navarre was being dissolved and the entire state under pressure of the imperialist expansion of Gallia under Napoleon. Taking over the body of a Navarrese man, Cuauhtemoc fought against Napoleon's forces, but later returned to Mexico, during it's "Independence", in 1808, a time he lived as Tanganxoan, an indigenous leader who tried to turn the Mexican independence into a movement against the larger threat posed by the assimilation and sovereignty of a way of life based on alien principles - it didn't work, however, as the independence efforts were coopted by christian-friendly missionaires in a population that in the last hundred years didn't see a Cuetzpalin, and regarded them as myth. He also participated in the Mexican-American Civil War, in 1850, where he identified more Neo Civilis members expanding the contract of human and non-human sacrifices sent to the Jötunn, to include native americans they planned to get rid of by pursuing their own imperial visions.

• 1850-1983 - Cuauhtemoc took Bragi, a Jötunn, as his next host, and infiltrated the underground realm of Nifelheimr once again, where he found out Papantzin and few other Cuetzpalin still lived, albeit enduring experiments. Trying to lead a slave rebellion, he was prevented by another Jötunn hybrid, Vitharr, who was the current host to Axayacatl, the bounty hunter. Axayacatl has sided with the Jötunn even if it led his species to extinction, because he acquired a reliable fortune through his associates, and planned to create super-human hosts for him to take in the next centuries, hosts that only the Jötunn were able to create. Bragi failed to destroy the slave-trading complex, but found out the origin of the "special powers" which some of the Jötunn-human hybrids had (increased endurance, strength, speed, power over fire, solar powers, self-sufficiency) came from specific Cuetzpalin who across history were engineered by Huitzilopochtli, Ymir's fellow Elemental God, who also kept some ancient Quinametzin (beings like Audumla). The same Teyoliatl produced by the mandragoras, present in the Cuetzpalins' blood and the reason behind their regenerative abilities, besides the only weapon against the Duskoplasm virus and related beings such as the Centzonmimixcoa had it's origins on these Quinametzin. The Jötunn and the Palarokhian Society, as well all their westerner, human supremacy supporters, had different reasons (creation of a human singularity, expansion of a global economy, or conversion of earth into a necropolis) to stand against it's spread, or even the existence of the Cuetzpalin over Earth's surface (it didn't limit to opposing the Quinametzin, Jentilak, Elves, but also of domesticated Teyoliatl users, including the sophisticated Mexica civilization), but from all these coalitions, Tupaq would arguably have the larger benefit. No matter how much Axayacatl, Autolycus, whatever mercenary or even Ymir thwarted Cuauhtemoc's plans, it all brought him back to Tupaq, and as such he had to locate and destroy him before making any move. Tupaq's major supporter, however, wasn't even the Palarokhian Society he grew used to centuries ago, it was the intergalactic Saqraruna Organization, that also dialogued with both Neo Civilis and Jötunn interests - the "Human Automation", or conversion of earth into a technocratic, fully automated dystopia, with its own genetically, economically privileged elite ruling. And Axayacatl, a Cuetzpalin that could easily become one of the Saqraruna's enemies, was already trading his independence for a place in this nightmarish future - the creation of hybrid hosts for his Tonalcoatl. After returning from Hel, Cuauhtemoc returned to Spain, where he would disguise himself among groups inclined towards anarchism, autonomous organization and anti-nationalism. He participated in the Spanish Civil War, resisted Franco's government, in the proccess learning that the Schwarze Ritter from Königsberg, who also resisted the Reich, have been disbanded not shortly after the war, and reported Cuauhtemoc that the current incarnation of the Palarokhian Society, a subdivision of the Bielorussian KGB, took control of the extinct Baphomet's Covenant, forcing the Black Knights to disband. Other than that, they also employed undead, Duskoplasm-controlled Cuetzpalin, what meant they were indeed allied to the Jötunn. Cuauhtemoc's latest body is that of Iñaki Urrutikoetxea, an INTERPOL soldier who secretly supports the Basque Independence militias, and who was later admitted into the private AXIS academy.
  

1983-201X - Iñaki's actual identity remains unknown to his fellow soldiers, either the INTERPOL and his actual allies, the Basque separatists. He decided to grow closer to AXIS in order to investigate its ties to the ancient slave-trading network which the Jötunn are part of, and also the suspicious conditions of it's foundation, following a secret military operation which resulted in Tupaq's capture. He also knows Tupaq's allies won't rest to release him like before, but he doesn't expect what's about to come - the return of the Cuetzpalin.