Qotal

Qotal, the Feathered Dragon, also known as the Plumed One, was the Maztican god of creation, freedom, and pluma magic.

Appearance
Qotal was a beautiful and brightly colored god. He was often portrayed as a majestic dragon covered in bright, golden plumage and with a mane of bright, many-colored feathers around his neck.

History
Qotal was the eldest son of Kukul and Maztica. When Kukul created humans, Qotal first gave them the gift of speech and the desire to learn. Later, when he grew jealous of how much humans worshiped his mother, he gave them mayz (corn), for which humans worshiped him even more.

However, his brother Zaltec gave the humans hishna magic out of jealousy of Qotal, and the humans used hishna to wage savage wars with each other. Qotal and Maztica, saddened by the humans' suffering, together created pluma magic, which brought peace to the humans.

After Zaltec attacked Maztica, Qotal rose to fight him. Qotal's sisters Kiltzi, Watil, and Nula sided with him, while his other brothers sided with Zaltec. The two gods had their human worshipers build a massive pyramid upon which they would fight, and each had a sacrifice made upon it. Qotal's sacrifice was a cage containing thirteen butterflies, which he set free. He defeated Zaltec in that battle, and then exiled him.

Years later, Qotal saw the humans' joy and was jealous, deciding that he wanted a lover. So he pursued his sister Kiltzi and laid with her. When he was done, he fell asleep for ten years, during which Zaltec grew strong on human sacrifices and returned from exile.

When Qotal woke up and saw what the humans were doing in his brothers' names and what he had done to Kiltzi, he was ashamed and sorrowful. Too weak to challenge Zaltec again, he instead journeyed east with his few remaining followers, then left even them in a canoe that sailed east across the ocean. Before he left, though, he gave to his priests a prophecy of his return.

Worship
Qotal abhorred human sacrifice, and rituals for him often involved freeing caged animals, especially birds and butterflies. He was mostly forgotten by most Mazticans, and had only a few priests, mostly among the peoples of Payit and Far Payit.

Connections
Qotal