Qotal, the Feathered Dragon, also known as the Plumed One, was the Maztican god of creation, freedom, and pluma magic.[7]
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.[7]
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.[9]
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.[9]
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.[9]
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.[9]
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.[9]
The prophecy of his return involved what his priests called the 'Time of Waning' when Maztican civilization would decline and collapse. Qotal gave secrets about this impending catastrophe to his priest Coton in the 14th century, while at the same time forbidding Coton from speaking any of it to the world. [10]
While he was in exile, most Mazticans turned to worship of his brother Zaltec and became ignorant of Qotal. [11]
In the decade before the arrival of the Golden Legion in Maztica in 1361 DR several portents appeared in Nexal, including fire in the sky and disturbances of three of the four lakes around the city (with only Lake Qotal notably remaining calm) and Naltecona, the ruler of Nexal, suspected that these were signs from Qotal to announce his return. [12]
Qotal knew that his brother Zaltec had plans to use the Legion's coming to increase his own power in Maztica and he determined to thwart those plans through his chosen, the woman Erixitl of Palul. Qotal intervened to protect Erixitl's life when Zaltec inspired his minions to destroy her, and guided her to follow a plan that she could not see herself. When the Legion arrived in Nexal, the Night of Wailing occurred in 1361 DR and the domination of Zaltec's Ancient Ones seemed certain, Erixitl's actions instead led to the destruction of Nexal. Qotal turned the lakes surrounding Nexal into ice to allow the people to escape and he helped them with creating oases on their way south through the House of Tezca as they fled away from the city.[13]
Qotal then guided Erixitl to Tewahca, the abandoned 'city of the gods' in House of Tezca and used her to attempt to make his re-entry into the world. However, Zaltec's avatar appeared and thwarted the attempt. Qotal then guided Erixitl to Twin Visages in Payit where he used her to make a second attempt. This time he succeeded. Zaltec's avatar appeared again and battled him in the nearby area. As the gods were fighting, Coton, high priest of Qotal, who had grown disillusioned with what he saw as his god's arrogance and cruelty in using the lives of so many people to accomplish his designs (eg. all of Nexal was destroyed), sacrificed himself in order to send the avatars of both gods out of the world again. Qotal then returned back to his own plane. [14]
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.[7]
Gold and green were sacred colours to Qotal. [15] Lake Qotal on Nexal's west side, was devoted to Qotal.
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
Novels & Short Stories
Card Games
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Douglas Niles (1990). Ironhelm. (TSR, Inc), p. 5. ISBN 0-8803-8903-6.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Ironhelm. (TSR, Inc), p. 6. ISBN 0-8803-8903-6.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Douglas Niles (1990). Ironhelm. (TSR, Inc), chap. 5, p. 87. ISBN 0-8803-8903-6.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Ironhelm. (TSR, Inc), chap. 13, p. 180. ISBN 0-8803-8903-6.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Ironhelm. (TSR, Inc), chap. 15, p. 205. ISBN 0-8803-8903-6.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Ironhelm. (TSR, Inc), chap. 16, p. 233. ISBN 0-8803-8903-6.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Douglas Niles (August 1991). “Gods & Battles”. Maztica Campaign Set (TSR, Inc.), p. 24. ISBN 1-5607-6084-2.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Ironhelm. (TSR, Inc), chap. 4, p. 67. ISBN 0-8803-8903-6.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Douglas Niles (August 1991). “A Journey to the True World”. Maztica Campaign Set (TSR, Inc.), pp. 7–12. ISBN 1-5607-6084-2.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Ironhelm. (TSR, Inc), chap. prologue. ISBN 0-8803-8903-6.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Ironhelm. (TSR, Inc), chap. prologue. ISBN 0-8803-8903-6.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Ironhelm. (TSR, Inc), chap. 1. ISBN 0-8803-8903-6.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1991). Feathered Dragon. (TSR, Inc), chap. 1. ISBN 1-5607-6045-1.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1991). Feathered Dragon. (TSR, Inc), chap. 21. ISBN 1-5607-6045-1.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Ironhelm. (TSR, Inc), chap. 1. ISBN 0-8803-8903-6.