View source for Qotal

{{Deity
| image               = Qotal.jpg
| caption             = 
| name                = Qotal
| title               = The Feathered Dragon<br/>The Plumed One<br/>The Golden God<ref name="IH-p5">{{Cite book/Ironhelm|5}}</ref><br/>The Silent Counselor<ref name="IH-p6">{{Cite book/Ironhelm|6}}</ref><br/>Immortal Master<ref name="IH-p87">{{Cite book/Ironhelm|87|5}}</ref><br/>Iridescent Ancestor of the Gods<ref name="IH-p5" /><br/>The King of the True World<ref name="IH-p87" /><br/>Our Esteemed Father<ref name="IH-p180">{{Cite book/Ironhelm|180|13}}</ref><br/>Plumed Father<ref name="IH-p205">{{Cite book/Ironhelm|205|15}}</ref><br/>Butterfly God<ref name="IH-p233">{{Cite book/Ironhelm|233|16}}</ref>
| adjective           = 
| aspects             = 
| pantheon            = [[Maztican pantheon]]
| gender              = Masculine
| died                = 
| basicrefs           = <ref name="MCS-GB-24"/>
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| power2e             = 
| alignment2e         = [[Lawful good]]
| symbol2e            = Featheres, butterflies, mayz, wind and air, clouds, [[couatl]], [[macaw]], [[eagle]]
| homeplane2e         = 
| realm2e             = 
| serves2e            = 
| servedby2e          = 
| portfolio2e         = Creation, freedom, [[pluma]]
| spheres2e           = [[Healing sphere|Healing]], [[Creation sphere|Creation]], [[Protection sphere|Protection]]<br/><small>'''Minor:'''</small> [[Animal sphere|Animal]], [[Astral sphere|Astral]], [[Divination sphere|Divination]], [[Plant sphere|Plant]]
| worshipers2e        = 
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| refs2e              = <ref name="MCS-GB-24"/>
| animals             = [[Butterflies]],<ref name="IH-p67">{{Cite book/Ironhelm|67|4}}</ref> [[couatl]]s, [[parrot]]s
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}}
'''Qotal''', the Feathered Dragon, also known as the Plumed One, was the Maztican god of creation, freedom, and [[pluma|pluma magic]].<ref name="MCS-GB-24">{{Cite book/Maztica Campaign Set/Gods & Battles|24}}</ref>

==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.<ref name="MCS-GB-24" />

==History==
Qotal was the eldest son of [[Kukul]] and [[Maztica (goddess)|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.<ref name="MCS-JTW-7-12">{{Cite book/Maztica Campaign Set/A Journey to the True World|7-12}}</ref>

However, his brother [[Zaltec]] gave the humans [[hishna|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|pluma magic]], which brought peace to the humans.<ref name="MCS-JTW-7-12" />

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.<ref name="MCS-JTW-7-12" />

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.<ref name="MCS-JTW-7-12" />

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.<ref name="MCS-JTW-7-12" />

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. <ref>{{Cite book/Ironhelm||prologue}}</ref> 

While he was in exile, most Mazticans turned to worship of his brother Zaltec and became ignorant of Qotal. <ref>{{Cite book/Ironhelm||prologue}}</ref>

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. <ref>{{Cite book/Ironhelm||1}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite book/Feathered Dragon||1}}</ref>

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. <ref>{{Cite book/Feathered Dragon||21}}</ref>

==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]].<ref name="MCS-GB-24" />

Gold and green were sacred colours to Qotal. <ref>{{Cite book/Ironhelm||1}}</ref> [[Lake Qotal]] on Nexal's west side, was devoted to Qotal. 


==Appendix==
===Appearances===
{{Appearances
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| novels              = [[Maztica trilogy]] <small>(''[[Ironhelm]]'';''[[Viperhand]]'';''[[Feathered Dragon]]'')</small>
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===References===
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===Connections===
{{Maztican pantheon}}

[[de:Qotal]]
[[Category:Lawful good deities]]
[[Category:Maztican pantheon]]
[[Category:Human deities]]
[[Category:Deities]]