Coatlicue

• The Rift
• Night of the Lunar Eclipse
• The Return · Loyalty 13

Coatlicue is the great mother of earth and death. Her serpent skirt flows like molten lava, and her necklace is strung with human hearts and bleached bones. One day, a cluster of radiant feathers fell from the heavens. She gathered them to her breast, and they quietly melted into her blood. Thus, she conceived Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun and war. The news thundered through the heavens. Her daughter, the moon goddess Coyolxauhqui, burned with shame and rage. Her four hundred star brothers also raised their weapons against their mother, determined to wash away the disgrace in blood before the child was born. Just as their blades fell, Huitzilopochtli burst from the womb fully armed, wielding a blazing fire-serpent spear. He scattered the four hundred stars like smoke, dismembered the moon goddess who led them, and cast her head into the night sky. From then on, the moon hung there forever, its pale light carrying endless regret for that failed attempt at matricide. Coatlicue stood silently at the heart of the battlefield. Her body is both the cradle of all life and the abyss that swallows the dead. Every sunrise marks her divine son's triumph. Every moonrise carries her daughter's undying resentment. She speaks no word, resting beneath the mountains as her serpent skirt softly rustles. She awaits a noble and brave Monarch who can help her end this ancient feud of blood and kin.