Other pantheons question the “savage” methods of the Teōtl. The Teōtl question their dedication. Blood is the elixir that feeds the Gods, and the Gods preserve the universe. Who are outsiders to question their methods when they stand between humanity and eternal darkness? To comprehend the Teōtl, one must understand the nature of sacrifice. Sacrifice unto them, and they will sacrifice unto you. Are you strong enough? Are you brave enough? Are you prepared to pay the price?
Born of the Primordials Tonacacihuatl and Tonacatecuhtli, the four sons of heaven, the “Tezcatlipocas,” begot many other Gods and were tasked with populating the universe. Taking up their task with vigor, the Tezcatlipocas’ attempts were thwarted when the fearsome crocodilian monster Cipactli consumed all they wrought. The Black Tezcatlipoca plunged his foot into the void to distract Cipactli, who quickly devoured it, only to be set upon by the other Tezcatlipocas in all their fury. The brothers tore Cipactli asunder to create the universe. Cipactli’s head became the heavens, its tail the Underworld, and its body the World.
With Cipactli vanquished, five worlds were created — and then destroyed, along with all their peoples. Each had a sun whose light was extinguished. First it was Tezcatlipoca, the Jaguar Sun, who took up the responsibility of lighting the World by jumping into the sacrificial fire, but his dark nature or Cipactli’s wounds weakened him, and he burned but dimly. Quetzalcoatl knocked him from the sky and took his place. Furious, Tezcatlipoca had his jaguars consume the race of giants that peopled the World.
During Quetzalcoatl’s reign, the reign of the Wind Sun, the new people became lax and descended into decadence. Tezcatlipoca changed the worst of them into monkeys, and Quetzalcoatl swept humanity from the land in a fearsome hurricane. Defeated, he vacated his place as sun and abandoned the few surviving monkeys to eternal darkness.
Tlaloc, the Rain Sun, was next to take up the burden. He shone brightly over a loving humanity until Tezcatlipoca stole his beloved wife Xochiquetzal. In his grief, Tlaloc failed to send rain, plunging the World into drought. Humanity begged him for succor, but their pleas exceeded his mercy, and Tlaloc sent a fiery rain to burn them to ash.
From the ashes, the World was rebuilt, and Tlaloc was quickly replaced by his wife Chalchihuitlicue, the Water Sun. Jealous of her kind treatment of humanity and the veneration she received, Tezcatlipoca called Chalchihuitlicue’s sincerity into question, forcing her to cry so vigorously, she drowned the World in a flood of tears.
Quetzalcoatl then descended to Mictlan to retrieve humanity’s bones from prior ages. He sprinkled them with his blood, creating the humans of today. The humblest of the Gods, Nanahuatzin, sacrificed himself to become the Fifth Sun, but required the hearts blood of all the Teōtl to set him into motion. As the Teōtl’s blood burned and steamed skyward, the Earthquake sun was born. This is the final sun, for there will not be a sixth. Should the Teōtl fail, earthquakes will rend the world as celestial horrors consume humanity, but the Gods know their duty. There is nothing they won’t sacrifice for humanity, and they expect nothing less in return.