The Sixth City: Ancient Tamoachan
by
Feanimus Cook
of Gradsul
552 CY
The story of the Amedio began long before the place I begin my story. We cannot tell how far back the history actually goes and to some extent we do not know how much is actually human history. Some may actually be from empires before humans ever entered the jungles. There are mysteries still not yet fully revealed.
The civilized world knew nothing academic of the deep south until 530 when Matreyus plunged his exploratory mission far into the angry Amedio. With stealth and diplomacy he worked his way through hundreds of Olman tribes hostile, curious, or friendly. What he discovered in the interior was totally unexpected. On his first expedition alone he found three large Olman cities, all abandoned except for various terrible horrors that made them home.
Since then, many have used Matreyus' maps to explore the ancient Amedian cities. Information has been collected over the years to give us a fairly good idea of Amedian history. About a thousand years before the Common Year many Olman peoples traveled from Hepmonaland to colonize the Amedio. By –800 CY they had established an empire with seven great cities dispersed through the jungle. In time, the empire became broken into seven sovereign states, each divided from the others by religion and culture. This weakened the Olman Empire for the Suel diaspora following the destruction of the Suel Imperium. Several cities fell to attacks by these invaders from over the mountains. When the Suel refugees settled into the jungle, there were still Olman cities, though deeply divided.
After another period of devastating warfare between the states followed by a ravenous plague, nearly all civilized Olman states were destroyed and swallowed by the jungle. Only two remained at nearly opposite ends of the Amedio: Xamaclan and Tamoachan. Tamoachan existed as a powerful city of the Olman gods for another 100 years before finally succumbing to internal strife. Here is the story of Tamoachan, "the home sought after," as we understand it.
Like all of the seven cities, Tamoachan did not have a human founder. Its location was decided by the gods and built by the people and ultimately ruled by the priests. They lived an agrarian lifestyle, farming plants, raising animals and fishing the sea. The city's proximity to the sea certainly aided it in surviving longer than most of its sister cities. Life was structured and slow for all but the warriors and priests.
When the cities began their struggles with each other, Tamoachan was rarely challenged. The warriors were primarily hunters, but on occasion they would have to defend the city from attacks by warriors from Elatalhuihle and Chetanicatla. The invasion of the Suel brought the first real threat to Tamoachan. When they attacked, they painted themselves black to hide the glare of their pale skin in the jungle shadows and we have recognized many black invaders on various walls in multiple Amedian cities. The Suel were successfully repulsed and they melted back into the jungle where their ancestors dwell today.
Despite their fortitude against all of these trials, eventually Tamoachan did fall. It is fortunate that it is this period that is best told in the folk tales passed down by the Olman shamans. The land suffered a period of strange weather for two years. It is not described but it was probably severe floods that washed away fertile soil and planted crops and various dry spells that would also prevent growth of their crops. Almost all wild animals in the area, by now, had been hunted to extinction. In the second year of the unfortunate weather a red tide flowed in and killed all of their sea harvest. The people became infected too. The city, swollen with its population, was starving to death and they looked to their priests to save them.
The priest of Kukulkan told the people that their evil was slaying them. The gods punished them for their transgressions and the only way to secure their lives was to mend their evil ways. The priest of Huitzipochtli said that they had become slothful and would no longer be pampered by the bountiful land. If they wanted to live they must fight and take food from other peoples. War was salvation.
Tloques Popolocas, the priest of Camazotz, god of bats and night, was a practical man. Though he respected Kukulkan, he knew the god was fickle and if this famine was by his fangs, then penitence still may not save them. But then also, if they had not angered Kukulkan then any efforts at appeasing him would also fail. He could see the value of warring with their neighbors and taking their food, but their neighbors were small tribes and the spoils of war could not support the great city of Tamoachan. Camazotz's solution was the most reasonable of all.
Kukulkan, as far as we can tell, is the Olman deity of law and justice and the good. His incarnation is as a winged, feathered serpent. From what we can tell, his worship generally took a secondary role in most cities, except notably Xamaclan, which is still thriving today. Priests of Kukulkan would always make an appearance to give guidance to a people in times of trouble, but their advice would be "work harder," "enforce the good law," "have faith and bear adversity with a stout heart," but nothing really sound and identifiable. Other gods would give direct instructions to solve their problems often with immediate results. It is easy to see why the priests of Kukulkan were considered powerless. There are some stories of Kukulkan coming as a punisher of a people or another god and in such cases the crime would be obvious. Then there were times when the faithful would suffer for no reason and the people would plead for understanding of their transgressions with no answer forthcoming. Nevertheless, Xamaclan is a testimonial to the power of Kukulkan as the spirits of six shattered cities rage with shame.
Huitzipochtli is the Olman god of war. To the Olmans and the Amedian Suel warfare and slaughter are the answers to nine out of ten difficulties. If there is a problem, kill it or kill that which is related to it. Devotions are made with extreme regularity by the Amedians to the god of war. Unfortunately, his popularity is damaged by his necessity and overwhelming presence. It is never stated this way, but the people could not value his worship except just to stay in his influence for their protection, but since the attackers most likely made devotions to Huitzipochtli too his favor was up for grabs. So the Olmans had to make sacrifices to stay alive, but the sacrifices guaranteed nothing. In addition, his worship was often a series of painful tests of discipline culminating in war. Huitzipochtli was loved to his face and hated in the peoples' hearts.
The difference between these two and Camazotz or Tezcatlipoca or Tlaloc or any other deities of lesser influence was that, though they actually were not as potent, results were immediate, and so these gods seemed more powerful. Kukulkan, by his nature, could not and Huitzipochtli certainly need not curry favor with the peoples, so when Tloques Popolocas entreated the people to serve his deity to solve their famine, Camazotz heard and was waiting to bring forth his power.
After the priest of Kukulkan and Huitzipochtli spoke, Tloques Popolocas, from atop Camazotz's temple, spoke out to the throng below. Before him stood a young woman whose shoulder he gripped firmly. He shouted out, "These two talk and talk, but their words do not bring salvation and their promises are empty. Their powers require our work to bring an end to this famine. Camazotz has come to me and shown the others' weak minds to me for he has shown that all around us is our food growing ripe and full like fruit on a tenuous vine. All we must do is pick it!" And with that he hacked at the woman's throat with a large sharpened clamshell until blood poured freely. He filled the shell and drank from it thrice and then hurled the girl's body from the top of the temple. He shouted out, "Here is your food! Eat! Eat!"
The priests of Tezcatlipoca, god of the sun, in their jaguar skins howled their agreement and grabbed a man and viciously slashed him open spreading his entrails out across the base of the pyramid. The priests of Tlaloc, god of rain, cut an unborn child from its mother and threw it upon a fire to cook. Blood filled the streets as the people fed upon the flesh of their kindred with madness and frenzy. The people and the majority of priests chose Tloques Popolocas' solution and he could feel the power from Camazotz growing within him for his victory.
The priests of Kukulkan and Huitzipochtli shouted with anger at the abominations before them, but the priests of Kukulkan were offended by the chaos and butchery and the priests of Huitzipochtli were upset merely because these actions were not conducted as the spoils of war. These two faiths bickered over their disagreements allowing the atrocity to reach unstoppable momentum. Eventually, the priests gathered their strength and summoned their gods. They arrived enraged by the rapid savage decline of Tamoachan and began to punish the people. Tloques Popolocas then unleashed his fury.
He brought forth Tezcatlipoca, the sun god, Kalka Kylla, the guardian, Tecuziztecatl, The Lord of Snails, Xochipilli, goddess of vice and discord, Hurakan, god of the flood, Nanahuatcin, The Pimply One, Tlaloc, god of rain, Xipe, Our Lord of the Flayed Skins, Xilonen, goddess of corn, Coatlicu, god of death, Tlazoteotl, mother goddess of the earth, and the child of Chitza-Atlan and they all arrived to battle the other two gods. Earthquakes shook the earth and tore the city apart. Fire of wrath fell from the sky and a many-eyed god rose over the horizon and made buildings and people crumble to dust when its gaze came upon them. The battle for Tamoachan raged for the entire day with many gods being trapped and enslaved, including Kukulkan, in Camazotz's temple and Huitzipochtli flying away before being taken.
When Tloques Popolocas looked down upon the blazing ruins of the once great Tamoachan, he laughed at the twisted irony. He saw the few people below struggling to escape. Those he saved for they were strong and would be the People of Zotz. All others were clearly unsuitable to serve him. Tloques Popolocas became the high priest of Tamoachan and Camazotz was the patron deity. The temple of Camazotz was the only building standing in Tamoachan now. The People of Zotz made it a glorious shrine containing many wonders and treasures and they made it the palace of their mighty priest.
We think that the People of Zotz served Tloques Popolocas for about fifty years before Camazotz called for his great priest. The people without their spiritual leader disappeared into the jungle, and Tamoachan too was swallowed by the great green.
There are some interesting coincidences that a historian has the ability to pull into a folk tale to realize some other interesting possibilities. The wars with the Baklunish, an increasingly despotic Suel government or even just imperialistic exploration or colonization caused the Suel immigration from their homelands before the actual Rain of Colorless Fire. Those of Suel bloodlines already inhabited the Amedio well before the major diaspora. Crossing the Hellfurnaces has never been an easy task, so usually it was a one-way trip for anyone who survived the journey, though I have recently learned that there may be some rapid transport devices far to the south that may have enhanced cultural exchange there. But near Tamoachan the unfortunate Suel pioneers found the Amedio to be deleterious to their civilized natures and they began to assume more savage cultures and adopted Olman religion and language. They also began interbreeding. What am I suggesting?
The name "Tamoachan" does not seem to be the original name of the city. Despite its early foundation we cannot find reference to it by that name. Other cities etchings call it Tocomanoc or "home by the jaguar." "The home sought after" is the name used by a people who have no home, namely the Suel. Those schooled in ancient Olman would know that Tloques Popolocas means "Master of the Outsiders." He may have been the leader of the Suel people who were invited to settle there. So Tamoachan became a Suel city. What of the Olmans?
In Xamaclan they keep an amazing amount of records, an effect I suspect caused by interaction with the Suel Imperium, that date back quite far. About the time of the destruction of Tamoachan or just before, Xamaclan traders make note that the Olman king of the city, Tlacaelel, and his personal guard led by the hero Ayocuan, had both disappeared. There was no mention of how. There was just a short statement that trade with Tamoachan was no longer desirable. It appears that the established ruling figures had been ousted and a Suel priest set as king.
The most fantastic coincidence that I find is the rough dates of both the destruction of Tamoachan and The Rain of Colorless Fire that turned the Suel Imperium into a wasteland now known as the Sea of Dust. Something happened. The Suel of Tamoachan witnessed the Cataclysm in the west as volcanoes erupted and the fire fell and they took it as a sign to take the city. Or fleeing Suel found Tamoachan and settled there, possibly overpopulating the city or simply seizing power through superior numbers. The Cataclysm almost assuredly changed the weather in neighboring lands, which would explain the "unhealthy" weather and famine the city experienced, but I think that there is more to the story that is being confused in time or in the telling. The extreme nature of the fall of Tamoachan suggests dramatic unexplained events colored by savage retellings in the trappings of gods. Or maybe the story is just a fraud told and perpetuated by a sinister priest-king. We cannot tell until the city is found.
Nobody knows where Tamoachan is. We know it was coastal, but there are huge gaps in explored territory because many of the natives are hostile, possibly even the People of Zotz protecting their shrine and sacred ground. I am preparing an expedition to find ancient Tamoachan and feel confident of success where others have failed. Some associates of mine have tracked down and acquired the notes and letters of Ledank the Lizard of the ill-fated mission of Duke Luschan. Ledank's divinations seemed to be effective and suggested the most reasonable possibilities of all of the expeditions searching for Tamoachan. I am sure within the shrine there are the historic pieces to the final puzzle of the Amedian people. Let Istus smile upon me.
The story of Tamoachan is almost not remarkable. Reading stories on countless tomb walls and told by numerous shamans, we see this scenario played out many times in various ways. In each case these events with priests and gods seem like simple retellings of the events as they occurred. The storytellers do not come away with any understanding. Because of the totally apocalyptic nature of the story of Tamoachan's destruction, we get a sense that it is a symbolic story that the Olman people, after the decimation of their empire and six major cities, have learned something about their gods and therefore themselves. Tempting though it may be, easy solutions are lies, there are reasons why lesser gods are lesser gods and success in the harsh Amedio is best accomplished with personal fortitude and faith despite hardships. Tamoachan, whether victim of a political coup or not, was a cultural turning point for the Amedians.
Though the current savage state of the Amedian tribes seems like a reversal—i.e., from cities to cane villages—of civilization, I believe it was a necessary step back to go forward further and more confidently. The people now have more control of their gods—they keep them in their places—and they struggle through their lives with faith and determination. Somehow Xamaclan survived its tests and chose the path of hard work and acceptance of tragedy. They pushed passed their fear of being in disfavor with their god; the child grew up and learned to deal with the world without the parent. They have been granted a wonderful city of art and culture and have become a people with strong, beautiful natures and such a sense of life their spirits cannot be crushed. I predict, in time, such will be the case with all Olman peoples in the Amedio.
Unfortunately, knowing the potential of the Amedians is so tragic given their current hunted state. Our neighbors to the south have found a quite profitable commodity in the trade of human lives. I find the business to be deplorable but it is the will of Istus. Istus also has willed that Keoland has taken no firm position on the issue, though Tavish hates it, he takes every opportunity to advise Prince Tarrick of other labor options. Tarrick is not unwise and sees the wickedness of the practice infecting his confederates, but he is also aware that the blood and sweat of so many Olman people is keeping the nation alive. Slavery is a necessary evil for the time being. The Yeomanry does not accept this necessity and has issued a proclamation to Tarrick that they oppose the indignity to human life and as long as slavery remains in the Hold, the governing bodies of the two nations are on "unfriendly" terms. Tarrick does not care.
I know for a fact that Istus also does not care. It is her glorious nature. But for her weak willed human servant the situation cannot be disregarded. Though I blaspheme in my sadness, I revel in my own nature and that too is the will of Istus.
~*~