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Re: (TFT) Indians, Magic



From: "Cas and Lisa (also Silvia, Max & Viveka) Liber"

Next thing is shamans I guess.

Cas,
  You're a mind reader.

  David Michael Grouchy II


    Magic in ancient Central America

Calender stone & the wheel
The Native American Indians have been acused of being technologically primitive. The main traditional evidence of this is the lack of a wheel, or any of its western developements, like chariots and water wheels. I submit that the Indians, and in particular the Central American Nahua (also called the Aztecs) did know of the wheel. In fact the had a profound reverence for it. Due to their world view, they choose to develope it along spiritual lines instead of mechanical. In easter traditions the foot is considered the lowest part of the body (more on the easter - Native Indian conection later.) In fact it is considered rude and insulting to point ones foot at some one. This can be taken to extreams. Before the members of my Air Craft Carrier were allowed port side in Thiland we were breifed that "to step on a stray coin may get you killed by a mob. The currency has a picture of the royal family on it." In the eastern tradition this is a grevious insult. Of course the Indians knew of the wheel. They just used it as a model of the heavens, and considered it to be a symbol of the divine. The sacred circle, the sacred calender round, and they sacred cycle are common themes in indian culture. They would neve have put the wheel under their feet. And they would never have dared to ride on one. Instead they used them as a symbol of their submission to the gods. In the most famous of the calender stones found the central carving was a face with a toung. The toung stuck up and was made of flint. The hearts of sacrafice victims were placed on this flint toung. Thus they made offering too, and fed, the gods. In magical terms the calender stones are the same as a ST Battery. These ST Batteries/calender stones are charged by blood offerings. Instead of getting 1 point for every 5 points of fatigue, they get the victims entire ST. As these calenders are charged with countless sacrafices (according to Bernal Dias, thousands in a day on high holy days.) This power is used by the preists to summon gods. In TFT terms these gods corespond to elementals; wind, rain, earth, and fire (volcano). The priests could summon huge rains for the growing season. Huricanes, Massive pyramids of earth elementals, and even volcanos. An interesting side note. When Cortez landed, Moctezuma had two calenders sent to him. They were about 1 1/2m diameter and one was pure silver, the other pure gold. The Spaniards immediately melted them down and recast them into bars. The Nahua were stunned at what to be a gross waist of power.

Idols
Human hearts may be fed to idols also. These Idols may be charged with power in the same way as calender stones. At the top of one pyramid Cortez was shown the god of war. Before the idol was a large stone bowl full of human hearts. Many of the outlaying, illiterate, tribes will have their own idols. They do not contain the same astronomical information as the calender stones, so they are not as good at predicting celestial events. They are typicaly carved with accurate autopsy information. Many have correct showings of the locations of ribs, bones, organs, and other peices of human anatomy carved on them.

Human Sacrifice
All members of the culture who witnesses a human sacrifice get the victims DX in experience points. This causes huge gatherings of all classes of society. Even slaves benifit from this display. The sacrifice of nine or so victims can give enough experience to every witness for each 32 point character to get a full character point. Fighting to the death is frowned apon. It is considered waistfull. Bringing in captives for ritual sacrifice results in status and favor. Some notes about human sacrifice. Each victim is considered to go straight to heaven. This was sometimes a great honor. Occasionally famous ball players would choose this as their form of retirement. Also, women are NEVER sacrificed. In Nahua culture the only way a woman could go to heaven was to die in childbirth. They pretty much had to wait until they were reincarnated as a man.

Capture of Prisoners
Get prisoners' IQ in experience. To get this experience one must transport the prisoner back to the sacred center, or pyramid, and turn them over to the preists. If the prisoner escapes then loose five experience. A person who loses a prisoner will be ridiculed back in the comunity.

Renewing the Calender stone after 52 years
The Nahua celestial calender ran on a 52 year cycle. When this cycle runs out, all stored energy in the calender stone is taken by the gods. The stone must be recharged, and the cycle starts over. This is a particularly unique ceremony. It is done at night, very rare for the indians, and it only has one victim. All fires, torches, and lights are extinguished in the entire capital of Aztlan. The victim is taken up on a sacred hill and the entire peoples follow with un-lit torches. A small fire is started. The victim is sacrificed by the holy five preists. One with the obsidian knife, and one to hold each limb. The still beating heart is then fed to the fire. Once consecrated a torch is lit off the fire. All other torches are lit from that one. The fire is passed from torch to torch and then brought down to the city where all fires and lights are lit. Thus the comunity is ensured to survive for another 52 years. To enjoy unity, and to be part of the same sacred light. Also the victim is remembered with the highest honor; being and individual who brought light and life to the entire comunity. This makes him almost equal to the gods.

The foaming chocolate drink in a golden cup
Moctezuma was the only one who could drink this sacred beverage. It was ritually prepaired and served in a solid gold cup. It is sort of like hot chocolate without the milk. Very, very bitter. Also a very strong stimulant. It is the Nahua version of the IQ+ potion, though it doesn't use human brains as a component. Just chocolate. In one of his meetings with Cortez, Moctezuma is reported to have ordered an excessive number of these drinks.

The quetzal feather
The long green tail feathers of the quetzal bird are the symbol of nobility. Nahua poems frequently refer to children in this way "you are my feather, my beloved." The quetzal feather had huge symbolic importance. To the illiterate masses the feather would have been equal to a Word Of Command enchantment. Obey being the most common, but all the other words would have been present. An interesting fact that is often glazed over by historians is what Cortez was wearing the night he left Cuba. A long red robe lined with gold rings along the hem. The rings could be removed individualy to make payments or bribes. He also had a quetzal feather head-dress. He knew exactly the kind of people he was going to subjigate and decied that he had better look the part of a big cheif. He probably had no idea how much respect the feathers got him though.

Distinctly Chinese influences
Chinese stone anchors have been found in the waters of the pacific coast of Central America. They date to the time of China's Shang Dynasty. Some similarities in writing have also been found. This dates to the time of the Olmec culture in Central America. Long before the Nahua. Interestingly, when the Maya and Nahua were asked about the Olmec ruins of Teotihuacan they said that they didn't know where the builders had come from. This view has gotten me a lot of arguments in the past, so here is a link to some tenative supporting evidence.
    http://abcnews.go.com/ABC2000/abc2000science/newworld991019.html

Magical devices to help in gaining experience
Once a character advances far enough it gets very expensive to gain another attribute point. To aid in this difficulty, so-called cursed items are used. An Item that reduces a persons IQ-5 will drop them to a lower experince point category. A device that reduces all three attributes by 5 will drop them three experience categories. Because of this nothing is considered cursed in Nahua culture. It is just said that "one must be very powerfull to use it."


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