(A post for the Lizard Lords of Zapotec Setting)
Cemanahuaca
Cemanahuaca is a long land running north and south, surrounded east, west, and beneath by the Sea of Red and Black and on the other side by the Sea of Stars. Nearly all of the Cemanahuactans once lived as nomads in the north before migrating away from that land of poverty and war to the fertile south, where they learned to farm and created great civilizations. The list of races below is arranged from first to come to the region to last.
Relations Between the Peoples
There has always been frequent contact between all of the Cemanahuactans. Trade, war, and marriage prove the membrane between peoples is permeable, although they all think of themselves as being clearly separate and distinct. Households of common folk are monogamous, but royal lines are expected to be polygamous if they can afford it, and marrying spouses is how a ruler demonstrates which allies they value. As a result, many of the elite can claim a mixed background or even clear lineages belonging to other peoples, and outside of the insular tribes who only adopted monarchy after the Battle of Pacha Miana this is universally socially accepted.
Bringing in the Anahuacan (Those of the Wider World)
For years after the Spanish invasion, the Spaniard were considered to be a totally separate from this system. But after the gods built the Hurricane Sky and the defection of the "Goodly Men" from Corzaro's band, it became clear Spaniards had an indefinite future in Cemanahuaca and most came to adopt local customs. Likewise, the integration of liberated dwarves, alienated from any one home culture, necessitated bringing them within the Cemanahuac system of peoples.
Languages
Languages: All characters start play speaking Nahuatl in the dialect of their people, and typically learn another based on their upbringing. Dialects of Nahuatl are mutually intelligible, but reveal the speaker’s origin.
-Spoken: Nahuatl (dialect), Spanish, Gnomish, Latin
-Written: Glyph (The Nahuatl pictorial language, traditional, suggestive), Spanish, Indigeno (Nahuatl written in Spanish characters), Quipu (knots), Latin, Greek,
-Other: Telepathy (slave language of the dwarves. Requires intense eye contact), Tracks, Reedish (communicate with plants, requires hours of labor in cultivation)
Manifest Heritage
Almost no one’s heritage is entirely of one race, even within the same family different genetic traits might crop up between siblings, a brother showing his Spanish grandfather’s height, a sister showing the metamorphic skin of her paternal grandmother, etc. The cultural heritage of a family determines what languages they learn, while their genetic heritage/lottery determines their physical traits. (Someday I would like to have settlements provide unique cultural heritages, but in the meantime this will do for communities where each people predominates)
Quipu:
Physical: Short, red mud-colored skin, large nose and ears. Race as class, must take at least the first template in the Quipu class.
Cultural: Begin play speaking the Gnomish dialect of Nahuatl, and Gnomish, and literate in Quipu.
A race in touch with the magic ways of the world. They were the first people to farm in this land, but as their civilization collapsed hundreds of years ago, different clans of Cemanahucans migrated in from the north to fill the vacuum. Just before the Spanish conquest, the Quipu sealed themselves away from the world in the Other Realm, hoping to skip doomsday and emerge when the world was made anew. Obviously, they are disappointed. Stricken with guilt that perhaps their absence is what doomed the natural cycle, most among them seek some way to produce a new doomsday.
--Cemanahuacan--
Physical: They alone may see through the hurricane sky, making them skilled at navigation and astrology. Uses the Stellar Combat birthing procedure.
Cultural: Begin play an additional language of their choice, most often Nahuatl in the dialect of a neighboring people or Tracks.
Cemanahuacans migrated to this land in semi-discrete kin-groups starting about 300 years ago, escaping from the tribal warfare and thirsty lands in the north. The Tonalli, Holomec, Zapotec, Tlexochtli, Shomexica, Chichimeca, and Manlinalli are all Cemanahuacans.
Tonalli:
Physical: Tall, strong of limb, fair of face, long flowing hair
Cultural: Begin play knowing the Tonalli dialect of Nahuatl and Reedish, which takes hours of labor to hear, and an additional language.
Tonalli were once proud voyagers and explorers, but when they met the Quipu in the wet south they recognized a good thing when they saw it and settled down. Allowed to settle on the edge of Quipu territory and tutored in agriculture in exchange for protecting their slighter neighbors from northern invaders. Now it is the fortresses they made that keep Corzaro at bay in the south.
Holomec:
Physical: These are humans, dark-skinned, about 5’4” on average
Cultural: Begin play knowing the Holomec dialect of Nahuatl, as well as an additional language.
Rumors of the great cities of the Quipu and the Side Tonalli brought the Holomec out of the wild north, and they imitated the great works of their more settled neighbors as well as they could. But the true strength of the Holomec lay in the spirit, and their multitude of priests spoke long with God and Gods. It was they who invented the names of Gods for mortals to speak more easily, they who were given the calendar, and they who stole the hearth fire from the Quipu king to make the first sacred bundle.
Zapotec:
Physical: Lizardfolk with stubby fingers and prehensile tails. Coloration ranging from dull blue to green to ashen. Thermalvision in darkness. Cold-blooded.
Cultural: Begin play knowing the Zapotec dialect of Nahuatl and an additional language. Gain lizardmanship as a skill.
Finding that many of the best lands were already taken by the time of their arrival, the Zapotec established strongholds amongst the cracked lands around the molten mountains that dot the terrain of Cemanahuaca. Possessing a great love of Grizzards, the Zapotec are well known for lizardry charges from unexpected directions before fading into the encroaching night.
Tlexochtli:
Physical: A folk made of chalky coal. Suffers no ill effects from extreme heat. Fire still consumes and deals damage, but causes no pain.
Cultural: Begin play knowing the Tlexochtli dialect of Nahuat and an additional language. Bravery is held as the primary virtue amongst the Tlexochtli, cowardice the greatest betrayal. Tlexochtli gain +4 to saves against fear and their soldiers gain 1 Morale.
Rebuffed in their attempts to enter Cemanahuaca's lovelier climes, the Tlexochtli brood on the edge of the desert and amongst the marginal lands. More tightly-knit, less prone to infighting than other Cemanahuacans, they help out all they recognize as their own people even if they are strangers.
Shomexica:
Physical: Fanged or tusked ranging in coloration from pumpkin orange to grey to green, the hairiest of the Cemanahuacans.
Cultural: Begin play knowing the Mexican dialect of Nahuatl and an additional language.
The Shomexica came to the south when it was already almost entirely settled by larger and more established groups. For generations they wandered, being granted permission to live within the lands of other people in exchange for being exploited by them. Eventually, while living amongst the lands of a cruel Holomec king, they rebelled against the indignities heaped upon them, destroyed the king, and claimed a homeland for their own. In the generations that followed they built a successful empire that became the center of political dominance in Cemanahuaca. Destroyed during the Spanish invasion and the breaking of the land that followed, many seek to take up the mantle of empire their forefathers were forced to abandon.
Chichimeca:
Physical: A dog-headed race, think oversized Chihuahua. Red-green color blind. Bite as a light weapon.
Cultural: Begin play knowing the Chichimec dialect of Nahuatl and an additional language. +1 to hit with a bow and arrow. The most recent Cemanahuacan immigrants to the area, the Chichimeca have no settlements and wander as nomads. For this reason they are revered by the sedentary peoples for their hardiness and puissance. The Chichimec revere the bow and all amongst them are trained in its use.
Spanish:
Physical: Tall, grey-skinned, large heads, hairless, dark eyes.
Cultural: Spaniards begin play speaking and literate in Spanish. Spaniards descend from the invasion force that crossed the Sea of Stars and landed at Montaña Española. Those that served Corzaro to the very last went with him to his blasted kingdom to the south, while those who rebelled when darkness took him, the “Goodly Men” have settled down in Cemanahuaca. Their founders were all avaricious men, but that impulse has been tempered by generations of cultural exchange.
Dwarf:
Physical: short, stocky, skin the strength and pigment of stone. DR 1 against slashing weapons.
Cultural: They have no common speech between them. Begins play speaking Nahuatl in the local dialect and with Telepathy. Brought to this land as a slave race by the Spaniards, thoroughly alienated from a homeland they were never permitted to speak of. Now free, but generations removed from any pre-slavery cultural identity, they do their best to find a home in the places they find.
Manlinalli:
Physical: seemingly sentient humanoid bundle of reeds. Immune to bludgeoning. Half damage from piercing. Double damage from fire. Cannot talk unless the wind is blowing, or some other air current.
Cultural: In the early Quipu knots they tell of men made of grass, but they had been absent from the world long enough to become legends until they reappeared after the breaking of the world. How or why they have returned none can say. Manlinalli speak the Manlinalli dialect of Nahuatl, Reedish and Sign Language.
Naspanic:
Physical: Naspanics are a mixture of the physical traits of all the races. If no one genetic heritage predominates, then that person is considered Naspanic.
Cultural: A common heritage in this age, but existing in no age before. You have no deep roots, but neither are you isolated. In addition to knowing Nahuatl in the local dialect, ou may gain a spoken or written language of your choice.
Sometimes romanticized as the new race of a new race-less reality, more often looked down on as a universal outsider, Naspanics are found in essentially every community.
The child takes after their…
If parents are of different races, there is a 3 in 6 chance their child will be Naspanic, manifesting some measure of both f their physical characteristics. Otherwise, Roll 2d6 and the physical characteristics of the child resembles this ancestor most strongly
2 The folk most numerous in the region of birth
3 Paternal grandfather
4 Paternal grandmother
5-6 Father
7 Oops, how’d that get there? Roll race randomly
8-9 Mother
10 Maternal grandmother
11 Maternal grandfather
12 Most highly ranked living ancestor
