Editing Arcane Background (section)

====Aztec Shaman====
One of the many ways in which the West is Weird is that the Aztecs have survived in hidden valleys in South America. And whilst most of them want a murderous revenge on the White Man, not all of them think the paleskins need to be obliterated. As such, "South o' the Border" includes rules for playing Aztec Indians, including their own take on Shamans.

Insted of having animal totems or guardian spirits, Aztec priests worship a specific god. PC Aztec priests should come from the faiths that don't practice human sacrifice; Quetzalcoatl (the god of learning, culture, wisdom and wind), Tlazolteotl (the goddess of earth, sin and cleansing), Heuheucoyotl (a trickster god), Ometecuhtli (a creator god), Patecatl (the god of medicine and healing), Xoxchipilli (the god of pleasure, games and frivolity) and Xochiquetal (the goddess of flowers & craftsmen). 

Aztec priests can't use the Animal Spirit, Sacrifice, Spirit Song, Sweat Lodge or Tattoo Rituals to gain Appeasement Points - these aren't part of the Aztec faith, so they mean nothing to the gods they worship.

Fasting Aztec priests also forego bathing whilst they undertake this Ritual; the stink gives them a -2 penalty to Persusasion rolls against non-Aztecs.

Aztec priests regularly offer blood to the deities - it's the cornerstone of their faith, after all. But this doesn't work the same as the normal Maiming ritual. Instead, this is replaced with Ritual: Bloodletting. Bloodletting functions like Maiming, but inflicts a Light Wond, Heavy Wound or Serious Wound instead of causing permanent damage. The greater the wound, the easier it is to earn their god's attention and the more Appeasement points they earn. That said, they must forgo magical healing of their wound for Bloodletting to actually count.

Aztec priests can also only use the Painting Ritual to create permanent paintings (murals or codices) rather than temporary ones; sand painting is a tradition of the North American Indian tribes.

These mechanical traits add up to sufficient differences that, whilst gaining Appeasement and invoking Favors functions the same for Aztec Priests as it does for Indian Shamans, "Aztec Priest/Aztec Shaman" is treated as a unique Arcane Background.

It should go without saying, but trying to play a non-ethnic Aztec Priest should be even more firmly discouraged than doing it for a non-ethnic Shaman. It's not technically impossible, but many Marshals may have issues believing the background of such characters.