Qotal

Qotal
Alignment	Lawful Good
Divine Rank	Greater God
Pantheon	Maztican
Portfolio	Creation, freedom, pluma magic
Domains	Major: Creation, Healing, Pluma, Protection Minor: Animal, Astral, Divination, Plant
Home Plane	Tlazcautli, Home of Eagles (Celestia)
Worshippers	Mazticans

"The couatl will come to let them know the way,
My feathered snake of wisdom and might;
My chosen daughter shall greet me on the shore,
Know her; she wears the Cloak of One Plume;
And the Ice of Summer, frozen under heat and fire,
Will prepare the path to my door."

– Qotal's prophecy, before he left Maztica

Qotal, the Feathered Dragon, and the Plumed One, is the Maztican god of creation, pluma magic, and freedom. He's effectively not!Quetzalcoatl.

Lore

Qotal was the firstborn of Kukul and Maztica, who gave humanity the gift of speech and desire to learn after their creation. As time passed, he became jealous of how much they worshipped his mother, and gave humans maize, leading to them favoring him the most.

This didn't sit well with Zaltec, who gave his followers hishna magic, and caused great and terrible wars all over the land. Qotal tried to create something to match hishna, but could only watch as wars raged. His mother then came to him, seeing his distress, and gave him pluma magic, which he taught to his followers, causing the wars to grind to a halt. Zaltec, furious of what his brother and mother had done, grabbed his maca and cut Maztica down. War began among the gods, with Kiltzi, Watil, and Nula taking Qotal's side. The gods of both sides commanded that a great pyramid be built for this war, and atop it, each god performed a sacrifice to show their courage, with Qotal sacrificing after Zaltec, with step cleaning the blood spilled from his sacrifice. He released 13 butterflies from a cage, with each one causing life to spring forth and colors spread across the land. The gods then did battle, with each other, with Qotal casting Zaltec down the pyramids steps and exiling him.

For a time, Qotal ruled over the lands, but became jealous of the joy and the pleasure of love humans experiences, and so sought Kiltzi to take her as his wife. Kiltzi struggled against him, but couldn't stop him. After having his way, he fell into a deep slumber for a decade. During this time, Zaltec consolidated his power, as Qotal didn't grant his clerics spells. After waking up, he saw what the world had become, and remembered what he had done and wept in shame. He tried to lash out and take back his gift of speech, but was too weak to do this, only the most learned of his clerics followed his command, vowing to remain silent until he was the ruler again. In gratitude, he left them a prophecy of return, and took a canoe to the east, leaving his land for a time.

It wasn't until the Night of Wailing, in 1362 DR, when Qotal returned, and froze the waters of Lake Qotal, allowing people to escape from the crumbling lands of Nexal, fulfilling the prophecy he had given before leaving. Further proof was life springing forth from the desert they escaped to and him manifesting to battle an avatar of Zaltec in Ulatos.

Appearance

Qotal appears as a huge golden dragon, with feathers instead of scales. Around his neck, the feathers form a multicolored mane.

Worshippers

After his return, Qotal is once again worshipped widely in Maztica, with many people having missed him during his absence. No animals are sacrificed to him, with rituals being mainly freeing small creatures, mainly birds and butteflies.