Quizqueya

Quizqueya is a large and remote island on the northern edge of the Southwestern Region. It is the home of the Cuāhcoāmeh people, who have lived there since humans first arrived in the Great Ring. Some people believe that Quizqueya was the island historians know as Bhati, seat of the ancient Nakaal empire of Muria. There are certainly many ruins that predate the coming of the Cuāhcoāmeh, but nothing which can confirm or refute this theory.

The island is governed by the Tecpāntin, a hereditary priesthood tied to the Teteoh, the gods and spirits of Quizqueya. They have ruled the island and its people for centuries, gradually replacing the chieftains and monarchs who came before them with members of their own order. They achieved this with remarkably little open warfare, though not without bloodshed. Many rituals of the Teteoh require blood offerings, usually but not always from animals. When a human sacrifice is called for, it often demands an unsullied person of noble lineage, and when possible the Tecpāntin insist on the heirs of local rulers, threatening dire spiritual consequences if the proper offerings are not made. In the early years of their rise, their curse was laid upon several nations, bringing about plagues and famines and more than one uprising among the afflicted. In modern times it is seldom necessary to enforce such threats, and those who hope to defy the Tecpāntin wait until their children are married and parents, conditions that render them unfit to serve as unsullied sacrifices to the Teteoh.

The largest settlement on Quizqueya is Ozamaqua, on the southern coast where the river Yollōtlāpan meets the sea. It is a port, though it primarily serves fishing boats and local vessels bound for the islands off Quizqueya's coast. The island lies far from the usual routes traveled by merchants of the Great Ring, and the Tecpāntin do not encourage foreign trade. While not forbidden, merchants receive little welcome, and those from the Cuāhcoāmeh are best advised to strike only a few bargains and avoid inviting a return visit.

Notable Spirits

The Teteoh are a large pantheon, with dozens of gods devoted to the island's various landmarks and regions. Shrines to the Opiyomeh, the ancestral host, can be found throughout the land - a nearly infinite collection of ancestral spirits who help and hinder the living as is their wont. Fresh fruit is often laid upon their altars to keep them from becoming troublesome. Above the Opiyomeh are the greater gods of the Teteoh, including Yukayotecuhtli, the lord of the mountains and patron of kings, whose favor must be sought by all who aspire to rule, and Cemíyohua, the water mother who embraces the island itself. The rivers are said to spring from her as milk does from a nursing mother, and she cradles the island of Quizqueya to her breast.