[Clan Ixtzûl] Backstory

[Althea_ 331]

Ixtzûl Clan Backstory 

 

The Story of the Ixtzûl Orcs started following the Great Civil War of Orc-Kind in Aegis. Descending from Clan Dom, the Orcs that’d form Clan Ixtzûl were utterly disgusted by the invention  and practice of Dark Shamanism among their close brethren, defecting from their original Clan as the War progressed, leading them to repent in the deserts, beneath the burning Sun and the Stars. 

 

In their solitude beneath the skies, they begun to better comprehend the constellations, using and expanding upon the Ilzpaak, figuring they could not only be used as maps, but also believing they were a message of the Spirits beyond - more specifically, of Aztran, Spirit of the Sun, Stars & the Ethereal.

 

It was so they decided to commune with Aztran through a Spirit Walk into the Greater Spirit’s Realm, and by him they were offered a chance to clear themselves from the Darkness that embroiled their Clan, and once more bask beneath the Light - his Light. They were to recognize Aztran’s Position in the Cosmology and Hierarchy of Spirits, worshiping him higher than any other Spirit, and they were to put down any of his enemies - the Darkness - of the Mortal World. 

 

In exchange, as all of the descendents crossed onto the plane of Eos, instead of accompanying the rest of the Orcs to Asulon, they were guided by the stars under sails directly onto their promised land - Almaris - before the rest of the other Descendents. The exact route they took, where they stopped along the way, and the date of their arrival unrecorded (left purposefully vague).

 

Upon reaching the shores of New-Continent, these Orcs banded together to venture into its untamed Jungles, ridding it of its threats, enjoying its riches, discovering some of the mysteries of the continent, hiding in the jungles from menaces too great (only rising to take them down should they become a direct threat upon their lands), and slowly developing their own culture and identity, straying further away from the Orcs of Krugmar. They’d soon come together not as a mere clan, but as a small Tlatocayotl (their word for “Kingdom”) - Tonatiuh Tlalocayotl (“Kingdom of the Sun”), in clear homage to Aztran.

 

They would raise great pyramids and temples in homage to important Spirits, hunt across the continent in pursuit of sacrifices to them, conquer lesser native inhabitants and small patches of civilization (some being even incorporated as honoraries) and boast great precious stones, jewels and gold in mass. 

 

Yet for as Great as it was, it would unfortunately not last forever: roughly a bit over a century before the main body of descendents’ arrival to Almaris, others supposedly hailing from Aeldin would sail over, seeking new lands to claim and fortunes to amass. 

 

They’d hear from some other natives, and especially from Whitewashes (Exiles) of Tonatiuh Tlalocayotl, about the Orcish Kingdom’s Riches, being motivated to investigate and posteriorly try to take over their lands and goods. 

 

At first dialogue was attempted, with the exchange of goods and favors, alongside information about the two cultures/peoples; the Aeldenic Humans, claiming to be from the Horosid Imperium (the veracity of it all being up to debate), tried to convert some Tonatiuh Orcs into the “One True Faith”, whilst some Humans instead came as far as to become Honoraries. 

 

In truth, it was moreless a mutual attempt to better understand the enemy - the threat or the obstacle - with the Humans justifying Genocide of the Tonatiuh Orcs by demonizing them for their bloody sacrifices and anthropophagic practices, disregarding the cultural reasoning behind it and the actually tranquil day-to-day lifestyle of those Orcs.

 

After a decade of Warring, despite being greatly outnumbered and far less technologically advanced (incapable of metalworking), the Tonatiuh Orcs managed to defeat and slay all Colonizer Forces, having been led by a Great Orcish Commander called Ixtzûl, Tonatiuh’Tlapepentli (The Chosen of the Sun), an Orc Warrior and Shaman chosen by Aztran to lead them to victory during this crisis. Many ambush and guerrilla tactics were employed throughout the conflict, utilizing great strategy and stealth, and geographical knowledge to give the Orcs the edge in battle.

 

(A depiction of Ixtzûl Tonatiuh’Tlapepentli)

 

Unfortunately, Ixtzûl himself was slain, it being said he ventured into the last encampment of the Aeldinic Forces alone at night, starting a fire and slaying every single remaining one of them, to cleanse his lands of their presence. It was then at the beach, during Sun-Rise, that Ixtzûl would fall down into the sands, wounded and exhausted, having used all of his will, lifeforce and shamanic might to defeat his enemies, perishing afterwards the job was done. His body being offered to his direct family, his soulless flesh devoured by them, in hopes his strength imparted onto them. 

 

While the Tonatiuh Orcs’ efforts were not in vain (for had they failed, all of them would’ve been genocided), the War left their Kingdom in Ruins - some of which could be seen scattered around, and claimed by, the Jungles - while much of the Kingdom’s Knowledge was lost. 

 

With all their Leaders gone to the Ancestral Realm, the Tonatiuh Orcs too ended up being scattered across the woods, into Small Family Tribes, spawning different subcultures, losing contact with each other even, as the jungle buried their past and their old roads were covered in moss and dirt. These Tribes lived in solitude, hidden in the depths of the jungle, avoiding and ever distrusting the descendents that came to conquer the Continent as a whole, in special the Canonist Humans, for they reminded the Orcs of the Aeldinian Invaders and their ‘One True Faith’ religion.

 

Only recently did things change, as the Loss of Almaris became more and more prominent, leading to the need of these Ancient Almarisi Orcs to sail to find new lands. The Tonatiuh Orcs thus began to regroup into a Clan named after their ancestor: Clan Ixtzûl.

 

Such ended up attracting the attention of certain past Rex of The Iron Horde, Ar-Borok’Akaal; who would, amidst his investigations, end up being captured by the Tonatiuh Orcs, taken to learn of their ways, being defeated by and having a ‘cub’ with a direct descendent of the Legendary Orc-Warrior Ixtzûl - his grand-daughter, Itzpapalotl’Ixtzûl. 

 

All of this ended up being nothing more than a Plan of the Ixtzûl, for it was prophesied by many Tribes' Stargazers that this union would bring onto the world an Orc who’d guide them back to meet again with their Ancient Orcish Brothers & Sister of Aegis, unifying again under one banner, and allowing the Glory of the Tonatiuh to be reborn in a new golden age: that orc being Xiuhcihuapilli’Ixtzûl - the “Turquoise Princess of the Ixtzûl” - also known as ‘Kuvirr’ (as named by Ar-Borok of the Horde).