IXIPTLA III Battle in Qusqu

I've spent some hours working on this art, that depicts an important chapter from my current story project (called IXIPTLA - from the nahuatl "impersonator"). I hope you like it!

CUETZPALIN / LIZARDS

    In the story/mythos of IXIPTLA, the Cuetzpalin are a race of reptile humanoid beings native from the realm of AZTLÁN that also coexisted, centuries ago, with some of the cultures from ANAHUAC (the name which the Aztecs, or cultures of Aztlán, give to the planet Earth, later adopted by earth's nahua cultures for centuries, to refer to their land, which is the American continent) before being wiped out during the spanish invasion and colonization, partially supported by alien forces related to the dark Saqraruna Organization (from the quechua "evil people") - a secret organization that currently controls most of the Republic of Tahuantinsuyu's "Council for advanced scientifical, technological, industrial and energetic development" from behind.     The Republic of Tahuantinsuyu (Tahuantinsuyu, from the quechua "Four Regions" is the original name for the pre-hispanic Inca State) is a modern State somewhat inspired by the original Inca Empire - founded after a Revolution led by the guerrilla commander Tupaq Amaru III, decades later this panamerican Socialist State turned into a "mixed economy" giant, and despite it claims to restore the autonomy of the indigenous communities, in several occasions the government's developmentist agenda clashes directly with local semi-nomadic traditional communities.
    Tupaq Amaru III has been in charge of Tahuantinsuyu's power since he won the first elections after the Revolution, in 1979 - and only stepped out of his position in 2000, a moment when tensions between Tahuantinsuyu and the NATO rose again, after Tahuantinsuyuan armed forces started to patrol a chain of Mexican islands that were reported to be of great interest to oil companies, three years before. In an occasion unknown to most of the world's civilized populations, Tupaq and his unnatural "children" - the Centzonmimixcoa (from the nahuatl "four hundred alike the Cloud Serpent", the Cloud Serpent being Mixcoatl, a name which the Aztecs gave to Tupaq centuries ago) - were captured and trapped into another dimension by some of Tupaq's "brothers" - other Elemental Gods. Under a human disguise, Tupaq is not exactly what he seems to be, instead, he's the First Dragon and the Elemental God of Darkness, whose ultimate plan is the destruction of the universe of matter and energy by accelerating the Big Rip, and either destroying Earth or converting it into an artificial, self-sufficient, Black-Hole-driven mobile weapon of mass destruction - like Topakhon, that existed between the 29th and 17th Centuries b.c in a moment known by some galactic civilizations as the "Topakhon Wars", set in the Second Sun Era according to Aztec and nahua beliefs - which state that the Mexica, a.k.a "Aztecs" of the Earth, as well as us, now, live in the Fifth Sun Era.

ATL-TLACHINOLLI / HOLY WAR

    During the "Topakhon Wars", the Centzonmimixcoa have been created after Tupaq's own image of darkness, and alongside the ORS OHORELA (the political power over the inhabitants of Topakhon, composed mostly by androids) spread terror throughout a multitude of solar systems, including Earth's own, and that of Aztlán. The Aztec Confederation, led by the Teteoh (a.k.a "Aztec Gods") have more than once teamed up with distinct belligerents in order to retaliate O.O.'s interferences, and with time, the Cuetzpalin have discovered the only weapons able to destroy the Centzonmimixcoa - a combination of weapons made out of a special green jade known by the mysterious, bird-like Vocs as "Yaxchilán" ("Green Stone" in a mayan dialect) and a mysterious substance known as Atl-Tlachinolli (a concept that was milked away, but to the Fifth Sun Era Mexica mean either warfare, holy war, bloodletting, blood, sacred water, or boiling water) - present in the Cuetzpalin's blood, and also that of the Quinametzin, an elder race of beings whose immortal ancestors were enemies to the secret Elemental Gods in the first era.

    The Aztecs, and Cuetzpalin in particular, were reputedly those who caused the downfall of the Centzonmimixcoa and Tupaq, with Topakhon's destruction and their imprisonment for 3000 years in the dimension of the Absolute Darkness, with help of the fabled Spear of Time, crafted with support of the Vocs led by Makemake, who was colonizing nowadays Rapa Nui during the war's later stages. When the Centzonmimixcoa were first released, in the 14th Century's Eastern Europe (precisely, in nowadays' Belarus, at the time, part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), by a group of sorcerers called the Palarokhian Order (named after Palarokhiel, one of the nation-states which composed the O.O.), Tupaq has incarnated as one of them, and raised an army of the dead to take over the Earth, but was stopped by the efforts of rogue knights - the Black Knights - armed with Yaxchilán and Atl-Tlachinolli weapons provided by a mysterious Cuetzpalin named Cuauhtemoc, who roamed Europe and infiltrated the Palarokhian Order, trying to destroy it from inside before they learned how to release the fiendish Centzonmimixcoa. After Tupaq's material death in Iriy (a name given to a larger forest which contemporary remnants are located in the Belovhezkaya Forest, between Poland and Belarus), he'd incarnate on the other side of the earth, in the Inca general Topa Inca Yupanqui, son to Pachacuti, the current emperor, and founder of the greater Tahuantinsuyu (which expanded the Inca authority from Qusqu up to a large territory in South America). Tupaq has felt that in that area, other sorcerers have somehow learned arts from Topakhon (taught during the time of the pre-Inca Moche culture, from the northern Peruvian Coast, by one of O.O.'s remaining authorities, the inhuman Ai Apaec) - so he set out to build an empire on earth that would follow his will, and also to recall ancient allies, such as the Yakuruna aliens (Yakuruna, from the quechua "water people") - learning in the proccess that they had just recently returned the usage of "Topakar Magic", under a scientifical organization - the Saqraruna - headed by SPECTRO, the heir of an eponymous ally of Tupaq, reputed with the development of the original Topakhon satellite. Allied with SPECTRO, the Yakuruna and leading Tahuantinsuyu since 1472, Tupaq was about to fulfill his plans for Earth - if he hadn't met more Cuetzpalin, organized into the warring State of the Mexica Excan Tlahtoloyan (Triple Mexica Confederation - composed by the altepetl or city-states of Tenochtitlán, Texcoco and Tlacopan, the government or political corpus of the Mexica/"Aztec" civilization) - expanding from Mexico up to nowadays' New Mexico and Arizona states, and down to Panama and Colombia, turning the Central America into a jungle battlefield, where the unknowingly heirs of ancient battles carried on the legacy of their own ancestors.

NECOC YAOTL / ENEMY OF BOTH SIDES

    Despite Tupaq's eventual death by poisoning - caused by his sister and main wife, Mama Ocllo, who feared he preferred to enthrone Capac Huari, his illegitimate son with a concubine named Chuqui Ocllo, rather than their son, Tito Husi Hualpa. Historical accounts report the contrary, however these were written down as a justification for Tito Husi Hualpa's ascension - he later came to be known as Huayna Capac, and alongside his mother, and an uncle who was allied to her, made sure that Chuqui Ocllo was framed for Tupaq's death, and Capac Huari sent into exile. This is when Tupaq's power base and use for Tahuantinsuyu started to tremble, and the war with the Mexica has gave in to a time of relative peace, focusing the confrontation against autonomous communities on nowadays Colombia, Ecuador and northern Brazil regions - Tupaq continued to live, and had not only the Yakuruna & Saqraruna at his service, from his time as emperor, he had employed the aid of Amaru (dragons), his deathless Chasqui (messengers), dragon riders, and the Yacarcae sorcerers. If not in a lifetime, then at two, he'd see Tenochtitlán fall, and Tahuantinsuyu, that had betrayed him, would fall too, but his true allies would remain by his side, and use the next governments as puppets of their will - earth's destruction, but the destruction of the Cuetzpalin first.
    Among, or rather above the Cuetzpalin, the Mexica Tlatoani (speaker in nahuatl), or emperor, was the super-fast Moctezuma Xocoyotzin, who as a young warrior fought bravely against the Inca, their sorcerers, dragons and shadow demons. Today, it's hard to tell if he was born as a Cuetzpalin or as a human, for history has forgotten, but it's true he had both forms, and grew up as a brave, sometimes ruthless warrior and strategist who came to bring Mexico to its greatest power yet, right before and during the first years of the spanish invasion - a time when he didn't anticipate the end, despite dark omens happened to him - Moctezuma would fall alongside Tenochtitlán, but the resistance of the Mexica, their culture, ways of life, and also the Cuetzpalin, would still exist, carried on by survivors like the legendary Cuauhtemoc. Yet, Tupaq isn't the only enemy of the Cuetzpalin-kind, and conspiracies have turned history against these most fabled creatures. That is, of course, before they resurfaced into public knowledge, around the late months of 2008, when a self-proclaimed "CUETZPALIN PAYNALTON" (from the nahuatl "Fast Lizard") carried out actions against establishments, factories, workers, businessmen, politicians, police and military forces involved with the devastation of earth, the exploitation and killing of non-human animals for whatever purpose, and the attacks on the indigenous' rights, their autonomy and lands. As time passed, what started as a domestic "terrorist threat" in Brazil escalated into worldwide proportions - Paynalton claims to be one of the last members of the disappearing Cuetzpalin kind, and also to be an anti-mass society anarchist, critic of civilization, industry and capitalism, and in defense of autonomy, liberty and life quality of sentient individuals, human or not - what prompted distinct political forces to join and invest on public repression, authoritarian regimes, military campaigns and a tense environment took over areas where the land became a battlefield. There were indigenous peoples approached by Paynalton who joined him in the organization of armed resistance, and those who declined what sounded and looked like a suicidal mission, there was trust and betrayal, blood, sweat, tears, fire, oil, hate and war, but overall, within a year, much has changed - and yet, very few enemies and allies really knew what Paynalton was hiding: he's actually a young, 15 years old guy named William Mattoni, who has attained the power of transforming into a super-fast lizardman thanks to his symbiosis with the late Mexica ruler Moctezuma, who has awaken to a completely different, yet somewhat similar world - seen through the lens of William, but still keeping his memories, Moctezuma and his young fellow host will together build up the pieces of the conspiracy which has devastated his kind - and hopefully expose it - not that it would change anything in the world's authoritarian powers, such as every government, every corporation, every bank, every border, every animal exploitation enterprise, every religious organization, the system itself, but that at least would make William, Moctezuma and their allies' goals - and ways to achieve them - clearer.