TEZCATLIPOCA

Physical Appearance: In his ‘true form’ (the one he considers to be ‘himself’, anyway), Tezcatlipoca appears to be a handsome young warrior of Mesoamerican stock, fitted out for battle. On his person (in addition to something like padded cotton armor and obsidian and wood weapons) is a smooth obsidian mirror, which is the source of a fair amount of his magical power.

He does have a ‘totem animal’ in the form of a jaguar, and will sometimes take this form in battle or simply to stay out of sight.

Beyond this, Tezcatlipoca can take many, many forms. He is a shapeshifter and a trickster, and can appear to be anyone he wants, though he prefers to be someone unobtrusive and ‘non-flashy’; an example would be the ‘kindly old (insert profession here)’ who ‘just wants to help’.

Personality: To put it simply, Tezcatlipoca is a very destructive trickster, who delights in causing widespread discontent and carnage. In this, he isn’t so much bloodthirsty (though the sight of battle and slaughter don’t really faze him, and he does appreciate a good fight) as he is a lover of sowing strife and discord among those who are friends and at peace. Nothing gives him more pleasure than to start a war or an insurrection in a formerly peaceful land. (In a sense, this make him like TGS Loki, though with a different sense of scale: Loki will try to hurt individuals and try to cause misery to dozens of people at a time, and is very personal in his work; Tezcatlipoca is more businesslike towards what he does, and he like to start conflicts that involve whole cities or even cultures.)

Tezcatlipoca is more subtle and cunning than intelligent as far as his machinations go (though he’s not an idiot), and he tends to specialize in the ‘giving the target enough rope to hang himself’ method. He’ll two or more people/factions against each other, and then simply sit back and watch the fireworks. With this in mind, he tends to stay in the sidelines of any plans he enacts and out of the limelight; Tezcatlipoca will be the advisor or ‘kindly old somebody’ who helps the leaders of a rebellion or conflict, rather than one of those leaders himself.

He dislikes peaceful places or leaders, especially leaders who are ‘put on a pedestal’ by others (he sees this as an invitation to bring them down). While this is a normal trickster impulse (making sure the mighty don’t get too full of themselves) Tezcatlipoca seeks to destroy, rather than ‘educate’, such people, stripping them of their followers and their dignity (much as he did with Quetzalcoatl).

One final matter should be noted, considering Tezcatlipoca’s trickster heritage: he isn’t the sort to go for revenge. It’s not that he doesn’t get upset when his plans get undone, it’s simply that he figures he’ll get them on the next go around (and in the meantime, he’s had some fun with them). He also has zero loyalty to anyone other than himself; he’ll abandon anyone if the conditions are right.

Abilities: Beyond his shapeshifting abilities, Tezcatlipoca is a mighty warrior who has no qualms about getting in the middle of a fray when he wishes. He knows some things about herbal potions and spells (though he was never shown to be a ‘fireball-slinging magi’ in the legends).

His most powerful magic resides in a carved obsidian mirror he carries with him (an artifact described as unique among the gods, and sounding like something on a par with the Phoenix Gate). From within its smoky depths (from where he gets his name, ‘Smoking Mirror’), Tezcatlipoca can divine both the future (although in something more of an obtuse, ‘Oracle of Delphi’ manner) and the secrets of men’s hearts. The latter power is particularly deadly to an enemy, as the trickster can use the mirror to discover the target’s darkest desires or secret hopes (general information, rather than specific hopes and desires) and use this knowledge to his advantage.

History: Tezcatlipoca is shown in Mesoamerican legend as being something of a trickster, in the vein of many gods, though with a much darker, crueler streak. He was also something of royalty, as for a time he was said to rule the Earth (likely ‘the Earth’ was simply Mesoamerica, but who knows) until he was unseated by Quetzalcoatl. He in turn destroyed the Feathered Serpent’s kingdom, starting an age-old blood feud that largely defined them; Quetzalcoatl being on the side of peace and civilization, and Tezcatlipoca being a lord of strife, misery and sin. His power was technically the greater (largely due to the magic mirror he possessed), but he was largely matched by the fact that he was vilified by most people in the region (he was also known as ‘the left handed’ and ‘the Enemy’ to some of the locals). This battle ultimately reached a pause when Tezcatlipoca finally managed to drive Quetzalcoatl out of Mesoamerica and destroy the Toltecs he had lorded over.

With that done, Tezcatlipoca brought in some people more to his liking: the bloodthirsty Aztecs, whom he helped Huitzilopoctli to rule (Tez basically handled the starting of wars while Huitzi prosecuted them). For the most part things went well, until Quetzalcoatl arrived with the Spaniards and practically annihilated the Aztec Empire. While annoying, though, it didn’t totally drive Tez into seclusion like his partner; Tez had never really had any loyalty to anybody, and he found the strife-ridden and warlike Spaniards intriguing. So, in his own way, he made himself scarce and began to examine them; after causing some mischief amongst the newcomers, he decided to use their expanding empire as a means of seeing what the rest of the world had to offer (and possibly find Quetzalcoatl).

And that is more or less what he has done for the past 500 years or so: exploring the world, making mischief, and searching for his nemesis. In the last case, Tezcatlipoca isn’t really obsessed with making Quetzalcoatl ‘pay’; he simply wants to see how his old rival is doing and ‘give him a ‘wedgie’. He has also made very careful not to arouse the suspicions of others as to his existence or cause someone like Oberon to come after him (which isn’t hard, as Tez is very good at hiding).

Goals: Simply put, Tezcatlipoca wants to cause strife and chaos wherever he goes (and maybe rack up the occasional worshipper or two). He’ll be very subtle about it, so as to avoid being caught and punished, but he’ll do what he can to cause misery around the globe. After meeting someone like Arthur (or Goliath, for that matter) – a strong, proud, noble ruler who everyone thinks highly of – he’ll make it something of a pet project to tear them down (though he won’t obsess over it). If he appears again in something like ‘Pendragon’ or TGS, his victims will be in for a spiritually trying time.