[center][img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5e/99/e2/5e99e2676ae2584bdbac895ef2eff771.jpg[/img] [img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/398914915127132161/707813338792460298/Setlacanagram.png?width=677&height=677[/img][/center] [hider=Setlacana of the Endless Dance]Identity: The woman who is now Setlacana claims to have abandoned her name as she crossed the gates of the underworld, beneath Catcatepetl, where it is said that only the dead may speak. She emerged as Setlacana of the Endless Dance, and as she danced atop the four towers of Eztotlan and lit the four beacons she was said to ascend, becoming Cihuāmitoāni. Potency Setlacana’s sorcerous gifts, taken from blood and now flowing within her own, are keenly focused in a particular direction and usage--her power is the power of [i]passion[/i], the fires that it starts, and the blood that it courses through with every thrum of pounded drum and beating heart. All that Setlacana does and is known to do spills this destructive and consumptive passion ‘cross the world, and its ardour is known to nestle within the veins of men and light a fire that can never be quenched. It begins slowly, and is easy to ignore--but it soon twists the thoughts and the body towards its desires and passions, and creates a hunger that no amount of feasting or revelry can ever hope to sate. As the fire within the blood begins to boil only the ecstatic pleasures of the flesh will suffice, and the heart becomes a pounding drum whose sound invites equal parts euphoria and madness. When the blood begins to catch alight, the body is changed in small ways too--the blood begins to sizzle and boil within the veins, and the catalytic nature of the ardour begins to convert some of it into [abbr=Burning blood, liquid passion]Teoatl Ichinoa[/abbr]. It is the essence of corruptive, destructive pleasure--and though it cannot be allowed to settle in the blood, as its fire would burn away the flesh, there are ways it can be safely consumed. It is known to cause the ardour (if it has not begun already), a rush of ecstatic pleasure floods the very soul, and the ceaseless, pounding beat of the Endless Dance makes itself known in the heart and the mind. Setlacana is a consummate dancer--every movement of her body, every smouldering gaze she deigns to visit upon her would-be worshippers, every rhythmic stroke and slash of the [abbr=Obsidian knife, for flaying or ritual bloodletting]Xiptecpatl[/abbr] against her skin draws the eye and ensnares the mind. The passion with which she moves is contagious, and the constancy of her undulating steps hammers her magic home--as she dances, she bids the blood to rise and follow, and it has been known for men to resist her rapturous advances but still dance along to her tune without knowing quite why, and without being able to cease. Beyond her magic, Setlacana is a woman of many talents--she plays practically every instrument that has ever been brought before her with a grace and skill befitting her form, and the human body is one such instrument she has mastered. Through years of presiding over ritual sacrifice, she knows full well each of the corded muscles and tender crevices to pluck to draw forth screams of pain and pleasure alike--and she is well-versed in the practices necessary to preserve the flesh once the soul has passed, and turn them into the drums and the flutes and the ocarinas that drive the Endless Dance. Ambition: Setlacana is, first and foremost, a creature of exceptional passion and fervour. She spends her life in a cloud of ecstatic, fervent bliss--giving thought primarily to what it is that will stoke the flames within her blood to ever-greater heights. She shares this ecstasy freely with all who meet her, and wishes to find those who might resist the ardour for long enough to spur her debauchery on to its limits--and to then shatter those limits. It should be noted that, despite her pursuit of hedonistic and destructive bliss, Setlacana is not a negligent or derelict ruler of her people--she cares for their needs as surely as she takes care of her own and will go to extravagant lengths to ensure that her people’s Endless Dance is never interrupted by want of food, shelter, or space--and will defend them against external threats with extreme prejudice. Life: Within the four towers of Eztotlan, the story of Cihuāmitoāni’s ascension is never far from the lips of a priest or a child. Though the tale does not decorate the carved walls of the temples, where the glories of the absentee gods above and the imprisoned gods below are carved into stone and metal, it is told through song, through dance, and through blood: As the story goes, Setlacana was once another woman--the high priestess of Ezo Totec--and supped from his sacred blood to make a pilgrimage beneath the earth and into the [abbr=Underworld][i]Coctlan[/i][/abbr] to face off against the gods of death. Before the gates, she drank of the last drops of the gods who had walked the earth before ascending to [abbr=Place of the Ancients, where the Sun gods are said to have retreated to in ages past.][i]Izoltan[/i][/abbr]. At the gates, she was visited by Ezo Totec, and drank of his sacred blood to ensure her safe passage through the treacherous trials within [i]Coctlan[/i]. It is said that for four years she descended beneath the earth to the very bottom of the worlds, and observed the Gods of Death performing the sacred dance that permitted their eternal existence. Swift of foot and empowered by the divine blood, she was said to have studied their movements for an entire year, to learn their patterns and practice them herself, until she caught their notice--but by then, she had already learned the dance, and they could no longer kill her. So stunned by this revelation were they that they forgot the next step of their dance and she danced still, allowing her to kill them and triumph over death. Four years later, she was said to rise from the depths of [i]Coctlan[/i], dancing still, and taught her people the Endless Dance that the Gods of Death might no longer torture their souls for all eternity when they died. How much truth is contained within this tale is for Setlacana alone to know. She is the only one still living who can remember a time where she was not Cihuāmitoāni--though it is known, from time to time, for those who partake of her [i]Teoatl Ichinoa[/i] to remember a different story. Those that speak of this story are never far from the knife, or a missed step in the dance. [/hider]