I am so proud to present this piece, which is the result of many months of work and research.
This piece is dedicated with great respect and admiration to my nahuatl teacher tlatoanitsin. Without his suggestion to do art of the Aztec gods I would never have made this. Half of all print sale profits go to him to support his work in preserving the nahuatl language and fighting for the wellbeing of indigenous communities of Mexico.
This piece depicts a scene from Aztec creation mythology. Under the cut you can find a writeup of the story, in three languages: english, spanish, and nahuatl (huasteca potosina variant), many thanks to my teacher for providing the translation.
This piece is mixed media, roughly 2000 layers of sketching, photobashing, and overpainting.
English
Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl in Mictlan
The fourth world was drowned in a fifty-two year flood of blood, tears of the goddess Chalchiuhtlicue. The cycle will continue, and now begins the time of the fifth world. It must have people to populate it, and those people must be made from the bones of the people of the previous world. Those bones are in Mictlan, land of the dead where the sky is always dark, where the bitter ceaseless wind is like obsidian knives, and where all that grows is tough and dry.
Quetzalcoatl, lord of the wind, of the arts and of learning, is tasked with retrieving those bones. He is accompanied by his twin brother Xolotl, lord of monsters, deformity, and death. Xolotl takes the form of a sickly and pitiable skeletal dog; the kind of creature that stands on the doorway of death with a foot in each world. Xolotl knows Mictlan well, in this guise he guides the sun through the underworld each night just as he guides souls from the world of the living onwards.
Mictlantecuhtli, lord of the dead and ruler of Mictlan, tells Quetzalcoatl he can take the bones and leave unhindered, but only if Quetzalcoatl can complete an impossible task: play a conch flute that has no holes. But Quetzalcoatl is lord of the wind and if he wills the air to move through a flute then it shall sing. He plays music with the shell, and Mictlantecuhtli is forced to concede and allow Quetzalcoatl to retrieve the bones of the people of the fourth world.
The lord of the dead does not take kindly to being bested by one of the four Creator Brother gods, the Tezcatlipocas. Lower in the hierarchy though he is, this place is his domain, and he will not allow his kingdom to be plundered easily.
He tells his minions to dig a great pit to trap Quetzalcoat. Quetzalcoatl falls, breaking the bones, and his own body. He dies in the pit in the land of the dead, but gods do not stay dead. The death of gods is only part of an endless cycle of change and renewal. He resurrects, and brings the broken bones with him to the fifth world. He mixes them with maize (a symbol of rebirth from death) and with his own holy blood, offered from his earlobes, calves, tongue, and penis. As each bone was broken in the fall into a different size piece, so the new people of the fifth world became different heights.
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Español
Quetzalcóatl y Xolotl en Mictlán
El cuarto mundo se ahogó en una inundación de sangre que duró cincuenta y dos años, las lágrimas de la diosa Chalchiuhtlicue. El ciclo continuará, y ahora comienza la era del quinto mundo. Debe haber personas que lo pueblen, y esas personas deben estar hechas de los huesos de las personas del mundo anterior. Esos huesos se encuentran en Mictlán, la tierra de los muertos, donde el cielo siempre está oscuro, donde el viento amargo e incesante es como cuchillos de obsidiana y donde todo lo que crece es duro y seco.
Quetzalcóatl, señor del viento, de las artes y del aprendizaje, tiene la tarea de recuperar esos huesos. Le acompaña su hermano gemelo Xolotl, señor de los monstruos, la deformidad y la muerte. Xolotl toma la forma de un perro esquelético, enfermizo y lamentable; el tipo de criatura que se queda en la puerta de la muerte con un pie en cada mundo. Xolotl conoce bien Mictlán, bajo esta identidad guía al sol a través del inframundo cada noche, al igual que guía a las almas del mundo de los vivos.
Mictlantecuhtli, señor de los muertos y gobernante de Mictlán, le dice a Quetzalcóatl que puede llevarse los huesos y marcharse sin obstáculos, pero solo si Quetzalcóatl puede completar una tarea imposible: tocar una flauta de caracol que no tiene agujeros. Pero Quetzalcóatl es el señor del viento y, si desea que el aire se mueva a través de una flauta, esta cantará. Toca música con la caracola y Mictlantecuhtli se ve obligado a ceder y permitir que Quetzalcóatl recupere los huesos de la gente del cuarto mundo.
Al señor de los muertos no le gusta que le supere uno de los cuatro dioses hermanos creadores, los Tezcatlipocas. Aunque es inferior en la jerarquía, este lugar es su dominio y no permitirá que su reino sea saqueado fácilmente.
Ordena a sus secuaces que caven un gran hoyo para atrapar a Quetzalcóatl. Quetzalcóatl cae, rompiéndose los huesos y su propio cuerpo. Muere en el hoyo de la tierra de los muertos, pero los dioses no permanecen muertos. La muerte de los dioses es solo parte de un ciclo interminable de cambio y renovación. Él resucita y lleva consigo los huesos rotos al quinto mundo. Los mezcla con maíz (símbolo del renacimiento tras la muerte) y con su propia sangre sagrada, ofrecida de sus lóbulos de las orejas, pantorrillas, lengua y pene. Como cada hueso se rompió en la caída en pedazos de diferentes tamaños, así el nuevo pueblo del quinto mundo tuvo diferentes estaturas.
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Náhuatl
Ketsalkoatl uan Xolotl pan Miktlan
Nauipan tlaltipak misaui pan se esotlaueixtli tlen uejkajki makuilpoalli uan ome xiutl, iixayotl tlen siuateotl Chalchiutlikue. Tonallis panotias, uan aman peua makuilpan tlaltipak. Ma onkaskiya maseualmej tlen mamochantikaj, uan inon maseualmej ma mochijtokaj tlen omiyo maseualli tlen achtouika tlaltepaktli. Inon omimej mopantiaj pan Miktlan, tlalli tlen mijkatsitsin, kampa illuikatl nochipa tsintlayouatok, kampa ajakatl chichik uan moollinia ken istlitlatentli, uan kampa nochi moskaltia tetik uan uaktok.
Ketsalkoatl, ajakatlakatl, toltekayotlakatl uan tlamichtitlakatl, kipia pan imako tlakuepas inon omimej. Kitlauika iiknin kuate Xolotl, tlakatemajmatijketl, tsikuiltik uan mijketl. Xolotl moixchiua tlen se chichi kejkelechtik, mokokoyaj uan mochojchokillia; tlen ken se tlapialli tlen mokaua pan kuatsajketl mijkayotl ka sejsen iikxi pan tlaltipak. Xolotl kiixomati kualli Miktlan, tlen ken ka ni iaxka kiojtlallia tonati pan chiknauimiktlan sejsen youalli, noijki kinojtlallia elluayotl tlen tlaltepaktli kampa maseualmej yoltokej.
Miktlantekujtli, miktlantlakatl uan tlanauatijketl tlen Miktlan, kiillia Ketsalkoatl uelli kinuikas omimej uan moojuitlallis, sanijki Ketsalkoatl uellis kichiuas se tekitl tlen oui: kipitsas se atekokolli tlen amo koyoxtik. Yesej Ketsalkoatl ajakatlakatl uan, tlan kineki ma ajakatl ma moollini pan se akatlapitsalli, ni kuikas. Kuikachiua ka atekokolli uan Miktlantekutli motemaka uan kikaua Ketsalkoatl ma kikuepa omiyo tlen maseualmej tlen nauikpan tlaltipak.
Miktlantlakatl amo kipaktia ma kitlanikaj se tlen nauipan teomej iknimej tlaelliyanij, Teskatlipokamej. Maske iststok tlatsintla tekiuayotl, ni kakiuilli ya tlanauatia uan amo kikauas pan itlanauatillis ma kiichtekikaj nimanok.
Kinnauatia innintekiua ma kichiuakaj se ueyi ostotl uan ma kitskikaj Ketsalkoatl. Ketsalkoatl uetsi, moomiyoposteki uan nojkia itlakayo. Miki pan ostotl tlen Miktlampa, yesej teomej amo mokauaj miktokej. Miktli tlen teomej sanijki se tonalli tlen amo kipia itlamika tlen mopajpatla uan moyankuillia. Ya moyoleua uan kiuika omiyo postektokej kampa makuilpan tlaltipak. Kinmaneloa ika sintli (kistosneki tlen yoleua keman se miki) uan ka ieso teoyalli, temaka tlen inakayotl nakastli, kotstli, nejnepilli uan tepolli. Ken san sejsen omiyo postejki keman uetski motlatlapatski, ijkinon yankuik altepetl tlen makuilpan tlaltipak kipixki miak tlamantli tlen ijuejuexka.
Money is especially tight and things are beginning to pile up for me. I'm very unsure about the financial security of the rest of this month, let alone december, so even spreading the word helps.
Money is especially tight and things are beginning to pile up for me. I'm very unsure about the financial security of the rest of this month, let alone december, so even spreading the word helps.
a third of the way through! project recap while we take a break
after an absolutely hectic and productive month of streams, we have passed the milestone of a third of the roster being complete!
since i'm taking a short breather to catch up on life stuff and prevent burnout, i thought it'd be a good time to recap how everything has gone so far.
first, some stats:
BUSCADORES TOTAL: $1315.75
TLATOANITSIN TOTAL: $1849.62
donations total: $3165.37
number of mon prompts total: 211
total finished: 97/279, 34.77%
remaining unclaimed slots: 41
i stuck this first third on tierlist if you want to rate and hate!
https://tiermaker.com/create/retrodex-first-third-edition-17082297
next, some longer thoughts, below the cut for busy people who aint got time for that
already well over $3000 is absolutely insane to me. an order of magnitude greater than my wildest dreams when i conceived of this project!
i am constantly overwhelmed by the generosity my causes have been shown by my friends, by my community members, and by strangers who i only met through this project, all of whom are my friends now. you all give me faith in the goodness of humans, when i had really become quite a cynical misanthropic old bastard.
also among my new friends now are david (tlatoanitsin) and maribel (the representative of the buscadores). i had never expected to speak personally to them (aside from to say that i was doing a project, and they would be the recipients). that's crazy to me too, i am honoured to call them my friends. and then through the generosity of one donor (thanks colgate) both of them pitched a monster for the roster! asking them to give a monster idea was a surreal experience. and so was explaining to them monster spriting communities and where all these incredibly generous people were coming from and why.
i've been thinking a lot during the last few streams about the magnitude of what you have all done; money enough to make a real difference to both causes, and then when the terrible floods hit mexico at the start of this month, money enough to feed entire towns during the recovery efforts. people had already been so generous, but then when i put out the call for help during the floods they moved mountains yet again to outdo all my hopes.
i've been thinking that one day when i look back, this will be one of the hilights of my life. i am so glad that i started this thing.
that's about it, i guess. once i've caught up on sleep a little i will keep doing the best i can with your monster prompts, see you for the next third!
thank you to the donors so far: manta, rize, gorbygorb, helmetbugg, slimebox, honey glazed ham, cadmium, cinnamon sugar, plantingcrows, hornests, sprunny, sprunny's work associates, aguidel, docthe10th, my grandparents, colgate, poopmin, hexdermy, sky, kusa, giantgoose and lady giantgoose, mere, alraumon, grey percival, st hiccup, oldmanhobo, mistaice, vvcakes, cam, monstruck, betsy rocketram, kozacky-nameless, mud man dan, bice, korrikat, monarch hyren, glitchplight, realquent, normalincafes, my mum, pteracotta, my stepdad, glipglack, daxshun, esme, juke, foxman, el púas, togore (fish), the fiend, soultun, scribes, digitalclaws, sandy, ogwon, tc's ghost, and thanks too to everyone who helped me with stream setup or who has kept us company in the server and the streams. without you all none of this would have been possible!
germansingergirl
romaincrisis
origamiaround
turnnoffyourmind
jbbartram-illu
