chaac is so fascinating because he should by all means be one of the most important character in ancient natlan. the one who first wielded phlogiston, the first wayob, the first natlan human to have had interacted with a dragon and coexisted/close to him, the one who paved the way for those that came after him, and defeated a dragon with his companions. yet everyone in the game, including the lore characters not named kukulkan or cl-08, sure love to act like he never existed
God of rain and lightning. With his mighty ax he swings into the clouds, bursting them open to provide nurturing water to crops. Chaac is one of many deities considered manifold, multiple in one, and for Chaac there is one for each cardinal direction (and sometimes a center). In his few tales he (or one of his many forms) is said to have broken open an ancient mountain where the maize crop hid, bringing it to humanity. He is also said to live within caves and cenotes where he produces clouds that rise into the air. Sometimes he is brother to the sun, associated with the aged goddess Ixchel, the equally manifold Pauhatun, as well as the directional Bacab. In Maya society it was of course important to bring rain to the ground and so Chaac was personified by kings, for rulership, and by a rainmaker. His ax is personified as another deity named K'awiil who represents rulers as well. He corresponds closely to the Aztec god Tlaloc.
Character Traits: He is one of the most important gods and seems to be connected to bringing life to the world, but personality traits are not specifically given.
Visual Traits: Usually shown as a man with lizard-like features; an up-turned nose, bulging eyes, scaly skin. He wields a flint ax and/or ritual ax and sometimes wears a necklace of an overturned pot. His other most known visual trait is an earpiece made of a Spondylus shell.
One of the things I really love about this run is Murewa Ayodele's willingness to lean in, to explore, and to bring in a goddess' peers for her to interact with. He's embraced so much real world lore and made Storm's lore so much richer for it <3<3<3
The Maya sites of San Gervasio (on the island of Cozumel) and Tulum (on the mainland of Mexico in Quintana Roo) are often overlooked for the better-known Chichen Itza or other spectacular ruins further inland but both these locations have their own vibrant story to tell and each will reward a long, leisurely, visit.
I am walking with Betsy and Emily, my wife and daughter, down the sacred way (sacbe) of San Gervasio on Cozumel on this latest adventure. This is a quick side-trip on our way to the ancient city of Tulum but I am already wishing I had given it more time.
I find myself thinking of the red handprints here and at Tantun Cuzamil and realize I will remember these more than any of the other sights I have seen today. The ruins are magnificent but there is something so intimate about the handprints, as though someone left a note for each future visitor which resonates through time.
At some point in the past, someone went to the effort to climb up that wall and leave a lasting memory of their existence. Human beings have an innate need to be remembered, to endure beyond death in the memory of the living, sometimes expressed in great deeds or monuments but equally in simple handprints pressed onto a wall in the hope someone in the future would notice and remember them – not even by name – but just by that simple and universally understandable gesture of making even the smallest mark saying, “I was here”.
