[IMAGE]
   
Aztlan Annotated!

   
   
   This was originally posted on Rec.Games.Frp.Cyber by David Henry when
   the Aztlan Sourcebook came out. I thought it was so good it needed to
   be placed on a web archive.
   
   Disclaimer:Shadowrun is a registered trademark of FASA Corporation,
   Original Copyright 1994. All rights reserved. Used without permission.
   Any use of FASA Corporation's trademarks or copyrights should not be
   viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks.
   
   Originally posted and written by David R. Henry. Used without
   permission. (Unless he'd care to grant it.)
   
Aztlan

   
   
   OK, speak and you will receive. The Aztlan book finally made it to my
   home state last night, and I read it all in one sitting that same
   night. For those who were wondering, confused, apathetic, or just
   stuck here watching everything, here's my take on an Annotation of the
   comments of certain long-lived individuals in the Aztlan sourcebook.
   My qualifications for this are simple: I'm a SR gamer who wants to
   write it up. Feel free to add on as you see fit. I'm also the
   quasi-official keeper of the SR/Earthdawn comparison FAQ, and I have
   all the Shadowrun AND Earthdawn material released so far (sigh...), so
   I catch most of the inside comments. But, anyway, here we go. Needless
   to say, this post contains spoilers for the Shadowrun universe, not
   only in Aztlan. Read on only if you want to...
   
   p. 11
   The Big 'D' is Dunkelzahn the Great Dragon, as has been confirmed in
   numerous other sourcebooks (and in this one). Dunkelzahn has shown an
   interest in not only the lifestyle and psychology, but welfare and
   well-being of the "little races" that share his planet with him for
   millenia. Many of the other immortals in the SR universe dislike him
   because his apparent empathy for the metahumans makes him prone to
   "spilling the beans" about various magical phenomena that others would
   rather keep secret (so they can profit from it, of course). Comments
   in this book make it clear that of the "hidden commentators" in the
   Aztlan book, Dunkelzahn is the only dragon present. Apparently most,
   if not all, of the other attendees at Dunkelzahn's node are long-lived
   elves.
   
   Hecate is unknown, although I'll make other guesses about her later.
   
   Wordsmyth is obviously Ehran the Scribe, leading power of Tir
   Tairngire. He has a running feud with...
   
   The Laughing Man, who is confirmed as Harlequin. Harlequin is an
   independant magician of frightening power.
   
   Lady of the Court is Lady Deigh, the leader of Tir na nOg, Tir
   Tairngire's main rival. Comments made later in this book show
   interesting sides to her personality and position in this "star
   chamber" of powerful individuals.
   
   Jungle Cat is unknown, but is in a position of power in Amazonia, one
   of the major Awakened countries in SR. Amazonia is a major rival/foe
   of Aztlan.
   
   Umsondo is unknown, but for reasons presented later is most likely
   South African. His position of "Watcher" will be dealt with later.
   
   Dunkelzahn has tricked all the other attendees (from now on called
   "elves" as a group, even though Jungle Cat, Hecate, and even Umsondo
   may not be elves) into attending this virtual conference by apparently
   promising all of them that they would only be meeting him alone.
   
   p. 12
   Note Dunkelzahn's reasons for bringing them there: each of the elves
   is important to the shadowy world of SR immortal influence because of
   both their personal power and "in most cases" of who they represent.
   Harlequin represents just himself (plus maybe other disaffected
   immortals), the two Tirs have their reps, of course, and Jungle Cat is
   there for Amazonia. There is one other major Elven Awakened nation in
   SR, and that's the new South Africa (Azania?). It's mentioned in the
   novel "Nosferatu". Osmundu, by virtue of his references later, is
   almost certainly from there (it also fits in by giving the other large
   Elven nation a presence). No presence is given for the small Elven
   duchy of Pomyra near Germany, but maybe they're too small for
   Dunkelzahn to worry about (and maybe Hecate is from there). This still
   leaves the question as to who Hecate is. By her references later, my
   best guess is that she's the Blood Queen from the old Blood Wood, of
   the Fourth World of Magic, currently living in Tir Tairngire. She has
   many insults directed at Dunkelzahn throughout this document
   (especially early on), and she has been involved in some form of
   corrupting blood magic. A very strong hatred of dragons and
   involvement in some really nasty blood magic that makes Aztechnology
   look like Captain Kangaroo is all typical of Blood Elves. Hecate as
   the Blood Queen is only a "best information" type of guess, though.
   
   Brightlight is unknown, but is almost surely an immortal Elf. Noting
   how Lady Deigh refers to him, it's apparent that Brightlight has ties
   to the Irish Tir. He may be the founder of Tir na nOg, who left his
   rulership position to tread the Path of Kings a few years back (and
   who saves the day in "Nosferatu"). Then again, he may just be yet
   another immortal elf.
   
   Note Hecate's comments here to Lady Deigh. Lady Deigh may have the
   potential of immortality, but she's very young -- she was probably
   born in the 21st Century. The older elves obviously view her as
   somewhat as a very gifted, but very foolish, child. Note that in the
   story "Wyrm Talk," Harlequin gets very apprehensive when Dunkelzahn
   threatens to go to Lady Deigh for an interview subject. This is very
   interesting, and fits in with her revealed personality: she's been
   appointed to a very important position, but she feels inadequate
   compared to all the power brokers around her, and thus tries to
   overcompensate in various ways. Harlequin may very well have feared
   that the relatively unsophisticated Lady Deigh would have cracked
   under Dunkelzahn's gentle questionings and let out "more" than she
   should have on international tri-vid. No record if Lady Deigh ever
   appeared on "Wyrmtalk" exists. Since she's so young, she will invoke
   names of Elves she's close to or has ties to to reaffirm her status
   among the Immortals -- thus making my main evidence that Brightlight
   is an Irish Elf.
   
   Dunkelzahn next notes that the Aztlan file may contain information
   that could threaten all of them gathered there. It's a subtle threat,
   delivered behind a request for no bickering on the bottom of the
   left-hand column, but it's still there. This lends credence that there
   is something very wrong going on in Aztlan.
   
   Dunkelzahn is much older than ten-thousand years old. He is, at least,
   twenty thousand, and probably much older.
   
   Note that Lady Deigh almost spills Dunkelzahn's real name.
   
   Jungle Cat makes references that he already knows what's going on in
   Aztlan, and refers to them as his/their "ancient enemy". Which could
   be a reference to old human tribal disputes, or could be something
   else entirely.
   
   p. 15
   Harlequin makes another joking reference to Lady Deigh's inexperience
   and age.
   
   p. 21
   Lesser dragons are the common dragons. Great Dragons, like Dunkelzahn,
   are vastly more physically (and especially magically) powerful than
   normal dragons, and apparently are a leadership type among dragonkind.
   
   
   Jungle Cat's comment about "in form, but not in spirit" lends credence
   to Curious George's question one column over if Pobre is really the
   Great Feathered Serpent Hualpa.
   
   The insult that Dunkelzahn did not take was offered by Jungle Cat --
   Cat inferred that Pobre really was a Great Dragon in disguise,
   contradicting Dunkelzahn's knowledge. Notice that Umsondo can
   apparently act as a judge on various people's actions, undoubtfully a
   power of his position as a Watcher. Dunkelzahn graciouslly ignores the
   insult.
   
   p. 22
   Jungle Cat is referring to how the dragons may have business left over
   in Mesoamerica from their last time, far before 2011.
   
   p. 23
   Notice that all the various Elven nations (assuming Umsondo is Zulu)
   are giving help, even if just a little, to the rebels. Note that
   Hecate is the one who prods the leaders into speaking, meaning she's
   probably not a leader herself. This does subtract from the chance that
   she's the Blood Queen, since the Queen enjoys a position on the Tir
   Tairngire Council of Princes.
   
   p. 26
   Once again, Umsondo apparently acts as an arbitrator of everyone
   else's touchiness. If someone think's they're being slighted in some
   minor way, Umsondo can apparently rule whether they were or not... and
   even Harlequin accepts (if with a bit of good humor) his decisions.
   Umsondo must be one level dude.
   
   Ehran's comments about "Cat should know" indicate that Cat apparently
   is the one of the group who should know the most about Aztlan.
   
   p. 27
   Dunkelzahn is showing how he feels his philosophy of telling the
   metahumans what to watch out for is a good one, here. It should be
   noted that Dunkelzahn wanted to tell everyone about the Universal
   Brotherhood before Chicago got blasted, but was outvoted by, among
   others, Harlequin.
   
   p. 34
   Hecate's comment on 8,000 BCE is humorous since she was alive and well
   back then, enjoying the heights of whatever magical culture she was
   part of then (see the Earthdawn game for more details). Once again,
   Lady Deigh tries fitting in only to get squashed. Poor lady.
   
   p. 35
   The Catholic Church is not happy about being thrown out of Ireland by
   the Elves. Lady Deigh may very well indeed know a lot more than she
   wants to about the Jesuits.
   
   p. 47
   Umsondo's matters of "graver import" are unknown. Around 2048 was
   close to when the terribly silly Secrets of Power trilogy took place,
   however (the first SR book series), and in that series a beginning
   shaman named Sam broke an ancient magical lock against some Horrors
   from Australia and took it to try and cure his sister of her
   metahumanity. There was an aborigine immortal elf from Australia in
   that series who followed Sam to America to try and get the stone back;
   his position there may be linked to Umsondo's position as a Watcher in
   South Africa. Umsondo's matters may be linked to Sam's theft, or may
   be something else altogether.
   
   p. 60
   "Down-cycle hunting" is a reference to how some elves, probably
   sympathetic to designs of the Blood Wood, carried their hatred of
   dragons into action during the cycle of no magic. How they found and
   killed sleeping dragons is unknown.
   
   Umsondo's comment means he has a Great Dragon as a sworn enemy, the
   Rain Queen. The Rain Queen is a Great Dragon who lives right above
   Cape Town, if I remember "Nosferatu" correctly, and is very much
   opposed to the all-elven Zulu nation right next door. This is the main
   evidence that Umsondo is Zulu.
   
   p. 61
   Harlequin is accusing the Tir na nOg court of using duplicates and
   standins for various of their members.
   
   The apparent truth about Atzcapotzalco will be discussed later on in
   this document.
   
   A Locus is undefined so far in SR/ED magical theory. However, in
   Earthdawn, anything that has a Name (you, your dog, Aztlan) has a
   Pattern. By weaving threads to that Pattern (in SR terms, bonding with
   it by paying Karma), you increase your magical abilities in regards to
   that Pattern. However, you have to be physically touching the Pattern
   to bond with it. A Locus is quite possibly the physical spot in Aztlan
   where Aztlan mages can bond to the Pattern of their country. This can
   greatly increase their magics if they know how to do it; in an attempt
   to translate ED rules to SR ones, they could easily at least double
   their effective Initiate level by doing so. Many countries even in the
   Age of Magic of Earthdawn never got to find their Pattern for their
   country -- that Aztlan should be able to do so is truly incredible,
   especially at this time in the mana cycle.
   
   "Corrupt" is a reference used to two things in Earthdawn: Horror
   magic, and the magic of the Blood Elves (which is not Horror-spawned
   at all). Either one could upset Lady Deigh, since Tir na nOg is the
   closest thing to the current incarnation of the Blood Wood. Blood
   magic is not usually needed in ED when you have Pattern magic, since
   Pattern magic is far more useful and wide-ranging, thus Jungle Cat's
   comment. Blood magic is quicker, though, and more immediately
   effective.
   
   p. 64
   "Gifted," in this company, probably means possibly immortal, not just
   magically active.
   
   Could Hecate's comments mean that she is a Watcher herself? Then why
   did Umsondo have to adjudicate for her earlier...?
   
   Dunkelzahn's comments point out how much older he is than any of the
   elves.
   
   Umsondo's comment in the second column is his adjudging for the insult
   in the first column on this page. In short, he's saying: "Harlequin
   was not intending an insult, he was just guessing with insufficient
   data."
   
   p. 66
   Brightlight, whoever he is, took the identity of Dr. Antonio Vieri for
   a while.
   
   Ehran's comment is that they can tell if a computer is alive by
   astrally assensing it -- after all, all living things have an aura.
   
   p. 67
   Hecate is referring to the well-known feud of thousands of years
   between Harlequin and Ehran (for which, see the Harlequin adventure).
   
   p. 68
   They are all talking about a Horror mark, if not outright Horror
   possession, of a dragon. Horrors are astral entities from the deep
   dark metaplanes that are responsible for, among other things, the
   bottle in Bottled Demon. They arrive on Earth when the mana level gets
   high enough to let them manifest all across the planet, and they
   consume all they meet. The Horrors are a definite threat -- there are
   billions of them, and the most powerful of them are near the power
   level of Lovecraft's Great Old Ones. Life on Earth has so far always
   survived by hiding under strong magics when the Horrors arrive (see
   Earthdawn for more on Horrors). The idea of a Horror-marked dragon, so
   early in the mana cycle, means that there may not be time to raise the
   necessary magical power to save anyone's life, let alone your own
   precious one, this mana cycle. This is Dunkelzahn's concern.
   
   Harlequin's comments to Ehran's jibing are in reference to the
   Harlequin's Back adventure. There, he found the mana spike created by
   the Great Ghost Dance was allowing the Horrors back into the world
   centuries before they should be showing up (they shouldn't be arriving
   until the year 4000 or so). His astral quest to seal that bridge
   (which is Harlequin's Back) has apparently not entirely been believed
   by his contemporaries. Harlequin's last comment on this page refers to
   how he sees himself as a battered, lonely knight, fated to keep
   fighting against impossible foes, possibly forever -- very Moorcockian
   of the fellow. Harlequin has most recently struck against the "early
   Horrors" in the novel "House of the Sun".
   
   p. 81
   Aztlan has apparently rediscovered the basics of fighting Disciplines
   -- specialized forms of spellcasting physical adepts, as per the
   Earthdawn setting. Lady Deigh's comments show how various of the
   guards in the Tirs are already effectively physical adepts of this
   type.
   
   p. 84
   This, for me, is the most chilling part of the book. Forget that a
   Horror is probably running Aztechnology; that various beings, for the
   good of the world, set out to destroy human faith, and then see
   nothing wrong with their means, just the ends, is far more scary to
   me.
   
   Note again that Lady Deigh is out of the loop as far as the actual
   activities among the immortals.
   
   The second section is in reference to how the Aztlan church apparently
   generates mana for use in Aztlan in general. Ehran's comment about
   places this has been done before is either in reference to a Fourth
   World kingdom, or to how the Tirs have reforested and "cleaned up"
   their lands with magic.
   
   Harlequin's comment about the Spike Point is in reference to
   Harlequin's Back. He is reminding Ehran that if the magic was strong
   enough there to make a bridge between the real world and Horrorlands,
   then the blood magic in all the Aztlan temples may very well be as
   strong.
   
   p. 85
   More of the same from the previous page. Coleman is Daniel Coleman,
   the Great Prophet who learned, somehow, from something, how to dance
   the Great Ghost Dance.
   
   Note that Dunkelzahn is, once again, the most humanitarian of the lot,
   oddly enough.
   
   p. 86
   The importance of titles is obvious to Ehran, who can practice Pattern
   Magic: if you are the Named head of state, you have access to the
   Pattern Magic of that office. When the head of state changes, by
   keeping the title the same the next head automatically inherits the
   same powers.
   
   p. 90
   Ehran is hopelessly addicted to social analyzing, which is probably
   where his comment on petitioning comes from. He also comes from the
   Fourth World (if not earlier), and the main form of "worship" there
   really was petitioning -- you'd ask the Questor of a Passion to try
   and invoke the Passion to help you out.
   
   Hecate's comments indicate that she's been involved in high-level
   blood magic herself, and sees no trouble with the general practice,
   assuming apparent appropriate safeguards. If it wasn't for her not
   knowing how the Tirs are politically backing the rebels, this comment
   would cement her as a Blood Elf, and probably the Queen.
   
   p. 91
   More blood magic comments from Hecate.
   
   p. 93
   The calendar that is "true" that they're talking about is the Mayan
   Long Count calendar, which Dunkelzahn himself has pronounced as pretty
   darn accurate. Unlike the Aztec calendar, the Mayan calendar goes back
   for millions of years. The Mayan cycle of the Long Count is
   approximately the length of time for a cycle of magic in the SR/ED
   world.
   
   The appearance of the Insect spirits in Earthdawn was viewed as a
   harbinger of the Scourge (the Scourge is the time when the Horrors
   walk the Earth). Note that Harlequin again is having trouble
   convincing his peers of the threat of early Horrors. "So you have
   seen!" probably means that he's spent time personally trying to
   convince people, such as Hecate, and apparently he's not doing so hot.
   
   
   p. 94
   Dunkelzahn's comment is that the power behind Atzcapotzalco is the one
   who is getting the life energy.
   
   p. 96
   More on how the Irish Elves are being opposed by the Catholic Church.
   Note that Harlequin's comment lends credence to the idea that
   Brightlight is from the Irish Tir.
   
   p. 98
   Ehran is wondering what that means ("This spellworm -- was he
   alone?"). Dunkelzahn wants him to stay quiet and figure out that the
   mage was probably sacrificing other people to cast the spell.
   
   p. 100
   Once again, Lady Deigh almost spills the identity beans. She's also
   commenting on the activities of Harlequin's Back.
   
   The Place Harlequin's mentioning is the first encounter on his Astral
   Quest, to all appearances a post-Scourge Seattle where all
   spellcasting is done through blood magic.
   
   Lady Deigh's comments on the "surrogates" refers to how it was
   discovered that various incarnations of Harlequin were found across
   the metaplanes, all involved in the quest to stop the Horrors one way
   or another. Harlequin was opposed in Harlequin's Back by an Aztlan
   mage, by the way.
   
   Ehran is implying that whoever is teaching the Aztechs their magic is
   doing so so that the nation of Amazonia, who is right next door, won't
   suspect any immortal (or even Horror) influence in doing so.
   
   Harlequin makes a comment about Hecate and dangerous blood magic
   again.
   
   p. 102
   Note that Dunkelzahn considers "his kind" to be only Great Dragons.
   
   Jungle Cat's comment is a reference to the Fourth World. Among other
   things, hydras were created by an elven experiment in dragon blood
   magic (the dragons were not particularly pleased).
   
   Harlequin's comment echoes one he made in Harlequin's Back. The
   Horrors may need a high mana level to come, but they can survive with
   a much lower once once they're here.
   
   p. 103
   The implications of foveae to SR/ED magical theory are beyond the
   scope of these Annotations.
   
   Note that Hecate once again has apparently used willingly pretty bad
   blood magic herself. This almost certainly makes her a Blood Elf...
   but which one?
   
   Ehran is trying to make peace; his country, Tir Tairngire, apparently
   contains elements of all three major elven powers in the Fourth World
   (Blood Wood, Thera, and the neutral elves).
   
   p. 106
   No idea how Ehran knows of what's going to happen in Bogota. He does
   have a retreat in Amazonia, though.
   
   p. 110
   The "weapon in Chicago" was the nuclear blast in the novel Burning
   Bright, which Ares used to try and kill a mondo-major Insect spirit
   hive.
   
   The irony of Lofwyr, the Great Dragon who owns Saeder-Krupp and who
   sits on the ruling council of Tir Tairngire, owning a nuclear weapon
   is not apparent. Perhaps he may be willing to use it on Aztlan?
   
   p. 114
   Jungle Cat is obviously involved in some of the great reforestation
   magics going on in Amazonia. What "Great Rituals" are is unspecified;
   probably spells of Circle 13 or higher in ED terms.
   
   Harlequin's comment on death bringing on new life is very close to how
   the Earth always survives the Scourge.
   
   Hecate obviously used some form of horrible blood magic to survive the
   Scourge. Ehran is obviously horrified by the blood magic. The magic in
   question must be the Ritual of Thorns.
   
   Deigh's comment on "third or fourth stage Lesser Rituals" does not
   have enough context to analyze.
   
   Cat's comment about the Locus is to reassure Harlequin that he will
   not have to do another astral quest to shut down a Horror bridge
   because of the Amazonian actions.
   
   Once again, Deigh's age becomes a point of sniping.
   
   p. 130
   In "Nosferatu," the Zulu elves were often associated with lion shamans
   and other big cats. Umsondo's comment about that is another clue that
   he is Zulu. In Earthdawn, Awakened lions are one of the major
   anti-Horror beasts, having a glowing eyesight that can cause pain to
   Horrors.
   
   p. 172-173
   The comments here will be dealt with in order.
   
   Umsondo's comment on the "moment of suggested return" is a reference
   to Dunkelzahn forcing the conversation back on track when it got
   sidetracked with Atzcapotzalco. His comment on "construct" is
   important, and will be dealt with later.
   
   Note that now Dunkelzahn even comments on Hecate's previous use of
   terrible magic.
   
   
   
   Now, on to "construct": A techical term in the Fourth World was that
   of a Horror construct. Most Horrors have the ability to, in Shadowrun
   terms, basically turn any form of life, sentient or not, into toxic
   forms of itself. These forms can be as hideous and brutal as the
   Horror's magic and desires allow it to be -- or they can be
   specialized and quiet, to act as the Horror's agents. Only a powerful
   Horror is capable of turning a metahuman into a Horror construct (and
   only the most powerful can do so to a dragon), but Umsondo apparently
   believes, along with Dunkelzahn, that Atzcapotzalco is a Horror
   construct. The implications? That a Horror is, indeed, running
   Aztechnology one way or another, be it through a Construct or a
   Horror-marked dragon, or even manifest itself in the heart of the main
   temple. It should be noted that in the Paranormal Animals of Europe
   book, it is said that Aztlan is very thick with Wraiths. Wraiths are,
   as per Earthdawn, a very weak form of Horror. The implications are
   clear, even if it's made with irony that the only two elves who are
   apparently going to do anything really big about this are the old foes
   Harlequin and Ehran -- a Horror nests inside the Big A. What you do
   with it in your campaign is up to you.
   
   For what it's worth, most Horrors are able to create Undead with a
   flick of their mental willpower, so even if Atzcapotzalco isn't a
   construct, he could very easily be kept alive beyond his years as an
   undead. The only sticker for this story is that Ehran and Jungle Cat,
   both powerful mages from the Fourth World, met with Atzcapotzalco and
   apparently didn't assense any Horror-taint on him at all. This is the
   sign that either the Horror hypothesis is either partially wrong, or
   that it's a _really_ powerful Horror sitting in the Pyramid.
   
   One final note: some people on this list were wondering if Hecate is
   Aztlan. She's not -- she's almost certainly a Blood Elf.
   
   Well, there's my analysis. Probably overdone and underused, but make
   of it what you will. And happy hunting.
   
   -- David R. Henry-Rogue Fan Club /// Closing Theme: Flying Home or
   Blue Monk? "All you of Earth are IDIOTS!"-P9fOS / What was the
   question? -- Kate Bush dhenry@plains.nodak.edu * Evolution: Give it
   some time, it'll grow on ya.
   
   Return to the Rant Page
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
    Comments or questions to kilroy@ntr.net