First thing’s first: I’m changing my House’s name to plain old
Grey. There are enough zatls in this game already
.
Now, for a little color:
*****
With the sun high in the sky, Eazu milled about the communal hall with his fellow Atzlans. The news was both intriguing and troubling: a power struggle in the Land of Gems to the north.
---
When Joatzli had proposed a hierarchy of ownership to the fellow peasants who toiled the Land of Gems, many had been skeptical. "None shall be forced to toil for another!" they had said. "Men are blessed as equals under the gods!"
Joatzli had said our wealth as Atzlans was accumulating, and chaos would result without an order of enlightened minds. "When one leads others, the others will stand ever taller, even in the shadow of the one who leads. Awarding citizenship to those of deserved repute will result in peace and prosperity for all, and the glory of the gods." Others disagreed, and thus the debate continued, with increasing vitriol. The conflict threatened to turn bloody, which finally convinced those undecided that order must indeed be imposed. Joatzli was named owner of all land from which the gems could be pulled, and the peasants began to leave to their toil, a few kept behind to speak to Joatzli in a small council.
But no sooner had the council begun than one of the dismissed peasants, a youth of House Chacultepec who had been the greatest of Joatzli's opponents, approached Joatzli and spat at the ground, furious:
"Joatzli, your presumption brings disgrace to our people. If our folk must be led, then the leader shall not be merely he who suggested it first; all of the affected must have a say. By nightfall, return to this spot with those who
truly will to follow your order, and I will bring those who would deem me better. No blood shall be shed, but he with most support shall be blessed by Texcatlipoca as Citizlan of this Land." The youth then stormed off without allowing a response.
---
Back in the Land of Yilfruit (which some had come to call "bananas") where Eazu heard the news, he could hardly contain his surprise. Only yesterday had he sat with his friend Cuautlequetzqui speaking of the same new idea.
----
"Eazulotl, the bounty of Atlzan is so great, and your people so brilliant and industrious," Cuautlequetzqui had said. "They deserve more than this simple life of gathering. This falls to us, my friend. You and I can bring the Aztecs the world, if we only ask for their trust to lead them. The gods would call it destiny."
Eazu laughed. "Two corrections to that, Monkqui." Cuautlequetzqui flushed at the nickname, which no others dared call him. "First, your fantasies know no bounds, and you may yet change the world, to hear it from you. Second, the Aztecs are hardly
my people. You were not born among us, but Atzlan owes much to you, and I but act as your messenger.”
“Very well, the Aztecs are our people. Our calling remains unchanged.”
“Mind your intentions, Cuautl,” said Eazu, more seriously. “The Aztecs are indeed our people. Not because we own them, but because we belong to them.”
“Very well, Eazu Greybeard,” Cuautlequetzqui jabbed, playfully -- Eazu had, from youth, grown natural silver-grey hair. “To lead is to serve. But think on what I have said.”
“I will.”
----
Yet the instant Joatzli stepped forward, he [OOC: she?] was challenged. If this is the fate of rulers, then ill betide those who rule. It seems Cuautl was wrong, thought Eazu.
His flights of fancy do take him ever farther without a foil to ground his thoughts. Perhaps I should visit him at the pyramid and shake him to his senses before he gets us both killed.
Of course, the gods had already chosen a different path for Eazu, Cuautlequetzqui, and the rest of the Aztecs. How different history might have been if Eazulotl had convened in the meeting house just a few hours earlier, reached Cuautlequetzqui before his excavation of the pyramid, and stopped his friend from taking up the gold-and-jade mantle of the First Tlatoani.
For a runner from the east, laden with the weight of a shoulder-bound satchel, soon broke the eager socializing of those at the house. Eazu recognized the runner; he was one who tilled the farms at the foot of the pyramid, and one who was always present at the fire to listen to Cuautlequetzqui’s tales of the gods. The runner was out of breath, but it was unclear whether fear or excitement had driven him to exhaustion.
“Eazulotl of House Grey!” the man with the satchel said. “Urgent news of Cuautlequetzqui! I was told to deliver this to you, with a message.” The runner set the satchel on the ground, and only then did Eazu guess to its contents. The satchel was round, and as far across as a woman’s waist -- just the size of a man’s head. Eazu thought the worst.
“Cuautl...sacrificed in the festival of Hutzilopochtli?”
“No, Eazulotl,” the runner replied. He reached into the satchel and retrieved a handful of brilliant, heavy, gold coins. “Your friend...is now a god. We bow before him now as the great Tenochtitlan, resplendent in the glory of Tezcatlipoca. He sends you, who he calls his greatest friend among men, this gift.”
The house was silent, and Eazu squinted at the sunlight glinting off of the coins. When he looked up, he saw that all others had backed away from him. All eyes in the house stared for a long time. Finally, one woman spoke.
“So, Eazulotl. Will you now rule us, as Joatzli rules the Gem people and Cuautl means to rule us all?” Her dark eyes and her frown made it clear her opinion on the matter.
Eazu returned her gaze, and saw in it the rage of a wild she-wolf being shown a leash. Not all those in the house shared this feeling, he knew, but enough did that his fate would be not unlike Joatzli’s if he named himself Citizlan. Someday, perhaps, the Yilfruit people would consent to be ruled, but not easily. And not today.
After another long pause, Eazu spoke to all present, but especially to his challenger with the dark eyes.
“No, I will not. If Cuautl is now Tenochtitlan, a god among men, then we shall all follow him. But what fits the Gem people need not fit us. The yilfruit are plentiful, and hold enough wealth that our food need not be rationed, or paid as tribute to any Citizlan.
“And this gold belongs not to me alone, but to all who love Atzlan and wish to see us all prosper. To any who will, I bid for you to gather extra yilfruit today and bring it here, to this meeting house. I will add to this cache the reserves of my own House Grey, and have it guarded as my own. The yilfruit at the house will serve to feed those who need it, and those who take once should the next day, or the next moon, bring their own surplus to replenish what they have taken for their own need. In this way, all will be fed and Tlaloc shall be glorified.”
“What about the gold?” Someone interjected.
Eazu smirked, having been carried away with the details of the yilfruit stash. “To those who gather this today, I shall gift with these gold pieces blessed Monq...er...Tenochtitlan.”
The crowd exchanged glances, puzzled at the exchange that was offered. Then one boy pushed his way forward, carrying a bunch of yilfruit almost larger than himself. He hefted it to the floor of the house in front of Eazu, taking none for himself.
“Exactly,” Eazu said. And he handed the boy one of the gold coins.
As the crowd hastily dissolved, chatting and gossiping amongst themselves and exchanging tips for yilfruit gathering, Eazu looked again for the woman with the dark eyes, the one who had challenged him. But she was gone.
*****
For his first action in Session 1, Eazulotl will
purchase 10 food, spending 30 of House Grey’s gold. Ceskari’s action of gold-gifting should occur before Eazulotl’s food-purchase because Cuautl is more famous than Eazu, so this shouldn’t be a problem.
But please let me know if I’ve misread something, yahzuk! (I can do this in the evening instead if necessary, but it doesn’t fit the narrative as well
.)
OOC: I realize all that stuff up in Gem Land wasn't strictly my story to tell, but if anyone up in 1-NW wants to retell Jehoshua’s challenge differently, then we can say that the story changed in transit between hexes, like a game of telephone.
Also yeah, that got pretty long. Maybe next time I won’t feel the need to incorporate
every action submitted thus far.
and as such it is a violation the natural order that I serve JoanK. On this however, I will like to say to the gem people, that if I do become their lord, so long as they don't act against me I wont randomly sacrifice them to Huitzilopochtli or oppress them too much. If you happen to come under my dominion then keep out of my way in other words.
(place = gem tile). I am fairly confident that my challenge will succeed in other words, although I have put the 'if' qualifier in and restrict myself to hypothesising on what would happen if I do succeed. 
