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The Names of Gods
From their creation every being and thing has a True Name. A name which describes what that thing is, which makes it unique from all other things and beings in this vast universe. That knowledge is inherently powerful. To know the True Name of a rock allows you to command it. To know the True Name of a man allows you to influence him. But to know the True Name of a god... that is something different altogether.
Throughout the history of the world there have been many gods; those that are dreamt up, created, and those that are indeed true gods. These have all been known by a multitude of names through a multitude of forms. But each of these - both those that did and did not truly exist - had a True Name. A name known only to few, or perhaps only themselves. You see, to know the True Name of a god... it grants the god absolute power over the one who knows it. It changes and mutates the one who knows into ways resembling the nature of that god.
And when that god is a true god, one of true power, it also grants great power. To resemble the nature of that god is to be closer to it, making the act of calling upon that god a much simpler task, one as easy as breathing. But why would a god hide it's True Name from a mortal?
The first is that they are often misheard and deformed, leading to a name which represents that god but is not that god's True Name. That god may be called by that name, but it is not his name. The second is the power that a True Name gives one god over another. To know the True Name of another god is to have doomed him. Because of this, the gods are cautious in allowing others to discover their True Names, often maintaining guises for eons to ensure the name remains buried.
There are those few mortals that are granted with this knowledge, however. They are often the wisest of the follower's of their god, and as such are blessed with this knowledge. They are granted this knowledge when it is known they will never reveal it to another; when their faith has become something greater than their own life. These are the mortals who receive the highest of rewards when they join their god's side. The commander of Xertol's armies, the hand maidens of Itzpapalotl and Yohuatocatl, and the most favored of the other gods; many of these, but far from all, know the True Name of their god. For you see, in all the eons they have existed, the True Name of any of the gods have been revealed barely a dozen times. These few, these champions of the divine, have been forgotten; their True Names nearly as powerful as the True Name of a god.
Arxantl and Xerotl
In the time after the birth of Arxantl the Xenotl came to realize a great danger to themselves: the daimons of Nethitlpl had grown to hate them, and with their blades of obsidian at his command, Arxantl would one day seek the vengeance of his people. The war with the young daimons had taught the Xenotl that they could not survive this coming war: they needed a champion.
In the aeons that the daimons rebuilt their civilization under the rule of Arxantl, the Xenotl found their champion. From the hearts and minds of their creations they took a small piece of their champion. Justice, order, power, and the unending desire for war. These they kept for a time.
As their creations waxed and waned there were those who stood above all others. Great kings, warriors, and heroes of men. As each of these reached the height of their power and passed on to the realm of Itzpapalotl, the Xenotl took the smallest portion of their greatness, holding each for later.
Eventually, the Xenotl amassed a great horde of these qualities. The Xenotl then traveled to a place beyond all worlds they had traveled to before: a place beyond even time and thought, where there was naught but chaos where they scattered the dark pieces of greatness they had collected for so long into the chaos.
As the chaos was filled the Xenotl were surprised to discover the chaos receeding. All they had amassed and scattered gathered together, forcing order upon the chaos. Shadow spread into every corner of this new realm of order, and from this shadow grew massive fortresses and towers. As the Xenotl watched, a new being formed in front of them, emerging from the shadows they had seeded. He was a dark thing to behold, both terrible and wonderful. In one hand he held an icy mace of great power, and in the other he held a great staff. On his shoulders rested a great serpent, the likes of which none have seen before.
The Xenotl named this warrior Xerotl and gave to him a small portion of the dead in the care of Itzpapalotl. With these dead he formed a great number of armies, choosing those great kings and heroes that had helped to create him as the marshals of these armies.
It is with these terrible Armies of Dark that Xerotl now waits for the second war with the daimons. That his kin may live, he will fight. Time passes, and the Lord of Shadow waits while his armies grow ever stronger.
