The Blood Cult/Myths/Tlahtocayotl
The following is the tale of the Old Governments from when the divine cohabited with the mortals.
When the fourth age was over and the Xenotl had to start thinking about rebuilding a home for themselves and assuring a more prosperous future, they decided to seek out the remaining Xelatl to arrange a mutually acceptable agreement. The Xelatl knew of the Xenotl's curse, so they agreed to meet in the center of the world to establish a system of life that would finally be sustainable. Negotiations went well, and so they decided to organize the living creatures of the world to make sure that they could all survive and contribute to the whole. The different species were handed out to various gods, and so many of them took the form of the creatures they were overlooking, but there was a certain divide over humanity, which had needed divine blood to be created. To further complexify the issue, there were Xunaotl's young tribes and Foatl's matriarchs which shared little in common, other than they were both being harassed by Caraoatl's clans. To solve their problems, they decided to form the Great Empire, the Hueyi Tlahtocayotl, which would be composed of a federation of the Tlahtocayotl of the Setting Sun (the matriarchs) and the Tlahtocayotl of the Setting Moon (the tribes) who'se capital would lay where they made the agreement, which they agreed to rise to the skies to be able to overlook the lands of the empire.
At mount Xiiuitl they erected a large step pyramid from which they would govern the lands and to which the faithful would pilgrim to make their offerings. However, they seldom made their presence felt, feeling that their creations would better prosper without their direct involvement, and so they use avatars, proxies, to extend their influence. At the head of the Hueyi Tlahtocayotl was the Teocoatl, the child of the greatest leader of the matriarchs and the greatest warrior of the tribes, birthed and raised by Hiacaotl to represent the will of the gods on earth. Under him to reign as political leaders, there was two Hueyi Tlatoani, the highest Matriarch of the Setting Sun and the greatest warrior of the Setting Moon, which in turn were regularly elected by the Tlatoani of the Altepetls (the matriarchs and the leaders of the tribes). The gods delegated downwards as much as they could to promote autonomy, interfering only when needed, and so the citizens of the Hueyi Tlahtocayotl offered them gifts and homage and brought them captives of the clans to thank them for their increased quality of life.
It is unclear how this ceased to be, but it is written that at one point there was a schism between the Matriarchs and the Tribes, and that because the gods were no longer able to interfere for some reason the Teocoatl was unable to solve the issue. It is hinted that the Tribes defeated the Matriarchs before collapsing under their own weight, turning on each other as the menace of the clans seemed to have disappeared. It is believed that modern realms are the descendants of the Tribes, following long periods of transformation in which old traditions were forgotten and transformed.
