Fantasy Mesoamerica Session Advice

The party consists of a selfish mailman who pockets the gifts of the intended mail recipients, a druidess who has been wandering the region, and a paladin from the NOT Europe capital city.

We've played once so far.

The paladin is investigating the disappearance of some frontier settlers, and has enlisted the mailman, since he carries post throughout the region, and the druidess since she is familiar with the wildlife.

They've found the bodies of half of the missing settlers around a serpent headed shrine, but we called the night before they ventured inside.

>>54408472

>Eagle warriors are actual part-eagle, part-man creatures
>Giant psyco-active toads
>Not¡Measoamerican spellcasters are basically shamans and blood mages
>There are lots of legends regarding the fauna of Not¡Mesoamerica, so lots of Not¡Europeans go there to try hunt down monsters and get rich with their body parts

Can't think of anything else at the time. Good luck.

>>54408472
https://pastebin.com/5VLdcYzg
>Aztec Mythology info taken from a /tg/ thread

>Okay, its disappointing how little anyone in this thread actually seems to know about the Aztecs beyond HURR DURR SACRIFICES.

>Here is what you need to know, OP: the Aztecs believed they were the last remaining descendants of the chosen people, and the only ones left who could save the world.

>The world had already ended 4 times before, each time destroying the 'people' of that age with a unique calamity and paving the way for new life. Floods and shit like that.

>Our world already has an ending written for it. Eventually the sun god will die and the world will plunge into eternal night. In the darkness, monsters will descend from the stars and devour what walks the Earth. We dont know what, or if, the world that follows will be like.

>Aztec rituals are designed to buy us more time before this happens, usually by feeding the sun god, or generally check up on the health of the world. There is a fire ritual that they would do that asks if the world can end in the next 33 years. Not will or wont, but can or cannot.

>They had nationalized schooling, universal mandatory military service and a meritocratic system of climbing the socio-economic ladder.

>Any every other fucking tribe around them hated them and wanted them dead. They were a great Empire but it was doubtful they would have gone any further. That was why Cortez had a native army with many tens of thousands.

>>54412731
>Cosmic Horror. The whole idea behind human sacrifice is that human blood is the only thing that keeps the god's powers running, and the god's powers are the only thing keeping thousands of titanic skeletal demonic horrors from descending upon the world and devouring it.

>Also some of those demons had rattlesnakes for penises. Aztec Mythology was weird.

>DnD style empowerment fantasies would be a poor taste for this setting. A more survival horror type deal where the players have to decide to so some shitty things for the greater good, all while never really knowing whether or not what they're doing is enough. Something like Call of Cthulhu or mesoamerican Delta Green.

>I'd play it with the looming threat of universal annihilation being ever-present. Maybe something that's part of the skyline? A hole in reality, a planetoid-sized monster slowly approaching. They're soldiers/elite warriors from one of many kingdoms, and must make sacrifices to their gods regularly. I'd put them in situations where they may not want to kill these people. Won't work for a party of murderhobos but people who get into it will end up alone with a little orphan child and the ritual knife. They can, of course, choose not to. At first it seems like there's no effect. But every now and then something big gets through and they have to fight it off (preferably with heavy casualties) and wonder if they could have prevented all this.

>>54412750
>https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Human_sacrifice_in_Aztec_culture#/Sacrifices_to_specific_gods
>Some captives were sacrificed to Tezcatlipoca in ritual gladiatorial combat. The victim was tethered in place and given a mock weapon. He died fighting against up to four fully armed jaguar knights and eagle warriors.
>Thats fucking PC material if I ever saw it.

>Reminder that they escalated those fights, so he had already defeated at least sixteen warriors before they brougth on the 8 vs 1.

>Also he had won his freedom well before that point already, because jeez, that's more than enough blood for the gods and shit. But he was like: "Nah dudes, Immana die for the gods and become the pretty little hummingbird TODAY. BRING MORE WARRIORS!"

>>54408472
if you can find someone who is an expert on Azland and Aztechnology's faith and bestiary in shadowrun (most players and GMs don't learn much about them beyond what they need to use them as antagonists) they should be able to help you.