Tlecoyanism

The Nenonotzaliztli symbol denotes those who uphold the covenant with Lord Fire. In the modern day it is used to represent Tlecoyanism and its adherents.

The Nenonotzalitlacoani symbol of the pact breaker is used to denote sinners as well as heathens. In modern Tlecoyanism it symbolizes the Sarpetic religions such as Nazarism and Fabrianism.

Tlecoyanism, also known as the Sacred Covenant (Nahuatl: Teotlacemitoliztli), is a henotheistic religion based on the teachings of the nahuatl-speaking prophet Tletlacatli who lived in ancient Zacapican. The faith emerged along with its founding prophet in the second millennium BCE some time after the settlement the of the migratory Nahua people on the Zacaco plain, making it one of the oldest surviving religions in the world. It served as the state religion for the ancient and medieval Zacapitec empires and was spread across southern Oxidentale by Nahua armies and colonists as they expanded from their homeland in the Zacaco. Through the long history of the region, conversion to Tlecoyanism has often gone hand in hand with the process of assimilation to Nahua culture undertaken by many native peoples of southern Oxidentale over the thousands of years of Nahua rule there. Tlecoayanist ideas were also spread along maritime trade routes to Malaio and the Ozeros countries beginning in the 15th century. In modern-day Zacapican, the state is secular and divorced from the Tlecoyanist clergy and its religious affairs. However, Tlecoyanism remains by far the most widespread religion in southern Oxidentale and is deeply engrained within Zacapitec culture and one of the world's major international faiths.

In Tlecoyanist mythology, a benevolent fire god known as the Flame (Cuezatzin) or more commonly as Lord Fire (Xiuhtotecuiyo), a god who belongs to a broader pantheon of primordial gods and mythical figures which Tlecoyanists recognize but do not worship, is believed to have secretly gifted blessed fire ( Tlateochihualtletl) to a race of animalistic proto-humans who lived in caves and had white pupils and rough scaly skin. This imbued them with fiery souls and caused their skin to become soft and their eyes to darken which allowed them to leave the caves in which they lived. However, the other primordial gods discovered Lord Fire's violation of the natural order and attempted to destroy him and return humanity to its soulless, animalistic form. A dying Lord Fire spoke to wanderer named Tletlacatli, who became his messenger to the humans who had begun to build the first civilization amidst the wild lands. Tletlacatli told the humans that Lord Fire could no longer sustain the fire within their souls which kept them from death or devolution, and taught them to command fire of their own to sustain themselves and save the first civilization. In carrying the word of Lord Fire and saving the tribes of man Tletlacatli became the first Fire-Bringer (Tlecoyani), a messianic figure serving as prophet of fire and savior of humanity. Out of gratitude for Lord Fire, the tribes of man struck an eternal pact with Lord Fire to keep the god alive through sacrifice and ritual in exchange for his continued protection and patronage of mankind. The Tlecoyanist scriptures and sacred codices (Teoamoxtli) are taken as the word of the Tlecoyani relaying knowledge of the divine, detailing the creation of the universe, the pantheon of gods and sprits including Lord Fire and his enemies, as well as the requests and wishes of Lord Fire for humanity which serve as the outline for Tlecoyanist practice and belief.

Beliefs

The cosmology and belief system of Tlecoyanism establishes a fundamentally unjust dualistic world in which positive constructive forces (Yecyotl) are perpetually undermined and worn down by destructive forces of decay or evil (Poyotl). It is believed that the creation of the universe broke the neutral balance of the un-existing void and so brought both yecyotl and poyotl into being with yecyotl being initially ascendant. Tlecoyanist eschatology therefore predicts that the universe will end with poyotl eventually reducing yecyotl back down to nothing, destroying everything that exists and in so doing also eliminating the destructive forces themselves in a return to the neutral void. The deities, demigods and spirits of the diverse Tlecoyanist pantheon are in general neither purely positive nor entirely negative and act according to both yecyotl and poyotl at different times. This is illustrated by the dual supreme being of the pantheon, Lord Sun (Tonatiuhtecuhtli) the ruler of the day and Lady Moon (Metztlicihuatl) the ruler of the night who represent the force of yecyotl and poyotl respectively and who were once part of a neutral whole called Teotlachihualli, which is translated as "original creation" or "the first child". The splitting of Teotlachihualli into Tonatiuhtecuhtli and Metztlicihuatl is the event which created the universe, which some modern Tlecoyanists associate with the scientific theory of the big bang.

As positive and negative energies proliferated in the new universe after its creation, the primordial world took shape and with it the first generation of deities took shape. These were for the most part cruel and unforgiving deities representing uncontrolled forces of nature which often clashed against one another. The course of this primeval turmoil is what determined the formation of wild animals and plants and the innate essence of the untamed natural world. A race of proto-humans (Inayatlacatli) emerged as part of this world, and were not created by any particular deity but were instead shaped by the competing natural forces of the primordial gods and were no different than any wild animal. The Inayatlacatli are said to have had blackened skin covered in scales and rough patches, protruding snouts, long tails and eyes with white pupils which could not bear to look at the daytime sky. They lived inside caves and ventured out at night to forage, moving mostly on all fours. The Inayatlacatli were just as intelligent as later humans, and could use implements and devise tricks but were possessed of such savagery that they could think only of survival and did not produce art or try to improve their tools or transform their surroundings as humans do. Despite this, they were the most clever of the savage creatures on the surface of the world which caused Lord Fire, the most creative of the primordial gods, to take an interest in them and later develop an affinity for the Inayatlacatli.