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Associated Powers: Epic Appearance, Epic Charisma,
Epic Manipulation, Earth, Itztli
Abilities: Art, Craft, Empathy, Investigation, Medicine,
Politics
Rivals: Huitzilopochtli; Aphrodite, Bastet, Erzulie,
Freya, Raiden
XIPE TOTEC
Description: God of maize and of seeds growing
in the earth, Xipe Totec represents death transforming
into new life. Like all the Atzlánti, he requires at least
some blood to do his work, but he also needs a human
or animal skin. Indeed, many of his most powerful arts
rely upon wearing the skin of a sacrificial victim. Once
he wears this gruesome garment over his own golden
flesh, Xipe Totec is able to make gold out of nothing,
to bring seeds to fruition in the ground, to command
disease and health, to turn the seasons and to drive any
titanspawn—or even Titan—from his way. In addition,
he is able to take on the mortal attributes and skills of
the specific being whose skin he wears. When laced into
the skin, as a woman might be laced into a corset, he is
able to become that person fully and completely.
In modern times, Xipe Totec likes being an actor
and a musician. He likes being on stage and performing
for people, though his acts are usually shocking to the
audience and bloody, as he prefers to show the process of
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life, death and rebirth of which he is the God. He’s also
labored as a gardener, a landscape architect, a farmer and
a rancher. People remember him as a loner who tends to
keep to himself for long stretches in wintertime, while
becoming gregarious and open in the spring, summer
and autumn. Usually, he throws a huge party in mid-to-
late March. One of his guests goes missing from this party
for a time—at least until Xipe Totec can get comfortable
in his new skin. He’s got a million of them.
Xipe Totec’s children are equally interested in natural
cycles of death and rebirth. They work with DNA and
longevity treatments in laboratories, write poetry and
novels designed to bring them a kind of immortality,
engage in sexual acts specifically to bring forth as many
children as possible and seed riotous gardens designed
to produce as many hybrid plants as possible. They also
chew their fingernails and bite their cuticles, and engage
in deep psychoanalysis and past life regression therapy,
looking to find out who they really are. They take on new
roles and discard them easily, often becoming the spies
and informants of the pantheon, but are never really
quite comfortable in their own skins.
Associated Powers: Epic Stamina, Death, Fertility,
Guardian, Health, Itztli
Abilities: Craft, Fortitude, Integrity, Larceny, Medicine,
Survival
Rivals: Quetzalcoátl; Anubis, Shango, Sif, Susano-o,
Zeus
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