Yollotl

(yo-llot)

Summary

A kind of spirit only seen in the context of childbirth and the struggles surrounding it. Yollotls are existences born from mothers who died in childbirth, those who saw their infants die in their arms, and the deep, self-sacrificing prayers many give so that their children could live. They often appear as the vague, undefined upper half of a body, dressed in the clothing of motherhood: medicinal shawls, shoulder blankets, and other light apparel. They also possess charms of life and fortune that infants are adorned with, to better help them survive.   Life and death are not far apart on Veltrona, most of all for those without access to good medical care. Childbirth is a serious business, even for monsterkind and their fantastic physical abilities. Great care, time, and attention goes into ensuring a stable pregnancy and a healthy outcome. It is the hopes of a wonderful family, and the despair of failure, that gives meaning to the yollotl. By seeking out the most unfortunate of mothers-to-be, it gives blessings of strength and fortune to help make the impossible, possible. Yet such things greatly diminish their strength, and so the yollotls cannot endure for long before finally fading away themselves. Often, the last of their strengths go to helping the newborns, blessing them with vigor and potential for a great life.   Of all spirits, the yollotl are perhaps the least, but every mother has a way of praying to them or the divine they represent. It is in the brief intersection between life and death that birth happens, and so the yollotl shepherd them through. For those without doctors, medical mages, riches, or resources, the yollotl is their last bastion of hope. So it is many offer worship, prayers, and sacrifices to draw yollotl or empower them to do the impossible. Those who dwell in Etzli Cuauhtla pray deeply for their boons in such an unforgiving land.