The Chikan Jungle

As hot as Itharan summers, but as blessed with rain as Ogygian autumns, the Chikan is a dense forest of towering trees and vines. Few roads run through the jungle, and wild beasts unseen in any other part of the world hide in the multilayered trees and low-lying clouds, so one may be forgiven for thinking that civilization has left this land untouched. Yet the choking jungle hides the great cities of the twin peoples of the Chikan: the frog-like cueyatl and the bat-like tzotzil.

The people of the Chikan live in tentative peace, though their history begins with conflict. They say that two primordial titans came to this land in ages past: Tlaltecuhtli, Lord-Lady of the Earth, a mountainous amphibian who claimed both sea and land; and Qʼuqʼumatz, the Resplendent Serpent, a snake with many feathered wings who ruled the wind and rain. The titans were saddened at the lack of life in the beautiful jungle, but could not agree on what should populate it.

Tlaltecuhtli birthed poisonous frogs, but Q'uq'umatz cursed them with an inability to survive in the saltwater of their parent, and instead to rely on his fresh rains. Q'uq'umatz crafted rainbow-hued birds from his feathers, but Tlaltecuhtli cursed their feathers to fall off and made the sun's light blinding to them. The titans' bickering grew to war: as their children took their first steps, Q'uq'umatz smashed Tlaltecuhtli beneath a great mountain, and Tlaltecuhtli released a last bellow that burst Q'uq'umatz's body into mist and stormclouds.

Whether or not the tale is true, the cueyatl and the tzotzil each hold a resentment for the other's parent, but also an understanding that theirs were not blameless either. Both remain separate but civil for now, trading with those who pass through their home while keeping watch for any who would threaten it.