character
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ii.
This character is a sort of exploration into the socioeconomic weight of drug cartels where a Robin Hood pretense seems to exist and perpetuate a movement in favor of extreme and often horrific measures of economic equality. Drug cartels often justify their violence by calling it necessary to obtain stability in an otherwise unstable country suffering widespread poverty, oppression, and governmental corruption. By giving richer nations the drugs they crave, they amass cosmic shitloads of money and filter it into their communities so that their public might enjoy better lives. The catch-22 here is that in order to maintain a clear route to their markets, they often murder and terrorize their white-knighting countrymen, effectively creating chaos and the famous vehicle of public fear you're familiar with today.
It’s also worth noting that an egocentric celebration of oneself often precedes the Robin Hood impression, and in some ways, the charity is almost a roundabout excuse for the self-obsessed behavior of many capos and halcones. Narco-corridos (or drug ballads), songs personalized for specific cartel members, celebrate their intense lifestyle and are incredibly popular in Mexico and the southwestern United States. The very public that is often terrorized, abducted, and extorted by these cartels also sings their praises. It's a special kind of irony and it's worth writing about. -
iii.
Why a shapeshifter?
A major influence in this character's creation was my interest in ancient Mesoamerican mythology, particularly the intense culture of the Aztecs. Their symbolic relationship with jaguars and the idea of an honorable death inspired my choice to weave the Nahuatl legend of the naguals into his history. While I've deliberated keeping him simple and reducing him to just a human narco, I think the trickster nature of the nagual would interplay well with the cartel themes I'm going for.
With that being said, I actually consider Rios (and naguals in general) a sort of cambion. The Aztecs worshipped many different deities, some of which had a close entourage of spirits easily identifiable as demons. His mother was a curandera, so take it from there. -
iv.
What is a nagual?
Naguals are historically represented as people with the ability to change their physical form into an animal, most often donkeys, dogs, owls, bats, small cats, or turkeys. On the rarer spectrum they could also shift into jaguars or pumas. The Aztecs had an idea that individuals born on specific days were bound to specific animal or environmental spirits called tonalism. The tonalpohualli is a sacred calendar based on a day-count system. The Aztec people would use this calendar to properly worship their deities as certain rituals required very specific days of practice. They believed their gods were constantly warring for power and that to make an error on the tonalpohualli would mean cosmic destruction and an end to all existence.
That sounds like a were-creature.
While on the basis of being a shapeshifter, the nagual sounds like a class of were-creature, it doesn't subscribe to any lunar cycle or contagion mechanic. A bite or attack from a nagual will not trigger nagualism in the victim. Likewise, naguals don't appear to have acute allergic reactions to substances like silver or wolfsbane.
Why cambions?
A lot of people regarded naguals as shapeshifting witches, usually evil by nature. I think there's a lot of overlap with the belief systems where the idea of a cambion (half human, half demon) feels appropriate for what's being described. I like to think that a lot of the same figures, ideas, and forces are represented in different ways across cultures, especially those touching on cosmic or divine natures. The ritualistic lifestyle present in Mesoamerican civilizations (especially the Aztecs, who were consumed and infatuated with these practices in order to maintain the equilibrium of their universe) opens a lot of opportunity for divine interference in everyday life. I think that the legend of the nagual condition appropriates this interference, where deities or their agents (read: demons) played a part in their creation. It works with the gods' constant fight for power that they'd have agents in the mortal realm, and a common historical feature of demonology is the melding of beast and man. Demons are often depicted as half human, half animal abominations, and a majority of them have the ability to shift into one or several animal forms.
Given the parallels, I view naguals as cambions and play Rios accordingly. Because he isn't aware of the extent of his condition, he doesn't actually realize he's half demon. I haven't yet decided if I ever want this to happen.
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v.
wip im a nerd -
4rt
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