As news of Ixepillo's death spread, enemies of the Tacan took notice. The Tacan still made Zahua chieftain, but doubt lingered at the back of his mind. However, before Ixepillo taught him the final secrets of the Nalpazca, he died of old age. Although Zahua still trained with the other instructors, sparred and meditated with his Nalpazca brothers and sisters, and learned from all of them, he received the chieftain's privilege as well: Learning from Ixepillo the secrets that could grant mastery over reality, invincibility in combat. As the last chieftain had died over the winter and no other arised from among the Nalpazca yet, he was brought before Ixepillo, the great master of the Nalpazca, and became his pupil. She saw Zahua as chieftain, leading a host of Nalpazca warriors to victory over the Quechmatl, a rival tribe. But eventually they were forced to accept him: The Tacan high priestess had a vision after tripping on malcachoa and several other choice drugs. As a result, Zahua was lazy, uncoordinated, overweight. In his own words, in all that time spent dreaming, he had not thought to prepare. Three times he tried to join their ranks and was refused each time. They did not feel the same about him, however. Zahua was the youngest of five children, a dreamer eneamored with the Nalpazca. They can grow crops or they can become Nalpazca warriors. ![]() Zahua comes from an agrarian people known as the Tacan that dwells in the Ixamitl Plains to the north. (Perhaps with a little too much cheer for some people's taste.) Early history While some might see that as a grim or depressing viewpoint, from Zahua's perspective, suffering is a thing of beauty, to be admired and revered, and he is often able to appreciate situations that would dishearten most others. Above all, he believes in suffering as the path to enlightenment, and nearly every inch of his body is covered in scars - mostly self-inflicted. Zahua is the greatest living practitioner of Nalpazca beliefs, and even as the watcher meets him, he is in continual pursuit of their ideals, which he believes will transform him into an unbeatable combatant. ![]() By his own admission, Zahua was resting his eyes and waiting for a revelation. Covered head-to-toe in scars - tears and punctures and the thorny imprints of lashings, most faded, like old memories, the man's condition is otherwise remarkable, the drooping skin at his flanks and elbows the only evidence of his advanced age. Upon inspection he leaps from the barrel, nearly naked save for a loincloth, and drizzled in fish viscera. ![]() A seemingly random encounter in Stalwart Village leads the Watcher to an encounter with a man hiding in a fish barrel, beneath layers upon layers of fish.
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