By Adam Cieszlak; Inspired by Azog the Defiler

*We saw it while we were sifting through some noble’s sarcophagus - the creature padded up into our light, casual as can be, as if it owned the place. It was hideous: a bare, fleshless skull and horrible, taloned claws for hands; but it wore fine clothes and a headdress that would make any Draji warrior envious. When it opened its jaw to speak… by Ral, that voice! It was both strangely alluring and inhumanly menacing.

I no longer recall what it said to us, I was too busy running and screaming. I never ran so fast in my life. I think I might have not been the one it was focused upon, as I was the only one who made it out. I’ll never forget their screams as they were drowned out by monstrous sounds of cracking and tearing…I’m never going back there, I tell you. Huh? The tomb? No, anywhere east of Raam! I want nothing to do with that creature. - Serzat the Sly, former mercenary

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Tzitzimitl is a female kaisharga who dwells in a tomb complex located a few miles outside of Draj. The complex, known as Tamoanchan when it was in use, fell out of favor with the Draji long ago and is now all but forgotten.

In life, Tzitzimitl served as a royal defiler in Tectuktitlay’s court. Obsessed with amassing as much power as possible, she arranged to be tutored in the Way soon after being appointed as one of Tectuktitlay’s royal defilers. As her command of the Way improved, Tzitzimitl realized that the sorcerer-kings were nothing more than powerful defiler/psionicists, and grew to see herself as a potential rival to Tectuktitlay.

It was during this period that Tzitzimitl crossed the path of Ixchel, a junior moon priest. They met briefly during a sacrificial ceremony, but that was all it took - within days, the two women were stealing away from their duties to be together. At first, the pair kept their affair secret simply because it was exciting and new, but they quickly decided it was best to conceal their relationship for fear that it would be seen as an alliance in preparation for a coup, rather than a love affair.

The couple was right to be paranoid, however, for Tectuktitlay knew of Tzitzimitl’s designs for his throne and had her assassinated (though he had not yet learned of the defiler’s relationship with Ixchel). The sorcerer-king had plans of his own for the defiler: preparations were already under way to have her raised as a kaisharga, in order to permanently bind her to his will. However, he was suddenly called away and was later revealed to have perished fighting Rajaat before Tzitzimitl could be reanimated.

Bereft of both her love and her lord, Ixchel set out to explore Tectuktitlay’s palace in search of either the sorcerer-king or Tzitzimitl. Deep beneath the palace, she found Tzitzimitl’s preserved body and a magical scroll containing the kaisharga ritual; Ixchel wasted no time reanimating Tzitzimitl.

Both were glad to be reunited, but the couple’s reunion was cut short when Tzitzimitl learned that Tectuktitlay had vanished and was presumed dead. She saw that this was her chance, and insisted that Ixchel help her seize the Draji throne. The moon priest refused, however, instead begging her lover to hide herself away and bide her time. To the surprise of them both, Tzitzimitl relented, allowing Ixchel to secret her away in a disused necropolis outside the city, where the moon priest has asked her to stay hidden until they could figure their situation out.

Ixchel is now a highly placed moon priest, and visits Tzitzimitl as often as possible, bringing slaves and disgraced warriors to feed her lover’s need for blood. Ixchel believes that Tzitzimitl is stashing the bodies deeper in the crypt to avoid notice, but the kaisharga is actually reanimating the dead in secret, slowly but steadily building an army.

Since her rebirth as an undead, Tzitzimitl has learned to draw power for her spells from the Gray and has become obsessed with undeath, now considering herself a death goddess who has come to replace Draj’s dead god-king - and his obviously false god-king of a “son” Atzetuk. Tzitzimitl has amassed quite an army of the dead, and plans to use it to “liberate” Draj from the boy-king’s “misrule”, but is waiting for a sign that the time is right.

For her part, Ixchel feels the situation in Draj slipping more and more out of her grasp every day. Between the gnawing absence of her templar abilities, the growing powers of the boy-king Atzetuk, and the efforts of the psionicists at the House of the Mind to further marginalize or completely replace the moon priests, Ixchel considers asking for her lover’s assistance more and more each day.

Though neither of them realize it, such a request is exactly the sign that Tzitzimitl is waiting for, and will release a plague of undead warriors on the living inhabitants of Draj.