Culture in Nahuac

The people of Nahuac are dour and quiet in daily life, and consider all noise a nuisance—save for music and storytelling. Contrary to their low-key routine demeanor, Náhuidd love epic battles and epic tales, though they don’t believe so much in the written word. They prefer to tell the tales in the form of song or narrative, and fireplace gatherings to listen to popular sagas are the only thing they like almost as much as silence. A Náhuinn citizen can remain quiet for a full week, without uttering a single word, and then spend two straight days and nights singing along to the verses of their favorite heroic legend at the town festival.

Náhuidd are collectivists to a fault, naturally assuming that tradition stands over personal goals, that the law stands over the individual, and that the environment rules over the people. They gather in families, which associate with their more distant kin in clans, which in turn form tribes, joining apálid, or city-states.

Overview
Every Náhuinn individual has a role in their group and is expected to fulfill it. The lord of a city is as much a servant of the community as the farmers, as much a part of the city as the stones themselves. Each individual helps sustain those near them, and everyone is fully responsible for the lives of those they affect. Thus the realm is like a strong weave, like a linked chain that extends in every direction.

At every stage of their social organization, the Náhuidd respect the natural order and its cycles. They build walls and towns only where there’s enough wood or stone to do it without disturbing the surrounding life; they make their paints and perfumes based on animal scents and floral pigments; their buildings follow the arrangement of stars; their art and music imitate nature sounds; and their clothing imitates the wind, the mist and the clouds. By the same token, Náhuinn weeks and months are based on lunar phases, their seasons observe the position of stars and their years follow the full weather cycle.

Such a close interest in the rhythm and measure of natural forces has turned Nahuac into a nation of both superstition and study. By the laws of Kaab, the magical Source of Life, every color, every natural force and every season has a mystical meaning. And of course, there’s numbers. Náhuidd love their numbers, and their mathematical understanding borders on magic. They ascribe numerical meanings to everything, and a symbolic meaning to every number. While not all Náhuinn people have an interest in math, everyone knows the meaning of the most important or ‘powerful’ numbers, and those that do practice math are regarded as priests or wizards, who have developed incredibly complex operations and laws to explain, measure and predict everything through its numerical significance.

The Four Paths
The most important number in Náhuinn culture is Four, representing the Realm, the world and reality itself. And of all fourfold things, cardinal directions are the closest to the physical world.

As all things in nature, all forces, all numbers and all individuals, are defined not by themselves but by their relation to other forces, other individuals and other numbers, thus the Náhuidd see the world not in terms of static places, but of Paths. In Náhuinn culture, where you are is unimportant compared to where you’re facing and where you’re going. The Four Paths, which represent this basic idea, are one of the most important concepts of Náhuinn culture.

Each of the four directions, the Four Paths, has a specific meaning which all Náhuidd understand and respect.

Mígwin, the North Path
The North, or going North, represents cold, winter, death and endings. The North is white, as all things without color or time. Facing North means facing your death. It’s not an ill omen, but a show of bravery and focus. Reflecting on winter means walking towards old age, towards wisdom and closure.

In Makaab magic, spells with the North symbol are associated with life and death, with healing and disease. It also allows cold attacks and weather control.

In Xibac magic, the North means raising the dead and necromancy.

Ilwáin, the West Path
Going West means understanding, joy and spirituality. When you face or walk westward, you are going towards peace of mind and enlightenment - not towards rest, but towards true bliss, utmost accomplishment. Heaven and elevated states are of the West, as is gold and the color yellow.

The makaab tradition holds Westward glyphs to represent blessings and inspiration, allowing spells to summon light, good harvests and good fortune.

In Xibac magic, Ilwáin allows an extended life, increased knowledge and greater power.

Tlátain, The East Path
Going East means facing activity, war and conflict. It represents the will to live, to survive and to kill. When you eat and fight, when you feel anger and desire, you are facing east even if your body isn’t. East is the path of spring, of the Dawn, of life and the impulse of creation. Its color is red, like blood and flame.

Makaab spellcasters of the Eastward school can shoot fire or lightning, or give themselves increased ferocity.

Xibac casters use Tlátain to instill aggressiveness and strengthen their undead forces.

Aduun, the South Path
South is the path of the ancient past, of the unknown origin, of the primal abyss. When you face south you gaze into murky waters, into darkness and fear, into the remote origin of things. To face south is to question and get no answer, to look back into your mother’s womb. South is black, like the night.

South-tradition makaab spellcasters specialize in camouflage, invisibility and darkness.

Xibac casters use Southward magic to instill madness and horror.

The Nameless Center
Finally, while the oldest traditions don’t consider it, most modern Náhuinn scholars assume there’s a fifth path, the center, which means not moving, not facing, not walking in any direction. This path, the non-path, represents the number zero, the present moment and the current position, which never truly exist because the world always moves. Facing the center is looking inward, where there’s nothing. The center is blue like the sky, and green like rocks and gemstones.

No Náhuinn magic, be it makaab or xibac, is associated with the Center Path, but it is instead considered the medium or vessel for all other forms of magic.

The name Nahuac itself means At the Four Places, and the Realm was built following the law of the Four Paths. When the first Buunkun and human colonists reached the region, they divided it into Four Quadrants, the Nahu Általid, each given to a different people and their culture. The West was given to the wise and enlightened Buunkun, with the ability to fly. The East was for the Kaabal, the source-gifted, those humans that could adopt the fury of beasts. The dark and primal south was given to the Bendavee saurians, who lived in the black mud, and mortal humans, who practiced dark Xibac necromancy, took the North for themselves. Thus the Realm was divided, and thus the Four Cultures of Nahuac gained their land.

The meaning of Numbers in Nahuac
Numbers and their symbolic meaning are a very important element of Náhuinn culture. Náhuinn sages know math as ixabac, ‘Numbercraft’; not a simple number system but a powerful magic school, from which everything can be ordered and understood. As every number has its own symbolism, combining numbers creates new symbols and new meanings, and to study the way they can be combined is considered highly advanced magic.

Many Náhuinn people add numbers to their names, such as One Málinn, or Nine-Bloods Bátac, indicating the number’s symbolism is somehow related to the person’s nature or history.

One means loneliness but also wholeness. One doesn’t change other numbers, it leaves everything unchanged. This is the number of Vaala in its pure state.

Two is the mirror number, which creates a double of every other thing. It’s the number of balance and opposition. The number of the Null as a balancing force, of the silence between sounds.

Three is the number of imbalance, of breaking, where one was redundant and two were disturbed. It is the number of creation and conflict. The number of aspects of Vaala.

Four is the number of the weave, the number where the two paths, up-down and left-right, cross each other. It’s the number of time and distance, of matter and energy, of movement and state. The number of the world itself, of reality and the Source.

Five is the number of new beginnings, when what was whole gives birth. It’s the number of thought, of new ideas and discoveries. It is the number of Will.

Six, the mirror of three, is opposition against itself, it’s imbalance reflecting on itself; the number of disguises, of false creation, of illusion and lies. The number of Fai.

Seven is the ideal world, where Four meets Three, but cannot be related to any other number. The step beyond illusion. The number of mystery. Seven is alone, above and beyond meaning. It is the number of the incomprehensible.

Eight is the mirror or four, the number of the Two Complete Worlds, of the material and immaterial, of energy and magic. It is the number of the spirit, of the unseen world. Drawn by superimposing two crosses, Eight also represents the stars, the pairing of Sun and Moon.

Nine is the imbalance balanced, two sets of threes with a third set to counterpoint. It’s the number of war and conquest, of evil given purpose. The number of dragons.

Ten is the mirror of Will, and it represents thought that developed into truth. It represents measures and confirmed theories, knowledge and laws.

Eleven is the number of wrongness, as its relations with other numbers are all unlucky. It’s the number of the wrong step, the moment where you need to change direction.

Twelve is the number of nature, of the Four in Conflict, of static forces in chaos. It is the number of storms, weather and natural cycles.

Thirteen is the number of the world beyond, of understanding beyond nature and growing beyond physical matter. It is the number of Aab, or Vaala understood, of becoming magical oneself, of learning to understand beyond the numbers and cycles.

Fourteen is the mystery reflected, the number of unnecessary knowledge. of one mystery too many, of knowing too much. Also the exact number of moons, ‘endings’, in a year.

Twenty, the mirror of ten, reflects high thinking, where thought questions itself and either confirms or changes its truth. It represents repeating cycles, Will reflected on Source.

Twenty-Six The mirror of thirteen is the number of the Void, the Mirror of Aab, the Null realised. The number of non-existence. Things made on the 26th day will be undone. The symbol of endings, when all moons go black.

Thirty-six Twelve imbalanced is the number of humanity, of mortals, of chaotic nature in conflict. It is also Nine in Four, the world entering conflict. It means the search for meaning itself. It is also the exact number of city-states in the Nahuac Coalition, and the traditional number of troops in a single Náhuinn battalion.

Fifty-two The ending mirrored, the number of the Second Ending, of world eras passing and giving way to a new age. Also the number of understanding Four Times, meaning the sum of all mortal knowledge. Mortals cannot know more than this.

Ninety-one The number of understanding combined with the number of mystery. The total number of truths in the universe. The number beyond count, a symbol of endlessness. The number of time.

Hundred a vague idea rather than a number, signifying ‘a lot, uncounted’.

Three hundred and sixty four. The largest number with any significance. It comes from 52, the number of meaning, changed by 7, the number without meaning. It is also 91, the number of Time, Four times, representing the Four seasons. Also the exact number of days in a year. Thus meaning and unmeaning define the complete cycle of reality, of time and the world.

Four Hundred the largest number imaginable. ‘A lot’ four times. Multiplications of 400 serve only to project ever larger sizes of infinity.

Tána Spirits
Every Náhuinn citizen adopts a tána, or nature spirit, that guides their life. A tána may be the spirit of an animal, a plant, or even a natural force like fire or lightning. Every person, every city, every family and every house have their own tána spirits.

Traditionally, your tána spirit gives you some of its traits - a house under the jaguar tána may breed strong people, and a woman with the deer tána may run fast. Most of a tána’s traits, however, are not literal but symbolic - for example, a person with an eagle tána won’t be able to fly, but they will be brave and charismatic. Citizens of a Realm with a fox tána will not be small and reddish, but sly and cunning. Thus, in most cases a tána spirit imparts allusive, not physical traits.

The most important aspect of the tána is that it represents the place, group or person’s providence - a mix of fortune and destiny, of expected behavior and predestined personality. A town with a flower tána is expected to be beautiful and fertile; a ruler with an owl tána is assumed to be discerning and intimidating. Behaving in accordance with your tána will bring you a balanced life.

Some cities erect statues to their tána spirits, while others keep them secret as a means of magical defense. Some warriors wear the furs or feathers of their tána, while others carry only small amulets carved with its shape. Some people can talk to their tána in dreams, while a few unlucky ones don’t even know their tána spirit.

Some spellcasters can assign a tána spirit to a person that hasn’t discovered it, or summon a person’s tána spirit to provide direct advice or even physical help. Nearly all source-gifted humans in Nahuac have animal tána spirits, and can change physically into the form of said animal. Most source-gifted people within a single ápal or family share the same tána, and have the same animal form. Associating with those that share your tána exponentially improves the fortune, strength and attributes of everyone involved.

The tánal, or symbolic calendar of Nahuac, assigns the name of an animal or plant to every day, every week, every month and every year. Náhuinn peoples count their dates by repeating cycles of tána years, and by combinations of tána in the corresponding month, week and day.