Tlaloc
Tlaloc rules rain, lightning, and mountain springs. He brings maize-nourishing showers or devastating hail and drought, demanding offerings—sometimes of children—to keep balance between plenty and catastrophe.
Story beats
- 1) Tlaloc dwells on mountaintops with cloud serpents (tlaloque) who pour water from ceramic jars.
- 2) He controls different rains: gentle, crop-killing hail, seed-rotting downpours—all from distinct jars.
- 3) Communities make offerings at springs and temples; tears of sacrificial victims are believed to summon rain.
- 4) As one of Tenochtitlan’s main deities, he shares the great temple with Huitzilopochtli, marking war and agriculture’s balance.
Context & symbolism
Tlaloc embodies the mercurial nature of water—life-giving yet deadly. His goggle eyes and fangs evoke storm power; mountain shrines tie him to real watersheds crucial for agriculture.
Rituals reflect dependence on rain cycles and the gravity of maintaining cosmic reciprocity with natural forces.
Motifs
- Goggle eyes and fanged mouth
- Four tlaloque pouring jar-rains
- Mountaintop and spring altars
- Co-share of Templo Mayor
Use it in play
- Appease Tlaloc to end a drought; choose offerings that honor life rather than harm.
- Recover a stolen rain jar from a rival city before the wrong storm is unleashed.
- Ascend a mountain shrine in monsoon to renegotiate a water pact.
- Balance war and agriculture factions represented by twin temple altars.