Xihuetzi (concept)
The collapse of the Necentlal Tlakalaktli was far from peaceful. With the armies of the Tlakalakans shattered by the Wardenite invaders, the native tribes of Rojihlat Mara, long held within the unhappy union, rose in revolt. Soon after, the Five Cities, the urban centers in which Tlaklakan power was concentrated, were set afire—the visible symbol of the Tlaklakan fall. Forced from their cities, the last army of the Necentlal soon found itself burdened with refugees, and tasked with finding any way to survive. After a failed campaign to retake the great city of Lexicatl—or rather its ruins—and with enemies closing in around them, a fateful decision was made. The last army, the last remnant of the Tlaklakans, would retreat into Cyrat, where it could wait until the chaos passed to reemerge.
Upon reaching Cyrat, however, this dream was revealed as mere fantasy. As refugees continued to trickle in, it became necessary to push deeper into the jungle, suffering horrific losses in a desperate search for clean water or edible plants. Within four years of entering Cyrat, the entire leadership of the army was dead, and the last remnant of the Necentlal died with them. Under the guidance of the ancient priesthoods would the Tlaklakans push deeper into the jungle, setting foot upon ground from which no human had ever returned. And gradually, through compromise to the hostile environment, and through the mass death of the Tlaklakans, their society would morph into something different, something nearly indistinguishable from the tribes from whom they had fled. Their ancient and rich history was nearly forgotten, the art of writing nearly lost, and the ancient traditions of the Tlaklakan cultures left to rot.
For the Xihuetzi had not only claimed their cities, and their lands. It had claimed their civilization.