| Contents |
| History • Strongholds • Advantages and Weaknesses • The Cihuateteo in DC • Cihuateteo Characters |
| Cihuateteo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Pseudonyms | La Diablas; Star Eaters |
| Sect | Teteoh |
| Disciplines | Obfuscate Omaxac Presence |
| Rarity | Legendary |
Poorly understood, rarely glimpsed, and generally considered ghosts until someone is face to face with one, the Cihuateteo are a small bloodline of Mexican vampires dedicated to the resurrection of their ancient pre-European ways. All female, all terrifying, and all unwaveringly dedicated to their ancient gods, they are implacable enemies when roused and most other vampires, if they have the bad luck to be anywhere near one, simply try to stay out of their way. All Cihuateteo are easily identified by their shining golden eyes, which appear and cannot be hidden whenever they use the powers of their special discipline, Omaxac.
The Cihuateteo are devotees of the ancient Aztec goddess Cihuacoatl, the snake woman, who was believed to protect women and children and to overwee midwifery and childbirth, having created the first human beings with the god Quetzalcoatl long ago. This story, the Cihuateteo say, reveals that all vampires are her children, regardless of sect or clan, since all the humans they came from are, and consider it their duty to honor her in the absence of the rest of her unruly brood doing the same. They are especially concerned with their patron goddess' traditional roles, and have been known to go out of their way to rescue mortal women and children from harm simply because they are able to.
While the Cihuateteo are all women, this is not due to any particular belief that men could not be effective; it is simply that they consider the Embrace a gift from Cihuacoatl, and as a result it should only be bestowed on her most beloved and loyal offspring, the women she protects throughout their lives. Cihuateteo often target women who have been prevented from having children or who have had children and lost them, allowing them to gain a second chance to protect all the other children in the world as if they were their own (and to create childer who are much less likely to be taken from them), and this practice has led to their identification with the legend of La Llorona, the weeping ghost who searches endlessly for her children along riverbanks or dark streets.
Although they do consider all women and children worldwide to be their charges, as all are descended from the first bones Cihuacoatl turned into the first humans, they tend to specifically single out almost exclusively Mexican targets for the Embrace, most often saying that they doubt anyone else would provide their patron goddess with the sincere thanks and worship she deserves.
History
According to the Cihuateteo, who very seldom share the tale of their origins, they were created in ancient times; the very first time a child died before adulthood, Cihuacoatl was so devastated by sorrow that she vowed to give mortals the tools to better protect her children, and created the first of the Cihuateteo in order to place powerful and ruthless protectors on earth to carry out her will from the realm of the gods. During the years of the great Aztec empire and its predecessors, the early Cihuateteo were revered as demigods themselves, and oversaw the great steambath midwiferies and assisted in difficult births throughout the empire, ensuring that few women or babies died and that those who did were buried with warriors' honors. They were also the fiercest defenders of the helpless during times of war, and many poems were performed and codices painted showing them standing before a nursery, surrounded by the blood of would-be invaders. Since no Cihuateteo would ever agree to help harm a child, the empires of the time placed protection for infants in their codes of law, and averted their eyes from the inevitable carnage whenever some general decided that such a rule was optional.
This idyllic time ended with the arrival of the European invaders in Mexico, bringing with them the Lasombra, Toreador, and Ventrue powers that would mercilessly wield the conquistadors to crush the local cultures. The Cihuateteo, powerful and bloody as they were, were too few in number to taken them on in force, and instead put all their energy into rescuing and protecting the hapless women and children of the empire, all too many of whom were captured, sold, or killed for sport wherever they were found. The atrocities committed by the European invaders, including mass torture and slaughter of infants, so enraged them that as a bloodline most of them swore eternal enmity against the European clans, and even now most of them stand by that decision. Those ancient enough to have been present and remember those nights will never waver in their hatred of those responsible, and the younger Cihuateteo have only to look around at the legacy of colonialism in their country to agree with them.
In modern nights, more of the Cihuateteo have been ranging into North America, often in order to follow and protect refugee populations with vulnerable children on their way into the United States. As the Teteoh begins to make what might be the beginning of overtures toward other sects for alliances, they know that they face perhaps being forced to ally with their ancient enemies, and no one is entirely certain what will happen if such a thing occurs.
Strongholds
Hidden in the jungles in the western part of Jalisco is Cihuatlampa, the Place of Women, an ancient Aztec stronghold held by the Cihuateteo for as long as any being can remember. There is little to see above-ground, where a few stone ruins not interesting enough for archaeologists to bother with dot the landscape, but beneath the surface is a great inverted pyramid wherein the Cihuateteo live, worship, and bring their charges for rest and healing. Huge steambaths and nurseries are there, as well as courtyards lit by sorcery to allow young children to play, and in the very depths is the dark room that is for Cihuacoatl alone, should she ever choose to inhabit it, although no one can name a time in memory when she has done so. Many European vampires have questioned whether the legend of the goddess really refers to whatever ancient, perhaps Antediluvian, vampire actually created the Cihuateteo, and where she is now if so, but they don't do it where they can be overheard.
Most Cihuateteo live at Cihuatlampa for a quarter of the year in order to worship and pay respects to Cihuacoatl and help with the defense and running of the place, before heading back to wherever they normally reside. Cihuateteo tend to be solitary, seeing no need for more than one of them to protect a given territory, and are as likely to be found in tiny villages with no name as they are in the metropoli at Mazatlan; wherever they may be children, they are there.
Advantages and Weaknesses
Advantages
The Cihuateteo are all completely immune to all known diseases and poisons, even exotic ones made with Thaumaturgy or similar powers; this, they claim, is proof of their divine origin, since of course creatures made to be midwives shouldn't be able to carry infections, while other vampires grumble that it's more likely proof of luck when it comes to the poorly-understood gamble of vampire vitae. Similarly, they have greater control over their Beasts; Cihuateteo can only enter rage Frenzy, usually in order to protect or avenge one of their charges, and are immune to the threat of frenzy due to hunger or fear.
Disadvantages
Unfortunately for the Cihuateteo, they are plagued by hideous nightmares every day during their sleep, regardless of who they are, where they are, or whether anything untoward has happened to them lately. Most Cihuateteo dream of the deaths and suffering of women and children they could not or failed to help, often strangers, or relive bloody revenge against those responsible, and they always awake haggard and tense, never able to fully relax. Some believe these to be omens, driving them to try to find those they see in their dreams and save them; others are drenched in guilt, constantly aware of how much they are unable to handle in spite of their goddess' orders. Either way, the older a Cihuateteo becomes, the more likely they are to being degrading mentally and emotionally, constantly traumatized and motivated by the hideous visions they cannot escape.
These dreams make Cihuateteo violent and dangerous when they sleep, constantly lashing out with claws and teeth or thrashing to smash anything around them, responding to the dream as if they were awake. Anyone unlucky enough to share a building with a sleeping Cihuateteo is likely to start believing in violent haunting or demon possession just to explain the terrifying racket, and anyone foolish enough to sleep next to a Cihuateteo probably doesn't get to do it for very long.
The Cihuateteo in DC
There is one Cihuateteo in residence in Washington, DC: Nerissa Blackwater, although she is currently posing as an Anarch Caitiff and thus is usually beneath everyone's notice. Those few vampires to have encountered her find her confusing and distressing, but none of them would be able to put a finger on exactly why.