Alrune (Setting)

[Piedmon_Sama]

It's interesting you're going with the "lost culture" aspect. A lot of Aztec culture was replicated (to the best of their accounts) from ancient nations like Teotihuacan and Tollan. While present archeology suggests Teotihuacan was built sometime in the 3rd Century A.D and abandoned by the 9th, the Aztecs (who only entered into history out of the northern deserts around the 12th Century) believed it was built by the Gods and stood as their earthly home. The Aztecs essentially copied the religious beliefs of those older city states while making one addition: their own patron god, the warrior Huitzilopoctli, now took the head of the pantheon.

They did keep a legend from the ancient Toltecs, though. It was said that in the 10th Century, there was a Priest-King named Quetzalcoatl. (It was common practice among the Toltec kings to name themselves after their patron god. However, this later created confusion and conflated the historical Quetzalcoatl with his god). Quetzalcoatl was a wise and good man and ended the traditions of human sacrifice. For this, all the common people loved him, yet another Priest named Tezcatlipoca (again, named for the God of Magic and a feared figure in the religion) saw how this change threatened the power structure the Priest-Aristocracy had enjoyed. His followers eventually drove Quetzalcoatl out of the city. Thus exiled, Quetzalcoatl traveled east until he came to the shore of the sea. He then conjured a boat made of serpents and traveled east, promsing one day to return.

The status of the legend in later Aztec society is uncertain. It was at the least known to Huey Tlatoani Montecozoma II, who was fearful that Hernan Cortez was a returned Quetzalcoatl (that is, until he finally met the European in person). It was said that the return of Quetzalcoatl would throw down all mortal kings and establish a kingdom of heaven for eternity. Montecozoma actually tried to flee his city before Cortez even reached it, thinking Judgement Day had come for him.

What all this is coming to is, I can easily see how you could plug in this storyline in with actual history. Say the present cultures of your Middle-American region have patterned themselves off these ancient inhumans, but always kept the prophecy they would one day return and throw down all worldly governments. (And instead of creating a Kingdom of Heaven, maybe by this story they just eat everybody or do whatever it is Ethergaunts do). This adds an extra element of terror to the proceedings since the inhuman foes are actually predestined to win.

Just so you know, I'm really only good for the Nahuatl-speaking Indian nations of the later period. The older Toltec nations that they replaced and the southern Mayan nations aren't my area of expertise. The Mayans and the Aztecs never actually met prior to European contact, incidentally, being separated by literally thousands of miles. No indian culture had horses until the Spaniards introduced them.

Incidentally, that can create a lot of problems if you want your characters to be able to get from City A to City B in a hurry. I suggest giving your pseudo-indians either horses or some equivalent; giant lizards or, more plausibly, giant tapirs (they are closely related to horses, along with rhinos) would work for travel, although they wouldn't be worth much as cavalry.