players: Caroline, Marc, Shuo, Ben

Proud ziggurats rise above the sun-drenched jungle, gilded altars dripping with the blood of sacrificed slaves, their still-beating hearts cut out and held aloft to appease the sun.

Yep, it's love in the time of Aztecs. Glorious pageantry, holy warriors, and brutal human sacrifice. But on the horizon, doom is coming, white sails bearing white men from across the sea...

...

Just the other day, we were lamenting how sad it was that the Polaris rules didn't get used in more games. And drinking. Caroline got a steely look in her eye, set her jaw firmly and growled "I got this," Clint Eastwood-style. "Seriously?" we asked, "what's your idea?" Her answer? More Clint Eastwood steely gaze / set jaw and a single silent nod. It was kind of scary actually.

Boom, three days later, she's got a full "procedure by which Polaris can be extracted from the setting and used universally." (PbWPCbEftSaUU for short. Polaris: Unleashed! might be more catchy. Or Polaris: Unfettered!) Using Caroline's cunning system, we decided to play out the doom of the majestic Aztec empire, which I have to say was a lovely, lovely fit. Protagonists were the sacred warriors, "the Claws of the Sun."

And yes, thank god for the Story Games Book of Names. Two pages of authentic Aztec tongue-twisters. That combined with our handy-dandy "pick any two of these words and combine them to make something cool" list* and we were good to go.

Miquiztli (Caroline) -- Her name means "death." If we didn't know that at the start, we would have guessed by the end. Worshiping her as a god does not go well. Nor does being her prophesied child. Either time. Noteworthy for having the sacred office of choosing which slaves get sacrificed. She loved her work, and over time that side of the Venn diagram got bigger and bigger. And bigger.

Papan (Shuo) -- Means "flag," which made me sad because I couldn't figure out how to use it to design cool new themed outfits for her warriors when they broke their sacred oaths, went rogue, and promised to follow her to the gates of hell (or the nearest Aztec equivalent). Papan was supposed to stay home and do her duty carving out hearts on the gilded altar to appease the burning sun, but she just had to disobey her father and go have fun raiding neighboring tribes and playing warrior instead. And later murdering him brutally on that same altar, despite having foreseen this horrible deed in her dreams. Kids these days...

Spoiler alert: Christian missionaries are the worst thing that can happen to your character. I know you saw that coming.

Sweet, sweet tragedy. I'm looking forward to more Polaris hacks.


* serpent, fire, feather, obsidian, mirror, gold, blood, sun, smoke, knife -- go ahead, pick any two and see if it doesn't rock. I dare you.

We saw Polaris's beautiful starry people of the North and raised it one Sun worshiping bloodthirsty civilization of the South. And it was gooooood. It's amazing what a flavor change can do to make a game more enjoyable. Caroline's hack kept all the fun mechanics of the original game and allowed for greater creative control in the world-making.

Miquiztli's story was super compelling. Ben and I were holding our breaths, looking quickly from right to left and back again as the retorts and stakes flew past us. The sacrifice of her first child, her ascent to absolute power, the mass killings, the arguably deserved messiah-complex, her unrequited love with the rebellion leader, the bittersweet reunion with her lost missionary son, and finally the symbolic renunciation of her beliefs at the end of her life all made for a brilliantly tragic tale.

As for Papan, it's just your everyday rebellious privileged young warrior trying to get out from her manipulative high-ranking priest father. Obviously, he had to be sacrificed for the new order. And so did her mom, lover, and lots of other wrong-place-wrong-time Aztecs. Willful to the very end, her insubordination to the Conquistadors resulted in what she feared the most: the enslavement and downfall of her people.

I drew two important scenes from our game for fun (and procrastination). The first is when Miquiztli learns about the dark prophesy from an elder priest, setting in motion her ascent to power.


The second is when Papan is visited by the surly Dream God, showing her a possible future of death, power, and Conquistadors.


Thanks again to Caroline for the awesome hack and everyone for a very memorable game!

I love the kid in the background of the first picture. So cute. So doomed to be sacrificed by his own mother to assuage the faithful. It's like you can see "when I grow up, I want to be a sacred healing tree!" written on his face.

He was a sweet kid.

That's a pretty chill looking dream god too. Just hanging out, preening some fur, watching some dreams, totally not giving useful answers.

Amazing game with awesome players. Really fun experience. The hack was top notch!

Love your drawings Shuo!

Thanks Marc!

Ooo! Polaris, now with sweet Aztec illustrations!

I'm glad the hack went so well. We ought to try stretching it a little bit, see how far we can make Polaris bend to our wills!