Quetzalpetlatl (Patreon)

Quetzalpetlatl is a wealthy pochteca who leads her own company of merchants and does extensive business throughout the empire. She is a mouse (quimichin).

When I first designed Quetzalpetlatl in February, her hometown was Huitzilopochco. Huitzilopochco was a relatively small altepetl located at a western shore of Lake Tetzcoco. I imagined Quetzalpetlatl as an ambitious merchant, which didn't seem to fit with such town. So I changed her hometown to a much bigger and powerful Xochimilco, which was on the southern side of the lake.

She is wearing a fancy clothing based on Codice de Trajes and Texas Fragment. According to Codex Florentine, the pochteca were concerned about the jealousy of the hereditary nobles. They had to conceal their own wealth, even going so far as “wearing only their miserable maguey fiber capes” in their hometown, since “they greatly feared notoriety, the praising of one." However, Quetzalpetlatl is a very proud individual who ignores this kind of societal pressure as much as possible. She also has connections with powerful nobles of Tenochtitlan, including Xochimazatl. So, while the Xochimilca lords may be annoyed by her, they can't do anything about it.