Quetzalcoatl

A feathered serpent who descended into the land of the dead to steal the bones of the ancestors, only to trip and shatter them—hence the diversity of human stature. Why did a god of wind and wisdom choose to bleed his own members to give us life? He is the Morning Star, the priest-king who vanished into the east promising to return, leaving behind a legacy of arts, calendars, and a deep, gnawing guilt. He represents the "Breath of Life" that animates the clay, a deity of the intellect who struggled against his own dark brother, Tezcatlipoca. He is the patron of the thinkers and the craftsmen, the one who suggests that humanity might be more than just food for the sun. Yet, his wind can be a freezing gale that strips the skin from the bone.