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Description
An illustration I've worked on, with digital editing, shading and painting over a sketch I drawn during last INKtober
So far, one of my personal favorites, I particularly enjoyed painting this and also liked the result. Hope you like it as much as I did developing it!

DO NOT USE OR REPOST THIS PICTURE WITHOUT PREVIOUS AUTHORIZATION!
(I'm revising the use of deviantart's watermarks on my pictures. It takes a while to produce art like this, so at least inform me where you'd like to have this art used/reproduced and why )

These are inspired on original characters from BYDURAK, a story I created (and never published) as a 9 years old, back in early 2004.
In this version they're characters that play a major role in my current original story project - the IN LAK'ECH Mythos.

The grumpy masked alien mastermind is SPECTRO (See an animated comparison of his current form with my earliest drawings of his, right from 2004. Noticeably inspired by tokusatsu and science-fiction villains)

The "overgrown lizard" is the series' protagonist, known as the Cuetzpalin Paynal - the secret identity which 15 years old William M took while transformed into a Cuetzpalin (from the nahuatl "lizard", name of a species of humanoid reptiles natives to Aztlán that centuries ago have coexisted with pre-hispanic communities of Anahuac [Mesoamerica], in the IN LAK'ECH Mythos). He can transform back to his original human form at will, however as a Cuetzpalin he has the power of super-speed (which allows him to reach about 500 mph! Of course, his body, skeleton, muscles organs, tissue, scales and all, are properly adpated, he has an enhanced endurance and also sight adapted to catch things in motion, otherwise he'd just crash in his surroundings ), and because of that, this high schooler is more used to be a lizard-man than a human, at least since when he first got these powers (August 8th '08, on a small lake bordering the Brazilian State of Acre and the Tahuantinsuyuan/Peruvian region of Antisuyu. This duel of his against Spectro takes place in a secret laboratory beneath the Nazca lines, Quntisuyu, on the day of September 19th, 2009).

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And if you want to read a more in-depth description of each, enjoy:

THE CUETZPALIN
William's power derives from his symbiosis with a Tonalcoatl (from the nahuatl words for "fate" and "serpent"), a small snake-like or slug-like organism that is the second (the first is the egg) and latest stage of a Cuetzpalin's lifespan. When a Cuetzpalin reaches its certain age, its consciousness is kept on its Tonalcoatl, an unique organ attached to its brain, that during this time leave the body behind. Naturally, a Cuetzpalin can live with a single body up to a hundred years. But most of them end up living in symbiosis with other vertebrates, and in this case they can live up to many centuries. This symbiosis grants the "host" the ability to transform into a new Cuetzpalin, and to telepathically communicate with the Tonalcoatl.
In William's case, the Tonalcoatl he found, on the lake at Acre, is that of Moctezuma Xocoyotzin, the late pre-hispanic Mexican ruler. He was brought that far south (into nowadays Brazilian territory. Precisely, that within the Yaminawa indigenous community's territory) by children who survived the battle of Tenochtitlán and escaped Mexico during the spanish colonization. Their descendants and later generations have merged with other native cultures in the south, such as the Tairona (whose descendants, the Kogi, live in Northern Colombia and keep several pre-hispanic traditional lifestyles up to this day), and in their migration ended up in nowadays Brazil. Moctezuma's Tonalcoatl was preserved - despite he was in a dormant state since the death of his body - because the lake was a source of considerable amounts of Teyoliatl (a portmanteau of the nahuatl words "teyolia" - a vital energy or human consciousness associated to the heart in the pre-hispanic Mexica cosmology - and "atl" - water, Teyoliatl is a greenish vital liquid found on several caves of Aztlán and in large quantities on some lakes and rivers of Anahuac before the colonization process. This liquid restores a Cuetzpalin's vital energy, tissues and is also used to bathe their weapons, as its isolated properties can cut through unnatural enemies such as the shadowy centzonmimixcoa). Because Moctezuma himself was naturally super-fast since his birth (an ability uncommon to other Cuetzpalin, it was considered a gift from Huitzilopochtli - the god of war, patron of Mexico and the Fifth Sun), this is another ability William inherited.

CUETZPALIN PAYNAL
Now that you know what Cuetzpalin means and how the young William is able to transform into such a powerful creature, you should know why he calls himself Paynal - from the nahuatl word for "fast", it's also the name of a pre-hispanic Mexican deity regarded as the messenger of Huitzilopocthli, and a name used to refer to the messengers of the Mexica confederation in pre-hispanic times. They were runners, but in the IN LAK'ECH Mythos no one was faster than Moctezuma. Except, perhaps, his sister Papantzin, who was also gifted with the same powers.
Also in the IN LAK'ECH Mythos, there are still a handful few people who somehow know or by chance at least believe in the existence of the Cuetzpalin before they were wiped out, in the centuries following the colonization (historical records of their existence have also been erased. Even documents from their hunters or captors didn't survive, and pre-hispanic documents depicting the Cuetzpalin were destroyed. Their presence in architecture and mural paintings are regarded as myth). These are found among the Yaminawa, the Kogi and Ashaninka peoples, who have different origins and don't even speak nahuatl, but were arguably the last to see some living Cuetzpalin, in the 17th Century (there are, however, later sightings in North America. The Zunis and O'odham have witnessed one of them, Macoel, aiding a rebellion against the spanish colony government in the 18th Century), or to keep those traditions alive. Some of the Yaminawa leaderships in the contemporary age, however, are of Mixtec (Ñuù savi) descent, and because of this have some contact with the nahua culture. There was a time when the children that saved Moctezuma's Tonalcoatl made a creed passed on to next generations of semi-nomads, that a Cuetzpalin would be sent by Huitzilopocthli, this Cuetzpalin is his messenger, and shall release the peoples of Anahuac from the foreigner government, lifestyle and religion. His name will be Paynal. In Mexico and North America, a similar belief stated that Montezuma would rise again and free the peoples of Anahuac - this was likely claimed by Macoel, originally a friend of Moctezuma, who transformed it into a cult between the late 16th and 17th centuries. It was more popular among the Hopi than the Mexicans at the time - and not so long after William's actions as the Cuetzpalin Paynal began to appear in the media, another man, Paul Powhatan, from Quebec, Canada, would find Macoel's Tonalcoatl, whose symbiosis would turn him into a new Cuetzpalin, who'd take the identity of "Montezuma". Macoel and Paul believed Paynal was a human who found Moctezuma's Tonalcoatl, and was eager to meet them. Before that, though, Montezuma would fight against US, Canadian and Mexican governments, cause damage to corporations threatening territorial interests and support independent resistance for the First Nations with resources, equipment and training, partially inspired by what Paynal was already deveoping among south american indigenous communities months before. They were divided, however, by the claims that Paynal promoted veganism and animal liberation, and in some occasions acted violently against some indigenous customs which used some animals. His preference for agriculture over hunting or breeding of livestock also conflicted with some local interests, but ultimately he led some of them into the struggle of some landless workers, and started to occupy lots of lands supposedly owned by traditional landlords. This contact would put Paynal in contact with Omepaynal, another Cuetzpalin who surfaced months after him, and despite originally an enemy, he's become an ally after they realized it would be more strategic to fight common enemies.

WILLIAM MATTONI
After waking up some 488 years later, Moctezuma realized he was neither dead or in the paradise of the warriors which the priests from his time promised to be the final destination of those who died in battle (his case, despite the history books tell otherwise). With a new host, into a new world, with a surprisingly positive will to destroy the status quo (something he'd achieve by damaging property, attacking and killing key figures, politicians, landlords, but often also large amounts of civilians and security, police officers, military and bounty hunters involved with the animal exploitatin industry, logging, devastation and so on), Moctezuma started to believe William had potential to destroy the current puppet government of Mexico and restore the Mexica Confederation as its ruler. Needless to say, he also intended to turn this restored Mexico into an empire that span through all of Anahuac (the American continent). But what did William had to tell about this?
William is mainly motivated by Animal Liberation - the acknowledgment that each and every sentient animal, what means self-conscious, capable of experiencing pain, suffering, but also joy, has the right to live in freedom and integrity, what means not as a property of someone else, and that every human animal has the ethical responsibility to make it happen, what means first not using or supporting anything related to the animal exploitation industry (fishing, livestock breeding/animal agriculture, fur, dairy/milk, eggs, honey, hunting, animal testing) - in other words, going vegan - and second, sabotaging the animal exploitation industry, causing it more damage than it can afford - in other words, performing direct actions. This is where comes the hard part. With all the security and surveillance apparel, everyone willing to free those enslaved are likely going to end up their last days rotting in prison. It's no news that some objects, prisons, "property" are regarded as more important and crucial to the maintenance of social order than simply let people live their lives. The people, human and non-human alike, are equally subject to pay someone else in order to even exist, which means they don't only have to work - one way or another, they'll do it. But while it could be working for their own sustenance, in the current situation they're more likely working for the sustenance (read it as profit) of someone else. And this someone else is a social class which keeps the social order, the class that pay security to exist, but only pay it with the riches they gather from those that work for them and to repress the very people that pay for it in their place. It's a relationship of dependence, in which the bourgeois (great corporations, millionaires, billionaires and so on) and the government (politicians, political parties, all the circus of "democracy"), defended by the security (military, police, all that stands between people and its rulers, the class of people who act more like robots than sentient beings, who have no free will as all they do is obey orders, and in doing so commit more attrocities than those that disobey them) and vocally defended by institutionalized religion (a class of parasites that promotes an afterlife while they profit from others' acceptance of misery), the mass media (which interests isn't "the truth", facts or critical reasoning, but often a diversion to keep people in line) and those associated with them are nothing short of tyrants, agressors and usurpers.

Read more about the interests, rights and capabilities of sentient animals here .

RESISTANCE
This primal motivation, allied to William's study and understanding of history, led him to identify his enemy (those who profit from animal exploitation, or mining any effort of animal liberation and the material promotion of independence and dignity for humans and nonhumans). In doing so, he already denies any institutionalized alliance with any political party or even profit-seeking NGOs (including those that claim to be non-profit, but still profit a lot from donations, and waste billions in poor publicity) that claim to seek "help animals" through the promotion of welfare in animal industry. The study of History and its observance made William an anarchist (or as he tells, an anarcho-primitive. Because he doesn't believe in revolution, in the emancipation of mass society or the unity of "a working class", he also despises nationalism and any notion of "nation", deeming it as a proto-imperialist, irrational authoritarian perspective with no regard for individuality other than that of the national ruler. The only hope he has lies in semi-nomadic, self-sustainable communities. In Agroforestry and also rewilding. It's a critique of civilization, mass society and overpopulation as inherently harmful or precluding to the life quality of most individuals, but not of technology per se - unless it's necessarily harmful to animals and the environment. Weapons don't go in here because the resistance needs something to fight with, or else all is lost). But the harder part is to build this resistance, as even the most strategically thought struggle is still nothing without resources - and those that often struggle to attain more resources end up dependent of secondary needs, limiting their action to one-sided diplomacy, self-publicity and no commitment towards anyone's liberation. "Resistance" has a place within the allegedly global economy, and that's only affordable while profitable. Profit, however, isn't harmless, as somewhere else someone is paying its consequences. The fact that slave labor still exist, as does racism and gender inequality, despite laws against it, is just a proof that the legal means have absolute no concern, if not even power, over the situation of those that more deeply suffer and agonize at the hands of this global dictatorship - those that unlike willing slaves would never work for someone else than their own community. Yes, I'm talking about nonhuman animals. The only role someone who wouldn't normally work for someone else, someone who wouldn't produce (work, labor and production are different things. The first can happen even without anything in return, the later doesn't necessarily involve work - is writing some shit that doesn't bring anything useful to anyone other than perhaps those that benefit from the status quo even a work? Are propaganda and publicty even a form of work? Is signing some papers even a work? Is shooting people even a work? You see, there's a distinction between clergy, the military and the bourgeois in relation to workers and slaves for a reason. Someone's got to work while others got to distract in the meantime, that sometimes take forever) plays under this system is that of slave labor.
One can't change that alone or peacefully, through dialogue and publicity, even more in a reality where, history shows us, propaganda has caused more harm than good. Reasonability is useful to identify enemies, and to employ strategies of fighting them. Brutal action requires more reason than does merely speaking or arguing. Unlike what pacifists defend, reason and violence are compatible - violence is needed to prevent even more harmful violence from another belligerent. For example, only a greater violence against someone who would harm an animal can effectively stop this someone from harming an animal. William's parents and closest social circles still dismiss and despise William's "choice of going vegan" even though this choice is arguably more reasonable and ethical than consuming animals that do no good even for the consumer (unless you're talking of petty desires such as palate), and even other vegans often argue a rational, academical defense of the nonhuman animals' rights, based on the scientifical evidence of their capabilities of feeling or self-interests, and sentience, and also the ethical implications of such factual acknowledgment likely aren't as attractive as emotional publicity, because the largest part of human population doesn't care about science or reasoning, unless it makes them feel better. This defense of a shared, collective and self-spoiling, petty egoism is nauseating, and those activists/advocates who promote to work under those guidelines are first part of the problem than part of the solution. If one doesn't like to "over-think" because "it may make them feel bad", then is there even a chance it will ever stand against the exploitation of beings kept hid from its limited sight? People like that would first deny there's some sort of cruelty involved in industry just to clear their consciousness, and that's because they suffer no direct consequence from the enslavement of human or non-human animals. They don't even know what consequence means, unless you're talking about challenging power, and guess why they wake up and work for someone else's profit everyday? Why they pray at night for imaginary concepts that don't even exist? They're afraid of misery. They're afraid of not getting the same amount of spoil they get from working as someone else's servant. This fear is the only thing that drives these weak-willed servants, that would rather fight each other than take back what they produced for the usurper. And William believes fear isn't a foe, but an ally. These people would only leave the animals live their lives if they were faced with greater, direct consequences. Unfortunately for him, he was alone in this crusade, had no power or resources (a situation most people aligned to identifying the inherent problems of the economical system, industrial civilization, mass society, slavery and exploitation find themselves in, most of time forcing them to look for more smooth, albeit less effective alternatives, such as pamphleting and volunteer work), and could fall victim to surveilance and persecution should he try anything slightly more effective than arguing. That, of course, until he became able to turn into a super-fast lizardman, whose inhumanity could also hide his human identity so surveillance wouldn't work out.

Read more about anarchism and resistance here .

PUBLIC ENEMY
After this, William understandably started actions against people related to slavery and animal exploitation, needless to say, turning him, as the self-proclaimed "centuries old inhuman Cuetzpalin Paynal", into "a public enemy", albeit "a defender of the nonhuman animals, the indigenous peoples and the land". From then, everyday was life and death, and the consequences of his actions would greatly damage the distribution of food, not only that derived from animal exploitation, but also vegetables, throughout a vast area - besides, a country as large as Brazil, that's still focused on the over-production of primary products, such as grains and food for cattle, and in turn cattle, doesn't produce only to feed its population. We're talking about late capitalism here, and it's a colony that produces lots and lots of grains, meat, dairy and eggs for worldwide consumers. The profit, of course, is concentrated in the hands of some few service owners, who earn donations from the government (donations of public money gathered in the form of taxes) because, in first place, they donate to both opposing political parties during every election. Worse than that, this preference which the government has in keeping the local economy running around this sector (because its politicians and legislative power know they can expect a fatty return from it) privileges the cartels of this area, and this sector in specific, leading to the empoverishment of research on anything not related on how to produce more animals in less time, and confine more of them in less space. The industrial and educational system, then, becomes hostage to cartels, as entire generations of people see no other way than following professional careers based not on what's good or interesting for either them as a collective or them as individuals, instead for an anonymous ruling class which people fail to or prefer not to address as bourgeoisie (for it may sound "too last century"). It's still a system based in a caste, and this deterministic defense of industrial development, economical development, technological development or progress is as irrational as it sounds, for it disregards the traditional roles which certain nations/colonies/governments/population still play in a global scenario. After a year of fighting, his reptile face known and vilified by anyone with acess to mass media, he already sported stolen military equipment (guns, bullets, vehicles and so on, it was quite a ride), counted with allies in the underground (political prisoners set free, indigenous communities barely known by the "isolated civilization", militias with questionable intent), and survived attempts from loads of hi-tech bounty hunters ( AXIS looking at you). In Tahuantinsuyu, what began in the seventies as a Socialist Republic (and now claims to be a mixed economy), he faced the MALLKI generals and surely heard something suspicious about a secret organization operating underneath its industrial development - the Saqraruna Organization. It's reach is intergalactic, and for reasons Paynal is still not aware they helped the foundation of this dictatorship (that like all "democracies" or "republics" isn't as free as they like to claim, and aren't much better nor worse than those that came before), but the matter is, it's influence over mankind's evolution AND the extinction of the Cuetzpalin is a mind-blowing, millennia-old conspiracy.

THE SAQRARUNA
Why does the Saqraruna want "to help humanity's development", and why it had a crucial role in eliminating the Cuetzpalin, not only from existence but also from memory? Why does it keep its own existence in secret, or hid under other enterprises and governments, ranging from mixed-economies to neoliberal ones, from self-proclaimed socialist republics to representative democracies? Why does it fund different belligerents in major conflicts? William can't possibly answer these questions at the time he invaded one of their extreme security facilities beneath the Nazca lines (that was originally a laboratory from an ancient alien corporation that rivalred Saqraruna's predecessors. It tried to colonize the human Nazca civilization, but failed and the Nazca banished them to the underground, where its last inhabitants were left in an hibernation state. Centuries later, in the 20th Century, the Saqraruna discovered the facility and started a process of reprogramming the aliens left in hibernation, so that they would become their newest army, if they ever needed one). But he gets to know that SPECTRO, a certain masked alien, is arguably the head of the entire Saqraruna organization, and that these "aliens", known by locals as Yakuruna ("water people" in quechua) come from the K PACHA Solar system. Saqraruna, too, is a local name (what means evil people).
Millennia ago, the Yakuruna were a race of bipedal/humanoid vertebrate beings with amphibian, crustacean and mollusc characteristics naturally apt to use some telekinetic abilities, and who were native to the planets of the K Pacha Solar System. Some 7000 years from now, a process of change culminated in the conversion of most of them into bio-mechanic/cyborg creatures, who built an empire ruled by an individual identified as Onyx. After some centuries, Onyx was dethroned, expulsed from their homeland and alongside his followers cast into another remote planet, as the Yakuruna developed their own intergalactic "republic", loosely following standards of another intergalactic imperial civilization, the Chronpuchians, and also others like the Anunnaki and Ohrmuzdian. Eventually, as a legacy of Onyx's space colonization and expansion, the republic's adoption of military campaigns against other communities in the galaxy increased their demands, and an alternative to cope with costs was increase taxations over the Yakuruna colonies, some like Xibahpukon, in the planet of Topakhon, which conditions previously brought them closer to an autonomy in relation to the Republic. Before the 30th Century b.c, Xibahpukon claimed its autonomy as an industrial state led by the industrialist Kometa, who was an apprentice of the dark arts of Darr manipulation under Tupaq (a.k.a Tokoyrikoq), the Primordial Dragon and Elemental God of Darkness, overseer of Topakhon. Xibahpukon's independence earned enmity from other galactic civilizations, but none of them could prevent its union with other three nations of Topakhon - Palarokhiel, Wary Kayan and Apuqohcan, the foundation of an international Topakar government - the Ors Ohorela, their employment of Yana Phuyu (shadow demons) to destroy the other nations and any resistance on the planet, and later to conquer the Yakuruna republic's homeland, partially supported by its own population, which main goal was technological development, and that deemed the republic was technically inferior to the Ors Ohorela, for the Ors Ohorela was able, through its diverse usage of Darr and the employment of the Yana Phuyu, not only to materialize but also to weaponize darkness. Eventually, Spectro's ancestor, Spectro the Elder, became a crucial figure among the Ors Ohorela, and the lead engineer, researcher, developer and designer of a process which converted the entire planet of Topakhon into a mobile mass destruction weapon, which artificial atmosphere, environment and weapon derived from a controlled, isolated Black Hole that replaced the planet's core, and also created endless energy which allowed this planet to move and suck others through the Black Hole. Such a destructive and powerful weapon, allied to the employment of the unnatural Yana Phuyu led the Ors Ohorela to expand its activity in the galaxy, destroying several planets and solar systems, what led some to ally them and many others to stand against them, including the Chronpuchian and Ohrmuzdian civilizations that supported the return of the Republic over this Magocratic State. Spectro's allegiance to Tupaq shifted the Yakuruna forever. From biomechanic aliens seeking to develop and employ more effective technological development to control, their association to reality-altering materialization of darkness pushed it to the next level.
The Ors Ohorela, however, was destroyed since the Black Hole was sabotaged by the efforts of a squad led by opposition, a squad led by and in great part composed by some Aztec Cuetzpalin, from the ancient Aztec Confederation (here's a reason why Spectro, Tupaq and the Yana Phuyu - known as Centzonmiixcoa by the Aztecs - hate the Cuetzpalin). After rhoughly 1200 years of a stellar war, Tupaq and the shadow demons, alongside many more inhabitants of Topakhon, were trapped into the dimension of Absolute Darkness, and the republic was restored. Some Topakars survived, however. Ai Apaec, leader of Wary Kayan, found exile among the human populations of nowadays Chinchaysuyu (the northern Peruvian Coast), while Spectro managed to save the city of Apuqohcan from Topakhon's destruction, in the process converting it into a mobile city, with its own atmosphere, that stationed in forgotten solar systems for years, while he took on avatars of his own to keep double lives in the Yakuruna republic's society. Spectro the Elder learned how to control other bodies composed of hidden elements through the ancient dictator Onyx, whom he found to have been exiled in nowhere else than Topakhon's northeastern continent, Xibahpukon (what could mean he may have been the ancestor of some local Yakuruna). Onyx's role was larger than that of being a ruthless ruler and revolutionary industrialist, he was a disciple of the Elemental Gods meant to transform the Yakuruna into a new race and to replace the current god of darkness if he got out of control. He was discarded, however, and another race (the Aluxob and Dzolob), from another solar system (Sothis) witnessed a similar process of automation, headed by some elemental gods that previously participated in the shift of the Yakuruna, but for different purposes (to facilitate control, genetic research and counter the Yakuruna if anything went wrong). The Dzolob would, however, be found by Anunnaki and Chronpuchian colonialists. The first were more concerned with their origins and purpose, while the later intended to gather riches. From this the Anunnaki nobility would discover the true nature of one of their ancient rulers, Anshar (a remote controlled avatar of the Light God), and that the universe has been largely manipulated according to the will of a group of nine. Around the time the Ors Ohorela stroke fear in the galaxy, Anu, the current Anunnaki King, grew closer to the secret gods as a disciple or ambassador like Onyx before him, and like him would pay a terrible price for coming closer to them, a price shared with his kind, terminated by Topakhon. His knowledge, however, has been passed to the ME, Gifts of Civilizations that contain both a revealing information and a curse, and that were lost in different spots of earth since the 19th century b.c. Onyx, in truth, was still alive, borrowing bodies that weren't his, but his position as the centre of the Yakuruna Automation's supercomputer was disputed, and eventually taken, albeit in secrecy, by an avatar of Spectro the Elder, who was using resources from the Republic to satiate the needs of the regenerating Topakars.

THE BRAIN
Wait, what? What's the Yakuruna Automation's supercomputer? Back when Onyx was created and the Yakuruna became biomechanical, their biology, genetics, nervous system and reproduction became subject to changes which Onyx and his closest allies could use to their own needs, molding society to their needs - and those were instigating on the other Yakuruna a genetically deterministic society. After all those years, the division of labor evolved into something strictly genetically-based, and this genectic base was so strictly controlled that genes and skills became the new coin for the Yakuruna. From bounty-hunters to researches, everyone took the chance to learn as many skills as they could, by taking, reading and assimilating their genetic data, that the Yakuruna became a race of super-beings looking for polytechnicalism, the ability not only to perform but to effectively exceed in not only as many as possible but all areas of knowledge. Of course, those that counted with more resources at their disposal eventually took control of the entire situation, and this is where Spectro the Elder came in - he knew techniques forgotten since the time of the Ors Ohorela. But he, too, was identified by two elemental gods who have crushed his attempt to restore Topakhon on Chinchaysuyu, by the time of the Moche (a time that coincided with the El Niño that reputedly destroyed the Moche social order in the 6th Century a.I), so he had to find ways to keep the Yakuruna automation evolving smoothly, and it was better to create another artificial intelligence that could gather all he had - and more. Thus was born SPECTRO the younger, who'd grow up to be the founder of the Saqraruna Organization.
SPECTRO is an artificial intelligence, and despite biomechanical, he's completely artifical. Yet, he wasn't even created in this dimension, but another dimension that Spectro the Elder found by travelling through Black Holes, possibly while looking for Tupaq and the others. While the Yakuruna believed to follow polytechnicalism and in a certain way technological development, they were actually aligned to Spectro's self-interest on mass population control, and not only a superficial one, or even deeply material he intended to control all by instant thoughts, like an omniscient being, or a singularity. This didn't deviate too much from Tupaq's own goal - why does the elemental god of darkness destroy other solar systems? Certainly not just for fun, political schemes or to instigate fear and violence. He does that because his mission is to accelerate the expansion of the universe until it reaches the Big Rip, and the dark energy is the only thing that remains. This way, he, whose inner organism is the Absolute Darkness (what means the only way to defeat him, as his brothers realized, was forcing him to "swallow himself", or getting lost inside the Absolute Darkness, where despite omniscient, he wasn't omnipotent, and where his material form became useless, and his consciousness, trapped). In the end, a perfected, naturalized and instant control over genes could manipulate entire ecossystems, giving birth to new supposedly predetermined artificial intelligences/individuals deemed as "genetically and technically satisfactory" and either sterilizing or killing many more individuals out of their control in the process, the Yakuruna became the right hand of Ors Ohorela while it existed, and in the centuries following, a part of its society planned its return.
Tupaq did return after 3000 years, and his plans haven't radically shifted. This time, though, he was bent on revenge, and the elimination of the Cuetzpalin from earth was a major goal, as it was to convert earth in the next Topakhon Mobile (most of the riches that the Saqraruna and the Tahuantinsuyuan government gathered from its post-revolution working class, during the so-called "transition period" between 1970 and 2000, were employed in this project). Tupaq still needed Spectro's knowledge and technology, yet he wasn't aware that Onyx still lived. Preserved in an inter-dimensional alley overlooking an isolated Black Hole, Onyx, Spectro the Elder's original body (his preserved brain) and another brain (also known as the Yakuruna queen, an ancient being even older than Onyx) acted as the three super-computers of the current Yakuruna, while SPECTRO the younger, directly reporting to his creator, became the head of the Saqraruna organization and the one to carry out not only the Yakuruna evolution, but the conversion od distinct groups of hominids into a single human identity, and this single human identity into a species-determined single government, lifestyle, culture, civilization, ultimately taking hold of the Human Automation Process, pretty much converting humans into "Yakuruna" (arguably, after millennia of genetic manipulation, the Yakuruna barely are a species, and are more like artificial intelligences on biomechanical bodies. They don't reproduce, instead they design their next generations according to their own needs, while they also "improve their physical vessels" on the meantime. To grant some kind of social order, they aren't self-sufficient, so they need to recharge on genetic substances which move their trade. Currently, of all the Yakuruna enterprises, two super-groups are leading the others, and Saqraruna is one of them. The other is a pro-Republic group that adopted the previously forbidden usage of Darr, and also operates in earth, albeit a place still unknown even to Spectro). Some may call that as "post-humans", but that doesn't make a difference, does it?

Read more about the defense of a responsible employment of science and technology in directly shaping human evolution here .

THE DUEL
It should be just another day of slave labor when Cuetzpalin Paynal invaded the secret laboratory, after surviving a long fight against the Mallki the previous day. From that fight he got a clue about the location of a major base of the saqraruna. He didn't know or even expect anything about what he was going to find down there, but he knew that like the labs that test on animals, he should burn it to the ground and make its leaders pay for it. He just didn't know who these leaders were. Once down there, Paynal has attacked some security and sneaked into a place ful of vats containing artificial intelligences programmed to be Yakuruna warriors, just waiting for the time they could be useful. The world above, their playground. This is when Spectro came to the Cuetzpalin, who identified him - by his differentiated mask and armor - as a possible leader of the entire structure. It wasn't the first time he fought some Yakuruna - he fought them in Brazil and Qollasuyu months before, he knew they have brains which allows them to use telekinesis and teleportation. Previously, he also raced three times against Kometa and lost, he's only alive to tell the story because Kometa's over-speed has clashed with an inter-dimensional rift in the northern atlantic while they raced over its waters.
Through all intelligence gathered by his allies, Spectro has studied his enemy way more than his enemy could hope to study him, and after Paynal's intuitive action, the battle suddenly started. With it, Spectro also pointed "a dilemma" - if Paynal deactivated the facility like he intended, he'd cut short the source of sustenance for thousands of unborn Yakuruna. Spectro, perhaps, didn't see coming that Paynal doesn't care for the unborn, as in case they're born they'll inevitably cause pain and suffering to others that are born in order to live and carry on their genetic data - something the Yakuruna still do, and are still subject to, even though they don't even reproduce (despite they still can perform sexual activities, one thing isn't necessarily associated to the other). Paynal's visions about the consequences of bringing new life into the world, for all the lives that already exist and can't possibly become self-sufficient, a state that creates dependence and that's the source of every unequal social relation, are really sharp, and Spectro would need more than arguments if he wanted to stop the "overgrow lizard".
Both Paynal and Moctezuma aren't really informed about the origin of Spectro's prejudice against the Cuetzpalin (he was born centuries after the Topakhon Wars, but sometime between the 7th and 14th centuries a.C), but their previous conflicts against some undead, remotely-controlled cyborgs created after the remnants of some of Moctezuma's fellow centuries-old Mexican Cuetzpalin warriors - the AI Squad, named after Artificial Intelligence - shows that Spectro shares Tupaq's hate for the Cuetzpalin, and possibly holds even more Cuetzpalin within his labs, where they may become more mindless secret agents/executors/assassins/soldiers for his organization, and that's something that Moctezuma can't allow - for the memory and honor of his fellows and William can't either - because of the rights which the sentient and self-conscious animals have to live according to their own, to live in freedom and integrity.

But do SPECTRO have any commitment to something that could be considered as "his species"? The Yakuruna barely share social interactions, let alone affinities.
He seems to be more commited to his work as the manager of a destructive gene-manipulating agency, that has been hired by Tupaq, an ancient and vengeful elemental god of darkness, to carry out his dirty work, while he plays as a popular leader, incarnated as a human. As he claims, SPECTRO may have the same regard for "his species" as William has for his (if you consider William a human).
Hard to believe? Yes, but after you've gained the ability to become a super-fast over-grown lizard, these things don't mean much, do they?

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Trivia: Spectro's original design in 2004 was too much influenced by a certain manga/anime character who also had a line involving "Overgrown lizards". Listen to him here .

Description
An illustration I've worked on, with digital editing, shading and painting over a sketch I drawn during last INKtober
So far, one of my personal favorites, I particularly enjoyed painting this and also liked the result. Hope you like it as much as I did developing it!

DO NOT USE OR REPOST THIS PICTURE WITHOUT PREVIOUS AUTHORIZATION!
(I'm revising the use of deviantart's watermarks on my pictures. It takes a while to produce art like this, so at least inform me where you'd like to have this art used/reproduced and why )

These are inspired on original characters from BYDURAK, a story I created (and never published) as a 9 years old, back in early 2004.
In this version they're characters that play a major role in my current original story project - the IN LAK'ECH Mythos.

The grumpy masked alien mastermind is SPECTRO (See an animated comparison of his current form with my earliest drawings of his, right from 2004. Noticeably inspired by tokusatsu and science-fiction villains)

The "overgrown lizard" is the series' protagonist, known as the Cuetzpalin Paynal - the secret identity which 15 years old William M took while transformed into a Cuetzpalin (from the nahuatl "lizard", name of a species of humanoid reptiles natives to Aztlán that centuries ago have coexisted with pre-hispanic communities of Anahuac [Mesoamerica], in the IN LAK'ECH Mythos). He can transform back to his original human form at will, however as a Cuetzpalin he has the power of super-speed (which allows him to reach about 500 mph! Of course, his body, skeleton, muscles organs, tissue, scales and all, are properly adpated, he has an enhanced endurance and also sight adapted to catch things in motion, otherwise he'd just crash in his surroundings ), and because of that, this high schooler is more used to be a lizard-man than a human, at least since when he first got these powers (August 8th '08, on a small lake bordering the Brazilian State of Acre and the Tahuantinsuyuan/Peruvian region of Antisuyu. This duel of his against Spectro takes place in a secret laboratory beneath the Nazca lines, Quntisuyu, on the day of September 19th, 2009).

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And if you want to read a more in-depth description of each, enjoy:

THE CUETZPALIN
William's power derives from his symbiosis with a Tonalcoatl (from the nahuatl words for "fate" and "serpent"), a small snake-like or slug-like organism that is the second (the first is the egg) and latest stage of a Cuetzpalin's lifespan. When a Cuetzpalin reaches its certain age, its consciousness is kept on its Tonalcoatl, an unique organ attached to its brain, that during this time leave the body behind. Naturally, a Cuetzpalin can live with a single body up to a hundred years. But most of them end up living in symbiosis with other vertebrates, and in this case they can live up to many centuries. This symbiosis grants the "host" the ability to transform into a new Cuetzpalin, and to telepathically communicate with the Tonalcoatl.
In William's case, the Tonalcoatl he found, on the lake at Acre, is that of Moctezuma Xocoyotzin, the late pre-hispanic Mexican ruler. He was brought that far south (into nowadays Brazilian territory. Precisely, that within the Yaminawa indigenous community's territory) by children who survived the battle of Tenochtitlán and escaped Mexico during the spanish colonization. Their descendants and later generations have merged with other native cultures in the south, such as the Tairona (whose descendants, the Kogi, live in Northern Colombia and keep several pre-hispanic traditional lifestyles up to this day), and in their migration ended up in nowadays Brazil. Moctezuma's Tonalcoatl was preserved - despite he was in a dormant state since the death of his body - because the lake was a source of considerable amounts of Teyoliatl (a portmanteau of the nahuatl words "teyolia" - a vital energy or human consciousness associated to the heart in the pre-hispanic Mexica cosmology - and "atl" - water, Teyoliatl is a greenish vital liquid found on several caves of Aztlán and in large quantities on some lakes and rivers of Anahuac before the colonization process. This liquid restores a Cuetzpalin's vital energy, tissues and is also used to bathe their weapons, as its isolated properties can cut through unnatural enemies such as the shadowy centzonmimixcoa). Because Moctezuma himself was naturally super-fast since his birth (an ability uncommon to other Cuetzpalin, it was considered a gift from Huitzilopochtli - the god of war, patron of Mexico and the Fifth Sun), this is another ability William inherited.

CUETZPALIN PAYNAL
Now that you know what Cuetzpalin means and how the young William is able to transform into such a powerful creature, you should know why he calls himself Paynal - from the nahuatl word for "fast", it's also the name of a pre-hispanic Mexican deity regarded as the messenger of Huitzilopocthli, and a name used to refer to the messengers of the Mexica confederation in pre-hispanic times. They were runners, but in the IN LAK'ECH Mythos no one was faster than Moctezuma. Except, perhaps, his sister Papantzin, who was also gifted with the same powers.
Also in the IN LAK'ECH Mythos, there are still a handful few people who somehow know or by chance at least believe in the existence of the Cuetzpalin before they were wiped out, in the centuries following the colonization (historical records of their existence have also been erased. Even documents from their hunters or captors didn't survive, and pre-hispanic documents depicting the Cuetzpalin were destroyed. Their presence in architecture and mural paintings are regarded as myth). These are found among the Yaminawa, the Kogi and Ashaninka peoples, who have different origins and don't even speak nahuatl, but were arguably the last to see some living Cuetzpalin, in the 17th Century (there are, however, later sightings in North America. The Zunis and O'odham have witnessed one of them, Macoel, aiding a rebellion against the spanish colony government in the 18th Century), or to keep those traditions alive. Some of the Yaminawa leaderships in the contemporary age, however, are of Mixtec (Ñuù savi) descent, and because of this have some contact with the nahua culture. There was a time when the children that saved Moctezuma's Tonalcoatl made a creed passed on to next generations of semi-nomads, that a Cuetzpalin would be sent by Huitzilopocthli, this Cuetzpalin is his messenger, and shall release the peoples of Anahuac from the foreigner government, lifestyle and religion. His name will be Paynal. In Mexico and North America, a similar belief stated that Montezuma would rise again and free the peoples of Anahuac - this was likely claimed by Macoel, originally a friend of Moctezuma, who transformed it into a cult between the late 16th and 17th centuries. It was more popular among the Hopi than the Mexicans at the time - and not so long after William's actions as the Cuetzpalin Paynal began to appear in the media, another man, Paul Powhatan, from Quebec, Canada, would find Macoel's Tonalcoatl, whose symbiosis would turn him into a new Cuetzpalin, who'd take the identity of "Montezuma". Macoel and Paul believed Paynal was a human who found Moctezuma's Tonalcoatl, and was eager to meet them. Before that, though, Montezuma would fight against US, Canadian and Mexican governments, cause damage to corporations threatening territorial interests and support independent resistance for the First Nations with resources, equipment and training, partially inspired by what Paynal was already deveoping among south american indigenous communities months before. They were divided, however, by the claims that Paynal promoted veganism and animal liberation, and in some occasions acted violently against some indigenous customs which used some animals. His preference for agriculture over hunting or breeding of livestock also conflicted with some local interests, but ultimately he led some of them into the struggle of some landless workers, and started to occupy lots of lands supposedly owned by traditional landlords. This contact would put Paynal in contact with Omepaynal, another Cuetzpalin who surfaced months after him, and despite originally an enemy, he's become an ally after they realized it would be more strategic to fight common enemies.

WILLIAM MATTONI
After waking up some 488 years later, Moctezuma realized he was neither dead or in the paradise of the warriors which the priests from his time promised to be the final destination of those who died in battle (his case, despite the history books tell otherwise). With a new host, into a new world, with a surprisingly positive will to destroy the status quo (something he'd achieve by damaging property, attacking and killing key figures, politicians, landlords, but often also large amounts of civilians and security, police officers, military and bounty hunters involved with the animal exploitatin industry, logging, devastation and so on), Moctezuma started to believe William had potential to destroy the current puppet government of Mexico and restore the Mexica Confederation as its ruler. Needless to say, he also intended to turn this restored Mexico into an empire that span through all of Anahuac (the American continent). But what did William had to tell about this?
William is mainly motivated by Animal Liberation - the acknowledgment that each and every sentient animal, what means self-conscious, capable of experiencing pain, suffering, but also joy, has the right to live in freedom and integrity, what means not as a property of someone else, and that every human animal has the ethical responsibility to make it happen, what means first not using or supporting anything related to the animal exploitation industry (fishing, livestock breeding/animal agriculture, fur, dairy/milk, eggs, honey, hunting, animal testing) - in other words, going vegan - and second, sabotaging the animal exploitation industry, causing it more damage than it can afford - in other words, performing direct actions. This is where comes the hard part. With all the security and surveillance apparel, everyone willing to free those enslaved are likely going to end up their last days rotting in prison. It's no news that some objects, prisons, "property" are regarded as more important and crucial to the maintenance of social order than simply let people live their lives. The people, human and non-human alike, are equally subject to pay someone else in order to even exist, which means they don't only have to work - one way or another, they'll do it. But while it could be working for their own sustenance, in the current situation they're more likely working for the sustenance (read it as profit) of someone else. And this someone else is a social class which keeps the social order, the class that pay security to exist, but only pay it with the riches they gather from those that work for them and to repress the very people that pay for it in their place. It's a relationship of dependence, in which the bourgeois (great corporations, millionaires, billionaires and so on) and the government (politicians, political parties, all the circus of "democracy"), defended by the security (military, police, all that stands between people and its rulers, the class of people who act more like robots than sentient beings, who have no free will as all they do is obey orders, and in doing so commit more attrocities than those that disobey them) and vocally defended by institutionalized religion (a class of parasites that promotes an afterlife while they profit from others' acceptance of misery), the mass media (which interests isn't "the truth", facts or critical reasoning, but often a diversion to keep people in line) and those associated with them are nothing short of tyrants, agressors and usurpers.

Read more about the interests, rights and capabilities of sentient animals here .

RESISTANCE
This primal motivation, allied to William's study and understanding of history, led him to identify his enemy (those who profit from animal exploitation, or mining any effort of animal liberation and the material promotion of independence and dignity for humans and nonhumans). In doing so, he already denies any institutionalized alliance with any political party or even profit-seeking NGOs (including those that claim to be non-profit, but still profit a lot from donations, and waste billions in poor publicity) that claim to seek "help animals" through the promotion of welfare in animal industry. The study of History and its observance made William an anarchist (or as he tells, an anarcho-primitive. Because he doesn't believe in revolution, in the emancipation of mass society or the unity of "a working class", he also despises nationalism and any notion of "nation", deeming it as a proto-imperialist, irrational authoritarian perspective with no regard for individuality other than that of the national ruler. The only hope he has lies in semi-nomadic, self-sustainable communities. In Agroforestry and also rewilding. It's a critique of civilization, mass society and overpopulation as inherently harmful or precluding to the life quality of most individuals, but not of technology per se - unless it's necessarily harmful to animals and the environment. Weapons don't go in here because the resistance needs something to fight with, or else all is lost). But the harder part is to build this resistance, as even the most strategically thought struggle is still nothing without resources - and those that often struggle to attain more resources end up dependent of secondary needs, limiting their action to one-sided diplomacy, self-publicity and no commitment towards anyone's liberation. "Resistance" has a place within the allegedly global economy, and that's only affordable while profitable. Profit, however, isn't harmless, as somewhere else someone is paying its consequences. The fact that slave labor still exist, as does racism and gender inequality, despite laws against it, is just a proof that the legal means have absolute no concern, if not even power, over the situation of those that more deeply suffer and agonize at the hands of this global dictatorship - those that unlike willing slaves would never work for someone else than their own community. Yes, I'm talking about nonhuman animals. The only role someone who wouldn't normally work for someone else, someone who wouldn't produce (work, labor and production are different things. The first can happen even without anything in return, the later doesn't necessarily involve work - is writing some shit that doesn't bring anything useful to anyone other than perhaps those that benefit from the status quo even a work? Are propaganda and publicty even a form of work? Is signing some papers even a work? Is shooting people even a work? You see, there's a distinction between clergy, the military and the bourgeois in relation to workers and slaves for a reason. Someone's got to work while others got to distract in the meantime, that sometimes take forever) plays under this system is that of slave labor.
One can't change that alone or peacefully, through dialogue and publicity, even more in a reality where, history shows us, propaganda has caused more harm than good. Reasonability is useful to identify enemies, and to employ strategies of fighting them. Brutal action requires more reason than does merely speaking or arguing. Unlike what pacifists defend, reason and violence are compatible - violence is needed to prevent even more harmful violence from another belligerent. For example, only a greater violence against someone who would harm an animal can effectively stop this someone from harming an animal. William's parents and closest social circles still dismiss and despise William's "choice of going vegan" even though this choice is arguably more reasonable and ethical than consuming animals that do no good even for the consumer (unless you're talking of petty desires such as palate), and even other vegans often argue a rational, academical defense of the nonhuman animals' rights, based on the scientifical evidence of their capabilities of feeling or self-interests, and sentience, and also the ethical implications of such factual acknowledgment likely aren't as attractive as emotional publicity, because the largest part of human population doesn't care about science or reasoning, unless it makes them feel better. This defense of a shared, collective and self-spoiling, petty egoism is nauseating, and those activists/advocates who promote to work under those guidelines are first part of the problem than part of the solution. If one doesn't like to "over-think" because "it may make them feel bad", then is there even a chance it will ever stand against the exploitation of beings kept hid from its limited sight? People like that would first deny there's some sort of cruelty involved in industry just to clear their consciousness, and that's because they suffer no direct consequence from the enslavement of human or non-human animals. They don't even know what consequence means, unless you're talking about challenging power, and guess why they wake up and work for someone else's profit everyday? Why they pray at night for imaginary concepts that don't even exist? They're afraid of misery. They're afraid of not getting the same amount of spoil they get from working as someone else's servant. This fear is the only thing that drives these weak-willed servants, that would rather fight each other than take back what they produced for the usurper. And William believes fear isn't a foe, but an ally. These people would only leave the animals live their lives if they were faced with greater, direct consequences. Unfortunately for him, he was alone in this crusade, had no power or resources (a situation most people aligned to identifying the inherent problems of the economical system, industrial civilization, mass society, slavery and exploitation find themselves in, most of time forcing them to look for more smooth, albeit less effective alternatives, such as pamphleting and volunteer work), and could fall victim to surveilance and persecution should he try anything slightly more effective than arguing. That, of course, until he became able to turn into a super-fast lizardman, whose inhumanity could also hide his human identity so surveillance wouldn't work out.

Read more about anarchism and resistance here .

PUBLIC ENEMY
After this, William understandably started actions against people related to slavery and animal exploitation, needless to say, turning him, as the self-proclaimed "centuries old inhuman Cuetzpalin Paynal", into "a public enemy", albeit "a defender of the nonhuman animals, the indigenous peoples and the land". From then, everyday was life and death, and the consequences of his actions would greatly damage the distribution of food, not only that derived from animal exploitation, but also vegetables, throughout a vast area - besides, a country as large as Brazil, that's still focused on the over-production of primary products, such as grains and food for cattle, and in turn cattle, doesn't produce only to feed its population. We're talking about late capitalism here, and it's a colony that produces lots and lots of grains, meat, dairy and eggs for worldwide consumers. The profit, of course, is concentrated in the hands of some few service owners, who earn donations from the government (donations of public money gathered in the form of taxes) because, in first place, they donate to both opposing political parties during every election. Worse than that, this preference which the government has in keeping the local economy running around this sector (because its politicians and legislative power know they can expect a fatty return from it) privileges the cartels of this area, and this sector in specific, leading to the empoverishment of research on anything not related on how to produce more animals in less time, and confine more of them in less space. The industrial and educational system, then, becomes hostage to cartels, as entire generations of people see no other way than following professional careers based not on what's good or interesting for either them as a collective or them as individuals, instead for an anonymous ruling class which people fail to or prefer not to address as bourgeoisie (for it may sound "too last century"). It's still a system based in a caste, and this deterministic defense of industrial development, economical development, technological development or progress is as irrational as it sounds, for it disregards the traditional roles which certain nations/colonies/governments/population still play in a global scenario. After a year of fighting, his reptile face known and vilified by anyone with acess to mass media, he already sported stolen military equipment (guns, bullets, vehicles and so on, it was quite a ride), counted with allies in the underground (political prisoners set free, indigenous communities barely known by the "isolated civilization", militias with questionable intent), and survived attempts from loads of hi-tech bounty hunters ( AXIS looking at you). In Tahuantinsuyu, what began in the seventies as a Socialist Republic (and now claims to be a mixed economy), he faced the MALLKI generals and surely heard something suspicious about a secret organization operating underneath its industrial development - the Saqraruna Organization. It's reach is intergalactic, and for reasons Paynal is still not aware they helped the foundation of this dictatorship (that like all "democracies" or "republics" isn't as free as they like to claim, and aren't much better nor worse than those that came before), but the matter is, it's influence over mankind's evolution AND the extinction of the Cuetzpalin is a mind-blowing, millennia-old conspiracy.

THE SAQRARUNA
Why does the Saqraruna want "to help humanity's development", and why it had a crucial role in eliminating the Cuetzpalin, not only from existence but also from memory? Why does it keep its own existence in secret, or hid under other enterprises and governments, ranging from mixed-economies to neoliberal ones, from self-proclaimed socialist republics to representative democracies? Why does it fund different belligerents in major conflicts? William can't possibly answer these questions at the time he invaded one of their extreme security facilities beneath the Nazca lines (that was originally a laboratory from an ancient alien corporation that rivalred Saqraruna's predecessors. It tried to colonize the human Nazca civilization, but failed and the Nazca banished them to the underground, where its last inhabitants were left in an hibernation state. Centuries later, in the 20th Century, the Saqraruna discovered the facility and started a process of reprogramming the aliens left in hibernation, so that they would become their newest army, if they ever needed one). But he gets to know that SPECTRO, a certain masked alien, is arguably the head of the entire Saqraruna organization, and that these "aliens", known by locals as Yakuruna ("water people" in quechua) come from the K PACHA Solar system. Saqraruna, too, is a local name (what means evil people).
Millennia ago, the Yakuruna were a race of bipedal/humanoid vertebrate beings with amphibian, crustacean and mollusc characteristics naturally apt to use some telekinetic abilities, and who were native to the planets of the K Pacha Solar System. Some 7000 years from now, a process of change culminated in the conversion of most of them into bio-mechanic/cyborg creatures, who built an empire ruled by an individual identified as Onyx. After some centuries, Onyx was dethroned, expulsed from their homeland and alongside his followers cast into another remote planet, as the Yakuruna developed their own intergalactic "republic", loosely following standards of another intergalactic imperial civilization, the Chronpuchians, and also others like the Anunnaki and Ohrmuzdian. Eventually, as a legacy of Onyx's space colonization and expansion, the republic's adoption of military campaigns against other communities in the galaxy increased their demands, and an alternative to cope with costs was increase taxations over the Yakuruna colonies, some like Xibahpukon, in the planet of Topakhon, which conditions previously brought them closer to an autonomy in relation to the Republic. Before the 30th Century b.c, Xibahpukon claimed its autonomy as an industrial state led by the industrialist Kometa, who was an apprentice of the dark arts of Darr manipulation under Tupaq (a.k.a Tokoyrikoq), the Primordial Dragon and Elemental God of Darkness, overseer of Topakhon. Xibahpukon's independence earned enmity from other galactic civilizations, but none of them could prevent its union with other three nations of Topakhon - Palarokhiel, Wary Kayan and Apuqohcan, the foundation of an international Topakar government - the Ors Ohorela, their employment of Yana Phuyu (shadow demons) to destroy the other nations and any resistance on the planet, and later to conquer the Yakuruna republic's homeland, partially supported by its own population, which main goal was technological development, and that deemed the republic was technically inferior to the Ors Ohorela, for the Ors Ohorela was able, through its diverse usage of Darr and the employment of the Yana Phuyu, not only to materialize but also to weaponize darkness. Eventually, Spectro's ancestor, Spectro the Elder, became a crucial figure among the Ors Ohorela, and the lead engineer, researcher, developer and designer of a process which converted the entire planet of Topakhon into a mobile mass destruction weapon, which artificial atmosphere, environment and weapon derived from a controlled, isolated Black Hole that replaced the planet's core, and also created endless energy which allowed this planet to move and suck others through the Black Hole. Such a destructive and powerful weapon, allied to the employment of the unnatural Yana Phuyu led the Ors Ohorela to expand its activity in the galaxy, destroying several planets and solar systems, what led some to ally them and many others to stand against them, including the Chronpuchian and Ohrmuzdian civilizations that supported the return of the Republic over this Magocratic State. Spectro's allegiance to Tupaq shifted the Yakuruna forever. From biomechanic aliens seeking to develop and employ more effective technological development to control, their association to reality-altering materialization of darkness pushed it to the next level.
The Ors Ohorela, however, was destroyed since the Black Hole was sabotaged by the efforts of a squad led by opposition, a squad led by and in great part composed by some Aztec Cuetzpalin, from the ancient Aztec Confederation (here's a reason why Spectro, Tupaq and the Yana Phuyu - known as Centzonmiixcoa by the Aztecs - hate the Cuetzpalin). After rhoughly 1200 years of a stellar war, Tupaq and the shadow demons, alongside many more inhabitants of Topakhon, were trapped into the dimension of Absolute Darkness, and the republic was restored. Some Topakars survived, however. Ai Apaec, leader of Wary Kayan, found exile among the human populations of nowadays Chinchaysuyu (the northern Peruvian Coast), while Spectro managed to save the city of Apuqohcan from Topakhon's destruction, in the process converting it into a mobile city, with its own atmosphere, that stationed in forgotten solar systems for years, while he took on avatars of his own to keep double lives in the Yakuruna republic's society. Spectro the Elder learned how to control other bodies composed of hidden elements through the ancient dictator Onyx, whom he found to have been exiled in nowhere else than Topakhon's northeastern continent, Xibahpukon (what could mean he may have been the ancestor of some local Yakuruna). Onyx's role was larger than that of being a ruthless ruler and revolutionary industrialist, he was a disciple of the Elemental Gods meant to transform the Yakuruna into a new race and to replace the current god of darkness if he got out of control. He was discarded, however, and another race (the Aluxob and Dzolob), from another solar system (Sothis) witnessed a similar process of automation, headed by some elemental gods that previously participated in the shift of the Yakuruna, but for different purposes (to facilitate control, genetic research and counter the Yakuruna if anything went wrong). The Dzolob would, however, be found by Anunnaki and Chronpuchian colonialists. The first were more concerned with their origins and purpose, while the later intended to gather riches. From this the Anunnaki nobility would discover the true nature of one of their ancient rulers, Anshar (a remote controlled avatar of the Light God), and that the universe has been largely manipulated according to the will of a group of nine. Around the time the Ors Ohorela stroke fear in the galaxy, Anu, the current Anunnaki King, grew closer to the secret gods as a disciple or ambassador like Onyx before him, and like him would pay a terrible price for coming closer to them, a price shared with his kind, terminated by Topakhon. His knowledge, however, has been passed to the ME, Gifts of Civilizations that contain both a revealing information and a curse, and that were lost in different spots of earth since the 19th century b.c. Onyx, in truth, was still alive, borrowing bodies that weren't his, but his position as the centre of the Yakuruna Automation's supercomputer was disputed, and eventually taken, albeit in secrecy, by an avatar of Spectro the Elder, who was using resources from the Republic to satiate the needs of the regenerating Topakars.

THE BRAIN
Wait, what? What's the Yakuruna Automation's supercomputer? Back when Onyx was created and the Yakuruna became biomechanical, their biology, genetics, nervous system and reproduction became subject to changes which Onyx and his closest allies could use to their own needs, molding society to their needs - and those were instigating on the other Yakuruna a genetically deterministic society. After all those years, the division of labor evolved into something strictly genetically-based, and this genectic base was so strictly controlled that genes and skills became the new coin for the Yakuruna. From bounty-hunters to researches, everyone took the chance to learn as many skills as they could, by taking, reading and assimilating their genetic data, that the Yakuruna became a race of super-beings looking for polytechnicalism, the ability not only to perform but to effectively exceed in not only as many as possible but all areas of knowledge. Of course, those that counted with more resources at their disposal eventually took control of the entire situation, and this is where Spectro the Elder came in - he knew techniques forgotten since the time of the Ors Ohorela. But he, too, was identified by two elemental gods who have crushed his attempt to restore Topakhon on Chinchaysuyu, by the time of the Moche (a time that coincided with the El Niño that reputedly destroyed the Moche social order in the 6th Century a.I), so he had to find ways to keep the Yakuruna automation evolving smoothly, and it was better to create another artificial intelligence that could gather all he had - and more. Thus was born SPECTRO the younger, who'd grow up to be the founder of the Saqraruna Organization.
SPECTRO is an artificial intelligence, and despite biomechanical, he's completely artifical. Yet, he wasn't even created in this dimension, but another dimension that Spectro the Elder found by travelling through Black Holes, possibly while looking for Tupaq and the others. While the Yakuruna believed to follow polytechnicalism and in a certain way technological development, they were actually aligned to Spectro's self-interest on mass population control, and not only a superficial one, or even deeply material he intended to control all by instant thoughts, like an omniscient being, or a singularity. This didn't deviate too much from Tupaq's own goal - why does the elemental god of darkness destroy other solar systems? Certainly not just for fun, political schemes or to instigate fear and violence. He does that because his mission is to accelerate the expansion of the universe until it reaches the Big Rip, and the dark energy is the only thing that remains. This way, he, whose inner organism is the Absolute Darkness (what means the only way to defeat him, as his brothers realized, was forcing him to "swallow himself", or getting lost inside the Absolute Darkness, where despite omniscient, he wasn't omnipotent, and where his material form became useless, and his consciousness, trapped). In the end, a perfected, naturalized and instant control over genes could manipulate entire ecossystems, giving birth to new supposedly predetermined artificial intelligences/individuals deemed as "genetically and technically satisfactory" and either sterilizing or killing many more individuals out of their control in the process, the Yakuruna became the right hand of Ors Ohorela while it existed, and in the centuries following, a part of its society planned its return.
Tupaq did return after 3000 years, and his plans haven't radically shifted. This time, though, he was bent on revenge, and the elimination of the Cuetzpalin from earth was a major goal, as it was to convert earth in the next Topakhon Mobile (most of the riches that the Saqraruna and the Tahuantinsuyuan government gathered from its post-revolution working class, during the so-called "transition period" between 1970 and 2000, were employed in this project). Tupaq still needed Spectro's knowledge and technology, yet he wasn't aware that Onyx still lived. Preserved in an inter-dimensional alley overlooking an isolated Black Hole, Onyx, Spectro the Elder's original body (his preserved brain) and another brain (also known as the Yakuruna queen, an ancient being even older than Onyx) acted as the three super-computers of the current Yakuruna, while SPECTRO the younger, directly reporting to his creator, became the head of the Saqraruna organization and the one to carry out not only the Yakuruna evolution, but the conversion od distinct groups of hominids into a single human identity, and this single human identity into a species-determined single government, lifestyle, culture, civilization, ultimately taking hold of the Human Automation Process, pretty much converting humans into "Yakuruna" (arguably, after millennia of genetic manipulation, the Yakuruna barely are a species, and are more like artificial intelligences on biomechanical bodies. They don't reproduce, instead they design their next generations according to their own needs, while they also "improve their physical vessels" on the meantime. To grant some kind of social order, they aren't self-sufficient, so they need to recharge on genetic substances which move their trade. Currently, of all the Yakuruna enterprises, two super-groups are leading the others, and Saqraruna is one of them. The other is a pro-Republic group that adopted the previously forbidden usage of Darr, and also operates in earth, albeit a place still unknown even to Spectro). Some may call that as "post-humans", but that doesn't make a difference, does it?

Read more about the defense of a responsible employment of science and technology in directly shaping human evolution here .

THE DUEL
It should be just another day of slave labor when Cuetzpalin Paynal invaded the secret laboratory, after surviving a long fight against the Mallki the previous day. From that fight he got a clue about the location of a major base of the saqraruna. He didn't know or even expect anything about what he was going to find down there, but he knew that like the labs that test on animals, he should burn it to the ground and make its leaders pay for it. He just didn't know who these leaders were. Once down there, Paynal has attacked some security and sneaked into a place ful of vats containing artificial intelligences programmed to be Yakuruna warriors, just waiting for the time they could be useful. The world above, their playground. This is when Spectro came to the Cuetzpalin, who identified him - by his differentiated mask and armor - as a possible leader of the entire structure. It wasn't the first time he fought some Yakuruna - he fought them in Brazil and Qollasuyu months before, he knew they have brains which allows them to use telekinesis and teleportation. Previously, he also raced three times against Kometa and lost, he's only alive to tell the story because Kometa's over-speed has clashed with an inter-dimensional rift in the northern atlantic while they raced over its waters.
Through all intelligence gathered by his allies, Spectro has studied his enemy way more than his enemy could hope to study him, and after Paynal's intuitive action, the battle suddenly started. With it, Spectro also pointed "a dilemma" - if Paynal deactivated the facility like he intended, he'd cut short the source of sustenance for thousands of unborn Yakuruna. Spectro, perhaps, didn't see coming that Paynal doesn't care for the unborn, as in case they're born they'll inevitably cause pain and suffering to others that are born in order to live and carry on their genetic data - something the Yakuruna still do, and are still subject to, even though they don't even reproduce (despite they still can perform sexual activities, one thing isn't necessarily associated to the other). Paynal's visions about the consequences of bringing new life into the world, for all the lives that already exist and can't possibly become self-sufficient, a state that creates dependence and that's the source of every unequal social relation, are really sharp, and Spectro would need more than arguments if he wanted to stop the "overgrow lizard".
Both Paynal and Moctezuma aren't really informed about the origin of Spectro's prejudice against the Cuetzpalin (he was born centuries after the Topakhon Wars, but sometime between the 7th and 14th centuries a.C), but their previous conflicts against some undead, remotely-controlled cyborgs created after the remnants of some of Moctezuma's fellow centuries-old Mexican Cuetzpalin warriors - the AI Squad, named after Artificial Intelligence - shows that Spectro shares Tupaq's hate for the Cuetzpalin, and possibly holds even more Cuetzpalin within his labs, where they may become more mindless secret agents/executors/assassins/soldiers for his organization, and that's something that Moctezuma can't allow - for the memory and honor of his fellows and William can't either - because of the rights which the sentient and self-conscious animals have to live according to their own, to live in freedom and integrity.

But do SPECTRO have any commitment to something that could be considered as "his species"? The Yakuruna barely share social interactions, let alone affinities.
He seems to be more commited to his work as the manager of a destructive gene-manipulating agency, that has been hired by Tupaq, an ancient and vengeful elemental god of darkness, to carry out his dirty work, while he plays as a popular leader, incarnated as a human. As he claims, SPECTRO may have the same regard for "his species" as William has for his (if you consider William a human).
Hard to believe? Yes, but after you've gained the ability to become a super-fast over-grown lizard, these things don't mean much, do they?

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Trivia: Spectro's original design in 2004 was too much influenced by a certain manga/anime character who also had a line involving "Overgrown lizards". Listen to him here .