Ok at last it is here!! I broke each part down by character and then went into a summary at the end. It is Kind Of A Lot so feel free to drop any questions here and I promise it won't take 12,000 years to answer/clarify!
Jayce: Much of the folklore and legends found in Copalli libraries, whether in Coatepec or elsewhere, are almost entirely focused on the gods native to the area -- gods like Quetzalcoatl or others of the Aztec pantheon, with similar stories to what you'd find from a quick google. There's something of a cutoff date at, you guessed it, about 100 years ago where stories like that seem to just drop off and become a lot less common. What there doesn't seem to be a lot of are stories about the guardians or the relics -- at least not specifically, because magical objects of all sorts of fascinating origins and uses are also pretty commonplace. There are tantalizing bits of information surrounding many magical artifacts, from weapons blessed by the gods to possess mighty power all the way down to jewels that replicate themselves and make you rich. But none that are specially guarded or anything like that.
What Jayce will likely want to be looking for are stories relating to collections of four, creatures and objects with elemental properties, etc. Outside of the writings and surveys Salamander and her people have collected about the area in the last 50-75 years, there is precisely one text, in the once-restricted area of the Copalli library, that has any relevant information. The thin volume describes the "birth" of the four cardinal elements, depicted as springing forth from the mouth of a great dragon in the form of a skeletal wraith (earth), a six-armed snake (fire), a hydra (wind), and a tentacled octopus-like creature (water). They are considered to be embodiments of the elements themselves, and are known for being fearsome, unrelenting, and immensely powerful (but it's debatable how that power stacks against the presiding gods of the time). There aren't any names given for the creatures themselves (they're referred to by their elements), but there are four other names that seem to refer to places, all of which can be matched to old maps and records and therefore placed somewhat close to current ones: Kukulan (western Kiichpan), Huehuetzpal (north of Tikal, currently underwater but close to the islands the water relic was found), Titlacauan (southeast of Coba) and Cemanahuac (dead center of the continent).
Julian: Some no-medallion chatting around will unveil that there are, in fact, dozens or more different dialects being actively spoken all across Copalli, and pockets of other languages not resembling Nahuatl as well! Some of these examples are more visible than others, like Eagle's insertion of French/Italian phrases in his dialogue (each of the four leaders speak their own language, as a matter of fact, but only Eagle seems to use his around others), and others are more inexplicable, like families who speak languages that appear to be fantasy-Spanish, fantasy-somekindaGermanic, etc. These are always tricky to implement because, like, it's Spanish but there's no Spain so what do you call it lol?!, so you can sort of use your imagination on that since most people Julian speaks to won't have an easy time pointing to specific origins of their language/ancestry, just that they've always had that dialect in their vernacular, oftentimes passed down by family, close friends, neighbors, etc.
One fortunate aspect to the dozens of different dialects is that in a lot of cases, they're quite similar to one another and therefore easy to translate between and pick up the nuances of. Julian will find that the four cities currently on the continent didn't exist 100 years ago, and are in fact only about 50-60 years old each, give or take, so a lot of unusual and defunct names of places, people, etc. are wont to come up when trying to pinpoint exactly where things originated. It seems like, in general, the northern coastal regions were the first areas to be settled in, so Coatepec would likely be a starting point for what's spoken today, but it's hard to say for sure. He'll also find names he can match to old maps, and combined with Connor's hieroglyphic transcriptions, they'll be able to put together new stories!
Well, "new" as in stories not previously recorded on paper, and all very interesting, but nothing extraordinarily groundbreaking, in this case. Most of what Julian will bring back to report turn out to be stories about the gods as told by someone's mom's mom's mom's aunt who claims to have encountered them personally, as well as mundane city life before the incense, various local anecdotes, legendary cryptids, etc.
Dohalim: Most of the only stories there are to find regarding death pertaining to resurrection have to do with the old gods specifically, and are often mired in the sort of fantastical mythology you'd expect to find: stories about immortal gods coming back to life after being slain, being reincarnated in new forms, possessing a new body after death, etc., and of course the persistent story of the phoenix rising from the ashes. No humans have ever been known to come back to life, except for the coterie leaders -- although no one surveyed will have ever actually seen any of them die, only be seriously injured from time to time and bounce back unusually quickly.
A slight exception to this is that, particularly around Coba, the banshees and other walking corpses have been known to be an issue for as long as Copalli has been around (predating the incense, by the sound of it). There hasn't ever been any success in recovering these souls once they've reanimated however.
As for rites after death, each region has its own preferred method of handling the dead. Kiichpan typically burns their corpses in a funeral pyre using special "cleansing fire" (there isn't actually anything special about the fire itself, the torch is just lit after a special ritual to "bless" it). Tikal buries their dead, not necessarily within cemeteries, but to nurture the earth in a "circle of life" type of way (although relatively informal grave markers are often used by way of the weapons of the fallen being plunged into the earth above their grave, etc. to honor them). In Coba, they drain the blood of their dead, remove the organs, and lay the bodies out on sanctified altars, "to be carried away on the wind piece by piece," which is another way of saying they let the birds get at them. These altars are typically placed up high to keep other beasts away and to give the person one last illusion of "flying."
Little is known about what is done with the dead in Coatepec, as the bodies are often seen taken into the infirmary/Salamander lodge where they don't seem to return. People with loved ones can opt to have essentially a Viking funeral for them, returning their bodies to the sea by pushing them out onto rafts and sinking them once they've drifted out far enough. As for the rest... that might require more investigating.
Onni: Elemental energy is absolutely hopping on Copalli. It's everywhere, and it's also very deeply fucked up because of the incense. What can ultimately be sensed is that Salamander is more or less correct in her assertion that the mist is affecting the mana of this world (or at least this continent), warping the very life energy of all matter itself, and that includes the cardinal elemental forces and how they're naturally meant to function. That being said, pinpointing specific elements is still entirely possible. The most obvious reads will be in Kiichpan and Coatepec, where the currently captured relics are still giving off strong signals even while sealed away. These elemental signatures are very "clean" because there isn't any incense spilling forth from the relics anymore, but is also muddled by the energy of the people holding the seals in place themselves (that is, Viper and Salamander). Still, their signatures are very similar in spite of their elemental differences, and one might use that in the way a scenting hound picks up a trail for something along the same lines to try finding the other two.
Old temples and ruins often seem to have powerful blips on the elemental radar, most notably the ones that seemed to have been gathering places, altars, ritual sites, etc. It can be surmised that the people of the time had some way of identifying and making use of these places of power, and now they remain as untapped founts, but now so mingled with the incense that they have a higher likelihood of causing strange effects in the monsters nearby, or mutations (like semiaquatic quadrupeds that probably shouldn't exist, heat-resistant plants, etc.), which can affect people in the same way as well.
For the relic hunt, logically it'd be earth and wind they'd want to focus on next, but both are notoriously difficult to pin down in a place that is known for high winds and, well, being earthy. Combo-wombo what the others are finding to match to current maps and searching those areas in particular will turn up very overpowering earth energies in the area southeast of Coba -- but getting to it is nothing short of a nightmare and a half. The area is mountainous to begin with and far off the beaten path, where the land is very uneven in elevation and footing. Following the trail further brings you to crags and craters that are difficult to cross on foot, and beyond that is a stretch of very dense, very incense-y costal jungle with trees so close together it's hard to move between them. Definitely not an expedition to take on alone, but as it'll turn out very soon, there's a much, much easier way to get there.
uhhh 1/2 because apparently it doesn't all fit in one comment, nice
Jayce:
Much of the folklore and legends found in Copalli libraries, whether in Coatepec or elsewhere, are almost entirely focused on the gods native to the area -- gods like Quetzalcoatl or others of the Aztec pantheon, with similar stories to what you'd find from a quick google. There's something of a cutoff date at, you guessed it, about 100 years ago where stories like that seem to just drop off and become a lot less common. What there doesn't seem to be a lot of are stories about the guardians or the relics -- at least not specifically, because magical objects of all sorts of fascinating origins and uses are also pretty commonplace. There are tantalizing bits of information surrounding many magical artifacts, from weapons blessed by the gods to possess mighty power all the way down to jewels that replicate themselves and make you rich. But none that are specially guarded or anything like that.
What Jayce will likely want to be looking for are stories relating to collections of four, creatures and objects with elemental properties, etc. Outside of the writings and surveys Salamander and her people have collected about the area in the last 50-75 years, there is precisely one text, in the once-restricted area of the Copalli library, that has any relevant information. The thin volume describes the "birth" of the four cardinal elements, depicted as springing forth from the mouth of a great dragon in the form of a skeletal wraith (earth), a six-armed snake (fire), a hydra (wind), and a tentacled octopus-like creature (water). They are considered to be embodiments of the elements themselves, and are known for being fearsome, unrelenting, and immensely powerful (but it's debatable how that power stacks against the presiding gods of the time). There aren't any names given for the creatures themselves (they're referred to by their elements), but there are four other names that seem to refer to places, all of which can be matched to old maps and records and therefore placed somewhat close to current ones: Kukulan (western Kiichpan), Huehuetzpal (north of Tikal, currently underwater but close to the islands the water relic was found), Titlacauan (southeast of Coba) and Cemanahuac (dead center of the continent).
Julian:
Some no-medallion chatting around will unveil that there are, in fact, dozens or more different dialects being actively spoken all across Copalli, and pockets of other languages not resembling Nahuatl as well! Some of these examples are more visible than others, like Eagle's insertion of French/Italian phrases in his dialogue (each of the four leaders speak their own language, as a matter of fact, but only Eagle seems to use his around others), and others are more inexplicable, like families who speak languages that appear to be fantasy-Spanish, fantasy-somekindaGermanic, etc. These are always tricky to implement because, like, it's Spanish but there's no Spain so what do you call it lol?!, so you can sort of use your imagination on that since most people Julian speaks to won't have an easy time pointing to specific origins of their language/ancestry, just that they've always had that dialect in their vernacular, oftentimes passed down by family, close friends, neighbors, etc.
One fortunate aspect to the dozens of different dialects is that in a lot of cases, they're quite similar to one another and therefore easy to translate between and pick up the nuances of. Julian will find that the four cities currently on the continent didn't exist 100 years ago, and are in fact only about 50-60 years old each, give or take, so a lot of unusual and defunct names of places, people, etc. are wont to come up when trying to pinpoint exactly where things originated. It seems like, in general, the northern coastal regions were the first areas to be settled in, so Coatepec would likely be a starting point for what's spoken today, but it's hard to say for sure. He'll also find names he can match to old maps, and combined with Connor's hieroglyphic transcriptions, they'll be able to put together new stories!
Well, "new" as in stories not previously recorded on paper, and all very interesting, but nothing extraordinarily groundbreaking, in this case. Most of what Julian will bring back to report turn out to be stories about the gods as told by someone's mom's mom's mom's aunt who claims to have encountered them personally, as well as mundane city life before the incense, various local anecdotes, legendary cryptids, etc.
Dohalim:
Most of the only stories there are to find regarding death pertaining to resurrection have to do with the old gods specifically, and are often mired in the sort of fantastical mythology you'd expect to find: stories about immortal gods coming back to life after being slain, being reincarnated in new forms, possessing a new body after death, etc., and of course the persistent story of the phoenix rising from the ashes. No humans have ever been known to come back to life, except for the coterie leaders -- although no one surveyed will have ever actually seen any of them die, only be seriously injured from time to time and bounce back unusually quickly.
A slight exception to this is that, particularly around Coba, the banshees and other walking corpses have been known to be an issue for as long as Copalli has been around (predating the incense, by the sound of it). There hasn't ever been any success in recovering these souls once they've reanimated however.
As for rites after death, each region has its own preferred method of handling the dead. Kiichpan typically burns their corpses in a funeral pyre using special "cleansing fire" (there isn't actually anything special about the fire itself, the torch is just lit after a special ritual to "bless" it). Tikal buries their dead, not necessarily within cemeteries, but to nurture the earth in a "circle of life" type of way (although relatively informal grave markers are often used by way of the weapons of the fallen being plunged into the earth above their grave, etc. to honor them). In Coba, they drain the blood of their dead, remove the organs, and lay the bodies out on sanctified altars, "to be carried away on the wind piece by piece," which is another way of saying they let the birds get at them. These altars are typically placed up high to keep other beasts away and to give the person one last illusion of "flying."
Little is known about what is done with the dead in Coatepec, as the bodies are often seen taken into the infirmary/Salamander lodge where they don't seem to return. People with loved ones can opt to have essentially a Viking funeral for them, returning their bodies to the sea by pushing them out onto rafts and sinking them once they've drifted out far enough. As for the rest... that might require more investigating.
Onni:
Elemental energy is absolutely hopping on Copalli. It's everywhere, and it's also very deeply fucked up because of the incense. What can ultimately be sensed is that Salamander is more or less correct in her assertion that the mist is affecting the mana of this world (or at least this continent), warping the very life energy of all matter itself, and that includes the cardinal elemental forces and how they're naturally meant to function. That being said, pinpointing specific elements is still entirely possible. The most obvious reads will be in Kiichpan and Coatepec, where the currently captured relics are still giving off strong signals even while sealed away. These elemental signatures are very "clean" because there isn't any incense spilling forth from the relics anymore, but is also muddled by the energy of the people holding the seals in place themselves (that is, Viper and Salamander). Still, their signatures are very similar in spite of their elemental differences, and one might use that in the way a scenting hound picks up a trail for something along the same lines to try finding the other two.
Old temples and ruins often seem to have powerful blips on the elemental radar, most notably the ones that seemed to have been gathering places, altars, ritual sites, etc. It can be surmised that the people of the time had some way of identifying and making use of these places of power, and now they remain as untapped founts, but now so mingled with the incense that they have a higher likelihood of causing strange effects in the monsters nearby, or mutations (like semiaquatic quadrupeds that probably shouldn't exist, heat-resistant plants, etc.), which can affect people in the same way as well.
For the relic hunt, logically it'd be earth and wind they'd want to focus on next, but both are notoriously difficult to pin down in a place that is known for high winds and, well, being earthy. Combo-wombo what the others are finding to match to current maps and searching those areas in particular will turn up very overpowering earth energies in the area southeast of Coba -- but getting to it is nothing short of a nightmare and a half. The area is mountainous to begin with and far off the beaten path, where the land is very uneven in elevation and footing. Following the trail further brings you to crags and craters that are difficult to cross on foot, and beyond that is a stretch of very dense, very incense-y costal jungle with trees so close together it's hard to move between them. Definitely not an expedition to take on alone, but as it'll turn out very soon, there's a much, much easier way to get there.