I only own 4th ed books, which azzie team is the CIA and which is the FBI? I want to know which would be operating out the Aztlan.

The Aztlan Sourcebook says on page 75 that both groups, Jaguar Guards and Leopard Guards, perform security duties akin to the Red Samurai or the Black Daggers. The elite Leopard Guards work throughout Aztechnology's corporate empire worldwide, whereas the even more elite "Jaguar Guards never serve outside Aztlan."

Peter

that was exactly what I was hoping DS could tell me. Thanks a bunch!

How strange, since leopards don't live in the Americas. Is there a reason they chose leopards, or did the authors just not read up on their big cats?

These two elite military units appear to be modelled on two warrior societies in the Aztec world, the Jaguar Warriors and the Eagle Warriors. Aztec society was pretty rigidly structured, but one good way to move up in social rank was to perform well in battle. A great warrior could move from the humblest of beginnings into the lower nobility. These warrior groups had their own temples and quarters, often right in the ritziest sections of town. A rule of thumb handed down from those times is that a Jaguar warrior was equal in battle to twenty regular warriors. It's not clear whether this was an exaggeration built on the number 20, the basic unit of Aztec counting, like our number 10. (Remember the old TV cartoon series, "Hercules", and the theme song, "...With the strength of ten, ordinary men, Oh the Mighty, Hercules!")

I don't know where the Leopard idea comes from.

Peter

There were a few oddities in older fiction which we intended to address in SoLA. Although we never got round to it, we did just update the information on the Guerreros, the Aztlan military orders in Ghost Cartels. Aztlan possesses 4 military orders based on the traditional Aztec orders: Ocelomeh (The Jaguars), the Cuacuahtin (The Eagles), the Otontin (The Brave Ones), and the Cuachicqueh (The Shorn Ones).

Very good, Synner et al! Few people ever mention the Brave Ones and the Shorn Ones. Your research department has been getting more funding lately, huh?

Peter

The CIA/FBI comparison is not the good pick. Leopards and Jaguars are military security units belonging to the "Aztechnology Corporate Security". The ACS itself bears more similiarities with the KGB : it is one huge organization (150,000 people in the ACS, 400,000 in the KGB) encompassing everything from basic security guards to satellite reconnaissance and covert operations. All of this according to Corporate Download. The ACS has the Leopard and Jaguars like the KGB had most of the people under its command on border guard duties. Intelligence activities would fall under a different branch, who could call on them should military forces be required.