(anonymous Portuguese (1502), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Pope Alexander VI issues a papal decree called Inter Caetera which authorizes Spain and Portugal to own the lands of the Americas and enslave its inhabitants.

(Yavidaxiu, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Hernan Cortes, the Castillion, and the other conquistadors make their way to Tenochtitlan, and eventually defeat Moctezuma II and the Aztecs.  Superior weaponry, strategic alliances with oppressed and rebellious Indigenous populations, and European diseases all contributed to Cortes's victory.  In 1520 alone, the first wave of smallpox killed 5–8 million people.

The Castillion returns to Spain with something more valuable than gold... the promise of immortality.  He finds a wife, impregnates her, and transfers Cuitlahuac's (the Aztec King) consciousness to his first born.  The Castillion then implements his plan for world domination: offer the secret of The Black Rite to people of means in exchange for armies, gold, power, and influence.

As the centuries pass the Castillion and his son are reborn again and again.  He eventually becomes the all mighty power behind the scenes; an unknown force that influences everything.  He sits atop the pyramid, and those who are lucky enough to be privy to the secrets of The Black Rite become the ~300 reborns in Capstone.  These powerful families rule the world while using it like a chessboard to maintain control, settle disputes, and even play practical jokes on one another.

The Castillion finds the best candidate for the Wife/Host and plays her with his feigned weakness and victim mentality until he has her under his absolute control… or so he thinks. 

The Castillion feels the first sign of weakness and self-doubt creep in because of the re-run feeling of life.  No more power to be had, no more surprises or joy... just the complacency of absolute power.  Except there is a new player in the game that no reborn saw coming.  The Castillion gets over his self-doubt and sees a possibility to do what he loves best - destroy a worthy adversary.  Some strange Prussian Ice Witch is shaking things up when that should not be possible.  The game is on. 

Absolute destruction of everything the Castillion has built.  He is as good as dead until his wife Prina Mengele slips off and kills her heretic twin sister Corvina.  Centuries ago the wives of the reborns formed the Coven of Shiva when they figured out what the reborn men were doing.  Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.  The wives have their own plan for global peace built on a more corrupt A.I. system (BLE) that forces everyone to coexist in a maternal commune where the nasty pest of free will is abandoned for a hive mentality.  Corvina Mengele refused to wait and went to war with the reborns, becoming infected with the same lust for power that the Castillions and their ilk have.  The "copper taste" is blood, and blood is the secret spiritual capital of the unseen realm.

The original Castillion has become a man and the age of The Black Rite is approaching.  The Castillions call upon the secret alliances they made centuries ago with the conquered Aztec civilizations.  They slaughter the guards on their ship and sail South where a secret army lays in wait, and the original Castillion will look for his next wife.  While crossing the sea the original Castillion takes control and performs The Black Rite, killing his father and consuming his heart.  Death needs time for what it kills to grow in.