His mother was Quetzalpetlatzin, don Tomás's first wife, who (according to Chimalpahin) was a Mexica noblewoman, the daughter of Tlilpotoncatzin, cihuacoatl of Tenochtitlan, thus making don Juan the great grandson of the cihuacoatl Tlacaelel, his namesake.
Juan Velázquez Tlacotzin was Cihuacoatl (counselor) during the tenure of Moctezuma II, and Cuauhtémoc.
All are set in Precolumbian Mexico on the eve of the Spanish colonization of the Americas and feature as the protagonist Yaotl, a fictitious slave to Tlilpotonqui, the Cihuacóatl or chief minister in the Aztec state of Tenochtitlan under Hueyi Tlatoani, or Emperor, Moctezuma II.