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(I'm seriously considering trying my hand at writing a timeline out of this premise. (Feel free to correct any glaring mistakes i might have made in the premise down below as you do.)
Context behind this.

In 1519 Hernan Cortes made his landfall in mesoamerica and quickly by way of several improbable victories and acts of uncanny luck manages to wipe out the Aztec empire with the assistance of many local powers which paved the way for the Spanish to conquer more american land in future.

An important point in this event was the period where Montezuma II invited the Spanish expeditionary forces into Tenochtitlan when they arrived which over the next couple months ultimately ended with Montezuma being killed and the Spanish being forced to flee the city and later allying with the Tlaxcala in an alliance which overthrows the Aztecs.

Despite how it may look in retrospect Cortes's expedition wasn't supposed to be a militarily focused one. The goals were exploration and trade, Cortes invading a barely known foreign nation at the very start was outside of the mission statement and was the reason there was a second force sent to arrest him for treason. Cortes very nearly found himself being executed over this after the fact. Spain during their first forays into the Americas did in fact view the native states as fully fledged nations at the time.

It was due to Cortes's comical success in defeating the Aztecs that the Spanish really started to switch their gears to conquering everything they laid their eyes on.


Divergence point:

Simply put, the premise here is that in the timeframe where the Spanish expedition are guests in Tenochitlan things go over wonderfully for everyone. Nobody tries to take anyone hostage, Montezuma & Cortes are practically best buds, the Spanish leave with great fanfare hauling with them lavish gifts from the new world. The expedition has been a monumental success in finding a possible source of trade and an eager ally for Spain.
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