Xibalba is a vast realm of dark caverns beneath the forests of Mictlan. According to legend, the sun and the moon passed through the labyrinthine caverns on their daily journey to the eastern horizon. On this journey they were guarded by the bat people, Zotz, that dwelled in the dark reaches of the Xibalban underworld. Being almost blind, they would not see and not covet the splendor of the sun. No one has seen the sun or the moon pass through Xibalba for ages, but the Zotz keep their vigil and their traditions alive. But lately the bat people has lost purpose and the priestly rulers of Xibalba look to the surface world to once more bask in the splendor of the sun and the moon. The Zotz are led by priest-kings from various cities, and only the priesthood represents centralized power. They still train the sacred Sun Guides once tasked with guarding the celestial entities through the dark world of Xibalba. The Zotz have contact with surface dwellers, primarily those of Mictlan, and have adopted some of their technology and practices. The Zotz have an affinity for blood hunting and black magic. Despite being guides of the sun, their skill in solar magic is limited. The Zotz are numerous and live in great swarming cave colonies. Numbers rather than strength allows them to win their battles.

"Xibalba is a nation inspired by Mayan mythological concepts as expressed in the Mayan texts Popol Vuh and Chilam Balam. The Popol Vuh describes the creation of the world and other mythological concepts. It also tells of the hero twins Hunahpú and Xbalanqué and their travels to Xibalba, the Mayan underworld, through which the sun travels during the night. Ever since high school, when I first came across the TTRPG Chill, and found a creature named Camazotz, I've been intrigued by bat-gods and Mesoamerican myth. The bat-god was actually the first god made for Mictlan, when that nation appeared in Dominions 2. When I started to work on Xibalba it was clear from the beginning that it would be a Mayan nation of bat-people.

Xibalba was also one of the first nations to get a national global spell based on its national backstory. The concept had been used when we remade the themes and carrion woods into a national spell, but we were never fond of how that worked out. The Xibalban Theft of the Sun along with the Agarthan Unleash Imprisoned Ones reintroduced the national global enchantments. …

Xibalba is a vast realm of dark caverns beneath the forests of Mictlan. According to legend, the sun and the moon passed through the labyrinthine caverns on their daily journey to the eastern horizon. On this journey they were guarded by the bat people, Zotz, that dwelled in the dark reaches of the Xibalban underworld. Being almost blind, they would not see and not covet the splendor of the sun. No one has seen the sun or moon pass through Xibalba for ages, but the Zotz keep their vigil and traditions alive. Lately, the bat people have lost purpose and the priestly rulers of Xibalba look to the surface world to once more bask in the splendor of the sun and moon. The Zotz are led by priest kings from various cities, and only the priesthood represents centralized power. They still train the sacred Sun Guides that were once tasked with guarding the celestial entities through the dark world of Xibalba. The Zotz have contact with surface dwellers, primarily those of Mictlan, and have adopted some of their technology and practices. The Zotz have an affinity for blood hunting and black magic. Despite being guides of the sun, their skill in solar magic is limited. The Zotz are numerous and live in great swarming cave colonies. Numbers—rather than strength—allow them to win battles." -Illwinter

Xibalba is a Hot "horde" nation, capable of creating large piles of sub-par soldiers to dump on enemies. The Zotz are basically mediocre Size-2 beings made Size-3 by their wings (and Caelum has a similar problem). Their wings let them pick their battles and allow them to attack the rear very early in combat. Their damage is decent-enough for the Early Ages to punch through with the first strike, possibly causing debilitation or a rout. In Dominions 4, this was enough; however, Dominions 5 heavily nerfed Xibalba by randomizing the attack order in combat, giving defenders the chance to attack Fliers as they land, and Dominions 6 hasn't made their prospects any better.

Beyond the first strike, Xibalba's troops aren't all that great. They don't have shields, so point-blank-range missile combat is very "hit-or-miss". They don't have much Morale, and their small HP pools make it fairly easy for squads to break in combat. Elite mages on the defending side can annihilate them with short-ranged evocations, though players typically don't script for this. The nation does have flying elites that are pretty decent in combat, however, particularly the Xibalban Guard and the Sacred Sun Guide. Xibalba also has Scorpions, ground troops that allow the nation to make their armies huge on paper; but aside from the Size-4 Scorpions, which are limited to 15-per-fort-per-turn, these are little better than Swarm chaff.

Magically, Xibalba is one of the Blood powers of the Age, albeit in an Age where most small provinces won't be ideal for Blood Hunting. Flying Mages can lug gems and Blood Slaves across the realm, and their Sabbaths can bring on Fire, Air, Earth, Death, and Nature. The nation is blessed with Mictlan's demon troops, specifically the Beast Bats and the ferocious Ozelotls, and these summoning rituals are far more turn-efficient than the generic Blood Magic of their levels. Last-but-not-least, the Zotz are good at both Blood-Hunting and Patrolling out the resulting Unrest.

Magic Access	Alt. Access	Unit Summary	Core Abilities	Buildings
4 (Rare 5) 4 (Rare 5) 2 2 2 (Rare 3) 1 2	Heroes 213 2433 13133 Summons 2423 2423 2423 2423 (req. 4) 433 4223 2423 4223 (req. 4)	Flying, Stealthy Light Infantry Scorpions	Flying Stealthy Patrol Bonus (-1) Blood Searcher Blind Fighter Cold Blooded Forest Survival Theft of the Sun Awe	Standard Forts Cave forts get extra gold and resources

Capitol Gems: 312

Sloth Limit + 1
Heat Limit + 1

Prefers Heat Scale + 1

Blood Sacrifice: Priests can sacrifice a blood slave at a temple to help extend the dominion.

: Stealthy (40), Patrol Bonus (-1), Blood Searcher (+1), Blind Fighter (1), Flying, Cold Blooded, Forest Survival

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Batab 60 4 1 Forest Recruit Cave Recruit		Commentary here.
	Xibalban Scorpion Trainer 85 1 1	Beastmaster (3)	Commentary here.
	Ajaw 145 2 1	1 Sacred	Commentary here.
	Ajaw Kan Ek' 240 1 2	2 Sacred	Commentary here.
	Ah Nakom 95 1 2	117 Sacred Inspirational (-1)	Commentary here.
	Chilan 145 1 2 Cave Recruit	1119 Sacred Fortune Teller (10%)	Commentary here.
	Ah K'in 155 1 2	111100%9 Sacred Theft of the Sun Awe (1)	Commentary here.
	Ah Itz 165 1 2	111100%11	Commentary here.
	Camazotz 225 1 4	211100%13	Commentary here.
	Ah K'in Kan Ek' 385 10 2 Capital Only	21121100%15 Sacred Fire Resistance (5) Theft of the Sun Awe (1)	Commentary here.
	Onaqui 790 1 4 Capital Only	31321100% 10%21 Sacred Stealthy (40) Supply Bonus (+10) Blood Searcher (+2) Cause Unrest (+3 per Month) Blind Fighter (1) Flying Need Not Eat Demon Forest Survival Dominion Monster Summoner (Beast Bat) Summon Allies (Beast Bat) x 2	Commentary here.

: Stealthy (40), Patrol Bonus (-1), Blood Searcher (+1), Blind Fighter (1), Flying, Cold Blooded, Forest Survival

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Large Scorpion 1 1 2	Stealthy (40) Blind Fighter (1) Undisciplined Animal Magic Being Need Not Eat Mindless Wasteland Survival	Commentary here.
	Giant Scorpion 5 1 2	Poison Resistance (15) Stealthy (40) Blind Fighter (1) Undisciplined Animal Magic Being Need Not Eat Mindless Wasteland Survival	Commentary here.
	Xibalban Warrior 8 1 6 Forest Recruit Cave Recruit		Commentary here.
	Xibalban Warrior 8 2 6 Forest Recruit Cave Recruit		Commentary here.
	Xibalban Dart Thrower 8 2 6		Commentary here.
	Xibalban Guard 10 5 12	Bodyguard (2)	Commentary here.
	Xibalban Scorpion 15 1 15 Limited Recruitment (15/turn)	Poison Resistance (15) Darkvision (100) Eyes (8) Undisciplined Animal Wasteland Survival	Commentary here.
	Sun Guide 18 20 24	Sacred Poison Resistance (15) Fire Resistance (5) Bodyguard (3) Theft of the Sun Awe (1)	Commentary here.

: Stealthy (40), Blood Searcher (+2), Cause Unrest (+3 or +5 per Month), Blind Fighter (1), Flying, Need Not Eat, Demon, Forest Survival, Summon Allies (Beast Bat) x 2

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Chek Ahau - Halach Uinic	Sacred Inspirational (1) Theft of the Sun Awe (1)	Commentary here.
	Ahaltocob - Stabbing Demon (Multi) Earliest Arrival Turn (20)	311 Sacred Assassin	Commentary here.
	Chamiabac - Demon of the Bone Staff Earliest Arrival Turn (20)	243323 Sacred	Commentary here.
	Chamiaholom - Demon of the Skull Staff Earliest Arrival Turn (20)	243323 Sacred	Commentary here.
	Ahalpuh - Demon of Pus Earliest Arrival Turn (20)	1313321 Sacred Stealthy (40) Supply Bonus (+10) Reaper (5%)	Commentary here.
	Ahalgana - Jaundice Demon Earliest Arrival Turn (20)	1313321 Sacred Supply Bonus (+10) Reaper (5%)	Commentary here.
	Ahalmez - Sweeping Demon Earliest Arrival Turn (20)	311 Sacred Assassin	Commentary here.

• Break the First Soul: (Blood 2)
  1
  Commentaryy here.
• Break the Second Soul: (Thaumaturgy 2)
  1
  Commentary here.
• Break the Third Soul: (Thaumaturgy 2)
  1
  Commentary here.
• Break the Fourth Soul: (Thaumaturgy 2)
  1
  Commentary here.

• Gift of the First Soul: (Blood 3)
  1
  Commentary here.
• Gift of the Second Soul: (Thaumaturgy 3)
  1
  Commentary here.
• Gift of the Third Soul: (Thaumaturgy 3)
  1
  Commentary here.
• Gift of the Fourth Soul: (Thaumaturgy 3)
  1
  Commentary here.

• Theft of the Sun: (Enchantment 8)
  63 and 70 in Capital Only
  Commentary here.

• Scorpion Crown (Construction 7) 32 and 128

See Magic Access. These guides supplement the summaries at the top.

• 2 on each Ah K'in Kan Ek' (capital-only), 1 on each Ah K'in off-capital
• 1 on one-in-four Camazotz and Ah Itzob
• No Water magic
• 2 on roughly every third Ah K'in Kan Ek' (capital-only), 1 on Chilanob off-capital

• No Astral magic
• 4 on roughly one-in-four Onaqui (capital-only), 3 on every fourth Camazotz off-capital
• 2 on roughly one-in-four Onaqui (capital-only)
• No Glamour magic

• 2 on each Ah K'in Kan Ek'
• 4 on roughly one-in-four Onaqui (capital-only), 2 on one-in-four Camazotz and Ah Itzob off-capital

Ah K'in Kan Ek' with 2 is the best option for climbing Fire, especially since its 1 allows it to forge a Skull of Fire.

4 can Summon Balam for a 1 in 4 22. With Blood boosters, the Balam can Bind Arch Devil, which has 4.

8 can Bind Demon Lord for a 2 in 6 chance of at least 4.

Both Ah Itz and Camazotz have 1 (1 in 4 chance for either). The Camazotz has an additional Death path and slightly better stats. Empowerment is the only way to climb to the key 4.

4 can Summon Balam for a 1 in 4 2.

8 can Bind Demon Lord for a 1 in 6 chance of 5.

No native access. 4 can Summon Balam for a 1 in 4 2.

4, which is very difficult to get to, can Summon Chaac, which has at least 2.

2 Ah K'in Kan Ek' (1 in 3) has the highest Earth. 11 Ah Itz (1 in 4) or 11 Camazotz (1 in 4) have Earth and Blood, which is useful for climbing Earth. Using the Ah K'in Kan Ek' in combination with one of the Mages, and an Onaqui, empowerment is not necessary. The Ah K'in Kan Ek' creates the Earth boosters, the Mage creates the Earth boosters requiring Earth and Blood, and the Onaqui creates Blood boosters for the Mage.

8 can Bind Demon Lord for a 1 in 6 chance of 4.

No native access. 3 can Summon Spectre for a 7 in 16 chance of 1.

24 can Bind Arch Devil for a 1 in 4 chance of 3.

31 can cast Hidden in Sand and Hidden Underneath which give at least 1.

3 can Summon Spectre for a 7 in 16 chance of at least 1.

8 can Bind Demon Lord for a 1 in 6 chance of 4.

4 Onaqui (1 in 4) is high enough and has the right paths to make many Death boosters without any empowerment.

EA Xibalba can make all the extra arms items, which are useful for Death boosters.

2 Onaqui (1 in 4) can make an Armor of Twisting Thorns. A Earth random with an Earth booster and a Nature booster might be able to make the unique The Tome of Gaia. Without The Tome of Gaia, a level of empowerment is necessary.

8 can Bind Demon Lord for a 1 in 6 chance of at least 4.

EA Xibalba can make all the extra arms items, which are useful for Nature boosters.

No native access. 3 can Summon Spectre for a 7 in 16 chance of 1.

3 can cast Forest Troll Tribe for a 1 in 4 chance of 1.

8 can Bind Demon Lord for a 3 in 6 chance of at least 4.

An Onaqui, even without the Blood random, can climb the Blood path without help. It can even create the unique The Black Book of Secrets.

How to win as the nation. Feel free to use the following sections, or delete them, or change them.

Different expansion options.

Early game options.

Mid game options.

Late game options.

What are the nation's weaknesses?

Add links to guides or other overviews for this nation here.

Nations
Early Ages	Arcoscephale • Ermor • Ulm • Pyrène, • Marverni • Sauromatia • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Mictlan • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Agartha • Tir na n'Og • Fomoria • Vanheim • Helheim • Niefelheim • Muspelheim • Rus • Kailasa • Lanka • Yomi • Hinnom • Ur • Berytos • Xibalba • Mekone • Ubar • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Therodos
Middle Ages	Arcoscephale • Ermor • Sceleria • Pythium • Man • Eriu • Ulm • Pyrène • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Asphodel • Vanheim • Jotunheim • Nidavangr • Vanarus • Bandar Log • Shinuyama • Ashdod • Uruk • Nazca • Xibalba • Phlegra • Phaeacia • Ind • Na'ba • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Ys
Late Ages	Arcoscephale • Pythium • Lemuria • Man • Ulm • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Jomon • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Midgård • Utgård • Bogarus • Patala • Gath • Ragha • Xibalba • Phlegra • Vaettiheim • Feminie • Piconye • Andramania • Pyrène • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia