"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 pen-and-paper RPG Chill, and found a creature named Camazotz, I've been intrigued by batgods 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."
- Illwinter

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 looks 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 represent 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.

Forget Mictlan & Abysia: Early Age Xibalba is the Blood Nation, if only due to the Blood Searcher trait most of your cheap-as-dirt Blood Mages have, and the sheer impotence of all of Xibalba's other options. Abysia and Xibalba are almost complete opposites in terms of ease of expansion & early-game survival, solely due to how godawful Xibalba's troops are. While relatively cheap to amass, The Zotz have to "swarm" even Independent foes to defeat them, which is less than ideal in the early game, and tend to die in one hit. You do get a national Super Combatant chassis, but it's also incredibly expensive. In short, Xibalba is not a nation for beginners.

Race	Military	Magic Access	Priests	Buildings
Prefers +1 Heat Zotz: Cheap Good MR & MM Bad combat stats Stealthy Flying Blind Fighters Cold-Blooded -1 Patrol Strength	Mostly Unarmored Scorpions Demon Thugs Sacred "Heavy" Infantry Forest & Cave Recruits	4 (rare 5) 4 (rare 5) 2 (rare 3) 2 2 1 (uncommon) National Summons: 24, 24 (requires 4) 43 (requires 4)	Average (2) Blood Sacrifice National Summons: (3)	Standard Forts

• Xibalba receives extra Resources & Income from caves

Xibalba is dominated by the Zotz, which Size 1, Cold-blooded, Stealthy Bats. Zotz are easy to kill, meaning they need to use surprise attacks, dropping on the enemy commander as divebombing cannon fodder. Typical Xibalban armies are massive, comprising of weak but easily replaceable troops.

Your commanders, in addition to the normal Zotz trait, also all receive a bonus to blood hunting. This is an especially great trait on a blood nation. However, their units have a below-average Patrol value despite being a flying nation. This is countered by their ability to easily amass cheap troops to patrol out unrest.

description of the workhorse options, for the sake of sanity better skip the clearly subpar and generic stuff (common indie like units with no gimmicks), merge units into a single description entry if functionally similar battle roles with only minor differences in gear.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Large Scorpion 1 1 2	Stealthy(40) Undisciplined Animal Blind Magic-being Mindless Need-not-eat Wasteland Survival	Descib
	Giant Scorpion 5 1 2	Stealthy(40) Resist Poison(15) Undisciplined Animal Blind Magic-being mindless Need-not-eat Wasteland Survival	Descib
	Xibalban Scorpion 15 1 15 Limeted Rec(10 Per months)	Resist Poison(15) Undisciplined Animal Darkvision(100%) Eyes(8) Wasteland Survival	One of your better national chaff lines with decent prot and attacking power. They are limited to recruit but you can pump out 10 from each fort.
	Xibalban Warrior 8 1 6 Cave Rec+ Forest Rec+	Stealthy(40) patrol bonus(-1) Blind flying Cold-blooded Forest Survival	Your dirt cheap shock troops. The average life span of a Zot is at the start of the battle they will fly to the back make their attack then die. Often they will Kill most non-supercombatent commanders by wheigth of numbers of attacks. You have Stone lances for dealing significant damage on the initial drop-down (often because of the numbers, not all zotz want to get the charge, they don't survive a round of combat, so all the lance will be used). The other is the club sword in case you need to deal mass of slashing or bludgeoning damage, or the enemy may shut down your flight with a Storm
	Xibalban Warrior 8 2 6 Cave Rec+ Forest Rec+	Stealthy(40) Patrol Bonus(-1) Blind Flying Cold-blooded forest survival
	Xibalban Dart Thrower 8 2 6	Stealthy(40) Patrol Bonus(-1) Blind flying Cold-blooded Forest Survival	Not good, too low damage and inaccurate. Diptie most indies can't keep up with zotzs, archers are still betters shooters.
	Xibalban Guard 10 4 12	Stealthy(40) Patrol Bonus(-1) Bodyguard(2) Blind Flying Cold-blooded Forest Survival	Improved Warriors with club-swords. Dispite the armor, They are not very good as they still die too ealsy and get encombured to quickly to be worth the pay raise. stuational ok if you need bodyguards, Sun Guide can to this too but you would rather them Die on the front lines then waiting at a fort for the off chance a assacine comes around. They do fill guard well as the asssin game often consit of a hooded man with a pokemon item or a necromancer, so is weak to club attacks on the first battle round.
	Sun Guide 18 15 24 Capital Only	Sacred Sun Awe(1) Resist Fire(5) Stealthy(40) Patrol Bonus(-1) Bodyguard(3) Blind Flying Cold-blooded Forest Survival	One of your best national troops. As sacreds with a strong magic weapon some ok prot, they make for good shock troops. With a minor melee bless, they are your early game anti-giants troops.

any breakout hits that might sway someone towards luck or away from it ?

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Chek Ahau - Halach Uinic	213 11 Sacred Sun Awe(1) adept blood sacrificer(1) Stealthy(40) Patrol Bonus(-1) blood Searcher(1) Blind Flying Cold-blooded Forest Survival	Descib
	Chamiabac - Demon of the Bone Staff Hero turn arrivle Limit(20	2433 23 Sacred Stealthy(40) Cause Unrest(+3 per month) Blood Searcher(2) flying Blind Forest Survival Demon Need not Eat Summon in battle (Beast Batx2)	Descib
	Chamiaholom - Demon of the Skull Staff Hero turn arrivle Limit(20)	2433 23 Sacred Stealthy(40) Cause Unrest(+3 per month) Blood Searcher(2) flying Blind Forest Survival Demon Need not Eat Summon in battle (Beast Batx2)	Descib
	Ahalpuh - Demon of Pus Hero turn arrivle Limit(20)	13133 21 Sacred Stealthy(40) Supply Bonus(10) Cause Unrest(+3 per month) Blood Searcher(2) flying Blind Forest Survival Demon Need not Eat Summon in battle (Beast Batx2) reaper(5%)	Descib
	Ahalgana - Jaundice Demon Hero turn arrivle Limit(20)	13133 21 Sacred Stealthy(40) Supply Bonus(10) Cause Unrest(+3 per month) Blood Searcher(2) flying Blind Forest Survival Demon Need not Eat Summon in battle (Beast Batx2) reaper(5%)	Descib
	Ahalmez - Sweeping Demon Hero turn arrivle Limit(20)	3 11 Sacred Stealthy(40) Cause Unrest(+3 per month) Blood Searcher(2) flying Blind Forest Survival Assassin(1) Demon Need not Eat Summon in battle (Beast Batx2)	Descib
	Ahaltocob - Stabbing Demon (Multi) Hero turn arrivle Limit(20)	3 11 Sacred Stealthy(40) Cause Unrest(+3 per month) Blood Searcher(2) flying Blind Forest Survival Assassin(1) Demon Need not Eat Summon in battle (Beast Batx2)	Descib

national spell or summon cost and usecase, judgment if it's good.

• Summon Sacred Scorpion: 2 Conj 3.11 ( Sacred Scorpionx1). improvement on even the Xibalban Scorpion, depending on your bless, you can turn them into real tanks, like giving them more regen or more prot.

• Summon Jaguars: 25 Conj 3.21 ( Jaguarx17) like weaker Ozelotls come in greater numbers using nature gems. in EA it's easy to mass recruit shamans until you find a N2. Onaqui could do it but it's not efficient.

• Summon Balam: 60 Conj 7.4 ( one: Balam of the North, Balam of the South, Balam of the East, or Balam of the West). Jaquar shape shifters with a Onaqui and Zotz form(so 3 HP pools). All are 42 mages + a 2 in another path. Handy for late game rituals and battle magic. Also throne claimers

• Summon Chaac: 75 Conj 8.4 ( one: Chaac of the North, Chaac of the South, Chaac of the East, or Chaac of the West) Like the Balam. The ability for a Pretender with air path to create more high-level air magics can be an important rescores. Chaac are in the category of 42 mages that increase a nation's air power. their passive Natural Storm spell is actually antithetical to the Xibalbian strategy as they turn off your flyers, so better to run alone, or running a grounded army with non-flying summoned troops.

• Theft of the Sun: 70 Ench 8.63. a incentive late game spell monstly only gives you benifts, More gems, Your troops don't care about if every battle is fought in the dark, and the hit to gold and resource don't matter to a blood economy. Though all this will matter to other nations so don't cast this unless your ready to pick off the other nations before they can send their revenging warbands.

• Bind Beast Bats: 8 Blood 2.1 ( Beast Batx3). Come online early in-game. not as good fighters as Ozelotl but deal a significant amount of fatigue if they can wound with their poisonous bit. Mixing in some can quickly put monsters to sleep if you can overcome their prot and defenses.

• Bind Jaguar Fiends: 16 Blood 4.11 ( Ozelotlx3). Your Greatest Damage dealer troops. Want to spam a lot of them for your armies when the blood economy is set up.
• Contact Onaqui: 101 Blood 7.4 ( Onaquix1, Beast Batx3). Summon a very good blood mage, with having the path to summon Vampire Lords, and good Communion leader as he adds nature magic which will greatly offset the the fatugie in a sabboth. in EA They are actually magically weaker Versions of the recruitable capital version. They compete with Vampires and other demons for your blood slaves, and those are at the hardest to harvest in the early age.

• Rain of Jaguars: 40 Blood 8.62 ( Ozelotlx14+[lv]). A late-game but more efficient way to mass Ozelotls. something you should aim for as the end approaches because of how good Ozelotls.

Unique Xibalba combat spells. Very good single entity buff for thugs or to cripple an important single enemy model. Gift spells are good on thugs and the accompanying fluffers.

• Break the Second Soul: Thaum 2. 1 Give one target a limp affliction. Not as good as First Soul, but can impede a thug's map move in a harassing attack, and may result in lowering an expensive unit's melee stats and may eventually die if forced to move around a lot.
• Break the Third Soul: Thaum 2. 1 Deal fatigue damage. it's a weaker version of Steal Breath but the target can't use MR to resist.
• Break the Fourth Soul: Thaum 2.1 Give the Target a curse.
• Break the First Soul: Blood 2. 1 Getting Bleeding and a Disease on a commander is fatal in this game and your "that" nation that can spam it.

• Gift of the Second Soul: Thaum 3. 1 Give blunt resistance to the guy that can't cast Temper Flesh, a situational buff to protect a single guy from rocks falling from the sky.
• Gift of the Third Soul: Thaum 3. 1 Gives Reinvigoration, a bonus in a blood communion or active thug.
• Gift of the Fourth Soul: Thaum 3.1 Gives luck, a strong protection buff.
• Gift of the First Soul: Blood 3. 1 Regen for blood mages. Zotz doesn't have enough HP to properly use it, but Onaqui and any blood Super-combatant will abuse it (it's not even restricted to national units, you get it if you play Xibalba).

What magic path/mages define your nation, what can you level, e.g., thunderstriking, astral, elementals, earth buffs, blood, what is recruitable anywhere and good, what are some summons you are likely able to get and are useable

What is the best spell you can use in combat. What spells the best support your national lineup, Is their weakness that you need to fix? Any tricks you should be aware you have?

As majority of your nation are flyers, you can safely spam Earthquake without hurting your own troops(as you need a Blood communion to cast, you may want to cast Gift of Flight or Mass Flight on your Blood Slaves if your not finished with casting blood spells).

What is the best ritual you could cast. Are there any globals you want up, any units you should be summoning? Are there any Generic rituals few nations can cast?

Do you have any National items(Construction Level, Price, and required Paths). Any unique generic items few other nations can forge? What item would be useful on your unit lineup (non-standard recommend thug gear)?

This is probably the most difficult section to get consensus for. Describe how strong the nation is during expansion, the early, mid and late game, and what makes it strong/weak at each of those points. This should give readers an idea of where the weaknesses of a nation lie (if they have not been shown already) and when to take advantage of a nation's strengths.

List some example expansion strategies here. If a strong bless or pretender is required then leave the specifics for the pretender section.

List some example pretender builds. Try to use the following format to keep authorship and pretender design rationale clear.

youtube of someone discussing the nation
guide page on steam??
forum thread or AAR

Nations
Early Ages	Arcoscephale • Ermor • Ulm • Marverni • Sauromatia • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Mictlan • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Agartha • Tir na n'Og • Fomoria • Vanheim • Helheim • Niefelheim • 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 • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Asphodel • Vanheim • Jotunheim • 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 • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia