"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. Living in the caverns were the bat people, Zotz, but that changed when the cavernous realm was struck by a great disaster. A star fell into the ocean and a great deluge flooded the caves of Xibalba. The Zotz were almost wiped out and their realm was conquered by Atlantian refugees. For a long time the toad people ruled Xibalba and became powerful. Eventually the Bacabob left the caverns to conquer the sun-lit world. There they met Mictlan and the Lawgiver. The humans were more numerous and while the Xibalban Bacabob were mighty, they could not prevent the death of their kin. Slowly the Xibalbans were decimated and the Bacabob withdrew into the flooded city and fell into a centennial torpor. When the caves began to dry up the Zotz started to return in numbers. In the still waterfilled depths of Xibalba the Zotz priests found and unwittingly awoke the Bacabob. Now the Zotz once more inhabit their ancestral home, but serve the divinities of subterranean waters and the Awakening God.

It's EA Xibalba with MA Xibalba's tools and additional Magic!

By the Late age, Xibalba returns to its blood hunting bat roots, while also incorporating some innovations the Muuch have made.

Coming from a lowly populated but gem-rich early age, You will feel how important and plentiful blood slaves are now.

You will find now that heavy armour and mass crossbows are standard practice now, while you still mostly have the same troop lineup of mostly lightly armored and disposable bats and frogs. At least flyers can still shut down rangers but still have to deal with overall higher prot of the age while also protecting your mage bats.

You still have many great tools from powerful blood summons like flying jaguars in addition to the MA summons frogs. Keeping the Muuch around also opens up underwater expansion especially since there are the fewest nations that can go their early game and only one actually starts there.

Race	Military	Magic Access	Priests	Buildings
Prefers +1 Heat Zotz: Cheap Bat Bros () Muuch: Toadbros ( )	Light-to-Medium Infantry Flying Sacreds Half-Giant Sacreds	4 (rare 5) 3 (rare 4) 3 2 (rare 3) 2 1 (uncommon) 1 (rare) Heroes 244 (one) National Summons With 4 & 60: 242 (one) 242 (one) 242 (one) 242 (one) With 4 & 75: 242 (one) 43 (one) 422 (one) 422 (one) With 4 & 101: 4 (27.5%, rare 5) 3 (27.5%, rare 4) 2 (27.5%, rare 3) 1 (27.5%, rare 2)	Powerful (3) Hero: 4	Primitive (Castle) Can build Underwater Forts Underwater Fort Recruits

You're four times more likely to find 3 on your Wayob than on your super-expensive Blood summon, by the way… please don't summon the super-expensive Blood guys just for those rare paths, I beg you.

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.

as remnants of the middle age, the Muuch are frogmen that bigger with age. The Grunts are a bit tougher and stronger than normal humans. living in caves so long has caused the former Altlantians to attempt to have paler skin and perfect dark vision. You could use them as a little tougher spamable line troops in early expansion but suffer from weaker armour and are often killed because of lack of head protection. there best use is expansion underwater and becomes better at being spamable bricks after rushing research (only until your are ready to progress blood research).

• 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 Jaguar Toads: 2 Conj 1.11 ( Jaguar Toadx2) they are small tramplers (only running over common infantry) and spit armor ignoring mortal poison, while also poisoning anyone that don't use spears. Most indie shamans can summon them. They are easy to kill and Undisciplined makes them hard to buff.

• Summon Jaguars: 25 Conj 3.21 ( Jaguarx17) like weaker Ozelotls come in greater numbers using nature gems. Nature gems are more press in late age, so as most animal summons, use in a bind. Onaqui could do it but it's not efficient.

• Summon Jade Serpent: 3 Conj 4.2 ( Jade Serpentx1) a big bag of hit points that's a sacred standard and a high strength poison bit. Mix some into troops to improve their morale and way to kill high armored enemies.

• Summon Monster Toads: 2 Conj 5 8 (summon 3 Monster Toad). Sacred Tramplers that spread poison with their Poison Skin and Poisonous Cloud. Likely to Die, but will kill formation as the toads will suicidally trample to the middle of it to spread the poison cloud.

• 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 creating 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.

• 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 on thugs or to cripple an important single enemy model.

• Break the Second Soul: Thaum 2. 1 Give one target a limb. Not as good as First Soul, but can impede an army's map move in a harassing attack (it's calculated by the slowest guy), 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 residence, a situational buff to protect a single guy from rocks falling from the sky.
• Gift of the Third Soul: Thaum 3. 1 gives Revigeration, 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).

You can spam Zotz mages with lots of 2s in Death and Nature.

Muuch holds the water getting 3 from Muuch K'uhuls or 4 if fishing with Bacab, one booster way from Water Queens.

with climbing a Bacab can get a Troll King and with Earth Boots and Blood Stone gets 5 for Earth Kings to go 6.

with some blood empowerment and boosters a Way can cast Summon Balams for 42, taking a Armor of Twisting Thorns and Treelord's Staff to get 732200%. Naiads and Ivy Kings are on the table.

your get 3 on your mages with Skull Staff. With some empowerment, you can get a Camozotz to be a Vampire Lord Summoner as a strong end goal.

Spectral Mage can also break you into Astral for the purposes of forging.

As the majority of your nation good units are flyers, your sabbaths 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).

Camazotz are good at death, its crosspaths with Air and earth and skelispam, and Ways provide nature and spamable blood mage. Your still have Bacobs with their powerful Water and Earth access with the side of Death and Nature crosspaths (with gems or booster).

Your greatest weakness is the parody in the difference of protection. Your are still a suicide spammer. a way to swing the favor is the use of Darkness and Quagmire.

Should also consider Legions of Steel, Strength of Giants, Marble Warriors, Wave Warriors, Quickening, Wooden Warriors, Stygian Rains as it will fix many problems with your current troops and improve your summoned one but will come later in the game but your real problem is not being eaten during expansion and early game.

All this water makes you good at cold spells when in the , assuming your don't mind your zotz quickly falling unconscious from the fatigue, Apparently, the Muuch's Atlantean heritage prevent these frogs from hibernating during the winter.

The main concern for Xibalba is how quickly they can reliably swap over to better-summoned troops. What a mage muuch is good at is creating lots of Claymen(Clayman 5+[lv1/2]), also set to summon Naiad and Kokythiad (3 with 3 or 3). Clayman, Your national Toad summons and Demon Jaguars, can fill out your armies, including your Death bats that summon longdead hoards.

good Idea to twiceborn your Camazotz for that chance when they die and come back as a 3.

Ways casting Blood Fecundity improves your gold and Blood Slave economy.

Curse of Blood is part of your late game. Mound Fiends are an option if you want to spam more undead. Summon Balam gives strong mage thugs.

Gets Blight and Rain of Toads as ways of disrupting the long game of another player's production.

Is another Earth death nation to make Shademail Haubergeon and Shadow Brand.

the Water, Death, Blood, nature, and earth paths are really good at making thug and communion items. Lots of Regen, Hp boost, Reinvigoration, QUickness, and alternative damage options.

Sanguine Dowsing Rods boot your slave harvests.

Armor of Twisting Thorns is a good fit on a Way as a boosting item

You need lots of research fast so Skull Mentors

Badab make the most use of Ring of Regeneration and Coral Blade. especially if they get a nature random and gems with Personal Regeneration.

do you have a game plan? Anything you should always be working toward? Any National weaknesses?

What kinds of scales dose your nation like? Do they require any to function? Any blesses your sacreds would like? Do you desperately need an awake expander? Examples of Pretenders?

How to expand, potential pitfalls and how to get around them, obvious weakness strength, how much do you have to focus on war/infrastructure

what is the first big research rush, what is the first big powerspike, where do you shift recruitment to? what are the big magic diversity issues, are there particular globals you should gun for

If you survive to this long then you likely in place to start your blood economy and transition to summed troops.

How do you close out the game if you are in it, is the high-level research stuff you can do uniquely well, does your nation fall off, aka do you have to force things to conclude swiftly