#obsession with the mexica AND CALLING THEM AZTECS

[maxellminidisc]

There this one artist I see pretty often amongst gay Mexicans that makes my eye twitch cause so much of his content raises red flags for me of being one of those mixed Mexicans that "reclaims" indigenaity (if you know what I'm talking about, you know, its hard to explain) but I am reluctant to say much cause I do not have the patience to be dealing with the inevitable bitching that would come from it cause I absolutely know how stupid mixed Mexicans can be when you tell them to use their fucking brains and quit being racist LMAO

[jimharbor]

Exploring Ixalan: The Religion of the Sun Empire

This week, Wizards of the Cost is doing previews for their new card set Ixalan. Its a world of Dinosaur Empires, Pirates and Vampire Conquistadors, themed around the age of exploration. There’s been a lot of picking over the lore by greats like @vorthosjay and @sarpadianempiresvol-viii but today I’m going to explore the roots of on the coolest groups, the Sun Empire.

The Sun Empire is an Aztec inspired faction on Ixalan, a “New World” continent Island on the world that has recently been contacted by Vampire invaders from the west. They once ruled their mighty empire from the Golden City of Orazca, from which they pushed out the other native faction, the Maya inspired Merfolk known as the River Heralds.

Orazca has been lost to time , and now the Empire searches for their city on the backs of their massive Dinosaur mounts, all while fighting the pirates of the Brazen Coalition and the blood thirsty Vampire Legion of Dusk, who want it and its sacred Immortal Sun for themselves.

Keep reading and I’ll break down the real world inspirations behind this unique fantasy culture.

The Five Suns

The Three Suns of the Sun Empire take inspiration from the Five Suns of the Aztec creation. In the classical Aztec lore, the Sun was a position held by a god. Each gods’s reign as the sun would end with their version of humanity wiped out by some divine incident only to replaced by a new god as a sun and a new crop of humans. Somewhat similar to the Classical Greek ages of man. Tezcatlipocas, four primal gods, were each tied with a each tied with a color , and several served as the Sun, including The Black Sun (Tezcatlipoca) and the White Sun (Quetzalcoatl). 

On Ixalan, the three suns are given colors for the three colors of mana the Sun Empire faction is in (White, Green and Red) and also given names, as in Aztec lore.  It was believed by the Aztecs’ the the current Fifth Sun, needed to be served through blood and worship to avoid the apocalypse from coming once again. A similar end of days, has been foreshadowed on Ixalan as well.

Modalism

The Sun Empire influence doesn't stop at just the Aztecs . In the panel, Worldbuilding Lead and former minster James Wyatt joked about finally being able to use his Master’s in theology for work when he got to bring up modalistic monarchianism. 

As opposed to the trinity, modalism holds there is one God entity (monarchian) but that acts in three different roles (modal).  The Father, the Sun and the Holy Ghost are not three different figures, but one figure with three different “jobs.” 

Applied to the Sun Empire, it means though they have one Sun, they worship its three different roles uniquely. Kinjalli The Wakening Sun, with the power of creation, Ixalli  the Verdant Sun, with the power of preserving and Tilonalli  the Burning Sun, with the power of consumption. Each of these suns gets it’s own Dinosaur Avatar, with one Legendary Avatar for the sun as a whole.

The Trimurti

The specific roles of the Three Suns is no coincidence. While they neatly fit into the three Naya colors,they are also the roles of The Trimurti, the Supreme Hindu trinity of  Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. A syncretic belief, the Trimurti emerged as a way for various Hinduistic factions to unite their deities into a singular supreme framework. (As @talinthas has said Hinduism is “a religion of a thousand religions.”)

Together, this forms an image of worshiping the three aspects of the sun as three named figures. The Wakening Sun of White mana, tied with dawn and the Sun as the creator of life, the Verdant Sun of Green Mana, tied with noon and the Sun as the preserver of life, and the Burning Sun of Red Mana, tied with sunset and the sun as consumer of life.

But what about the Dinos?

WOTC used the feathered dinos to play into the mesoamerican figure of the feathered serpent. A dualistic figure uniting the wings of the sky and the slithering of the earth , its most well known incarnation is probably the Aztec Quetzalcoatl, deity of the Winds, priesthood, knowledge and craftsmanship. Tying them to the Sun, you’ll note their feathers spread out from centered “sunspots” radiating out and dulling in color through their bodies.

Gold and the City

Visually the Sun Empire don’t wear gold, always adorned in silver, feathers and steel. While acting a cue to separate them from the Gold obsessed Vampires, it also shows their removal fro Orazca, the scared city of gold.

Similar to classic “New world treasure cities” like El Dorado, The City of Caesaers and many others,  Orazca’s status as the original homeland of the Sun Empire makes it a version of  Aztlán, the legendary home of the Aztec people.

The Mexico Valley culture that spawned the Aztec Empire was founded by Nahua immigrants from the north. Their original homeland had been called a paradise and a tyranny in various sources, but their migration south would lead a tribe to take the named Mexica and grow from squatters and mercenaries to a regional superpower.

While it wasn't confirmed if they lack Gold because its considered sacred to them or because they have none, now that the city is lost, it serves as a key factor of their identity opposed to gold hungry Vampires. 

Wrap Up 

WIzards as always has fused many real world sources into something new and entertaining, join the discussion with your thoughts on Ixalan and it’s culture in the lines below and look forward to more articles  this week.