Oltec

The Oltec are an ancient civilization living in the The Core of Ixalan. They are the living ancestors of the Sun Empire.
==Description==
The Oltec are the dominant civilization of Ixalan's Core. Covering the Core's surface, they are comparable in population to the surface empires. They see themselves as the first peoples on Ixalan, a world made by Chimil and shepherded by her children, the Deep Gods. The Oltec are the defenders of the Core, guarding all entrances to this wonderous space and keeping vigilant against threats that might encroach on this vaunted idyll. They live in harmony with each other and the natural world and view themselves as caretakers of it.
The Oltec have not had significant contact with the Sun Empire since the Sun Empire's ancestors first emerged on Ixalan's surface. Though they are now the Oltec, they and all humans were once the Komon Winaq, or the Fifth People.flavor text for <c>Council of Echoes</c> In their conception of the world, if humanity persists, so does the Fifth Age, and so, too, are they proven to be the chosen favorites of Chimil.
==Culture==
In contrast to the Sun Empire, the Oltec have no imperial ambition and are not an empire but a constellation of communes: egalitarian city-states linked together by trade, shared history, and purpose. The Oltec are guardians, stewards, sentinels, and protectors of the Core, and nothing more. Though they are curious as to the nature of the caverns and the politics of the surface world, they have no state-level designs on conquest That is not to say, though, that there are no factions within the Oltec who could not be swayed toward conquest, should the right reason come along.
The Oltec are the only civilization of Ixalan's core to have mastered the power of cosmium. They don't wear armor because Cosmium protects them. At the end of a lengthy coming-of-age ceremony, Oltec youths ride bats to Chimil and attempt to claim a piece of cosmium to be forged into a weapon, armor, or for their first tattoo, ensuring one is never without a ready reserve of Chimil's gift. The effect this practice has on a person is substantial a longer life, greater health, an increased affinity toward schools of magic, strength, and stamina outside of the bounds of what an otherwise unenhanced person can attain.
The Oltec play a version of the Mesoamerican ballgame.<c>Contested Game Ball</c>
===Citizens===
Oltec citizens wear ponchos and Khipus. Many make use of gnomes, and benevolent spirits known as Echoes wander the Core. The Oltec don't have prisons and instead possess only temporary detention rooms, as people aren't jailed as punishment the very concept of punitive imprisonment being appalling the Oltec sensibilities.
Stewards are Oltec civic leaders, representatives elected by popular vote of the commune they wish to represent. Once elected, stewards serve on regional councils; those regional councils elect a representative to send to the primary governing body of the Oltec, the Level Council. To be eligible to become a steward, one must have completed their first pilgrimage to Chimil. Stewards wear richly appointed robes of office and etched crowns with glyphs denoting which commune they represent. They typically carry simple wooden scepters and wear quipu with brass or gold plates woven around the collar. Though most stewards are elders, it is not at all uncommon to see younger stewards, especially from larger communes where stewardship is often a formal career path rather than an obligation.
The Gardener Order makes up the priests and laypersons of Ojer Kaslem. Gardeners are at home in the tropical forests and mountainous jungles of the Core, where they ensure the health of the wild, cultivate and gather medicinal herbs and other flora, and maintain ancient ruins, monuments, and Echo stele. Gardeners are some of the most widespread priests of the Deep Gods, as they often are the first to maintain rural roads and trails, keep watch for fires, and minister to far-flung farmers, fisherfolk, and ranchers. They also receive special training to fight off mycoids. Gardeners wear robes and clothing fit for travel and work in humid, rough environments. They can be easily identified by their staves tipped with cosmium crystals, tall caps, and simple quipu, and they often travel with llamas.
Didacts are the priests of Ojer Pakpatiq, the god of cyclical time. Didacts are teachers, and their temples are known to the Oltec as centers of advanced learning and deep study. Oltec of all ages finished their studies at didactic temples. Didacts are explorers as well as scholars. In the field, didacts wear practical, mobile clothing and carry all their field-necessary gear and equipment on their person. In cities, didacts wear simple robes, and headdresses that indicate their role, and typically are never seen without at least a scroll and lead for taking notes or scratching down ideas.
The Thousand Moons are the one thousand professional warriors of the Oltec, each of them a priest of Ojer Axonil after their training. Originally formed when Axonil raised a thousand champions to follow him in the Whispering War, the Thousand Moons are honored members of Oltec society, though outliers when compared to the egalitarian, pacifist civilization they exist to defend. The Thousand Moons are hierarchical, with every tenth moon functioning as an officer, every hundredth as a captain, and the final as a supreme commander. The Thousand Moons are adept fighters on the ground, training regularly in tight-knit squads of ten with and without cosmium-enhanced weapons, armor, and magic. They are known to ride great bats into battle.
Cosmium eaters are not an order, but members of a secretive cult of Aclazotz-worshippers. Their true numbers are unknown but certainly in the hundreds as an order of loosely affiliated cults to a dark and forbidden god, they do not make their associations public. Anyone can become a cosmium eater through corruption, greed, hate, or other dark motivation that pushes them to seek out Aclazotz's gifts. Cosmium eaters serve Aclazotz to an end: release from the great fear of death. Cosmium eaters carry or wear dim red crystals as a sign of their allegiance.
===Religion===
The Deep Gods are the living deities of the Oltec. Four of them are closely aligned with the Oltec, while the fifth, Aclazotz, is the progenitor of the vampires and is regarded as an evil deity. Except for Aclazotz, all the Deep Gods have grand temples throughout the Core, with the grandest of them located in Oteclan, the Oltec capital city. Ojer Taq is considered chief among these gods, followed by Ojer Pakpatiq.
The Deep Gods of the Core were present throughout the Komon Winaq's history. Though currently distant, they have manifested before the Oltec in living memory. Faith in the gods is strong, and they are a part of daily life through ritual days, the presence of shrines and temples, stories, and the mundane utterances of people going about their business. The Deep Gods are sacred figures but are not above addressing human emotions — indeed, it is their evident humanity that connects them to the people, for their physical forms and powers are often far from the human norm. Oltec priests reflect this mixing of deity and mortal and often serve as civil or military leaders, teachers, or farmers.
The Oltec recognize the Sun Empire's Threefold Sun but do not praise it or its aspects as their chief deity; indeed, the Threefold Sun is but one expression of the Oltec progenitor god, Chimil, who is herself but one of a pantheon of gods. This pantheon is composed of many dozens of gods, though these deities generally are understood to be the momentary divine children of one of the four remaining Deep Gods or Aclazotz.
The Oltec refer to Aclazotz as the Great Betrayer. However, the cosmium eaters worshiped him in secret during his imprisonment after the Night War, keeping the location of his prison a secret. They were turned into vampire demons by their god after freeing him from his imprisonment.
===Arcology===
Oltec cities are grand, clean, and densely populated arcologies built in harmony with nature. It is common to see canals winding through them, as well as green spaces and preserved natural beauty: the Oltec would rather build around a natural feature and incorporate it into their vision of the city than pave over nature. One can navigate across the entirety of an Oltec city using a public canal boat, via teleferico (suspended cable car), and on foot in the same journey.
The Oltec built their cities with reverence for Chimil: they are commonly laid out in the shape of a nine-pointed star, with large viaducts connecting their satellite districts, towns, harbors, or temples to the city center. Cities are vibrant and multi-tiered but open to all. As the Oltec live in communes and have a relatively horizontal hierarchy of power, their cities reflect this with vast public spaces and buildings, communal living arrangements, and estates where multiple families live and work. This ring layout is reflected outside of the grand capital cities as well, where rural Oltec live and work in communes on shared land. Mess in the streets is reserved for market districts or festival days, where ample use of public space turns the white marble cities into vibrant places of ceremony, trade, and celebration.
==History==
Before time was time, the first humans on the plane of Ixalan awoke inside the Core of Paradise. The veil of nothingness slipped away. Reality dawned. Humans stood to their full height under Chimil and understood her to be their creator. They understood through her that the world was new, humanity was new, and yet they would be called the Komon Winaq, or the Fifth People. As they were the Fifth People, there had been a fourth, and there would be a sixth, and so on.
===The Whispering War===
Dark creatures from the afterlife slipped into the world through a door left open by Tan Jolom, the worldwalker, none more terrible than the final child of the Fourth People: Aclazotz. Aclazotz knew the power that fear could grant him, so he hardened that gossamer veil between life and death to impregnable stone. Death became something to grieve and fear, and Aclazotz fed off that fear. In secret, he hunted the most terrified, bereaved, and desperate, and upon trapping them, he whispered his dark promise: give yourselves to me, and you will live forever.
Grief, fear, death, and whispers of an escape from that end spread through the Core. Pilgrims and evangelists raged through cities, forming cults intended to lure Aclazotz out into the light. Their desperate rituals horrified much of the Komon Winaq. When elders and leaders first attempted to stop them, Aclazotz's cults fought back, and the fields and cities of the Komon Winaq raged with violence.
The Whispering War ended after the other Deep Gods arrived and intervened. Ojer Axonil and Aclazotz fought in a climactic final battle, surrounded by regiments of their most faithful, ardent warriors. Ojer Axonil and his thousand champions faced down Aclazotz and his blood drinkers in their deepest lairs, where the god of fury and strength tore out one of Aclazotz's eyes and subdued him. After Ojer Axonil dragged Aclazotz back beyond the veil he had hardened, a great age of rebuilding began.
===Age of the Sun===
The Oltec have worshiped Chimil, the sun at the center of Ixalan's Core, for millennia. According to their didacts, the Core was invaded by giant Coin Empire "colonizers" who came on dark vessels in the sky. They blotted out the light of Chimil and then caged her within a metal prison.
===Night War===
320 years of darkness followed, and the colonizers ruled the Core. In the final days of the war, when Komon warriors landed on the dark shards caging Chimil, the star was able to help them. Chimil, too, had been fighting back, lashing the inside of her cage with terrible, mighty energies. The shards were weak, attempting to heal through unknown magics but failing. The disruption presented by the resistance attacks across the Core hampered Fomori infrastructure; liberatory attacks on key shards by brave Komon warriors proved to be too much for the Fomori prison. Chimil shattered one shard, then another, and then a cascade began. A dark rain of steaming, fractured shards. Cosmium lashed out from Chimil, blasting away the Fomori while innervating the Komon — those present that day became semi-divine figures in their own right — the first angels of Ixalan. The Deep Gods followed, finally able to hear their mother's cry and their people's pleas.
The war ended with the Fomori expelled from the Core, leaving behind the shattered ruins of their shard-ships in orbit around Chimil, as well as various smaller installations and half-complete projects across the Core. Over the ages, the Komon has worked to repair much of these wounds, but even in the present, some ruins remain.
===The Quiet Age===
Some of the Komon Winaq traveled to the plane's surface, later becoming the Sun Empire. The ones that stayed behind started to call themselves the Oltec. The Komon would be successful in establishing a new home outside the Core. They maintained regular trade with the Oltec until the spread of the mycoids forced the two to seal off contact.
During the Quiet Age, there was very little conflict between groups and no war. The Oltec undertook great works of public engineering and habitat restoration, finally repairing much of the damage done by the Night War. New cities were built, and the Oltec slowly expanded into unexplored parts of the Core. The Oltec deepened their relationships with their gods, refined their magics, and grew to understand both practical and fantastic applications of cosmium.
==Trivia==
*Ancient Mesoamerican cultures inspired the design of the Oltec. As a progenitor civilization, they are likely based on the Olmecs and the Toltec, who the Aztecs the primary basis for the Sun Empire considered their progenitors. Their use of khipus implies some Andean influences on their design.
*The name of the Oltec may be derived from Olanem Teq, the Komon hero of the Night War.
==In-game references==
: Scryfall does not record flavor text for digital cards. See Alchemy: Ixalan/Flavor text
==References==