Blood Cult (Civ3)/Civilopedia

A very controversial theory within the anthropological and historical study of Mesoamerican culture is the idea that the excessive bloodletting, human sacrifice, and cannibalistic tendencies of these peoples may have brought about (or at least aided in) their ultimate destruction. During the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, many accounts of excessive human sacrifice and cannibalism were written. Of course, it’s understood that the victors write the history, and so it’s very likely that the Spaniards exaggerated the excesses in order to justify their own desire to sack and subjugate the native peoples. Nevertheless, even its own history gives credence to moments of mass ritual sacrifice. For example, Aztec history claims that king Ahuitzotl sacrificed nearly 20,000 people after a military campaign in Oaxaca. If true, one cannot deny the amount of resources and time that an act like this must have consumed, and if such practices were common (even on a smaller scale), then it’s reasonable to assume that, over time, a culture could be overwhelmed by the physical and psychological pressures of such activity.