Some ideas on the Xibalbans

I'm currently translating the chapter on the Yohual-Tecuhtlin from the French book Exils published in January 2000, which provides a wealth of information on the Mesoamerican Selenim. (They're given rules for character creation in the third edition Codex des Selenim a few years later, but it's very light on fluff due to space constraints.) The US version developed its ideas independently a few years earlier, and Ian's notes for the canceled US Selenim book were never publicly shared until 2001, but I wonder if any of the US version influenced the French. For example, the US version posited in the rulebook that the Selenim's tombs were precursors to the Nephilim's Stasis, and Serpent Moon had Selenim in suspended animation, then lo and behold the Yohual-Tecuhtlin in Exils are described as using pyramids and obsidian figurines as Stasis items! Perhaps most damningly, the Amerindian Wowakan are given rules for Chronicle of the Awakening-style Emotional Metamorphoses (here called "psychomorphs"), Elixirs, and Ch'awe, all of which were invented for the US version!

Anyway, in this post I'm going to present my current musings on the history and development of the Xibalbans for the US version, using the published books and Ian's notes as my primary source (though there's little on them anyway) and the Exils book to fill gaps.

Also, here’s an excerpt I saved from the defunct mailing list:

From: Ian Young
Subject: There's Something About Lilith
Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2000 21:47:47 US/Pacific

Jeff writes...

> In the french version and in what little work was done on an english

> Selenim supplement Lilith is one of their leaders. IRC there are two

> main groups of Selenim, the first is Arcnum XIII; the Unamed, the

> second and more powerful is the Cult of Lilith.

Well, technically, the first is the Cult of Lilith, and the second is Arcanum XIII (the Nephilim call them "the Unnamed Arcanum," while the Selenim themselves happily refer to themselves as "Death"). You know, if you really want to get technical about it, the first group of Selenim is the Xibalbans, the second is a tie between the Cult of Lilith and the Xixiegui Yama Kings under Yen-Lo, and the last group is relative late-comer Arcanum XIII.

> I've no idea what caused the schism but presumably it has to do with

> the rejection of the Golden Path and the other Arcana, probably due

> to the whole "Hey, We're your saviors and good guys as well" "No,

> you're blood sucking scum and we could have taken them all" chapter

> of Selenim/Nephilim interactions

Looking back over my notes (and this was my own version of Selenim history, which was never published and therefore not canon), the first schism was related to the pre-Meteor rejection of the Sun-Looker's path of harnessing the Solar Ka of living animals by a splinter group of KaIm. They left for parts unknown, which would eventually become the Americas. Long, long before the fall of the Orichalka Meteor, this dissident band of KaIm developed an alternate path *entirely* without contact with humanity that left them largely unaffected by the Meteor when it did fall -- this path eventually became the very peculiar death and rebirth cycle of the Nephilim and Selenim of the Americas, the Xibalbans.

Now in Central Asia, in the millennia prior to the fall of the Meteor (but a very long time after the departure of the previous dissident group), another group of dissidents rejected the Atlantean Golden Path that created humans as sources of Solar Ka. Parallel to the Xibalans, this dissident group experimented with the Black Moon fields and became the Selenim. Now, this group fractioned, essentially into Eastern and Western divisions, the Eastern group following Yen-Lo and becoming the Xixiegui of Asia, while the Western group followed Lilith into Central Asia and became the Cult of Lilith.

In the course of events, Akhenaton incorporated a group of amenable Selenim into the Arcana system, becoming Arcanum XIII. Arguably, this group of Selenim has been the most Nephilim-friendly lot, emphasizing their role as saviors in the days that followed the fall of the Meteor, but they are also arguably still under the influence of Lilith herself.

Fun stuff, this, but regrettably academic. If anyone wants more details, I'll see what else I can dig out and scrape together.

Gone again,

Ian

Interest stuff, right? Anyway, here we go...

The Xibalbans are the scions of the first Selenim. Long before the fall of Atlantis, self-imposed exiles made their way into Mesoamerica, where they would study the naturally high concentrations and chaotic activity of Black Moon-Ka caused by the core of the Black Moon crashing into Chicxulub and penetrating deeply into the Earth's crust. Some of these wayward Kaïm would experiment with Black Moon-Ka, discovering how to collect and concentrate the ambient motes using esoteric architecture: the precursor to what would later be known as the Tomb or Sarcophagus. Although the very idea inspires terror, perhaps some even became Selenim long before the fall of Orichalka...

After the coming of the Orichalka Men, the newly christened Nephilim would flee the sinking Atlantis continent and head east into the Old World and eventually across the Bering land bridge into the New World. There both groups would encounter the surviving proto-Xibalban exiles. Lilith was a member of, or a student to, these exiles and is credited with becoming the first Selenim. She formed her own army of likeminded followers and started the Selenim Wars. As a result of the horrors of these Wars, scarring both mortal and Immortal psyches, she became known both positively and pejoratively as the Devouring Messiah.

The Selenim poured out from their strongholds in the mountains of Mexico and slaughtered humanity with ease, harnessing both their insensitivity to Orichalc and the terrifying combat prowess of their newly constructed Imagoes*. Humanity was very close to extinction [in the GMC timeline this seems implicitly identified with the Toba catastrophe] and the Nephilim feared they themselves would be enslaved. So the two races struck a bargain and fought back, using elemental Sorcery to repel the Selenim back to Mexico. It proved impossible to destroy them utterly, ensconced in their impenetrable fortresses. But the alliance eventually felt satisfied and left, eventually forgetting their history as the millennia passed. But the Selenim did not forget...

[*Tangent time! In the Exils book it stated that Yohual-Tecuhtlin had regular Imagoes. In Codex des Selenim, it’s retconned that they didn’t. Instead, they had L’Ombre Fuligineuse (originally an epithet for the Imago, this translates to “the fuliginous shadow”, “the sooty shadow,” and at one point in my research a machine translator gave “the soaring shadow”; in French, fuligineux means both “of blackish color, sooty” and “incomprehensible, obscure”). This allowed them to use Ka-vision without giving up normal sight and could terrify enemies with visions of their worst nightmares. Since it couldn’t store increments of BMK like an Imago, it was difficult and rare for ethereal Selenim to save up enough BMK to build the Anchor for a Realm. Mesoamerica’s stronger Black Moon Fields made this quite feasible for the Yohual-Tecuhtlin, so they had plentiful Realms.]

At various later points in time Lilith's apostles would splinter into the Cult of the Devouring Messiah under the Akhkhazu/Akakharu aka Ardat-Lili (a loose collection of warring Sabbats who lost their way much like the Devil's Shabs), the Xixuegui under Yen-lo and his Kings of Hell (who adapted their beliefs to find a place among the celestial bureaucracy of the Buddhist Nephilim), the Unnamed Arcanum under Nephren-Ka (who alone maintained Lilith's original mission as martyred saviors defending the Nephilim), and various solitaires. Meanwhile, the Xibalbans maintained the continuity of their traditions for millennia and held the most cohesion and power over their Blood Dynasties in the Americas.

The Xibalbans were (and to some extent still are) the most powerful Tradition of Latin America, although at their height their power was concentrated in Mesoamerica. Their name comes from the Blood Dynasty behind the Maya, although every language had its own name for them. They were led by a circle of nine lords named Yohual-Tecuhtlin (“Lords of the Night”).

The Xibalbans originally developed their pyramids to cultivate Black Moon-Ka for study, but later this design would be revised into the Tombs and Sarcophagi that sustained them. After the Fall, the Kaïm lost their ability to create and reform elemental bodies, becoming trapped in a single form that steadily deteriorated under the Saturnian field's pollution. By contrast, the Selenim accepted eternal incarnation in a single form and used the Sarcophagi to rejuvenate themselves. At least until humans provided a richer source...

The Nephilim Hern would observe and study these devices, using their principles to create the first Stasis items to preserve the Nephilim against dissolution without a body. But he was not the only one to do so: the Xibalbans themselves would develop their own Stasis items, utilizing obsidian as the material of choice due to its analogy to the Black Moon...

When humans once again colonized the Americas tens of thousands of years before the birth of Christ, the Xibalbans observed them in secret before revealing and setting themselves up as gods. They developed many occult techniques both familiar and unfamiliar: they channeled faith like the Hierophant, commanded hearts and minds like the Emperor, practiced a unique form of "Blood Stone" Alchemy that relied on blood sacrifice in concert with physical manifestations of the elements (including obsidian manifested from Black Moon!), practiced divination of dreams unlocked via hallucinogens to maintain contact with their mortal priesthood (comparable to the High Priestess’ Shemmut), taught healing arts to their mortal clergy to maintain high positions in society, etc. Ritual human sacrifice in particular was heavily developed: in some rituals, like the Festival of Toxcatl, the presiding Xibalban would incarnate within the sacrifice to live out the remainder of his mortal life.

[In Exils, the Yohual developed a unique form of alchemy that relied on the precious metals and stones materialized from Ka by magic fields of Mesoamerica, obsidian stasis items for Selenim use created using this alchemy, special rituals to Assuage the sacrifices using similar obsidian blades, divination via dreams to communicate with followers, and healing magic taught to clergy. The comparisons to the Emperor, Hierophant and High Priestess come from US Major Arcana. Blood Stone alchemy I saw suggested on a fansite and loved. I’m definitely gonna love exploring these concepts.]

A key technique of the Xibalbans was that they had discovered rituals to not only transform Nephilim into Selenim, but to transform Selenim back into Nephilim! This allowed them to live a cyclical existence that formed the backbone of their unique and eclectic occult practices. As such, “Xibalban” refers to both Nephilim and Selenim members. Not only was becoming Selenim seen as natural and desirable under the Blood Dynasties, but so was the reverse! 

[This bit is me reading a lot into Ian's notes, but I feel it distinguishes them from the other Selenim tribes, provides a foundation for their elemental magic, and further emphasizes why European Nephilim were so disgusted by their occult practices. The 1e rulebook said it was ambiguous whether they were Nephilim or Selenim, whereas Exils said both groups lived in uneasy coexistence. I feel my extension of Ian’s symbiosis resolves this original ambiguity more elegantly.]

The Xibalbans engaged in Black Summoning studies unknown to Selenim of the Old World. They made contact with a powerful black sovereign named Mictlantehcuhtli, whose realm of Mictlan was remembered in history as the Aztec underworld. The true nature of Mictlan and its sovereign is unknown, as he was counted among the nine Yohual-Tecuhtlin himself, but one type of contact involved a specific formula of peyote. A number of such entities became objects of veneration, or at least leadership, among the Xibalbans.

[One plot hook in Major Arcana involves a pair of Lovers who acquire samples of the peyote and partake, only to later discover that their carnal acquaintances since are being murdered one by one! In Serpent Moon, the Aztec Selenim apparently followed Mu in some capacity.] 

The Xibalbans were led by a figure named, by the time of the Aztecs, Yayauhqui Tezcatlipoca or "Black Smoking Mirror". Tezcatlipoca underwent a pilgrimage to Chicxulub crater, visiting the site where the core of the shattered Black Moon originally crashed into the Earth 65 million years prior to the Fall of Atlantis. There he discovered knowledge that informed his later actions, including the aforementioned black invocations, with some whispering fearfully that he had joined the Cult of Mu! He ordered his Aztec worshippers to instigate the Xochiyayoyotl ("Flower Wars"), performing human sacrifice on an unimaginable scale that dwarfed the previous excesses of the Blood Dynasties. As the blood flowed and the Solar-Ka was collected, his fellow Xibalbans were shocked to see a crescent of Black Moon slowly take shape in the sky. No longer would they be required to scrouge for scraps of BMK with their esoteric architecture or assuaging their human sacrifices, for now they could bask in the Ethers and Rays of a true Black Moon!

[In the French version, Tezcatlipoca made an alliance with the Eumenides, the ghosts of Mu's followers. He claimed that other "saurians" (lowercase) previously encountered in Central America were degenerates and enemies, making a show of disavowing them. I'm not sure how much of that to keep or change. In Serpent Moon it’s just assumed Selenim serve Mu, but that was before the Selenim supplement would’ve been written so the writers were flying by the seat of their pants.]

This development was not welcomed with open arms. Despite masterminding the Blood Dynasties and dominating Latin America and parts of Northern America, the Xibalbans were not a united block representing all Mesoamerican Immortals. Many neighboring Naguals (Nephilim) and Tlaciques (Selenim) alike had disagreed with the excesses of the Blood Dynasties since time immemorial, with the most successful confederations having successfully kept them from extending their empire across Northern America. 

In ancient times Tezcatlipoca had been challenged by the Feathered Serpent Quetzalcoatl, who demanded he stop the sacrifices. Quetzalcoatl was defeated at Tollan and exiled by Tezcatlipoca, but promised he would one day return from across the sea to enforce his law. Ever since then the enemies of the Blood Dynasties prayed and hoped for his glorious return.

They recognized the Flower Wars were unsustainable and the mortal population, particularly that of their own worshippers being disproportionately targeted, would crash long before the nascent Black Moon was even half full. An even scarier development were the prophecies by all the most learned seers that the Devouring Messiah would soon make a return, written in the very stars themselves. Had Tezcatlipoca foreseen this return and prepared accordingly to ensure his own place as its side? Was his plan to summon it all along? Or, most disturbingly, was he trying to fulfill prophecy by becoming the Devouring Messiah himself?

When a man named Cortez and his men arrived to survey the situation, explaining that they were representatives of one of several great empires across the ocean, Tezcatlipoca’s many enemies saw the perfect pawn to bring down their hated foe, save the world, and ensure their own power all at once.

Previously the various tribes had been unable to make common cause and unit against Tezcatlipoca, but Cortez’s silver tongue from his incarnation as the Snake Kushiet and his divinations from his Wheel of Fortune training allowed him to placate and unite the disparate tribes. He played into the prophecies of Quetzalcoatl to gather further support, though the indigenous Naguals and Tlaciques saw through his ruse easily and even found his lies personally offensive. Nonetheless, they were eager to finally make progress after millennia of failure.

After the defeat of Tezcatlipoca, despite many losses, the rebels hoped to finally have peace after the reign of the Blood Dynasties was ended. To their horror, it was not to be. Smallpox devastated the mortal population and the Nagual healers were too few to be of any assistance even if the disease posed little problem for more powerful sorcerers. The conquistadors and the missionaries plundered and raped at their leisure, putting whole villages and libraries to the torch for the sheer sadistic delight of it. The native religions were brutally suppressed, with countless innocent mortals and immortals being slaughtered if they refused. Most of the Arcana were of no help: they had shattered the sliver of Black Moon and no longer cared what happened to their former allies. Among the few Arcana who cared to intervene were the Hierophant and the Unnamed, and then usually because the indigenous Naguals and Tlaciques were exoteric followers of the same paths.

The centuries under colonialism were a horror beyond imagining. But the genocides suffered by the Mesoamerican tribes and the indigenous immortals were lighter still than those that befell the Northern American tribes at the direction of the secret societies. Where Tezcatlipoca’s empire had failed, the Templars and other opportunistic secret societies succeeded. The irony was not lost on the American immortals.

But what the secret societies failed to under in their brutal suppression of the native cultures was that the Xibalbans didn't care by what guise they were worshiped. So they infiltrated the invading Catholic faith. Cathedrals constructed by secret society architects to suppress or harness the magic fields for their own ends were subverted. It's no accident that many such cathedrals were built on the sites of former Aztec temples and recycled some of the same stone in their construction. While the congregations believe these cathedrals are sacred to the Christ they worship, in truth the esoteric architecture captures their faith and channels it into the Xibalban's surviving Realms.

In present times, the Xibalbans are gathering power after centuries of near silence. The Major Arcana and secret societies effectively ignored them after the conquest, an opportunity that they readily seized upon. Though the Blood Dynasties were gone, with the unsuspecting assistance of the Hierophant they put folk Catholicism in its place. The Naguals and Tlaciques work against, using the iconography of Santa Muerte and other folk saints for their own purposes. Some even claim the rampant air pollution and drug wars are the result of the Black Moon's insidious influence...

The Great Awakening has had a pronounced effect as well. Many Xibalbans retreated to Stasis within obsidian figurines, pyramids, tombs, or Realms to escape the conquistadors. Now many Xibalbans, in both Nephilim and Selenim forms, wake prematurely as a result of the disruptions in the magical fields and take new simulacrums. This is no doubt contributing to their increased activity as of late, with many pronouncing that the end of AD2012 heralded the start of a new era of prosperity for them...

I'm still developing my ideas and any of this is still subject to change, but I hope you enjoyed!