Mictlan: An Ancient Mythical Tale News

Beauty standards in the pre-Hispanic world

There were many beauty standards in the pre-Hispanic world, when the cult of the body was central.

As we've discussed before in this post, the ancient populations considered the human body as a small representation of the cosmo and used the body as a "canvas" to achieve the ideal beauty.
They altered their physical appearance in many ways, such as body paint, tattoos, jewelry: all of this represented an expression of cultural identity and social belonging.

Scarification was another method used by ancient civilizations to signify important events in one's life, as well as to symbolize differing class distinctions. This process consisted of multiple skin perforations, followed by stuffing the wound with some kind of irritating substance, such as small stones, dirt or ashes. This process led to several scars with different textures, forming complex patterns.

The evidence these practices (tattooing, scarification, and body paint) among the Maya comes from iconographic images such as pottery and murals, artifacts such as tools and vessels used for storing pigment and anthropomorphic sculptures.

[h3]Would you like to use scarifications as a decorative element in the game?
Tell us what you think in the comments![/h3]

Don’t forget to add Mictlan: An Ancient Mythical Tale
to your Wishlist on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1411900/Mictlan_An_Ancient_Mythical_Tale/

Amoxoaques: It's the details that matter

Writing is power.
In ancient times, written memories gave legitimacy to states, while the destruction of written texts would condemn some civilizations to oblivion.

The Olmecs were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. The Epi-Olmec culture (a successor culture to the Olmec) featured a full-fledged writing system know as Epi-Olmec script.

Writing, especially in the earliest forms, was so important that we decided to show it in this concept art of the Amoxoaque Tlaltecui: on its surface, you can see glyphs from the Epi-Olmec writing.

We're also very proud to show you the renders of our Amoxoaque, where you can see all the details on their rough bark-like skin (you can also take a look at the related previous posts: #1, #2, #3)

Being able to include these mythical creatures, these great sages from cultures of pre-Hispanic Mexico, makes us truly happy, excited and proud.

We want to revive ancient tales and great legends from our past and from our ancestors, and we're doing it by thorough historical research and analysis, in order to bring you an amazing, original, culturally rich game: Mictlan!

If you're enjoying seeing how Mictlan is developing and you would like to see more of our game, please support us by registering on Kickstarter and follow Mictlan: An Ancient Mythical Tale!

Mictlan on Retuit TV

If you missed the interview Guillermo Alarcón, creator of Mictlan: An Ancient Mythical Tale, has given on Retuit TV, here is the link!

Take a look to know more about the development of Mictlan, from the words of its creator!

It's important to remind the people who are following us that we are an independent Mexican studio, working with very talented Mexican people and with an international team to bring you a AAA quality video game. We have ambitious plans, but that alone won't suffice:

[h2]WE NEED YOUR HELP![/h2]

How can you help? It's very simple, fast, and it won't cost you a thing:

[h3]Register on our Kickstarter page and follow Mictlan![/h3]

Please do it and tell your friends, it is a necessary step to be able to launch our campaign and raise the necessary funds to develop Mictlan!

Thank you for being part of our growing community!

Teotihuacan

Among the archeological sites found in Mexico that are open to the public, Teotihuacan is one of the most visited by tourists from all over the world, even more than Chichen Itza and Monte Alban.

It is usual, among the people who visit Mexico City for their first time, to take some pictures at the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, as a token to remember the tiring trek up the dozens of very small and steep stairs, in order to “recharge with positive energy”.

Although some of these popular beliefs derive from recent movements such as the new age, it is true that you can feel a mystic and enigmatic presence when walking through the historical roads of the site, between the elite houses of the ancient Teotihuacan society.

And it is not just us that perceive this mysterious feeling: half a millennium ago, the Mexica, trying to understand how such a grand and majestic city ended up being abandoned, decided to entitle it as “the City of Gods” and to establish it as the origin of the Fifth Sun, so that it effectively became the birthplace of the last era of the world as we know it.

Beyond myths and tales, it is actually proven that, in order to build it, its architects observed the position of the celestial bodies, taking into consideration the calendar in order to mark ritual and agricultural seasons.

Besides, we can’t overlook the strange coincidences with the construction of the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt: they have striking architectural similarities, even if built by two completely unrelated societies.

What do you expect to find when you play Mictlan and go visit Teotihuacan?
Do you have any pictures of you in this enigmatic city? Share in the comments to this post!

Legends, myths, facts, history: Mictlan has it all! We're aiming at including in our game the most incredible stories, and we will continue updating you with news, concept arts, sneak&peeks of our creative process, so make sure to follow us on our social media channels to stay updated!

Macehuales

Greetings, Mictlan community!

Today we will talk about the macehuales: the base of Mexica society.

Aztec society was strictly hierarchical, divided into clearly defined classes so that individuals would have remained in the social group of their immediate family throughout their lives.

The macehuales were by far the largest section of Aztec society, they were the ones who cultivated the land, those who paid the taxes and reinforced the size of the army.

Aside from the commoner-warriors, the macehual class was further differentiated into class levels. Certain occupations were considered to have higher prestige than others (such as merchants, goldsmiths, and featherworkers). In general, compared with rural farming, all urban occupations were assigned higher status.

Macehuales had a hard and humble life, always working long hours to get by.

In this concept art you can see a young macehual with a mecapal, a container which was widely used in pre-Hispanic times to transport all kinds of goods, goods which would surely be exchanged in the tianguis (open-air market) of Tlatelolco.
We also drew the young boy with a coa, a digging tool that was used for farming and at the time, also as an improvised weapon.