Mictlan: An Ancient Mythical Tale News

The Franciscan Order is one of the most widely known religious orders in the Catholic Church, founded in 1209 by Saint Francis of Assisi.

Solidarity with the poor is an essential element of Franciscan Spirituality: the friars take the vow of poverty to work with the marginalized and help them improve their conditions.

The Franciscan Order was also the first of the orders to arrive in New Spain, taking control of the most important social and political centers in the Valley of Mexico, with the purpose of evangelizing the conquered territories.



One of the most famous members of the Order was Fray Bernandino de Sahagún, who participated in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain, spending his life in the central region of the Valley of Mexico, specifically in the convents of San Francisco Santiago Tlatelolco, Tepepulco, Xochimilco and Tlamanalco, among others.

Fray Bernandino de Sahagún is also known as the compiler of the Historia general de las cosas de la Nueva España (The General History of the Things of New Spain): a codex consisting of 2,400 pages organized into twelve books, with approximately 2,500 illustrations drawn by native artists using both native and European techniques. Written both in Spanish and Nahuatl, the document is a testimony of the encounters with the new world and its people, and it stands out due to Sahagún's effort to gather information about a foreign culture by querying people from within that culture, interviewing native men who survived the Spanish conquest, to show their perspectives.

Due to the important cultural, social and religious impact which the Franciscan Order had in the history of Mexico, we had to include the friars of this Order in the world of Mictlan, representing them with their traditional plain brown tunic with a hood, a cord fastened around the waist, and sandals.





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! Help us to reach our goal of launching the campaign, we can only do that with your support!

Do you want to be immortalized in a video game?

[h3]Do you want to be part of Mictlan: An Ancient Mythical Tale, literally?[/h3]

Follow these instructions, and you may feature as an NPC in the amazing open world of Mictlan!

Check out this post on our Facebook page.

1. Like and share the post.
2. Tag 10 individual friends in the comments.
3. Subscribe to our Kickstarter page:
4. Wishlist Mictlan on Steam:
5. Subscribe to our newsletter
6. Follow us on our social media channels
Instagram.com/mictlanthegame
Instagram.com/future_vizion
Twitter.com/mictlanthegame

Winners will be announced on our official platforms 2 days from now, so you better hurry up!



Now, if you don’t want to leave this amazing opportunity to chance, you can check out the tiers available on our Patreon and secure your own NPC. In doing so, you will be supporting our project and have our sincere thanks!

(You can also check this post about our Patreon page and available NPC to learn more about it!)

Our goal is to get the support and promotion we need in order to be able to develop the biggest videogame ever done in Mexico and Latin America, in order to give everybody the opportunity to learn about the richness of our ancestors' culture.

[h3]We are counting on you. Good luck![/h3]

One of the main features in Mictlan: An Ancient Mythical Tale, will be the possibility for the player to interact with several creatures, deities and supernatural beings, but also with the people living in the Mexica society during the 16th century.

Today we want to talk about a very special group of women in Aztec culture: the Ahuianime.



The Ahuianime were embodiments of the goddess of beauty, fertility and carnal love, Xochiquetzal.
The sacred link between them and their patron goddess meant that they had a significant role in religious festivals and rituals, especially those involving human sacrifice.

As a matter of fact, the Ahuianime were the attendants of deity impersonators destined for sacrifice. They were chosen to comfort, amuse and encourage those men, and were afterward rewarded by receiving all the precious belongings of the impersonators after their death. The Ahuianime were present in many festivities such as Izcalli, with the duty to care for the impersonator’s every need through their presence but also their arts such as music, dance and cooking.



Ahuianime would wear their long hair down and adorn their bodies with pieces of jewelry, perfuming themselves with fragrant herbs and flowers. They pleased the hearts of the gods with complex dances, fascinating all the successful warriors and noblemen watching them wearing their colorful dresses with intricate embroidery, flowers, feathers and other ornaments.



In the Aztecs'warfare-centered culture and society, the Ahuianime would also travel with the armies as camp servants, to encourage and motivate soldiers to go into battle and, occasionally, in desperate times, may even have served as warriors in their own right.

Even if their lifestyle in many ways contradicted the Tlacoqualli in monequi (“The moderation is proper/The middle good is necessary") - which established Nahua's desired behavior - there is still a lot of mystery surrounding the figure of the Ahuianime and how their behavior was perceived. But whether they were openly accepted or frowned upon, the sacredness and the importance of this group of Aztec women, who were trained and educated to entertain others and spread joy in all forms, is undeniable.





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!

Today we're introducing you to a very special companion.

The faithful one who has been accompanying mankind for at least 3,000 years.
The one that will be by your side in your adventures in Mictlan.

[h3]The very special creature we're talking about is the Xoloitzcuintli. [/h3]



The Xoloitzcuintli, or Mexican Hairless dog, is one of the oldest and rarest dog breeds in the world.
It received its name from the Aztec god Xolotl who, according to the myth, created the dog to guard the living and, most importantly, to guide the souls of the dead through the dangers of Mictlán, the Underworld.

Legend has it that, when creating The Fifth Sun, Xolotl and Quetzalcoatl descended to the Underworld to collect bones of ancient humans, which they used to restore mankind. The Xoloitzcuintli was created from those same bones and presented as a gift from the gods to humans.

Xoloitzcuintli was not only a faithful companion in life, but it accompanied men in the dangerous journey through the Underworld, the place where the souls of the dead went in their afterlife.
The deceased souls and their dog companion would wander side by side, traveling through the nine levels of the Underworld for four years, before finally reaching their ultimate destination: Mictlan.

They had to overcome a series of obstacles and challenges in order to ultimately free their soul.

[h3]Take a look at our WIP of the Xoloitzcuintli![/h3]



Can you resist these puppy eyes asking you to support us by registering to our Kickstarter and follow Mictlan: An Ancient Mythical Tale? Pretty please?

Today we want to talk more about a very crucial aspect in the development process of a video game: the concept art.

Concept art allows us, as creators of the video game, to define specific features both of the visual aspects of Mictlan and of its gameplay mechanics. We carry out a wide range of research into all aspects of Mesoamerican culture: clothing, settings, buildings, environments and so on.

Here are some pieces of concept art from our talented team, which is 90% composed of Mexican artists, young people of great talent who we want to support by showcasing their wonderful work.



🎨 We are planning to launch, for our Kickstarter donors, an art book collecting some of their amazing works.

📅We also want to create a calendar and postcards with some of the concept art pieces, specially curated for our Kickstarter donors.



Your support is essential to us and to our development process, so please, take a minute of your time to register to our Kickstarter and follow Mictlan!
If you're having trouble, here is how to do it!