Aclazotz

Aclazotz
Bat God of the Night
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Aclazotz-real.png}}|250px]]
Details
Race	Bat God
Birthplace	Ixalan
Divinity
Veneration	Church of Dusk
Temples	Temple of Aclazotz Temple of the Dead
Inspiration	Camazotz (Maya)
Colors

Aclazotz, the Great Betrayer, is the Bat God of the Night and the veil between life and death on Ixalan. He is the eternal enemy of the Threefold Sun. He is responsible for vampirism on Ixalan, as Saint Elenda of Garrano learned dark rituals from him.

Description

Domain

Aclazotz is trapped inside the Core, but his message escaped during the First Exodus period. He features in Oltec myth and histories as a trickster, a glutton, a murderer, and a betrayer. Nevertheless, many still seek him, following his promises of wealth, power, and eternal life if they can find and free him. Few worship him in the Core, but his temples lurk in hidden places across the surface, built by the faithful hoping to draw him out and receive his dark gift of everlasting life. Aclazotz's goal is to snuff out Chimil, the riven star once and for all, and gain primacy over the gods. With this power, he would end the Fifth Age and begin a sixth and final age, ending the eternal cycle of death and rebirth. For his great crimes, Aclazotz is associated with betrayal, night, and death. He is considered the eternal enemy of Chimil and the Deep Gods.

Appearance

Temple of the Dead depicts Aclazotz before his ascension. Unlike the other Deep Gods, Aclazotz is unable to change his shape. He takes the form of a giant, decaying, burning bat draped in the finery of a slain god of the Komon Winaq, whom he usurped. His body is brown, with eight gilded wings. He wears a collar of skulls and a black and gold crown. His single left eye glows red. He can lengthen and sharpen his fangs when imbuing his followers with demonic power. During his imprisonment, Aclazotz was wrapped in loops of thick golden chains inlaid with hundreds of cosmium crystals. As tall as three to four people stood end-to-end, he stands at roughly fifteen to twenty-seven feet.

History

Birth of a betrayer god

In ancient times, before the birth of the Oltec civilization, a civilization known as the Fourth People inhabited Ixalan's core. The being who would become Aclazotz was a mortal member of this civilization, with a fear of death that drove him to find a way to escape his people's fate. He is understood by the Oltec to have slaughtered all others but himself and then feasted on their blood to sustain himself through "the ending of all things," finding a way into the divine nothingness where the next realm was being shaped. He watched the birth of the Deep Gods and realized what he would need to do to survive. As the final god emerged, he killed it and drank its divinity, becoming a horrific bat god with dominion over the border between life and death. The god he supplanted would be reborn as a ghostly spirit known only as the Ancient One.

Whispering War

The other deities slumbered. Aclazotz knew the power that fear could grant him, so he hardened that gossamer veil between life and death to impregnable stone. Life and death were split into a rigid binary, and the living were separated from their ancestors: The dead did not echo, and the living now knew themselves to be alive. 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. Aclazotz's gift of everlasting life was available to any who could find him, and many tried. Pilgrims and evangelists raged through cities, forming cults intended to lure Aclazotz out into the light of death. They sought to win his favor through exulting in his tenets, seeking an ample reward beyond the veil. These desperate rituals horrified much of the Komon Winaq but did not stop when leaders confronted these dark cults. Indeed, when elders and leaders first attempted to stop them, they were met with withering violence; the next officials who went to demand these cults cease their dark rituals brought soldiers with them. Aclazotz's cults fought back, and the fields and cities of the Komon Winaq raged with violence.

The Deep Gods noticed and descended to defend their people. Ojer Axonil was the first to notice and to bring warning to the others before bringing battle to the Bat God. 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. As Ojer Axonil dragged Aclazotz back beyond the veil he had hardened, the last surviving members of Aclazotz's most faithful slipped away from the Core, following tunnels and passages known only to them. Aclazotz had shown them, in his brief life in the Core, a world beyond and below the known world: Darker, more fit for those who bore his gift. A world where one could climb up, away from the gentle Core.

Imprisonment

While imprisoned, Aclazotz fell into a slumber. He is said to be the creator of the first vampires, though if the first vampire Elenda of Garrano was only sired centuries before his freedom, it is unclear when or how this occurred.

Freedom

Aclazotz was awoken by New Phyrexia's Invasion of Ixalan. Subsequently, his most faithful followers in the Legion of Dusk began to feel a pull to Ixalan. A year later, an expedition of vampires from the Church of Dusk, led by Vito Quijano de Pasamonte, delved into the Core of Ixalan. They learned Aclazotz's location from his worshipers and brought him blood sacrifices to restore his power. He then burst free of his bindings and granted his supplicants demonic power. He flew to Chimil, the Inner Sun, and began trying to snuff it out; he would need more power from sacrifices to do so, and bade his minions bring them to him. However, they were defeated by the forces of the Sun Empire present in the Core.

Aclazotz escaped, securing passage to Torrezon on a Dusk Legion ship. He decided that he would find Vona, hoping that she would make better use of his power than Vito.

Inspiration

Aclazotz is inspired by Camazotz, the Maya bat god associated with night, death, and sacrifice. The latter half of his name zotz, comes from a Kʼicheʼ Maya word meaning "bat." His role as a usurper in the Oltec pantheon is meant to symbolize religious syncretism, the incorporation of outside religious beliefs into an existing tradition. He may take inspiration from the legend of Prester John, a Christian patriarch who was thought lost in the east and spurred evangelist exploration. His temple in the Core, the Temple of the Dead, is based on Copán, with the stele depicting his pre-ascension appearance based on the stele of Uaxaclajuun Ubʼaah Kʼawiil.

Gallery

• 

  Aclazotz appears to Arguel during a blood fast.

• 

  A medallion depicting the god, carried by worshipers.

In-game references

Represented in:

• Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal

Associated cards:

• Acolyte of Aclazotz
• Bloodletter of Aclazotz
• Promise of Aclazotz
• Tarrian's Journal
• Temple of Aclazotz
• Temple of the Dead
• The Ancient One
• The Tomb of Aclazotz
• Vito, Fanatic of Aclazotz

Depicted in:

• Arguel's Blood Fast
• Consuming Sepulcher
• Malicious Eclipse
• Temple of Power
• Vona de Iedo, the Antifex

Referred to:

• Akal Pakal, First Among Equals
• Branching Evolution (Lost Caverns Commander)
• Ruin-Lurker Bat
• Soulcoil Viper
• Valiant Batrider

^† Scryfall does not record flavor text for digital cards. See Alchemy: Ixalan/Flavor text

Trivia

Although black-aligned and seeking to bring about an eternal night, several creatures aligned with Aclazotz are white-aligned, including both vampires and bats (i.e. Ruin-Lurker Bat).