Ixalan (plane)

Ixalan
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Rootbound Crag ixalan.jpg}}|250px]]
Information
First seen	Ixalan
Last seen	The Lost Caverns of Ixalan
Planeswalkers	Huatli (former)
Rabiah Scale	5
Status	Recovering from New Phyrexia's invasion

For other uses, see Ixalan (disambiguation).

Ixalan (/ɪksəlɑːn/ IKS-uh-lahn) is a pan-Mesoamerican-inspired plane full of uncharted jungles where dangerous beasts, magnificent ruins, and lost treasures lie waiting to be discovered.

History

Fourth Age

Little is known about the Fourth Age, and even less about the ages preceding it. The Oltec believe dinosaurs to be remnants of the Fourth Age, meaning they may have been the dominant race. The last survivor of the Fourth People was merely a mortal who would later be known as Aclazotz. His fear of death drove him to become godlike: 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.

Fifth Age

At the dawning of the Fifth Age, the Deep Gods, the children of Chimil, were born into the new world. Before the last God could emerge, Aclazotz slew him, eating him and taking his place. The first humans on the plane of Ixalan awoke inside the Core of Paradise under Chimil, and understood her to be their creator. They understood through her that the world was new, humanity was new, and yet they would be called the Komon Winaq, or the Fifth People.

The Komon Winaq spread out among the vast tracts and regions of this idyll, setting to the fields and jungles to draw from them the necessaries to support their lives. Their needs met by the bounty of the Core, the Komon Winaq could find time for leisure and study. They prized knowledge, so they set about mapping and charting the shape of this world. They developed a written language to record what they saw, numbers to count and measure what they encountered and came to understand the shape of paradise. This project produced the first figure of the Komon legend: Tan Jolom, the worldwalker. Tan Jolom was the first of the Komon Winaq to complete a circumnavigation of the Core and confirm that the world was a sphere built around a star.

Death, in this era of the Fifth People, was not a terror to the living. The Core was paradise: there was not an afterlife hidden from the waking world. Echoes, the spirits of those passed beyond, walked among the living: the veil between life and the afterlife was thin as gossamer. For Tan Jolom, the prospect of exploring the afterlife was simply another chance at adventure: So, he became an Echo and departed for the afterlife, seeking the Fourth World beyond its borders. Guided by a whispering voice, he passed to the realm of spirits, gods, demons, and devils, where he searched for the Deep Gods — Chimil's children — hoping to tell them that their people had mapped the Core and awaited their return.

Whispering War

Dark creatures from the afterlife slipped into the world through the door left open by Tan Jolom, none more terrible than the final child of the Fourth People: Aclazotz, the whisperer who had promised to show the worldwalker to the land of the Fourth People. He knew the power that fear could grant him, so he hardened the gossamer veil between life and death: the dead would no longer become Echoes, and the living recognized their mortality. 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. Pilgrims and evangelists raged through cities, forming cults intended to lure Aclazotz out into the light. Their desperate rituals horrified much of the Komon Winaq. When elders and leaders first attempted to stop them, Aclazotz's cults fought back, and the fields and cities of the Komon raged with violence.

The Whispering War ended after the other Deep Gods arrived and intervened. First to emerge was Ojer Axonil, who was drawn to the Core by the familiar sounds of battle. Axonil reached back into the firmament and warned his elder sibling, Ojer Taq, of what was happening in the Core. Then, he entered the Whispering War against Aclazotz, raising a company of one thousand champions to follow him into battle. When Aclazotz attempted to kill Taq, Axonil stopped the bat god and fought him in a climactic final battle. Axonil and his Thousand Moons 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 imprisoned him.

Age of the Sun

The veil of life and death once more thinned, allowing the return of honored Echoes. The foundations of Oteclan, the capital city of the Komon Winaq, were set on the shores of a great lake, Wachibal. As Ojer Taq looked on, the Komon Winaq built a golden age that lasted for millennia: this was the Age of the Sun. The Age of the Sun ended with the arrival of interplanar beings known as the Fomori or colonizers, and later named the Kisik by the Komon, an evocative word meant to convey these new beings' fearsome appearance and Imperial ambition.

Days later, one of these dark shards opened and from it dropped a smaller, cylindrical vessel. From it stepped a giant that spoke the Komon language and pleaded for the Komon to allow his people to shelter here in this paradise. The Kisik established de facto dominion over the Core, ruling from their shard ships which remained suspended in the sky around Chimil. More shards arrived, and in time, the Fomori completed their shell around Chimil, and total darkness fell throughout the Core. This occlusion had the secondary effect of separating the Komon from Chimil's children, the Deep Gods.

Night War

320 years of darkness followed, and the colonizers ruled the Core. Resistance to the colonizers sparked across the Core, first from Echoes, then by the living. One heroic figure stood above the rest: Olanem Teq, the Nine Hundredth Moon. From the city of Oq'tinimit, Teq led the resistance, raiding Fomori cylinders, capturing individual Fomori agents, and eventually making their way up to Chimil where they would strike at the heart of the colonizers.

In the final days of the war, when Komon warriors landed on the dark shards caging Chimil, the star was able to help them. Chimil, too, had been fighting back, lashing the inside of her cage with terrible, mighty energies. The shards were weak, attempting to heal through unknown magics but failing. The disruption presented by the resistance attacks across the Core hampered Fomori infrastructure; liberatory attacks on key shards by brave Komon warriors proved to be too much for the Fomori prison. Chimil shattered one shard, then another, and then a cascade began. Cosmium lashed out from Chimil, blasting away the Fomori while innervating the Komon — those present that day became semi-divine figures in their own right — the first angels of Ixalan. The Deep Gods followed, finally able to hear their mother's cry and their people's pleas.

The war ended with the Fomori expelled from the Core, leaving behind the shattered ruins of their shard-ships in orbit around Chimil, as well as various smaller installations and half-complete projects across the Core. Over the ages, the Komon worked to repair many of these wounds, but even in the present, some ruins remain.

First Exodus

As the Komon Winaq grew to recognize the extent of the world below their own, an age of exploration began, followed by an age of migration and settlement. Over centuries, hundreds of thousands of Komon Winaq traveled to the plane's surface, later becoming the Sun Empire. Those who stayed behind began to call themselves Oltec. According to the Malamet, they and the merfolk fought alongside the Komon in the Night War, joining them on the surface afterward. After losing their empires to the nascent Sun Empire, the Malamet were later driven back into the caverns.

Birth of the Mycotyrant

Many centuries after the first exodus period, an outbreak struck Topizielo, one of the Komon's primary cities in the caverns. Oltec scientists in the Core determined that this disease was fungal, spread by spores, and highly advanced — possibly some living relic of the Fomori, loosed outside of the Core in eons past. This fungus was the beginning of the mycoids. Without any barriers to stop them, they rapidly began to spread through the caverns. Oltec and Komon humans worked together to try and stop the spread of the mycoids, but they could not. Whole civilizations and cultures fell to the infection, and then to the increasingly more advanced and larger forms of mycoids. The Komon and Oltec in the caverns fled, finding safety outside of the caverns. These settlers emerged aboveground on the continent that would later be called Ixalan, the ancient ancestors of the people who would create the Sun Empire. Those who remained in the caverns sealed all entrances to the Core to protect it from the spread of the mycoids.

Quiet Age

In 3279 AR, the planeswalker Azor created a powerful artifact known as the Immortal Sun to trap Nicol Bolas. For this reason, Planeswalkers could enter Ixalan, but could not leave until the artifact was deactivated and removed in 4560.

The Immortal Sun was once guarded by holy custodians in a mountaintop monastery on the continent of Torrezon. Its presence gave the local monarch disproportionate influence in regional matters. The monastery fell under attack by the forces of the rival king Pedron the Wicked who stole the Immortal Sun but lost it to Azor, who reclaimed it. Around 3760, the mountainous nation called Torrezon — which later gave its name to the continent — split into three parts when its monarch died, with each portion ruled by one of the monarch's children. A long religious war ensued. It raged on for three centuries, before the first vampire, Elenda of Garrano, ended it. After the unification, many of Torrezon's nobles undertook Elenda's transformative ritual, and it became known as the Rite of Redemption by the church. The United Legion of Dusk began a series of wars and eventually took over the whole continent. When the last city-states were conquered, their inhabitants took to the sea and formed the Brazen Coalition.

On the continent of Ixalan, the River Heralds were once the dominant inhabitants of the continent with significant power of their own, and their strength was enough to keep the Sun Empire out of the interior. The Sun Empire was first founded in Orazca by Chacanto Intli, who united the various city-states into a central empire. Following a devastating war with the River Heralds under Apatzec Intli I, who had gained possession of the Immortal Sun and used it without restraint, their civilization was reduced to a few coastal cities, with Orazca being lost to both sides. The empire still confronted the Heralds on its borders.

The Sun Empire was besieged by pirate raids by the Brazen Coalition and the advance of the Legion of Dusk which was seeking the Immortal Sun. All factions closed in on the Lost City of Orazca, which was said to hide the ancient artifact. The Immortal Sun was found by several of the factions but was stolen and removed from the plane by a henchman of Bolas. The barrier was now broken, and several planeswalkers left the plane. With Orazca retaken, the Sun Empire pushed the Legion of Dusk back to the sea, capturing and reverse-engineering their fleet in preparation for an invasion of Torrezon. Forests were felled to raise a new fleet, known as the Dawn Fleet. Hundreds of ships were built, and nearly ten thousand soldiers and sailors crewed them. The ships were launched to Torrezon, and their last known location was the midway point between the two empires.

Phyrexian invasion

In 2 Dawn Era, the plane mobilized against the growing New Phyrexian threat. In the early days of the invasion, the sun was blocked out by smoke and falling ash from constant fires burning across the plane. After the elder dinosaur Etali was compleated, severe hurricanes began forming just off the coast of the continent of Ixalan. The skies flashed with red lightning, and the wind sparkled with razors, preventing aerosaurs from flying.

While Ixalan's Core avoided the Phyrexian invasion, no part of the plane's surface was spared. The continent of Ixalan was invaded by the Alabaster, Copper, and Furnace Hosts from the seas on submarine-like war machines, bursting onto land near Atzocan and charging inwards. Within days, tens of thousands of humans and regiments of dinosaurs were Phyrexianized. Due to the forewarning of Huatli, the Sun Empire capital at Pachatupa was ready for the attack, and the emperor quickly shored up its defenses while funneling invaders toward it. The cities outside the Imperial core were ravaged by the invaders, and a dozen towns along the northern barrier of the continent were wiped out. In the south of the Sun Empire, Atzocan, Otepec, and Little Pocatli suffered similar fates. The Sun Empire, pirates, and the Legion of Dusk banded together to fight the invaders, and Etali was finally felled by Zacama after injuring Zetalpa. This mission, coupled with the defense of Pachatupa by Imperial soldiers and citizens, saved the Sun Empire and Ixalan from falling to the Phyrexians.

Though the continent of Torrezon was also invaded, the damage to the eastern continent was far less catastrophic than on the continent of Ixalan. Though the Invasion did not reach the Core, multiple entrances to the Core were discovered as a consequence of the destruction, and the bat god Aclazotz was awoken from his slumber.

Rediscovery of the Core

In the aftermath of the Invasion, entrances to the plane's core were discovered across the war-torn continent of Ixalan. After the death of the Deeproot Tree, thousands of merfolk bands from across the plane gathered in Matzalantli. Both Sun Empire and Legion of Dusk entered the core, meeting the Oltec for the first time since the core was sealed. The latter faction freed Aclazotz, who then attempted to snuff out the plane's inner sun. At the same time, the mycoid hivemind known as the Mycotyrant attacked the Oltec. While the god and the fungus were defeated, both escaped to the plane's surface.

Meanwhile, the factions of the surface continued vying for power. A second Dawn Fleet was constructed in Queen's Bay in the Sun Empire, along with dozens of mechanoquetzacama, in preparation for an invasion of Torrezon. Hoping to prevent war, the emperor's sister Caztaca Huicintli plotted to depose her bellicose brother Atlacan, while Saint Elenda of Garrano hoped to subvert the rising faction under Vona, the Antifex. Admiral Beckett Brass crashed a meeting of the two factions, agreeing to support their causes in exchange for a Brazen Coalition state in the ocean between the two.

Geography

Map of the continent of Ixalan

Ixalan is a hollow sphere. It has at least two large continents on its surface that are separated by an ocean. The journey east from Queen's Bay to the Sens takes one week by ship. Further north, travelers meet only unmelting ice. The Sun Empire has never sailed north of its northern shores. An omenpath to the plane of Arcavios regularly appears.

Stormwreck Sea

The Stormwreck Sea is the home to various archipelagos and numerous pirates.

• The floating city of High and Dry, the base of the Brazen Coalition
  • The Burning Port, an ale house
  • The Boatswain's Rear, another ale house
• The Spitfire Bastion, the base of Captain Vance on an island east of the Sun Coast
• "Useless Island", where Jace Beleren was cast away following his defeat against Nicol Bolas.
• The Corsair Coast

Ixalan (continent)

Treasure Map

Ixalan, the western continent, bears the same name as the plane (or the other way around). Covered in vast jungles and rivers. It is home to large dinosaurs, that some of the natives managed to domesticate, and numerous secrets are hidden within its forests.

• The Sun Empire
  • Sun Coast, the eastern coast.
  • Orazca, the lost city of gold. Now once again the capital of the Sun Empire.
    • The Threefold Temple
    • Atzal, Cave of Eternity
    • Metzali, Tower of Triumph
    • The Tomb of the Dusk Rose
    • The Sanctum of the Sun
    • The ritual district
      • The Winged Temple
        • The priests' chambers
        • The Three Hundred Steps
        • The recitation chamber
    • The Vault of Catlacan
  • Pachatupa, the former capital. Standing where the coastal plains rise into the high mountains. The river bordering Pachatupa feeds the city freshwater from vast inland mountain ranges, plunging from Itlimoc through heavily irrigated floodplains. After the Invasion, the capital was moved to Orazca.
    • Tocatli, the emperor's palace at the heart of Pachatupa. During the Phyrexian Invasion, ash blanketed the citadel. The imperial throne room sits high atop the palace, but was converted to an imperial war room in preparation for the invasion of Torrezon. It is dominated by a scale map of Ixalan, Torrezon, and the Stormwreck Sea.
    • The Temple of the Wakening Sun
    • The Temple of the Burning Sun
    • The Temple of the Verdant Sun
    • The Riverside districts
  • Atzocan, a city-state located on the low coastal plain. Destroyed by the Phyrexians.
  • Otepec, a vast city of temples built in reverence to the Threefold Sun, located in a high alpine forest at the western edge of the Sun Empire's lands. Destroyed by the Phyrexians.
  • Other locations
  • Quetzatl state. An inland state with no cities, only holding small towns and maize, squash, and bean farms.
  • Little Pocatli. An inland city that was destroyed by the Phyrexians.
• Queen's Bay, a large bay on the southern side of the continent.
  • Miraldanor, an island stronghold of the Legion of Dusk. An imposing fortress on a barrier island at the mouth of the Bay, it is named after Queen Miralda.
    • Adanto, the First Fort. Strongest fort of the vampires.
    • Conqueror's Foothold
    • Fortress Leor, the Edge of Exile. The middle of the three fortresses of Queen's Bay. After the Sun Empire took Orazca and pushed the Legion of Dusk to the sea, Leor held for months but fell before the end of the year. The Sun Empire reverse-engineered its fleet of blue-water frigates to begin their invasion of Torrezon.
    • Dúrran, the Fort of Faith
• Jungle Region
  • Lost cities Ancient ruins from the Sun Empire's heyday can now be found, overgrown and half-buried, in the depths of the jungle.
    • Quetzatl, once the home of a self-proclaimed king who challenged the authority of the emperor.
    • Pecatli, known for its grand temple of the Threefold Sun.
    • Techepec, a former retreat for the emperor and the imperial family.
    • Tanaztac, a fortress city marking the former western edge of the empire.
  • Icalaquiampa, the temple of sunset. The focus of a religious sect that tried to replace the emperor with a high priest and establish a theocratic rule.
  • The Great River
    • The Nine Tributaries, Tishana, Kumena, Pashona, Vuhana, Mitica, Notana, Falani, Tuvasa, and Kopala.
  • The Deeproot Tree, a remnant of an ancient Merfolk city. Died in the New Phyrexian invasion.
• Mountain region
  • Lost Valley
  • Temple of Aclazotz, a ruined temple containing a broad, deep cenote. Curved stairs are carved into its sides, leading to a series of catacombs followed by a large, circular room filled with candelabras, an obsidian altar, and a golden door that opened when a sacrifice was offered. Through this door is a massive underground desert that instantly swallows up travelers on the wrong path. At the far end of the cavern is a pathway subtly marked with carved bat wings. This pathway leads to another huge cavern crisscrossed with arching natural bridges over thunderous cascading lava, bright enough to light the entire space. On some of the rocky outcroppings, stone buildings rise, while others are carved directly into large stalactites.
  • Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun, a sacred forest for both merfolk and humans.
  • The Primal Wellspring, the sacred source of the Great River. Infused with magical power.
• Inner Sea
  • Hidden coves hold pirate treasures stowed by captains long forgotten.
    • Treasure Cove
  • Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin. A thriving population center until a prolonged conflict with the River Heralds caused it to sink into the waters.
  • Tonalixco, Temple of the eastern sun
• Sunray Bay, a large Brazen Coalition town on the northern coast of Ixalan. It was left deserted after its population was taken over by the Mycotyrant in 5 Dawn Era.
  • Downtown, the largest and most productive mine in the Brazen Coalition, and responsible for a significant part of the Coalition's economy. The entire town was taken over by mycoid infection in 5 Dawn Era.

The Caverns

The Caverns

The caverns of Ixalan stretch from the exterior of the Core up to the surface, ringing the plane in countless miles of titanic cave systems.

• Ban Koj or Chuuy Kaaj, also called the Hanging City, is the de facto Malamet capital and cultural hub. The largest population center, its population numbers in the tens of thousands, and its size is larger than Alta Torrezon. It is the center of trade, poetry, literature, and mainstream Malamet culture. Malamet in Ban Koj live in communal housing, their homes built into a cluster of massive, fortress-like stalactites that hang from the ceiling of a colossal cavern. Some buildings are hewn directly from the rock, while others feature painted white walls like pottery. Rope bridges, walkways, nets, and platforms extend between buildings, as well as thick cables from which aerial lifts hang. The largest stalactite is windowless, its interior covered in enormous cosmium glyphs. Inside is a massive pyramid hundreds of steps tall, leading to a room at the top. Within the pyramid sits the sovereign's throne room. Trespassers are exiled from the city by being placed in a large fountain with a jaguar head at the top that fills with sand rather than water and empties into Matzalanti. No Core- or surface-dweller visited the city between when the Oltec closed off the Core and the Queen's Bay Company's expedition in 5 Dawn Era.
• Porobol Koj or Midden Koj is a large, primarily Deep Goblin trade city and port that sprawls across the cavern floor under Ban Koj, straddling both sides of a wide river. Populated by mercenaries, merchants, porters, scouts, and laborers for the jaguarfolk above, the settlement is dotted with rope elevators that allow transit between the cities.
• Chama Koj, a ruin, a half-sunken city complex where liquified quicksand flows in deadly rapids. The ancient capital of a forgotten — likely human — culture, the jaguarfolk later took it themselves, either by conquest, won in battle, or bequeathed to the Malamet sovereign. It is now uninhabited except for wandering jaguarfolk Echoes. It is a site of pilgrimage for mythweavers and curious glyphscribes, who journey to the slowly flooding city to uncover its history. The Queen's Bay Company may have passed through this city on their journey to the Core.
• Topizielo, once one of the greatest cities of the Komon Winaq, now abandoned. In a cavern many miles across, from edge to edge filled with stone buildings and narrow streets. A central pyramid is etched with cosmium. In the center of the plaza is a dry fountain. After the mycoid infestation, the city's buildings were covered in a blue and green luminescent fungus.
• Matzalantli, "the great door." A massive gilded temple complex of stepped stone buildings above and below an underground freshwater ocean that was built by a forgotten descendant civilization of the Oltec. Lamps burn above low buildings, while long strings of bioluminescent baubles and baskets holding firebugs light the streets and alleys. A round, corroded copper door covered in glyphs sealed the plane's Core from its surface from the discovery of the mycoids until it was opened in 5 Dawn Era. After the death of the Deeproot Tree, Shaper Pashona rediscovered Matzalanti, and thousands of merfolk gathered in the complex, the largest assembly of merfolk bands in Ixalan's history.
  • On the Core side, Matzalantli is located high in the mountains overlooking Oteclan.
• Tecutlan, the Searing Rift. A huge cavern crisscrossed with arching natural bridges, with a thunderous fall of lava cascading down the side of a wall, bright enough to light the entire space. On some of the rocky outcroppings, stone buildings rise, while others are carved directly into large stalactites.
• The Mycoid Maze, a fungal forest within a large cavern with a high ceiling.Bioluminescent spores float between green mushrooms as tall as trees.
• The Nameless City
• The West Chasm

The Core of Paradise

Underneath Ixalan's surface is an inverted sphere known as the Core of Paradise with a sun at its center. The sun is the plane's source of cosmium. The only surviving civilization inhabiting The Core, the Oltec, are the ancestors of the Sun Empire. The gravity shift of entering the core was described by Quintorius Kand as a dizzying effect similar to planeswalking.

• Chimil, "the Riven Star," the star at the center of the Core.
  • The Cosmium Reefs
• Oteclan, capital city of the Oltec.
  • The Night War memorial
  • The Temple of Civilization
  • The Temple of Cultivation
  • The Temple of Cyclical Time
  • The Temple of Power
• Oq'tinimit
• The Barracks of the Thousand Moons
• A swamp containing the temple to Aclazotz.
  • The Temple of the Dead
• Colony's End
• The Mututik Towers

Torrezon

Torrezon is the eastern continent. Ruled by an alliance between a powerful church and an iron-fisted monarch. Vampires dominate the continent after a series of wars with other realms. Refugees and exiles from the defeated nations fled to the sea and established the Brazen Coalition. Its citizens are called Torrezonés.

• Alta Torrezon, the capital territory and seat of the monarchy of the Legion of Dusk, deep in Torrezon's interior.
• Garrano, birthplace of Elenda.
• Iedo, birthplace of Vona.
• Lujio, birthplace of Adrian Adanto.
• The Deoro, a vast mountain range looming behind a continent-bisecting river between the Free Cities and Alta Torrezon.
• The Free Cities, on the west coast and the plains. Occupied by humans.
  • Magan, a walled village massacred during the Apostasine War.
• The Sens, a small scattering of islands off the western coast of Torrezon. Home to the Orcs.
  • Sen Gael, the main island.

Luneau

Luneau is an island kingdom under the influence of the Legion of Dusk. In its capital of the same name, a dance known as the "Tourdion with the Truculent Thunder" is a popular observance. In smaller settlements, an annual festival involves the running of juvenile raptors in the streets while adolescents steal their feathers.

• The opulent city of Luneau, full of Byzantine alleys and baroque balconies.
  • The Hall of Treasures, a taxidermist museum.
  • The Royal Menagerie, a collection of animals.
  • The Perfumed Court, the royal palace.

The southern continents

The Brazen Coalition has been searching for rumored southern continents but has failed to find them so far.

Inhabitants

The Brazen Coalition

• Goblins
• Humans
• Orcs
• Sirens

Sun Empire

• Humans

• Dominated animals:
  • Dinosaurs, see below

• Constructs:
  • Golems

River Heralds

• Merfolk
  • Land-favoring
  • Water-favoring
  • Hybrid

• Harnessed magical beings:
  • Elementals

Legion of Dusk

• Vampires
• Humans

• Domesticated animals:
  • Bulls
  • Horses
  • Mastiffs

Oltec

• Humans

• Domesticated Animals:
  • Xoloitzcuintles
  • Llamas

• Constructs:
  • Gnomes
    • Dinotomatons (Dinosaur Gnomes)
  • Golems

Other sapient races

• Angels
• Echoes
• Malamet (Catfolk)
• Demons
• Dryads
• Harpies
• Deep Goblins
• Mycoids
• Skeletons

Dinosaurs

Some of Ixalan's dinosaur species

Ixalan is home to a vast array of dinosaurs or quetzacama (parenthesized names have not been used in lore, but are here to help classify):

• (Ankylosaurs)
  • Aegisaurs
  • Hammertails
• (Ceratopsians)
  • Bronzebeaks
  • Cacophodons
  • Ceratops
    • Siegehorns
  • Frillhorns
  • Horncrests
  • Snubhorns (Pachyrhinosaurs)
  • Tuskodon
• Dracosaurs (Dinosaur Dragons)
• Frillbacks (Dimetrodons)
• (Hadrosaurs)
  • Bristlebacks
  • Herdcallers
  • Spinebacks
• Hammerskulls (Pachycephalosaurs)
• Osseosaurs (Dinosaur Skeleton Horrors)
• (Plesiosaurs)
  • Benthisaurs
  • Pelagosaurs
• (Pterosaurs)
  • Aerosaurs
  • Heliopterus
  • Pterodons
  • Sandwings (Tupandactylus)
  • Sunwings
• (Sauropods)
  • Altisaurs
  • Brontodons
  • Thunderherders
  • Whiptails
• (Stegosaurs)
  • Armasaurs
  • Platebacks
  • Platetails
  • Speartails
  • Spiketails
  • Spinetails
  • Stegosauruses
• (Theropods)
  • Axejaws
  • Carnosaurs
  • Colossadactyls (Therizinosaurs)
  • Deathgorge Scavengers
  • Deathspitters (Dilophosaurs)
  • Egg-eaters (Oviraptors)
  • Raptors
    • Clawfoots
    • Ferocidons
    • Needletooths
  • Sailbacks (Spinosaurs)
  • (Tyrannosaurs)
    • Bladetooths
      • Daggertooths
      • Swordtooths
    • Dreadmaws
    • Monstrosaurs
    • Regisaurs
    • Tyrants
• Mechanoquetzacama
  • Thopteryxes (Dinosaur Thopters)

Other wildlife

• Barnacles
• Bat Imps
• Bears
• Birds
  • Albatrosses
  • Archaeopteryxes
  • Quetzals
  • Seagulls
  • Hawks
• Capybaras
• Corals
• Chupacabras (Beast Horrors)
• Coatis
• Fishes
  • Sharks
• piranhas or anhafish
  • Golden thunnini
• Frogs
• Griffins
• Insects
  • Butterflies
  • Cave Crawlers or mantis-spiders (Insect Horrors)
  • Fireflies
• Leeches
• Lemurs
• Nautiluses
• Opossums
• Oysters
• Panthers
• Snakes
  • Coatls
• Spiders
• Mycoids
• Saber-toothed Cats
• Salamander Serpents
• Salamander Wurms
• Snails
• Sunbirds
• Tortoises
• Trilobites
• Wildebeests
• Worms
  • Silkworms

Flora

• Beans, eaten in the Sun Empire.
• Ahuehuete trees
• Avocado
• Coffea, drank in the Sun Empire.
• Hibiscus, used in iced drinks in the Sun Empire.
• Legumes, cultivated in the Core.
• Maize, ground into masa and eaten in the Sun Empire and the Core.
• Mangos, eaten in the Sun Empire.
• Old man's beard
• Plants , including carnivorous plants
• A "spiny pinkish fruit," possibly pitaya, eaten in the Sun Empire.
• Squash, eaten in the Sun Empire and the Core.
• Tobacco, smoked in cigarillos.
• Toadstool trees

Languages

Ixalan has a variety of languages, though all are generally mutually intelligible between its inhabitants, and all seem to incorporate words from real-world Spanish.

• The language of the Komon Winaq
  • Its written language uses logographic or ideographic glyphs and is similar to Itzocan and the language of the River Heralds' ancestors.
    • Known glyphs include blessed, cursed, farmer, leaf, shadow, and warrior.
    • Even the slightest change to a single line can wildly alter a glyph's meaning.
    • The glyphs for "blessed" and "cursed" look very similar.
  • Abuelo, la — grandfather, grandmother
• Itzocan, the language of the Sun Empire. It is spoken in "High" and "Low" or "Vulgar" dialects, and its written language uses sigils.
  • Abuelo, la — grandfather, grandmother
  • Compañero, — partner
  • Quetzacama — Dinosaur
• The language of the Malamet, recorded on stele in glyphs that resemble the spot markings that form naturally in their fur.
  • A dialect of this script is used by the Deep Goblins that live among the Malamet.
• Mavren Fein's native language, likely the language of Torrezon
• The language of Yolotzin's village

Trivia

• Besides the mesoamerican civilizations, Ixalan is inspired by the Age of Discovery and Piracy when legends such as El Dorado were created.
• A lot of what inspires both the Sun Empire and the River Heralds comes directly from the Maya and Aztec and the succession of control from one to the other.
• Another source is the Lost world trope. Torrezon and Luneau themselves draw inspiration from colonial Spain and France, respectively.
• The Lost Caverns of Ixalan is Magic's take on the “Underground World” trope.
• Ixalan's various factions use copper, silver, and gold coins as currency.

Planeswalkers

Native

• Huatli

Visitors

• Angrath
• Azor
• Isona Maive (non-canon)
• Jace Beleren
• Kaya Cassir (non-canon)
• Liliana Vess (non-canon)
• Niko Aris (non-canon)
• Quintorius Kand
• Ral Zarek
• Saheeli Rai
• Tezzeret
• The Wanderer
• Vivien Reid
• Vraska

Non-planeswalker visitors

• Kellan

In-game references

Represented in:

• The Core
• The Golden City of Orazca

Associated cards:

• Invasion of Ixalan
• Ixalan's Binding

Referred to:

• Aetherwing, Golden-Scale Flagship
• Angrath's Marauders
• Arguel's Blood Fast
• Blossom Dryad
• Burning Sun Cavalry
• Burning Sun's Fury
• Crash the Ramparts
• Deeproot Wayfinder
• Dusk Legion Duelist
• Grazing Whiptail
• Heartbeat of Spring (Secret Lair)
• Hijack (Ixalan)
• Jadelight Spelunker
• Jungle Hollow (March of the Machine)
• Mana Crypt (Special Guest)
• Out of Air
• Ravenous Sailback
• Saheeli, the Sun's Brilliance
• Snapping Sailback
• Verdant Rebirth
• Windswept Heath (Modern Horizons III)

External links

• Chas Andres (October 25, 2017). "Ten Burning Questions from the Ixalan Story". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• R&D Narrative Team (November 1, 2017). "Planeswalker's Guide to Ixalan, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• R&D Narrative Team (November 8, 2017). "Planeswalker's Guide to Ixalan, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Miguel Lopez (November 10, 2023). "Planeswalker's Guide to the Lost Caverns of Ixalan". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.