Atzocan
| Atzocan | |
|---|---|
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[[File:{{#setmainimage:Ixalan map.png}}|250px]] | |
| Information | |
| Plane | Ixalan |
| Part of | Sun Empire, Ixalan |
Atzocan is one of the four main city-states of the Sun Empire on Ixalan.[1]
Description
Atzocan lies on a low coastal plain, where broad fields and lush forests once attested to the fertility of the land.[1]
Dinosaurs
In addition to its former status as the empire's granary, Atzocan was also the heart of the Sun Empire's dinosaur husbandry.[1] The plains surrounding Atzocan were the native habitat of several varieties of large, powerful dinosaurs. Huge thunderherders roamed the outermost plains, while armored frillhorns, hammertails, platebacks, and spinetails wandered freely through the communes, villages, and fields that surrounded the city. The priests of Atzocan used their magic to call and control these dinosaurs, putting them to work in and around the city. Thus, the design of Atzocan, more than the other cities of the empire, was designed to accommodate large dinosaurs moving through the streets — these same streets became host to horrifying Phyrexian beasts and warhosts. Now they are choked with the remains of the invaders: grim monumental boulevards that, through sheer mass alone, have rebuffed attempts to retake the city.
Government
Atzocan's governor-in-exile is Atlacan Huicintli, the clever, legitimized paper son of the late emperor and favored advisor to the current Emperor Apatzec Intli IV. The three major families of Atzocan — the Cabrana, Palani, and Cuitzan houses — ensure power in the Imperial court. His care for Atzocan is twofold: one, as its reclamation is, truly, a symbol of the empire's ascendancy, and two, as much of its land no longer has owners, Huicintli stands to gain command over the vast majority of Atzocan's wealth via stewardship once the city and territory is reclaimed and cleaned.
History
Invasion
The city's position near the sea meant that it weathered the brunt of the attacks from Brazen Coalition raiders and the Legion of Dusk before the Phyrexian invasion.[1] Atzocan continued this unlucky streak through the Phyrexian invasion, as the landing point for Ixalan's first Realmbreaker spur. Much of the city was destroyed by the initial impact and seedpod barrage, an event of such magnitude that tremors were felt as far away as Pachatupa. There were few survivors from Atzocan: most of its population was captured or killed and converted by the invading Phyrexians before the city-state's military or the empire could mount an effective defense.
After the invasion
In the wake of the invasion, little of the cosmopolitan city remains intact.[1] Atzocan lies largely empty behind crumbled walls, its once sprawling markets, breezy manors, and dense seaside districts abandoned and left to rot and decay until the empire can make its return. Atzocan's survivors, a mix of noble families who were in Pachatupa when the invasion began, merchants and farmers who were away on business, and soldiers on patrol outside of the city, have been agitating for the empire to make a serious effort to retake the city. Already they have mounted several privately funded missions, working to clear out Atzocan's polluted fields and smaller, outlying communes and granaries. This work is slow and grim but ongoing: it will take years before Atzocan is once more able to feed the empire. However, early efforts to clear and clean fields have proven successful: grain trickles into Pachatupa from Atzocan, a promising sign not only for to coastal city's refugees but for the empire's logisticians and military planners: if the Sun Empire is to mount a military response to Torrezon's incursions, they will need Atzocan to become a breadbasket once more.[1]
In-game references
- Associated cards:
- Referred to:
References
- ↑ a b c d e f Miguel Lopez (November 10, 2023). "Planeswalker's Guide to the Lost Caverns of Ixalan". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
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