The core Mezclandia setting is a new take on a fantasy folklore setting, flavored by cozy Latinx superstitions and set against a California landscape. Like any fantasy, it takes place within a world chock full of allies and dangers, natural hazards, and supernatural beings. However, Mezclandia specifically focuses on:
Pervasive Magic
Funhouse Folklore. Nursery rhymes, ghost stories, tongue twisters, cryptids, urban legends, and family traditions all contributed to the setting. More Through the Looking Glass than Middle Earth, the Mezclandia setting is an absurd, surreal pastiche of Latin American details translated with a healthy dose of hominess.
Unitary Magic System. There is no line separating “magic” from “mundane”, “nature” from “civilization”, or “arcane” from “divine.” Magic as we know it is just a branch of engineering. Theology, philosophy, spiritualism, and science are integrated disciplines, and applying theology is as powerful in terms of advancing the level of technology as applying physics is.
Everyday Mysticism. Developing relationships with spirits and other non-humans can be as useful as doing so with humans. The stars affect the future as the ice moon does the tides and the sun does the seasons. Praying to gods, nurturing patron spirits, and carefully interpreting omens are a normal part of everyone’s day.
Latinidad
Californination. The material world of Mezclandia is inspired by the California landscape. Majestic redwood forests, rolling yellow grass hills, and mild channel islands provide a backdrop for the core setting that influences everything from the bestiary to the architecture.
Latinx Remixed. Historical and immigrant Latinx cultures provide a fresh palette for fantasy worldbuilding. Instead of familiar tropes like wizards, dragons, elves, taverns, and knights in shining armor, Mezclandia has brujas, caciques, shamans, duendes, luchadores, chocolate, and zorristes.
Spanglibberish. Although inspired by and paying homage to Latin America, Mezclandia doesn’t pretend to be the real Latin America, not even a fantasy historical version of it. Mezclandia never had a Catholic church, Spanish Empire, or Columbian exchange. The languages spoken by the inhabitants aren’t Spanish, Quechua, or Nahuatl. Some terms used in Mezclandia are Spangliberish: vaguely Spanish-sounding but entirely made up.
Non-Colonial. Ethnic mixtures developed over repeated apocalypses rather than by colonization and skin color is no more important than toe length. Powerful people come in a variety of genders, sizes, colors, backgrounds, capabilities, and beliefs. Crucially, the players are locals, tied to their communities and enriched by their connections. The core loop of the game doesn’t rely on killing monsters to loot their stuff and remove them from their territory.
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