
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Title                 : Pyramide De Kulkulcan
Author                : RocketBoy
E-mail                : tomw@earthlink.net
Web Page              : http://www.earthlink.net/~tomw


Author Greets & Thanks: 3DRealms.  The Mayans.  The web sites devoted to
                        Mayan history that I used for research on this map
                        whose URLs are shown below.  The people at TEN
                        (http://www.ten.net) where I have had a blast
                        multiplayer dukematching via the internet for 
                        free during the beta period these past few months, 
                        and to all my friends and foes on TEN.


The Setting           : The ruins of Chichen Itza in the Yucatan
                        Peninsula, Mexico.  Featured is the Pyramid
                        and Temple of Kulkulcan, also known as "El
                        Castillo" (The Castle).  This was the most
                        important of the seven major Mayan pyramids
                        found at Chichen Itza.  Also featured on
                        the map is El Caracol "The Snail" which is
                        a building that the Mayans built and used
                        as an astronomical observatory, specifically
                        to observe the planet Venus.  The name of this
                        building comes from the spiral staircase inside
                        of it.  The mayan's believed that Venus was the
                        celestial manifestation of one of their most
                        important Gods, Kulkulcan-Quetzalcoatl.  This
                        God is the patron God of Chichen Itza, believed
                        to be the God of wind and rain.  The God is often
                        shown as a feathered serpent and it was important
                        to the Mayan's because they relied on the rain
                        to make their crops grow.  The Mayans were
                        heavily into human sacrifice, bloodletting and
                        all manner of rituals to appease their God so
                        that he would look down favorably upon them and
                        nurture their crops with rain.

                        The most dramatic achievements of the Mayan culture 
                        included a calendar which was infinitely more 
                        accurate than the Gregorian in use today, the 
                        invention of the "zero" in their mathematical 
                        system and the development of astronomy and 
                        astrology to a high science by charting the 
                        movements of the sun, moon and stars. 

                        When it came to mathematics, time and calendars, 
                        the Maya were geniuses. Believing that time repeated 
                        itself in cycles, they devised two calendars, one 
                        ritualistic, which was used for religious 
                        celebrations and astrological predictions, and the 
                        other a solar calendar. Both calendars were based on 
                        the calculation that a year had a little more than 
                        365 days, a more precise system than the Gregorian 
                        calendar. The number of steps at Pyramide De Kulkulcan
                        actually adds up to a total of 365.  Following the 
                        movement of the sun, moon and stars with such 
                        accuracy, the Maya were able to predict such 
                        mystifying phenomena as eclipses and the Spring and 
                        Autumn equinoxes. 

                        The construction of the Kukulcan Pyramid at Chichen
                        Itza was planned so that each Equinox the dying sun
                        would cast a shadow of a serpent writhing down the 
                        steps of the pyramid. 

                        In Chichen Itza, a distinct kind of human sacrifice 
                        was performed. Victims were bound and thrown into 
                        deep natural wells (cenotes). If the victim was 
                        still alive after a certain amount of time, then he 
                        or she was rescued. That person was said to have been 
                        spared by the gods. Furthermore, that person was 
                        believed to have a message from the gods.  Many 
                        worshippers also threw valuable objects like gold 
                        and jade jewelry into the cenotes as sacrifices for 
                        the rain god. 

                        There are two cenotes in this map, and if you fall 
                        into them, whether the Gods will spare you or not 
                        depends on where you land and/or whether or not you 
                        have some trip mines handy :) 

                        There is a secret room on this map, accessible 
                        from the Temple of Kulkulcan, which, if you find 
                        it, will lead you to a very strange place in outer
                        space where a very powerful weapon can be found.  
                        The inspiration for putting this room in the map 
                        comes from a belief that some people have that the 
                        pyramids in Egypt as well as Mexico were built not 
                        by the Egyptians and Mayans, but by extra-
                        terrestrials.  I don't necessarily ascribe to this 
                        theory myself, but I figured it would be an
                        interesting and compelling addition to this map.

                        Before building this map I did a bit of research
                        on the web on this pyramid and the Mayan culture
                        and found it all very interesting.  If you are 
                        interested in learning more about the Mayans, here                
                        are some links that I went to to do my research:


    http://mexico-travel.com/activities/archaeology/arch_s12.html
    http://www.sureste.com/mayas/mapaengl.htm
    http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/3884/maya.html
    http://www.op.net/~uarts/munoz/chichen_itza.html
    http://www.m-m.org/~jz/sphinxw.html
    http://www.indians.org/welker/maya.htm
    http://www.sho.com/links/mayan/
    http://www.wotw.com/MundoMaya/
    http://homepage.dave-world.net/~animaker/mayastro.html
    http://ocean.st.usm.edu/~tgparker/maya.html
    http://indigo.stile.le.ac.uk/~rug/STILE/images/hier/


    
The Story             : Well there is no story really since this is only 
                        a dukematch map.  If you really want a good and 
                        interesting story then go to the links shown above
                        and read about the Mayans and their fascinating 
                        achievements.  
                        

Your Mission          : Dukematch till you drop. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

* Play Information *

Episode and Level #   : e0l0
Single Player         : Naaa
Co-Op Level           : Nope
DukeMatch Level       : Indeed
Difficulty Settings   : Why?

* Construction *

Base                  : Brand spankin' new level from scratch, my 4th map!

Editor(s) used        : That one build thingy

Known Bugs            : Lucky me... haven't found any so far, knock wood.
                        Let me know if you see any.

Construction Notes    : This is my third map, it was started after my
                        second map had begun but before it was completed.
                        Unfortunately the framerate of this map did not
                        come out as well as I would have hoped.  It dips
                        down around 20 fps in some spots, which ain't too
                        great.  I also had to omit many of the steps of the
                        pyramid and the observatory, substituting slopes
                        in lieu of steps, to maintain a semi-decent frame-
                        rate.  Apparently steps are real bad for framerates
                        :(.  I also left 3 sides of the pyramid undone
                        for this reason, which is a bit of a shame as one
                        of the most striking things about the outside of
                        this pyramid is the 4 sides of steps going up it.
                        I have included a couple of JPGs of Pyramide de
                        Kulkulcan so that you can at least see what it
                        actually looks like since my dukematch version is
                        unable to do it a whole lot of justice.  See
                        chichen.jpg and elcastillo.jpg included in this
                        archive.


** Copyright / Permissions **

This map contains the original copyrighted ideas and works of Rocketboy.

Authors MAY NOT use BIGPC.MAP or BIGPC2.MAP as a base to build additional
levels.

You MAY distribute BIGPC2.MAP, provided that you include this file, with
no modifications.  You may distribute BIGPC2.MAP in any electronic
format (BBS,Diskette,CD,etc.) as long as you include this text file intact.

You MAY include BIGPC2.MAP in any compilation. You may not alter the level
in any way except the minor change of the map number.

          
* Where to get this MAP file *

FTP sites:

BBS numbers:

Other: You can get it on my cheap wannabe web page and probably on Lazer's
       Beam and maybe Ten's filefactory and perhaps some other sites.
       Dunno 'cuz I haven't sent it anywhere yet.  But if you're reading
       this then you already have it, so....
                                                                        
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

