Supremo: A Philippine TL [1521-1897]

Prologue, circa 1521 @ Island of Mactan

The water on the shores of Mactan was predominantly red on this sunny day. Bodies of native warrior lazily act like flotsam, while men of iron had already sunk below knee-deep water. Kneeling on before his foe was the adroit explorer Magellan. A few more treacherous miles and he would had been one of the first few people whom circumnavigated the world, a few miles more and he would have behold all of Europe of his feat. If only he was more cautious about trusting those wretched savages. Now, he silently pray for a swift death and the forgiveness of his sins. Maria, I’m sorry…

The Datu of Mactan was watching impassively, before him was broken warrior garb in metal. He never knew this man and wonders what sort of madness had came across this outsider to meddle on the affairs of the Sultanate, his duty was to make sure that the Barangays are put in their respective places. But, now. Now they send an outsider to do the job they could not even imagine of doing, men wearing metal armor and armed with cannons much like those men from the north uses. He mused about arranging more raids against the neighboring Barangays, but at this moment he would need to decide what to do with this outsider.

“Bring the white man, mend his wounds! I want him alive, but tie him properly I don’t want him running around the village when he wakes up.” With that the Datu of Mactan brought down his fist like he had done countless times onto Magellan the explorer, as the white man succumb to unconsciousness a little butterfly flutters its wings.
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1525 @ Malacca, Portuguese holding.

A Portuguese man garb in simple clothing, stood at the gates of Malacca oblivious of the endless procession of people of mix ethnicity carrying their wares in and out of the city. He trembled as a feeling long suppress flooded him in his moment of triumph, yet this triumph would only be known to him as traders and slaves walked pass him.

“Magalyanes, Stand up.” The grim war-chief of Mactan spoke in his native tongue. He could understand what he was saying now, two long years living among the natives as their hostage gave him an ample amount of time to learn. Especially if you have a translator with you and to this day he would continue to thank God for sparing his and Enrique’s life. “You will have all the time you would need, once we have conducted trade.”

“Kapitan, it is impolite to keep the war-chief waiting.” A tall Malayan man spoke in crooked Portuguese.

“Just a few more seconds, Enrique. Let me savor this moment, I have just have completed my circumnavigation of the world. At the very least, let this old mariner enjoy this lonely triumph.” Magellan replied in crooked Malayan. He came in this city as a conqueror and returned as a slave, at least he was alive, unlike his crew.

-

The war-chief of Mactan watched with subtle pride as wares is brought abroad his newly purchased ship. He was amazed on how many canons and kegs of black powder, was traded for a fist full of children’s trinkets and several sacks of cooking spices.

He particularly liked the greedy old white Magalyanes working his ass for gold and freedom. Gold was useless. To him, the metal was soft and only useful in appeasing the women folk, he had an excess on women folk right now, especially after that bloody debacle in Cebu. Pearl was a children toy, a little more useful compared to gold as it was hard enough to cause injury when hurled using a slingshot and it can be collected in numbers if one knows where to look. The cooking spices are another thing.

-

Magellan was busy organizing the work crew of the ship. Barrels of black powder, a handful of rifles, a canon, tools for working iron and farming implements are being stowed down at the cargo hold. He was busily crunching numbers on his head trying to profit from the massive haul that he was tasked to trade for Iron. He could never understand how could the Chieftain of Mactan could easily strip his holding of gold upon discovering that he could actually buy better weapons from the Portuguese by using him as intermediary.

Several gold talents for a rifle, a tiny bit of him died inside when he did the trade. Graciously he was able to make profit upon selling the rest of their cargo made entirely of spice from the Philippine Archipelago.

“Kapitan! Why are we delayed?” The war-chief shouted, his strong cry made the workers aboard the ship to pause on their work. Magalyanes respects the sly war-chief. He was a fearsome warrior with a hundred kills tattooed intricately on his bare chest.

After learning that Humabon had poisoned his surviving crew members in Cebu, the war-chief simply burned Humabon’s palace to the ground claiming that Humabon's treachery cannot be tolerated. He was a righteous man, a pity that he refused to be baptized.

“War-chief your ship is simply not large enough to accommodate all the wares that we have.” Magellans frankly states it to the war chief. How in turn pause to ponder on his next course of action.

“Very well prioritize on the weapons and make sure we stock on the black powder and bullets. He might have to raid a few villages so I could buy another ship.”

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1531 @ Aboard the Mactan, off the coast of Spain


It was a cold night abroad the Mactan, even if it was so the hardened crew of the ship tirelessly continues their vigil to keep their ship in working condition as it braves through Atlantic. With fifty strong Timawas volunteers they pledge their service to bring back the mariner who taught them mastery over the sea, home. It was the least they could do. Although most of them are curious thinking what would the west look like.

At the helm of the ship was Magellan, under his guidance they had laden the ship with valuable spices from the Moluccas, afterward they sailed across the vast Indian Ocean. It was a fool’s errand as he wasn’t expecting to successfully cross the Indian Ocean with an untested crew, yet they survived the journey with the crew mostly intact. They landed at the cape of good hope and was almost interned by the port authority, he would never forget the his ship is crewed by warriors.

“Kapitan. I suggest you get yourself relieved. This bottle won’t last long. Most of the men are thirsty since we started rationing the alcohol.” Magellan took a swig of the bottle that Lapu-lapu was holding, the familiar burn races across his throat and jolted him back to wakefulness. The large man grinned as he took back the bottle from his hands.

“Is that arrack?”

“You, bet you are. I hope you enjoy that swig, because the next bottle would be back at Sulu.”

“So how was the trip till now?”

“Horrendous, I have nothing to do but stare at the ocean during day time and stare at the star during night. I wished we had done the land route, at least at the ground we would have less trouble killing nosy people.”
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1531 @ Seville, Spain

Salt

Salt and alcohol is the secret of a successful voyage across oceans. Salt help preserve food while giving it a decent flavor, while alcohol is used to keep the crew’s morale in high. There is also the fact that their ship didn’t make a mad dash across the Indian Ocean. They took their time travelling from port to port until they reached their destination. As a result their voyage took longer than usual, but the crew was adequately strong enough to resist any would be pirates attempting to take their cargo.

For some strange reason the crew was equally skilled in catching fish and cooking them. Every so often the ship and crew would sail towards the coast and look for edible sea creature to catch, and by edible anything the moves that closely resemble a fish. Sometimes they would trade with a fishing village and sometimes we would send out a long boat with nets and try to catch as much as they could. Fresh seafood was a luxury as most of the catch would be turned into preserved fish. They call it ‘Tuyo’ which literally means dried fish.

Because of this Magellan grew to dislike the daily ration of dried fish. He couldn’t help to feel better fed compared to when he last decided to cross the pacific. Either that or the zealous discipline invoked by the ship’s cook that they should always have a citrus food for consumption onboard. He never understands why, but the man was persistent so he relented.

-

The City of Seville was the marvel of Europe as all trade coming from the new world, must first enter its port before they could be distributed to the rest of Spain. It was also the port where Magellan’s voyage to circumnavigate the world had began. Now it was a city that bore wonders incomparable to the eyes of the crew of Mactan. Never had they saw so many buildings made of stone at it literally dominated the landscape. The streets are wide and paved in stone. Yet, it looked crowded as people from all walks of life mingled on the road as they go by to trade.

Lapu Lapu the Datu of Mactan flexes his weary muscles as he disembarks into the city of Seville, dressed in style of the Spaniards as prescribed by Magellan he prowls like a dangerous predator ready to spring at any moment. The tattoos that covered his body further accentuate his exotic nature in the eyes of the Europeans. He was followed by Magellan and four other Timawas that was equally grab, but not as impressive as their chieftain.

“I’m amazed. This city is fails to compare to all the places that we have visited so far.” Lapu-Lapu chides at Magellan as they disembark side by side.

“There would be a lot more to see as we go towards the trading centers. But I’m more worried with the men. I hope they would keep their wits with them and not get sold to slavery.”

“I’m more worried about them getting jock rot.”

“We better find a reliable to trader with, then.” Magellan replies as they walked away from the ship.

-

Among the crowd, a lady of noble bearing had chance a glimpse of the exotic ‘Indian’ walking side by side with an old ship captain. Her attendant was nagging her again, preventing her to concentrate on the man’s looks. The attendant was telling her something about walking alone in the market is unbecoming of a lady, she continues to ignore her attendant as she continues her approach towards the entourage of her exotic Indian man.

She stared long and hard impress by the stature of the man, wondering if the tall brown man was a king from a distant land or a fearsome warrior. Those wide chest and strong sturdy arms are clearly meant for either maiming or killing lesser man. In her excitement she took a few more steps closer and her attendant’s words are all but ignored, her attention was now aimed solely at him.

She could barely hear their conversation, but clearly they are talking in Portuguese. She feels a little braver now and weaves across the crowd of people, so he could get a better glimpse of the man. Much to her disappointment the ‘indian’ was just wearing a sturdy piece of clothing the likes that the mariners wore and a thick belt made of silk adorned with plenty of gold. She smiled, concluding that the man was of high position. Her man noticed her and their eyes met.

He smiled back.
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1531 – Magellan Returns to Spain with riches from the far-east. He almost died in grief upon discovering his wife had died ten years ago.

1535 – Lapu Lapu and Magellan returns to Mindanao and became a major player in the Sultanate of Sulu’s court. He would later use the knowledge learned from the west to wrest control of southern Mindanao from the Sultanate of Terante. As a reward he became the Rajah of Sarangani.

1543 – Lapu Lapu dies and his successor became the Rajah of Sarangani and the Sea Lord of Sulu. With the ships he inherited from his predecessor became a successful pirate lord of the Celebes and was never captured. He was also responsible in increase the number of ships under the rajahate’s control and in turn strengthening Sulu’s position in the region.

1548 –The province of Iligan in Mindanao becomes a minor trading port for spices coming from the Celebes Sea, the Europeans initially attempted to capture the port from the natives, they dismissed the idea after encountering determined defenders backed by cannons. In the European’s defense it was profitable for them to trade in Iligan rather than brave the Celebes and encounter pirates.

1565 – Lopez de Legazpi arrives in the Philippines.

1574 – The Tagalog Revolt fails without the sought-after support of Sulu. The tagalog and Kapampangan nobles who seek refuge in Sulu are returned to Manila.

1578 – In retaliation for supporting the Nobles in Tondo, the Spanish governor of Manila sent troops to Brunei to capture the city. The Spaniards failed in their objective, but had severely weakened the power of Brunei. As a result the Sultanate of Sulu became independent from Brunei.

1582 – A group of political exiles from Japan led by a man named Nobunaga arrives in the port of Iligan, a small village under the control of the Sultanate of Sulu. He was lucky enough to receive an audience with the Rajah of Saragani. The Rajah impressed with their proficiency to create rifles gave them land north of Sarangan in exchange for their fealty.

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