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…dreams that would never be fulfilled.


As he departed Cusco the young Sapa Inka was apparently already complaining of a headache. Just a few days after his departure a nasty rumor entered the city that he had disgraced himself by vomiting in public. Soon the rashes came, visible to all, on his hands, face and forearms. Pain spread into his back and neck, making travel excruciating. Bumps followed, all over his body. The young Sapa Inka was sharing his father's fate already, though a different reaper came to claim him. Smallpox, the greatest of the Europeans diseases, had entered the entourage and visited Illaquita. On January 12th the Sapa Inka died, leaving no clear heir[1].

Unlike with the death of Atahualpa Cusco was practically the first place to hear of the death of the Sapa Inka. Suddenly the nobles of Cusco made an about face, suddenly Illaquita was a noble hero, struck down in his quest to free the empire from villainy. They claimed the obvious heir would be his most noble brother Quispe-Tupac. Meanwhile the Quitian garrison in the city began to worry, though they lacked a leader they understood that a Sapa Inka backed by Cusco would not be good for them. So they grabbed Ninancoro and dragged him into Atahualpa's palace, which due the fast pace of events was still a focal point in Cusco and did not yet house Atahualpa's mummy. Exactly how agreeable Ninancoro was to this plan is debatable. The son of Atahualpa had certainly never shown any capability or interest in ruling the empire, and by personality was not one to start a fratricidal war. However he had sided against Quisipe-Tupac when he backed Illaquita and cannot have expected that he would flourish under the rule of his brother. When word of the actions of the Quitians crowds began to form in the streets of Cusco. The city was still in the throughs of plagues and war brought food shortages. Even those of lower classes were opposed to Quitian domination, and anger boiled in the city. Urged onward by local nobility Quispe-Tupac claimed that he was the rightful heir to his brother and condemned the Quitians and ordering that they submit to him.

These events shocked the Quitians, who had expected the city to be cowed by their power. But in truth most actually useful weapons had long ago left the capital, leaving then with a few crossbowmen. They held out in the palace for a day, hoping that the force Illaquita had led out of the city would return and support Ninancoro. But inexplicably the small army stood still, just a few days out of Cusco. It lacked a leader and those who wanted to return to Cusco were opposed by those who wanted to return to their original purpose of guarding the passes. So, in the moment of truth no hell came for the Quitians, besieged in the the Palace.

Rather then surrender and inevitably be executed the Quitians hightailed it out of Cusco, barely managing to fight their way out of the city with Ninancoro in tow. But they did not drop their opposition of Quisipe-Tupac, and maintained that Ninancoro, who by now had no option but to follow through with this rebellion thing, was Sapa Inka. Meanwhile the local priests and nobles, free from the meddling occupation force and high priest, acclaimed Qusipe-Tupac as Sapa Inka. Spanish Sources would soon name the conflict with European names such as the War of Tawantinsuyu Succession. To the Tawantinsuyu themselves it was the War of Two Brothers or combined with the deaths of Atahualpa and Illaquita to form the Year of Four Inkas[2].


Despite his victory in Cusco it seemed unlikely that Qusipe-Tupac would win the civil war. Once Quisquis's army was alerted to the new situation the general would return to the Andes and crush them. Except when Quisquis had reached Cajacamara he had received a message from Illaquita explaining his actions and ordering Quisquis to continue fighting the Spanish. Quisquis then turned around and descended towards the coast yet again, racing as quickly as possible to try and smash Castro before he could arrange an army from the Chimu of Chan Chan.

Castro had found Chan Chan a mixed bag. Most of the garrison had fled, and there was indeed local support, so taking the city wasn't a particularly difficult compared to Tumbez. There was still a large amount of gold and silver in the city, which he dutifully seized. However his dreams of a native force were not fulfilled in the way he had hoped. Instead of finding a Tlaxcala ready to jump into a fight against the Tawantinsuyu he found a population that, while eager to fight, was not well equipped to march with him. They had little to no training fighting and no central leader to ally with. And despite the fact that the Tawantinsuyu had been unable to completely destroy Chimu culture there were still quite a few Queacha speakers in the area who were not happy to lose power. Small rebellions would pop up repeatedly, though many of the perpetrators ended up being seized and killed by fellow locals before Castro even showed up. Castro had hoped for civil war following Atahualpa's death, and time to organize more, but that did not come to pass. So Castro left Chan Chan a great deal richer and with a few thousand more men, though they were at best slingers but mostly just wielded clubs. Castro made a beeline for Quisquis, who was happy to return the favor.

By the time Quisquis got word that Illaquita was dead and Cusco in revolt he was already on top of Castro, north of Chan Chan but still along the coast. They would meet in the near the Pacasmaya River on February 19.


The land they fought on was flat, but there was little land to move about on. Castro made a line. He placed his native allies the front to blunt and entrap the Tawantinsuyu's attacks, leaving his own Spaniards to finish off any particularly troublesome groups. He then planned the charge the weakened Tawantinsuyu line.

Quisquis planned a more shock and awe strategy, aiming at breaking the untrained Chimu and then isolating the Spanish forces.

The fight that followed broke in favor of Castro. The Chimu proved less adept at stopping Tawantinsuyu charges then he had hoped, but they still ended up bogged down from the tenacious fighting. In particular Quisquis had hoped to break them with his calvary, but instead the Tawantinsuyu horses found themselves fighting with the Spanish. They were no match, and none even got the chance to retreat. The Tawantinsuyu calvary were slaughtered or captured to a man. Quisquis's artillery and gunmen were proving a non-factor, they were good at temporarily scattering the enemy but a lack of skill and the need to conserve powder limited their ability to permanently break lines. With his calvary gone Quisquis threw his infantry into the fray, iron and bronze raining down on the Chimu. Again the Spaniards came foreword to help their allies, and again the Tawantinsuyu were defeated. This time they were able to retreat in somewhat good order.

Now the Spanish charged, the crackle of guns accompanying the horses and pikes. The Chimu charged forward as well, wielding clubs and throwing stones. The Tawantinsuyu had retreated, but had not yet been able to ready themselves for the attack. The melee that followed was gruesome, and saw nearly a dozen Spaniards die, but the Tawantinsuyu were disorganized and began to break. Quisquis recognized this and tried to organize a retreat, but it began to turn towards a rout very quickly. Those he could organize he fled north towards Saña to contemplate his next move.

Castro meanwhile basked in his victory. The Tawantinsuyu Army had been broken outside of the Northern and Southern extremities. His spirits were further lifted when he heard of the violence that had erupted over the succession. He returned to Chan Chan and began to organize a march for the mountains.

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1: Raise a glass, etc etc.
2: "But wait!" You say. "Illaquita's reign, though brief, did include parts of both 1547 and 1548!" And to that I say "Tawantinsuyu Calendar."