Here is a map reflecting the Cessation of Faith (the new line remains pretty fuzzy at the moment)
The Sons of Inti Shall Not Perish
- Thread starter King of the Uzbeks
- Start date
Clever little sociopath, that Bartholomew. Shaping for himself a native puppet is a brilliant idea, although perhaps one he had too late to make a difference.
Also, picking the most assertive and belligerent kid might just backfire once he's grown up, but Welser almost certainly does not really care what happens after he is gone.
Also, picking the most assertive and belligerent kid might just backfire once he's grown up, but Welser almost certainly does not really care what happens after he is gone.
Come on, Manco Capac. You've almost mastered gunpowder! Thunder from the south and restore the glory of Inti to the Andes!
Has any Spaniard taught him how to make a crossbow? That would make a pretty good weapon in the right hands.
Has any Spaniard taught him how to make a crossbow? That would make a pretty good weapon in the right hands.
Honestly there's a good reason why armies based themselves on firearms and not crossbows. It's easier to mass-produce and ship bullets and shot than arrows and bowstrings. And firearms had around the same range, but would punch through plate armor.
Chapter 2.6: High Tide for Now
Glory to the New King
The Coronation of a Kitan King was a bold move by the Germans in Kito and projected an image of far more power than they actually possessed. But it did begin another phase of the Mummy Rebellion. Modern scholars, and indeed most contemporary sources unaffiliated with the Welsers, agree that Tupac Tomay was not in any way related to the Tawantinsuyu Royal Family. He was simply too young to have been the son of Atawallpa. However, Welser sold the boy king well and managed to convince those nobles still in Kito to back his cause. While he could not promise them the glory of the old days he could promise them more power than Poma (who viewed them as traitors), the Spanish (who would have happily discarded them for a more pliable group), or Quisipe-Tupac (who had no love for Kito). Far more important were the northern tribes that Tupac Tomay’s heritage brought south. Despite the fact that his mother (baptized as Francesca) was not, as Welser claimed, a local princess, the presence of a Great King from the north brought many local leaders to Kito, along with their armies. They were a diverse lot ranging from the Secoyas of the jungle to the Chachi of the mountains, to the Tacames on the coast. This was a diverse array of “relatives” for the new King. As best as historians can tell the mother of the King was likely from a mountain tribe, but Welser was quick to suppress any notion of her true origins, up to and including her birth name before baptism. Francesca quickly developed a convoluted family tree that conveniently included the most powerful leaders Welser needed to appease. Welser backed this all up with substantial bribes in gold and promises of European weaponry. Welser had taken advantage of the lull in the fighting well, rebuilding an army and solidifying his position in Kito.
Meanwhile Poma had been attempting to train his rebels into something more formidable that a large mob. He had stopped his march towards Kito after the appalling casualties he suffered at the Battle of Machachi. Poma was trying to avert such bloodshed by reorganizing his men along the lines of the old Tawantinsuyu Army. This had some positive benefits, he could now command parts of the army separately, and it allowed him to strategically select where to use his best men. However, the lull had uncovered cracks in the rebellion. Many had joined during the initial euphoria of victory and had happily been carried in the tide marching north. The pause led many to reassess their situations, and some began to trickle back to their home villages. This trend was heightened as a measles epidemic swept through the rebel camp. To cap it all off Poma’s organization had created rivalries, largely surrounding the hoarding of captured weapons, and created officers who had been higher ranked then Poma in the Tawantinsuyu Army and thought themselves better leaderships. Poma’s religious zeal and control of the Mummy ensured his continued power, but other personalities had emerged. Poma’s pause had not destroyed his chances, but the Welser cause had advanced more than the rebel one had.
By September 19 Poma’s army was approaching Kito proper, sitting beside the great volcano Pichincha. It was there they first heard the news of the coronation. There had been rumors before, but nothing that truly explained what had transpired in Kito. The herald declared that Kito was now under the rule of Tupac Tomay, heir to Atawallpa, and that no treason against the Kingdom of Kito would be tolerated. The herald announced a general amnesty to those who laid down their arms peacefully but promised death to those that opposed the King. The declaration shattered much of the unity inside the rebel army. Some outright defected to the enemy, seeing a living heir to Atawallpa as being better than a dead one. Others stayed on with the rebels, with the express goal of freeing Atawallpa’s heir from the evil Germans, which was not at all what Poma had in mind when he had started the rebellion. However, the most numerous group of the factions that emerged as the rebels approached Kito were the deserters. The threat of impending death reminded many of the rebels just how far they were from home, and a great number of rebels took up the amnesty offer and left. Poma still had far more men then the defenders of Kito, but he now led a divided army, demoralized by the massive losses it has sustained before the battle had even begun.
In defense of Kito
Nonetheless Poma ordered the army to attack Kito on the 24th of September, and the army for the most part obeyed. The army marched towards Kito and began to fling stones and shoot crossbow bolts at the defenders. The defenders responded with their own hail of projectiles, from longbow arrows to cannon shot. While Poma had gunpowder, he had barely any left and proved unable to effectively use this. So, his troops were the only ones to truly feel the brunt of guns and cannons. The defenders had given themselves the high ground, and used it full effect, blunting the rebel assault. The first charge failed to make any headway, and the cannon shot panicked the inexperienced soldiers, whose retreat swamped those more experienced troops. Poma did not attempt another attack on the 24th, rightly seeing that there would simply be more bloodshed. The next day he approached with a different strategy, rather than a mass charge he had his best and most experienced troops concentrated at a singular point on the defensive line. He hoped that they could break through, and then be used to allow the main portion of the army to flow into the gap and destroy the enemy. Unfortunately for Poma the defenders quickly figured out his plan and began to concentrate fire onto the points of attack, inflicting heavy casualties without losing many of their own. Fearing the loss of best troops Poma quickly withdrew back to his camp, another day lost.
And Poma did not have unlimited time. The northern leaders had come south with some force already, but as the battle was fought orders were sent north summoning more men south. When these new men arrived, it would make it much harder for the rebels to capture Kito. It would take a few weeks for them to arrive, but it did leave Poma with an urgent need to capture the city quickly. After a day’s rest for his men Poma personally led another targeted assault on the defenses, this time focused on a section made up of defectors from the rebel army. This was partially done for revenge and partially in the hopes that some would defect back. This strategy failed again, the superior firepower of the Kitian forces winning the day (Welser and Hutten had wisely brought large stockpiles of gunpowder into Kito). The next day Poma attacked again, this time attempting to surprise the defenders by attacking the German contingent. This predictably failed.
These defeats had a demoralizing effect of the rebel forces. The lack of an easy victory led to another wave of desertions and called into question Poma’s leadership abilities. Dissention swept the ranks and many began to think that they knew better how to defeat the invaders then Poma. Unauthorized attacks grew more common and proved even less successful then Poma’s attacks. The rebel armies bled men as hothead young men threw themselves against the defenders. These rebellions forced Poma to lower the frequency of his own assaults, as attacking alongside another would imply some level of approval. The days stretched out into weeks. On October 11th the first soldiers from the far north arrived, and Welser made a bold move, he extended his defenses onto the slopes of the volcano Pichincha itself, which had previously served as an unofficial boundary of the battle. The move was a gamble, Welser had exploited the relatively narrow battlefield to bolster his defenses, even with the reinforcements he was thinning his defenses substantially. There was also the inherent risk of placing forces onto a steep mountain that occasionally spewed fire. Yet his ploy worked, and he began to outflank Poma’s force, despite still being horribly outnumbered. On the 13th Poma made one last desperate charge, personally marching with the mummy beside him. But it was not enough to defeat the defenses. Again, the guns fired, and again Poma was forced back. With more allies for Welser streaming into Kito, Poma made the difficult decision to retreat. Some refused to go, refused to abandon the attack. Leaderless they were surrounded and faced a massacre. Those who survived were enslaved. A disproportionate number would be sold to Spaniards in Guatemala, a fact that future officials in Santiago de los Caballeros would curse a thousand times over. However, the focus now remained on Poma’s retreat.
Welser, fearing overextension, did not pursue very far south. Poma attempted to regroup in Machachi again, despite his army rapidly disintegrating. The firebrand had lost none of his charisma and swore that the fight was not over yet. And he was right. Rebellion still burned across the Kingdom of Kito. But the tide had shifted, and Philip von Hutten was sailing south with the reinforcements Welser needed to take the fight to Poma.
Nah. The altiplano is double black diamond difficulty level for foreign colonizers. There's a reason Bolivia and Peru are mainly native-descended today.
Long-term, I predict mixed/foreign ruled Colombia, Ecuador and northern Peru (which are lower altitude anyways) and a native ruled central Peru south through parts of Chile.
Plus the Germans still have to tread carefully since their from a banking clan, not a powerful nation state like Spain that could just drench the incas in soldiers and ships.
On the other hand, when they spend money, it's their own, not their king's, so they are free to invest a lot more proportionally if they want to.
T
thats true, perhaps they could start plantations and award land grants to German nobles and create some sorta feudal society using the natives as serfs.
Run from it
Dread it
AP Exams still arrive
And with them schedule slippage
But now I'm finished.
Watch this space.
Dread it
AP Exams still arrive
And with them schedule slippage
But now I'm finished.
Watch this space.
AP US History was pretty easy, and so was Language/Comp, but man that Caluclus test couldn’t have been harder.
