And so the great anticipated fight... never came. The ball's really now in Titu Cusi court.
The Sons of Inti Shall Not Perish
- Thread starter King of the Uzbeks
- Start date
please tell me this ends up being some hella pro strats that manages to take back the Andes
How much does Titu Cusi know of the Castro's conflicts with the other potentates of Spanish America? Could he conceivably try and drive a wedge between Castro and the others by offering beneficial trade deals to the merchants at Panama if they stay out of his conflict with Castro? How much more supplies from Portugal does he hope to gain at this time?
On the other hand, is he not in a precarious position - lacking an official title or appointment and, having spent a fair chunk of time in Cusco, not quite as well known and respected by all subordinates in Quillota as to assume he could stall indefinitely? It seems he may be forced to go to war before what he feels is the optimal time if the alternative is losing his own legitimacy as his father's sucessor.
On the other hand, is he not in a precarious position - lacking an official title or appointment and, having spent a fair chunk of time in Cusco, not quite as well known and respected by all subordinates in Quillota as to assume he could stall indefinitely? It seems he may be forced to go to war before what he feels is the optimal time if the alternative is losing his own legitimacy as his father's sucessor.
It is worth noting that the Welsers swore loyalty to the Holy Roman Emperor, while the Spanish were naturally under the authority of the King of Castille. A neat little trick.
If they had stayed the same person.
Glad to see I still have some fans advise such a wait.
The next chapter is the Titu Cusi show. We'll meet the young man and come to know what he knows. See his rationales behind his early moves and his skills and his failings.
Glad to have you aboard.
Chapter 2.13: Détente
A later drawing of Titu Cusi
Titu Cusi was a personable man by nature. Even those who opposed him tooth and nail for his entire life could not deny that the man had a certain charm about him. He had been sent to Cusco as a prisoner in all but name. And yet he had wormed his way into the good graces of the court. Men who still seethed over the betrayal of Machu Picchu found themselves in the company of the son of the man who had done it.
The Spanish did not care for him, and he did not care for the Spanish. However, he was not as confrontational as his father had been. Titu Cusi thought time was on the side of the Tawantinsuyu. The Portuguese were just the beginning, soon Europeans of all stripes would be coming to trade. Meanwhile the nobles of Cusco began to resent their former allies, and as mentioned previously, were aligning towards him. So there was no need to rush into a war the empire might lose. There were counterweights to this argument. The Portuguese had concluded that the Tawantinsuyu were worth repeated visits, but would not be sending anything to rival the great treasure fleets Spain sent to the end of the world. And from a demographic perspective all native populations in the Americas were in a downward spiral of death, and waiting would not stop that. And every day the Spanish occupied the land they held, they gained familiarity with the terrain and the populace. They were not gaining many friends, but not everyone was as ready to jump ship as the nobles in Cusco were. Regardless, Titu Cusi had deemed it unnecessary to make war on Castro, and the armies of the south paused, but did not disperse. Titu Cusi was taking a different tack, but he was no fool.
Having been at court for years now, Titu Cusi knew that many dismissed Quisipe-Tupac. They could not admit it, not about the Son of Inti, but the fact remained he was not what anyone had hoped to be. He was too dependent on the Spanish for his throne to stand stalwartly against them. But he was too tied to the nobility, and aware of how such an action would look, to fully embrace being a puppet Sapa Inka. Lacking the acumen to remove himself from the situation he simply slipped into a spiral of depression and lethargy. His discovery of foreign alcohol did little to combat this trend. Yet, he still was the Sapa Inka, emperor of the largest empire forged my men of the Americas. He was a living god to the great masses of the Empire, and his word was law. When forced into regular contact with his less than impressive current state, many in Cusco had forgotten that.
Titu Cusi had not.
Titu Cusi had not been ignored by Quisipe-Tupac during his time, it would not do to ignore a cousin. But he had not exactly been welcomed with open arms. A cordial relationship, blemished only by the implicit threat of Titu Cusi’s execution should his father rebel. Nothing to suggest that Titu Cusi had the ear of the Sapa Inka.
And yet the very night Titu Cusi heard of his father’s death he went to Quisipe-Tupac, to tell him the news personally. In doing so he threw away any chance of a stealthy escape south. History does not record what else he said, but it must have been a convincing argument. Titu Cusi walked out of the meeting affirmed as Apu of Quallasuyu and as Inkap rantin. The former was the rank his father had held, and conferred upon him power over the largest province in the empire. The later was something else entirely. The Inkap rantin was a high level position within the imperial administration, with authority that covered all lands ruled over by the Sapa Inka. It was tradition for the position to be given to the Sapa Inka’s brother, but that custom had broken down recently. Seeking to quickly advance his sons Atahualpa had appointed Illaquita to the position, an action that had offended Titu Cusi’s father. Quisipe-Tupac’s brothers were all dead, and his only son was too young to even ceremonially fill the spot. So the office had floated from nonentity noble to nonentity noble until Titu Cusi talked Quisipe-Tupac into granting him the position.
The appointment was puzzling, from several perspectives. As mentioned previously, there was no real prior relationship that pointed towards Quisipe-Tupac appointing his cousin to the position. Such a move, combined with the fact that Quisipe-Tupac had in essence affirmed Quallasuyu’s de facto autonomy, would surely irritate the Spanish, which Quisipe-Tupac was always hesitant to do. Finally there was no evidence that Titu Cusi had any of the administrative skills required to actually utilize the position effectively, having never actually ruled or run anything before. And indeed while Titu Cusi had extreme skill in the realms of court politics and diplomacy it was in such administrative duties that his weaknesses lay. Why then did Quisipe-Tupac make the appointment?
Efforts were made to calm relations between the Spanish and Tawantinsuyu
For one, it balanced out Spanish expansion. The Spanish had been quite obviously planning a push south. Perhaps it was a method of deterrence against their advance. Maybe Quisipe-Tupac hoped that by appointing his cousin to such a position he could forestall a hypothetical invasion from the South. And the impact of Titu Cusi’s personal charm cannot be discounted. Very few people were stroking the ego of Quisipe-Tupac at the time, and so any flattery by Titu Cusi would have stood out to the Sapa Inka.
Titu Cusi took his new appointment as license to redefine, at least temporarily, the relationship between the two great powers of Pacific South America. The position of Inkap rantin offered no such authority, but few protested the move. He soothed tensions via a series of generous donations to the crown of Spain. Gold and Silver were obviously sent, but so was Coca. He coaxed Quisipe-Tupac into reaffirming his eternal friendship with Spain. In his capacity as Apu of the Qullasuyu he swore eternal hatred for alliance with Portugal.
Castro took this news cooly. He was smart enough to recognize that this new policy was not simply bending to Spanish will. Titu Cusi still held the south free of Spanish encroachment, and forswearing alliances did not extend to forswearing trade with the Portuguese when they arrived. Still, peaceful trade had its advantages, and like Titu Cusi he felt time was on his side. There was some opposition to his cautious acceptance of the descallation. There were of course those who opposed his decision. The merchants of Panama, already sworn enemies of Castro, decried it as treason, even if it would help them. There were of course those who demanded conquest now, both the fortune seekers who flocked to the New World and from those determined to convert all of the empire to Christ. The most prominent critic was Pedro de Valdivia, an adventurer who had recently arrived in Cusco. His was not necessarily one based solely on an immediate reaction against Castro. He reasoned that Titu Cusi’s apparent new influence over the Sapa Inka was more trouble than it was worth, as it raised the very dangerous possibility that the capital could be wrested from Spanish influence. Castro dismissed such objections, but did not dismiss Valdvia. The complaints had been well constructed, and Castro did not want to alienate such an insightful source in the capital. But Castro’s policy found support elsewhere. Merchants based in Neuvo Oaxaca though new sources of trade were a capital idea, and not having war suited the Coca farmers just fine.
And so an uneasy peace settled in over the empire. Titu Cusi was free to try and impose his vision on what remained of the Tawantinsuyu, and Castro was free to turn a profit for the crown of Spain.
It would be a peace that would be informative and transforming for all those involved. But it would not last forever.
Thanks! Hope you enjoyed it?
Titu Cusi is not done yet, and his authority remains murky.
I binge-read this in three days and it's amazing - the next update can't come soon enough.
I have two semi-relevant questions. First, given that the core Inca state looks set to become a Spanish vassal rather than a colony, what is the language of administration? Will Peru, or at least the highlands, become a place like Paraguay where even the settlers learn the indigenous language?
Second: Afro-Peruvians. IOTL, the first African slaves arrived in Peru very early - in fact, while the conquest was still in progress. If this is also the case ITTL, I wonder what the Incas' attitude toward African slavery will be - some of them might be wary of importing another foreign population, but others might see buying slaves as a way to replenish a labor force diminished by epidemics and warfare. If the latter, I wonder what role the Afro-Incas will play as they inevitably start to win their freedom.
I have two semi-relevant questions. First, given that the core Inca state looks set to become a Spanish vassal rather than a colony, what is the language of administration? Will Peru, or at least the highlands, become a place like Paraguay where even the settlers learn the indigenous language?
Second: Afro-Peruvians. IOTL, the first African slaves arrived in Peru very early - in fact, while the conquest was still in progress. If this is also the case ITTL, I wonder what the Incas' attitude toward African slavery will be - some of them might be wary of importing another foreign population, but others might see buying slaves as a way to replenish a labor force diminished by epidemics and warfare. If the latter, I wonder what role the Afro-Incas will play as they inevitably start to win their freedom.
buying slaves to then be integrated into a somewhat-more-harsh form of Mit'a units (due to them not technically being subjects of the Sapa Inka) might be an interesting way to go about it.
Either way I find it hard to believe it would be anything approaching as bad as the slavery of otl colonies
Either way I find it hard to believe it would be anything approaching as bad as the slavery of otl colonies
The introduction of African slaves by Spain would be very interesting. They could be imported to work on Coca plantations and for various mineral extraction purposes and of course they would escape and go into up into the Andes. The Inca leadership might even arm and fund groups of former slaves to raid Spanish territory or employed as spies. New citizens pledging allegiance to the Sapa Inka may well be seen as gift from Inti himself too, these folks could help them replace some of their citizenry lost from smallpox and other diseases from the Europeans. Plus if they settle down and marry into the local population it's likely their kids will have disease resistance. Also the off chance that one of these newcomers might have some skill in metal working, agriculture, or even gun powder the Inca may desperately need. Or alternately they could run away to the rain forest or some other hidden corner of the New World to form their own polity.
In esmereldas province of ecuador, a ship of slaves escaped in 1553 and intermarried with the local population, their descendants are still a plurality of that province's population.
This small example shows that maroon settlements have the potential to be utilised by the Tawantinsuyu and potentially resettled within the empire, intermarriage within the quechua gene pool could also help increase immunities.
Afro Andean culture is incredibly interesting to me and if you think about it maroonage has almost always emerged in areas of mountains, santo domingo and later haiti had a incredibly socially threatening marrooon population that could not be evicted due to their position in the mountains.
The tawantinsuyu would probably not re enslave any slaves found if they recapture northern lands, and a population of non christian, anti spanish men, indebted to the inca would be a very useful force to have.
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I like this angle. The Inca hiring slaves is one thing, but making use of fugitives really does expand the possible range of interactions-- more mutually beneficial maybe, or more parasitic even... Plus, resettling maroons would be an interesting new application of the old Inca practice of doing the same, but with Andeans placed among different Andeans.
