A New Age for the Incan People

[maddox]

September 1912.

Yes Lorekeeper. What stories can you impart on me.

Sapa Inca.   Our summons to the ship builders of the world have yielded some very interesting options.  The Japanese have a very fast firing small calibre anti torpedo boat gun, what is also perfect to intimidate law avoiding Merchants, and the capability to shred attacting Green hell Demons by the boatload. Here we have some "moving photography". To make it even more interesting, the foreign Lorekeeper who's explaining it all has roots in the Vilnian coalition.
The other designs are not what we think is needed.  Some are a kind of cross between a modern cruiser as observed by our loreseekers and our naval Fingers, but way smaller than our Hands, even smaller than the older Loreseeker gatherers .

Nah, Fingers have one size. Hands are 5 fingers and a handpalm. Not 3 fingers.
Go on.


The Parthians, our enigmatic visitors did send a ship with a guy who could be seen as a loreseeker, or alternatively, an envoy. The story he did bring was good.
The good ship Sunbeam and our Ambassadrace Yma arrived at the Paradise islands. A chain of islands in the middle between us and the Shogunate.    Sorry Sapa Inca, the Japanese Empire. 
Yma's messages to her father are not seen by us, but she did send a quipu to us. As far she understands, the Parthians secure a formidable port on a Paradise. But ain't imposing their will on the natives, rather protecting them for ill wishers or conquerors. The only thing they are asking , and even that in a lose way, is the unrestricted acces to the port and a small piece of land to base their people on.
It is the way like the Inca did it in the past. The Loreseekers advice to work closely with the Partians , and agree on at least the safekeeping of the Paradise islands in the middle of the great Salt Sea of Quchamama.
They to have reacted to our summons for ships. They did send in a lot of designs. And did respond quickly on our smooth steering.

The Byzantines are also reacting, and even the ships they propose are 20% oversized to your wishes, those, with a tad more range and room (misc weight), would be perfect for the Lorekeeper Inti Cores.

I wish to know more of the Byzantines. Can you send me a loreseeker with more knowledge of'm, and when can we get an ambassadar to them?
Sorry , my lord.  The best information we got was from Puriq. And he's currently approaching the Amazon basin with the Golden Fleet.  Again, with some support from the Roman Republic , the Vilnius Confederacy and a new contact, the Iberian Empire. But the Iberians seem more reclusive and at a kind of armored peace with the Roman Republic and the Byzantines, with a sprinkling of Vilnian Distrust in the soup.

[maddox]

A small jump back in time.  The departure of the Gold Fleet. June 1912.

Loreseeker Puriq is watching the sun rise over the mountains. The luminous wake of the SunGlory fading fast. Her sistership SunGathering and the 2 escorts following in perfect formation. Not a surprise, with the ships manned with the best Sapa Inca can gather, and with ships even better than when they left the building slips.

The route planned to exhaustion. First crossing the cold northbound current as fast as the ships can do without using to much coal. Then, out o f that current, turn south, sail the Ushuia strait, and toward the western shore of "Erika" as the Vilnians name the continent.  With the maps he gathered, Puriq expect to find modern ports with coal and other consumables.  First modern stop should be Vilnius, around the area they call Bueno Aires.
"Fast Forward".

At last, the Ushuia straight is crossed.  Even in foggy days and rainy nights, the weather behaved in other respects. No storms, no harsh winds, rogue waves. Nothing. Just unapproachable coasts covered in white satin curtains. The sounding watch constantly measuring and reporting depths to be compared to the Inca and other charts.   For this feared stretch of water, it was rather uneventfull, Praise Inti.

And now, onwarts to the North.

[maddox]

End july.

Puriq overlooks the situation. (and preparations to a real feast)
A semi usable Anchorage along the East Erica coast.  The Gold Fleet has had a few days of rest and refit. Some hunting and harvesting yielded enough fresh food to have a feast.
The rations on the Inca ships are very good compared to most of the merchant vessels Puriq has sailed as a deckhand or in any other sailing mans position.  But after 3 months, it's getting boring. Wishing for bacon... quwe jerkey with papa-paste and Intifruit powder gets old so fast... (Guinea pig jerkey with canned potato and freesedried gooseberry)
The carpenters found some trees that yielded a lot of very useable  timber for spars. The steel masts of the ships don't need replacing, hopefully. 

Of course, the good passage trough the Ushuaia straight was offset by hard sailing against uncommon winds and a few storms. But Inti will shine, and no more delays.

[maddox]

Somewere HY 02 1912.

Yes Lorekeeper.  What are the stories you want to bring.

Sapa Inca, our summons to the world are heard.  Japan reacted as first, and did send a "long range radio set", that is now at Manaus, acting as a relais to the world. And an agreement on the rotaries that catched your interest.

The Byzantines are honoring your ancestor Atahualpa with a heavy cruiser. As far as we know, their representative is traveling up the Amazone, but didn't reach Manaus yet.

The Parthians are setting up an embassy in Lima. And they agreed on building a heavy coastal defence platform, what they call a "Mallet".

Vilnius is rather oblique. They guard the sacret islands, as your son did tell you, but agreed on free use of the sacret field for our pilgrims. And on the north, we have agreements on expansion and trade. Inti will shine on us for keeping the peace.

On the other "powers that be".
China doesn't have a clue what is our role in the harmony of the heavens.   We have some positive reactions from the Iberians and the Roman Republique, but nothing conclusive.
The Northern Kingdom stays an enigma. Even the few loreseekers that got there, don't get anywere beyond the port cities. We are just very different, the avarage Northern is a giant, and pale skinned, as a ghost, bulging muscles and Inti blessed hair. Even Puriq couldn't get very deep in this kingdom.

And the ones we should know best, the bloodthirsty Aztecs, are keeping their distance. Only some trade agreements on non military goods, and basic "diplomacy", but nothing conclusive. The only thing they asked of us, were honors to Inti, but as far as we know, it's slavery or even butchery. Every loreseeker during the last 100 years, that tried to get to the "deep religious" events, disappeared. And the others reported that human sacrifices ain't uncommon.

And why is that a bad thing, humans offering themselfs to Inti? It is something we still can and will practise if the situation calls to it. That my father didn't wish for it is another matter, and as long the situation is as it is now, I will respect the wish of my father and Inti. 

[maddox]

Gold fleet , Mid august. Qullqi q'illay (River Plate, Rio de la Plata, or Silver River).  The Gold fleet is following an escorted Parthian convoy, after establishing contact and agreeing on protocols sailing together.

Puriq is overlooking the convoy from his favorite spot. The shore and the ants nest of activity already clear to be seen with a farlooker.

"Inti be blessed, the parthians are most logical people and agreeable. If what I learned is correct, I think they will make good neighbors once our expeditions in the middle of Erica meet. Better to get treaties, agreements and such in order. Work for the Lorekeepers. It's a great world we live in."

[maddox]

Cuzco, late HY 02 1912

Hunu Kuraka Asiri, glad you found time to bring the reports personaly. The written word can't convey every nuance, or express free flowing ideas in a conversation.

Sapa Inca, the last year brought great changes. The Interaction with the Vilnian people and the extremely fast made agreements on Northern borders was a great help, as well the transfer of troops to strategic points. But what isn't clear, how far do you wish our people to go north?

I decree we keep on going north, but avoid veering to the west and making sure it is communicated with the Vilnians, to avoid any potential conflict. Our traders are just getting busy, and the Royal roads are being extended along the coast, and it will depend on Vilnius if we go on with those as a joint project. 
I have to admit, as far we have interaction with the Vilnians, the first messages from the colonial gouverner and our envoys in Choco by lightless heliograph. I like those people as northern neighbors.
Puriqs reports from the east of "Erica" indicate that the Aztecs do have other plans, and are also making sure the balance is kept. I wonder if we should communicate that with the Chinese, they are big on balance and harmony.  So, the east and south expeditions will go on too.

[maddox]

Iquitos, later HY02 1912.

Temporary army base Piraña*
General , how are the preparations to secure Manaus going? 

Very well Hunu Kuraka Asiri. We have gathered the transport capacity to get the troops and engineers to the designated area's and the materials to get the base going there.
Part of that capacity will be provided by the foreigners Manko hired to do so, but he did demand that this extra transport capacity won't be used to ferry troops or weapons. With good reasons, I have to admit.
Also, it's a great deal. That transport capacity will ferry up modern steel and tools, and when going downstream, supplies for Manaus base and a part in trade good to go further to the estuary of the Great River. 
The lightless Heliograph station is helping too, lots of information, and a nucleation point to form around.

I'll inform Sapa Inca that his vision is being followed. keep up the good work general.


*Piraña is the Quechua name for the fish species. More information will be provided in other postings.

[maddox]

Cuzco, late HY02.

Sapa Inca Capac in full glory , is holding his thanks to Inti and appraising the year to his empire.

And for the first time ever, there is a section in the great hall for "foreigners".
Ambassador Togoro and aides. But also reporters from all over the world are hearing the long , powerfull brought speech.

A piece...
We are gathered to contemplate the great achivements of the Inca , for the glory of Inti and his Household.

We learned that the world isn't a passive place at all. Foreigners from all the quadrants are coming closer.
The shogunate did show us Diplomacy, in all its forms. Our Ambassadrice Yma is reporting regulary, and a lot of progress in being made in understanding these people. We are also impressed by their Lightless Heliograph for Manaus.
The aloof Vilnius people are now neighbors and honored guardians of the Sacred Islands. Our delegation arrived at Chocos, and is preparing the next leap.
The Roman republicans became in a year from small tradepartners along the Great River to a mayor tradepartner. They also are improving life of everybody they touch, just like we do. Manko, our ambassador to Rome, did send in that very welcome piece of knowledge.*
The Parthians, those long ranged traders from an empire even older than ours, keep true to their words, and are everywere, with the blessings of Inti, helping the people they touch, without overpowering them. The Paradise islands (Hawai) are a good example of that. But also their tradepost along the East coast of "Erica" (Vilnius name) is noteworthy.
The Byzantine Empire, younger than the Partians, still venerable, is silent, but is building a new large ship for us. Should we send the Gold Fleet to them as representation of our interests?

Unfortunatly, the world does have foxes in it.
The Chinese, a very old and large empire are exept some 500 year old Loreseeker and modern news/diplomatic channel stories is an enigma to us. They also waged war on our diplomatic teachers, Japan.
And our main tradepartners. The Aztecs.  They kept secrets, and kept them very well. Our loreseekers could travel there, but the ones following a fox, never reported back. it seems the information the Lorekeepers used to estimate their intentions and relations to us, are based on stories , unfortunatly, misunderstood, or transformed by very recent changes in the society there.

*Piranha village posting

[maddox]

Somewere end 1912,

Yes lorekeeper, what knowledge do you wish to unfold to us?

Sapa Inca, with the stories brought to us by Lightless heligraph about the Aztecs, we started searching trough our archives.
I don't know how it happened, but it seems that the loreseekers that returned from the Aztec lands were misguided, or interpreted the situation so wrongly, it's a disaster. 
Also, we found a reference to one of our lost loreseekers.  He did send a message.
But it was classed as unreliable. The massage did tell he would stay in the Aztec lands, having found the truth and that he cuts every tie to the heathens of the Inca empire.

In short. The Aztecs changed their religion from Inti and his family to a monotheistic religion like the Romans, Wilno, Byzantines and a lot of others. They call it submission to "the one male god". The irritating part is, they did so more than 100 years ago. Why didn't Puriq report this?  After all, he was the last of the loreseekers that traveled trough the area.*
Odd actualy, why making the point there is only 1 male god?  Why not stating "submission to god"?

That, Lorekeeper, is up to the loreseekers to find out. It is your task to distill, store and use the seeker information. Make sure I have the right data, so Inti will smile upon us.


*Puriq did travel the area, but was planning getting to North America, and local sects will come and go. In short, he's not infallible, and as a sailor, he's just one of the many passing by. 

[maddox]

Very early 1913 HY01.   
Cuzco, Sapa Inca Palace.  A rarely seen gathering of the highest ranking Inca leaders is in progress.   
Sapa Inca is questioning the future of his people. *
The Hunu Kuraka's , mostely, propose expansion to gather more resources and deny those same resources to the foreing ursurpers treathening the Inca Empire.  They ask, even demand, more power for the army, and control over that same army by binding the officer corps even closer with bloodties.

The Lorekeepers just ask why should the Inca Empire be bigger, as in the current situation, nobody would see the Inca as a thread, and see the Inca as a modern state capable of defending itself. Urging for a long ranged explorer fleet to learn more stories. But nothing that could be seen as agressive nor expansionistic.

Premier Chualpi, as Inti's high priest, and one of the Hunu Kuraka's tries to negotiate , and find a middle road.  But he has seen the powers of the foreign powers, and fears those.
Therefore, his attemps aren't very convincing tough.   

*he has private messages from Puriq and Yma...

[maddox]

Days go on, the discussions rage in the Imperial palace.
Sapa Inca Capac, as a student of the Lorekeepers, sees how they have their points urging keeping low profile, but is baffled by their idea about a navy specialised in long range "intelligence gathering fleet".
The Hunu Kuraka's , their arguments are solid. Except the bloodties ideology... As a student at the Lorekeepers, he has seen nobles messing up the use of indoor plumbing, and civilians making great points, inventing interesting ideas and working those out.

The military, eery silent in this argument, maintains the official position, Only the Sapa Inca or his representatives can give orders.

If no further, great, argument is made, the Sun Throne in Machu Picchu will give the answers. The main point is defending the Inca people, and Inti will make that point for sure.

[maddox]

In the end, Inti didn't wait untill Capac went to the Sun Throne for guideance.

A dream solved the issue for Sapa Inca.  The moving pictures from the Chinese on the Sino-Japan battles, the Japanese rotator weapons and the reports from loreseekers and -keepers with a naval knack, kept on whirling in a dream, untill it became clear. The sign Inti did send this message was the burning of the film by the sun.

He deliberatly enters the conference room late, even ignored 3 chasqui send to ask if there is a problem.

Gentles,  we have spend more than a week on a discussion how to defend our realm. Yes, I realise a good offence is a fine defence. And a powerfull fleet can be used to project power a far away as a 100 Wamani*. So yes, Hunu Kuraka's, your advice is solid, and steeped in tradition, something our gods approve. Lorekeepers, your urge for long ranged ships is also heard.
And now we come to the point. Inti does shine upon us. And inspired me.

Hunu Kuraka, you wish for more bloodties in the military.  I hearby recognize the validity of that point. My Brother Kachi will be my plenipotentiary within the army. He will need advisors, most of them will be military. But you may choose 5 capable people to aid Kachi. I do not care if they are military or not.
And yes, we will increase the power of our armies. We'll add manpower by volunteers by asking those that offered their time to pay the taxes.  We also will look how the most modern armies under Inti's rays do the their thing.

Lorekeepers (glaring at his brother Auca), you realise we cannot build up a fleet in a few years that can rival the futuristic fleets of the potential adversaries, that is why you urged keeping low key. But we can't keep low key if we want to defend our shores. 12 Wamani is a serious stretch.  I task you to gather all the intelligence possible, send delegation to the Byzantine and Parthian Yards were they earning our gold. With this gathered knowledge, design the best fleet we can have inside budget, to defend our coast.  And yes, that includes riverbanks.
We'll now have a small lunch, and I'll expect a representative of the Hunu Kuraka, after that. 
Tomorrow morning, Lorekeepers, you will present the rough lines of what you think is needed for your task. Generals, the same for you, but your represenative, not Kachi, will be my advisor for both seperate meetings.

Auca pales. But Capac, we can't do it that fast, we're not ready for such a task.

Capac anticipated this blubbering. A fine engineer, his brother, but as a leader, he'll need a lot of improvement. and uses his command presence to full glory, a jaguars snarl and the wings of the condor spreading.
SILENCE, if you can't do it, then get me somebody who can. The Hunu Kuraka's are sending their plans for months now, some even very wel tought out, with advice from Lorekeepers and military. You did know about this all, didn't you, it's your job.

Auca shrivels.

*wamani, the realy long distance measurment of the Inca, give or take 150 miles.

[maddox]

Ah, I anticipated this Chualpi. You're the one who's bringing in the last proposal cooked up by the Hunu Kuraka.  Was it your idea to take the heat of Inti, to defend our ministers?  Or the rest did jump into cover behind your ample backside?

Actualy, brother, it was a game of chance that appointed me. Achiyacu did try to cheat me out of this duty, but Hunu Kuraka Asiri called him out on it. Achiyacu accepted the beatdown with grace.
My cheating wasn't noticed, or ignored. So here I am.

In short, the Hunu Kuraka accept the restrictions you placed. The base of the idea would even please some of the Lorekeepers.
We aknowledge we can't work up a navy that can do what our armies did 500 years ago, before the "The stagnation".
Not in a short time with the resources at hand. Not with foreigners with a lot of power already knocking on our door.
We propose the build up of the army, a synergy of traditional power, foreign technology and utter confidence in our knowledge or area, people and the will of the gods.
To do this, we need more bodies to be trained, the more the better of course. But we want to divide the land forces up in 3 mayor groups, according the area they will cover. Mountain Soldiers, Jungle troops and Desert Defenders.  Ironic enough, the Desert Defenders include the coastal defence navy, as most of the coast we have is desert untill the desert meets the mountains.
On the coastal defence navy, there too we have ideas.  But the base of it "if the coast fires torpedo's, the adversaries wil stay away, or sink".
Seamines could be an option, but are very difficult on our coast.
A Lorekeeper came up with the Charapa idea. A multipurpose vessel for river or coastal use.  We would endorse that idea, with some improvements.
One of the idea's the Loreseekers brought in was the "TAZ Circumdatos" from our Roman neighbors. Actualy a great idea, why they ain't following it up, we don't know.
We're railroading at a furious pace along the coastline, following the Royal Road. Combines nicely with the fortifications we already have, and the old bronze guns we have in storage untill we can replace them with more modern weapons.

In short, yes, the Hunu Kuraka have their eggs well kept, and are willing to spend their honor to it.

General , what does the military think on this?

Sapa Inca, the Hunu Kuraka do think about the tax payers, they are following known paths, even untraveled yet. And are willing to back those up with blood. I don't see any fault in it.

[maddox]

Capac meets the representative of the Lorekeepers.
A body language display of slow unharmfull comun combined with playfull jaguar will relax, but also induce wearyness on the recipient. Life can be good. Espeacly when the gifts of the gods can be used for the good. In this case, teaching a younger brother about the real life.

Acua, my brother, after your waffling yesterday, you did find your skills of leadership as we are should display? Or didn't you find any high ranked Lorekeeper capable or willing to feel the heat of Inti's glare? 

Sapa Inca. I took this task upon myself. It is to important, and I'm the one who can take the heat of Inti. I called a conclave of Keepers, and we worked trough the night. As you demanded, we have a baseline of a plan. The Hunu Kuraka will even find parts to their intentions.
On the fleet. Even if we could start on a fleet to equal the other fleets around, we will need years to develop the infrastructure to build the ships, and the most wild plans to build Inti Blessed tools of destruction and conquering need time to bloom.  So we came to the conclusion.
We need to protect our borders. Not going to war outside our sphere of influence. The Pachamama coast, long, and getting longer to the south, can be protected by torpedo armed craft. The fingers² we have are good, and each generation will be better. So we need a lot more of those.
On supplying the masses we envision, we can't rely on the Sapa Inca tokens for supplies in fishing villages and such.
Or we build a string of coastal defence points, with supplies and connections to the Royal roads.  Or we use mobile ports for that purpose. Very large ships, what the foreigners would call Battleships, but bigger, with room to maintain and resupply the swarms of Fingers and Hands².
Another methode we have learned about, but don't have a working example of, are Tiwrun. Stealthy underwater torpedo boats. Slow, but invisible, like the Shuar jungle warriors. Buying these abroad is an option, but will be expensive and beats the idea of secrecy. With enough funding, we could develop these.
We could get the loreseekers to find out more, but alas, our wandering and unguided brothers are too fickle and are used to follow their own way.
So, we would ask for a core of Loreseekers that are specialised in searching out the secrets others want to keep.
For the Army. The Inca way of drafting armies for a task should be strengthend. 2 ways of strengthen the army. Beter technology, and better training. Preferably both.
With defending the core lands, our wonderfull mountains, for one group. Defending the green hell, we have the perfect warriors already, the Shuar and allied demons.  The navy should be a seperate branch, that also includes any heavy artillery, called Siege Artillery.
This "siege artillery" has already a good base idea for our defence.  One of the Loreseekers got an idea from the Romans, a TAZ Circumdatos, we look at this as a means to get big guns fast along the coast and inland where they are needed. Machu Picchu could be the command center of this railway based force. 

General, what does the military think of this?

Sapa Inca, the Lorekeepers have good basic ideas what to plan for. The army awaits your commands.


² Fingers, MTB's.  Hands, currently any larger vessel assigned to them as leaders.

[maddox]

After distilling the plans and ideas from the Hunu Kuraka and Lorekeepers, the generals are discussing how convert the Inca military into a 20th century Inca empire.

Life was made easier because, after all, both groups proposed the same basic ideas. 
Seperate branches with specialisations in certain military roles.
Yes, mountain, desert and jungle troops are needed as specialists, but to train large groups for only 1 task would be a waste of time.
The mainstay of the army should be generalists, able to do the tasks on a "good enough" base. So, hatun runas² will be screened and send to the "right" training.
It's back to the glorious days of Auca Runas³, but no longer tribal, but capability based.

The idea of a dedicated Loreseeker company specialising in ferretting out secrets is appealing. Should appease the Lorekeepers, and maybe syphon off funds from them to the military.  Should we ask for a lorekeeper or 2 to jointly head this new addition to the military? Or should we ask the Tokoyrikoq* department?

Navy. The few large ships the navy has, with 2 more under way, are shiny targets the enemy will seek out. Maybe a few more big, flashy but cheap to build and maintain ships as lure?
The 3 large coastal fortresses for Finger safekeeping and maintenance will not be enough to defend the whole coast. Just Lima and the coast to the north, the south never was of concequence, but became so. As suggested, smaller ports along the coast with supplies for the hands are easely implemented, especialy if a railway connection can be made. After all, it's the way the army does it for centuries. Using qullqa and fortresses as resupply stations. A dedicated command structure tough, seperate from the land forces could be usefull. Maybe introducing admirals -like the foreigners name their naval leaders- into the mix? But, will the rivers be the playground of the admirals? Or will they be under army control, the rivercraft? But the Charapa idea is elegant in its simplicity. Easely adapted to river or port defence. The Tiwrun ain't suited for river use. And we don't have a clue how to start building those, yet.Something for the Lorekeepers to do.

But artillery, except on ships, large or small, will be army. Period. The TAZ idea will have to be tested. It sounds so logical it is a wonder nobody tought about it. Time to get a few of the Bronze Monsters out of storage.

And of course, air. Something the Lorekeepers and Hunu Kuraka have overlooked. Observation balloons are a well known part of warfare, but Yma's report on the Japanese airplane, and Puriq's stories about such things , the mobility of cavalery and the scouting capacity of a balloon, that is too wonderfull not to exploit.



² Hatun runas, concripts, male or female in the modern Inca army. Females tend to do more of the logistics and intelligence tasks.
³ Auca Runas, ethnic/tribal based brigades. One of the things that made the Inca army big in the olden days. 
* Tokoyrikoq, the "Inspectors", an organisation free of bureaucratic influence, one of Sapa Inca's nephews overlooks this one. Most of the time, they just search out kuraka who are skimming off the tax revenue.