Part 2: Quetzalcoatl’s Shadow
The year is 1493, and the entire Mexican region is under Aztec hegemony. The Colima tribe chief has been rewarded for his loyalty in battle with control over large portions of former Mayan land, but most of the Aztec nobility expects this arrangement to end quickly.
The next few decades pass uneventfully, as all resources are invested into the technological advancement of the realm. King Tehuet oversees the construction of a trade fleet, and the outfitting of several warships to map out the lands beyond the eastern shores.
For the first time, the Aztec dominion extends its reaches over the waters of the Caribbean.
First to war, and first to survey new lands, King Tehuet arrives to inspect the fledgling colony Havana. “Yes, this is good land. Good for farming. Perhaps the location of our next great city. I have this crazy idea about this machine that writes words on paper…”
With three colonizing companies (though limited colonizing range), the Aztec colonial empire grows rapidly, with new outposts established to the north along the Rio Grande estuary as well as the Caribbean islands.
Tizoc succeeds as king, and continues the colonial expansion efforts. A decade into his reign, his decision to name his newborn daughter as heir apparent over her older brothers sparks some unrest. The seers have prophesied she will be the greatest ruler yet, “a name that the empires will shudder at.”
Besides the dynastic concerns, Tizoc hears reports of contact with strange men from the West. Portuguese.
With great reluctance, Tizoc orders the envoys to bring gifts and messages of peace to the Portuguese, and after a few years the House of Avis agrees to a military alliance. But not everyone agrees, most of all the crown princess.
“They bring nothing good,” Yaotl speaks. Still a child, yet wise far beyond her years, she has earned the consideration of her counsel. “But luckily they lack the power to carry out their intentions – for now. I hear of their conflicts with the French, who tower in skill of arms among the lands of the white man. Their cities lie besieged and their fields are smoking ruins. Our armies are enough to push their puny forces into the sea, while they cower trapped on that island of theirs.”
“Patience, Yaotl. Our destiny lies further afield. Do you ever wonder why I ordered colonization efforts focused on the southern coasts? The islands are nearby are far richer.”
Welcome to Brazil! Where'd the Potiguarans and Tupinambans go? Must have moved somewhere else...
“What, attacking the natives to find money to pay off the colonists?”
“Well, that too, but there are other reasons.” He points to the new maps the explorers have sent him. “They call it Cape. Just beyond that coast, we hear of traders from a place called India – a land with abundant silk, spice, and cloths. This place is the gateway to two continents, and we will secure it first. This desolate island, which the Portuguese call St. Helena, will serve as a basing port for our colonists to begin the conquest of Africa.”
Tizoc looks out the windows of the palace.
Such strange and wonderful creatures, he muses as he watches the first Aztec cavalry regiments carrying out their afternoon drills. “Our Portuguese neighbors have developed this odd concept called colonialism. It is where more advanced countries – like us – have a right and obligation to subjugate the unenlightened peoples around us.”
“In the words of our esteemed ‘allies’, sounds like
merda.”
“It is a bit self-serving, isn’t it? But one cannot deny that it has worked out well for them. Tizoc chuckles. “One more thing.”
“What, father?”
“Don’t you ever go hunting.”
With the construction of three colonies in the Caribbean, the 10% threshold necessary to embrace colonialism is reached due to spread from the allied Portuguese (hidden institution spread occurs while a colony is building, so colony essentially complete with the institution present). Right now, catching up in tech and ideas is too much a priority and not a point can be spared on development forcing institutions.
Three years into Yaotl’s reign, the Cape colony finishes and the march of the Aztec explorers continues. After surveying the land, the two major powers in the area are identified – the tribe of Mutapa, which is rich in gold, but diplomatically isolated and not particularly skilled in arms.
Then there are the Kilwans, who have alliances spanning the entire East African coast. But their military consists of only a few untrained levies too.
When the scouts return with their reports Yaotl simply replies, “conquer them all.” And the Cihuatlatoni’s word is law.
A temporary staging base is established in Inhambane, for the sole purpose of claim fabrication. “
Just a military exercise…” is the answer when the Mutapan envoys come to ask why a suspiciously large force is being massed on their border.
Mutapa and its few tribal allies are easily crushed by the Aztec veterans.
The coastline is ceded, and the valuable Zambezi estuary falls into Aztec hands. In the meantime, several fine gentlemen are sent to the lands of Spain to perform some industrial espionage.
Unlike most campaigns, diplomatic technology is relatively important here for colonial range – for reasons (some obvious, some which will only be apparent later), rushing eastwards fast is the key to my strategy. Filling out exploration, and catching up on diplomatic tech with zero neighbor bonuses is still quite a challenge, especially since I dumped most of it into getting feudalism / renaissance. I could move the capital adjacent to the Portuguese colonies to get neighbor bonuses, but it is not worth the expenditure at the moment. Unlocking dip tech 9 allows spying on Spain and other technological powerhouses to give a slight yet noticeable discount on techs. With printing press on the horizon, I want to make sure I am as up-to-date as possible in tech (in general you want to invest heavily into tech towards the beginning of institution cycles - where tech penalties are light and towards the end of institution cycles - where hopefully you embraced the institutions. In the middle of institution cycles, where tech penalty is 20-30% I generally aim to invest points into state-coring, diploannexing, and buying ideas).
The other matter is choice of idea group. I chose economic here, which many astute readers will notice as incredibly odd. It is not that economic ideas are bad, but is an exceeding strange choice to prioritize above religious / administrative for world conquest. In retrospect, religious was still probably the better choice here, yet economic ideas provide something essential (I would have had to take them later if I skipped it now). In any case, I will at least recoup some of this early investment as I intend to spawn printing press via development, and some of the economic benefits like tax, cheaper buildings, reduced inflation, and reduced land maintenance are welcome.
100 years have passed, and the battle-standards of Quetzalcoatl now fly over three continents. Fast enough? Only time will tell.
