Tahuantinsuyu Empire
14-12-2005, 04:01
The vast army of the Inkas currently answers to Pachacutec, son of the late Guacamaya Inka Tupac, the eccentric Parrot-Emperor, and not to Guacamaya's chosen successor, his daughter Ocllo.
Size
At time of writing the army was four and a half million strong in an empire of seven-hundred million subjects. Pachacutec has decreed the army's future size ought to conform to a similar ratio, and the census shall be used to maintain a quantity of men under arms equal to 0.65% of the empire's population.
All able males in the empire experience training in the martial arts, meaning that a large pool exists from which to draw recruits in time of dire emergency.
The army is in the main comprised of willing recruits offered soldiery as a means to see the empire, show off their prowess, and potentially to win acclaim after showing unusual aptitude for fighting during whatever early training they experience. Where numbers fall short, limited conscription is used to attain the Sapa Inka's target strength.
Uniform and equipment
Following is a description of the soldiery that completed the Imperial Restoration and over-threw the Hispanic governments of Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, and Paraguay, and repulsed the forces of Colombia and Argentina. During and after the conflict the Imperial Army acquired captured weaponry but has maintained only the small arms and man/llama-portable weapons: the Inca lack trained pilots and have no desire to construct a navy. Today there is an attempt to make the H&K G36 -some captured from the Chilean military- standard issue and to support it with MANPADS, mortars, and anti-tank rockets et cetera, and to construct vests and helmets of modern materials, but in other respects -and in the reserves and as secondary weapons- all information remains accurate.
The uniform of the soldier class is a tunic with a black and white chequered pattern topped with a red triangle; hairstyles, headgear, and plumes of feathers are worn in styles specific to origin and type of units, and soldiers wear medallions of various metals to indicate rank, which makes the typical warrior a striking sight to behold. Along with the powerful arsenal carried by each man, the vast size typical of armies mustered in the field, and the accompaniment of drums, flutes, whistles, and trumpets as well as shouts and battle cries from the massed ranks of the soldiers, the Inkas' armies are a frightening imposition on the already impressive and formidable landscape of their vast empire. The sound of the army when ready for battle is said to be such that it causes birds to drop from their perches, killed by fright.
Below their tunics the soldiers of the army wear quilted cotton shirts for protection, and bronze helmets are commonly provided. Wooden shields are decorated with paintings and feathers, and some have bronze fittings for both ornamental value and to increase their strength- some belonging to those attached to the Sapa Inka's personal litter (on which he is carried to the field of battle) are fitted instead with gold and silver of questionable defensive merit but undeniable visual effect.
A typical soldier, in his impressive uniform with shield, helm, and quilted armour, has a spear for both close-range throwing and hand-to-hand fighting, a slingshot with specially shaped stones or lead castings as ammunition for skirmishing and stand-off engagement, and an axe or mace of wood and/or bronze especially for hand-to-hand combat. This level of fire power being shared by thousands of trained recruits enables a hail of shot to be followed by a savage charge that both are engaged in by the whole army.
Specialised detachments from around the empire -often the semi-wild jungle fringes- may be composed of archers with bows that often utilise poison-tipped arrows. These soldiers are also likely to be equipped with melée weapons, either the axe or mace of the ordinary ranks or another sort of bludgeon or bladed weapon likely to be a bronze or stone dagger or knife.
Other weapons developed centuries ago against the new and frightening phenomenon of cavalry -brought by the Spaniards- include bolas -length's of cord with weight at each end, designed to tangle the legs of horses and trip them- and large, two-handed hardwood swords able to deliver unbalancing blows with good reach.
It should be noted that the four army groups (one in each of the empire's quarters) that stand full-time enjoy the full scope of mentioned equipment and also further weapons, such as bronze halberd-like polearms and axes. The largely-willing levy that will boost the army in a crisis may not receive such weapons, and often has less substantial helmets or sometimes none at all, wearing area-specific headbands instead. It does however carry the bulk of armaments and wear the basics of the uniforms described above so long as the empire can afford to provide these things. Often it is true that a large levy will end up partly equipped with old-fashioned versions of the listed weapons: arrows and spears may have tips of bone or fire-hardened wood rather than bronze, and bludgeons may be fitted with stone heads.
Command
In ultimate command of the army is the Sapa Inka, presently (though disputedly) Pachacutec, son of Guacamaya Inka Tupac (by a secondard Coya, not his sister as tradition would have favoured).
Next is the Army Commander in Chief, who deals with most of the day to day maintenance of the army, and usually relays the wishes of the Sapa Inka to the field commanders below him. General Ozcollo is widely tipped to be appointed Pachacutec's Army Commander after he was trusted with the capture of Ocllo, Pachacutec's half-sister and controversial rival to the throne.
The Four Apus, governors of the empire's quarters, have a degree of local control over the soldiers posted in their territory, but the Sapa Inka is able to have his Commander in Chief re-deploy forces at whim in order that an Apu never gain too much personal control over locally-stationed forces that might bond to him were they of truly local origin. In a time of national crisis, the military authority of an Apu is quite limited, and he might reasonably be considered a civilian administrator allowed a hand in local military affairs but never truly initiated into the structure of the soldiers' class.
Army Generals head individual forces, and usually are appointed by the Army Commander in Chief, though, as ever, the Sapa Inka has an absolute veto in this matter.
Army Officers have recognised societal status above the masses, and are identified in the field by their medallions of appropriate metal.
General Chalcuchima, the Apu of Antisuyu, is the most notable of the regional army commanders. A jungle savage in origin, he is widely said to be the strongest warrior in Tahauntinsuyu, and has a good learning of military history and a natural aptitude for tactical awareness.
Other notes
Though the empire tried briefly to integrate cavalry and other tools of the vanquished Spaniards into its army, the small stock of horses degraded in quality after just a few generations, and eventually vanished once again from Tahuantinsuyu.
Size
At time of writing the army was four and a half million strong in an empire of seven-hundred million subjects. Pachacutec has decreed the army's future size ought to conform to a similar ratio, and the census shall be used to maintain a quantity of men under arms equal to 0.65% of the empire's population.
All able males in the empire experience training in the martial arts, meaning that a large pool exists from which to draw recruits in time of dire emergency.
The army is in the main comprised of willing recruits offered soldiery as a means to see the empire, show off their prowess, and potentially to win acclaim after showing unusual aptitude for fighting during whatever early training they experience. Where numbers fall short, limited conscription is used to attain the Sapa Inka's target strength.
Uniform and equipment
Following is a description of the soldiery that completed the Imperial Restoration and over-threw the Hispanic governments of Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, and Paraguay, and repulsed the forces of Colombia and Argentina. During and after the conflict the Imperial Army acquired captured weaponry but has maintained only the small arms and man/llama-portable weapons: the Inca lack trained pilots and have no desire to construct a navy. Today there is an attempt to make the H&K G36 -some captured from the Chilean military- standard issue and to support it with MANPADS, mortars, and anti-tank rockets et cetera, and to construct vests and helmets of modern materials, but in other respects -and in the reserves and as secondary weapons- all information remains accurate.
The uniform of the soldier class is a tunic with a black and white chequered pattern topped with a red triangle; hairstyles, headgear, and plumes of feathers are worn in styles specific to origin and type of units, and soldiers wear medallions of various metals to indicate rank, which makes the typical warrior a striking sight to behold. Along with the powerful arsenal carried by each man, the vast size typical of armies mustered in the field, and the accompaniment of drums, flutes, whistles, and trumpets as well as shouts and battle cries from the massed ranks of the soldiers, the Inkas' armies are a frightening imposition on the already impressive and formidable landscape of their vast empire. The sound of the army when ready for battle is said to be such that it causes birds to drop from their perches, killed by fright.
Below their tunics the soldiers of the army wear quilted cotton shirts for protection, and bronze helmets are commonly provided. Wooden shields are decorated with paintings and feathers, and some have bronze fittings for both ornamental value and to increase their strength- some belonging to those attached to the Sapa Inka's personal litter (on which he is carried to the field of battle) are fitted instead with gold and silver of questionable defensive merit but undeniable visual effect.
A typical soldier, in his impressive uniform with shield, helm, and quilted armour, has a spear for both close-range throwing and hand-to-hand fighting, a slingshot with specially shaped stones or lead castings as ammunition for skirmishing and stand-off engagement, and an axe or mace of wood and/or bronze especially for hand-to-hand combat. This level of fire power being shared by thousands of trained recruits enables a hail of shot to be followed by a savage charge that both are engaged in by the whole army.
Specialised detachments from around the empire -often the semi-wild jungle fringes- may be composed of archers with bows that often utilise poison-tipped arrows. These soldiers are also likely to be equipped with melée weapons, either the axe or mace of the ordinary ranks or another sort of bludgeon or bladed weapon likely to be a bronze or stone dagger or knife.
Other weapons developed centuries ago against the new and frightening phenomenon of cavalry -brought by the Spaniards- include bolas -length's of cord with weight at each end, designed to tangle the legs of horses and trip them- and large, two-handed hardwood swords able to deliver unbalancing blows with good reach.
It should be noted that the four army groups (one in each of the empire's quarters) that stand full-time enjoy the full scope of mentioned equipment and also further weapons, such as bronze halberd-like polearms and axes. The largely-willing levy that will boost the army in a crisis may not receive such weapons, and often has less substantial helmets or sometimes none at all, wearing area-specific headbands instead. It does however carry the bulk of armaments and wear the basics of the uniforms described above so long as the empire can afford to provide these things. Often it is true that a large levy will end up partly equipped with old-fashioned versions of the listed weapons: arrows and spears may have tips of bone or fire-hardened wood rather than bronze, and bludgeons may be fitted with stone heads.
Command
In ultimate command of the army is the Sapa Inka, presently (though disputedly) Pachacutec, son of Guacamaya Inka Tupac (by a secondard Coya, not his sister as tradition would have favoured).
Next is the Army Commander in Chief, who deals with most of the day to day maintenance of the army, and usually relays the wishes of the Sapa Inka to the field commanders below him. General Ozcollo is widely tipped to be appointed Pachacutec's Army Commander after he was trusted with the capture of Ocllo, Pachacutec's half-sister and controversial rival to the throne.
The Four Apus, governors of the empire's quarters, have a degree of local control over the soldiers posted in their territory, but the Sapa Inka is able to have his Commander in Chief re-deploy forces at whim in order that an Apu never gain too much personal control over locally-stationed forces that might bond to him were they of truly local origin. In a time of national crisis, the military authority of an Apu is quite limited, and he might reasonably be considered a civilian administrator allowed a hand in local military affairs but never truly initiated into the structure of the soldiers' class.
Army Generals head individual forces, and usually are appointed by the Army Commander in Chief, though, as ever, the Sapa Inka has an absolute veto in this matter.
Army Officers have recognised societal status above the masses, and are identified in the field by their medallions of appropriate metal.
General Chalcuchima, the Apu of Antisuyu, is the most notable of the regional army commanders. A jungle savage in origin, he is widely said to be the strongest warrior in Tahauntinsuyu, and has a good learning of military history and a natural aptitude for tactical awareness.
Other notes
Though the empire tried briefly to integrate cavalry and other tools of the vanquished Spaniards into its army, the small stock of horses degraded in quality after just a few generations, and eventually vanished once again from Tahuantinsuyu.