INTIHUACA

This is a digital painting which I've produced after a sketch that I've drawn during October, as part of the INKtober Initiative - which theme, for the 29th day, was "Climb"

INTIHUACA (Inti from Sun in the quechua language and Huaca from a concept that refers to revered natural spots, such as mountains and rivers, or monuments and objects) - the "Huaca of the Sun" is a titanic Ziggurat that operates as the main administrative center of the Republic of TAHUANTINSUYU, a modern State that covers a wide region of South America (with a territory encompassing regions from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina) in my original, personal story project currently titled IXIPTLA ("impersonator" in nahuatl, a category of pre-hispanic sacrificial victims, usually war captives, that lived their last days in luxurious lives impersonating Teteoh, or Mexica / "Aztec" deities, before being sacrificed in the altar on specific festivities. This concept play a major role in the story).

    The world of IXIPTLA draws great inspiration from pre-hispanic cultures, traditions, cosmologies, mythologies, world views and concepts. With the INTIHUACA, the main fortress of the powerful Republic of Tahuantinsuyu - meaning "Four Regions" in quechua, aptly named after the original name of the popularly known "Inca Empire" - it's no different. The main pyramid is surrounded by four smaller pyramids, each representing its' respective "Suyu", or "Region", and decorated with mural artworks inspired by the diverse cultures which live in each region. Unlike its' pre-hispanic counterpart, however, the modern Tahuantinsuyu's capital isn't Cuzco (in the Quntisuyu, or Central Region), but in the coastal city of Moche, in the northern region (Chinchaysuyu). The city shares it's name with that of a pre-Inca culture that developed in the northern Peruvian Coast, and which left complex and gigantic adobe structures, that depict on its murals scenes of sacrifice, warfare and governance.

Several of this structure's murals and paintings take direct inspiration from existing Moche art found at the Huaca de La Luna (Huaca of the Moon). The Moche formed a splendid pre-Inca civilization in nowadays Northern Peruvian Coast, which murals, mummies, pottery/ceramics, treasures, masks, architecture and material culture tells us a history of bloodshed and grandiose, as through the use of sofisticated aqueducts they've mastered the life in an arid coast, and through the sea they've reached both their bloody ways of survival and the darkness of the collective unconsciousness. Some archaeologists say, the downfall of such a great civilization may have come from its source: the weather, the sea, the deserts. The larger a population grows, the more difficulties it has to feed all, and the more social responsibilities it has. Unfortunately, all civilizations are built over a highly vertical, pyramidal structure where the nobility exploit those that feed all.

    Last year, I've also designed another version for a "Moche Ziggurat" (or Huaca - indeed, some architecture which the Moche have left over the years has been considered Huacas by the Inca that arrived later, in the time Topa Inca ruled and expanded the empire towards the region, at the time inhabited by the Chimú, descendants of the Moche and bastion of an equally great empire). That version, though, was meant to be part of another story/universe, that of Guate, which is in turn part of a larger group of unpublished stories - BYDURAK - that I created as a kid (between 2003 and 2007, when I was 9-13 years old).

    If you're familiarized with my work, you may notice who the small figures flying/climbing around the INTIHUACA are. If not, I'll tell you. The armed Cuetzpalin ("lizard" in nahuatl) climbing the rope is the story's protagonist, a.k.a the Cuetzpalin Paynal ("fast lizard"), a super-fast lizard-man, or rather young human (15 years old) who's able to transform into one. He's a restless vigilante, usually taken for a non-human terrorist, who during the story (that starts in August 8th 2008. The scene depicted here takes place a little more than a year later) has caused a great deal of damage to the industries of animal exploitation (fishing, hunting, breeding for meat, milk, dairy, etc) and enslavement, therefore to the entire social organization of the global economy, and that made him a "public enemy" and target to the corrupt armed forces which keep this miserable institution in feet. This freedom fighter has become a detested enemy of both sides, and that's no exception in the Republic of Tahuantinsuyu, which political power/authority claims to be a pan-indigenous mixed economy, and that inherits the fruits of a socialist Revolution in the 2nd half of the 20th Century, followed by an expansion into other territories (originally limited to Peruvian regions, Tahuantinsuyu grew into other South American nations, that at the time suffered as satellites of CIA-backed military dictatorships that acted more like colonies working for foreigner corporations than proper nations). The Revolution's protagonist is the controversial Tupaq Amaru III (named after the eponymous late 16th century Inca ruler, and the later 18th century indigenous leader, who led an uprising against the spanish colonial government in Peru), who has been in charge of the Republic's executive power through the "Communist Party of Tahuantinsuyu", winning dubious elections straight from 1979 to 2000 (after a period of ten years of "Provisory Government", when his allies, that later formed the obscure Council for Advanced Technological, Industrial and Energetic Research & Development of Tahuantinsuyu). Tupaq has organized guerrillas throughout South America, and his legacy established a strong resistance against the imperialist offenses of foreigner corporations, before it turned Tahuantinsuyu into another self-indulgent dictatorship, which propaganda of "cultural diversity and legacy" merely supported its' own leaders, instead of "emancipating" the "indigenous communities" it claimed to care about. Indeed, it's developmentalist praxis has privileged a way of life over others, including that of the actual semi-nomadic, traditional indigenous communities. Mixing distinct, sometimes even antagonic ways of life, communities and people into a single "indigenous" identity, and transforming it into a mere ethnicity, rather than a complex way of life, the State of Tahuantinsuyu has employed the old-fashioned political resources of slavery and propaganda to develop urban centers and industries "with an indigenous face". Of course, the use of quechua as an official language comes in a brighter note, however the communities that refused to join this freak parade of industrial development (Oil, cattle, deforestation, mining) were hunt down and usually terminated at the hands of fellow "indigenous", just like before.

    In 2000, during a suspicious travel into a Mexican island (Bermeja, that was a spot of interest for American Oil Companies), Tupaq has disappeared, yet for years, his death has never been announced. In fact, the island held something of great interest for him, something which he intended to destroy, but he was trapped there by supernatural beings that know him with another face, from a long time ago. He was trapped into the Dimension of Absolute Darkness, and was liberated only in late March 2009, by none other than Cuetzpalin Paynal himself (by an accident, one could say). In the meantime, Tahuantinsuyu suffered some reforms (like with its' name, that changed from "Socialist Republic" to just "Republic"), but Tupaq's allies made sure the State's purpose continued its' track. What the purpose is? Moving enough money, producing enough resources to develop a mobile satellite of mass destruction, powered by an artificially controlled Black Hole. Undoing social inequality, or merely reducing the damage of social inequality, and preserving traditional traits of "pre-colonial cultures" were never important for Tupaq, those were merely advertisement resources for his true agenda. Paynal, on the other hand, showed a somewhat foolish urge to defend traditional ways of life (nomadic, but not necessarily hunter ones, as he's an antispeciesist vegan, who promoted agroforestry & permaculture, techniques known by First Nations way before they were named that way). Unfortunately, in less than a year of experience he realized how incompatible his vision was to the indigenous leaderships, be it in Tahuantinsuyu, Brazil, or other american continent's territories, where those populations were being constantly coopted and corrupted by influences of partisans, (christian) clerics, entrepeneurs and even traditional landlords, who induced infighting between tribes to have them killing each other faster, and freeing space for their cattle - to feed people in the cities. For Paynal, an anti-capitalist veganism was the key for igniting the change into a better world for most people. For some of the indigenous peoples he claimed to protect, though, repeating their past mistakes sounded better (some others preferred to join some university and become academical parasites). With time, some indigenous communities started to see him as an enemy, who apparently wanted to turn them into guerrilla soldiers and send them to their deaths against the military forces of Brazil, Tahuantinsuyu and so on. On Tahuantinsuyu, for example, you can be indigenous and part robot at the same time. That may look like a techno-gaian dream, but is just a dystopian nightmare of centralized power.

    Following Tupaq's unexpected return, he took on politics once again, and took charge of the State in a way not so well received by the international community (some claimed it was a coup - 2006 was the first time another Party managed to put a President in Tahuatinsuyu, then Tupaq "came back from the dead" and took it to him "for the good of the people"). To reduce damage and prevent any more pressure, Tupaq has become "the Prime Minister". It made no difference, though, because the president, Umaq Granado, was still an ally of his and fellow partisan. But that's not all, taking advantage of the fear campaign which "the West" itself created over the consequences of Paynal's actions, Tupaq has increased the surveillance and military forces' income in Tahuantinsuyu, reinforcing borders policy and the invasion of actual indigenous resistance (in the name of a coopted "pan-indigenous" nation). Paynal's popularity among the First Nations was really damaged though (that's what happens when you tell people whose miserable lives depend on creating more children than a community can afford, them send them into hunting and maiming animals, that "they can't reproduce humans or kill animals", or else "you'll kill them"), so the hopes of these people relied on another Cuetzpalin that rose from First Nations of North America. This Cuetzpalin has faced Paynal, once he learned he wasn't who he claimed to be (some sort of pre-columbian messiah, but rather a white boy with a god complex). This wasn't the first Cuetzpalin that Paynal faced for some disagreement on matters such as land reform, and eventually, the three of them realized they were part of a resistance against a centuries-old conspiracy in which both East and West, left and right, were playing along. They would achieve better results if they sticked up together, against a bigger common enemy. In no time, they discovered yet another Cuetzpalin that has been fighting this conspiracy for ages, and discovered that other pre-columbian Cuetzpalin still existed, trapped in stasis states and suffering tests and transformations at the hands of outlandish aliens hid beneath the complex of INTIHUACA. This is when they teamed up and decided to act: more than ever, independent of their divergent political and social views, they felt an unity of the Cuetzpalin kind, as a living hope against darkness, harkening back to 4000 years old intergalactic conflicts.

    Other characters featured in miniature on this composition, all opposing Cuetzpalin Paynal, are [on the upper left] the MALLKU (Condor in Aymara, a name shared with the Aymara leaderships) - Cyborg General of Qollasuyu (Southern Region, centered around Bolivia); the NINAKURU (Firefly in quechua, a private bounty hunter who deserted his previous private military institute for a better opportunity in which he saw on the secret organizations behind Tahuantinsuyu's official military) and [on the upper right] ICHNEUMON (named after a family of parasitoid wasps, the Cyborg General of Chinchaysuyu) & DR. FANG (a sponsor of Tahuantinsuyu's obscure bureaucracy, who grew into one of it's members. His plan is the Human Automation, as fas as it cooperates with his Marxist views).