Quechua/Inca influence in Dawntrail lore

[Tetsujin13]

Hey, after watching the latest lorelines video about Quechua influencing Dawntrail, I took a look into Inka history and mythology to see if there were any parallells.
Here's what I found.

Background:

In the history of the Inka empire, the Andean people in the andean region and Inka shared many beliefs in huaca (or wak'a blitzball confirmed?) ideology.
The pre-empire Inka had trouble gaining land control in their constant fights and only peace was made when they materialized their huacas into a state-controlled system that was common throughout the empire. Huaca's were sacred and believed to be a manifestation of both natural and supernatural worlds, or that they held some chthonic power believed to have shaped some aspects of the people living there.
Huaca's could be anything from springs, stones, hills and mountains, temples, caves, roads, or trees.

Different huaca's were worshipped by different rituals depending on the huaca. By worshipping the huaca's they believed they were able to communicate with the supernatural.

Because the huaca's were also ordered along lines called ceque lines in a system called the ceque system (siq'i, seqe), in which lines originated outwards from Qorikancha (meaning the golden temple).
The huaca's that were lined were divided into four sections representing the seasons and served as their means of measuring time (believed to be based on the phases of the moon).
The four major sections of the ceque lines corresponded to four provinces of the Tawantinsuyu Empire, in which the four provinces were also colored one of the four colors orange, yellow, green and red.

As the huaca's were a way for them to communicate with the supernatural, and that the cosmos was also a part of it, it is theorized that they were used in rituals to worship astrological events and that the specific locations of the huaca's were used for astrological observations.

It is also theorized that the total number of huaca's signify the number of days in order to complete 12 full cycles of the moon (twelve wonders? ).

[Tetsujin13]

Theory:

now, in the trailer, you can see something that looks like a compass in Y'shtola's book and on Thancred's map. I think that is a representation of the ceque system, where the four outer squares represents the four seasons and the diamond in the middle the golden city. Thancred has however checked ✓ three places on the map that match the positions of the squares in the emblem, revealing that they assume they are huaca's or locations, and marked what they assume to be Qorikancha in the center with X.

It might be that the outer squares are seasons and the capitol of four peoples, or that you can observe special astrological events at these four places.

I really hope that the huaca's will be connected with ffxiv's astrology and perhaps hold significance to the twelve constellations.

Also other things I found that I won't write more about here:
In Inca history "The war of succession"/"The civil war"/"War between the two brothers" is pretty significant and is most likely the source of inspiration to the succession plot in Dawntrail. So lots to read there.

The Spanish conquest that ended the Inka Empire is most likely the inspiration to Merlwyb and Limsa visiting Tural, if you draw parallells between our world map and ffxiv world map. Though in our world history, the Spanish conquered the Inka, it doesn't seem that Limsa eradicated the Mamool Ja.
Possibly, Limsa being very pirate, they could have maby taken one of the sacred huaca's as loot maby interrupting their rituals and creating hostility.

Also...I don't know how or what Gulool Ja Ja is considered to be. But a mamool ja with two heads, I would suspect is unusual, and make him considered somewhat holy. And having statues of himself shows that he holds himself in very high regards.
I also think the statues bears resemblance to Inka's Creator god Viracocha, where they both dual wields weapons.

If Gulool Ja Ja considers himself to be a decendant of "The Creator" in Inka mythology, there is a possibility that he is possessed by Ultima with the desire to be the creator.

[Tetsujin13]

Pictures:

Close up of emblem representing the ceque system with four sections. Possibly one huaca in each section and golden city in center. And depiction of statue of Gulool Ja Ja:



Ceque lines as depicted in a museum with golden city in middle, divided into four provinces:



Thancred with map marked with huaca's aligned with the emblem representing the ceque system:



Depiction of Viracocha statue:



Ultima eyes on second head of Gulool Ja Ja?



Eyes in background of P12S phase 2 arena:



Ultima eyes on Shadowkeeper:

[Eisi]

Sorry, but not able to upload images without using lots of time.

Here's the trick that saves you a lot of time: Always put a link that ends on the file type so https://somethingsomething.png for example.

If you upload on imgur for example, don't link to that image but instead right klick open graphic in new tab, then ctrl+c that link.

[Tetsujin13]

Thx! Got it to work.

[KageTokage]

I do feel like having the "Ultima" dimension start encroaching upon the Source in further capacity could be an interesting plot hook going forward, especially if it opens the way for a new persistent threat to come into the picture.

[Cleretic]

I think you're far to attached to 'Now It's Ultima Time' based on at-best-tenuous loosely-connected details (as I mentioned last time you tried to connect it, you have no evidence auracite is involved in the Shadowkeeper but pin a lot on the assertion that it is), and it's actually hurting your case here, because I'm genuinely interested in Incan influence in Dawntrail's aesthetic, but that's not really what you're interested in.

[MercuryD]

I'm surprised nobody mention the Cusco-Urqopacha parallel. A former capital city in the mountains that was abandoned by the governing body and left in ruins. Also the Vinicunca (Rainbow Mountains) inspired mountains in the concept art. On top of that, the word /pacha/ in quechua means land or earth.

I'm also pretty sure that they are drawing from the big three in Mesoamérica dependent on region. For example, the statue of the Mamool Ja looks to be more in a Mayan style than Incan. Though I'm all for more Inca/Perú influence! (Pelupelu being alpaca riders from the mountains, perfect!)

I'm not convinced that Ultima has any place at all here. I genuinely think they've done all they can with it, especially after Pande closed the book on the last great mystery of it.

[Tetsujin13]

I am interested in the inca influence on Dawntrail lore, especially how inca mythology and religion, especially since their understanding of the natural and supernatural world including the cosmos.

The Ultima theory is more a sidetrail because of the eyes.

But I also think that it would be a good underlying plot point for future expansions.

How the shadowkeeper could be connected to ultima I explained in another post.

I think it's too early to bring out the "now it's Ultima time", I agree. I think it should be brought up again when they divulge on the conspicuouss lack of conflict in ancient history, and perhaps when they reveal the other Ascians in 8.x or 9.x

[Seraphor]

What exactly has Shadowkeeper got to do with Ultima?

Also a two-headed Mamool Ja isn't new. There was Molaa Ja Ja, the final boss of Wanderer's Palace (Hard)

Gulool Ja Ja is also a character in XI as well, where the left head is the brute, and the right head the thinker.