Iskayntinsuyu



Iskayntinsuyu ("two great regions" in Guanaco) is a country covering the continent of Hatunwalla ("great mountain chain" in Guanaco).

Government
Iskayntinsuyu has an Equestria-inspired government of a parliamentary diarchy, headed by a monarch and a viceroy who have their powers checked by the Parliament of Iskayntinsuyu.

Each marka has a leader in its local government and a representative in the Parliament of Iskayntinsuyu. Usually, the leader is the more senior of the two, and the position of the leader is inherited by the representative upon their death or retirement, who in turn elects their successor as representative.

The markas of Intillaqta and Killallaqta also elect the leaders of the empire. The monarch of Iskayntinsuyu is the former leader of the marka of Intillaqta, and the viceroy of the empire is the former leader of the marka of Killallaqta. Upon either of their deaths or retirements, the leader ascends to the position of monarch or viceroy, the representative ascends to the position of leader and a new representative is elected.

Usually, the monarch deals with Llamasuyan matters while the viceroy deals with Alpacasuyan matters, but both are involved in countrywide decisions.

Administrative divisions
Iskayntinsuyu is divided into suyus (countries), which are further subdivided into markas (provinces) and then ayllus (municipalities).

The two suyus are Llamasuyu, mostly populated by Llamas and Alpacasuyu, mostly populated by Alpacas.

Ayllus are populated by a family clan and produce enough food to be self sufficient.

A portion of the food they produce is owned by the emperor, who uses it to feed members of the administration as well as relieve famines in order regions of the empire.

Ayllus typically specialize in the production of specific goods and they trade with other ayllus for their products.

The leader of an ayllu is typically chosen based on their knowledge and skills in herbology, botany and pharmacology.

History
See also Timeline.

Pre-colonial times


Traditionally the lands of Hatunwalla were organized into family clans which roughly correspond to the ayllus of the present day.

Sometimes ayllus would conquer other nearby ones, creating puppet ayllus and tributary states which could be considered an early equivalent of markas.

This way, the ayllu of Intillaqta became the marka of Intillaqta before leading a string of successful military campaigns which lead to the formation of the Llama empire, which roughly corresponds to the region of Llamasuyu.

The Llama empire then conquered most of the Alpaca lands at the southwest mountain ranges and organized the Alpaca tribes into ayllus and markas, unifying almost all of Hatunwalla under their system and government. Some Alpacas, however, remained independent. These would later become the Suri, while the conquered ones became the Huacaya.

The Llama emperor adopted the title of Hatunllama ("great llama" in Guanaco) and a system of inheritance where he designated his successor.

He claimed to have the blessing of the sun and its backing in unifying Hatunwalla to appeal to the religious masses and he gave his title not only absolute power over the empire but also the capability of speaking with the sun directly. Because of this, Hatunllama is sometimes translated as "god emperor of the llamas".

Conquest
After Equestria's failed invasion of Farasi, they tried to conquer Hatunwalla.

Equestria swiftly conquered Sweet Island and used it as a starting point for the rest of the invasion. With a few succesful landings on Hatunwalla's mainland, marka after marka fell to Equestrian control.

Only a few years after the first landing, Intillaqta had fallen to the Equestrian military.

It was then that the Equestrian colony of the Llamas (roughly equivalent to Llamasuyu) was established, with capital in Intillaqta.

The conquest of the rest of the continent was harder as Alpaca lands, further up in the mountains, were disadvantageous terrain for most Pony and even Llama armies due to the thin air and the slope being unfavorable.

However, combining supply trains from Llamas that were more used to high altitude than most ponies and using pegasi armies that struck from the air, eventually Killallaqta had too fallen to Equestrian forces.

In the following years, the rest of the Alpaca lands were conquered, including lands that hadn't fallen to the Intillaqta empire before. Alpacas from these lands would later be known as the Suri, in contrast with the Huacaya that lived under the Intillaqta empire.

The legend of El Plateado
At first, the invasion of Hatunwalla was unpopular in Equestria because of the recent military failures in Farasi.

During the early invasion, rumors spread among Equestrians that there was a hidden city in the continent called El Plateado which was rich in silver.

These rumors boosted recruitment in the Equestrian military as Ponies wanted to partake in the looting of El Plateado or get a share of the payout from its invasion and support for the invasion was rekindled as Ponies looked forward to the influx of wealth.

However, El Plateado was never found. Several theories have surfaced as to the origin of the legend. Some argue the Equestrian government created the legend to get support for the unpopular war. While this is discussed and often regarded as a conspiracy theory, it is commonly agreed that at the very least the Equestrian government used the legend to its favor once it existed.

The more common theory among historians is that El Plateado is actually Killallaqta.

A less common theory is that El Plateado was simply one of the banana farming ayllus and its name comes from a confusion between Plata ("silver") and Plátano ("banana").

A major component of the legend is that those who seek El Plateado become cursed with a disease called the Curse of the Clouds. Modern experts identify this disease as altitude sickness. Earth Ponies and Unicorns who weren't used to mountain climate often suffered the so-called curse when looking for treasure in the mountains. The scouting and conquest in higher altitudes often fell to Pegasi who were more resistant to those conditions.

Colonial times


Early colonial times were unstable as most Llamas and Alpacas rejected Equestrian rule.

However, as Celestia presented herself as Alicorn of the sun and the Equestrian military had been victorious, the belief that the Hatunllama had lost the blessing of the sun and Celestia spoke on the sun's behalf instead started gaining traction.

Approval of Equestrian rule rose and many Llamas adopted syncretic beliefs combining traditional worship of the sun with worship of the Alicorns.

On economic matters, the colonization of Hatunwalla saw the creation of new ayllus dedicated to commerce and export industries in the formerly isolationist empire.

Intially these ayllus were dedicated mostly to the mining of precious metals, but later farming ayllus were founded as demand for coffee, tobacco and other cash crops grew in Equestria, diversifying the colony's economy.

Colonial times also saw the introduction of Equestrian technology and infrastructure, which resulted in a productivity boost.

Eventually, Llamas were restored to the leadership of Hatunwalla, except they were appointed as colonial governors rather than Hatunllamas and still served Equestrian rule.

It was at this time that talk of independence started spreading, following the belief that the governor should serve fellow Llamas rather than foreign Ponies.

Post-colonial times


After Sweet Island declared independence from Equestria, the idea of independence, already strong at the time, went under a surge since if a Pony led government could declare independence, the Llamas didn't have as much of a excuse.

Knowing that if Sweet Island fell back under Equestrian control they'd lose their example, pro-independence Hatunwallans put pressure on the governor to declare independence as quickly as possible.

Soon, Hatunwalla declared independence and began drafting a constitution.

Seeing it unwise to pursue a large scale invasion in a mostly friendly territory and preferring to create an independent ally while they have the chance, Equestria decided to recognize Hatunwallan independence.

The influence of the colonial times, however, lingers as many aspects of Hatunwallan society remain influenced by Equestria such as technology, religion and economy.

After independence from Equestria, the Alpacas declared independence of their own and made a flag for their lands. This created instability in the newly formed nation, specially as recognizing Alpaca independence would be extremely unpopular among the Llamas and threat the not yet fully established government, and resistance to Llama rule among Alpacas would also be a threat to stability.

After long negotiations with the Alpacas, an agreement was reached. The new constitution would define the country as the union of the two suyus of the Alpaca lands and the Llama lands and feature both Alpacas and Llamas as equals. The new country would be called Iskayntinsuyu, it'd have an Equestria-inspired government where the interests of each region are equally represented and it would have a flag combining aspects of the Alpaca flag and the Llama flag.

Economy
Since colonization, the ayllus dedicated to the production and export of gems, gemcrafts, gold, jewelry, coffee, tobacco, chicle and medicinal herbs play an important role as they are commonly exported goods. The Iskayntinsuyan economy has flourished with foreign trade and the import of goods and technology.

For internal markets, production of tropical fruits, cereals and wool are important industries.

Currency
During colonial times, Iskayntinsuyu used the Equestrian bit as currency.

After independence, a new currency was introduced, the sol ($), whose value is pegged to the Equestrian bit at a rate of 1$ = 1฿.

Language
Iskayntinsuyu has two official tongues: Guanaco, mostly spoken by Llamas, Vicuña, mostly spoken by Alpacas and Equish, spoken by Pony minorities.

Guanaco is the more commonly used of the three, used by practically all Llamas and a fraction of Alpacas. Guanaco is often considered to be the prestige tongue of the country while Vicuña is more provincial.

Llama nationalists often call for the ban of Vicuña.

In reaction, Alpacas are protective of their culture and often teach Vicuña to keep their tongue alive. Some Huacaya have turned to traditional mother earth worship like the Suri as part of cultural preservation efforts.

Culture groups
Often, culture in Iskayntinsuyu isn't considered to be a single culture but two separate cultures: Alpacasuyan, consisting of Alpacas and their culture and Llamasuyan, consisting of Llamas and their culture.

Furthermore, Alpacasuyan culture gets further subdivided into Surian and Huacayan culture and Llamasuyan culture gets further subdivided into Chakuan and Ccaran cultre.

Cultural and racial tensions are common. Alpaca-Llama and Chakuan-Ccaran marriages are strongly frowned upon. Chakuan-Ccaran marriage in particular used to be illegal under threat of execution.

Despite this, however, the two cultures share a few aspects.

Chewing
Chewing material is commonly consumed in Iskayntinsuyan culture and its considered a sign of adulthood.

Chewing materials include coca leaves, which is traditionally considered masculine; tobacco, which is traditionally feminine and chicle, which is neutral but considered immature and for crias (young Llamas or Alpacas).

Crias are sometimes given chicle to chew.

In the past, crias were also often given coca or tobacco, but nowadays it's considered neglectful to do so.

Chewing paraphernalia (spoons, flavoring dusts, quicklime...) are considered very personal objects and using them them without permission is seriously offensive.

It's considered traditional to give guests something to chew when they arrive.

Spitting
Llamas and Alpacas commonly spit at others as a form of asserting themselves when they feel threatened.

Spitting can be used to establish dominance or as a warning against someone who is making them extremely uncomfortable.

Bathrooms
Alpacas and Llamas tend to have communal public latrines without dividers. They are regularly emptied and their contents are used in agriculture.

Alpacasuyan culture
See Alpacasuyu.

Llamasuyan culture
See Llamasuyu.

Religion
Iskayntinsuyans commonly follow a form of syncretism that combines traditional worship of the sun and moon with worship of the alicorns.

A common ritual consists of the consumption of hallucinogens and entheogens.

Because of those traditions, Iskayntinsuyan law is notably liberal when it comes to drugs. Still, even if not illegal, the consumption of these substances in public is seem as weird as they typically fulfill a religious purpose and Llama traditionalists consider recreational use of drugs to be sacrilegious.

Traditional beliefs saw the sun as the main god and gold being his sweat while the moon was his wife and silver was her tears.

Because of this, Llamas mainly built temples to the sun and used gold for idols and decorations, and less frequently temples to the moon which featured silver.