[Inca] Please, don't make Pachamama a main Inca deity

Age of Mythology: Retold Discussion
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Hi everyone,
As someone very interested in Inca history, I wanted to raise a point regarding the portrayal of Inca mythology in the game.

Please don’t make Pachamama a main deity for the Inca civilization. Historically, Pachamama was a minor earth spirit, important in rural worship, but never a principal deity in the state religion of the Inca Empire.

The true main creator deities in the Inca pantheon were:

  • Wiracocha (Wiraqucha): the supreme creator god
  • Kon: god of Chaos, rain and wind
  • Pachacamac: a major creator god worshiped along the coast and absorbed into the Inca religion

Even Inti, the sun god, despite being heavily promoted by the state, was not the highest god. After the theological reform of Pachacutec, Viracocha was placed above all, including Inti.

So for historical consistency and depth, I suggest that Viracocha, Kon, and Pachacamac be the main deities for the Inca pantheon in AoM Retold. That would give players a more authentic and rich experience of Andean cosmology.

Thanks for reading!

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If what you’re saying is even semi-true (which I don’t know) I don’t see why they would make Pachamama super important.
The way you describe it, it sounds like them making Thetis a major goddess for the Greeks. That’s not gonna happen either. At least not as long as candidates like Demeter and Hestia exist.

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Regardless of his power, the sun god Inti was the main god of the Inca Empire.

Kon, Wiracocha, and Pachacamac were gods “added” to the Inca religion when they conquered the peoples who worshipped them, specifically the Nazca (Kon) and Ychma (Pachacamac). Wiracocha was incorporated into their religion as the father of Inti, because they knew this god from the Tiahuanaco.

The peculiarity of the Andean religions of Peru is that, regardless of the creation story, each people had a “main god” whom they worshipped because he gave them “something.”

  1. The Moche, who were a fishing people, prayed to Al-Apaec because they believed he controlled the tide and had attributes of an octopus or crustacean.

  2. The Incas had Inti (sun) as their main god because they were a people dedicated to agriculture, heavily centered on solar calendars. He was also the god who ordered them to found Cuzco and chose the first Sapa Inca.

  3. The mountain peoples, where fertility was poor, prayed to Pachamama so that their crops could grow at altitude.

On the importance of Wiracocha

By the time of the Incas, few peoples prayed to Wiracocha as their main god. Perhaps, and only these are theorizing, because his attribute of Creator was less favorable than other types of gods, such as the god of Dogs, the god of Llamas, or the god of Rain.

The last to consider Wiracocha their main god were the “Tiahuanaco”, or at least that’s what it seems from the massive representation of the God of Wands in many of the archaeological remains of this civilization.

In fact, the creator god had another version on the coast, and this was Pachacamac, with other attributes (fire, earthquakes, lightning) and more worship.

Theologically, there were believers (especially astrologers) who considered Wiracocha to be more important than the Sun, mainly because they realized that the Sun, regardless of llama sacrifices, always followed the same route, as if it had no will; and if another deity entrusted it with that route, then it must have been its creator. Some emperors, like Pachacutec, reached this conclusion, although the Inca religion in general continued with the sun as the main god.

When the Spanish arrived in the Inca Empire in 1540, the inhabitants believed they were worshipers of the god Huiracocha, since the Spanish themselves claimed to worship the “Father God” or Creator God. Hence, the friars used this god as a way to educate the inhabitants in the Christian religion.

About Pachamama

She may or may not be the main god. In general, I would prefer not to; she doesn’t have enough lore and attributes to give her her own civic identity.

About the Pantheon

We must remember that we are not choosing empires, but peoples with a religion. And the Inca religion is a polytheism of the Andean religion of pre-Hispanic times.

Remember that the three main gods will each have a Wonder.

  • From Inti, it would be the Coricancha.

  • From Pachacutec, it could be the Painted Temple.

  • From Viracocha, it could be the Temple of Tihanuanaco.

  • From Al-Apaec,it could be the Huaca de la Luna.