Table of Contents and Blurb | Rajah Versus Conquistador
After thirteen months of work, it is finally complete!
I'll be posting drafts of the chapters of Rajah Versus Conquistador here in Explorations.ph as I work on the final version, which will be available at Amazon (international orders) and Lazada (Philippine orders) by May 1, 2025.
Below is the table of contents, which I’ll link to and from the chapters that I’ll gradually post.
I've also included the draft of the blurb that will appear on the back cover of the paperback. It is written to sell to the general audience. To the subscribers of Explorations.ph, I'd add the following descriptions of the book:
A Girardian exploration of the role of ritual sacrifice in premodern kingships and its encounter with Christianity
A depiction of the role of the figure of the Southeast Asian Orang Besar (Big Man) and his psychopathy in Philippine society
A portrayal of the (understudied) role of women in societies ruled by the Orang Besar
A celebration of Cebuano culture
Table of Contents
PART I: B.C.
Chapter 1: Conquistador's Gambit
Chapter 5: Baylan Versus Binukot
Chapter 6: The Captain's Tears
PART II: A.D.
Chapter 15: Limpieza de Sangre
Chapter 16: Kaagbay
Chapter 17: Warrior Codes
Chapter 18: A New Life
Chapter 19: Kagubot
Chapter 20: Apollo Versus the Crucified
Chapter 21: Submission, Part II
Chapter 22: The Crusader's Prayer
Chapter 23: The Rajah's Tears
Chapter 24: Goodbyes
Chapter 25: Katay
Epilogue: Two Ancient Sisterhoods Across Philippine History
Afterword: Disclosing the Author's Positionality
— END —
Acknowledgments
Blurb
A King’s Gambit. A Conqueror’s Ambition. A Battle That Will Shape a Nation.
Cebu, 1521. At the center of the Visayan seas, Rajah Humabon rules through ritual, trade, and blood. When foreign ships arrive bearing steel, gunpowder, and the cross of an unfamiliar God, he sees not just a threat—but a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
Led by the relentless Ferdinand Magellan, the Castilian fleet promises power, kingship, and divine favor. But in Sugbo, every alliance is a wager, every ritual a weapon, and every oath a potential betrayal.
As Humabon gambles for survival and dominion, the feared warrior Lapulapu emerges to challenge both king and invader. What begins as diplomacy becomes sacred deception. What ends in massacre is remembered as myth.
Rajah Versus Conquistador is a speculative epic of religion, sacrifice, and statecraft—told in two voices: the psychospiritual journey of a Southeast Asian Big Man, and the theological unraveling of a crusading knight. Blending indigenous memory with historical record, the novel reimagines the fateful clash that birthed Philippine Christianity and reshaped a nation’s soul.
For readers of Shogun, Dune, and Wolf Hall, this is not just the story of a battle—but of the spiritual technologies behind empire, the hidden women who shaped it, and the memory war that still rages beneath our festivals and flags.
Available on May 1, 2025:
International paperback and ebook: amazon.rvcbook.com
Philippine paperback: lazada.rvcbook.com
Congratulations, Kahlil! Can't wait to get my hands on a copy.
The blurb is great, very functional but almost like a heavy solid gold crown. Maybe you can stick a shining ruby into the middle of it to act as a more captivating focus. Some little crumb that proves your capacity to turn his grand historic narrative into a deeply personal story for the people involved.