Rajah Versus Conquistador

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 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 strongman, 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 battle of memories that still rages beneath our festivals and flags.

About the author

Kahlil Corazo is a writer based in the southern Philippines. He grew up in Pari-an, downtown Cebu, the heart of what was once Rajah Humabon’s domain and where this novel takes place. His scholarly work lies in the intersection of the figure of the Southeast Asian Orang Besar (Big Man) and René Girard’s scapegoat mechanism. Rajah Versus Conquistador is Kahlil’s debut novel.