Centuries ago, Quito faced catastrophe. Conquered by the Incas, an attempted revolt alongside numerous other tribes was quickly quashed by Huayna Capac. As he died, marred by disease, a succession crisis within the Incan Empire divided and sapped any chance of resisting the oncoming Spanish Empire. Quito was slowly built, starting with its chapel in 1534, the local population converted and enslaved as local leaders were captured and executed for resisting Spanish rule.

After this, the catastrophe dissipated into history. Declared a city in 1541, the locality continued to develop over the next few centuries, being ceded in 1717 from Peru to New Granada. A pair of revolts in 1765 and 1809 briefly formed independent governments around the city, and provided the basis for an independent Ecuadorian state to be established, finally removed from Spanish control by the Free Province of Guayaquil.

Today, Quito faces catastrophe once more. With a stagnating economy worsened by a number of military coups and disastrous efforts to align with the Triumvirate, numerous defeats in military conflicts against Peru has led to a final humiliation, a puppet government being installed. Countless refugees left for Colombia, but political instability has forced them back south, into shanty towns and hastily erected refugee camps. With its leadership rudderless, a comfortable horizon does not seem to be in Quito's future.