Jeddaven

N.E.O. - New Earth Oracle

Brasilia

Another day, another nightmare.

All around Conceicao, Brasilia was burning. Her honour guard was dead, mutant corpses strewn about the palace grounds. To the East, Paranoá Lake was clogged with the wreckage of thousands of tiny boats and millions of floating, bloated corpses. To the West, the city burned, the deafening roar of the inferno's flames narrowly failing to drown out the screams of so many innocent people. Jets screamed overhead, seeking to fight off some unseen attacker, only to be rendered unto heaps of flaming wreckage in the blink of an eye. Tanks and armoured cars littered the streets in every direction.

Brazil was helpless. Her nation had thrown everything against the enemy, every piece of military hardware, every last-ditch weapon, every man and woman able to carry and fire a rifle... And it all amounted to nothing. Worse than nothing, perhaps. If they hadn't fought back, then they could have at least survived on their-

"President Conceicao?" A voice whispered, so impossibly gentle that it couldn't have been human. In mere moments, however, the voice brought the listless President back to the world of the living, leaving her to jolt upward in her chair. Her eyes darted from one side to the other - left, then right - only to finally settle on the gently smiling face of a kind young man, dressed in the finest of suits, beaming at her from across the table.

"...Filipe." Conceicao groaned, rubbing her eyes with a furred, wickedly clawed hand. "How long was I out for this time?"

"Only a few moments, President Conceicao. You haven't missed anything just yet. Are you sure you are well?" The young man asked, canting his head to one side. A tongue, partway reptilian in nature, slipped out from beneath his teeth, idly flicking at the air.

Conceicao gave him a dismissive wave, carefully straightening her custom-made suit, noting the slight twinkle in his eyes as a nictitating membrane slid over each of the bright, blue, shining orbs. "I'm fine," she groaned, forcing a wicked, fanged smile onto her discoloured face as she idly scratched at a splotch of bright green scales. "I will be, once the day is done. The others - are they here?"

The boy nodded. She nodded back. Behind Apolônia, the door buzzed, swinging open - and in came a parade of Brazilian Ministers, diplomats, and generals, each dressed in practical, if well-made uniforms, sparsely decorated by medals. One-by-one, they took their seats at the table, a handful muttering greetings in Portuguese or one of the many languages native to pre-colonial Brazil. For the first time in days, a genuine smile graced Apolônia's features as she nodded to her aide, a pair of television screens unfolding from the scene at either end of the table.

"Ladies, gentlemen... You all know why I have called you here today." Conceicao began, taking in a deep breath. "Today, Brazil is more powerful than it ever has been, enough to nearly challenge the hegemony of the world's great powers on its own... But she is still vulnerable. Her armies are strong, but so are her people. Her people, however, are merely mortal. Morale alone cannot protect us - not against the American fascists, not against the communists should they decide to turn against us, and certainly not against the visitors, who we still know so little about. The Americans and Russians could flatten our cities with nuclear hellfire and weapons that hang high above our head, and... Well, even I do not understand what the visitors are truly capable of. Today, we show the world that Brazil will defend its soil to the very last breath." She continued, giving Filipe a sidelong nod. The screens, each and every one, flickered to life. The feed they seemed to depict a rapidly approaching metal speck shook violently, as if rocked by an earthquake, and all across the room, a handful of eyes widened in shock, others simply displaying their quiet assent.

"Some of you realize what I speak of, I think. Ahead of us, you will see the Stella Maris - the largest space station Brazil has put in orbit, and enough to rival both the Soviets and Americans in size - though not in number. She is a state-of-the-art construction, equipped with the finest telescopes and sensing devices, all pointed throughout the solar system to watch for Visitor activity. That is what all of you know of her. There is, however, much that some of you do not know."

Apolônia cleared her throat, gesturing toward the speck as it grew larger, finally visible to the naked eye as a large, slowly spinning cylindrical space station, thick metal rings situated at various points along its length.

"She is much more than that, however. The Americans and Russians will not like it, but the Stella Maris is more than just a research station. She is a protector - a platform studded with state of the art KEM launching systems, advanced pint defense technology, and a custodial weak artificial intelligence that helps the station's crew manage the station's functions." Conceicao paused, allowing her ministers and generals a few moments to process the information before abruptly continuing.

"As of this moment, you are the ones to know this, but that is about to change. Tomorrow, once the second of the station's railguns are armed, I will announce the true purpose of Stella Maris to the international community. I do not enjoy keeping secrets from so many of you, but in this case, it was necessary in order to prevent the station from being compromised, but that is not important. Was is important, however, is that Brazil is now more prepared than ever for any threat - she can strike unavoidably anywhere in the world with just over twelve megatons of energy, far more precisely focused than any nuclear blast - and, hopefully, the first step along the path to bringing ourselves into parity with the Visitors." She said, briefly scanning over the ministers arrayed before her. Some exchanged glances, some nervous, other enthusiastic - but none dared open their mouths to question their revered leader.

"Filipe," she continued, settling back into her seat. "Our next matter of business concerns Angola, I believe?"

---

UN General Assembly Chambers

Wayorá loved his country - Brazil - or at least the miracle President Conceicao had brought to it. There was, truth be told, little he could say hadn't been vastly improved, from the state of its developing economy to the way the average person was treated by the government. He, if nobody else, could say that much - a scant few decades ago, he'd been living in an ailing, dilapidated aboriginal village, struggling to stay sustainable due to near-constant exploitation by previous Brazilian governments. Bow, he was Brazil's representative to the world, its UN ambassador, but even he couldn't help but occasionally hate his job. What else were you supposed to think, after all, when you were staring down the barrel of hundreds of diplomatic guns, explaining to said diplomats that you had at least two enormous weapons pointed at all of their heads. Still, even with wrinkles already appeared on his newly aged face, he had a job to do.

"Ladies, gentlemen, friends of the world..." He began, quietly clearing his throat to grab the Assembly's attention. "Thirty years ago, the paradigm of human existence was forever changed. I won't bore you with the details, as I'm sure most of you remember the very events I refer to, and all of us have different stories. Different thoughts - a rainbow of opinions, one might say. Some of us were excited, terrified, simply awestruck, or any number of emotional states in between... But what we can all agree on, I think, is that none of us liked how helpless, vulnerable, and unprepared the Visitation made us feel. What, after all, could we hope to do?" He said, gesturing across the entire chamber, arrayed before him.

"Even now thirty years later, we are still struggling tooth and nail to survive in this strange new world. We've all made great progress, I'm sure you can all agree, in so many different ways, whether that be through human ingenuity or sheer refusal to lie down and let these anomalies take our beautiful blue marble from us. Today..." He paused, though only for the briefest of moments. When Wayorá wrote the speech, he thought it was only for dramatic effect, but now, alone in his thoughts, it seemed so much more like fear. That meant he needed to move on quickly, of course - and so he did, relaxing his muscles into a more friendly, laid back posture.

"Today, I am proud to announce that Brazil has taken another step in protecting our planet from hostile extraterrestrials. The Stella Maris, a state-of-the-art telescope array and research station, joins the ranks of the great powers prepared to defend our planet with arms placed in orbit." He said, promptly continuing before the chamber had a chance to erupt into an uproar, even as murmuring broke out within the General Assembly, spreading like wildfire. "Now, I assure you, that is the sole purpose of the Stella Maris: to study and protect, and nothing more."

In the brief moment of silence that followed, the chamber erupted into furious debate.

Inwardly, all Wayorá could think to do was wonder what else the government had been hiding from him.

Empire of the Dead

@Flagg, due to illusory chicanery by Arane in Nergthron, outrageous rumors of Callidus appearing in Nergthron and kicking up a fuss are going to start circulating around. They may take a while to actually spread very far, but I imagine the Pale King has ears in far places.

@Terminal

'Chicanery' is one way to put it.

N.E.O. - New Earth Oracle

Federative Republic of Brazil

Name: Federative Republic of Brazil/República Federativa do Brasil
Flag:

Government: Although technically a semi-democratic federative republic, Brazil is effectively ruled by Apolônia, and minimal dissent exists due to the personality cult surrounding her. It is, however, still a bicameral legislature in which members of the lower house are elected proportionally, while the upper house, the Senate, rarely sees any senators elected that are not approved by the de-facto dictator. Much like the USSR's Supreme Soviet, the Starlight Movement has extremely wide-ranging power that allows it to legally prevent the rise of political opponents to Brazil's President.

Territory: Historical Brazilian Borders

---

History:

• Pre-Visitation: Prior to the visitation, Brazil's history was mostly mundane. Like any other nation seeking to industrialize, it too exploited Langium, seeing the wonder-substance as the means through which the aspiring global power could achieve its goals. These efforts, however, remained relatively until the Vargas coup - at which point the dictator began the exploitation of Brazil's available Langium resources en-masse, taking advantage of its wondrous properties to catapult his country into the modern age. Such aspirations, however, continued to remain horribly distance, and in late 1956, Vargas shot himself in the head, having lost control of his most powerful political allies after an assassination attempt on one of the most prominent opponents of Vargas's regime, Carlos Lacerda.
  
  Juscelino Kubitschek quickly took power, his presidency marked by even greater exploitation of Langium resources, general industrialization, the founding of Brasilia, and the emergence of a nonreligious cult, led by a young woman by the name of Apolônia Conceicao, a philosopher who was able to take advantage of the tumult surrounding Vargas's death to draw followers, despite her being disadvantaged in Brazil as a woman. Of course, considering Brazil's extensively patriarchal, Catholic society, the cult's growth was relatively slow and was often the target of violence, in no small part due to Conceicao's insistence that aliens were in fact real, and had brought Langium to Earth long ago. In many ways, it was simply any other new-age UFO cult, but Conceicao differed in that she prescribed no religious dogma, instead focusing on preparation for the inevitably soon-to-come alien visitors and the trials they would bring.
• The Visitation: In 1961, to the surprise of nearly everyone, The Starlight Movement (O Movimento da Luz das Estrelas) was abruptly proven right - apparently, at least. Not only did their leader seem to have been a prophet, but religions across the world were thrown into Chaos by the existence of alien life, and Brazilian varieties of Catholicism were no exception. A country that for the most part was culturally shaped by its faith suddenly found itself with far less, and in the Chaos, many turned to the apparent prophet and her message of cooperation toward a bright, new future. People across the world flocked to Conceicao even as she appeared to vanish, vanishing into the now-anomalous parts of the Amazon Rainforest.
  
  Fortunately for her followers - and unfortunately for the duelling military and civil government factions in the ailing government, Conceicao returned to the public eye little more than a week later, though she had been greatly changed, her body only narrowly recognizable as that of a human. Much like her country, she was scarred, forever changed - but, she claimed, she was far stronger too. For many, she was the only source of direction in a world that had simply stopped making sense, pervasive religious ideals completely upended along with the environmental order of South America. Anomalous zones along the Amazon River and near the Guarani aquifer system meant that vast swathes if Brazil's population were exposed to NLCs, and Conceicao's hometown, Manaus, was one of the worst affected.
  
  Kubitschek, struggling to deal with the crisis, was quickly removed in a military coup, and as increasing numbers of people began to turn to their apparent prophetess for direction, she was named President in an unexpected landslide victory, narrowly averting civil war in the increasingly disunited, directionless populace mere months after the Visitation.
  
  The solution, Conceicao argued, was obvious. NLCs and anomalous zones were a fact of life, and it was time for Brazil to take full advantage of them. NLCs could have devastating effects on the human body, but they could make a man something far greater, too, and so the Brazilian government began to pour massive amounts of funding into funding research on the impacts of the visitation and on supporting a populace that struggled to recover from the devastation.
  
  Thanks to the aid of organizations like the NHC, vast new Langium resources, and large amounts of research funding, Brazil was able to recover from the impacts of the Visitation and eventually begin to thrive. A rapidly expanded healthcare system, likewise, drastically improved quality of life, serving to help draw large numbers of immigrants to a country that had adapted to the visitation with relative ease and found itself in increasing need of workers to fuel its growth. Perhaps most important, though, was the philosophy Conceicao was drilling into Brazilian society - one of cooperation and togetherness and of bringing mankind into a new, better age. Eventually, mutation by NLC stopped being something to be avoided and gradually became a fad, whether by devout imitators seeking to follow in Conceicao's footsteps or people who simply saw the mildly directed NLC-derived mutagens available in Brazil as too tempting to ignore.
• Recent History:Brazil was not the only country that experienced trouble in South America, however, and few saw the rise of charismatic demagogues in the same manner as Brazil, leaving them unstable. Some governments had simply collapsed into civil war, while others struggled to maintain control, but, one after the other, they collapsed, often with the unwanted aid of the CIA. Numerous attempts were made on President Conceicao's life, including attempted coups, though all either failed to gain traction, were foiled by the fanaticism that pervaded the country, or, reportedly, by Conceicao herself.
  
  Emboldened by failed American attempts to depose their leadership, Brazil made increasing overtures to act as an inlet for the Soviet Union in South America, simultaneously offering industrial aid to countries in Africa and Europe in an effort to avoid total American dominance over potential trading partners and stay at the forefront of technological development. In particular, Brazil maintained close relations with a number of coastal West African states, including Nigeria, in which it became heavily involved in economic aid. The 1980s also saw the beginning of a full-fledged Brazilian space program, leading to the development of a sort of cultural cosmism that further increased government R&D funding and the country's obsession with its alien visitors. In 1991, the cultural atmosphere of the country is much the same - pervasive popular support of President Conceicao, nearly uncontrolled technological development, and an eye always gazing toward the future.

Pressing Issues: Out of all the issues it faces, perhaps the most prominent is relative political isolation. While an active participant in the international community, Brazil as it stands lacks any genuinely close military allies aside perhaps Nigeria, though this is little consolation considering that it is nearly surrounded on all sides by relatively hostile governments under the control of the United States. While this does leave Brazil able to exploit its position as a thorn in the US's side for political leverage with countries like the USSR, it still lies on a political fringe that leaves it without genuinely friendly relations with any major power blocs. Additionally, the demands of a rapidly growing populace, few trade partners, and the industry of a burgeoning world power leave it with little available liquid reserves and fewer creditos, meaning there is little available flexibility within the Brazilian budget. Additionally, as it has been ruled by its current President for decades, its direction can often be single minded, lacking diverse outside perspectives.

Budget:

Note: credit for the flag goes to /u/RegularSloth on Reddit

N.E.O. - New Earth Oracle

Name: Federative Republic of Brazil/República Federativa do Brasil
Flag:

Government: Although technically a semi-democratic federative republic, Brazil is effectively ruled by Apolônia, and minimal dissent exists due to the personality cult surrounding her. It is, however, still a bicameral legislature in which members of the lower house are elected proportionally, while the upper house, the Senate, rarely sees any senators elected that are not approved by the de-facto dictator. Much like the USSR's Supreme Soviet, the Starlight Movement has extremely wide-ranging power that allows it to legally prevent the rise of political opponents to Brazil's President.

Territory: Historical Brazilian Borders

---

History:

• Pre-Visitation: Prior to the visitation, Brazil's history was mostly mundane. Like any other nation seeking to industrialize, it too exploited Langium, seeing the wonder-substance as the means through which the aspiring global power could achieve its goals. These efforts, however, remained relatively until the Vargas coup - at which point the dictator began the exploitation of Brazil's available Langium resources en-masse, taking advantage of its wondrous properties to catapult his country into the modern age. Such aspirations, however, continued to remain horribly distance, and in late 1956, Vargas shot himself in the head, having lost control of his most powerful political allies after an assassination attempt on one of the most prominent opponents of Vargas's regime, Carlos Lacerda.
  
  Juscelino Kubitschek quickly took power, his presidency marked by even greater exploitation of Langium resources, general industrialization, the founding of Brasilia, and the emergence of a nonreligious cult, led by a young woman by the name of Apolônia Conceicao, a philosopher who was able to take advantage of the tumult surrounding Vargas's death to draw followers, despite her being disadvantaged in Brazil as a woman. Of course, considering Brazil's extensively patriarchal, Catholic society, the cult's growth was relatively slow and was often the target of violence, in no small part due to Conceicao's insistence that aliens were in fact real, and had brought Langium to Earth long ago. In many ways, it was simply any other new-age UFO cult, but Conceicao differed in that she prescribed no religious dogma, instead focusing on preparation for the inevitably soon-to-come alien visitors and the trials they would bring.
• The Visitation: In 1961, to the surprise of nearly everyone, The Starlight Movement (O Movimento da Luz das Estrelas) was abruptly proven right - apparently, at least. Not only did their leader seem to have been a prophet, but religions across the world were thrown into Chaos by the existence of alien life, and Brazilian varieties of Catholicism were no exception. A country that for the most part was culturally shaped by its faith suddenly found itself with far less, and in the Chaos, many turned to the apparent prophet and her message of cooperation toward a bright, new future. People across the world flocked to Conceicao even as she appeared to vanish, vanishing into the now-anomalous parts of the Amazon Rainforest.
  
  Fortunately for her followers - and unfortunately for the duelling military and civil government factions in the ailing government, Conceicao returned to the public eye little more than a week later, though she had been greatly changed, her body only narrowly recognizable as that of a human. Much like her country, she was scarred, forever changed - but, she claimed, she was far stronger too. For many, she was the only source of direction in a world that had simply stopped making sense, pervasive religious ideals completely upended along with the environmental order of South America. Anomalous zones along the Amazon River and near the Guarani aquifer system meant that vast swathes if Brazil's population were exposed to NLCs, and Conceicao's hometown, Manaus, was one of the worst affected.
  
  Kubitschek, struggling to deal with the crisis, was quickly removed in a military coup, and as increasing numbers of people began to turn to their apparent prophetess for direction, she was named President in an unexpected landslide victory, narrowly averting civil war in the increasingly disunited, directionless populace mere months after the Visitation.
  
  The solution, Conceicao argued, was obvious. NLCs and anomalous zones were a fact of life, and it was time for Brazil to take full advantage of them. NLCs could have devastating effects on the human body, but they could make a man something far greater, too, and so the Brazilian government began to pour massive amounts of funding into funding research on the impacts of the visitation and on supporting a populace that struggled to recover from the devastation.
  
  Thanks to the aid of organizations like the NHC, vast new Langium resources, and large amounts of research funding, Brazil was able to recover from the impacts of the Visitation and eventually begin to thrive. A rapidly expanded healthcare system, likewise, drastically improved quality of life, serving to help draw large numbers of immigrants to a country that had adapted to the visitation with relative ease and found itself in increasing need of workers to fuel its growth. Perhaps most important, though, was the philosophy Conceicao was drilling into Brazilian society - one of cooperation and togetherness and of bringing mankind into a new, better age. Eventually, mutation by NLC stopped being something to be avoided and gradually became a fad, whether by devout imitators seeking to follow in Conceicao's footsteps or people who simply saw the mildly directed NLC-derived mutagens available in Brazil as too tempting to ignore.
• Recent History:Brazil was not the only country that experienced trouble in South America, however, and few saw the rise of charismatic demagogues in the same manner as Brazil, leaving them unstable. Some governments had simply collapsed into civil war, while others struggled to maintain control, but, one after the other, they collapsed, often with the unwanted aid of the CIA. Numerous attempts were made on President Conceicao's life, including attempted coups, though all either failed to gain traction, were foiled by the fanaticism that pervaded the country, or, reportedly, by Conceicao herself.
  
  Emboldened by failed American attempts to depose their leadership, Brazil made increasing overtures to act as an inlet for the Soviet Union in South America, simultaneously offering industrial aid to countries in Africa and Europe in an effort to avoid total American dominance over potential trading partners and stay at the forefront of technological development. In particular, Brazil maintained close relations with a number of coastal West African states, including Nigeria, in which it became heavily involved in economic aid. The 1980s also saw the beginning of a full-fledged Brazilian space program, leading to the development of a sort of cultural cosmism that further increased government R&D funding and the country's obsession with its alien visitors. In 1991, the cultural atmosphere of the country is much the same - pervasive popular support of President Conceicao, nearly uncontrolled technological development, and an eye always gazing toward the future.

Pressing Issues: Out of all the issues it faces, perhaps the most prominent is relative political isolation. While an active participant in the international community, Brazil as it stands lacks any genuinely close military allies aside perhaps Nigeria, though this is little consolation considering that it is nearly surrounded on all sides by relatively hostile governments under the control of the United States. While this does leave Brazil able to exploit its position as a thorn in the US's side for political leverage with countries like the USSR, it still lies on a political fringe that leaves it without genuinely friendly relations with any major power blocs. Additionally, the demands of a rapidly growing populace, few trade partners, and the industry of a burgeoning world power leave it with little available liquid reserves and fewer creditos, meaning there is little available flexibility within the Brazilian budget. Additionally, as it has been ruled by its current President for decades, its direction can often be single minded, lacking diverse outside perspectives.

Budget:

Note: credit for the flag goes to /u/RegularSloth on Reddit

Empire of the Dead

Hey, @gorgenmast, if you could hit me up when that's done, I'd appreciate it - Arane has some plans involving Theleden.

Empire of the Dead

@Terminalno problem! I PMed you my discord info

Empire of the Dead

Arane plans to plant someone in closer proximity to Eagoth, though it would he a secondary character. Other than that, I am looking forward to Arane getting touch with Faustus, whether directly or by proxy - I'm starting to realize that she'll have much more need of Faustus than previously expected

Empire of the Dead

@TerminalAlright, I've got an idea of what Arane's going to do get Rixis's attention - would you like to discuss details here, in pms, through discord, etc? I'm not entirely sure how y'all handle collab posts. I'm confident Ararne can offer Rixis something to play to either his paranoia or ambition, though.

Empire of the Dead

Thanks, I think! I've always been a fan of doing weird/unusual things when it comes to offensive uses of magic - I took some inspiration from Warhammer Fantasy's metal wizard, but, imho magic is way too interesting a concept (I mean, cmon, it's basically reality cheat codes) to limit oneself to slinging lightning and fireballs! Why do that when you can turn the armor of your enemy against them or shrivel their flesh to nothing with parasitic smoke?

Empire of the Dead

Had a late night flash of inspiration, so I added another block onto the post. In an effort to avoid moving too quickly, I can slow down if needed - my intend wasn't to rush things; I just got real excited.