OP
Rare The Inquisitor
Member
Seen
7 yrs ago
OP
Rare The Inquisitor
Member
Seen
7 yrs ago
When The Sun Goes Down (Rare+QueenOfTheBee)
Casual 1x1 RP
Name
Alexander Wayne.
Age
Thirty-Two.
Gender
Male.
Rank
Police Officer.
Gears
1x body armor, 1x straightstick baton, 1x riot shield, 1x riot protection helmet, 1x gas mask, 2x pepper spray, 4x tear gas, 4x stun grenades, and 1x taser.
Casual 1x1 RP
Name
Alexander Wayne.
Age
Thirty-Two.
Gender
Male.
Rank
Police Officer.
Gears
1x body armor, 1x straightstick baton, 1x riot shield, 1x riot protection helmet, 1x gas mask, 2x pepper spray, 4x tear gas, 4x stun grenades, and 1x taser.
OP
Rare The Inquisitor
Member
Seen
7 yrs ago
Exile: A Sci-Fi RP On an Untamed World
High Casual - Advanced Nation RP
Name
Brazuela.
Location
Brazuela is located within the safe zone and near the the lake (the Green).
Leader
President Ronaldo Madray, the thirteenth president.
History
Brazuela was a small district of Nai Kolkata, that was used by the loose confederacy within South America and controlled by the Untied Nations. It was used as a test zone, where the people within the colony were test out the plants and animals of Brahma. Most of the population in the colony was scientists, but some were builders or just regular citizens. The reasons of the tests were to see if the plants or animals have anything useful in them and then if they found something that was useful, they being it back to Earth, where it’s tested there. When The Listeners attacked and destroyed Earth, Brazuela welcomed the immigrants and made room for them. Of course, they still kept the tests going, but they got worst, as they weren’t being watched by the confederacy and the United Nations. As they have began testing on humans, so they could see the effects of the body, living in Brahma. The head scientist, Generosb Palos, pushed for the tests on humans to happen sooner. He came up with a name and called his ‘company’, The Brahma Research Company.
While the scientists were at their labs, the people already had built their homes near the lake. Since the lake was useless (due to Brahma’s gas planet), it provided nothing, but it symbolized the lakes at Earth. The lake calmed the riots and protests down, but there were still some around; yet, the scientists knew that they couldn’t get into the labs. So in order to stable the people of Brazuela, they built the capital near the lake. And then they set up a republic government and voted for their first president, Tierra Samora. She was a scientist that knew about the function of the republic government, due to her studies of law and government. Samora set up the basic needs of the new capital and towns within Brazuela and it calmed the people down once more. She was in office for eight years and due to the terms that limited a person’s years in the office. She was replaced by another president and it went on for fifty-one years, and there were thirteen presidents. Each one improved Brazuela for the better and they got their funds by Palos.
Since, Generosb retired as the head scientist, his son, Victoro, replaced his father’s role. At the age of twenty-two, he is willing to expand the BRC out of the safe zone. While, the thirteenth president’s election is coming within a year, Salvador De Anda, a rich wealthy man is willing to do anything to stay another four years in office.
High Casual - Advanced Nation RP
Brazuela.
Location
Brazuela is located within the safe zone and near the the lake (the Green).
Leader
President Ronaldo Madray, the thirteenth president.
History
Brazuela was a small district of Nai Kolkata, that was used by the loose confederacy within South America and controlled by the Untied Nations. It was used as a test zone, where the people within the colony were test out the plants and animals of Brahma. Most of the population in the colony was scientists, but some were builders or just regular citizens. The reasons of the tests were to see if the plants or animals have anything useful in them and then if they found something that was useful, they being it back to Earth, where it’s tested there. When The Listeners attacked and destroyed Earth, Brazuela welcomed the immigrants and made room for them. Of course, they still kept the tests going, but they got worst, as they weren’t being watched by the confederacy and the United Nations. As they have began testing on humans, so they could see the effects of the body, living in Brahma. The head scientist, Generosb Palos, pushed for the tests on humans to happen sooner. He came up with a name and called his ‘company’, The Brahma Research Company.
While the scientists were at their labs, the people already had built their homes near the lake. Since the lake was useless (due to Brahma’s gas planet), it provided nothing, but it symbolized the lakes at Earth. The lake calmed the riots and protests down, but there were still some around; yet, the scientists knew that they couldn’t get into the labs. So in order to stable the people of Brazuela, they built the capital near the lake. And then they set up a republic government and voted for their first president, Tierra Samora. She was a scientist that knew about the function of the republic government, due to her studies of law and government. Samora set up the basic needs of the new capital and towns within Brazuela and it calmed the people down once more. She was in office for eight years and due to the terms that limited a person’s years in the office. She was replaced by another president and it went on for fifty-one years, and there were thirteen presidents. Each one improved Brazuela for the better and they got their funds by Palos.
Since, Generosb retired as the head scientist, his son, Victoro, replaced his father’s role. At the age of twenty-two, he is willing to expand the BRC out of the safe zone. While, the thirteenth president’s election is coming within a year, Salvador De Anda, a rich wealthy man is willing to do anything to stay another four years in office.
OP
Rare The Inquisitor
Member
Seen
7 yrs ago
Mass Effect: Underworld
Advanced Nation RP
Organisation Name
The Red Phoenix, based on the human's mythology understanding of the Phoenix.
Organisation Leader and Co-Leaders
The leader of the Red Phoenix is Druslius Sulidonis, a Turian.
Important Figure
The important figure, that make up The Red Phoenix are: Khunar Strurm, a Krogan.
Organisation Specialisation
Druslius likes to focus on the mercenary contacts, because they can make some serious money and they can help gain power and influence from The Red Phoenix. Strurm, controls the drug cartel, and will take control of the Red Phoenix when Druslius dies.
Organisation Type
The Red Phoenix is a mercenary company and a drug cartel. It is mostly a mercenary company, accepting contacts that has the highest bid, assassinating important people, protecting important people, and many other things that a mercenary company does. Yet, there is some drugs to be sell as well, selling red sand, eximo, hallex, and many other popular drugs.
Organisation Income Source
Most of the Red Phoenix's income comes for the mercenary company and drug cartel part of the organisation. Yet some come from the following things: bars, businesses, districts, nightclubs, and their bases. Most of their income comes for Omega, due to their main base being so close to it and that they can keep in check their sources of income within Omega. In Omega alone, there is six bars, three nightclubs, five districts, twenty businesses, and seven drug labs (which is all of their drug labs); while in the Citadel, there is two bars, one nightclub, and eight businesses. And in Nos Astra, The Red Phoenix controls four bars, two nightclubs, three districts, and ten businesses.
Legality
The council would consider The Red Phoenix to be both a legal and illegal operation, because of the drug cartel. But they aren't ban for Citadel Space, because of the mercenary company (which is legal to run).
Organisation Base
The Red Phoenix's primary headquarters is located at one of the busiest districts in Omega. The base is just mainly a couple of houses, mash-up together and given the feel of a gang base. There is communication between individual ships and crew members within the gang's main base, where they keep tabs with each member of The Red Phoenix. And next to the base, is a space hangar, where only small ships (transports, fighters, etc.) can enter and get repair, that's if they're in The Red Phoenix. The base can be use as a pit stop or a safe house, if they're trouble with the law.
Organisation Assets
In Omega, there is six bars, three nightclubs, five districts, twenty businesses, and seven drug labs (which is all of their drug labs); while in the Citadel, there is two bars, one nightclub, one district, and eight businesses. And in Nos Astra, The Red Phoenix controls four bars, two nightclubs, three districts, and ten businesses. The Red Phoenix has a total of seventy-one starships: twenty fighters for various manufacturing origins (Humans), eighteen shuttles (Humans), two large freighters (Turians), five small freighters (Asari), three middle freighters (Asari), twenty interceptors (Turian, Asari, and, Salarian) and three frigates (Turian).
They own three independent fueling stations (in the Omega Nebula, the Eagle Nebula, and the Maroon Sea). The current numbers of members within the are mercenary company are in the eighteen hundreds. Most are soldiers, but some are snipers and biotics, and to make such that boitics are useful during a firefight, they're given red sand (that's if they need it). The Red Phoenix has insider contacts with several larger corporations, including several weapons manufacturers, amour manufacturers, and defense contracters. They also have a relatively robust client base that continues to grow each day with each contact completed and finished. They also own a safehouse within Nos Astra, as in case of any gang members, that capture the main base. But for now, it's used as a hideout for the law in Nos Astra and pit stop for any gang members that just done a mission or are doing one.
The safehouse is just a penthouse on the top floor of a luxurious hotel with a land pad for shuttles.
Organisation Relations
What are your relations with the other player Organisations? This should be discussed with the player who the Organisation belongs to, and can be anything from working partnership to worst enemies or somewhere in between. Perhaps you don’t even know their name.
Organisation History
The Red Phoenix was founded and is currently lead by Druslius Sulidonis, a retired Turian NCO of the Turian Military. He founded The Red Phoenix after he was retired for the Military and moved to Omega with his newly organization. He set up his organization within a district on a house, which would still be his base to this day, and started out as a mercenary company. He accepted contacts, which were in the best interest for his organization, and at first did it his self until he met Khunar Strurm, a korgan that was in the Blood Pack until he left them for something more excitedly for him. When Strurm found out about The Red Phoenix, he decided to join and wanted to meet with the leader.
He walked into the base and saw the Turian, at first he wanted to leave, but something held him. It‘s unknown why he stayed, but he did; even Druslius doesn't know why he stayed to this day. He and Strurm went all over Omega in hopes of people, joining their organization. But, only a hand full of Korgans and Turians joined the organization, due to Strurm's shotgun at their faces; most were found dead, some joined the organization. Yet, Druslius wouldn’t give up and gave the contacts to his new members to do in hopes of generate credits. It was a some what succeeds, it was not enough credits, but it did help buy their first bar on Omega.
Then during one of Druslius' contacts, he was going to have to kill a member of The Blood Pack. It was a big risk, but he took it, because of the credits. He had his sniper with his as he saw the Turian and aimed it at his head and pull the trigger as he saw the guy's head, being hit by the bullet, with a big hole on its side. He was dead and Druslius got the credits for the kill, he through that it was just a job, but it went in a different direction.
The following next day, he got a message for an unknown source that said The Blood Pack declared war on The Red Phoenix. They must of find out that he fired the gun as there were people that saw him, firing his sniper. It was him, Strurm, and the other members verse the Blood Pack; even Druslius through that it was a such death sentence for him organization. But, they won the war between the Blood Pack, somehow. Some could say that the Red Phoenix won due to the fact, that the Blood Pack attacked their main stronghold, or others could say it was due to Druslius and Strurm, working as a team.
But, they beat the Blood Pack back, yet they could attack the Red Phoenix again soon. After the war was over, people began to join the Red Phoenix; due to the fact, that have beaten the Blood Pack. Even Aria was impressed by the Red Phoenix’s actions, but forgot about them (after all she is Aria). Floors of members meant that they were making more credits than they ever did before. It was enough credits to buy him his first bar, and it caused Druslius to buy nightclubs, businesses, more bars, and even some starships.
But, everything costs credits, and they were running low on it; due to, other organizations grabbing the good ones. Then Strurm got a good idea, join the drug business and make tons of credits. At first, Druslius decline the idea; after all he was in the Turian Military. But, once more contacts were taken, he agreed and allowed Strurm to make some drugs. After the first drugs were sold and Druslius saw the results of it, he let Strurm control it (after all Druslius still owned him for the war with the Blood Pack).
Druslius Sulidonis' Data
Name
Druslius Sulidonis.
Race
Turian.
Gender
Male.
Age
Forty-five years old.
Position
Leader of the Red Phoenix.
Background
Being born to a military family is always hard, because the father is out in the military while the mother takes cares of her children. That’s what Druslius learned when he was born into one; his father was focused on getting his boys onto the military, while his mother cared for them when they needed something. In his childhood, he was learned about the Turian military and their actions during the Krogan Rebellion and how it was ‘the best thing that happened to the Turian military’. Either known it stabled the Krogans forever, Druslius hated most things about the Turian military’s history.
Yet, he still had to joined when he reached eighteen (it was a requirement for any Turian to join the military no matter what). He began training as a sniper, which impressed most Turians that were already in the military. He trained for six years, learning everything from aiming a gun to finding the best cover to go to. Druslius also studied the Turian, Asari, and Krogan military as he wanted to reach the rank of NCO. He through that he would of just study and training most of his life until the Relay 314 Incident happened. At first, Druslius didn’t know what was going, other than that the Turian Military attacked someone for trying to reactivate an inactive mass relay, called Relay 314. He was ready to put his sniping skills and training to the test, but then a month later, peace happened between the both sides by the Council. He then learned what really happened and who the others were, which they were called Humans.
Druslius did some digging into their history, and he fell in love with their history. From the Ancient Times to the Modern Era, he realized that humanity had something similar to the Turians: they never give up. A great example would be, the Human’s Second World War, when a powerful focus would destroy their world, they never gave up and they soon won. He kept studying human history and the other race’s histories until he was a NCO. At the age of forty-two, he retired for the Turian Military as a NCO, after his mother and father had died. He wasn't using his skills anymore and couldn't stand living in his homeworld anymore. He got on the next shutter to Omega and declared that this was going to be his new home.
He didn't have any credits on him and needed food and a place to stay, so he looked around for anyone that needs help. Druslius got his first contact for an other Turian and got forty credits out of contact. It was just a similar assassination contact, where he used a pistol provided by the Turian and shot the back of his head. It messy and poorly done, but he didn't got caught nor died and got credits out of it. It was enough for a place to stay for a week and food to last him a few days. He then came up with the idea, that if he was going to survive in Omega, he even join a merc group or make his own. Druslius decided that he must make his own, set his own rules and not follow the other merc groups; It was the dawn of the Red Phoenix.
Positive Traits
He pros are: Charismatic, experience in strategy, like things calm, clever, natural leader, good at using a sniper rifle, and friendly.
Negative Traits
His flaws are: Shuts down when things are in chaos, rude, arrogant, questions about loyalty in his men, sucks at using anything else but a sniper rifle, and greedy.
Khunar Strurm's Data
Name
Khunar Strurm.
Race
Krogan.
Gender
Male.
Age
Four hundred fifty.
Position
Co-Leader of the Red Phoenix.
Background
His background is unknown to everyone and he would like to keep it like that.
Positive Traits
His pros are: Strong, great at using his shotgun, ruthless, can use his fists to get people talking, can make drugs (that are good), and headbutts hard enough to kill someone.
Negative Traits
His flaws are: Rude, cocky, questions things later or forgets about the questions, naive, gets mad easily, and lazy.
Advanced Nation RP
Organisation Name
The Red Phoenix, based on the human's mythology understanding of the Phoenix.
Organisation Leader and Co-Leaders
The leader of the Red Phoenix is Druslius Sulidonis, a Turian.
Important Figure
The important figure, that make up The Red Phoenix are: Khunar Strurm, a Krogan.
Organisation Specialisation
Druslius likes to focus on the mercenary contacts, because they can make some serious money and they can help gain power and influence from The Red Phoenix. Strurm, controls the drug cartel, and will take control of the Red Phoenix when Druslius dies.
Organisation Type
The Red Phoenix is a mercenary company and a drug cartel. It is mostly a mercenary company, accepting contacts that has the highest bid, assassinating important people, protecting important people, and many other things that a mercenary company does. Yet, there is some drugs to be sell as well, selling red sand, eximo, hallex, and many other popular drugs.
Organisation Income Source
Most of the Red Phoenix's income comes for the mercenary company and drug cartel part of the organisation. Yet some come from the following things: bars, businesses, districts, nightclubs, and their bases. Most of their income comes for Omega, due to their main base being so close to it and that they can keep in check their sources of income within Omega. In Omega alone, there is six bars, three nightclubs, five districts, twenty businesses, and seven drug labs (which is all of their drug labs); while in the Citadel, there is two bars, one nightclub, and eight businesses. And in Nos Astra, The Red Phoenix controls four bars, two nightclubs, three districts, and ten businesses.
Legality
The council would consider The Red Phoenix to be both a legal and illegal operation, because of the drug cartel. But they aren't ban for Citadel Space, because of the mercenary company (which is legal to run).
Organisation Base
The Red Phoenix's primary headquarters is located at one of the busiest districts in Omega. The base is just mainly a couple of houses, mash-up together and given the feel of a gang base. There is communication between individual ships and crew members within the gang's main base, where they keep tabs with each member of The Red Phoenix. And next to the base, is a space hangar, where only small ships (transports, fighters, etc.) can enter and get repair, that's if they're in The Red Phoenix. The base can be use as a pit stop or a safe house, if they're trouble with the law.
Organisation Assets
In Omega, there is six bars, three nightclubs, five districts, twenty businesses, and seven drug labs (which is all of their drug labs); while in the Citadel, there is two bars, one nightclub, one district, and eight businesses. And in Nos Astra, The Red Phoenix controls four bars, two nightclubs, three districts, and ten businesses. The Red Phoenix has a total of seventy-one starships: twenty fighters for various manufacturing origins (Humans), eighteen shuttles (Humans), two large freighters (Turians), five small freighters (Asari), three middle freighters (Asari), twenty interceptors (Turian, Asari, and, Salarian) and three frigates (Turian).
They own three independent fueling stations (in the Omega Nebula, the Eagle Nebula, and the Maroon Sea). The current numbers of members within the are mercenary company are in the eighteen hundreds. Most are soldiers, but some are snipers and biotics, and to make such that boitics are useful during a firefight, they're given red sand (that's if they need it). The Red Phoenix has insider contacts with several larger corporations, including several weapons manufacturers, amour manufacturers, and defense contracters. They also have a relatively robust client base that continues to grow each day with each contact completed and finished. They also own a safehouse within Nos Astra, as in case of any gang members, that capture the main base. But for now, it's used as a hideout for the law in Nos Astra and pit stop for any gang members that just done a mission or are doing one.
The safehouse is just a penthouse on the top floor of a luxurious hotel with a land pad for shuttles.
Organisation Relations
What are your relations with the other player Organisations? This should be discussed with the player who the Organisation belongs to, and can be anything from working partnership to worst enemies or somewhere in between. Perhaps you don’t even know their name.
Organisation History
The Red Phoenix was founded and is currently lead by Druslius Sulidonis, a retired Turian NCO of the Turian Military. He founded The Red Phoenix after he was retired for the Military and moved to Omega with his newly organization. He set up his organization within a district on a house, which would still be his base to this day, and started out as a mercenary company. He accepted contacts, which were in the best interest for his organization, and at first did it his self until he met Khunar Strurm, a korgan that was in the Blood Pack until he left them for something more excitedly for him. When Strurm found out about The Red Phoenix, he decided to join and wanted to meet with the leader.
He walked into the base and saw the Turian, at first he wanted to leave, but something held him. It‘s unknown why he stayed, but he did; even Druslius doesn't know why he stayed to this day. He and Strurm went all over Omega in hopes of people, joining their organization. But, only a hand full of Korgans and Turians joined the organization, due to Strurm's shotgun at their faces; most were found dead, some joined the organization. Yet, Druslius wouldn’t give up and gave the contacts to his new members to do in hopes of generate credits. It was a some what succeeds, it was not enough credits, but it did help buy their first bar on Omega.
Then during one of Druslius' contacts, he was going to have to kill a member of The Blood Pack. It was a big risk, but he took it, because of the credits. He had his sniper with his as he saw the Turian and aimed it at his head and pull the trigger as he saw the guy's head, being hit by the bullet, with a big hole on its side. He was dead and Druslius got the credits for the kill, he through that it was just a job, but it went in a different direction.
The following next day, he got a message for an unknown source that said The Blood Pack declared war on The Red Phoenix. They must of find out that he fired the gun as there were people that saw him, firing his sniper. It was him, Strurm, and the other members verse the Blood Pack; even Druslius through that it was a such death sentence for him organization. But, they won the war between the Blood Pack, somehow. Some could say that the Red Phoenix won due to the fact, that the Blood Pack attacked their main stronghold, or others could say it was due to Druslius and Strurm, working as a team.
But, they beat the Blood Pack back, yet they could attack the Red Phoenix again soon. After the war was over, people began to join the Red Phoenix; due to the fact, that have beaten the Blood Pack. Even Aria was impressed by the Red Phoenix’s actions, but forgot about them (after all she is Aria). Floors of members meant that they were making more credits than they ever did before. It was enough credits to buy him his first bar, and it caused Druslius to buy nightclubs, businesses, more bars, and even some starships.
But, everything costs credits, and they were running low on it; due to, other organizations grabbing the good ones. Then Strurm got a good idea, join the drug business and make tons of credits. At first, Druslius decline the idea; after all he was in the Turian Military. But, once more contacts were taken, he agreed and allowed Strurm to make some drugs. After the first drugs were sold and Druslius saw the results of it, he let Strurm control it (after all Druslius still owned him for the war with the Blood Pack).
Druslius Sulidonis' Data
Name
Druslius Sulidonis.
Race
Turian.
Gender
Male.
Age
Forty-five years old.
Position
Leader of the Red Phoenix.
Background
Being born to a military family is always hard, because the father is out in the military while the mother takes cares of her children. That’s what Druslius learned when he was born into one; his father was focused on getting his boys onto the military, while his mother cared for them when they needed something. In his childhood, he was learned about the Turian military and their actions during the Krogan Rebellion and how it was ‘the best thing that happened to the Turian military’. Either known it stabled the Krogans forever, Druslius hated most things about the Turian military’s history.
Yet, he still had to joined when he reached eighteen (it was a requirement for any Turian to join the military no matter what). He began training as a sniper, which impressed most Turians that were already in the military. He trained for six years, learning everything from aiming a gun to finding the best cover to go to. Druslius also studied the Turian, Asari, and Krogan military as he wanted to reach the rank of NCO. He through that he would of just study and training most of his life until the Relay 314 Incident happened. At first, Druslius didn’t know what was going, other than that the Turian Military attacked someone for trying to reactivate an inactive mass relay, called Relay 314. He was ready to put his sniping skills and training to the test, but then a month later, peace happened between the both sides by the Council. He then learned what really happened and who the others were, which they were called Humans.
Druslius did some digging into their history, and he fell in love with their history. From the Ancient Times to the Modern Era, he realized that humanity had something similar to the Turians: they never give up. A great example would be, the Human’s Second World War, when a powerful focus would destroy their world, they never gave up and they soon won. He kept studying human history and the other race’s histories until he was a NCO. At the age of forty-two, he retired for the Turian Military as a NCO, after his mother and father had died. He wasn't using his skills anymore and couldn't stand living in his homeworld anymore. He got on the next shutter to Omega and declared that this was going to be his new home.
He didn't have any credits on him and needed food and a place to stay, so he looked around for anyone that needs help. Druslius got his first contact for an other Turian and got forty credits out of contact. It was just a similar assassination contact, where he used a pistol provided by the Turian and shot the back of his head. It messy and poorly done, but he didn't got caught nor died and got credits out of it. It was enough for a place to stay for a week and food to last him a few days. He then came up with the idea, that if he was going to survive in Omega, he even join a merc group or make his own. Druslius decided that he must make his own, set his own rules and not follow the other merc groups; It was the dawn of the Red Phoenix.
Positive Traits
He pros are: Charismatic, experience in strategy, like things calm, clever, natural leader, good at using a sniper rifle, and friendly.
Negative Traits
His flaws are: Shuts down when things are in chaos, rude, arrogant, questions about loyalty in his men, sucks at using anything else but a sniper rifle, and greedy.
Khunar Strurm's Data
Name
Khunar Strurm.
Race
Krogan.
Gender
Male.
Age
Four hundred fifty.
Position
Co-Leader of the Red Phoenix.
Background
His background is unknown to everyone and he would like to keep it like that.
Positive Traits
His pros are: Strong, great at using his shotgun, ruthless, can use his fists to get people talking, can make drugs (that are good), and headbutts hard enough to kill someone.
Negative Traits
His flaws are: Rude, cocky, questions things later or forgets about the questions, naive, gets mad easily, and lazy.
OP
Rare The Inquisitor
Member
Seen
7 yrs ago
The Division Roleplay
Advanced RP
Name
Javier Cranford.
Call Sign
New Castle.
Age
Thirty-two.
Gender
Male.
Personnel Description
He is focused and listens to other team mates, since he is the leader of the group. He is also knowledgeable of New York City since he was born and rise in it. Javier is a outgoing and humorous guy, but he is also a team player (when it's necessary). His honesty and honour is dependable on the person, if he likes the person he would tell the truth and be honour to him; but if he hates the person, he would lie and dishonour him. Even known he is a outgoing and humorous guy, he cares about people's emotion even if the person was trying to kill him; he knows that we all were human once before the virus came.
Backstory Description
Born and rise in New York City to a second-class family living in the Bronx, Javier always had a hard life with the gangs and drug dealers living in the Bronx. His mother and father wanted to moved somewhere safer but they couldn't found a place. The family was surviving the job losses in the seventies but then at the age of three, his family found an apartment within East Village and moved away from the Bronx. They knew that East Village was where that Stonewall riots happened and the gay community lived, but they didn't care about as it was a lot safer than living in the Bronx again. But then in two thousand one, the September 11, 2001 attacks and he saw the World Trade Center on fire and couldn't think about his mother. Thankfully, she worked on the thirty floor and got out safely hours before the town collapsed. After the attacks, his father and oldest son decided to join the army to fight those who dare to attack America.
At the age of eighteen, he decided to join the army as well, due to her wanting to protect his hometown and follow in his father and oldest brother's steps. He trained for four years until he sent to the Middle East, to join the others in the war against terrorism. He fought within the hot deserts for eight years until one day, his captain and the others were in a small town and they were ambushed. His captain laid dead on the ground and the others were too afraid to take the role of captain, so Javier decided to take the place. He told his men to get out of the town, by going in each building, that would lead to the hills nearby. The men followed Javier as if he was the captain and they got out of the town with only two dead, it was good for someone that didn't train to become a captain. After his actions, the higher ranks took notice of Javier's action and trained him to become a captain and for three years, he was trained to become a captain. But then, he was put in the Strategic Homeland Division (or The Division) as a leader of a group.
Inventory
- Extra rounds for his MP5 and M9.
- Two flashbang grenades.
- Rations and a water supply.
- Standard military equipment.
Unique Item
- Amour, that could bend with the darkness or the night time. Useful only in the night time or in a dark place, if the amour gets touch by water, it will shut down until it's repair.
Weapons
- MP5 with suppressor.
- Beretta M9.
Talents
Javier has the ability to be a leader, with his speeches and his experience in strategy, and he is stealthy person, who likes the silence of the night time and the darkness of space.
Addition Information
His mother, father, oldest brother, and youngest brother were still in New York City, when the virus began to spread.
Advanced RP
Name
Javier Cranford.
Call Sign
New Castle.
Age
Thirty-two.
Gender
Male.
Personnel Description
He is focused and listens to other team mates, since he is the leader of the group. He is also knowledgeable of New York City since he was born and rise in it. Javier is a outgoing and humorous guy, but he is also a team player (when it's necessary). His honesty and honour is dependable on the person, if he likes the person he would tell the truth and be honour to him; but if he hates the person, he would lie and dishonour him. Even known he is a outgoing and humorous guy, he cares about people's emotion even if the person was trying to kill him; he knows that we all were human once before the virus came.
Backstory Description
Born and rise in New York City to a second-class family living in the Bronx, Javier always had a hard life with the gangs and drug dealers living in the Bronx. His mother and father wanted to moved somewhere safer but they couldn't found a place. The family was surviving the job losses in the seventies but then at the age of three, his family found an apartment within East Village and moved away from the Bronx. They knew that East Village was where that Stonewall riots happened and the gay community lived, but they didn't care about as it was a lot safer than living in the Bronx again. But then in two thousand one, the September 11, 2001 attacks and he saw the World Trade Center on fire and couldn't think about his mother. Thankfully, she worked on the thirty floor and got out safely hours before the town collapsed. After the attacks, his father and oldest son decided to join the army to fight those who dare to attack America.
At the age of eighteen, he decided to join the army as well, due to her wanting to protect his hometown and follow in his father and oldest brother's steps. He trained for four years until he sent to the Middle East, to join the others in the war against terrorism. He fought within the hot deserts for eight years until one day, his captain and the others were in a small town and they were ambushed. His captain laid dead on the ground and the others were too afraid to take the role of captain, so Javier decided to take the place. He told his men to get out of the town, by going in each building, that would lead to the hills nearby. The men followed Javier as if he was the captain and they got out of the town with only two dead, it was good for someone that didn't train to become a captain. After his actions, the higher ranks took notice of Javier's action and trained him to become a captain and for three years, he was trained to become a captain. But then, he was put in the Strategic Homeland Division (or The Division) as a leader of a group.
Inventory
- Extra rounds for his MP5 and M9.
- Two flashbang grenades.
- Rations and a water supply.
- Standard military equipment.
Unique Item
- Amour, that could bend with the darkness or the night time. Useful only in the night time or in a dark place, if the amour gets touch by water, it will shut down until it's repair.
Weapons
- MP5 with suppressor.
- Beretta M9.
Talents
Javier has the ability to be a leader, with his speeches and his experience in strategy, and he is stealthy person, who likes the silence of the night time and the darkness of space.
Addition Information
His mother, father, oldest brother, and youngest brother were still in New York City, when the virus began to spread.
OP
Rare The Inquisitor
Member
Seen
7 yrs ago
The Walking Dead: Los Angeles
High Casual RP
Name
Bryan "Scott" Earles.
Gender
Male.
Age
Twenty-Six.
Family
Mother - Katarina Earles - Died before the outbreak.
Father - Sawyer Earles - Never met before and during the outbreak.
Personality
Bryan is a withdrawn of social life, due to his mother, but he can be warmth when you get to know him. Due to him being a officer, he is a open-minded person and can be an ass, when someone breaks a law. After all, he believes that the government is working on a cure. He likes anything to be in order and can shut down, when things go south quickly. He is tough and keep things to his self when things get personal and he is tension (due to the outbreak and it's effects).
Bio
Born and rise in Downtown Los Angeles, his family was rich, mainly because of his mother. While the father left when Bryan was three months old, due to a history of drug and alcohol abuse. His mother made such that he was away for drugs, so he couldn't become like his father, and she put him in private schools for all of his youth until he was in he was a teenage. When he was fifteen, he wanted to go to a public school and be with other kids, but his mother refused and told him that public school is full of drug users and bullies. He was forced to stay at private school until he left high school and went to college at the age of nineteen. And he spread four years at UCLA, where he learned anything about the law and the system of the courts. He wanted to become a police officer and went to a police academy after his had spread his four years in UCLA.
He was trained at the academy for two years until he passed all of their test, just like anyone else and he was put in the Pacific Division (#14). At the age of twenty-four, he had learned that his mother had died of natural causes in her sleep. At first, he was really sad about losing her and then a bit happy, because she ruined his youth and teenage years. Then the outbreak happened, a few years after his mother's death. It was a normal day until he saw someone attacking a woman with her baby, Bryan got out of his squad car and used his baton to push the guy away. But, he jumped him and tried to bite him until Bryan hit him with the baton and then shot him as he ran towards Bryan. Bryan then went to check on the woman, which had a bite mark and he rushed back to his car to radio for backup. Then the woman attacked her baby and Bryan overheard screaming and shooting, things have gone to hell.
He drove away for the area and went to his home, where he grabbed as much food as he could fit in his car and left his home. He survived for the next two weeks because of the food and his baton, also his gun. But, he is running low on food and his car is in need of fuel, thankfully he had a jolly can and a siphoning fuel; when he went inside a gas station within Los Angeles.
Job Before The Outbreak
Police Officer of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Fear
Bryan has a fear of heights and of the darkness.
Weapon of Choice
Bryan carries around his Glock 22, which is given to a officer, and a steel baton.
High Casual RP
Name
Bryan "Scott" Earles.
Gender
Male.
Age
Twenty-Six.
Family
Mother - Katarina Earles - Died before the outbreak.
Father - Sawyer Earles - Never met before and during the outbreak.
Personality
Bryan is a withdrawn of social life, due to his mother, but he can be warmth when you get to know him. Due to him being a officer, he is a open-minded person and can be an ass, when someone breaks a law. After all, he believes that the government is working on a cure. He likes anything to be in order and can shut down, when things go south quickly. He is tough and keep things to his self when things get personal and he is tension (due to the outbreak and it's effects).
Bio
Born and rise in Downtown Los Angeles, his family was rich, mainly because of his mother. While the father left when Bryan was three months old, due to a history of drug and alcohol abuse. His mother made such that he was away for drugs, so he couldn't become like his father, and she put him in private schools for all of his youth until he was in he was a teenage. When he was fifteen, he wanted to go to a public school and be with other kids, but his mother refused and told him that public school is full of drug users and bullies. He was forced to stay at private school until he left high school and went to college at the age of nineteen. And he spread four years at UCLA, where he learned anything about the law and the system of the courts. He wanted to become a police officer and went to a police academy after his had spread his four years in UCLA.
He was trained at the academy for two years until he passed all of their test, just like anyone else and he was put in the Pacific Division (#14). At the age of twenty-four, he had learned that his mother had died of natural causes in her sleep. At first, he was really sad about losing her and then a bit happy, because she ruined his youth and teenage years. Then the outbreak happened, a few years after his mother's death. It was a normal day until he saw someone attacking a woman with her baby, Bryan got out of his squad car and used his baton to push the guy away. But, he jumped him and tried to bite him until Bryan hit him with the baton and then shot him as he ran towards Bryan. Bryan then went to check on the woman, which had a bite mark and he rushed back to his car to radio for backup. Then the woman attacked her baby and Bryan overheard screaming and shooting, things have gone to hell.
He drove away for the area and went to his home, where he grabbed as much food as he could fit in his car and left his home. He survived for the next two weeks because of the food and his baton, also his gun. But, he is running low on food and his car is in need of fuel, thankfully he had a jolly can and a siphoning fuel; when he went inside a gas station within Los Angeles.
Job Before The Outbreak
Police Officer of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Fear
Bryan has a fear of heights and of the darkness.
Weapon of Choice
Bryan carries around his Glock 22, which is given to a officer, and a steel baton.
OP
Rare The Inquisitor
Member
Seen
7 yrs ago
Blocs - A Cold War NRP
Advanced Nation RP
Basic information:
Official Name: Estados Unidos do Brasil (United States of Brazil).
Language: Portuguese.
Capital: Rio de Janeiro.
Population: 56,739,000.
Demonym: Brazilian.
Currency: Real (R$).
History:
Colonial Days:
Brazil was officially "discovered" in 1500, when a fleet commanded by Portuguese diplomat Pedro Álvares Cabral, on its way to India, landed in Porto Seguro, between Salvador and Rio de Janeiro. (There is, however, strong evidence that other Portuguese adventurers preceded him. Duarte Pacheco Pereira, in his book De Situ Orbis, tells of being in Brazil in 1498, sent by King Manuel of Portugal.)
Brazil's first colonizers were met by Tupinamba Indians, one group in the vast array of the continent's native population. Lisbon's early goals were simple: monopolize the lucrative trade of pau-brasil, the red wood (valued for making dye) that gave the colony its name, and establish permanent settlements. There's evidence that the Indians and Portuguese initially worked together to harvest trees. Later, the need to head farther inland to find forested areas made the pau-brasil trade less desirable. The interest in establishing plantations on cleared lands increased and so did the need for laborers. The Portuguese tried to enslave Indians, but, unaccustomed to toiling long hours in fields and overcome by European diseases, many natives either fled far inland or died. (When Cabral arrived, the indigenous population was believed to have been more than 3 million; today the number is scarcely more than 200,000.) The Portuguese then turned to the African slave trade for their workforce.
Although most settlers preferred the coastal areas (a preference that continues to this day), a few ventured into the hinterlands. Among them were Jesuit missionaries, determined men who marched inland in search of Indian souls to "save," and the infamous bandeirantes (flag bearers), tough men who marched inland in search of Indians to enslave. (Later they hunted escaped Indian and African slaves.)
For two centuries after Cabral's discovery, the Portuguese had to periodically deal with foreign powers with designs on Brazil's resources. Although Portugal and Spain had the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas -- which set boundaries for each country in their newly discovered lands -- the guidelines were vague, causing the occasional territory dispute. Further, England, France, and Holland didn't fully recognize the treaty, which was made by Papal decree, and were aggressively seeking new lands in pirate-ridden seas. Such competition made the Lusitanian foothold in the New World tenuous at times.
The new territory faced internal as well as external challenges. Initially, the Portuguese Crown couldn't establish a strong central government in the subcontinent. For much of the colonial period, it relied on "captains," low ranking nobles and merchants who were granted authority over captaincies, slices of land often as big as their motherland. By 1549 it was evident that most of the captaincies were failing. Portugal's monarch dispatched a governor-general (who arrived with soldiers, priests, and craftspeople) to oversee them and to establish a capital (today's Salvador) in the central captaincy of Bahia.
At the end of the 17th century, the news that fabulous veins of emeralds, diamonds, and gold had been found in Minas Gerais exploded in Lisbon. The region began to export 30,000 pounds of gold a year to Portugal. Bandeirantes and other fortune hunters rushed in from all over, and boat loads of carpenters, stonemasons, sculptors, and painters came from Europe to build cities in the Brazilian wilderness.
In 1763, the capital was moved to Rio de Janeiro for a variety of political and administrative reasons. The country had successfully staved off invasions by other European nations and it had roughly taken its current shape. It added cotton and tobacco to sugar, gold, and diamonds on its list of exports. As the interior opened so did the opportunities for cattle ranching. Still, Portugal's policies tended toward stripping Brazil of its resources rather than developing a truly local economy. The arrival of the royal family, who were chased out of Portugal by Napoléon's armies in 1808, initiated major changes.
The Empire and the Republic:
As soon as Dom João VI and his entourage arrived in Rio, he began transforming the city and its environs. Building projects were set in motion, universities as well as a bank and a mint were founded, and investments were made in the arts. The ports were opened to trade with other nations, especially England, and morale improved throughout the territory. With the fall of Napoléon, Dom João VI returned to Portugal, leaving his young son, Pedro I, behind to govern. But Pedro had ideas of his own: he proclaimed Brazil's independence on September 7, 1822, and established the Brazilian empire. Nine years later, following a period of internal unrest and costly foreign wars, the emperor stepped aside in favor of his five-year-old son, Pedro II. A series of regents ruled until 1840, when the second Pedro was 14 and Parliament decreed him "of age.".
Pedro II's daughter, Princess Isabel, officially ended slavery in 1888. Soon after, disgruntled landowners united with the military to finish with monarchy altogether, forcing the royal family back to Portugal and founding Brazil's first republican government on November 15, 1889. A long series of easily forgettable presidents, backed by strong coffee and rubber economies, brought about some industrial and urban development during what's known as the Old Republic. In 1930, after his running mate was assassinated, presidential candidate Getúlio Vargas seized power via a military coup rather than elections. In 1945 his dictatorship ended in another coup. He returned to the political scene with a populist platform and was elected president in 1951.
Politics and Government:
President: Getúlio Vargas.
Government: (República presidencial) Presidential Republic.
Parties: Partido Comunista Brasileiro (Brazilian Communist Party; PCB), Partido Libertador (Liberator Party; PL), Ação Integralista Brasileira (Brazilian Integralist Action; AIB), Partido de Representação Popular (Popular Representation Party; PRP), Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro (Brazilian Labour Party; PTB), Partido Social Democrático (Social Democratic Party; PSD), União Democrática Nacional (National Democratic Union; UDN), Partido Social Progresista (Progressive Social Party; PSP), and Partido Democrata Cristão (Christian Democratic Party; PDC).
Military:
The military history of Brazil comprises centuries of armed actions in the territory encompassing modern Brazil, and the role of the Brazilian Armed Forces in conflicts and peacekeeping worldwide. For several hundreds of years, the area was the site of intertribal wars of indigenous peoples. Beginning in the 16th century, the arrival of Portuguese explorers led to conflicts with the aboriginal peoples; a notable example being the revolt of the Tamoio Confederation. Sporadic revolts of African slaves also marked the colonial period, with a notable rebellion led by Zumbi dos Palmares. Conflicts were encountered with other European nations as well – two notable examples being the France Antarctique affair, and a conflict with the Netherlands in the early 17th century over control of much of the Northeast. Although Portugal retained its possessions during conflicts with other nations, it lost control of the colony after the Brazilian war of Independence, which led to the establishment of the Empire of Brazil.
Brazil's history after independence is marked by early territorial wars against its neighboring countries which have greatly affected the formation of current political boundaries. For example, the Cisplatine War, fought over the present day territory of Uruguay established that nation's independence. Brazil was also affected in its infancy by minor – and ultimately, unsuccessful – revolts in the Northern provinces. An armed conflict with Paraguay led to an establishment of Brazil's current border with that nation after a decisive victory. Internal conflicts between the executive government and the power of wealthy landowners finally led to the abolishment of the Brazilian Empire, and the rise of the current republican government. Modern activity includes participation in both World Wars along with internal struggles
The armed forces of Brazil are the second-largest in Latin America, consist of the Brazilian Army, the Brazilian Navy, and the Brazilian Air Force with a total of 371,199 active personnel, however, is largest by level of military equipment. The Army has 235,978 active personnel The Military Police (States' Military Police) is described as an ancillary force of the Army by the constitution, but is under the control of each state's governor. The Navy operates with some of the most powerful warships in the world with the two Minas Geraes-class dreadnoughts, which sparked a South American dreadnought race between Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Today, it is a green water force and one of the ten navies that possesses an aircraft carrier. The Air Force has about 700 manned aircraft in service. Brazil has not been invaded since 1865 during the Paraguayan War. Additionally, Brazil has no contested territorial disputes with any of its neighbours and neither does it have rivalries, like Chile and Bolivia have with each other. The Brazilian military has also three times intervened militarily to overthrow the Brazilian government. It has built a tradition of participating in UN peacekeeping missions such as in Haiti and East Timor.
Geography:
Brazil occupies a large area along the eastern coast of South America and includes much of the continent's interior,[144] sharing land borders with Uruguay to the south; Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest; Bolivia and Peru to the west; Colombia to the northwest; and Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana to the north. It shares a border with every South American country except for Ecuador and Chile. It also encompasses a number of oceanic archipelagos, such as Fernando de Noronha, Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Paul Rocks, and Trindade and Martim Vaz. Its size, relief, climate, and natural resources make Brazil geographically diverse. Including its Atlantic islands, Brazil lies between latitudes 6°N and 34°S, and longitudes 28° and 74°W.
Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, and third largest in the Americas, with a total area of 8,514,876.599 km2 (3,287,612 sq mi), including 55,455 km2 (21,411 sq mi) of water. It spans three time zones; from UTC-4 in the western states, to UTC-3 in the eastern states (and the official time of Brazil) and UTC-2 in the Atlantic islands. Brazil is the only country in the world that lies on the equator while having contiguous territory outside the tropics.
Brazilian topography is also diverse and includes hills, mountains, plains, highlands, and scrublands. Much of the terrain lies between 200 metres (660 ft) and 800 metres (2,600 ft) in elevation. The main upland area occupies most of the southern half of the country. The northwestern parts of the plateau consist of broad, rolling terrain broken by low, rounded hills. The southeastern section is more rugged, with a complex mass of ridges and mountain ranges reaching elevations of up to 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). These ranges include the Mantiqueira and Espinhaço mountains and the Serra do Mar. In the north, the Guiana Highlands form a major drainage divide, separating rivers that flow south into the Amazon Basin from rivers that empty into the Orinoco River system, in Venezuela, to the north. The highest point in Brazil is the Pico da Neblina at 2,994 metres (9,823 ft), and the lowest is the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil has a dense and complex system of rivers, one of the world's most extensive, with eight major drainage basins, all of which drain into the Atlantic. Major rivers include the Amazon (the world's second-longest river and the largest in terms of volume of water), the Paraná and its major tributary the Iguaçu (which includes the Iguazu Falls), the Negro, São Francisco, Xingu, Madeira and Tapajós rivers.
Economy:
In 1870 Brazil’s trade with America was valued at about 31 million dollars while the combined trade of all the South American countries was valued at about $29 million. Brazil was a significant producer of coffee and because of this the United States imported about four times as much as it exported to Brazil. In 1885 Brazil was producing more than one half of the world’s supply of coffee. Brazil’s trade in 1890 was more than $71 million while that of Argentina and Chile was $14 million and $6 million respectively. Soon after 1896, the production of coffee started to surpass consumption and prices began to fall in Brazil. Brazil then stored their coffee instead of selling all of it, and when there was bad season of coffee production they would use what they had previously stored from the year before.
The Monroe Doctrine appeared to some South American states as a U.S attempt of preserving their control over that hemisphere. Brazil viewed this doctrine as a measure of protection against the interference of the United States and from European nations. Brazil’s first ambassador to the United States, Joaquim Nabuco, 1905–1910, was a partisan of the Monroe Doctrine. Brazil borrowed money from many nations but it was not until after World War One that it actually borrowed substantial amounts from the U.S. With the outbreak of the First World War, Brazil continued to share the most significant trade with America with a trade that was valued at $154 million.
The impact of coffee on the Brazilian economy was much stronger than that of sugar and gold. When the coffee surge began, Brazil was already free from the limitations of colonialism. Moreover, the substitution of slave labor for wage labor after 1870 (slavery was abolished in 1888) meant an increase in efficiency and the formation of a domestic market for wage goods. Finally, the greater complexity of coffee production and trade established important sectorial linkages within the Brazilian economy.
Coffee was introduced in Brazil early in the eighteenth century, but initially it was planted only for domestic use. It took the high world prices of the late 1820s and early 1830s to turn coffee into a major export item. During the initial phase, production was concentrated in the mountainous region near Rio de Janeiro. This area was highly suitable for coffee cultivation, and it had access to fairly abundant slave labor. Moreover, the coffee could be transported easily on mule trains or on animal-drawn carts over short distances to the ports.
An entrepreneurial class established in Rio de Janeiro during the mining surge was able to induce the government to help create basic conditions for the expansion of coffee, such as removing transportation and labor bottlenecks. From the area near Rio de Janeiro, coffee production moved along the Paraíba Valley toward São Paulo State, which later became Brazil's largest exporting region. Coffee was cultivated with primitive techniques and with no regard to land conservation. Land was abundant, and production could expand easily through the incorporation of new areas. However, it soon became necessary to ease two basic constraints: the lack of transportation and the shortage of labor.
The cultivation of coffee farther away from ports required the construction of railroads, first around Rio de Janeiro and into the Paraíba Valley, and later into the fertile highlands of São Paulo. In 1860 Brazil had only 223 kilometers (139 mi) of railroads; by 1885 this total had increased to 6,930 kilometers (4,310 mi). The main rail link between São Paulo's eastern highlands and the ocean port of Santos allowed for a rapid expansion of coffee into the center and northwest of the state.
After the initial coffee expansion, the availability of slaves dwindled, and further cultivation required additional slaves. However, by 1840 Brazil was already under pressure to abolish slavery, and a series of decrees were introduced, making it increasingly difficult to supply the new coffee areas with servile labor. In the 1870s, the shortage of labor became critical, leading to the gradual incorporation of free immigrant labor. The coffee expansion in the west-northwest of São Paulo State after 1880 was made possible largely by immigrant labor. In 1880 São Paulo produced 1.2 million 60-kilogram coffee bags, or 25% of Brazil's total; by 1888 this proportion had jumped to 40% (2.6 million bags); and by 1902, to 60% (8 million bags). In turn, between 1884 and 1890 some 201,000 immigrants had entered São Paulo State, and this total jumped to more than 733,000 between 1891 and 1900. Slavery was abolished in 1888.
The Brazilian economy grew considerably in the second half of the nineteenth century. Coffee was the mainstay of the economy, accounting for 63% of the country's exports in 1891, and 51% between 1901 and 1910. However, sugar, cotton, tobacco, cocoa, and, during the turn-of-the-century rubber boom, rubber were also important. During the first three decades of the twentieth century, the Brazilian economy went through periods of growth but also difficulties caused in part by World War I, the Great Depression, and an increasing trend toward coffee overproduction. The four-year gap between the time a coffee tree is planted and the time of the first harvest magnified cyclical fluctuations in coffee prices, which in turn led to the increasing use of government price supports during periods of excess production. The price supports induced an exaggerated expansion of coffee cultivation in São Paulo, culminating in the huge overproduction of the early 1930s.
The 1840 to 1930 period also saw an appreciable but irregular expansion of light industries, notably textiles, clothing, food products, beverages, and tobacco. This expansion was induced by the growth in income, by the availability of foreign exchange, by fiscal policies, and by external events, such as World War I. Other important factors were the expansion of transportation, the installed capacity of electric energy, increased urbanization, and the formation of a dynamic entrepreneurial class. However, the manufacturing growth of the period did not generate significant structural transformations.
Economic growth in the nineteenth century was not shared equally by the regions. Development and growth were concentrated in the Southeast. The South Region also achieved considerable development based on coffee and other agricultural products. The Amazon Basin experienced a meteoric rise and fall of incomes from rubber exports. The Northeast continued to stagnate, with its population living close to the subsistence level. The decade of the 1930s was a period of interrelated political and economic changes. The decade started with the 1930 revolution, which abolished the Old Republic (1889–1930), a federation of semi-autonomous states. After a transitional period in which centralizing elements struggled with the old oligarchies for control, a coup in 1937 established the New State (Estado Novo) dictatorship (1937–45).
To a large extent, the revolution of 1930 reflected a dissatisfaction with the political control exercised by the old oligarchies. The political unrest of the first half of the 1930s and the 1937 coup were influenced strongly by the onset of economic problems in 1930. The coffee economy suffered from a severe decline in world demand caused by the Great Depression and an excess capacity of coffee production created in the 1920s. As a result, the price of coffee fell sharply and remained at very low levels. Brazil's terms of trade deteriorated significantly. These events, and a large foreign debt, led to an external crisis that took almost a decade to resolve.
The external difficulties had far-reaching consequences. The government was forced to suspend part of the country's debt payments and eventually to impose exchange controls. Excess coffee production led to increasing interventions in the coffee market. The state programs to support coffee prices went bankrupt in 1930. To avoid further decreases in coffee prices, the central government bought huge amounts of coffee, which was then destroyed. Central government intervention provided support to the coffee sector and, through its linkages, to the rest of the economy. Despite the economic difficulties, the income maintenance scheme of the coffee support program, coupled with the implicit protection provided by the external crisis, was responsible for greater industrial growth. Initially, this growth was based on increased utilization of the productive capacity and later on moderate spurts of investment. The initial import substitution industrialization that occurred especially during World War I did not lead to industrialization; it became a process of industrialization only in the 1930s.
The 1930s also saw a change in the role of government. Until then, the state acted primarily in response to the demands of the export sector. During the first half of the decade, it was forced to interfere swiftly in an attempt to control the external crisis and to avoid the collapse of the coffee economy; government leaders hoped that the crisis would pass soon and that another export boom would occur. However, with the magnitude and duration of the crisis it became clear that Brazil could no longer rely solely on exports of primary goods and that it was necessary to promote economic diversification. During the Estado Novo, the government made initial attempts at economic planning, and in the late 1930s began to establish the first large government enterprise, an integrated steel mill, Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional.
The World War II period saw mixed achievements. By the late 1930s, coffee production capacity had been reduced drastically, the worst of the external crisis had passed, and the Brazilian economy was ready to grow. However, the war interfered with development efforts. Output increased mainly through better utilization of the existing capacity but, except for the steel mill, there was little industrial and infrastructure investment. Thus, at the end of the war Brazil's industrial capacity was obsolete and the transportation infrastructure was inadequate and badly deteriorated.
At the end of World War II, political and economic liberalism were reintroduced in Brazil. Getúlio Dorneles Vargas was overthrown, democratic rule was reestablished, and the foreign-exchange reserves accumulated during the war made possible a reduction of trade restrictions. However, trade liberalization was short-lived. The overvalued foreign-exchange rate, established in 1945. This, combined with persistent inflation and a repressed demand, meant sharp increases in imports and a sluggish performance of exports, which soon led again to a balance of payments crisis. Pessimistic about the future of Brazil's exports, the government feared that the crisis would have a negative impact on inflation. Consequently, instead of devaluing the cruzeiro, it decided to deal with the crisis through exchange controls.
Culture:
The culture of Brazil presents a very diverse nature showing that an ethnic and cultural mixing occurred in the colonial period involving mostly Native Brazilians, Portuguese and Africans. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Italian, German, Spanish, Ukrainians, Polish, Arab and Japanese immigrants settled in Brazil and played an important role in its culture, creating a multicultural and multiethnic society.
As consequence of three centuries of colonization by the Portuguese empire, the core of Brazilian culture is derived from the culture of Portugal. The numerous Portuguese inheritances include the language, the predominant religion and the colonial architectural styles. These aspects, however, were influenced by African and Native American traditions, as well as those from other Western European countries. Some aspects of Brazilian culture are contributions of Italian, German and other European immigrants. Amerindian peoples and Africans played a large role in the formation of Brazilian language, cuisine, music, dance and religion. This diverse cultural background has helped boast many celebrations and festivals that have become known around the world, such as the Brazilian Carnival and the Bumba Meu Boi. The colourful culture creates an environment that makes Brazil a popular destination for many tourists each year, around over 1 million.
About 2/3 of the population are Roman Catholics. Catholicism was introduced and spread largely by the Portuguese Jesuits, who arrived in 1549 during the colonization with the mission of converting the Indigenous people. The Society of Jesus played a large role in the formation of Brazilian religious identity until their expulsion of the country by the Marquis of Pombal in the 18th century. In recent decades Brazilian society is witnessing a rise in Protestantism, it started in the 1940s and Roman Catholicism is decreasing. The native inhabitants of Brazil had much contact with the colonists. Many were exterminated, others mixed with the Portuguese. For that reason, Brazil also holds Amerindian influences in its culture, mainly in its food and language. Brazilian Portuguese has hundreds of words of Native American origin, mainly from the Old Tupi language.
Black Africans, who were brought as slaves to Brazil, also participated actively in the formation of Brazilian culture. Although the Portuguese colonists forced their slaves to convert to Catholicism and speak Portuguese their cultural influences were absorbed by the inhabitants of Brazil of all races and origins. Some regions of Brazil, especially Bahia, have particularly notable African inheritances in music, cuisine, dance and language. Immigrants from Italy, Germany, Spain, Japan, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Austria-Hungary and the Middle East played an important role in the areas they settled (mostly Southern and Southeastern Brazil). They organized communities that became important cities such as Joinville, Caxias do Sul, Blumenau, Curitiba and brought important contributions to the culture of Brazil.
The Brazilian Carnaval is an annual festival held forty-six days before Easter. Carnival celebrations are believed to have roots in the pagan festival of Saturnalia, which, adapted to Christianity, became a farewell to bad things in a season of religious discipline to practice repentance and prepare for Christ's death and resurrection. Carnival is the most famous holiday in Brazil and has become an event of huge proportions. The country stops completely for almost a week and festivities are intense, day and night, mainly in coastal cities. The typical genres of music of Brazilian carnival are: samba-enredo and marchinha (in Rio de Janeiro and Southeast Region), frevo, maracatu and Axé music (in Pernambuco, Bahia and Northeast Region).
Brazilian cuisine varies greatly by region. This diversity reflects the country's mix of natives and immigrants. This has created a national cooking style, marked by the preservation of regional differences. Since the colonial period, the feijoada has been the country's national dish. Luís da Câmara Cascudo wrote that, having been revised and adapted in each region of the country, it is no longer just a dish, but has become a complete food. Rice and beans, also present in the feijoada, and considered basic at Brazilian tables, is highly regarded as healthy because it contains almost all amino acids, fiber, and starches needed for our body.
Brazil has a variety of candies that are traditionally eaten for birthday parties, like brigadeiros ("brigadiers") and beijinhos ("kissies"). Other foods typically consumed in Brazilian parties are coxinhas, churrasco, sfiha, empanadas, and pine nuts (in Festa Junina). Specially in the state of Minas Gerais, are produced and consumed the famous cheese bun. The typical northern food is pato no tucupi, tacacá, caruru, vatapá, and maniçoba; the Northeast is known for moqueca (having seafood and palm oil), acarajé (the salted muffin made with white beans, onion and fried in oil palm (dendê), which is filled with dried shrimp and red pepper), manioc, diz, hominy, dumpling, and Quibebe. In the Southeast, it is common to eat Minas cheese, pizza, tutu, sushi, stew, polenta, and masses of macaroni, lasagna, and gnocchi. In the South, these foods are also popular, but the churrasco is the typical meal of Rio Grande do Sul. Cachaça is Brazil's native liquor, distilled from sugar cane, and it is the main ingredient in the national drink, the caipirinha. Brazil is the world leader in production of green coffee (café); because the Brazilian fertile soil, the country could produce and expand its market maker and often establish its economy with coffee, since the Brazilian slavery, which created a whole culture around this national drink, which became known as the "fever of coffee" – and satirized in the novelty song "The Coffee Song", sang by Frank Sinatra and with lyrics by Bob Hilliard, interpreted as an analysis of the coffee industry, and of the Brazilian economy and culture.
The oldest known examples of Brazilian art are cave paintings in Serra da Capivara National Park in the state of Piauí, dating back to c. 13,000 BC. In Minas Gerais and Goiás have been found more recent examples showing geometric patterns and animal forms. One of the most sophisticated kinds of Pre-Columbian artifact found in Brazil is the sophisticated Marajoara pottery (c. 800–1400 AD), from cultures flourishing on Marajó Island and around the region of Santarém, and statuettes and cult objects, such as the small carved-stone amulets called muiraquitãs, also belong to these cultures. Many of the Jesuits worked in Brazil under the influence of the Baroque, the dominant style in Brazil until the early 19th century. The Baroque in Brazil flourished in Bahia and Pernambuco and Minas Gerais, generating valuable artists like Manuel da Costa Ataíde and especially the sculptor-architect Aleijadinho.
In 1816, the French Artistic Mission in Brazil created the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts and imposed a new concept of artistic education and was the basis for a revolution in Brazilian painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic arts, and crafts. A few decades later, under the personal patronage of Emperor Dom Pedro II, who was engaged in an ambitious national project of modernization, the Academy reached its golden age, fostering the emergence of the first generation of Romantic painters, whence Victor Meirelles and Pedro Américo, that, among others, produced lasting visual symbols of national identity. It must be said that in Brazil Romanticism in painting took a peculiar shape, not showing the overwhelming dramaticism, fantasy, violence, or interest in death and the bizarre commonly seen in the European version, and because of its academic and palatial nature all excesses were eschewed.
The beginning of the 20th century saw a struggle between old schools and modernist trends. Important modern artists Anita Malfatti and Tarsila do Amaral were both early pioneers in Brazilian art. Both participated of The Week of Modern Art festival, held in São Paulo in 1922, that renewed the artistic and cultural environment of the city and also presented artists such as Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, Vicente do Rego Monteiro, and Victor Brecheret. Based on Brazilian folklore, many artists have committed themselves to mix it with the proposals of the European Expressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism. From Surrealism, arises Ismael Nery, concerned with metaphysical subjects where their pictures appear on imaginary scenarios and averse to any recognizable reference.
Brazilian architecture in the colonial period was heavily influenced by the Portuguese Manueline style, albeit adapted for the tropical climate. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city of Ouro Preto in the state of Minas Gerais contains numerous well-preserved examples of this style by artists such as Aleijadinho. In later centuries, Brazilian architects were increasingly influenced by schools from other countries such as France and the United States, eventually developing a style of their own that has become known around the world.
Literature in Brazil dates back to the 16th century, to the writings of the first Portuguese explorers in Brazil, such as Pêro Vaz de Caminha, filled with descriptions of fauna, flora and natives that amazed Europeans that arrived in Brazil. When Brazil became a colony of Portugal, there was the "Jesuit Literature", whose main name was father António Vieira, a Portuguese Jesuit who became one of the most celebrated Baroque writers of the Portuguese language. A few more explicitly literary examples survive from this period, José Basílio da Gama's epic poem celebrating the conquest of the Missions by the Portuguese, and the work of Gregório de Matos Guerra, who produced a sizable amount of satirical, religious, and secular poetry. Neoclassicism was widespread in Brazil during the mid-18th century, following the Italian style.
Brazil produced significant works in Romanticism – novelists like Joaquim Manuel de Macedo and José de Alencar wrote novels about love and pain. Alencar, in his long career, also treated Indigenous people as heroes in the Indigenist novels O Guarany, Iracema, Ubirajara. The French Mal du siècle was also introduced in Brazil by the likes of Alvares de Azevedo, whose Lira dos Vinte Anos and Noite na Taverna are national symbols of the Ultra-romanticism. Gonçalves Dias, considered one of the national poets, sang the Brazilian people and the Brazilian land on the famous Song of the Exile (1843), known to every Brazilian schoolchild. Also dates from this period, although his work has hatched in Realism, Machado de Assis, whose works include Helena, Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas, O alienista, Dom Casmurro, and who is widely regarded as the most important writer of Brazilian literature. Assis is also highly respected around the world.
Theatre was introduced by the Jesuits during the colonization, particularly by Father José de Anchieta, but did not attract much interest until the transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil in 1808. Over the course of the 18th century, theatre evolved alongside the blossoming literature traditions with names such as Martins Pena and Gonçalves Dias. Pena introduced the comedy of manners, which would become a distinct mark of Brazilian theatre over the next decades. Theatre was not included in the 1922 Modern Art Week of São Paulo, which marked the beginning of Brazilian Modernism.
Samba is among the most popular music genres in Brazil and is widely regarded as the country's national musical style. It developed from the mixture of European and African music, brought by slaves in the colonial period and originated in the state of Bahia. In the early 20th century, modern samba emerged and was popularized in Rio de Janeiro behind composers such as Noel Rosa, Cartola and Nelson Cavaquinho among others. The movement later spread and gained notoriety in other regions, particularly in Bahia and São Paulo. Contemporary artists include Martinho da Vila, Zeca Pagodinho and Paulinho da Viola. Samba makes use of a distinct set of instruments, among the most notable are the cuíca, a friction drum that creates a high-pitched squeaky sound, the cavaquinho, a small instrument of the guitar family, and the pandeiro, a hand frame drum. Other instruments are the surdos, agogôs, chocalhos and tamborins.
Choro originated in the 19th century through interpretations of European genres such as polka and schottische by Brazilian artists who had already been influenced by African rhythms such as the batuque. It is a largely instrumental genre that shares a number of characteristics with samba. Choro gained popularity around the start of the 20th century (1880-1920) and was the genre of many of the first Brazilian records in the first decades of the 20th century. Notable Choro musicians of that era include Chiquinha Gonzaga, Pixinguinha and Joaquim Callado. The popularity of choro steadily waned after the popularization of samba but saw a revival in recent decades and remains appreciated by a large number of Brazilians.
Forró and Frevo are two music and dance forms originated in the Brazilian Northeast. Forró, like Choro, originated from European folk genres such as the schottische in between the 19th and early 20th centuries. It remains a very popular music style, particularly in the Northeast region, and is danced in forrobodós (parties and balls) throughout the country. Frevo originated in Recife, Pernambuco during the Carnival, the period it is most often associated with. While the music presents elements of procession and martial marches, the frevo dance (known as "passo") has been notably influenced by capoeira. Frevo parades are a key tradition of the Pernambuco Carnival.
Brazil has also a tradition in the classical music, since the 18th Century. The oldest composer with the full documented work is José Maurício Nunes Garcia, a catholic priest who wrote numerous pieces, both sacred and secular, with a style resembling the classical viennese style from Mozart and Haydn. In the 19th Century, the composer Antonio Carlos Gomes wrote many operas with Brazilian indigenous themes, with librettos in Italian, many of which premiered in Milan; some of the most outstanding works are the operas Il Guarany and Lo Schiavo (The Slave).
Brazilian folklore includes many stories, legends, dances, superstitions and religious rituals. Characters include the Boitatá, the Boto Cor-de-Rosa, the Saci and the Bumba Meu Boi, which has spawned the famous June festival in Northern and Northeastern Brazil.
Football is the most popular sport in Brazil. Some sport variations have their origins in Brazil. Beach football, futsal (official version of indoor football), and footvolley emerged in the country as variations of football.
Infrastructure:
Brazil has numerous airports and many of them are named after famous or well-known Brazilian citizens. There are plans for developing many of the main commercial airports due to expected increased air traffic. The São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governador André Franco Montoro International Airport is known as one of the busiest airports in Brazil by passenger traffic, aircraft movement and cargo traffic; and is located within São Paulo, Brazil. The facilities in this airport are shared with the São Paul Air Force and the Brazilian Air Force. The tropic of Capricorn passes right through the southern tip of the airport and it is situated about 25km from downtown São Paulo.
Rio de Janeiro/Galeão–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport is the largest airport site in Brazil and the main airport in Rio de Janeiro, and ranked as the second busiest in passenger traffic. The facilities in this airport are shared with the Rio de Janeiro Air Force and the Brazilian Air Force. This airport is situated 20km north of downtown Rio de Janeiro. In 1923 near Galeão beach on Governador Island a School of Naval Aviation began. Then in 1941 it became known as Galeão Air Force Base as the Brazilian Air Force Ministry was started.
Agriculture is an important industry in Brazil, as this country has immense agricultural resources available to it. Its most significant products in this sphere are coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, citrus and beef (in order of importance). Its most significant exports are coffee, soybeans, beef, sugar cane, ethanol and frozen chickens. Southern Brazil makes up close to two-thirds of the country and is characterised by a semi-temperate, or moderate, climate. The soils here are fertile and the higher rainfall levels ensure that crops are well irrigated and fed. In addition to the natural resources of Southern Brazil, this area is also home to more advanced farming technology and farmers with extensive experience. Therefore, this region produces most of the country’s grains, export crops and oilseeds.
Northern Brazil is far drier and less equipped. It often succumbs to droughts, and lacks infrastructure, capital and good soil, due to minimal rainfall. This area is occupied mainly by subsistence farmers (who survive off of their produce). However, there are certain crops from this region that are essential for export; such as cocoa, tropical fruits and forest products. Central Brazil has, for generations, been considered to be unsuitable for farming. However, this area (partly known as cerrados) is now booming, being used extensively for mechanised crop agriculture. Vast expanses of this land are still to be developed, being used only in pasture, but having the potential to produce excellent farming and exporting crops. This area was once very isolated, due to there being a lack of roads and other important infrastructure. Cattle farming remains one of this country’s key industries, since Brazil produces millions of tonnes of beef every year. Cattle farming occurs mainly in Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás and Minas Gerais.
Significantly, Brazil is also the second-largest producer of soybeans on the planet. These beans and their derivatives are used extensively all over the world. Mato Grosso and Paraná together produce almost half of the entire country’s soybean volume.Brazil is the global leader in the production of sugarcane, harvesting more than 600 million tonnes of it every year. The states responsible for the growth of sugarcane include São Paulo, Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Goiás and Paraná, amongst others. The agriculture of Brazil (as with other countries in the world) presents a number of problems. For one, deforestation occurs to make room for agricultural areas. This causes greenhouse gas emissions and drastically reduces the amount of oxygen available to the world. It also reduces the natural habitat of many species of plants and animals, having devastating effects on their numbers.
The architecture of a country is defined, to an enormous degree, by its history and heritage. On the other hand, the architecture also forms a major part of the character and identity of a destination. Therefore, exploring the architecture of a country reveals much about it, and remains a very important part of tourism. Brazil was colonised by Portuguese explorers centuries ago, and this culture has continued to influence the look and feel of this country. Today, there remain a few examples of this Portuguese architecture of yesteryear. These colonial-style buildings give the country a really charming element. However, the modernist approach is still the overriding architectural style of Brazil. This style is characterised by minimalism and the absence of excess frill or decoration. It is simple, with clean lines and a functional form. This particular type of architecture was adopted after World War Two, when function took precedence over form.
Travellers that have a particular interest in architecture are invited to see the wonders of Brazil. They will be treated, not only to modernist examples of design and structure, but also to baroque and neoclassical influences. For these ones, the best cities to see are Salvador (the colonial capital that boasts stunning examples of the classic Portuguese style from long ago); Olinda and Minas Gerais (built during the 19th century, these areas are characterised by a distinct Baroque style); and Rio's Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Belem's Teatro da Paz, and Manuas' Teatro Amazonas (for the neoclassical look and feel).
The forestry or timber industry is a major component of the financial success and stability of Brazil. By June 2012, Brazil had 7.74 million hectares of certified forest (according to FSC and CERFLOR standards). Of course, there is plenty of uncertified timber being produced and processed, which continues to plague the legitimate timber industries, who vie for clients. This South American country is home to the third-largest remaining frontier forest (large and relatively undisturbed natural forests) on the planet, making up about 17% of the world’s frontier forests. It has the highest biodiversity in terms of the plants that these forests accommodate. The most significant timber products to be exported include pulp, raw wood, wood chips, laminated wood, plywood, paper, flooring, furniture, wood fibre panels, frames and packaging. These are sent all over the world, generating an enormous income for the country of Brazil.
The native forests of Brazil occupy an area of just over 517 million hectares (more than 98% of the country’s forests), while the planted forests occupy approximately 6.6 million hectares. The vast majority of the country’s planted forests are located in the south of Brazil, while the native forests that provide timber are almost exclusively part of the Amazon. There is a small section of native forest that is still being harvested for wood in the dwindling Atlantic Forest on the east coast. Pine and eucalyptus are the two predominant timber species that are produced, processed and traded in Brazil. The main softwood export ports of Brazil comprise São Francisco do Sul, Paranaguá and Itajaí. For hardwood, the most significant ports for export are Belém, Paranaguá, Santarém and Vila do Conde.
It is not generally recommended that tourists opt to travel and explore Brazil on the roads, by driving a motor vehicle. The reasons include, the state of the roads are not well maintained, the parking availability in cities is low, there is a great deal of distance between cities and locations of sight-seeing; but most of all because Brazil has the highest fatality in the world from driving related accidents. It is recognized that drivers in the Brazilian cities tend to be aggressive drivers who have disregard for road rules and this is a perfect set up for road accidents. Road rage, tailgating and other forms of illegal driving do seem to be rife in Brazil. Truck drivers vary from having a safe regard and caution in road driving, to others that are known to be intoxicated or over-worked and therefore tired. The constant need to be alert is heightened by the risk of stray animals on streets. Pedestrians and motorcycle riders also do not sometimes adhere to road rules.
The threat of being mugged at robot/light crossings is also common and many drivers try to always have their windows closed. This may perpetuate many drivers feeling hot and irritable, as most cars in Brazil lack air-conditioning. Brazil has the fourth largest highway system in the world. The main route of transport of people and freight/cargo is via the highways. It is a fact that over 90% of the roads in Brazil are unpaved and this means that below 10% of Brazilian roads are paved roads. The code for highways has a simple abbreviation; the regional high-ways are named by getting the two letters abbreviating the state and then three letters describing the highway. As an example SP-123 tells us the highway is in São Paulo and is directed in a north-south direction. Brazilian National Highways are abbreviated BR with the three numbers following to describe the highway. As an example BR-241 informs us that the highway is a main one and that it is going in an east-west direction. The maintenance of the highways tends to be a major concern, as the weather and heavy use on them causes much wear and tear. Potholes are issues on the roads. Toll roads are well utilized in Brazil to gain funding for the maintenance of the roads, the highest toll fees are set by private companies.
Railway services are operated by private and public operators. There are metro systems in eight Brazilian cities, which is a huge aid as road traffic is dangerous. The rail network is about 28,538 km. There are four gauges, standard, dual, narrow and broad. Most of the train services in Brazil are used to transport cargo. From 1859 steam-powered, horse-drawn and electric tramways have been operating in Brazil. This means it was one of the first countries to utilize tramway mode of transport, and to this day trams are still used. Rio de Janeiro had street cars before London, Paris and Malan. Although Brazil borders ten countries, it only has international rail links with three, namely Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia. There are a number of rail links connecting some Brazilian cities. While local trains transport passengers to and from interior towns, coastal areas and some metropolitan suburbs. There are some trains that are specifically focused for tourists, such as the Corcovado Train (Trem de Corcovado) in Rio de Janeiro. This train takes passengers to the site of Christ the Redeemer monument. Brazil also has some of the heaviest metal ore trains in the world.
Science and Technology:
Brazilian science effectively began in the first decades of the 19th century, when the Portuguese royal family, headed by D. João VI, arrived in Rio de Janeiro, escaping from the Napoleon's army invasion of Portugal in 1807. Like almost all territories and regions of the New World, Brazil was a Portuguese colony, without universities, and a few cultural and scientific organizations. The former American colonies of the Spanish Empire, although having a largely illiterate population like Brazil, Portugal and Spain, had, however, a number of universities since the 16th century. This may have been a deliberate policy of the Portuguese colonial power, because they feared that the appearance of educated Brazilian classes would boost nationalism and aspirations toward political independence, as it had happened in the USA and several Latin American former Spanish colonies. However, throughout the centuries of Portuguese rule, Brazilian students were allowed and even encouraged to enroll at higher education in mainland Portugal. In addition, mainland Portugal's population at the time was also largely illiterate and had for most of those period a single university, the University of Coimbra, which educated Portuguese people from all the Empire, including from the colony of Brazil.
The first firm attempts of having a Brazilian science establishment were made around 1783, with the expedition of Portuguese naturalist Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira, who was sent by Portugal's prime minister, the Marquis of Pombal, to explore and identify Brazilian fauna, flora and geology. His collections, however, were lost to the French, when Napoleon invaded Portugal, and were transported to Paris by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. In 1772, even before the establishment of the Science Academy of Lisbon (1779), one of the first learned societies of both Brazil and the Portuguese Empire was founded in Rio de Janeiro - it was the Sociedade Scientifica, but lasted only until 1794. Also, in 1797, the first botanic institute was founded in Salvador, Bahia. During the late 18th century, the Real Academia de Artilharia, Fortificação e Desenho of Rio de Janeiro was created in 1792 through a decree issued by the Portuguese authorities as a higher education school for the teaching of the sciences and engineering. Both the engineering schools of the Rio de Janeiro Federal University and the Military Institute of Engineering were created and developed from the oldest engineering school of Brazil which is also one of the oldest in Latin America.
D. João VI gave impetus to all these accoutrements of European civilization to Brazil. In a short period (between 1808 and 1810), the government founded the Royal Naval Academy and the Royal Military Academy (both military schools), the Biblioteca Nacional, the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, the Medico-Chirurgical School of Bahia, currently known as Faculdade de Medicina under harbour of Universidade Federal da Bahia and the Medico-Chirurgical School of Rio de Janeiro (Faculdade de Medicina of Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro). Notable scientific expeditions organized by Brazilians were rare, the most significant one being that of Martim Francisco de Andrada e Silva and José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva, in 1819.
After independence from Portugal, declared by the King's son in 1822, D. Pedro I (who became the new country's first Emperor), the policies concerning higher learning, science and technology in Brazil came to a relative standstill. In the first two decades of the century, science in Brazil was mostly carried out by temporary scientific expeditions by European naturalists, such as Charles Darwin, Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied, Carl von Martius, Johann Baptist von Spix, Alexander Humboldt, Augustin Saint-Hilaire, Baron Grigori Ivanovitch Langsdorff, Friedrich Sellow, Fritz Müller, Hermann von Ihering, Émil Goeldi and others. This science was mostly descriptive of the fantastic Brazilian biodiversity of its flora and fauna, and also its geology, geography and anthropology, and until the creation of the National Museum, the specimens were mostly removed to European institutions. In the educational area, a number of higher education institutions were founded in the 19th century, but for decades to come, most Brazilian students, still studied at European universities, such as the ancient University of Coimbra, in Portugal.
Things started to change after 1841, when the eldest son of D. Pedro I, Emperor D. Pedro II came to the throne when he was 15 years old. In the next 50 years, Brazil enjoyed a stable constitutional monarchy. D. Pedro II was an enlightened monarch who favored the arts, literature, science and technology and had extensive international contacts in these areas. The mainstay of Brazilian science and the seat of its first research laboratories was the National Museum (Museu Nacional) in Rio de Janeiro, in existence until today. D. Pedro developed a strong personal interest and selected and invited many august European scientific personalities, such as von Ihering and Goeldi, to work in Brazil. He and his ministers, courtesans and senators often attended scientific conferences in the Museum. There, the first laboratory of physiology was founded in 1880, under João Baptista de Lacerda and Louis Couty. Unfortunately, the creation of research universities and institutes would only occur on the beginning of the 20th century - a long delay for the education, science and technology in Brazil.
Development:
After 1930, the successive governments continued industrial and agriculture growth and development of the vast interior of Brazil. Getúlio Vargas led a military junta that had taken control in 1930 and would remain ruling from 1930 to 1945 with the backing of Brazilian military, especially the Army. In this period, he faced internally the Constitutionalist Revolt in 1932 and two separate coup d'état attempts: by Communists in 1935 and by local Fascists in 1938. A democratic regime prevailed from 1945–64. In the 1950s after Vargas' second period (this time, democratically elected), the country experienced an economic boom during Juscelino Kubitschek's years, during which the capital was moved from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília.
Externally, after a relative isolation during the first half of the 1930s due to the effects of the 1929 Crisis, in the second half of the 1930s there was a rapprochement with the fascist regimes of Italy and Germany. However, after the fascist coup attempt in 1938 and the naval blockade imposed on these two countries by the British navy from the beginning of World War II, in the decade of 1940 there was a return to the old foreign policy of the previous period. During the early 1940s, Brazil joined the allied forces in the Battle of Atlantic and the Italian Campaign; in the 1950s the country began its participation in the United Nations' peacekeeping missions
Advanced Nation RP
Basic information:
Official Name: Estados Unidos do Brasil (United States of Brazil).
Language: Portuguese.
Capital: Rio de Janeiro.
Population: 56,739,000.
Demonym: Brazilian.
Currency: Real (R$).
History:
Colonial Days:
Brazil was officially "discovered" in 1500, when a fleet commanded by Portuguese diplomat Pedro Álvares Cabral, on its way to India, landed in Porto Seguro, between Salvador and Rio de Janeiro. (There is, however, strong evidence that other Portuguese adventurers preceded him. Duarte Pacheco Pereira, in his book De Situ Orbis, tells of being in Brazil in 1498, sent by King Manuel of Portugal.)
Brazil's first colonizers were met by Tupinamba Indians, one group in the vast array of the continent's native population. Lisbon's early goals were simple: monopolize the lucrative trade of pau-brasil, the red wood (valued for making dye) that gave the colony its name, and establish permanent settlements. There's evidence that the Indians and Portuguese initially worked together to harvest trees. Later, the need to head farther inland to find forested areas made the pau-brasil trade less desirable. The interest in establishing plantations on cleared lands increased and so did the need for laborers. The Portuguese tried to enslave Indians, but, unaccustomed to toiling long hours in fields and overcome by European diseases, many natives either fled far inland or died. (When Cabral arrived, the indigenous population was believed to have been more than 3 million; today the number is scarcely more than 200,000.) The Portuguese then turned to the African slave trade for their workforce.
Although most settlers preferred the coastal areas (a preference that continues to this day), a few ventured into the hinterlands. Among them were Jesuit missionaries, determined men who marched inland in search of Indian souls to "save," and the infamous bandeirantes (flag bearers), tough men who marched inland in search of Indians to enslave. (Later they hunted escaped Indian and African slaves.)
For two centuries after Cabral's discovery, the Portuguese had to periodically deal with foreign powers with designs on Brazil's resources. Although Portugal and Spain had the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas -- which set boundaries for each country in their newly discovered lands -- the guidelines were vague, causing the occasional territory dispute. Further, England, France, and Holland didn't fully recognize the treaty, which was made by Papal decree, and were aggressively seeking new lands in pirate-ridden seas. Such competition made the Lusitanian foothold in the New World tenuous at times.
The new territory faced internal as well as external challenges. Initially, the Portuguese Crown couldn't establish a strong central government in the subcontinent. For much of the colonial period, it relied on "captains," low ranking nobles and merchants who were granted authority over captaincies, slices of land often as big as their motherland. By 1549 it was evident that most of the captaincies were failing. Portugal's monarch dispatched a governor-general (who arrived with soldiers, priests, and craftspeople) to oversee them and to establish a capital (today's Salvador) in the central captaincy of Bahia.
At the end of the 17th century, the news that fabulous veins of emeralds, diamonds, and gold had been found in Minas Gerais exploded in Lisbon. The region began to export 30,000 pounds of gold a year to Portugal. Bandeirantes and other fortune hunters rushed in from all over, and boat loads of carpenters, stonemasons, sculptors, and painters came from Europe to build cities in the Brazilian wilderness.
In 1763, the capital was moved to Rio de Janeiro for a variety of political and administrative reasons. The country had successfully staved off invasions by other European nations and it had roughly taken its current shape. It added cotton and tobacco to sugar, gold, and diamonds on its list of exports. As the interior opened so did the opportunities for cattle ranching. Still, Portugal's policies tended toward stripping Brazil of its resources rather than developing a truly local economy. The arrival of the royal family, who were chased out of Portugal by Napoléon's armies in 1808, initiated major changes.
The Empire and the Republic:
As soon as Dom João VI and his entourage arrived in Rio, he began transforming the city and its environs. Building projects were set in motion, universities as well as a bank and a mint were founded, and investments were made in the arts. The ports were opened to trade with other nations, especially England, and morale improved throughout the territory. With the fall of Napoléon, Dom João VI returned to Portugal, leaving his young son, Pedro I, behind to govern. But Pedro had ideas of his own: he proclaimed Brazil's independence on September 7, 1822, and established the Brazilian empire. Nine years later, following a period of internal unrest and costly foreign wars, the emperor stepped aside in favor of his five-year-old son, Pedro II. A series of regents ruled until 1840, when the second Pedro was 14 and Parliament decreed him "of age.".
Pedro II's daughter, Princess Isabel, officially ended slavery in 1888. Soon after, disgruntled landowners united with the military to finish with monarchy altogether, forcing the royal family back to Portugal and founding Brazil's first republican government on November 15, 1889. A long series of easily forgettable presidents, backed by strong coffee and rubber economies, brought about some industrial and urban development during what's known as the Old Republic. In 1930, after his running mate was assassinated, presidential candidate Getúlio Vargas seized power via a military coup rather than elections. In 1945 his dictatorship ended in another coup. He returned to the political scene with a populist platform and was elected president in 1951.
Politics and Government:
President: Getúlio Vargas.
Government: (República presidencial) Presidential Republic.
Parties: Partido Comunista Brasileiro (Brazilian Communist Party; PCB), Partido Libertador (Liberator Party; PL), Ação Integralista Brasileira (Brazilian Integralist Action; AIB), Partido de Representação Popular (Popular Representation Party; PRP), Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro (Brazilian Labour Party; PTB), Partido Social Democrático (Social Democratic Party; PSD), União Democrática Nacional (National Democratic Union; UDN), Partido Social Progresista (Progressive Social Party; PSP), and Partido Democrata Cristão (Christian Democratic Party; PDC).
Military:
The military history of Brazil comprises centuries of armed actions in the territory encompassing modern Brazil, and the role of the Brazilian Armed Forces in conflicts and peacekeeping worldwide. For several hundreds of years, the area was the site of intertribal wars of indigenous peoples. Beginning in the 16th century, the arrival of Portuguese explorers led to conflicts with the aboriginal peoples; a notable example being the revolt of the Tamoio Confederation. Sporadic revolts of African slaves also marked the colonial period, with a notable rebellion led by Zumbi dos Palmares. Conflicts were encountered with other European nations as well – two notable examples being the France Antarctique affair, and a conflict with the Netherlands in the early 17th century over control of much of the Northeast. Although Portugal retained its possessions during conflicts with other nations, it lost control of the colony after the Brazilian war of Independence, which led to the establishment of the Empire of Brazil.
Brazil's history after independence is marked by early territorial wars against its neighboring countries which have greatly affected the formation of current political boundaries. For example, the Cisplatine War, fought over the present day territory of Uruguay established that nation's independence. Brazil was also affected in its infancy by minor – and ultimately, unsuccessful – revolts in the Northern provinces. An armed conflict with Paraguay led to an establishment of Brazil's current border with that nation after a decisive victory. Internal conflicts between the executive government and the power of wealthy landowners finally led to the abolishment of the Brazilian Empire, and the rise of the current republican government. Modern activity includes participation in both World Wars along with internal struggles
The armed forces of Brazil are the second-largest in Latin America, consist of the Brazilian Army, the Brazilian Navy, and the Brazilian Air Force with a total of 371,199 active personnel, however, is largest by level of military equipment. The Army has 235,978 active personnel The Military Police (States' Military Police) is described as an ancillary force of the Army by the constitution, but is under the control of each state's governor. The Navy operates with some of the most powerful warships in the world with the two Minas Geraes-class dreadnoughts, which sparked a South American dreadnought race between Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Today, it is a green water force and one of the ten navies that possesses an aircraft carrier. The Air Force has about 700 manned aircraft in service. Brazil has not been invaded since 1865 during the Paraguayan War. Additionally, Brazil has no contested territorial disputes with any of its neighbours and neither does it have rivalries, like Chile and Bolivia have with each other. The Brazilian military has also three times intervened militarily to overthrow the Brazilian government. It has built a tradition of participating in UN peacekeeping missions such as in Haiti and East Timor.
Geography:
Brazil occupies a large area along the eastern coast of South America and includes much of the continent's interior,[144] sharing land borders with Uruguay to the south; Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest; Bolivia and Peru to the west; Colombia to the northwest; and Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana to the north. It shares a border with every South American country except for Ecuador and Chile. It also encompasses a number of oceanic archipelagos, such as Fernando de Noronha, Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Paul Rocks, and Trindade and Martim Vaz. Its size, relief, climate, and natural resources make Brazil geographically diverse. Including its Atlantic islands, Brazil lies between latitudes 6°N and 34°S, and longitudes 28° and 74°W.
Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, and third largest in the Americas, with a total area of 8,514,876.599 km2 (3,287,612 sq mi), including 55,455 km2 (21,411 sq mi) of water. It spans three time zones; from UTC-4 in the western states, to UTC-3 in the eastern states (and the official time of Brazil) and UTC-2 in the Atlantic islands. Brazil is the only country in the world that lies on the equator while having contiguous territory outside the tropics.
Brazilian topography is also diverse and includes hills, mountains, plains, highlands, and scrublands. Much of the terrain lies between 200 metres (660 ft) and 800 metres (2,600 ft) in elevation. The main upland area occupies most of the southern half of the country. The northwestern parts of the plateau consist of broad, rolling terrain broken by low, rounded hills. The southeastern section is more rugged, with a complex mass of ridges and mountain ranges reaching elevations of up to 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). These ranges include the Mantiqueira and Espinhaço mountains and the Serra do Mar. In the north, the Guiana Highlands form a major drainage divide, separating rivers that flow south into the Amazon Basin from rivers that empty into the Orinoco River system, in Venezuela, to the north. The highest point in Brazil is the Pico da Neblina at 2,994 metres (9,823 ft), and the lowest is the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil has a dense and complex system of rivers, one of the world's most extensive, with eight major drainage basins, all of which drain into the Atlantic. Major rivers include the Amazon (the world's second-longest river and the largest in terms of volume of water), the Paraná and its major tributary the Iguaçu (which includes the Iguazu Falls), the Negro, São Francisco, Xingu, Madeira and Tapajós rivers.
Economy:
In 1870 Brazil’s trade with America was valued at about 31 million dollars while the combined trade of all the South American countries was valued at about $29 million. Brazil was a significant producer of coffee and because of this the United States imported about four times as much as it exported to Brazil. In 1885 Brazil was producing more than one half of the world’s supply of coffee. Brazil’s trade in 1890 was more than $71 million while that of Argentina and Chile was $14 million and $6 million respectively. Soon after 1896, the production of coffee started to surpass consumption and prices began to fall in Brazil. Brazil then stored their coffee instead of selling all of it, and when there was bad season of coffee production they would use what they had previously stored from the year before.
The Monroe Doctrine appeared to some South American states as a U.S attempt of preserving their control over that hemisphere. Brazil viewed this doctrine as a measure of protection against the interference of the United States and from European nations. Brazil’s first ambassador to the United States, Joaquim Nabuco, 1905–1910, was a partisan of the Monroe Doctrine. Brazil borrowed money from many nations but it was not until after World War One that it actually borrowed substantial amounts from the U.S. With the outbreak of the First World War, Brazil continued to share the most significant trade with America with a trade that was valued at $154 million.
The impact of coffee on the Brazilian economy was much stronger than that of sugar and gold. When the coffee surge began, Brazil was already free from the limitations of colonialism. Moreover, the substitution of slave labor for wage labor after 1870 (slavery was abolished in 1888) meant an increase in efficiency and the formation of a domestic market for wage goods. Finally, the greater complexity of coffee production and trade established important sectorial linkages within the Brazilian economy.
Coffee was introduced in Brazil early in the eighteenth century, but initially it was planted only for domestic use. It took the high world prices of the late 1820s and early 1830s to turn coffee into a major export item. During the initial phase, production was concentrated in the mountainous region near Rio de Janeiro. This area was highly suitable for coffee cultivation, and it had access to fairly abundant slave labor. Moreover, the coffee could be transported easily on mule trains or on animal-drawn carts over short distances to the ports.
An entrepreneurial class established in Rio de Janeiro during the mining surge was able to induce the government to help create basic conditions for the expansion of coffee, such as removing transportation and labor bottlenecks. From the area near Rio de Janeiro, coffee production moved along the Paraíba Valley toward São Paulo State, which later became Brazil's largest exporting region. Coffee was cultivated with primitive techniques and with no regard to land conservation. Land was abundant, and production could expand easily through the incorporation of new areas. However, it soon became necessary to ease two basic constraints: the lack of transportation and the shortage of labor.
The cultivation of coffee farther away from ports required the construction of railroads, first around Rio de Janeiro and into the Paraíba Valley, and later into the fertile highlands of São Paulo. In 1860 Brazil had only 223 kilometers (139 mi) of railroads; by 1885 this total had increased to 6,930 kilometers (4,310 mi). The main rail link between São Paulo's eastern highlands and the ocean port of Santos allowed for a rapid expansion of coffee into the center and northwest of the state.
After the initial coffee expansion, the availability of slaves dwindled, and further cultivation required additional slaves. However, by 1840 Brazil was already under pressure to abolish slavery, and a series of decrees were introduced, making it increasingly difficult to supply the new coffee areas with servile labor. In the 1870s, the shortage of labor became critical, leading to the gradual incorporation of free immigrant labor. The coffee expansion in the west-northwest of São Paulo State after 1880 was made possible largely by immigrant labor. In 1880 São Paulo produced 1.2 million 60-kilogram coffee bags, or 25% of Brazil's total; by 1888 this proportion had jumped to 40% (2.6 million bags); and by 1902, to 60% (8 million bags). In turn, between 1884 and 1890 some 201,000 immigrants had entered São Paulo State, and this total jumped to more than 733,000 between 1891 and 1900. Slavery was abolished in 1888.
The Brazilian economy grew considerably in the second half of the nineteenth century. Coffee was the mainstay of the economy, accounting for 63% of the country's exports in 1891, and 51% between 1901 and 1910. However, sugar, cotton, tobacco, cocoa, and, during the turn-of-the-century rubber boom, rubber were also important. During the first three decades of the twentieth century, the Brazilian economy went through periods of growth but also difficulties caused in part by World War I, the Great Depression, and an increasing trend toward coffee overproduction. The four-year gap between the time a coffee tree is planted and the time of the first harvest magnified cyclical fluctuations in coffee prices, which in turn led to the increasing use of government price supports during periods of excess production. The price supports induced an exaggerated expansion of coffee cultivation in São Paulo, culminating in the huge overproduction of the early 1930s.
The 1840 to 1930 period also saw an appreciable but irregular expansion of light industries, notably textiles, clothing, food products, beverages, and tobacco. This expansion was induced by the growth in income, by the availability of foreign exchange, by fiscal policies, and by external events, such as World War I. Other important factors were the expansion of transportation, the installed capacity of electric energy, increased urbanization, and the formation of a dynamic entrepreneurial class. However, the manufacturing growth of the period did not generate significant structural transformations.
Economic growth in the nineteenth century was not shared equally by the regions. Development and growth were concentrated in the Southeast. The South Region also achieved considerable development based on coffee and other agricultural products. The Amazon Basin experienced a meteoric rise and fall of incomes from rubber exports. The Northeast continued to stagnate, with its population living close to the subsistence level. The decade of the 1930s was a period of interrelated political and economic changes. The decade started with the 1930 revolution, which abolished the Old Republic (1889–1930), a federation of semi-autonomous states. After a transitional period in which centralizing elements struggled with the old oligarchies for control, a coup in 1937 established the New State (Estado Novo) dictatorship (1937–45).
To a large extent, the revolution of 1930 reflected a dissatisfaction with the political control exercised by the old oligarchies. The political unrest of the first half of the 1930s and the 1937 coup were influenced strongly by the onset of economic problems in 1930. The coffee economy suffered from a severe decline in world demand caused by the Great Depression and an excess capacity of coffee production created in the 1920s. As a result, the price of coffee fell sharply and remained at very low levels. Brazil's terms of trade deteriorated significantly. These events, and a large foreign debt, led to an external crisis that took almost a decade to resolve.
The external difficulties had far-reaching consequences. The government was forced to suspend part of the country's debt payments and eventually to impose exchange controls. Excess coffee production led to increasing interventions in the coffee market. The state programs to support coffee prices went bankrupt in 1930. To avoid further decreases in coffee prices, the central government bought huge amounts of coffee, which was then destroyed. Central government intervention provided support to the coffee sector and, through its linkages, to the rest of the economy. Despite the economic difficulties, the income maintenance scheme of the coffee support program, coupled with the implicit protection provided by the external crisis, was responsible for greater industrial growth. Initially, this growth was based on increased utilization of the productive capacity and later on moderate spurts of investment. The initial import substitution industrialization that occurred especially during World War I did not lead to industrialization; it became a process of industrialization only in the 1930s.
The 1930s also saw a change in the role of government. Until then, the state acted primarily in response to the demands of the export sector. During the first half of the decade, it was forced to interfere swiftly in an attempt to control the external crisis and to avoid the collapse of the coffee economy; government leaders hoped that the crisis would pass soon and that another export boom would occur. However, with the magnitude and duration of the crisis it became clear that Brazil could no longer rely solely on exports of primary goods and that it was necessary to promote economic diversification. During the Estado Novo, the government made initial attempts at economic planning, and in the late 1930s began to establish the first large government enterprise, an integrated steel mill, Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional.
The World War II period saw mixed achievements. By the late 1930s, coffee production capacity had been reduced drastically, the worst of the external crisis had passed, and the Brazilian economy was ready to grow. However, the war interfered with development efforts. Output increased mainly through better utilization of the existing capacity but, except for the steel mill, there was little industrial and infrastructure investment. Thus, at the end of the war Brazil's industrial capacity was obsolete and the transportation infrastructure was inadequate and badly deteriorated.
At the end of World War II, political and economic liberalism were reintroduced in Brazil. Getúlio Dorneles Vargas was overthrown, democratic rule was reestablished, and the foreign-exchange reserves accumulated during the war made possible a reduction of trade restrictions. However, trade liberalization was short-lived. The overvalued foreign-exchange rate, established in 1945. This, combined with persistent inflation and a repressed demand, meant sharp increases in imports and a sluggish performance of exports, which soon led again to a balance of payments crisis. Pessimistic about the future of Brazil's exports, the government feared that the crisis would have a negative impact on inflation. Consequently, instead of devaluing the cruzeiro, it decided to deal with the crisis through exchange controls.
Culture:
The culture of Brazil presents a very diverse nature showing that an ethnic and cultural mixing occurred in the colonial period involving mostly Native Brazilians, Portuguese and Africans. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Italian, German, Spanish, Ukrainians, Polish, Arab and Japanese immigrants settled in Brazil and played an important role in its culture, creating a multicultural and multiethnic society.
As consequence of three centuries of colonization by the Portuguese empire, the core of Brazilian culture is derived from the culture of Portugal. The numerous Portuguese inheritances include the language, the predominant religion and the colonial architectural styles. These aspects, however, were influenced by African and Native American traditions, as well as those from other Western European countries. Some aspects of Brazilian culture are contributions of Italian, German and other European immigrants. Amerindian peoples and Africans played a large role in the formation of Brazilian language, cuisine, music, dance and religion. This diverse cultural background has helped boast many celebrations and festivals that have become known around the world, such as the Brazilian Carnival and the Bumba Meu Boi. The colourful culture creates an environment that makes Brazil a popular destination for many tourists each year, around over 1 million.
About 2/3 of the population are Roman Catholics. Catholicism was introduced and spread largely by the Portuguese Jesuits, who arrived in 1549 during the colonization with the mission of converting the Indigenous people. The Society of Jesus played a large role in the formation of Brazilian religious identity until their expulsion of the country by the Marquis of Pombal in the 18th century. In recent decades Brazilian society is witnessing a rise in Protestantism, it started in the 1940s and Roman Catholicism is decreasing. The native inhabitants of Brazil had much contact with the colonists. Many were exterminated, others mixed with the Portuguese. For that reason, Brazil also holds Amerindian influences in its culture, mainly in its food and language. Brazilian Portuguese has hundreds of words of Native American origin, mainly from the Old Tupi language.
Black Africans, who were brought as slaves to Brazil, also participated actively in the formation of Brazilian culture. Although the Portuguese colonists forced their slaves to convert to Catholicism and speak Portuguese their cultural influences were absorbed by the inhabitants of Brazil of all races and origins. Some regions of Brazil, especially Bahia, have particularly notable African inheritances in music, cuisine, dance and language. Immigrants from Italy, Germany, Spain, Japan, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Austria-Hungary and the Middle East played an important role in the areas they settled (mostly Southern and Southeastern Brazil). They organized communities that became important cities such as Joinville, Caxias do Sul, Blumenau, Curitiba and brought important contributions to the culture of Brazil.
The Brazilian Carnaval is an annual festival held forty-six days before Easter. Carnival celebrations are believed to have roots in the pagan festival of Saturnalia, which, adapted to Christianity, became a farewell to bad things in a season of religious discipline to practice repentance and prepare for Christ's death and resurrection. Carnival is the most famous holiday in Brazil and has become an event of huge proportions. The country stops completely for almost a week and festivities are intense, day and night, mainly in coastal cities. The typical genres of music of Brazilian carnival are: samba-enredo and marchinha (in Rio de Janeiro and Southeast Region), frevo, maracatu and Axé music (in Pernambuco, Bahia and Northeast Region).
Brazilian cuisine varies greatly by region. This diversity reflects the country's mix of natives and immigrants. This has created a national cooking style, marked by the preservation of regional differences. Since the colonial period, the feijoada has been the country's national dish. Luís da Câmara Cascudo wrote that, having been revised and adapted in each region of the country, it is no longer just a dish, but has become a complete food. Rice and beans, also present in the feijoada, and considered basic at Brazilian tables, is highly regarded as healthy because it contains almost all amino acids, fiber, and starches needed for our body.
Brazil has a variety of candies that are traditionally eaten for birthday parties, like brigadeiros ("brigadiers") and beijinhos ("kissies"). Other foods typically consumed in Brazilian parties are coxinhas, churrasco, sfiha, empanadas, and pine nuts (in Festa Junina). Specially in the state of Minas Gerais, are produced and consumed the famous cheese bun. The typical northern food is pato no tucupi, tacacá, caruru, vatapá, and maniçoba; the Northeast is known for moqueca (having seafood and palm oil), acarajé (the salted muffin made with white beans, onion and fried in oil palm (dendê), which is filled with dried shrimp and red pepper), manioc, diz, hominy, dumpling, and Quibebe. In the Southeast, it is common to eat Minas cheese, pizza, tutu, sushi, stew, polenta, and masses of macaroni, lasagna, and gnocchi. In the South, these foods are also popular, but the churrasco is the typical meal of Rio Grande do Sul. Cachaça is Brazil's native liquor, distilled from sugar cane, and it is the main ingredient in the national drink, the caipirinha. Brazil is the world leader in production of green coffee (café); because the Brazilian fertile soil, the country could produce and expand its market maker and often establish its economy with coffee, since the Brazilian slavery, which created a whole culture around this national drink, which became known as the "fever of coffee" – and satirized in the novelty song "The Coffee Song", sang by Frank Sinatra and with lyrics by Bob Hilliard, interpreted as an analysis of the coffee industry, and of the Brazilian economy and culture.
The oldest known examples of Brazilian art are cave paintings in Serra da Capivara National Park in the state of Piauí, dating back to c. 13,000 BC. In Minas Gerais and Goiás have been found more recent examples showing geometric patterns and animal forms. One of the most sophisticated kinds of Pre-Columbian artifact found in Brazil is the sophisticated Marajoara pottery (c. 800–1400 AD), from cultures flourishing on Marajó Island and around the region of Santarém, and statuettes and cult objects, such as the small carved-stone amulets called muiraquitãs, also belong to these cultures. Many of the Jesuits worked in Brazil under the influence of the Baroque, the dominant style in Brazil until the early 19th century. The Baroque in Brazil flourished in Bahia and Pernambuco and Minas Gerais, generating valuable artists like Manuel da Costa Ataíde and especially the sculptor-architect Aleijadinho.
In 1816, the French Artistic Mission in Brazil created the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts and imposed a new concept of artistic education and was the basis for a revolution in Brazilian painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic arts, and crafts. A few decades later, under the personal patronage of Emperor Dom Pedro II, who was engaged in an ambitious national project of modernization, the Academy reached its golden age, fostering the emergence of the first generation of Romantic painters, whence Victor Meirelles and Pedro Américo, that, among others, produced lasting visual symbols of national identity. It must be said that in Brazil Romanticism in painting took a peculiar shape, not showing the overwhelming dramaticism, fantasy, violence, or interest in death and the bizarre commonly seen in the European version, and because of its academic and palatial nature all excesses were eschewed.
The beginning of the 20th century saw a struggle between old schools and modernist trends. Important modern artists Anita Malfatti and Tarsila do Amaral were both early pioneers in Brazilian art. Both participated of The Week of Modern Art festival, held in São Paulo in 1922, that renewed the artistic and cultural environment of the city and also presented artists such as Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, Vicente do Rego Monteiro, and Victor Brecheret. Based on Brazilian folklore, many artists have committed themselves to mix it with the proposals of the European Expressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism. From Surrealism, arises Ismael Nery, concerned with metaphysical subjects where their pictures appear on imaginary scenarios and averse to any recognizable reference.
Brazilian architecture in the colonial period was heavily influenced by the Portuguese Manueline style, albeit adapted for the tropical climate. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city of Ouro Preto in the state of Minas Gerais contains numerous well-preserved examples of this style by artists such as Aleijadinho. In later centuries, Brazilian architects were increasingly influenced by schools from other countries such as France and the United States, eventually developing a style of their own that has become known around the world.
Literature in Brazil dates back to the 16th century, to the writings of the first Portuguese explorers in Brazil, such as Pêro Vaz de Caminha, filled with descriptions of fauna, flora and natives that amazed Europeans that arrived in Brazil. When Brazil became a colony of Portugal, there was the "Jesuit Literature", whose main name was father António Vieira, a Portuguese Jesuit who became one of the most celebrated Baroque writers of the Portuguese language. A few more explicitly literary examples survive from this period, José Basílio da Gama's epic poem celebrating the conquest of the Missions by the Portuguese, and the work of Gregório de Matos Guerra, who produced a sizable amount of satirical, religious, and secular poetry. Neoclassicism was widespread in Brazil during the mid-18th century, following the Italian style.
Brazil produced significant works in Romanticism – novelists like Joaquim Manuel de Macedo and José de Alencar wrote novels about love and pain. Alencar, in his long career, also treated Indigenous people as heroes in the Indigenist novels O Guarany, Iracema, Ubirajara. The French Mal du siècle was also introduced in Brazil by the likes of Alvares de Azevedo, whose Lira dos Vinte Anos and Noite na Taverna are national symbols of the Ultra-romanticism. Gonçalves Dias, considered one of the national poets, sang the Brazilian people and the Brazilian land on the famous Song of the Exile (1843), known to every Brazilian schoolchild. Also dates from this period, although his work has hatched in Realism, Machado de Assis, whose works include Helena, Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas, O alienista, Dom Casmurro, and who is widely regarded as the most important writer of Brazilian literature. Assis is also highly respected around the world.
Theatre was introduced by the Jesuits during the colonization, particularly by Father José de Anchieta, but did not attract much interest until the transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil in 1808. Over the course of the 18th century, theatre evolved alongside the blossoming literature traditions with names such as Martins Pena and Gonçalves Dias. Pena introduced the comedy of manners, which would become a distinct mark of Brazilian theatre over the next decades. Theatre was not included in the 1922 Modern Art Week of São Paulo, which marked the beginning of Brazilian Modernism.
Samba is among the most popular music genres in Brazil and is widely regarded as the country's national musical style. It developed from the mixture of European and African music, brought by slaves in the colonial period and originated in the state of Bahia. In the early 20th century, modern samba emerged and was popularized in Rio de Janeiro behind composers such as Noel Rosa, Cartola and Nelson Cavaquinho among others. The movement later spread and gained notoriety in other regions, particularly in Bahia and São Paulo. Contemporary artists include Martinho da Vila, Zeca Pagodinho and Paulinho da Viola. Samba makes use of a distinct set of instruments, among the most notable are the cuíca, a friction drum that creates a high-pitched squeaky sound, the cavaquinho, a small instrument of the guitar family, and the pandeiro, a hand frame drum. Other instruments are the surdos, agogôs, chocalhos and tamborins.
Choro originated in the 19th century through interpretations of European genres such as polka and schottische by Brazilian artists who had already been influenced by African rhythms such as the batuque. It is a largely instrumental genre that shares a number of characteristics with samba. Choro gained popularity around the start of the 20th century (1880-1920) and was the genre of many of the first Brazilian records in the first decades of the 20th century. Notable Choro musicians of that era include Chiquinha Gonzaga, Pixinguinha and Joaquim Callado. The popularity of choro steadily waned after the popularization of samba but saw a revival in recent decades and remains appreciated by a large number of Brazilians.
Forró and Frevo are two music and dance forms originated in the Brazilian Northeast. Forró, like Choro, originated from European folk genres such as the schottische in between the 19th and early 20th centuries. It remains a very popular music style, particularly in the Northeast region, and is danced in forrobodós (parties and balls) throughout the country. Frevo originated in Recife, Pernambuco during the Carnival, the period it is most often associated with. While the music presents elements of procession and martial marches, the frevo dance (known as "passo") has been notably influenced by capoeira. Frevo parades are a key tradition of the Pernambuco Carnival.
Brazil has also a tradition in the classical music, since the 18th Century. The oldest composer with the full documented work is José Maurício Nunes Garcia, a catholic priest who wrote numerous pieces, both sacred and secular, with a style resembling the classical viennese style from Mozart and Haydn. In the 19th Century, the composer Antonio Carlos Gomes wrote many operas with Brazilian indigenous themes, with librettos in Italian, many of which premiered in Milan; some of the most outstanding works are the operas Il Guarany and Lo Schiavo (The Slave).
Brazilian folklore includes many stories, legends, dances, superstitions and religious rituals. Characters include the Boitatá, the Boto Cor-de-Rosa, the Saci and the Bumba Meu Boi, which has spawned the famous June festival in Northern and Northeastern Brazil.
Football is the most popular sport in Brazil. Some sport variations have their origins in Brazil. Beach football, futsal (official version of indoor football), and footvolley emerged in the country as variations of football.
Infrastructure:
Brazil has numerous airports and many of them are named after famous or well-known Brazilian citizens. There are plans for developing many of the main commercial airports due to expected increased air traffic. The São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governador André Franco Montoro International Airport is known as one of the busiest airports in Brazil by passenger traffic, aircraft movement and cargo traffic; and is located within São Paulo, Brazil. The facilities in this airport are shared with the São Paul Air Force and the Brazilian Air Force. The tropic of Capricorn passes right through the southern tip of the airport and it is situated about 25km from downtown São Paulo.
Rio de Janeiro/Galeão–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport is the largest airport site in Brazil and the main airport in Rio de Janeiro, and ranked as the second busiest in passenger traffic. The facilities in this airport are shared with the Rio de Janeiro Air Force and the Brazilian Air Force. This airport is situated 20km north of downtown Rio de Janeiro. In 1923 near Galeão beach on Governador Island a School of Naval Aviation began. Then in 1941 it became known as Galeão Air Force Base as the Brazilian Air Force Ministry was started.
Agriculture is an important industry in Brazil, as this country has immense agricultural resources available to it. Its most significant products in this sphere are coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, citrus and beef (in order of importance). Its most significant exports are coffee, soybeans, beef, sugar cane, ethanol and frozen chickens. Southern Brazil makes up close to two-thirds of the country and is characterised by a semi-temperate, or moderate, climate. The soils here are fertile and the higher rainfall levels ensure that crops are well irrigated and fed. In addition to the natural resources of Southern Brazil, this area is also home to more advanced farming technology and farmers with extensive experience. Therefore, this region produces most of the country’s grains, export crops and oilseeds.
Northern Brazil is far drier and less equipped. It often succumbs to droughts, and lacks infrastructure, capital and good soil, due to minimal rainfall. This area is occupied mainly by subsistence farmers (who survive off of their produce). However, there are certain crops from this region that are essential for export; such as cocoa, tropical fruits and forest products. Central Brazil has, for generations, been considered to be unsuitable for farming. However, this area (partly known as cerrados) is now booming, being used extensively for mechanised crop agriculture. Vast expanses of this land are still to be developed, being used only in pasture, but having the potential to produce excellent farming and exporting crops. This area was once very isolated, due to there being a lack of roads and other important infrastructure. Cattle farming remains one of this country’s key industries, since Brazil produces millions of tonnes of beef every year. Cattle farming occurs mainly in Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás and Minas Gerais.
Significantly, Brazil is also the second-largest producer of soybeans on the planet. These beans and their derivatives are used extensively all over the world. Mato Grosso and Paraná together produce almost half of the entire country’s soybean volume.Brazil is the global leader in the production of sugarcane, harvesting more than 600 million tonnes of it every year. The states responsible for the growth of sugarcane include São Paulo, Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Goiás and Paraná, amongst others. The agriculture of Brazil (as with other countries in the world) presents a number of problems. For one, deforestation occurs to make room for agricultural areas. This causes greenhouse gas emissions and drastically reduces the amount of oxygen available to the world. It also reduces the natural habitat of many species of plants and animals, having devastating effects on their numbers.
The architecture of a country is defined, to an enormous degree, by its history and heritage. On the other hand, the architecture also forms a major part of the character and identity of a destination. Therefore, exploring the architecture of a country reveals much about it, and remains a very important part of tourism. Brazil was colonised by Portuguese explorers centuries ago, and this culture has continued to influence the look and feel of this country. Today, there remain a few examples of this Portuguese architecture of yesteryear. These colonial-style buildings give the country a really charming element. However, the modernist approach is still the overriding architectural style of Brazil. This style is characterised by minimalism and the absence of excess frill or decoration. It is simple, with clean lines and a functional form. This particular type of architecture was adopted after World War Two, when function took precedence over form.
Travellers that have a particular interest in architecture are invited to see the wonders of Brazil. They will be treated, not only to modernist examples of design and structure, but also to baroque and neoclassical influences. For these ones, the best cities to see are Salvador (the colonial capital that boasts stunning examples of the classic Portuguese style from long ago); Olinda and Minas Gerais (built during the 19th century, these areas are characterised by a distinct Baroque style); and Rio's Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Belem's Teatro da Paz, and Manuas' Teatro Amazonas (for the neoclassical look and feel).
The forestry or timber industry is a major component of the financial success and stability of Brazil. By June 2012, Brazil had 7.74 million hectares of certified forest (according to FSC and CERFLOR standards). Of course, there is plenty of uncertified timber being produced and processed, which continues to plague the legitimate timber industries, who vie for clients. This South American country is home to the third-largest remaining frontier forest (large and relatively undisturbed natural forests) on the planet, making up about 17% of the world’s frontier forests. It has the highest biodiversity in terms of the plants that these forests accommodate. The most significant timber products to be exported include pulp, raw wood, wood chips, laminated wood, plywood, paper, flooring, furniture, wood fibre panels, frames and packaging. These are sent all over the world, generating an enormous income for the country of Brazil.
The native forests of Brazil occupy an area of just over 517 million hectares (more than 98% of the country’s forests), while the planted forests occupy approximately 6.6 million hectares. The vast majority of the country’s planted forests are located in the south of Brazil, while the native forests that provide timber are almost exclusively part of the Amazon. There is a small section of native forest that is still being harvested for wood in the dwindling Atlantic Forest on the east coast. Pine and eucalyptus are the two predominant timber species that are produced, processed and traded in Brazil. The main softwood export ports of Brazil comprise São Francisco do Sul, Paranaguá and Itajaí. For hardwood, the most significant ports for export are Belém, Paranaguá, Santarém and Vila do Conde.
It is not generally recommended that tourists opt to travel and explore Brazil on the roads, by driving a motor vehicle. The reasons include, the state of the roads are not well maintained, the parking availability in cities is low, there is a great deal of distance between cities and locations of sight-seeing; but most of all because Brazil has the highest fatality in the world from driving related accidents. It is recognized that drivers in the Brazilian cities tend to be aggressive drivers who have disregard for road rules and this is a perfect set up for road accidents. Road rage, tailgating and other forms of illegal driving do seem to be rife in Brazil. Truck drivers vary from having a safe regard and caution in road driving, to others that are known to be intoxicated or over-worked and therefore tired. The constant need to be alert is heightened by the risk of stray animals on streets. Pedestrians and motorcycle riders also do not sometimes adhere to road rules.
The threat of being mugged at robot/light crossings is also common and many drivers try to always have their windows closed. This may perpetuate many drivers feeling hot and irritable, as most cars in Brazil lack air-conditioning. Brazil has the fourth largest highway system in the world. The main route of transport of people and freight/cargo is via the highways. It is a fact that over 90% of the roads in Brazil are unpaved and this means that below 10% of Brazilian roads are paved roads. The code for highways has a simple abbreviation; the regional high-ways are named by getting the two letters abbreviating the state and then three letters describing the highway. As an example SP-123 tells us the highway is in São Paulo and is directed in a north-south direction. Brazilian National Highways are abbreviated BR with the three numbers following to describe the highway. As an example BR-241 informs us that the highway is a main one and that it is going in an east-west direction. The maintenance of the highways tends to be a major concern, as the weather and heavy use on them causes much wear and tear. Potholes are issues on the roads. Toll roads are well utilized in Brazil to gain funding for the maintenance of the roads, the highest toll fees are set by private companies.
Railway services are operated by private and public operators. There are metro systems in eight Brazilian cities, which is a huge aid as road traffic is dangerous. The rail network is about 28,538 km. There are four gauges, standard, dual, narrow and broad. Most of the train services in Brazil are used to transport cargo. From 1859 steam-powered, horse-drawn and electric tramways have been operating in Brazil. This means it was one of the first countries to utilize tramway mode of transport, and to this day trams are still used. Rio de Janeiro had street cars before London, Paris and Malan. Although Brazil borders ten countries, it only has international rail links with three, namely Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia. There are a number of rail links connecting some Brazilian cities. While local trains transport passengers to and from interior towns, coastal areas and some metropolitan suburbs. There are some trains that are specifically focused for tourists, such as the Corcovado Train (Trem de Corcovado) in Rio de Janeiro. This train takes passengers to the site of Christ the Redeemer monument. Brazil also has some of the heaviest metal ore trains in the world.
Science and Technology:
Brazilian science effectively began in the first decades of the 19th century, when the Portuguese royal family, headed by D. João VI, arrived in Rio de Janeiro, escaping from the Napoleon's army invasion of Portugal in 1807. Like almost all territories and regions of the New World, Brazil was a Portuguese colony, without universities, and a few cultural and scientific organizations. The former American colonies of the Spanish Empire, although having a largely illiterate population like Brazil, Portugal and Spain, had, however, a number of universities since the 16th century. This may have been a deliberate policy of the Portuguese colonial power, because they feared that the appearance of educated Brazilian classes would boost nationalism and aspirations toward political independence, as it had happened in the USA and several Latin American former Spanish colonies. However, throughout the centuries of Portuguese rule, Brazilian students were allowed and even encouraged to enroll at higher education in mainland Portugal. In addition, mainland Portugal's population at the time was also largely illiterate and had for most of those period a single university, the University of Coimbra, which educated Portuguese people from all the Empire, including from the colony of Brazil.
The first firm attempts of having a Brazilian science establishment were made around 1783, with the expedition of Portuguese naturalist Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira, who was sent by Portugal's prime minister, the Marquis of Pombal, to explore and identify Brazilian fauna, flora and geology. His collections, however, were lost to the French, when Napoleon invaded Portugal, and were transported to Paris by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. In 1772, even before the establishment of the Science Academy of Lisbon (1779), one of the first learned societies of both Brazil and the Portuguese Empire was founded in Rio de Janeiro - it was the Sociedade Scientifica, but lasted only until 1794. Also, in 1797, the first botanic institute was founded in Salvador, Bahia. During the late 18th century, the Real Academia de Artilharia, Fortificação e Desenho of Rio de Janeiro was created in 1792 through a decree issued by the Portuguese authorities as a higher education school for the teaching of the sciences and engineering. Both the engineering schools of the Rio de Janeiro Federal University and the Military Institute of Engineering were created and developed from the oldest engineering school of Brazil which is also one of the oldest in Latin America.
D. João VI gave impetus to all these accoutrements of European civilization to Brazil. In a short period (between 1808 and 1810), the government founded the Royal Naval Academy and the Royal Military Academy (both military schools), the Biblioteca Nacional, the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, the Medico-Chirurgical School of Bahia, currently known as Faculdade de Medicina under harbour of Universidade Federal da Bahia and the Medico-Chirurgical School of Rio de Janeiro (Faculdade de Medicina of Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro). Notable scientific expeditions organized by Brazilians were rare, the most significant one being that of Martim Francisco de Andrada e Silva and José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva, in 1819.
After independence from Portugal, declared by the King's son in 1822, D. Pedro I (who became the new country's first Emperor), the policies concerning higher learning, science and technology in Brazil came to a relative standstill. In the first two decades of the century, science in Brazil was mostly carried out by temporary scientific expeditions by European naturalists, such as Charles Darwin, Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied, Carl von Martius, Johann Baptist von Spix, Alexander Humboldt, Augustin Saint-Hilaire, Baron Grigori Ivanovitch Langsdorff, Friedrich Sellow, Fritz Müller, Hermann von Ihering, Émil Goeldi and others. This science was mostly descriptive of the fantastic Brazilian biodiversity of its flora and fauna, and also its geology, geography and anthropology, and until the creation of the National Museum, the specimens were mostly removed to European institutions. In the educational area, a number of higher education institutions were founded in the 19th century, but for decades to come, most Brazilian students, still studied at European universities, such as the ancient University of Coimbra, in Portugal.
Things started to change after 1841, when the eldest son of D. Pedro I, Emperor D. Pedro II came to the throne when he was 15 years old. In the next 50 years, Brazil enjoyed a stable constitutional monarchy. D. Pedro II was an enlightened monarch who favored the arts, literature, science and technology and had extensive international contacts in these areas. The mainstay of Brazilian science and the seat of its first research laboratories was the National Museum (Museu Nacional) in Rio de Janeiro, in existence until today. D. Pedro developed a strong personal interest and selected and invited many august European scientific personalities, such as von Ihering and Goeldi, to work in Brazil. He and his ministers, courtesans and senators often attended scientific conferences in the Museum. There, the first laboratory of physiology was founded in 1880, under João Baptista de Lacerda and Louis Couty. Unfortunately, the creation of research universities and institutes would only occur on the beginning of the 20th century - a long delay for the education, science and technology in Brazil.
Development:
After 1930, the successive governments continued industrial and agriculture growth and development of the vast interior of Brazil. Getúlio Vargas led a military junta that had taken control in 1930 and would remain ruling from 1930 to 1945 with the backing of Brazilian military, especially the Army. In this period, he faced internally the Constitutionalist Revolt in 1932 and two separate coup d'état attempts: by Communists in 1935 and by local Fascists in 1938. A democratic regime prevailed from 1945–64. In the 1950s after Vargas' second period (this time, democratically elected), the country experienced an economic boom during Juscelino Kubitschek's years, during which the capital was moved from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília.
Externally, after a relative isolation during the first half of the 1930s due to the effects of the 1929 Crisis, in the second half of the 1930s there was a rapprochement with the fascist regimes of Italy and Germany. However, after the fascist coup attempt in 1938 and the naval blockade imposed on these two countries by the British navy from the beginning of World War II, in the decade of 1940 there was a return to the old foreign policy of the previous period. During the early 1940s, Brazil joined the allied forces in the Battle of Atlantic and the Italian Campaign; in the 1950s the country began its participation in the United Nations' peacekeeping missions
OP
Rare The Inquisitor
Member
Seen
7 yrs ago
Dragon Age: The Coming Blight
High Casual RP
(Credit and Source: warriorofshadows)
Name
Rayford "Ray" Vuillaume.
Race/Nationality
Human/Free Marcher.
Age
Twenty-Nine.
Gender
Male.
Class
Rogue.
Personality
Since Rayford was born in the Free Marches, he was always adventurous even known his family liked to stay in Kirkwall, where it was safe and sound to live in. He would find things from the forests of the Planasene to the coast of The Wounded, but his family would usually let him keep the things for a while. He was the social guy that would tell tales of his adventures out of Kirkwall and sing folk songs from the other countries in Thedas. He loved parties and events, which had people there, from drinking games to hunting from animals in the Planasene Forest. Rayford can't stay in one place, he is always on the move and if he has to stay, he would get bored of the place and try to leave it. Yet, he hates the quite lifestyle in the cities and the villages; there was always adventure within the cities and the forests.
History
Born in Kirkwall to a noble mother and father in their estate, the father was happy to have a child to be able to teach him. The newly family named the baby, Rayford, after the father's great-great grandfather, who got the family into nobility. As a young kid, his father taught him noble things, like how to talk in front of people and drink in a different way than the others. He hated those things and ran off out of Kirkwall, when he got the change to do so. But, his father always said when Rayford was sent back home by the guards, “Your great-great grandfather would have had been so scared, because you ran away!” But as Rayford grew so did his father's hate towards him. And one day, the father was upset Rayford for being gone from three days, there was an important event. Rayford needed to be there to show to the other noble families. After all, living in nobility is hard to live in. The father demanded that he must obey his father's order leave family and move else. He chose to stay, but after the darkness of night, his mother woke up and dragged him away from their home. Rayford didn't know that his mother grew tried by him and got a place in Denerim. They ran away from the home and got on a boat to Ferelden. After the few weeks on the boat, they finally arrived at Denerim and it's marked as a new point in his life.
He was born in Kirkwall, but he says that Denerim is his real home. Such it was a city like Kirkwall, but it had more freedom than anyone could wish for. During his teen years, he learned how to use the bow and the sword, while he was out in the forest. When he was in his twenties, he went back to the Free Marches again. This time it was because his father and mother had died and they both wanted to bury them. He stayed at Kirkwall for a couple of years until his head back from Denerim; it was the last time that he was going to be at Kirkwall. He couldn't come back to that city ever, due to his past and the family name there. That's where he decided to become a merchant, where he would go to places and sell his things that were found in the forests. It took him two years to learn how a merchant works within Ferelden.
Weapons
Rayford always carries his long sword, anywhere he goes, in case of protection. He also takes his longbow and dagger, when he goes hunting in the forests.
Armour
Rayford has a set of scale armor, scale gloves, scale boots, and a helmet; which they have the same set of colors, bronze.
Skills
Rayford can use his swords and any sharp weapons, which can kill someone or something. He also knows how to use a bow, not very well as his sword skills, yet he's well enough that he could use it in combat. He was also a noble, so he knows how to show respect and kindness towards others. Rayford knows the forests of Ferelden and small villages than the cities, besides Denerim. He is also a merchant and knows how to talk to the buyer or even other merchants.
Theme Song
The Merchant's Quest
(Credit and Source: Derek Fiechter)
High Casual RP
(Credit and Source: warriorofshadows)
Name
Rayford "Ray" Vuillaume.
Race/Nationality
Human/Free Marcher.
Age
Twenty-Nine.
Gender
Male.
Class
Rogue.
Personality
Since Rayford was born in the Free Marches, he was always adventurous even known his family liked to stay in Kirkwall, where it was safe and sound to live in. He would find things from the forests of the Planasene to the coast of The Wounded, but his family would usually let him keep the things for a while. He was the social guy that would tell tales of his adventures out of Kirkwall and sing folk songs from the other countries in Thedas. He loved parties and events, which had people there, from drinking games to hunting from animals in the Planasene Forest. Rayford can't stay in one place, he is always on the move and if he has to stay, he would get bored of the place and try to leave it. Yet, he hates the quite lifestyle in the cities and the villages; there was always adventure within the cities and the forests.
History
Born in Kirkwall to a noble mother and father in their estate, the father was happy to have a child to be able to teach him. The newly family named the baby, Rayford, after the father's great-great grandfather, who got the family into nobility. As a young kid, his father taught him noble things, like how to talk in front of people and drink in a different way than the others. He hated those things and ran off out of Kirkwall, when he got the change to do so. But, his father always said when Rayford was sent back home by the guards, “Your great-great grandfather would have had been so scared, because you ran away!” But as Rayford grew so did his father's hate towards him. And one day, the father was upset Rayford for being gone from three days, there was an important event. Rayford needed to be there to show to the other noble families. After all, living in nobility is hard to live in. The father demanded that he must obey his father's order leave family and move else. He chose to stay, but after the darkness of night, his mother woke up and dragged him away from their home. Rayford didn't know that his mother grew tried by him and got a place in Denerim. They ran away from the home and got on a boat to Ferelden. After the few weeks on the boat, they finally arrived at Denerim and it's marked as a new point in his life.
He was born in Kirkwall, but he says that Denerim is his real home. Such it was a city like Kirkwall, but it had more freedom than anyone could wish for. During his teen years, he learned how to use the bow and the sword, while he was out in the forest. When he was in his twenties, he went back to the Free Marches again. This time it was because his father and mother had died and they both wanted to bury them. He stayed at Kirkwall for a couple of years until his head back from Denerim; it was the last time that he was going to be at Kirkwall. He couldn't come back to that city ever, due to his past and the family name there. That's where he decided to become a merchant, where he would go to places and sell his things that were found in the forests. It took him two years to learn how a merchant works within Ferelden.
Weapons
Rayford always carries his long sword, anywhere he goes, in case of protection. He also takes his longbow and dagger, when he goes hunting in the forests.
Armour
Rayford has a set of scale armor, scale gloves, scale boots, and a helmet; which they have the same set of colors, bronze.
Skills
Rayford can use his swords and any sharp weapons, which can kill someone or something. He also knows how to use a bow, not very well as his sword skills, yet he's well enough that he could use it in combat. He was also a noble, so he knows how to show respect and kindness towards others. Rayford knows the forests of Ferelden and small villages than the cities, besides Denerim. He is also a merchant and knows how to talk to the buyer or even other merchants.
Theme Song
The Merchant's Quest
(Credit and Source: Derek Fiechter)
OP
Rare The Inquisitor
Member
Seen
7 yrs ago
Open Roads
Casual RP
(Credit: Tumblr boys)
Name
Wyatt Schmidt.
Age
Eighteen.
Personality
Wyatt is creative when he is busy drawing or doing other creative things. He is also open minded and trustful, when you're his friend. But, he isn't a big of a fan of going to social gatherings and hanging out at all, he likes to stay in his room if he could.
Background
Wyatt was a mistake when he was born into a religious family, two daughters and another son. It was too much for the mother, but she prayed to take care of her during the hard times. Of course, she loved her daughters and the son, but for Wyatt, he was the biggest 'mistake in her life'. The family was popular in their local church and they put on an act, with their smiling faces outside of the public eye. But in private, it was complete hell. And to top it off, Wyatt had feeling for both men and women at the age of thirteen. He was afraid to come out to his family, due to their religious background, and kept his self to the closet for a while. But, one of his sisters knew that he wasn't straight, when she saw Wyatt, hitting on a guy.
And it went out of control, after he got home, his mother was waiting for him along with his sisters and the brother. The mother questioned him about his sexually and he said that he was bisexual and it tore the family apart. She was said that “liking the same-sex would sent you straight to hell” and many other things. Wyatt rushed for his room and closed the door and cried in front of the door. Then, he heard a knock on the door and the mother said the words, that changed his life, “You better leave the house if you're not going to change you sexually.”. Wyatt was shocked by her words, she was his mother and to say that, it tore him up. Then he grabbed his suitcase and put his clothes and personal things in it, grabbed his backpack, and grabbed his drawing pad and desktop.
Wyatt then left the house without saying goodbye to his siblings. He kept walking until his brother rushed after him and said that he was coming to help him. And with their things, they left their neighborhood and walked as far as they can.
(Credit: Tumblr boys)
Name
Brandon Schmidt.
Age
Sixteen.
Personality
You could say that Brandon isn't the same as Wyatt, he loves social gatherings and hanging out with friends. He is also trustful and friendly with people, some could say that he is too much trustful; but, that is why he is with his brother.
Background
Brandon was the second youngest in the family, and he was always treated good from him mother. But, when it came to Wyatt, Brandon just felt bad for him. From most of his life, he forced on his running skill and joined the local middle school's running team. He had won two sliver medals and one bronze medal in total, during middle school. But, then the day happened and he saw that Wyatt was kicked out of the house. He couldn't stand by and see it happened, so he rushed to his room, packed all of his things and rushed out of the house, leaving a letter on his bed. He ran towards Wyatt and he has been with his ever since.
Casual RP
(Credit: Tumblr boys)
Name
Wyatt Schmidt.
Age
Eighteen.
Personality
Wyatt is creative when he is busy drawing or doing other creative things. He is also open minded and trustful, when you're his friend. But, he isn't a big of a fan of going to social gatherings and hanging out at all, he likes to stay in his room if he could.
Background
Wyatt was a mistake when he was born into a religious family, two daughters and another son. It was too much for the mother, but she prayed to take care of her during the hard times. Of course, she loved her daughters and the son, but for Wyatt, he was the biggest 'mistake in her life'. The family was popular in their local church and they put on an act, with their smiling faces outside of the public eye. But in private, it was complete hell. And to top it off, Wyatt had feeling for both men and women at the age of thirteen. He was afraid to come out to his family, due to their religious background, and kept his self to the closet for a while. But, one of his sisters knew that he wasn't straight, when she saw Wyatt, hitting on a guy.
And it went out of control, after he got home, his mother was waiting for him along with his sisters and the brother. The mother questioned him about his sexually and he said that he was bisexual and it tore the family apart. She was said that “liking the same-sex would sent you straight to hell” and many other things. Wyatt rushed for his room and closed the door and cried in front of the door. Then, he heard a knock on the door and the mother said the words, that changed his life, “You better leave the house if you're not going to change you sexually.”. Wyatt was shocked by her words, she was his mother and to say that, it tore him up. Then he grabbed his suitcase and put his clothes and personal things in it, grabbed his backpack, and grabbed his drawing pad and desktop.
Wyatt then left the house without saying goodbye to his siblings. He kept walking until his brother rushed after him and said that he was coming to help him. And with their things, they left their neighborhood and walked as far as they can.
(Credit: Tumblr boys)
Name
Brandon Schmidt.
Age
Sixteen.
Personality
You could say that Brandon isn't the same as Wyatt, he loves social gatherings and hanging out with friends. He is also trustful and friendly with people, some could say that he is too much trustful; but, that is why he is with his brother.
Background
Brandon was the second youngest in the family, and he was always treated good from him mother. But, when it came to Wyatt, Brandon just felt bad for him. From most of his life, he forced on his running skill and joined the local middle school's running team. He had won two sliver medals and one bronze medal in total, during middle school. But, then the day happened and he saw that Wyatt was kicked out of the house. He couldn't stand by and see it happened, so he rushed to his room, packed all of his things and rushed out of the house, leaving a letter on his bed. He ran towards Wyatt and he has been with his ever since.
OP
Rare The Inquisitor
Member
Seen
7 yrs ago
All in a Day's Work: A Superhero RP
Casual RP
Name
Daniel Geyser 'The Vigilante'.
Age
Thirty-One.
Gender
Male.
Personality
The Vigilante is a ‘control freaks’ in a way that has nothing to do with the usual coercive or authoritarian connotations of the term. In the same way that children delight in making model trains go forward and back by moving a switch, he loves making complicated things like computers do nifty stuff for them. But it has to be their nifty stuff.
The Vigilante doesn't like tedium, non-determinism, or most of the fussy, boring, ill-defined little tasks that go with maintaining a normal existence. Accordingly, they tend to be careful and orderly in their intellectual lives and chaotic elsewhere. The code will be beautiful, even if their desks are buried in 3 feet of crap.
He is very weakly motivated by conventional rewards such as social approval or money. The Vigilante tends to be attracted by challenges and excited by interesting toys, and to judge the interest of work or other activities in terms of the challenges offered and the toys he gets to play with.
Skills
The Vigilante major and important skill is the ability to hack to anything that is modern day technology; however, he can't hack into anything that doesn't run on electrical. Since he is a well-known hacker, he uses his education from the State University of New York and the shooting skills that he practiced within the guns ranges of Kentucky.
Abilities
The Vigilante is able to shoot and aim a pistol at any given time. He is also able to drive almost any kind of vehicles, expect from motorcycles. He is also able to do parkour and run at average speeds. He is able to use any technology within the world, that is hackable and easy to get it. But that doesn't count from robotic characters and advanced technology.
Equipment
The Vigilante is able to hack into everything from ATMs to stoplights within a busy street with his Galaxy S4, that he turned into a 'mini hacking computer'. Of course it cost a lot of time and money to make his phone into the hacker's best tool. It also has a 'water proof' phone case on it to make such that it doesn't break during his adventures.
Yet, he always carries around his pistol in case of any gun battles within the city. The pistol is a Browning® 1911-22 Compact Rimfire Pistol, which he got from a Kentucky gun shop. He also has two clips of the pistol, just as a safely feature. And he carries around a Smith Wesson Collapsible Baton, that is used from melee combat.
Brief Back-story
Daniel Geyser was born in a safe community with his middle class family, the Geysers. The family had a history of corruption before and after Daniel was born. The father, Jackson Geyser was released from prison after a fraud that torn people's lives up. The money they got was all even stolen or were from their frauds and they spent it on Daniel. Later on during the 90s, his mother and father were arrested from an attempted murder on an elderly couple in Los Angels. They were found guilty and sentenced to life without parole and little Daniel was sent off to his aunt's home in Kentucky.
Later in his teen years, Daniel was an outcast at his local high schools and loved to read and be on the computer. He was smart in math, science, and engineering class. He pasted high school with a GPA of 4.1 and moved to New York City and went to State University of New York to become a engineer. Daniel then met Emma Smith outside of a cafe shop and they talked about their classes. They fell in love with each other like lovers in a drive in theater and spent more time with each other from four years until Daniel and Emma graduated. They moved in together and lived out their lives from two more years until one fatal night, that gave birth to The Vigilante.
They were at home, eating their dinner, as someone came to the door and knocked on it. Daniel answered it and was hit with a metal baseball bat and landed onto the ground. Emma went to the door as soon as she heard Daniel hitting the floor and she was grabbed and pushed towards the wall. The robbers searched the house from any that can make them get rich and tied both Daniel and Emma up and put them next to the couch. A couple of minutes later, and they come back from Emma and grabbed her as she cried to be let go. Daniel was shouting no and begged with the robbers to not take her and one of them kicked him in the chest. He somehow got the ropes from his hands to be loose and saw the gun on the table.
He grabbed the gun and shot the two guys near the doorway and rushed towards the van, where Emma was kept. And then he shot at the driver as he drove away and it caused him to crash into a parked car. Emma was hurt due to the crash, but she wasn't harmed inside the house with Daniel. As from the robbers, three died due to the guy shot wounds and one lost his ability to walk. Ever since the day happened, Emma and Daniel are still together and she is going to have a baby boy in two months. From Daniel, he felt like he was powerful with a gun and he wanted to stop the crimes in his hometown. So he became 'The Vigilante' and studied on how to hack after he found out his parent's past. Even known 'The Vigilante' is a hero, some people still call him a villain due to his usage of the pistol and the deadly combat skills. Daniel doesn't care about what he is called as long as he gets to save the day.
[/center]
Casual RP
Name
Daniel Geyser 'The Vigilante'.
Age
Thirty-One.
Gender
Male.
Personality
The Vigilante is a ‘control freaks’ in a way that has nothing to do with the usual coercive or authoritarian connotations of the term. In the same way that children delight in making model trains go forward and back by moving a switch, he loves making complicated things like computers do nifty stuff for them. But it has to be their nifty stuff.
The Vigilante doesn't like tedium, non-determinism, or most of the fussy, boring, ill-defined little tasks that go with maintaining a normal existence. Accordingly, they tend to be careful and orderly in their intellectual lives and chaotic elsewhere. The code will be beautiful, even if their desks are buried in 3 feet of crap.
He is very weakly motivated by conventional rewards such as social approval or money. The Vigilante tends to be attracted by challenges and excited by interesting toys, and to judge the interest of work or other activities in terms of the challenges offered and the toys he gets to play with.
Skills
The Vigilante major and important skill is the ability to hack to anything that is modern day technology; however, he can't hack into anything that doesn't run on electrical. Since he is a well-known hacker, he uses his education from the State University of New York and the shooting skills that he practiced within the guns ranges of Kentucky.
Abilities
The Vigilante is able to shoot and aim a pistol at any given time. He is also able to drive almost any kind of vehicles, expect from motorcycles. He is also able to do parkour and run at average speeds. He is able to use any technology within the world, that is hackable and easy to get it. But that doesn't count from robotic characters and advanced technology.
Equipment
The Vigilante is able to hack into everything from ATMs to stoplights within a busy street with his Galaxy S4, that he turned into a 'mini hacking computer'. Of course it cost a lot of time and money to make his phone into the hacker's best tool. It also has a 'water proof' phone case on it to make such that it doesn't break during his adventures.
Yet, he always carries around his pistol in case of any gun battles within the city. The pistol is a Browning® 1911-22 Compact Rimfire Pistol, which he got from a Kentucky gun shop. He also has two clips of the pistol, just as a safely feature. And he carries around a Smith Wesson Collapsible Baton, that is used from melee combat.
Brief Back-story
Daniel Geyser was born in a safe community with his middle class family, the Geysers. The family had a history of corruption before and after Daniel was born. The father, Jackson Geyser was released from prison after a fraud that torn people's lives up. The money they got was all even stolen or were from their frauds and they spent it on Daniel. Later on during the 90s, his mother and father were arrested from an attempted murder on an elderly couple in Los Angels. They were found guilty and sentenced to life without parole and little Daniel was sent off to his aunt's home in Kentucky.
Later in his teen years, Daniel was an outcast at his local high schools and loved to read and be on the computer. He was smart in math, science, and engineering class. He pasted high school with a GPA of 4.1 and moved to New York City and went to State University of New York to become a engineer. Daniel then met Emma Smith outside of a cafe shop and they talked about their classes. They fell in love with each other like lovers in a drive in theater and spent more time with each other from four years until Daniel and Emma graduated. They moved in together and lived out their lives from two more years until one fatal night, that gave birth to The Vigilante.
They were at home, eating their dinner, as someone came to the door and knocked on it. Daniel answered it and was hit with a metal baseball bat and landed onto the ground. Emma went to the door as soon as she heard Daniel hitting the floor and she was grabbed and pushed towards the wall. The robbers searched the house from any that can make them get rich and tied both Daniel and Emma up and put them next to the couch. A couple of minutes later, and they come back from Emma and grabbed her as she cried to be let go. Daniel was shouting no and begged with the robbers to not take her and one of them kicked him in the chest. He somehow got the ropes from his hands to be loose and saw the gun on the table.
He grabbed the gun and shot the two guys near the doorway and rushed towards the van, where Emma was kept. And then he shot at the driver as he drove away and it caused him to crash into a parked car. Emma was hurt due to the crash, but she wasn't harmed inside the house with Daniel. As from the robbers, three died due to the guy shot wounds and one lost his ability to walk. Ever since the day happened, Emma and Daniel are still together and she is going to have a baby boy in two months. From Daniel, he felt like he was powerful with a gun and he wanted to stop the crimes in his hometown. So he became 'The Vigilante' and studied on how to hack after he found out his parent's past. Even known 'The Vigilante' is a hero, some people still call him a villain due to his usage of the pistol and the deadly combat skills. Daniel doesn't care about what he is called as long as he gets to save the day.
[/center]
© 2007-2024