Cabo Vitorio Provincia do Brasil By Ben Levy
The first landing sites in central Cabralia were chosen for logistic and scientific reasons. Only later did areas of economic interest, such as Cabo Vitorio, attract settlers. Early settlers realized that the southeastern corner of the island subcontinent of Cabralia, having a wealth of natural resources and favorable climate and geography, offered more advantages to long term settlement, not the least among which was an excellent natural harbor. Cabo Vitorio is now Provincia do Brasil’s most populous Estado, with 26,700,000 people on 928,125 square kilometers of land. (about twice the size of Sweden) The Estado stretches for about 1,800 kilometers along the southwest coast of Cabralia, with the northern border about 500 km inland. The population density is about 26.2 persons per square kilometer, crowded by local standards; spacious compared with the coastal area of Terrestrial Brazil. The climate is temperate, with moderate seasonality along the coast and moderate to high (depending on the grand season cycle) seasonality inland. The land is flat to smoothly rolling, with a region of deeply eroded clay and loess hills in the southwest, and broad sandy beaches along most of the coast from Cabo Fracturo near Miranda the west to the long peninsula of Vitoriofin jutting eastward into the sea. The western shore, about 500 km from Cabo Fracturo to the Lemanja border, is rocky, with numerous bays and inlets. Most of the natural drainage is to the north and east, with water runoff eventually reaching Lago Grosso, the shallow, swampy lake occupying much of Mata Centuara, the Unidade due north of Cabo Vitorio. The vegetation is predominantly semi-deciduous in nature, a pattern found throughout Provincia do Brasil in which point producers grow two distinct types of leaves, of which one is lost during dry weather and the other is kept. Many of the native plants have proved economically exploitable. Cabo Vitorio received its Estado status on July 9th, 2219, being the first such region established by Brazil since the pre-Twilight era. One of the salient facts of politics in Cabo Vitorio, almost since the establishment of the Estado, has been the political polarization between the Estado government and the Municipal government of Vitoria de Conquista. There is a history of feuds, complaints, and occasional calls for separatism, all fueled by disagreement over the distribution of the resources of government. The Partido Alianca has dominated the Estado government for decades, with the Partido Republicana holding together, but generally leading, a much more politically diverse government in the city. In the city, Partido Alianca is often considered the enemy. They have almost no chance of acquiring power and therefore not much of a constituency to please. In the remainder of the Estado, Partido Republicana finds its potential voters often lured over tot he smaller parties, and while these parties have generally cooperated in the running of Vitoria de Conquista, they ensure that Partido Republicana will remain too weak to challenge Alianca for leadership of the Estado. With both the municipal and Estado governments located in the Lindaflorestra district of Vitoria de Conquista, disagreements between offices often result in shouting matches, and occasionally scuffles, in the street. This political rivalry has led both sides to stoop to outrageous levels to harass and discredit the other, and even to gain potentially damaging information. Field agents have been put to use to infiltrate political offices, to bring scandals (the other side’s, naturally) to light, and to sabotage political plans. A common ploy has been to identify a strategy the other party has been researching that might appear popular in the public view, then to co-opt it, publicize it before the others get a chance to, support it, and take full credit for it. Fortunately for Brazilians living in Cabo Vitorio, their professional public servants seem quite aloof from all this. The various police, health, education, emergency, infrastructure, and other services cooperate well, at times, even against the wishes of the elected officials. The Estado of Cabo Vitorio has a police force of 19,000, and Vitoria de Conquista, 9,000. The city of Miranda has 800 police officers, and the Vitoriofin Unified Police District (a combined force belonging to the various towns in this resort area) has 560. These are the most significant security forces in the area, other than the national police. (There are no Rural police assigned to this Estado) Many of the lesser towns maintain police forces as well. Emergency services, including firefighting, but not medical, are provided by the Estado police force as part of its general duties. During rescue operations they are reinforced in this task by the national military. The Navy has responsibility for search and rescue and law enforcement at sea, although the Vitoriofin police, in response to local feelings that a naval presence isn’t suited to a resort area, patrols inshore waters with a hovercraft unit. The Air Force, Marines, and Army have limited law enforcement roles, but is often put to use in rescue operations, firefighting, and in disaster relief. There is a specialized Estado agency that responds to rescue requests and vehicle accidents along the major ground transportation routes. Law enforcement here, however, is the province of the Estado police. The capitol city of Cabo Vitorio accounts for 11 million of the Estado’s inhabitants. The city sits astride Provincia do Brasil’s best natural harbor. Even in the early days of pre-colony exploration, it was obvious that some sort of major settlement would be developed here, but the later intense development of Vitoria de Conquista came as a surprise, and arose as a result of rich natural resource deposits missed by the first surveys. Today, Vitoria de Conquista is the unofficial commercial and economic capitol of Provincia do Brasil, and would be the political capitol as well, if it hadn’t been for Brazil’s insistence that the colony not have a capitol, and the traditional preference of many national agencies for the oldest city in Provincia do Brasil, Missaoprimo. The two cities today are friendly rivals. At one time, the rivalry was less friendly. During the first three decades of the 23rd century, as private development began to accelerate in Cabo Vitorio, and especially in the city of Vitoria de Conquista, many residents of Missaoprimo thought that their region should remain the center of the colony by whatever means necessary. Missaoprimo’s supporters had considerable pull in government, but even with the expenditure of vast sums to improve the Missaoprimo area’s infrastructure, which went as far as connecting this very inland city with the sea so that it could compete with Vitoria de Conquista’s harbor, they were unable to match Vitoria de Conquista’s prosperity. Some of the better known areas of Vitoria de Conquista are: The inner harbor area, on the northeast side of the harbor, is the oldest part of the city. Distrito Portovelho has buildings over a hundred years old, as well as a few remaining freight terminals, and the city’s only passenger terminal. (Passenger ships are exclusively used for sight seeing and leisure travel, not serious travel.) Much of the freight service has since moved to newer, larger automated facilities on the west side of the harbor. Most of Distrito Portovelho is now given over to corporate, residential, art and commercial areas, wholesale and retail centers, very light industry including printing and publishing, and the remainder freight and passenger terminals. The municipal airport, which is collocated with the airfilm terminal, is situated close to the north end of the district, convenient to the port facilities. A retail, club and restaurant neighborhood has grown up near the waterfront, amongst narrow streets in an area once used for warehousing. Around the fringes of this district are the earliest residential areas in the city, over a hundred years old. Most of the buildings have been renovated since their construction. Provincia do Brasil has only existed for a little more than a century of Brazil’s 800 year history, but the people who live in Portovelho have a sense of local heritage. This is a polished and orderly district due east of Portovelho, separated by the municipal airport and airfilm terminal, a cemetery, a large train yard and a wholesale center. It is a civic center and communications center, being home to the Estado and municipal offices, media facilities, offices of international agencies, corporations, and foreign government, and several museums. The major thoroughfares are wide boulevards, all named for pre-Twilight astronomers. The atmosphere in this area of the city is one of clean cosmopolitanism. Lindaflorestra receives the best share of the city’s attentions. The streets are cleaner here, and safer. The buildings are sleek, modern, and graffiti free. The urban rapid transit stations are all kept in excellent repair, and the landscaping is kept fresh. Despite the district’s hard kept splendor, Lindaflorestra is not popular with tourists, nor it seems, with the locals, as the place seems to empty out quickly after working hours, except for the stretch of hotels, restaurants, and other commercial establishments along Boulevard Kepler. The rest of Lindaflorestra just seems too sterile and too robotic to make people comfortable. After running through the heart of Lindaflorestra, past the Italian End (Home of the Italian consulate, the Academia dei Lincei planetary headquarters, the Italian Cultural center, as well as a small ethnic Italian residential and commercial area), Gallileo Boulevard heads off to the northwest, forming the main avenue of a narrow district between the city’s Eastern Utility District (home of the water and power stations, as well as the maintenance yard for the city’s busses and other service facilities) and the Jardim des Botanicas. This is the Gallileo strip, a very fashionable club and retail center, as well as a very mixed residential neighborhood. At the far eastern end of the strip is the Universidade do Estado Cabo Vitorio, Conquista Campus. This sprawling school could be a good-sized town all by itself. Crowds of young people from the University fill the Gallileo Strip each evening, sustaining the businesses and giving the place a year round carnival atmosphere. Gumino is the district south of the inner harbor, clockwise around the bay. It has a very commercial waterfront dominated by shipping and warehouses, and is primarily a very blue collar, conservative district. Gumino is known for small family businesses and light industry, and is home to many of the city’s tradesmen, such as electricians and metalworkers. It is a stronghold of the Roman Catholic Church, which has a number of impressive churches in the district. Almost all the children here supplement their daily public education with an hour or so of instruction in a Catholic school. The Estrada Encerca, the main highway that loops around Vitoria de Conquista, forms the eastern boundary of this District, whose central artery is the Avenida do Comerciador. The large central distribution markets that once flourished along this road have moved north to the newer districts, replaced by a long row of new and used vehicle lots, bars, and discount shopping emporiums. Gumino’s inhabitants appear quite eager to demonstrate their loyalty to tradition and ritual, and everything from births to weddings to funerals is taken very seriously. Refusal of an invitation without a darn good reason, accompanied by a heartfelt apology and a lavish gift, is considered very insulting, and it’s the primary reason why Gumino workers, despite a very strong work ethic, are often at odds with employers who don’t understand the neighborhood social commitments the workers feel obligated to meet. The Gumino folk prefer to work for themselves, as independent contractors or tradesmen, owning their own shops, and setting their own hours. One of the results of this is that Gumino business owners, especially after closing shops through some good business days as a result of attending too many social affairs, often find it necessary to stay open for extend hours for a while to catch up financially. Gumino is a good place to find a store open late at night, or find a tradesman more than happy to work all through a weekend. He’ll clear his conscience when he explains at his next confession why he worked all day Sunday: "First there was my brother in law’s niece’s confirmation, father…" The harbor is connected to the sea by a narrow mouth. The large, hilly promontory to the immediate east of the harbor’s mouth is the Military Park District. Fortaleza Coronel Fagundes dominates the district, and by extension, the harbor, and is named for the leader of the garrison which, in 2205, repulsed one on the few ground battles fought on Tirane during the First Rio Plata War. It was built in 2203 for exactly that purpose. At the time, Argentina’s colony on Tirane hadn’t collapsed yet, and with tensions in South America rising, it was feared that any war on Earth might spill over to Tirane. Fortunately, the amount of actual fighting on Tirane was limited. Parts of the fortress are open to the public (and in fact, parts are now public park land and no longer used by the military) and there is an excellent museum, maintained by the Brazilian Army as the official museum of the Brazilian Army on Tirane. Along with highly informative exhibits and displays of vintage military equipment, lovingly preserved, is a good deal of propaganda, however, and the Brazilian treatment of mercenaries captured after the end of Colonel Fagundes’s battle is ignored entirely. The fortress and related military real estate occupies about a third of this district. Park and public beach occupies another third, with middle class residential and a small amount of low density commercial (mostly retail) plots occupying the rest. The area is noted for its almost complete replacement of native flora with imported species. Several generations of residents have shown a preference for the trees and shrubs of home, and landscapers imported and planted these while removing the native plants. This occurred even in the parks, where the Brazilians desired Earth trees to stroll under and Earth grass to sit on. Laurels, Myrtles, and Mimosas dominate the area, along with Chestnuts and Brazilwoods. As in most areas where settlers have sought to import large numbers of Terran trees, it has been found that they grow best with a Terran ecosystem, and so the Military Park District now supports Terran birds, rodents, and invertebrate fauna as well. The Brazilians have done very well in excluding certain baneful species, and as a result, some of the Earth trees brought in, especially the Chestnut trees, thrive better here than they do on Earth. On the far side of the harbor mouth, linked by the Colonel Fagundes Airfilm and Vehicle Bridge, is the Distrito Benemargem (somewhat translatable as "Fairbanks"). This is divided between upper class and upper middle class residential homes, the Benemargem Colegio des Artes e Historia, a large commercial district home to sprawling office buildings, a very upscale retail center featuring very expensive fashions, a medical complex, and parkland. Most of the latter is private, in the hands of exclusive clubs and organizations. Some is owned by corporations, and a small but very beautiful section belongs to the church. Public parks exist also, but are less prominent. One large public park lies along the coast, but the aristocratic folk of Distrito Benemargem have done their best to restrict access. There is only very limited public transportation, for example, and almost no place to park privately owned vehicles. Closer to the sea, the homes become more elaborate and give way, along the south coast, to large estates belonging to some of the wealthiest families in the city. Terra Ocidente. Clockwise around the harbor from Benemargem is the working class district of Terra Ocidente. Ocidente’s population is housed mainly in tall residential towers, with many over forty stories high. None, though, approach the size of the Brazilian arcologies on Earth. To build one here would be to invalidate one of the goals of living on Provincia do Brasil. The population is middle class and lower middle class, and covers broad social and economic strata. The social bonds here aren’t nearly as strong as those in Gumino, and in some way, Terra Ocidente considers itself Gumino’s rival. Certainly, the football games between schools of the two districts are intense. The people of Terra Ocidente are more likely to be employed by large firms, and many low level government workers live here as well. Some residents find work as domestic workers in the homes of Benemargem. Terra Occidente’s small strip on the harbor has a number of active piers, two marinas, and a ferry terminal that provides high-speed commuter service across the bay. The active piers are used by specialized freighters, especially roll-on roll-off vehicle transports. A few piers are given over to the city’s small fishing industry, and are located near a row of enormous refrigerated warehouses and a wholesale/retail fish market. Several fishing charter services are headquartered here as well. The Estrada Encerca forms the western boundary of the district, with the large working class market center Mercanza Cee Vee at the northwestern corner. North of Terra Ocidente is Embolsa Grande. This is primarily an industrial waterfront district, with the city’s shipyards, and several freight terminals. The Brazilian Navy maintains a major base here. Inland are more factories, warehouses, and power facilities. Occupying a section of high ground near the Superestrada / Estrada Encera interchange is the city’s stadium, 45 years old and home of the Conquistadors , Vitoria de Conquista’s football (soccer to the Americans) team, since its completion. Vitoria de Conquista’s largest church, the Cathedral of Saint Ignacius, is near the southeastern end of the district, in a district that includes some of the oldest industrial real estate, and the Conquista de Vitoria Technical Academy, an advanced school that teaches trade skills to blue collar young adults. New districts are added on the fringes of Vitoria de Conquista as the city grows, and most of the growth of the past few decades has been to the north. Thirty years ago, the district of Ilhargas Verdes was mostly terraced orchards. Now it retains some orchards, scattered amidst suburban homes. The district occupies a series of ridges overlooking the harbor. Homes with the best views are in great demand, and often, a neighborhood changes dramatically along a ridgeline. Some of the locations, though, belong to clubs and restaurants whose owners saw the direction of things and positioned their establishments here years ago, before the land values shot up. One by one, as these establishments close, the land is sold at premium prices to wealthy buyers who can’t or don’t wish to live in Benemargem. Distrito Hipodromo is another of the newer districts on the northern edge of the city. It takes its name from the horseracing complex, which, together with a large park devoted to athletic pursuits, occupies about half the District. A commercial plaza centered around a large outdoor sculpture with an equine theme faces the horseracing complex. Most of the rest of the District is given over to quiet and recently built residential streets, arranged in a maze of twists and cul-de-sacs designed to discourage track visitors from using any roads but the more important ones. One of the ironic truths of human settlement has always been; the larger the population, the harder it is to find one’s place in it. Quite a few people in Provincia do Brasil gravitate towards Cabo Vitorio, in the hope of finding their place there, and when they don’t, many of them end up in the sprawling, maze like mass of shanties and ramshackle buildings called Perfididade. Perfididade is kilometer after kilometer of human folly and poverty, the poor and the lost of Provincia, spreading out with no sense of order to the west and north of Vitoria de Conquista. The airfilm tracks and express highways glide past this place, with no stations, and no off ramps to allow access. Indeed, most of the transport routes run through road cuts well below ground level, so Perfididade can’t even be seen. To get to Perfididade, you either have to be looking for it, or be so lost that it comes looking for you. Brazil’s answer to the problem is to make homesteading a readily available option. Ministry of Colonization offices are willing to assist anyone establish a small farm, and subsistence living in Campinasur, while a hard life, seems to be a better one than the existence offered in Perfididade. For a variety of reasons, few take this route out. Other routes up from Perfididade include government, military, or ecclesiastical service, and a lucky and hard working few make it through business and entertainment success. It doesn’t help that Perfididade has the highest birth rate in Brazil. For every resident who leaves, it seems that two others take up the space left behind. Corruption and organized crime are deeply rooted here. Crime lords control access to the limited number of unskilled labor positions available in Vitorio de Conquista, and take their piece of the already meager wages the workers bring home. Extortion of business is common. Harassment, threats and outright attacks on government officials has reached the point where the Army has been called in frequently, to provide security and help hunt down gang members. To make matter worse, warfare between rival crime lords is common, as is violent action by vigilante groups. This minor city lies on a broad beach, on the northeastern side of Cabo Fracturo. It is growing quickly, with about a million people reported in 2300. Most of the central area of the city, and some of the newer developments, is the design of a single architect, who has made the design of Miranda her life’s work and succeeded in having the city named for her daughter. Miranda is a vision of harmonious, interlocking forms, with an obvious commonality of design and planning. The city has its own distinctive architectural styles. The buildings are grand, sweeping affairs incorporating broad greenways, plazas, and parks between them. Critiques have taken the city to task for using far more land than it has too, resulting in an urban environment where almost nothing is ever in walking distance. Miranda tends to be the but of jokes from Vitoria de Conquista. It’s often referred to as the "Cidade Outro", (the Other City) and portrayed as sleepy and bucolic. Miranda, though, has a higher standard of living than Vitoria de Conquista. (To which the Conquistan will usually have a retort, like "that’s only because they have to pay people extra to stay there" or "What good is the money when there’s nothing to spend it on?" or "So? They can’t play football.") Miranda broke no new engineering ground, but applied a lot of existing knowledge in surprising ways. The goal was the creation of the city as a single esthetic unit. As the architect, in an early interview, recounts: "The hardest part was Nossa Senhara de Vitoria", our Cathedral. It’s unique, yes? That’s what everybody says. But the media never saw the battles that took place. We met with archdiocese officials every day for a month, they never budged from their demands for a traditional design. I couldn’t fit rough stone ashlar wall, buttresses, stained glass windows, and an arch supported peaked slate roof into the city. Not like that. But they value the continuity of the traditional designs. We finally got a design approved, and remember thinking, no really likes this, we’re all just too tired of fighting. Then suddenly its getting raves, and documentaries are featuring it, and people are calling it an achievement. Well, no one ever did helical stained glass windows before, but I can’t take credit for it. The design was an amalgamation of sour compromises." One of the towers in downtown Miranda is home to Fazenet PDB, the Tirane branch of Brazil’s Fazenet. Privately owned but under close government regulation, this is Brazil’s combination commerce network and securities market. The Brazilians rejected the idea of "cyber-trading" years ago. The Fazenet, however, places traders in real time contact with each other in a series of "virtual market floors". Other elements of the Fazenet are used to control national monetary policy, and disseminate economic news. So important is Fazenet that other corporations, particularly media and analysis firms, make it their business just to study and report on what goes on in the Fazenet. (That’s pronounced "Fah-ze-net", not "Phase-net".) Security on the Fazenet has been described as good, but far from perfect. Fazenet PdB is continuously forced to choose between easier access and heightened security, and the compromise is usually somewhere in the middle. As a result, physical documentation is still very much a part of the Brazilian business world. Universidade do Estado Cabo Vitorio This is the major institution of higher learning in the Estado. It also carries out the bulk of the publicly funded research. State research money is channelled through the University to scientists in a wide range of fields. The main campus is in Vitoria de Conquista. There are several smaller local colleges belonging to the University, along with some field research sites, the Vitoriofin Oceanography center, and a secondary campus in Miranda. Tuition is nominal for residents of the Estado, and inexpensive for others. The school was established in 2241, acquiring some of the facilities of the short lived Brazilian National University of Tirane, which collapsed amidst a patronism scandal. The Conquista de Vitoria campus, being a large and diverse institution serving the overall needs of the Estado, maintains programs that are at least adequate in most fields of academics. However, they have a reputation for being particularly strong in the such disciplines as Literature, Arts, History, Education, Psychology, Sociology, Social Behavior, and Law. They maintain Provincia de Brazil’s premier library, and even scholars visiting from European nations and colonies grudgingly, if occasionally, admit that the library can even be ranked alongside those in their own schools. There is a school of law, but it is small, existing mostly to train less privileged students who cannot afford the private law schools such as Emerisi Academy (in the town of Belbutino, population 50,000, on the east coast northwest of Conquista de Vitoria) The Miranda campus is not nearly as large, and concentrates its efforts in less broad academic range. Although it is part of the same public system, Miranda is a bit choosier, and requires the passing of aptitude tests as a condition of entry. The Miranda campus is best known for its programs in design, architecture, physics, engineering, financial and business arts, and media science. Faculty members have been asked about their classification of business and financial studies as an "Art" and media studies as a "science". The explanations are both lengthy and confusing. Benemargem Colegio des Artes e Historia This is a very exclusive academy in Vitoria de Conquista. With a relatively small student body (8,000) on lavish grounds, the BCAH has excellent programs in the fine arts, music, and the liberal arts and humanities. The school was built in 2247, by the growing population of wealthy citizens who wanted more and better schooling for their children than was available in the public university at the time, without having to send their children out of Provincia do Brazil. (In fact, they placed their school in one of Vitoria de Conquista’s wealthiest areas, most likely to keep close tabs on their children and their educators.) From the start, it was known that the school’s design would be one of elegance and opulence, and a number of top architectural firms competed for the contract. At the time, much of the architecture of Provincia do Brasil was still in the "Colonial Functionalism" style, the blocky, repetitious look common to regions where just getting up and running is the priority, with all esthetic consideration suspended. The construction of BCAH represented a welcome shift in priorities. The school grounds are open to the public on a limited schedule, (generally, when the art or garden museums are open, or on days of performances at the school’s theatre), and many people come to visit the well designed grounds with their classical gardens and statuary. Despite financial support from the upper class of Cabo Vitorio, the school is very expensive. Scholarships are offered for excellence in the arts, but these are few and the competition is high. Graduating from this school almost assures one of placement within the upper strata of Provincia do Brasil society. However, merely getting in is a sign that the student most likely already started there, and was already headed for a life of wealth and ease regardless of his or her personal academic capabilities. This is a recently built facility in Miranda, jointly owned by a number of firms, including many foreign corporations. The idea is provide a laboratory complex that would be otherwise unavailable, due to economic considerations, to any of the member firms individually. Few of the scientific staff here are employees of the Scientific Park, although there is a large in-house maintenance, administration, and support staff. Typically, member firms rent facilities, and provide their own scientific staff. Less frequently, space and equipment is loaned to other corporations, agencies, academic institutions, or even private individuals, at higher rates of course. The arrangement has been a smooth one, although on several occasions corporations have been caught leasing key facilities for extended periods for dubious projects, simply to make the facilities unavailable to competitors whom they suspect need that particular facility to pursue a crucial line of research. Most of the Scientific Park is geared up to handle projects in chemistry, materials science, and engineering, although "Off-Topic" work is not unusual. The Brazilian Military in Cabo Vitorio The Brazilian Navy has a large base in Distrito Embolsa Grande in Vitorio de Conquista. This is the headquarters of the fourth flotilla, further described in the Chaparaca section. Despite being the headquarters, most of the flotilla’s warships operate out of Porto Paradeo in Chaparaca. Left here are two nuclear powered aviation cruisers, one of the newer Xavante class and one of the older Suya class, along with a few escort vessels, submarines, patrol craft, and service and support ships. The Brazilian Army maintains three Brigades in Cabo Vitorio. The Fagundes Garrison Brigade, based in Vitoria de Conquista, consists of an infantry battalion, company sized units of other combat arms, and a variety of support and service units. There is a military base in the north central area of the Estado which is home to the 33rd Mechanized Brigade (tracked) and the 37th Service and Support Brigade, which includes logistics, engineer, medical, aviation, and signal elements. The Brazilian Air Force is represented by Aereadromo Somoro, home to a support Regiment and the 19th Combat Aviation Regiment. This unit flies short range VTOL aircraft designed to offer close in support to ground forces, and short ranged interceptors. The lack of long range aviation at this location is a deliberate measure to avoid any appearance of a threat to Tundukubwa. For the same reason, no long range missile assets are maintained in the Estado. The Brazilian Marines have a garrison brigade at Vitoria de Conquista that consists mostly of support units, an amphibious company, an air defense company, and a security company. Cabo Vitorio’s starport and international airport lies 90 kilometers west of Vitoria de Conquista. Despite serving Provincia do Brasil’s most populous Estado, this was the third spaceport built in the colony. Vitoria de Conquista has had an airport since 2187, when the National Corps of Engineers built it during the first phase of the settlement of Cabo Vitorio. Missaoprimo provided the region’s interface service until 2242, when demand grew too high, and Portoestrella Vitorio was built. As with the other spaceports, it was designed to collocate surface to surface and interface operations. It is Provincia do Brasil’s second busiest international airport. Vitoria de Conquista’s original airport became a municipal field serving local and charter flights. Portoestrella Vitorio is the major international air link for Provincia do Brasil, with further details below in the transportation section. Nacional Interegional Estrellabarcas operates a number of surface to surface starships from Portoestrella Vitorio to several points in terrestrial Brazil. The organization’s name, "interegional" underscores its primary mission: to connect the two major regions of Brazil, even though they are light years apart. The organization’s mission will become considerably more difficult as Paulo develops. Civilian services operating from Portoestrella Vitorio include: Cruz do Sur: Brazil based line, connecting Earth, Tirane, and Paulo- the bulk of the service being between Earth and Tirane, with a very occasional run out to Procyon. Cruz do Sur operates a number of passenger and cargo starships, and maintains its own shuttles at Portoestrella Vitorio and Oeste. Carrebarco Orbital Provincial: Operates heavy lift cargo shuttles to and from all of Provincia de Brasil’s spaceports. Ferroave: An umbrella agency consisting of associated independent ship operators with Brazilian flagged ships. Ferroave is headquartered on Earth but maintains a field office in each of the Brazilian Tiranean spaceports, with the planetary headquarters Sao Celestino. Due to the nature of their service, ships and routes handled by Ferroave varies wildly, but they tend more towards frontierwards missions than the heavily travelled Earth-Tirane route. Several of the more interesting ships flown under the Ferroave aegis are stripped down and modified ex-survey ships of the Cambaceres class. These ships carry small quantities of freight and passengers directly to the surface of outposts and small frontier starports. Ferroave switches roles frequently and deftly, at times acting as freight forwarding company and cargo agent, or travel agency, or industry association, or purchasing co-op, or whatever is needed at the time to serve its members. Independent ship owners and operators, for example, can obtain insurance through Ferroave at fleet discount rates usually obtainable only by larger operators. Linha Espaco Iberico: Operates several passenger ships and a few freighters between Tirane and Earth. Shuttle Vitorio: This company operates a variety of shuttlecraft, include passenger and cargo ships of several configurations, to and from Tiranean orbit. The company is small and very flexible, and its niche is serving the needs of independent traders, whose ships are often not interface equipped and are often placed at the bottom of the priority list by other shuttle operators, who are either working for the major lines or have long term contracts with them. Shuttle Vitorio is often called upon to supplement the other operators as well, as they can be overwhelmed when starship traffic is unexpectedly high. While a starship can always be unloaded by repeated trips from a smaller number of shuttles, most owners choose not to wait, especially if they are flying passengers or sensitive or perishable cargo, and do not mind subcontracting out some interface services, if it means speeding up turnaround time in a high traffic "crunch". Shuttle Vitorio’s 2300 tax forms listed 18 shuttlecraft, of which 4 were large, newer passenger ships, 5 mixed passenger freight craft, 2 refrigerated cargo shuttles, 2 container cargo shuttles, and 5 cargo shuttles with a small passenger capacity. They had 433 employees, and a gross revenue of about 63.6 MLv. The stock is public, but most of it is held by a small circle, the rest trading in small blocks throughout Tirane, through Brazil’s FazeNet. Fuel and services for visiting starships may be obtained through Shuttle Vitorio; which has the contract for ground support for non-affiliated vessels (that is, any ship belonging to a company with no facilities of its own at the spaceport). The major ground transportation links in Cabo Vitorio run east-west along the southern coast. The most important is the Superestrada Sur, which, like the remainder of the Superestrada system, combines a vehicle highway with a collocated vehicle track. A second superestrada, a minor one, links Vitoria de Conquista with Mata Centaura and Chaparaca to the north. The road net is not very extensive, away from the very populated southern coast. Much of the land is still virgin forest. In addition, maintenance on the more rural areas of the road net is only mediocre. Away from the south and east coasts, travellers ought to be well prepared. Airfilm trains provide most of the colony’s passenger and freight traffic. The major Airfilm tracks, and the passenger trains that use them, are owned by the national government. Minor tracks are owned by corporations, and in some cases, Estado and local governments. Cabo Vitorio, for example, owns the line that travels northeast from Conquista de Vitoria and then follows the coast northward to the east coast towns of Belbutino, Marbo, and Sao Benedito. The state also operates a route that parallels the nationally owned Superestrada Sur track, servicing many of the coastal towns the national line misses. Typical Airfilm times and fees from Vitorio de Conquista to:
Portoestrella Vitorio doubles as the regions international airport. Service providers to this major transportation hub include: Aerotrans Brasil This is the Tirane branch of Brazil’s leading international airline. It is publicly traded, and its stock is considered a very safe, stable "blue chip" security. Impulsos. This is a regional airline headquartered here. Impulsos operates small to medium sized passenger aircraft throughout Provincia do Brasil, but has no regular international service. Aircraft are available for charter, and these flights may be international. The line is owned by Grupo Zoli, a major Brazilian corporation based on Tirane, and has a fleet of over 500 transport aircraft, 40 of which are hypersonic executive transports. These are extremely expensive to fly and demand high ticket prices. (If you have to ask, you can’t afford it). All flights feature only first class service, with the best inflight catering in Brazil. Impulsos has been extremely profitable, but some of the company’s income has been diverted to officials who have opposed the acquisition of faster airfilm trains. Grupo Zoli’s fines for this adventure almost, but not quite, rose to the level of barely significant. Gansa Charter (see below) operates a rapid air shuttle between the spaceport and the municipal airport in the center of the city. Flight time is only 10 minutes Foreign Carriers: A plethora of foreign airlines have landing rights at Portoespaco Vitorio. Brazil is a party to international aviation agreements that secure equal rights for most international carriers. Aeroporto Areia Lustroso (Vitoriofin) is a small airport serving the beach resort area of Vitoriofin. Service is very seasonal, with the airport much busier in the summer. The airport is very old, and has a ramshackle, rustic frontier look that is only partially deliberate. This is despite the popularity of the area as a holiday destination. Impulsos operates infrequent service connecting Vitoriofin with direct service from Vitoria de Conquista other eastern Cabralia airports. Gansa Charter is headquartered here. This small, exclusive airline serves an elite clientele, with its only scheduled service connecting the Vitoriofin resort and estate area with the municipal airport in Vitoria de Conquista, and with Portoespaco Vitorio. Flight time is 26 minutes to the former and 32 minutes to the later, and the cost is around 75 Lv. to either destination. Other destinations are served through either of these two airports on a charter desalination only. All of Gansa’s aircraft have luxurious cabins. Standard and VTOL aircraft are available. Gansa Charter is small, family owned corporation with about 30 aircraft. Its owners are wealthy recluses who never travel by air. Aeroporto Miranda is served by Aerotrans Brasil and Impulsos. The Vitoria de Conquista municipal airport is served by these two lines, as well as Gansa. Four major shipyards are located in Vitoria de Conquista, making this the biggest concentration of the shipbuilding industry in the colony. Only one is privately owned, Andorianha Engenharia. The other three are owned by corporate interest, both Brazilian and foreign, and ownership of these firms seems to change frequently as the megacorporations shuffle around their assets. Andorianha actually has two yards, one here and one at Porto Jardim the latter being used for the construction of ferry hovercraft. The large cotton crop, and a sizable low-income, low skill work force living in Perfididade, support a strong textile industry in Vitorio de Conquista. Higher quality goods are often shipped offworld, and clothing off all sorts is exported throughout Tirane. No single company dominates the industry; there are literally hundreds of independent manufacturers ranging from low quality mass production houses to the most skilled of specialty manufacturers. A number of these companies are owned by Italians, lending the centuries old mystique of Italian style to their products. Just as many are owned by Brazilians of other extractions, but have Italian names, hoping the mystique will rub off. The uppermost stratum of the industry recreates the opulent and lively fashion world that was the province of Rio de Janiero a century ago. The industry here makes full use of local textiles, and the current leaning is heavily in favor of natural fibers. This sector has recently emerged from being a stepchild of the fashion industry to a major power of its own. Like the textile sector, footwear manufacturer is dispersed amongst dozens of manufacturers, none of them with any real dominance of the market. Competition for exports is intense. The companies here tend to avoid the more specialized high performance and athletic footwear sectors. Their routes were in fashion and casual wear, and they have not yet strayed far. Also, like the fashion industry, they are dominated by Italian names. Unlike the textile industry, the footwear industry is located in the smaller towns, with one plant even in high-tech Miranda. Vitoria de Conquista is a major furniture manufacturing center, especially in the traditional area of upholstered wooden furniture. Several firms are based in the city itself, and several in surrounding towns. Luxova is one of the oldest and clearly the largest. Many of their models feature carved and inlaid jungle motif designs, popular throughout Provincia do Brasil. Low value to mass ratios make furniture a hard sell off world, but Luxova exports throughout Tirane. The Luxova corporate headquarters and design offices are in one of the newer areas of Vitoria de Conquista, the company having moved in 2295. Many of their pieces are customized by buyers, who purchase furniture through an innovative design-preview-order system functioning over the Communications Net. Customers with holographic projectors may preview holographs of their furniture before ordering. Luxova reported 12,200 employees in 2300, with gross sales of 898 M Lv. Stock in the company is traded publicly, and Luxova is considered a good long term growth pick. Aco Cabralia is a major industrial corporation, with a number of mills, mostly in towns along the Superestrada Sur. Typically, the Aco Cabralia mill is the major employer in each of the these towns. Aco Cabralia is headquartered in Lemanja and described further there. In addition to Aco Cabralia, there are three other steel companies with significant operations in the area, none of which are primarily Brazilian owned. A number of companies in the consumer goods sector have factories in Cabo Vitorio, including domestic and foreign based firms. Cisne, the Campobelo based infant care products giant, has a factory in Miranda manufacturing interactive electronic infant "activity" units, computerized devices that "provide an intellectually stimulating environment" for infants, with "various mounting options, suitable for a variety of nursery styles". The factory was designed in accordance with Miranda’s architectural guidelines, which enables new structures to fit in with the overall design of the city. It employs 4,400 workers and is the largest industrial employer in the city. Other factories throughout the Estado produce a consumer goods of various sorts for sale within the region and for export. Consumer goods has been a steadily growing sector throughout Tirane over the past half century, as the population made the transition from rugged colonial settlers to core folk who want creature comforts. Market growth on Tirane has levelled off (at least relative to population growth) but as more distant colonies make this transition, growth in this sector is expected to improve again, based on offworld exports. Exports to the frontier of consumer goods are also fueled by the generalism that colonial powers do not promote the growth of this industry in frontier areas. Kitchen appliances are often considered a low priority by colonizing governments, but a higher priority by those working in frontier kitchens. Locally based Marcisa is an important producer in this sector, although the company has yet to recover from the damage caused by a major product quality failure several years ago. Valuable market share was lost, and several factories in the Vitoria de Conquista area were idled, and remain closed. Several international vehicle manufacturers have plants in Cabo Vitorio. These primarily serve the growing local market. Cabo Vitorio is blessed with abundant resources of iron, nickel, coal, tungsten, and uranium. Many of the mines are owned and operated by Aco Cabralia, but a few minor operators, along with other domestic and foreign corporations, control most of the tungsten mines, both of the uranium mines, and about 40% of the other mines. Vitorio de Conquista is Provincia do Brasil’s major commercial center, with the best known and most diverse retail offerings. In this manner, the city is very cosmopolitan, sharing a multinational culture with many other major cities of humanity. The colony’s financial center can also be said to be in Vitorio de Conquista, as that’s where most of the movers, shakers, brokers, and traders live. But the financial specialist knows that while traders may be separated by thousands of kilometers, the nuts and bolts of the financial system is the Fazenet in Miranda. Brazil maintains trade backup systems on Earth and in Provincia do Brasil, mirroring market activity and ready to reconstruct financial operations in the event of a major net failure. Its location is classified, and it may not even have a single, discreet location. Grupo Zoli is an industrial megacorporation, chartered in Brazil, one of the comparatively few headquartered in Tirane (they have several office towers in the Lindaflorestra district of Conquista de Vitorio) but having operations scattered across several planets. This is the largest corporation based in Provincia do Brasil. They are especially active in shipbuilding, metal extraction, and construction. A small and very oligarchical family controls 51% of the stock, the rest is publicly held. Dynabas is a highly regulated public company commissioned to operate the colony’s satellite based power system, including the receiving and transmission methods on Tirane. Its main offices have been located in Vitoria de Conquista since 2276 even though the bulk of the company’s facilities are elsewhere. Dynabas chose this route because Provincia do Brasil has a excess power capability and is thus a net power exporter, and Dynabas has taken well to its role as energy marketer. While the colonial infrastructure and services may be centered in Missaoprimo, VdC is where real marketing is done. Dynabas’s stock is publicly traded, and is a moderately active security that has shown spotty recent performance, a result of Tirane as a whole having overinvested in energy production. Seguro Alianca, Provincia do Brasil’s largest insurance provider, is headquartered in an office tower in the Lindaflorestra District of Vitoria de Conquista. Established in 2189, SAS.A. has invested its earnings in a wide variety of holdings in the colony, elsewhere on Tirane, and beyond, making it Brazil’s 2nd largest frontier corporate property holder. SAS.A. is the brainchild of one man, Rafael Faria, who realized that an insurance company based on Tirane, even with only a small initial market base, could match an Earth based company’s performance and remain much more profitable, since the cash flow would be much quicker. Establishing the first serious insurance company also led to joint ventures with many Earth based firms, many of which saw the direction of future trends and opted to go with a proven operator rather than launch their own off world subsidiaries. Some of them looked to Seguro Alianca to provide Tirane experience they could capitalize on to eventually create their own Tiranean establishments. Faria understood the very transient nature of the advantage he had- other firms would soon be basing major offices on the planet, and he rolled over short term gains into long term investments that started taking on momentum. By 2265 investment income exceeded revenue from policy premiums, and by 2300 investment income represented 80% of the company’s receipts. The company has never issued public stock; ownership remains with the Farias, and a few partners. Banco Centro do Brasil is Brazil’s national bank, and maintains several offices on Tirane, the largest being in the Vitoria de Conquista financial center. As a semi-independent arm of the government BCB is prohibited from competing in most markets, but the bank serves as a stabilizing force for the economy. BCB is the only route through which financial data can be transmitted between Brazil’s Estados on Earth and those on Tirane via the swift government owned couriers. In this way it controls Brazilian interstellar financial traffic, and by extension, is able to keep watch over the nation’s cash flow. Brazilians don’t trust direct interference in their finances, though, and the power of the central bank to affect key rates is limited. Banco Metropolo is an elderly institution with pre-Twilight roots (but long, entangled, convoluted roots!). It is perhaps the most publicly owned of Brazilian Banks. So extensive is the history of mergers, divestitures, acquisitions and foreclosures that produced the current day Banco Metropo that no one today has a clue as to where all the outstanding shares are. Many are in the held by layers of virtual corporations that exist only as holding companies on exchange computer systems. Banco Metropo is as likely to turn up in the portfolio of a major player in the Brazilian market as it is in an inactive account belonging to someone in Canton who doesn’t even know what he or she is holding. Only the computers really know where everything is, after all, they collect proxy votes and distribute notices and dividends to stockholders. So, while the information is there, a auditing theoretician once calculated that if an analyst managed to obtain from the computers a complete listing of every stake held in the bank, it would take approximately 27 years to read, during which time enough shares would change hands to render the original list entirely obsolete. The bank’s planetary headquarters is in Distrito Portovelho in Vitoria de Conquista. The bank tends to be very socially active, perhaps due to the ubiquitousness of shareholders. The bank is not very profitable, but is considered a national institution. The bank manages to pay out a steady if small dividend and is considered, if not a growth prospect, to be very healthy. Principal crops in Cabo Vitorio are upland rice (rice grown on dry ground, as opposed to lowland, "paddy" rice which is grown wet), maize, beans, cassava, potatoes, and cotton. In traditional Brazilian fashion rice and maize (corn) are grown on alternating fields. Fruit and vegetable crops are also popular. Cabo Vitorio has some 17 million hectares under cultivation with food crops, (170,000, Square kilometers), about 18% of the Estado’s land area, mostly in a strip along the Superestrada Sur paralleling the south coast. An area of about 3 million hectares (30,000 square kilometers) in eastern Cabo Vitorio is given over to cotton. With the help of advanced genetic engineering, cotton has been able to offer many of the advantages of synthetic fibers while retaining the natural qualities synthetics can’t. Cabo Vitorio’s cotton industry is centered on the east coast towns of Belbutino, Marbo, and Sao Benedito. Production is mostly for the local textile industry, with by-products being provided to the chemical industry in Provincia do Brasil and abroad. Cabo Vitorio has poultry and dairy farms in small numbers, and imports heavily in these sectors. There is very little meat livestock husbandry. A limited forestry industry extracts lumber from forests designated for that purpose. Tree farms have begun but have not yet reached maturity- the Brazilians eschew the hastily grown genetically engineered lumber farm trees as too artificial and tiny to be real trees. Might as well use plastic, the feeling goes. So, a few very regulated forestry companies harvest a few trees where the government says they can. The largest is Cedica Corp, a subsidiary of Grupo Zoli. Entertainment, Recreation, and the Arts Vitoriofin, at the eastern end of the state, is the location of choice for Cabo Vitorians on holiday. This long peninsula extends eastward into the sea, and is blessed with a pleasant climate and excellent beaches, especially on the peninsula’s northern shore. Many wealthier individuals own property here, often weekend villas used as escapes from the pressures of business life in Vitoria de Conquista, often elaborate estates. Wellon maintains a particularly large private beachside resort. The Estado is well served by the hotel and restaurant trade, perhaps more so than any other part of Provincia do Brasil. Apart from the resorts of Vitoriofin, and scattered stopovers for travelers, there are concentrations of lodgings in the Lindaflorestra, Military Park, and Portovelho districts of Vitoria de Conquista, and the convention center of Miranda. Lindaflorestra and Miranda feature grandiose, well equipped hotel towers catering to business and upper class travelers, like the luxurious hotels of the Embaixada chain. This company, based in Porto Jardim, has 67 first class hotels scattered throughout Brazil and beyond. Tourists often stay in Military Parks’ Torreparque, a beautiful complex with many ocean views. Smaller establishments dot Portovelho, for visitors looking for the urban experience. Naturally, there is no shortage of foreign owned hotels as well, Lindaflorestra’s "Vegas" being a good example. Although restaurants of every description can be found in the area, best bets for travelers include the avante garde "Misterios" , with its own observation deck in one of the tallest towers of Vitoria de Conquista, Casa Tupi in Portovelho for an interesting interpretation of "native" cuisine, or nearby Nero’s for more standard fare with a pan-Euro edge, O Terraco do Jardim and the large, always crowded Brasserie Nova in Miranda, and Zozo, on the beach in Vitoriofin. In addition to the beach front areas, Cabo Vitorio is well provided for with parks, located in forest terrain along the northern strip, along the southern shore, and along the hills in the west. Most of the parks are not much improved, as the Brazilians seem to have this national self image as possessors of rugged, virgin wilderness. It’s an Amazon thing, unintelligible to most non-Brazilians. One of the dynastic teams of the Brazilian futbol (Soccer) world is the Conquistadors. With the Conquistadors’ large and supportive fan base, when teams from Brazil’s Earth League arrive to play their Tiranean counterparts, the duel with the Conquistadors is typically one of the crucial moments of their tour. Conversely, when the Conquistadors do their tour of Earth Brazil, for the duration of that tour they become the team of all of Provincia do Brasil. Only the diehards in Missaoprimo retain their disdain for the Conquistadors then. Do not underestimate the importance of this team in Brazilian society. Starship crews have been known to delay departure from orbit so they can watch the conclusion of a critical Conquistador game. Their homebase is the recently overhauled and very modern Estadio do Prefeito Menoro. Team members are often found in various civic action roles, especially between seasons. This is a policy of the team managers, and partially accounts for the team’s loyal support. Miranda’s team, the Sobresors, is a young organization, full of energy, but lacking the support and cash flow of their Vitoria de Conquista neighbors. The Sobresors have one of the most beautiful, comfortable, and technologically advanced stadiums in existence, built partly by the city developers, but it is rarely filled to capacity. Although not one of the worst teams in Provincia do Brasil, they are not considered among the strongest either. Despite their proximity, but due to their spotty record, Conquistador fans do not consider the Sobresors to be rivals. That is reserved for Missaoprimo’s team, and a few others. The Sobresors are looked on more as younger siblings Portoestrella Vitorio, like most spaceports and major orbital facilities, supports a Bucketball team. The Espantors went professional about a decade ago, when interest in the newly popular sport grew to the point where professional teams could be easily justified. Their record is fair, and they don’t have nearly the following that the Futbol teams do. The Escola des Belas Artes de Provincia has been the showcase for the fine arts in Cabo Vitorio for the past five decades. Occupying a series of impressive buildings converted from warehouses in the inner harbor area of Vitoria de Conquista, the school was offered a chance to move to luxurious new quarters in Miranda a few years ago, but refused. The complex consists of the prestigious school, a modern theatre and two associated smaller auditoriums, and a museum, which houses both the schools works and any such other exhibits as the museum might acquire. Over just five decades, they have added to the museum many new galleries, to showcase the emerging art of Cabo Vitorio, the rest of the Brazilian colony, and even, to some degree, the rest of Tirane. Admission is free to school members, who also get reduced priced tickets to the various performances (generally classical music and dance, the current dean of choreography showing a strong interest in the Pacific Rim dance composers of the mid 22nd century.) Others pay steep prices for seats, but most shows are sold out long before the performance date. Some of the city’s better hotels make it a point to acquire and hold tickets for guests. With a lackluster movie industry, Brazil is fortunate in being strong in dance and opera. The Hipodromo do Vitorio is one of the two major horse race tracks in the Estado, the Hipodromo Vitoriofin is the other. Horse racing is an old and long established tradition in Provincia do Brasil, which, with the help of the Vaca ships, received an early boost in the livestock population the other colonies didn’t. For many years, racehorses were not bred for that purpose in Provincia do Brasil. Rather, there were farm horses and police patrol horses and a number of privately owned riding horses that were considered good, swift animals by their various owners, who entered them in races. But the racing establishment hasn’t forgotten its roots, and in between runs of swift carefully bred and professionally trained racers run the "unqualified" horses, those drawn from the "traditional" sources. The unqualified races draw as much fan interest as the qualified ones, partly because they’re less predictable. It’s possible for a horse from "unqualified" stock to join the professionals after proving itself a born runner. Most of the time, when this happens, it’s in fiction. There are a number of books and movies featuring the same over used plot- the brave young orphaned farm boy, or the valiant rural policeman maimed, perhaps blinded, doing a heroic deed, discovers that his horse can race, and beats all the other amateurs. The hero, always a devout Catholic, eventually overcomes great obstacles and races his horse in the qualified competitions. He generally wins exactly enough money to do some important thing before deciding it’s too much pressure for the poor horse and returns to his humble home, to be adored by all. To appreciate the Brazilian affection for such mealy entertainment, one must recall that the audience is also entertained by time lapse photography of walking trees. Located in Distrito Lindaflorestra in Vitoria de Conquista, this large complex is a showcase for the Italian arts, containing a museum, a library, a small theatre, and a large classical opera house. This last feature is the gift of Enrico Martino (2138-2232), the very notable neo-classical Italian composer of the early expansion era. Martino moved to Tirane in 2211, just as his career started to decline, seeking inspiration from the new world. Although he died two decades later, in this last phase of his life he wrote his two most famous works, "Tirangenue", and "Il Schizophrena". While "Tirangenue" is certainly considered an excellent work, "Il Schizophreno was the composer’s masterpiece, breaking new ground as it told the story of a woman, entering a mental health institute for a minor validity adjustment period, who meets a man, also a patient, with two competing personalities, and somehow falls in love with both of them without figuring out they are the same person. Of course, both of the man’s personalities are oblivious to the goings on of the other, and when each learns that the other is seeing the same woman, they become increasingly jealous of each other. The well known mind boggling arias of the third act, considered to this day a combination rite of passage and occupational hazard for student sopranos, occur when one of the personalities goes over the edge in a jealous rage, and somehow convinces the woman to kill his rival. In his last years, the success of this opera made Martino a very rich man, and he left a sizable sum to the Academia dei Lincei, with the stipulation that they build an opera house in his adopted city. A few native species found in Cabo Vitorio are: Killer. No. Appearing: 1 Initiative: 9 Melee Hit Chance: Easy, Size: 150 Kg Speed 75, Arborial 110. Armor 0, Consciousness: 6 Life: 12 WPM 0 DPV.4 Signature 0 This is the largest of the land dwelling Monosupia in Provincia do Brasil. It is a carnivore, and stalks the southern forests, and is prevalent throughout Cabo Vitoria, Lemanja, and Oxala. It possesses the two tail "fingers" of its cousins, and uses these for locomotion as well as the holding of prey. (If it’s holding it’s prey, the chance to hit becomes "routine". The creature is venomous, but differences in neuro-chemistry make the poison relatively ineffective against Earth life. While the toxin causes a rapid and complete failure of balance and coordination, followed by shock (but rarely death, the creature most bite its prey to death) in Tiranean animals, bitten humans report mild nausea and extreme giddiness. As a result, some poachers have taken to hunting the creatures, and extracting the venom, hoping the nausea producing compounds can be removed from the giddiness producing compounds, which could then be sold as recreational drug. The Brazilian government does not look fondly upon this. Pouncer. No. Appearing: 1 Initiative: 5 Melee Hit Chance: Easy, Size: 10 Kg Speed 80, Arboreal 80. Armor 0, Consciousness: 1 Life: 3 WPM –4 DPV None Signature None This is a small furry creature that is comfortable in trees or on the ground, like a Terran squirrel. There are several species, differing mostly in size and coloration. They are nocturnal, and have large eyes. Of great interest is the up to one meter long sticky tongue, which the creature uses to snare and eat flying insects, in the manner of a Terran Bullfrog. The Tongue Monkey is one of those fortunate creatures that have profited greatly by humanity’s arrival. Humans brought with them Terran insects, which the Tongue Monkey actually finds more nourishing and easier to catch than the native variety, many of which have evolved defenses against the predator. Even more importantly, humans brought artificial lights, and Earth insects as well as their Tiranean counterparts have a habit of clustering around these lights. Tongue Monkeys have adapted and thrived on this human provided buffet. They now enter settled areas, even cities, in great numbers, position themselves near lights on warm evenings (even climbing street lamp poles) and gorge themselves. The Tongue Monkey has no fear of large herd animals. They do fear solitary animals. This is because they have evolved a sort of symbiosis with herd animals. The larger beasts attract insects, and the Tongue Monkey eats them, helping to protect the herd from insect borne disease and parasites. Solitary animals they consider potential predators. The Tongue Monkey shows the same reaction to humans, fleeing from lone humans and tolerating, even approaching, groups of them. (There are pack predators in Provincia do Brasil, some of which will eat Tongue Monkeys. It is not yet known how Tongue Monkeys identify and react to these animals, but the subject is being researched.) Ordinarily, the Tongue Monkey is quite harmless to humans. However, they have been known to mistake glittery or sparkling dangling objects, such as earrings, for prey, and the results can be humiliating for human and alien animal alike. Grazer. No. Appearing: 3 D 6 Initiative: 2 Melee Hit Chance: Easy, Size: 3000 Kg Speed 70, Armor .3, Consciousness: 14 Life: 24 WPM –4 DPV +1 Signature +3, +4 with throat cavity inflated This is a massive quadruped herbivore, distantly related to the jumbuck, although if a Gargantacarnado ever managed to jump, it would be a frightening thing indeed, as the creatures weigh about 3 tons as adults. The creatures roam the forests of southeastern Cabralia in small herds with strong social bonds. The Gargantacarnado is a heavily built creature with stocky legs, no tail, long banner-like ears that serve as insect swatters as well as hearing organs, and a strongly muscled neck. The creature has a broad and deeply wrinkled throat, and by filling its throat cavity with air under pressure, these wrinkles open up to reveal the vivid scarlet patches for which the creature is named. The meaning of these patches in unclear, as both males and females have them, and the creatures display their throat patches under a variety of stimuli, both positive and negative. The display is usually brief. The Gargantacarnado’s mouth is equipped with four large tusks, two growing upward and two downward. These can inflict serious wounds when the Gargantacarnado defends itself, although the creature fights with a slashing, not biting attack, swinging its great head from side to side. Unlike many grazer, but understandable due tot heir size and strength, these creatures react rather proactively to threats, especially when their young are involved. If they do flee, they will do so suddenly, the entire pack leaving together. Unlike the tusks of many terrestrial creatures, the Gargantacarnado’s tusks are mounted in loose but very muscular sockets, enabling the creature to move them independently. Similar in way to massively oversized versions of a Kafer’s pedipalps, the tusks are used in a variety of food gathering tasks. The creatures are strictly herbivorous and can have a considerable impact on local vegetation. Many thousand of these creatures flourish in Cabo Vitorio today. |