THE BRAZILIAN ISLANDS Provincia do Brasil By Ben Levy
Overview of The Brazilian Islands Between the island continent of Cabralia, home to the bulk of Provincia do Brasil, and the South Polar Continent is an archipelago with four major islands and countless smaller ones. The islands form a series of stepping stones between the Estados of Cabralia and Campinasur, the sole Estado of the South Polar Continent. All to them are products of tectonic activity along the Brazilian Island Rift, which is a major spreading fault paralleling the island chain, centered on the deep oceanic trenches to the west of the chain. Seismic activity is high in many areas of the archipelago, and several of the islands sport active volcanos on their western sides. The climate, although warmer in the north and cooler in the south is temperate throughout, mitigated by the effects of the ocean. Weather conditions are worst in Ilha Brava, a rough and rugged island bordering on the sub-polar realm, known for brutal, blizzard filled winters. The population of the whole island region totals 1,960,000, but for reasons explained below the region has not been granted Estado status. The land area of 347,875 square kilometers, is about the size of Germany (Pre-Twilight, including East and West). This would make it, if it were to become an Estado, the smallest in Provincia do Brasil. Terrain includes rough, young volcanic mountains, rolling plains, and various forms between, with a variety of plant life. Conditions vary considerably from island to island. The islands are organized as four distinct Unidades, rather than as an Estado. It is Brazil’s standing policy to create Estados from colonized regions exceeding 1 million population. Taken together, the islands exceed this population milestone, and have for some time. However, local politics in the islands tends to be rather fractious, and colonists have rejected several proposals to create an Estado des Ilhas Brasilhas. What is generally not appreciated in Brazilian colonial politics is that for small, remote areas, there are advantages to remaining as Unidades that are lost upon achieving Estado status, advantages that often outweigh representation in the Brazilian Senate. Local opposition to Estado status here remains strong, and is backed by a variety of political forces that ordinarily would not seem to be natural allies. In fact, the politics in the Brazilian islands provide textbook examples of the manner in which political processes can generate unlikely alliances. Rather than force the issue, the Brazilian Ministry of Colonization chose to back down, and reorganize the territory as four Unidades. Unidades, in Brazil, are federally administered territories without the legislative representation of Estados. Elsewhere on Tirane, it is commonly accepted that if one is discussing an island, and it has the name "Ilha" (Portuguese for "island") attached to it, it must be one of Provincia do Brasil’s islands. If so, it is assumed to be one of this chain, as no one talks much about the other islands scattered about the colony. It has therefore become accepted practice to call the whole chain, in English, "The Ilhas", and in French, "Les Ilhas". Only when actually in Provincia do Brasil would one hear "As Ilhas Brasilieras". As a federally administered territory, subdivided into four distinct Unidades, local functions are carried out by the national government agencies. Legal jurisdiction belongs to the Federal Court in Sao Umberto, Campinasur, with a civil court in There are elections in the Unidades, but residents have to share their legislative representatives with the other Brasilian Federal properties. The most important (by far) of these is the Federal district of Brasilia. Any local issues brought to the Senate most therefore survive in the shadow of the Federal District’s political power. There are no local elected officials, although there are elected Advisory Councils with no actual power. There are political parties here, and they are active, as they jockey for position in the inevitable battles for control that will break out when the Estado question is finally answered. These include some local organizations that are not mirrored in national politics. The most important of these is the Partido Ilheiro, a grass roots organization devoted to overcoming island disunity and creating a single Estado from the islands. They face an uphill battle; there are a lot of local interests in the Ilhas to contend with. Some of the extremists of this organization have gone to absurd lengths to get their point across, but thankfully the movement has been entirely non-violent. They claim high popular support, but in reality, they average about 20% in the elections. Estado status, it seems, is regarded as a desirable goal by most, as long as local requirements are met first. Until there is some sort of consensus on just what form that status will take, the issue will not be settled. On the other hand, there are those organizations that are opposed to the idea of a unified Estado. Among those is the petrochemical industry on Ilha Brava, with the corporate powers supported by the petrochemical worker’s union- ion exchange for very favorable contracts. The corporations know that if an Estado government encompassing all the islands is formed, Ilha Brava’s petrochemical industry will be answerable to offices dominated by the voting power of Ilhadoce and Ilha Nova Azora. They would prefer the continuation of the current system as long as possible, and failing that, Estado or even independent status for Ilha Brava. With responsibility for the region in their hands, Brazilian federal agencies have set up operations in the islands. Most are headquartered in Trinidade, on Ilha Nova Azora. The National Police have about 2,500 personnel in the islands, the only public law enforcement available, although they are assisted by the armed services. They are divided into four divisions, one for each of the major islands. The national police elsewhere include many high level investigators, agents, and specialists. Here they have over a thousand patrol officers, the greatest concentration of National Police patrol officers outside of Brasilia. The National Police here also have more numerous air and marine assets than they do elsewhere. The National Ministry of Transportation has responsibility for the road systems in the islands. None of the islands have airfilm routes, and highways are limited in many areas, partly due to the large area and dispersed population. Many of the smaller islands have no improvements at all. The islands are connected by ferries, some passenger carriers and some carrying passengers and vehicles. Most of the latter are also run by Min Trans, but service on automobile carrying ferries is spotty. When travelling amongst the islands, most Brazilians do not bring their own car. The Ministry of Colonization obviously has a major role to play in the region. It is one of the few national agencies with its local headquarters away from Nova Azora. Min. Col has two regional offices. Their "islands North" office is in the town of Bosque Prateado, on Ilhadoce. Piece by piece, they are preparing parcels and lots for sale or outright grant to immigrants, resettled from Brazil and southern Europe to relieve the crowded conditions Earthside. Ilhadoce has high quality land, but land alone does not immigrants to flourish, and Min. Col has been working with non-government organizations here, most importantly the Roman Catholic Church, to create stable, successful communities. Min. Col scientists have recently finished a multi-year project in which they have calculated the maximum "optimal" population figure for the island, the number of persons the island could conceivably support before additional immigrants begin to cause a net lowering of living standards. Although much criticized for the use of cutting edge math in sociological application not previously so mathematically and rigidly defined, Ilhadoce has a long way to go before reaching the calculated figure of over 12.6 million. Min. Col’s other office in the Ilhas is their "Islands South" office in Nova Cabinda, on Ilha Brava. They have more of a problem here, as conditions are not nearly so pleasant, yet corporations have a need for basic labor to exploit the region’s mineral wealth. Occasional riots have targeted their office building. Min. Col works with several major corporations here to insure and influx of workers as corporate requirements expand. The Ministry of Infrastructure is represented primarily by the National Corps of Engineers, which has a major "Project Center" in Nova Cabinda, Ilha Brava, where they are currently building a port. As the port becomes operational, corporations are vying for the right to exploit the mineral potential of the island, primarily offshore oil and gas fields. The profitability of these deposits, as well as other island resources, has been growing as the island’s infrastructure improves. The cost of the Engineer’s work is expected to be more than made up by the sale of exploitation rights to the petrochemical industry, and revenues generated from the expanding economy. The National Corps of Engineers also has an engineering office in Trinida, Nova Azora. Smaller offices are located in other towns, and Min. Infrastructure has responsibility for the power transmission net (which has proved very vulnerable to seismic activity), water, waste reclamation facilities, and such mundane things as the maintenance of public buildings and sidewalks. The Corps of Engineers has about 14,000 employees in the Ilhas, making it the largest single employer in the region. The engineering office has, for some time, been mumbling about a highway/airfilm line linking all the main islands, and probably joining Campinasur to Cabralia, in the manner of Caribe’s Grand Caribbean Causeway. Money has not been budgeted to anything beyond design studies, and if the National Corps of Engineers ever gets around to doing this, it will be at least a decade away. The Military in the Brazilian Islands The islands have been somewhat overlooked by much of the Brazilian military. The army, for example, has no significant elements posted here. The Navy has a few small stations scattered around, and the Almirante Sarosao base at Ilha Nova Flores, at which the other armed forces have significant tenant activities, but no significant fleet units assigned. These isolated bases exist primarily for administration, logistic support, local security and search and rescue. Typically, a Suya class carrier operating out of Campinasur might be patrolling the islands, but between it, its escorts, and the small craft the Navy generally has working the area, that’s a lot of coast, and a lot of water, and really very little ship. The Brazilian Marines have a few small garrisons here and there, usually based at the naval stations, drawn partly from their units in Campinasur. Only the Air Force seems to have taken the islands at all seriously. Each of the main islands has one principal Air Force base, with Nova Flores’s Almirante Sarosao base, a navy facility doubling as the Air Force Base (and civilian air terminal) on that island. Three Air Force Regiments operate out of the bases, each Regiment having its forces dispersed throughout all four bases. The combat unit assigned to the region is the Islands Combat Aviation Regiment. This unit has 32 of the second line "Galgo" interceptors, acquired as hand me downs from other units. These air superiority aircraft are very fast and quite long ranged, ideal for operations over the extended ranges needed in the islands. There are 6 Galgo-C aircraft, the training version of the Galgo, and 6 Galgo-S Naval Strike aircraft. These last once belonged to the Navy, but that service eventually found it inefficient operating a single squadron of ground based long ranged supersonic strike aircraft. The Galgo-S aircraft have been modified so they can now operate in the ground attack role as well, although battlefield interdiction in the presence of modern tactical air defense is a difficult task for these high altitude, high speed planes. Almirante Sarosao Military Base on Ilha Nova Flores is the largest military base in the region, and is shared by all the Brazilian services in an unusally sensible arrangement. The base is named for the Admiral who commanded the Brazilian navy during the second Rio Plata War, and retired to Provincia do Brasil. It is primarily a support installation. The Navy has a major ordinance faciltiy here, and a the runways accommodate civilian as well as military aircraft. There is a small but very active twon just outisde the base, which contains the civilian air terminal, and a lively entertainment and retail strip with stores and restaurants open at all hours. The town is for all practical purposes under the authority of the base commander, who can shut down its economy at will by restricting his people to the base, so the merchants here are very accommodating to members of the Brazilian Armed Forces. Although ferries connect the islands, they are too slow for passenger transport for most people (especially those people who can afford to travel by air). There are no international airports in the region, but there are a number of regional airports, over a dozen, with at least one important one on each of the four major islands. Three different air sevices shuttle people back and forth among the islands, the south polar continent, and Cabralia, wherein lies the bulk of the Brazilian colony. These are Aerotrans Brasil, which serves only the largest two airports in the area (at Ilhadoce and Ilha Nova Azora), the two most important regional airlines in Provincia do Brazil; Aloeste and Impulsos, and one local passenger service and charter airline, Aerolinha Suzero Oro. Air Travel Distances: Cidade Ilhadoce to :
Trinida, Ilha Nova Azora to :
Almirante Sarosao MB, Ilha Nova Flores to :
Nova Cabinda, Ilha Brava to :
A high speed hovercraft ferry line, operated by a public corporation, links Ilhadoce with Campobelo. From the island cities of Cidade Ilhadoce and Osaglo, the ferry heads up the Rio Lusitano, making several stops along the way (if needed) before reaching the end point of the ferry run at Lusitanium. The entire trip covers 620 kilometers and requires four and a half hours. The ferries move passengers, vehicles and cargo. From Cidade Ilhadoce, service continues on another line to the islands further south, and then on to Campinasur. All of the principal cities and towns of the Brazilian islands are coastal, and ferries provide the principal cargo and vehicle transportation amongst the islands. The age and condition of the ferries seems to deteriorate as one travels southward. Explanations from Brazil’s Ministry of Transportation as to why this is so have thus far been unconvincing and contrived. Slower but cheaper than air travel, ferries are also preferred by Brazilians with time on their hands. For travellers who accept the idea of moving slowly, they offer an excellent way of experiencing the islands. All of the ferries now in service are hovercraft, many of them at one time belonging to the Brazilian Navy. Cargo ships, on the other hand, are generally headed for more distant points, and include many traditionally hulled vessels. The Arcoiris Alpha Centauri, for example, is a nuclear powered tanker that typically runs between Nova Cabinda’s offshore terminals and destinations in Ameraterasu and Wellon. Among the more interesting sites plying the waters of the Brazilian islands are the great passenger liners, the only two genuine deep draught passenger ships operating out of Provincia do Brasil. The Linha des Deas is a Brazilian shipping company that is endeavoring to recreate the lost art of the luxury passenger cruise ship. Currently, they have two vessels, both built by Andorianha Engenharia of Vitoria de Conquista within the past decade, the Dea Tirana and the Dea Centaura. Both ships are large and comfortable, with a capacity of 3,000 passengers each. The vessels are nuclear powered floating resorts, fitted out with the knowledge that their passengers are on board as much to experience and enjoy the journey as they are to complete it. The islands offer a sea route that has much too offer, varied topography, and varied weather. In the winter, the ships work the warmer waters on the northern side of the colony, and at times, special cruises to more distant regions of the planet have been conducted. Compared to air or train travel, the passenger liners are slow and expensive. Speed, though, is not the attraction of the ships- the passengers are here for the luxury of old fashioned ship travel, and the Dea ships do not disappoint. Ground transportation is understandably lacking in the islands. For some time, proposals have been floated for a Superestrada linking the islands together, forming a continuous airfilm and highway route between Campobelo and Campinasur, similar in design to the Grand Trans-Carribean Causeway. Engineering is not the obstacle to this plan, money is. Too few people live in the Islands and in Campinasur to justify the expense. Currently, there is no train transportation in the islands, and road service varies from good in eastern Ilhadoce through adequate in most of the developed areas to nonexistent in the undeveloped areas of the islands. Most of the lesser islands have no transportation infrastructure at all. Ilhadoce has a genuine highway, smoothly graded and equipped with all the customary on-ramps, off-ramps, automated traffic controls, fuel and rest areas, running along its east coast. With the trans-island causeway a pipe dream. Local activists have pushed for a superestrada connection between Ilhadoce and Campobelo, making use of the existing highway route and ignoring the rest of the islands. While this link would raise the status of Ilhadoce from agricultural hinterland of Campobelo backwater to significant Estado very quickly, it does little to raise Ilhadoce’s level of support amongst the other islands. The support given the proposal reinforces the view that if the islands were to become a unified Estado, it would be one dominated by a very local view from Ilhadoce. For all the modern development on the east side, only four roads extend west of the escarpment in Ilhadoce, and there are only a handful fuel stations. The roads are small limited duty two lane highways, linking some of the more interesting features of the islands rugged west side. Ilha Nova Azora, being settled fairly evenly, and more importantly home to the government agencies overseeing the islands has the best road network in the islands. Well maintained hard top highways suitable for wheeled or hover traffic span the island. The main roads have advanced auto control and navigation features, and there are both hydrogen fuel facilities and battery recharge stations (generally the two services are available at the same station) available in most areas. Automated, centrally linked taxis called I-Cabs are often seen scurrying around the towns and throughout the island. On this island, the sprawl of small villages made quantity of roads as important as quality and the government engineers can barely manage the workload of maintaining them. Nevertheless, Ilha Nova Azora is perceived as unfairly skimming off more resources than it deserves. Ilha Nova Flores, on the other hand, has a notoriously poor road net. Many of the routes across the island are unimproved roads cut through forest, and across rough ground, by the plantation owners. They seem to have overlooked the fact that smaller private vehicles lack the range of the their heavy trucks, and stranded drivers along these roads are not uncommon sights. Public transportation is limited throughout. Despite the isolation, the population here includes a high proportion of private vehicle owners. Hover vehicles are very much ion vogue with the people who can afford them, with the Insularo and Insularo Grande, two popular models, being produced locally in a franchised plant on Ilha Nova Azora to meet demand. Motorcycles are also very popular. People without their own transportation must rely on I-Cabs if they live on Ilha Nova Azora, taxis, private commuter busses, or, in very limited areas, public busses. Nova Cabinda’s elevated tram system is the only mass transit system in the region that doesn’t rely on a handful of busses. Science, Medicine, and Education Brazil’s national university system collapsed over two centuries ago amid a crushing debt load and several financial scandals. This leaves the residents of "Unidade" territories without a home "Estado" university to call their own, but the Education Law of 2190 established that such persons may attend the Estado university of their choice at the tuition rates available for residents of that Estado. In the primary schools, many of the students, especially those in small villages, receive some of their education via remote teaching methods. It’s generally recognized that schooling in groups promotes social development, though, and so children are grouped together as much as possible, even when their actual instruction is individual. On Ilhadoce, and to a lesser extent on Ilha Nova Azora and Ilha Nova Flores, the Roman Catholic Church maintains active schooling and athletic programs for children. These are often superior to what is available publicly, and the Catholic schools are open to children of all religious backgrounds. Nova Cabinda has a small non-profit private academy for children run by the Filhos de Angola, which pays special attention to maintenance and development of African culture, and teaches and promotes social obligation. Trinida is home to Trinida Technical College, a private college specializing in engineering, geology, and material sciences. Also present in the area are a number of "extension Campuses’ of major Estado universities, similar to the one set up in Campinasur, but smaller. These give access to higher education to the locals, and in return, give facilities in diverse areas to distant universities. Many of these are set up to cater to geological studies. The geology of the islands attracts many scientists, as they sit astride Tirane’s most active spreading fault. Most of the scientists with ongoing projects in the area are not even Brazilian. The active faults, geothermal activity, and vulcanism here offers a unique window into the internal processes of Tirane. The government provides medical coverage in the Unidades. The markets here are too small to support major privately owned health centers. There are private medical centers performing general practice work, a few specialized facilities, and a number of elective medical centers, all of which are private institutions, but the hospitals here are provided by the federal government. This raises little outcry, as the actual population, and thereby the health expenditure is very low, and local taxes include a medical insurance sur-charge. The availability of low cost medical care has resulted in cases of corruption in the system, in which people needing expensive procedures will be established illegally as residents of the Unidade. While such manipulation is caught, it takes time, and in the gap they will be admitted to a hospital and the treatment performed. Afterwards, their false citizenship documents are destroyed. Ilhas Institute for Geriatric Neuro-Medicine While the relatively low cost of medical practice seems attractive, one must take into consideration the fact that the facilities here are not as advanced as most of the hospitals in the Estados. The most sophisticated medical center in the area is the semi-private Ilhas Institute for Geriatric Medicine on Ilhadoce, in Cidade Ilhadoce. In a manner similar to a geriatric facility in Basilicade, this center got its start caring for aging clergy who retired to the homes provided for them here by the Roman Catholic Church. Unlike its cousin, IIGNM’s core philosophy seems to be that nothing can halt the inevitable decline of the body in the long run, so resources are best used preserving the mind. With a solid clientele, the Institute was able to explore some more creative approaches to human preservation, and their current endeavors have come so far that the Church, the original customer base of the organization, now prohibits its members from taking part in the IIGNM’s experimental programs. For some time, the Institute has provided advanced "virtual environments" for "extremely restricted" patients- those who can no longer move around, have lost the use of one or more senses, and in other ways can no longer fully experience the world(s). Connection to these "virtual environments" at the level currently provided by IGM, requires more than simple donning of a virtual theatre headset- direct connection with key sensory neural pathways has been achieved. This technology has been used elsewhere, to other ends, but the end here is a bit unusual. The brains to which these connections are made are already in a steady state of decline. The IIGNM hopes that by monitoring of the "virtual environment" interactions, brain functions that are failing can be duplicated arctically, with the surviving fully functional brain areas given access to these "virtual brains" to maintain normal function, much as a failing physical body is augmented with artificial organs. The questions opened by this line of work have not been answered: Foremost, what is the inevitable conclusion? Can brain functions be duplicated in their entirety in an artificial system, and if so, what is its ethical status? If done gradually, as the slow transfer of functions as they fade is now done at IGM, at what point is the individuality of the person transferred to the machine? Or, as some claim, would it be just an illusion, with no real transfer of consciousness taking place? If some of the more optimistic researchers at the Institute are to be believed, the time may come in the 24th century when a the entire set of memories and thought patterns making up a human mind might be transferred to an artificial environment. This will have profound affects on society, as it offers a kind of readily achievable immortality. At the moment, IGM is capable of providing no such nirvana. However, they made headlines recently when a patient with advanced senility, with brain functions augmented by a highly advanced virtual environment/mental augmentation system, piloted a small aircraft, remotely, while semi-conscious. The patient, after being removed from the device, maintained some memory of the experience, yet believed it was only an artificially induced dream, rather than actual flight. Commerce, Finance, and Industry Like many remote areas, retail prices tend to be higher in the islands, with exceptions for items locally produced. As a result, many locals travel to the mainland for extended shopping trips- these have been likened to modern day hunting expeditions in their importance to local culture. Island residents may spend weeks in the Cabralian Estados, where they are notoriously picky shoppers, accumulating clothing, housewares, gifts, and furnishings to last them until their next expedition. Their purchases often far outweigh their luggage capacity, and they have these goods shipped back to their homes. Of course, there are retail centers in all the towns and cities of the region, but these tend to sell items of immediate practical interest- food, tools, sundries, etc. Specialty stores fair poorly here, not because of the lack of market, but because the islanders prefer choice. A town may have a market size for one shop selling home virtual theatres, for example, but consumers will avoid it because they would rather go to a place where they can compare the offerings of four or six shops. Hence the shopping expeditions. Nova Cabinda’s Galerias are an exception. These corporate owned malls offer cubicles to merchants at low cost, and are in fact subsidized by the petrochemical corporations to give the workers local places in which to spend their money. Elsewhere, such retail centers owned by major corporate interests seem dull and listless, the owners wanting a relaxed, secure-feeling environment to attract shoppers. Here, however, the attitude was more Laissez-Faire, the idea being merely to establish the place, and let the merchants move in and do what they wished. The stores here cater to the laborer and working classes, and are known for their flea market/bazaar atmospheres, cheap and exotic restaurants, and their loud, colorful atmosphere. The industry presnt in the Ilhas tends to be of the specialized, heavy machine and tool variety, largely geared towards the extraction industries around Ilha Brava and Campinasur. Other factories provide for local consumption. Very little of the Ilhas’ industry goes towards domestic or foreign export, exceptions including the Insularo motorcycles manufactured near Trinida on Ilha Nova Azora, the refinery equipment, heavy pipe and cable, and drilling machines produced on Ilha Brava, and leather goods and sporting goods from Ilhadoce. Generally, industries here are not owned locally. Corporations do not maintain their headquarters in the Ilhas. Each of the main islands of the chain has a different "theme" to its agriculture. Ilhadoce can be considered, agriculturally, to be an extension of the Campobelo breadbasket, and much of the same rural farm culture is evident. Ilhadoce lacks the "retirement farms" of its northern neighbor, and devotes more effort to fruit and vegetable production and less to beef, but these are relatively superficial differences. Culturally and economically, the agricultural communities of the two regions are closely linked. Farming is not quite so important on Ilha Nova Azora, where dairy and poultry farms, as well as some grain and produce farms, serve primarily the regional market. There is, however, a strong fishing industry, which has become reliant on several species of large native game fish. On Ilha Nova Flores, plantations have been established to exploit the commercial potential of one native plant, the Chamra, which provides a potent flavoring extract of growing demand. There is very little other agriculture on Ilha Nova Flores, a few small farms and some fishing boats being the exceptions. Ilha Brava could support some agriculture, but few people seem to have bothered. The handful of farms there provide food only for the local market, as does the island’s small fishing fleet. A form of subsistence farming has become popular there; industrial workers, when they can afford it, will but property with sufficient land for a carefully tended vegetable garden. These gardens provide a significant source of food for the workers, and are a source of pride, and in many cases, a second income. The fishing industry, with fishing vessels and processing plants distributed amongst all the major islands, is an unexpected local success story, although on a global scale (even compared to the rest of the Brazilian colony) it is a very limited operation. Fishing here is a "blue water" activity, with deepwater, oceangoing boats heading out to capture large game fish. The most sought after fish is the Rinn do Sur, the native aquatic carnivore that almost single handedly caused the development of the local specialized fishing industry, begun in 2275 on Ilha Brava by off duty mine workers. The skin of these creatures is strong and pliable, and makes an excellent material for a wide range of purposes when cured and dyed. Rinn Skin has been used as furniture covering, clothing, equipment cases, belts, holsters, and related accessories, even wall coverings. In short, almost anything that could be made of leather can also be made of Rinn Skin. Unlike leather, it is resistant to water damage. Rinn Skin also has natural elasticity that leather lacks, giving the material a plastic like feel, although unlike plastic it is breathable, and much more comfortable to wear. Rinn Skin is much harder to obtain than leather, as leather is supplied as a by product from a large cattle industry, while Rinn Skinn is collected by a hundred or so specialized fishing vessels, about half of which sail from Ilha Brava. These fishermen use a variety of tactics, and hunters’ instincts, to locate schools of the creatures. They must be hooked individually, and landed carefully. Netting them is futile: as the net confines them, they will work themselves into a biting frenzy, and if there are several in the net, they will frequently severely damage each others’ skins, grossly reducing the market value. The Rinn do Sur has also becoem a "fish of choice" for recreational fishermen. Boats now sail from Trinida bringing enthusiastic amateurs in search of Rinn. And on shore, a dozen shops compete to sell locally made Rinn Skin products to the less successful. Due south of Campobelo, the northernmost of the Brazilian Islands is the most populous of the Brazilian Islands. With 900,000 people reported in the 2300 census, and at the current rate of increase, and a fair rate of increase, the island will reach the 1 million mark by the end of the 1st decade of the 24th century. At that point it will be able to apply for Estado status entirely on its own. Although this could well render the final status question moot, the bulk of the residents of Ilhadoce back plans to create a unified Estado. Ilhadoce has some 123,750 square kilometers, and area about equal to America’s New York State. It has the most pleasant climate, and the gentlest terrain of the major islands. Geologically, the island is something like a southern continuation of Campobelo, and indeed the narrow, tempestuous strait between the two is based on a lateral rift that interrupts the main spreading fault. These waters are extremely geothermically active. The escarpment that delineates the eastern side of Campobelo’s Rio Lusitano valley continues here as well, bisecting the island. The land on the eastern side is higher, mostly rolling hills and fertile savannah. On the west, the land is a low lying hodgepodge of wetlands, poorly drained plains, rock outcroppings, lava flows, lush "grotto gardens" and rock strewn forests. Most of the population lives on the eastern side, where the city of Cidade Ilhadoce, with some 200,000 people, serves as the economic and political center of the Unidade. Cidade Ilhadoce is a broad, sprawling coastal city of some 200,000 people, the capitol of the Unidade of Ilhadoce. Seaside, there is a seaport, a row of timbered piers and concrete hovercraft ramps, built with technology easily recognizable 400 years ago. The seaport area is frequented by visitors, and is the industrial heart of the city, with several corporations maintaining production centers in the belt of commerce and industry along the coast. Inland, the seaport area is connected by a grassy mall, lined with shops, a few hotels and restaurants, and an entertainment complex, to the Encerco Colono, home to the government buildings. The buildings were built to grand scale, but on limited budget, and are noteworthy for their bland, unadorned concrete facades with very regular and conventional windows. North of the seaport area is Costa Verde, a suburb built upon coastal bluffs that has become the wealthiest residential area in the Ilhas. Elsewhere there is little defined structure to the city, and even the central area is scarcely noticeable but for the cluster of public office buildings and an overall increase in the density of buildings from widely scattered to not so widely scattered. Osaglo is a further north along the same coast, some 150 kilometers from Cost Verde. This is a town of about 100,000 people, centered around a small naval station from which a few VTOL amphibious aircraft patrol the hazardous straits between Campobelo and Ilhadoce. Osaglo is laid out in a long strip along the highway, with the naval station at one end, and the commercial center here, with the city gradually tapering off and thinning out towards the other end. Caroca on the south coast of Ilhadoce is a shipping point for the island's agricultural industry. With about 75,000 people, a central feature of this town is the line of Carmas S.A. refrigerated warehouses and climate controlled greenhouses. The latter are used to ensure a steady flow of fresh high quality produce to consumers even in the "off" seasons. Caroca was built very close to a coastal area used as breeding grounds by ocean going avians. This became the first area in the Ilhas defined and protected by law as a wildlife preserve. A tour boat makes occasional runs along the coast here, when demand is high. Ilhadoce’s agrarian society is strongly oriented around the Roman Catholic Church. Much of the eastern area of the island, away from the coastal cities, is organized as a near-theocracy, with villages centered around churches, and church officials directing most activity. Much of this area is unreached by the communications net, with the locals eschewing cultural contact with the rest of humanity. The settlement pattern has been compared with the Amish and Mennonite agrarian regions in the United States. This was not originally the planned pattern of development for the island. To many early settlers, Ilhadoce, at least the eastern side, seemed idyllic. In the early 23rd century, the Roman Catholic Church acquired some land here, as they did throughout the colony, as government grants ,and they were at the time engaged in their own settlement programs. Some observers consider it strange that the Church settlement projects regarded "idyllic" as a mark against, and not in favor of, any settlement. However, it should be remembered that the Church at this time was looking at the stability of small, religiously oriented communities on Earth. Officials came to two conclusions: First, that focussed effort required to survive in a less than ideal environment kept the flock on the straight and narrow, reducing the opportunities for less holy diversions to sidetrack the populace. Second, the Church expected the most farmable land to eventually become engulfed in the electronic mainstream culture, increasing the level of subversive contact. The Church focussed on the middle area of the island-continent of Cabralia, where soil and weather conditions were more difficult. Thus, several excellent opportunities on Ilhadoce were passed up in favor of less promising areas. Unfortunately, Ilhadoce, for all its charm, had another strike against it: It was an island, and as such could not be brought into the airfilm network that was rapidly stretching across the colony, linking colony together in a manner reminiscent of the railroads crossing the old American West. The islands, and Tirasur (Later Campinasur) on the South Polar Continent, would not share in this link, and so colonization there, while desirable, would only come with considerable pushes and pulls. Fertile farmland is certainly a pull, but the land area available across Provincia do Brasil created a glut of farmland, and in the face of this surplus, Ilhadoce could easily be overlooked. The government dealt with the matter with the matter through a subtle quirk in tax law. Although the value of Ilhadoce’s land was reduced by its exclusion from the airfilm net, the "accounting value" of the land, when given as a gift, was measured as if it was comparable land elsewhere. So, the land became cheap to buy, but upon giving it away, an accountant could record a loss, or a donation, far larger than the cost of the land. In this way, many land grants, and purchased settlement areas were donated to Foundations, and naturally, the Roman Catholic Church, the donators happily receiving credit for giving away expensive pieces of property on their tax calculations. Whether it wanted it or not, the church found itself in possession of a lot of good property. Obvious questions arose for which church officials had no good answers, such as "Why are we being told to farm a rocky, dry area in north-central Cabralia when the Arch-Bishop could have assigned us to one of those beautiful tracts in Ilhadoce?" By the middle of the 23rd century, the church began slowly moving people into Ilhadoce. The laws stayed on the books, and the church gained land. Sometimes, donations have been far more than simple unused farmland. Some developed properties have been given away as well, and the following two are among the best known sites on Ilhadoce: The Gardens of the Madonna were a gift from a wealthy benefactor to the church, with the stipulation that they remain open to the public. The gardens cover several square kilometers, centered upon the elaborate Garden Chapel. The surrounding ponds, lawns, and gardens include two restaurants and a large "bed and breakfast" type inn operated here as concessions. The chapel itself has become the most sought after location in Provincia do Brasil for weddings, despite the less than convenient locations. Prices have risen following demand, and the gardens, originally considered a white elephant when they were willed to the Church, are now a source of income, and the most popular tourist site on Ilhadoce. Ilhadoce is also home to a Celestine Monastery, an unusual monastery occupying a site begun as an airfield and corporate agricultural processing center, but donated tot he church when the corporation wen t bankrupt. .The airfield is maintained by the Church, and the buildings converted into a monastery, an art studio, and a town, which retains a remnant food processing business. Like the Gardens of the Madonna, the Monastery "Salvador do Ilhadoce" has become a source of income to the Church. Although most of the ecclesiastical art in the colony is done in Acre, private and commercial artists produce the work sold to the public from there. Ilhadoce’s works are more often the product of actual monks. Some buyers consider this an important distinction. The monks on Ilhadoce have achieved a reputation in one of the oldest and best known traditional monastic arts: illuminated books. The bibles, breviaries, and other books produced here are handmade, painted, made from the most expensive of materials, and often gilded. They are seen in Catholic churches throughout Tirane and beyond, given as gifts among devout Catholics, and are sought after treasures to collectors. South of Ilhadoce is Ilha Nova Azora, the second most populous of the Brazilain Islands. 550,000 people live on the island’s 70,125 square kilometers, giving it a population density of 7.8 per square kilometer. This density compares closely to Nova Ostia, and Nova Azora, about the size of Ireland, is the most urbanized region in the islands. This, among other reasons, has established the island as a sort of functional capitol of the four island Unidades, with the offices of many national agencies located in buildings in the largest city on the island, Trinida. Nova Azora has rough, rocky, volcanic ground, very fertile but hard to farm. Trinida is a compact city, one seemingly designed for a much smaller space than that available. It is the oldest city in the Brazilian Islands. The city was established in 2188 as a survey and colonization support base, partly to secure Brazil's territorial claims, and partly to act as staging area for the exploration of the islands. For decades, Trinida was the major waypoint for aerial traffic to and from the South Polar Continent. Trinida had a population of 180,000 in 2300 AD, making it no larger than a typical Distrito in one of the larger cities. With the textured acryl-sealed concrete walls of the low rise government complex forming a horseshoe around the dense central city area, encompassing several church spires and a cluster of tightly packed two or three story buildings within, the view from a distance is reminiscent of an old earth walled city. This was deliberate; the city's designers felt that the Brazilian colonists, most of whom were coming from densely populated urban areas, needed an environment of human scale, with the proximity of other human beings enabling them to maintain secure social structures while surrounded by the empty wilderness presented by this sparsely populated planet. They succeeded, in their fashion. It's hard to feel lonely in this small city. Even when one wants to. Private vehicles, in the center city area, are more of a nuisance than an asset. Everything of importance is within a comfortable walking distance, and permanent or retractable canopies shelter the main pedestrian ways. The city is well adapted to the vagaries of local weather. Most of the pedestrian walkways are covered in the central city area, and covered crossigns exist at major intersections. Of course, there are few interesections, as the city is not exactly "vehicle friendly" in central area. Most of the time, it’s quicker to leave one’s vehicle outside (the locals use "inside" and "outside" to refer to position relative to the central city, not indoors and outdoors) necessary to In the early The Museum of Oceanograpy in Trinida is a locally important institution, and the biggest attraction for visitors. The Museum supports a number of research projects in the area, and has a research ship, the Albatroz. Despite the scholarly efforts of the museum, extremists have accused the organization of being a front for industry, seeking new resources and methods of exploiting them, at the expense of native ecosystems of Tirane. This began after the Albatroz spent eight months studying a region off Ilha Brava, which was then found to contain highly exploitable oil and gas deposits, starting off the current round of intense competition as the petrochemical corporations scramble for the right to recover these deposits. Circumstantial evidence at best for the accusations levelled, but sufficient to make both the museum and the Albatroz targets for threats. The least populous region of Provincia do Brasil, the Unidade of Ilha Nova Flores consists of the main island and a number of much smaller outlying islands. All are of volcanic origin, and there are a four active volcanos present on Nova Flores, all in the mountain range dominating the west coast, the Chamines. About one third of the land area (12,000 out of 33,000 square kilometers) consists of bare or moslty bare volcanic rock. The remainder consists mostly of very temperate forest, on very rough volcanic land, known for a steady, humid climate. The soil is extremely fertile and the vegetation especially lush. Eastward of the Chamines lies another, more ancient range, the Velhonos. These mountains are extinct volcanoes, worn down and rounded by time. Most are forest covered. The swift moving Rio Flores winds its way down the wilderness valley between the two ranges, emptying into the sea along Ilha Nova Flores’s southern coast. Shallow and rocky, with a number of natural falls, the river is scenic, but utterly unnavigable. Ilha Nova Flores was part of the original Brazilian claim, but the first Brazilian exploration team to visit the island on foot didn’t arrive until 2230. It has been a backwater ever since and has a population of only 60,000. A good many of these are personnel, employees, or dependents of the Almirante Sarosao military base, the geological science center, the few plantations or the resorts that have sprung up around several of the island’s hot springs. Air transport onto the island is via the military airfield at Almirante Sarosao, where, due to necessity, the military allows several Brazilian air lines to operate as concessions, with the civilian terminal officially outside military property. It is a short trip via road (there are automated busses and a handful of non-automated taxis available) to the town of Florego, the fifth rate one-strip town that serves as capitol of the island. The heart of the island’s economy is fast becoming the Chamra plantations. Chamra grows in the valley between the two mountain ranges. Closely related species are found elsewhere, but only the plants grown here are commercially useful. Even plants of the same species, grown elsewhere, do not seem to provide flowers with the same flavor qualities as Chamra. The Ilha Nova Flores plants produce flower-like organs which have a pungent, sweet, and very strong flavor, surprisingly pleasant to humans, and quite unexpectedly, to other intelligent species. This flavoring has been successfully introduced into a variety of food and beverage formats, with demand beginning locally, and spreading in culinary ripples across the colony and humanity. Eight plantations are now working, and others wish to purchase suitable sites and get into the act. It hasn’t been easy. The terrain is rough, the infrastructure poor, and the Chamra a very fickle and unforgiving plant. Crop failures occur for the most insignificant of reasons, and the flowers are challenging for machines to pick without damaging- damaged flowers spoil quickly and become bitter. Growers may suffer losses for years waiting for the one good crop they can retire on. The road net in the plantation area is notably lacking. Cut through a heavy, entangling forest that seems to have its heart set on retaking the land stolen from it, the road is subjected to considerable abuse by the heavy truck traffic from the plantations (whose owners promise a railroad should the area ever turn securely profitable, which would lead to rapid growth of the plantations), the two lane highways provide access to only a small fraction of inland Nova Flores. The plantations themselves are each centered around their own little village. With the thick forest making off road traffic impossible, and the frequent traffic on the main through road to Florego and the Almirante Sarosao military base making trips to civilization (what little there is of it on the island) tiresome, life on the plantations is marked by a sense of isolation more common to the frontier. One of the plantations, owned by American investors from Tirania, captures the mood with a sign parodying the current promotional slogan of Tirania. It reads: "Nova Flores. Core Spaces, Frontier Comforts". A sub-arctic island off the coast of the South Polar Peninsula, due west of Tirasur, Ilha Brava would be at best only lightly settled today were it not for the mineral resources the island and the offshore water provides. Ilha Brava is heavily volcanic, with several volcanos on the island known to be active. The spreading fault that runs between Cabralia and the south polar continent, that same fault that created the chain of the Brazilian Islands, is at its most active here. There is a deep rift to the west of the island, and volcanos and many geo-thermal features on the island. The fault is a source of considerable seismic activity, not unlike the North Atlantic rift on Earth. It attracts the attention of many geologist and seismologists, working out of Campinasur as well as Ilha Brava. Ilha Brava is slowly growing, as a result of uplift from the spreading fault, and moving east, at the breathtaking speed (to geologists, at least) of about 12 centimeters a year. Being the most intense and interesting geological hotspot in the Brazilian area, even more interesting that anything in Tirasur or Ilha Nova Flores, Ilha Brava received early attention from scientists, with flyovers and unmanned sensor drops in the pre-colonial days and the first manned visit in 2196. A permanent geological station was established in 2210, and data collected by these scientists rapidly drew the attention of the extraction industry. Other, easier finds were given first priority, though, and Ilha Brava waited untouched until 2254, when the Brazilian Ministry of Colonization, wishing to boost the development of the southern regions, which were lagging well behind Cabralia, offered to subsidize development of Ilha Nova Brava by constructing infrastructure. A small number of national engineers arrived in 2255, and installed and airfield and a port. By 2157, works had gone far enough to make mining practical, and a corporation named Amzax, owned by mostly Brazilian investors, moved in. Amzax began removing copper, zinc, and a small but exciting flow of high quality gem stones. Other corporations followed. In 2162, Oil was discovered conveniently near Amzax’s port, and the rights for exploitation were auctioned off to private corporations. Petrochemical workers and their machines arrived in great numbers. It was realized that the level of work needed to accommodate the growing economy of the southern area of Provinicia do Brasil would require greater attention from the National Corps of Engineers. Their headquarters was moved to Nova Cabinda on Ilha Brava, in order to emphasize their frontier development mission. After completing the Ilha Brava National Immigrant’s Center in 2288, they went to work on rebuilding Nova Cabinda’s port, enlarging it and updating it to handle the increasing traffic load. Ilha Brava has an area of about 121,000 square kilometers, about 17% larger than the size of Iceland. Only about 15% of this land is considered habitable, however, the rest being covered with snow, ice, bare rock, or limited arctic vegetation. (a very small portion of the land is taken up by Ilha Brava’s "Crater Oases", small warm, humid forest pockets maintained by hot springs) The island supports a population of 430,000, about half of whom live in the city of Nova Cabinda. This seems to be a very low density area, but the concentration of population is very high, and the area around Nova Cabinda is as densely settled as anywhere in the colony. The weather in Ilha Brava is legendary. Despite the mitigating marine effects, seasonality here is strong, and winters, especially Grand Winters, often brutal. Most of the annual precipitation occurs in the winter, with heavy snows and blizzards common. Mining comes to a virtual halt on most of the island, and this may have been the origin of the current culture among Ilha Brava workers, who seem to expect at least a few months of non-work every year. Nova Cabinda is a city built by and for the mining and petrochemical industries. Much of the city is owned by three different petrochemical companies in addition to the mining consortium Amzax. Amzax owns about 10% of the city, in scattered but strategically placed properties. Mobraubras owns about 20 percent of the city proper, Ultimas another 10%, and the French petrochemical company Petromouride-Tirane SA, about 15%. The population has a large percentage of Angolan immigrants and their descendants, so many that the city's name, originally a nickname, stuck and became the preferred name for the town. The mix of African descendant labor and Euro-Brazilian management has caused friction for the companies working here, but the interaction has had some interesting results as well. One local cultural quirks is the steadfast refusal of local laborers to keep at their jobs for anything like a normal multi-year contract. A worker stays on the job until he decides he has enough money set aside to live off of for a few months. The workers are notoriously frugal while they work, putting in long hours when they can, and working with the punctuality and efficiency once considered the province of Germans. After the worker has accumulated enough money- and this is a very subjective, arbitrary, and capricious call, he quits, and lives as a "ferio" (Provincia do Brasil slang for one who is unemployed by choice) and spends his money, sometimes supplementing it with odd jobs, fishing, gem prospecting, vegetable gardening, or short term contract work. When the money gets tight, he seeks full time employment again. Raising salaries to retain workers did not solve the retention problem. In fact, as Brazilian merchants in isolated areas are not allowed to charge "gouging " prices, the cost of living in Nova Cabinda is similar to that of Sao Umberto. The result is that higher wages actually decreased retention. A more recent effort involved the support and expansion by the petrochemical concerns of the restaurant/entertainment industry, so the workers could spend their salary more quickly. The corporations allow establishments to operate from their property that would otherwise be banned in Brazil. The several brothels and other less savory institutions found in Nova Cabinda are all deep inside corporate industrial complexes, officially unnoticed by the Ministry of Culture. Within only a few decades, the isolated largely African immigrant population centered on Nova Cabinda has evolved a distinctive local culture. This has become so well known in Provincia do Brasil and elsewhere on Tirane that when "Cabinda" is used in a cultural reference, it is assumed to refer to the small Ilha Brava city and not the region on Earth. Examples bound: the Cabindira is a popular cocktail involving fermented sugar cane juice and a pepper and anise based spice mix. "Vida Cabinda" is a music club in Kantzauropolis. In cuisine, "Cabinda" refers to the cooking style popularized in Nova Cabinda,as in "Snallops Cabinda", a dish making use of the native Tiranian mollusk-like creature. A "Cabindeiro" is a person of unsteady work habits-driven one day, lazy the next. The list is extensive. The corporate and industrial nature of the city has extended to the nomenclature of the Distritos. Three of the city's six districts are named for the leading corporations: Four districts radiate from the harbor area like segments of an oriental fan. Mobraubras is the largest of these, dominated by the corporation of the same name. This is the oldest section of the city. It was built hastily, primarily to accommodate the needs of the corporation. Facilities for workers were given second priority, at first, and Mobraubras still has the reputation of being s less desirable place to live. The company has compensated with higher wages. The workers reacted by using their extra earnings to improve their conditions. From the start, Mobraubras was opposed to unionization here, but the workers created their own organizations, called "Equipas" (teams) which operate as something between Union local, social club, and informal financial organizations. Each team lays claim to a section of the District, and maintains the housing within. Mobraubras is cluttered, and haphazardly built, but the main streets have a carnival atmosphere and are kept safe by both the company and the vigilante patrols of the Equipas. On the north side of Mobraubras, and close to being an isolated town of its own, Ultimas built its facilities with more long range planning and an eye towards maintaining company discipline. This area of the town has the overall industrial, pragmatic look of Nova Cabinda, but here the stainless steel and concrete structures have clean lines and form neat rows. The walls are liberally coated with a synthetic to which paint does not adhere, and the colorful façade artwork of the Mobraubras district is replaced in Ulitimas with the pastel colors of coated concrete. Then "French Quarter" of Nova Cabinda was built with the greatest care, and heaviest financial investment. The builders were aware that they were constructing more than just a support town for a petrochemical company. In its own way, Petromouride is a permanent French cultural mission. It is home to many French expatriates, who have brought the cosmopolitan French culture with them, and would have done so even if Petromouride hadn’t made extraordinary efforts in that regard. Petromouride views its property as having inherent potential beyond merely supporting mining and petrochemical operations. The company has invested in businesses here, expecting a return on having the best and most attractive restaurants and hotels in the city. They built the Hotel Normandie Hotel to be the best in Nova Cabinda, and the place is frequently filled. South of Mobraubras is Nova Cabinda's most cosmopolitan area, the commercial and institutional heart of Ilha Brava, Distriti Centro. The petrochemical industry’s appetite for workers is noticeable at the National Immigrants’ Center, in the heart of Centro. This agency is unlike its counterparts in other areas of the Ministry of Colonization’s interest. The NIC is basically a hiring hall for the corporations. An arrival in Nova Cabinda is expected to have full employment quickly, as without it one is ineligible for government provided schooling and health care. Fortunately for the Nova Cabinda lifestyle, once one has achieved "employed" status, one maintains it for three years, at least in the government’s eyes. So, new arrivals tend to get hooked up with corporations quickly, except for those few who can strike out on their own. Then, after learning the ropes, most of them fall into the working/ferio routine that is the cycle of life in the city. Centro features a busy commercial mall, fully enclosed, that is the retail hub of Ilha Brava. This structure is basically a large box subdivided into hundreds of smaller, almost identical spaces, stacked in three shelf like rows overlooking a common atrium. Without the fountains, sculptures, and other architectural fantasy elements found in other malls, the Ilha Brava Galeria would be little more interesting than an aircraft hanger were it not for the individual efforts of the tenant merchants, who have turned the place into a retail fantasyland somewhere between theme park and open air bazaar in style. Wildlife in the Brazilian Islands Like island habitats on Earth, the Ilhas present a range of diverse and isolate habitats. There are thousands of creatures living here and nowhere else on Tirane, only a fraction have been catalogued, few have been studied. One quirk in the wildlife seen in the islands has been the deliberate importation of Earth wildlife to several of the more isolated islands. The largest such island, Nathmanda, has been established by a sub-element of the Life Foundation as a Terran Bio-Preserve. A number of these preserves exist, each founded on the idea that if some geologic or cosmic (or artificial) catastrophe were to destroy the ecosphere of Earth, mankind's native environment would survive in protected pockets on other worlds. The core ideology of this group is that in comparison with even the most humanoid seeming life found on aline worlds, the life forms of Earth are all close cousins, and ought to be respected as family members. Nathmanda, with about 17,000 square kilometers, is one of the more extensive and impressive of these preserves. With a cool, humid, temperate climate, many Earth native creatures are thriving (this also required the removal of native life forms and some small genetic adaptions) and there are typically several hundred tourists at any one time in the preserve, observing the "wild" Earth fauna. Further attempts to establish Earth ecologies in the islands have been thwarted, as the inhabitants have come to take more interest in the diverse Tiranean creatures present. Some of these are: Gatherer/Grazer. Number Appearing: 1D6 Initiative: 1 Melee Hit Chance: Routine (Can only hit creatures attempting physical contact with it) , Size: 20 Kg Speed 30, Armor 0.4, Consciousness: 3 Life: 3 WPM -2 DPV 0.2 Signature -3 Isolated habitats promote unique animal development. The Coiso is the local example. The creatures of this family, with over twenty species noted so far, are unique to the islands, the smaller ones especially. Collectively, they are all Coisos, but the creature that springs to mind inmost people when the name is mentioned, if something springs to minfd at all, is the largest of the type, the Coiso Maximo. One of the largest of land dwellign invertebrates, the Coiso has been compared to a walking sea urchin. Like a sea urchin, it is radially symmetrical and covered with sharp spines. Unlike the earth creatures, the larger Coisos are about the size of a beach ball, have eight short stubby legs, and have a crustacean-like exoskeleton arrangement rather than the hydrovascular system common to the echinoderms. Slow moving and fairly stupid, the creature’s only defense is to tuck its legs under its body and remain perfectly still, in the expectation that a predator would be discouraged by the spines and seek an easier meal. This is sufficient to protect the Coiso from most of the predators in the islands, but offers no defense at all against a human with a pointy stick. It is blind, but very sensitive to sound, vibration, taste, and odor. It can follow a scent trail on the ground with great accuracy. Unfortunately for the Coiso, it has been classified by humans as exceptionally tasty, and demand for the creature is rising. No farming facilities for Coisos exist yet, and thousands are taken from the islands each year. The cause of Coiso protection has been taken up by environmentalists, and some regulation of the harvesting of these animals is expected int eh next ffew years. In the mean time, their numbers are dropping. Chaser. Number Appearing: 2D6 Initiative: 7 Melee Hit Chance: Routine, Size: 100 Kg Speed 100, Armour 0.2, Consciousness: 4 Life: 10 WPM 0 DPV 0.3 Signature 0 The Rinn do Sur is an aquatic carnivore found around the Brazilian Islands, similar to but distinct from its cousins found near Wellon. in a variety of sub-species. It seems to have followed a similar evolutionary track as Terran dolphins to which they bear a passing resemblance. However whilst the display some of the playfulness of their Terran counter-parts they also display some of the characteristics of the shark. Human ship wreck victims have reported being attacks by pods of Rinn where these animals will 'play' with the humans rushing in to attack and circling before attacking again. In some instances life rafts have been overturned by attacking Rinn. Gatherer/Grazer. Number Appearing: 1D6 Initiative: 1 Melee Hit Chance: Routine (Can only hit creatures attempting physical contact with it) , Size: 20 Kg Speed 30, Armor 0.4, Consciousness: 3 Life: 3 WPM -2 DPV 0.2 Signature -3 This large avian makes its home on small islands, where local predators cannot threaten breeding areas during its long feeding flights over the sea. It occupies a niche similar to that of Earth’s albatross, and has a similar body shape, although the wings are more rigid and do not fold as easily against the body. The Suzero Oro can fly for days, effortlessly, riding the winds over Tiranian seas. They feed on fish and small sea creatures, which they sieve from the ocean by means of a large beak pouch lined edged with a cartilaginous comb. The animal needs to consume about a third of its body weight per day, but it ranges over a broad area, and one good find is enough to provide for its needs and then some. Like Earth’s sea birds, Suzero has a "counter shading" camouflage scheme. The underside of the creature is bright white, to make it harder to see against the sky when it flies overhead. The top is a rich gold, enabling it to blend in with the tall grasses of its nesting areas. |