It feels good to be back, after finishing exam season im ready to present a new history, based on one of the most insane wars in South America history.

As some might know Brazil after their independence from Portugal in 1822 instead of being proclaimed as a Republic the Braganza Royal family actually remained there with King Pedro I the first post-independence king even being briefly being King of Portugal in 1826, being the only south america nation (Only asides of Mexico wich failed) to be a Monarchy after the colonial period ended, but as some might expect, the old order prevailed a lot, while it was relatively modern in political organization, with both Pedro the 1st and Pedro the 2nd being enlighment monarchs and actually pretty stable compared to neighbours, issues like slavery and poverty remained, sparking a heavy debate, and while some laws triyed to reduce it in a way it would gradually stop like the Law of Free Birth (Lei do Ventre Livre) passed in 1871 wich seeked to make people born out of slaves free by birth (But it was practically worthless as a children of enslaved women in Brazil were obligated to serve their mother's owners until the age of 21 wich was practically the same, so the law practically barely freed some people, with around 1,000,000 still remaining), after the Saraiva-Cotegipe Law, of 1885, (wich freed slaves when they reached the age of 60) it wasnt until the 13th of May of 1888 when the Lei Áurea (Golden law) was passed by Pedro II daughter Isabel while his father was out in Europe, while of course abolitionism had grew up massively in Brazil the main cause was that slavery was no longer profitable, as the wages of European immigrants, whose working conditions were poor, cost less than the upkeep of slaves, and the decline in the arrival of new slaves.

Brazil was the last nation in the Western World to abolish slavery...

(Fun Fact (Kinda): After the Civil war ended actually some confederates actually went to Brazil to settle, even the own monarchy allowing them land to cultivate cottom, its estimated around 20,000 arrived and to this day in some regions still have "confederados" parties)

The Lei Áurea had other consequences besides the freeing of all slaves; without slaves and lacking workers, the plantation owners had to recruit workers elsewhere and thus organized, in the 1890s, the Sociedade Promotora de Imigração ("Society for the Promotion of Immigration").

Another effect was an uproar among Brazilian slave owners and upper classes,being often regarded as the most immediate (but not the only as others also theorize the fact Pedro had no male descendants alive by 1889 or the expansion of Positivist ideas in the army) cause of the fall of monarchy in Brazil.

Wich culminated when in the 15th of November of 1889 Deodoro da Fonseca overtrhew a Monarchy wich had been in crisis since the 1880s, Pedro II wich had spend 58 years ruling since he was 6 was already tired of politics and in general governace, the coup was surpringsily smooth, carried in Rio de Janeiro it barely saw opposition and only 1 monarchist soldier was wounded, Pedro simply resignated himself

"If it is so, it will be my retirement. I have worked too hard and I am tired. I will go rest then." - Pedro II

The thing is, despite practically the Royal family not caring about it, there was a significant monarchist reaction between November of 1889 and January of 1890, which was thoroughly repressed.

After a dictatorship, revolts, a full blow federal war between 1893 and 1895 the republic finally was consolidated altought monarchist plans remained as last until 1902, the Braganza-Orlaeans branch wasnt allowed to return until 1920 with Brazil at the time being basically an Positivist Oligarchy with power balanced between Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais know as "Milk and Coffe" politics wich lasted until the 1930 Coup, but well another history...

WHAT THE HELL THIS HAS TO DO WITH THE RPG AND WHAT THE HELL IS A CANUDOS?

Dont worry now is when we start talking about it.

It was a conflict between the First Brazilian Republic and the residents of Canudos in the northeastern state of Bahia, between 1896 and 1897. Waged in the aftermath of the abolition of slavery in Brazil and the overthrow of the monarchy. The conflict arose from a millenarian cult led by Antônio Conselheiro, who began attracting attention around 1874 by preaching spiritual salvation to the poor population of the sertão (a region which suffered from severe droughts). Conselheiro and his followers came into conflict with the local authorities after founding the village of Canudos. The situation soon escalated, with Bahia's government requesting assistance from the federal government, who sent military expeditions against the settlement.

As a community, Canudos operated similar like a religious commune, with Antônio Conselheiro as the principal member and director. Canudos was a heavily religious settlement, under the sway of Antonio's fanaticism, but despite his fanaticism he did not assume any official position of authority. The settlement practiced common ownership, abolished the official currency, negated Brazilian national laws and participated collectively in the management of the town. Canudos was in essence a reaction against the contemporary Brazilian nation. The place was named Belo Monte (Beautiful Mount) by Antonio Conselheiro, but the old name, Arraial de Canudos, prevailed. Over the years people from across Bahia, including landless farmers, former slaves, indigenous people and cangaceiros flocked to join him, and within a few years the fledgling settlement numbered 30,000 people (which made it the second largest urban center in Bahia behind Salvador) and had developed a leather exporting business.

Conselheiro and his followers were branded as "monarchists" by the press, with the authorities seeing the settlement as a threat to the recently proclaimed Brazilian Republic, which was still in process of consolidating itself. Rumors spread that the inhabitants of Canudos were planning to "depose the new Republican government" and "restore the monarchy." The inhabitants of Canudos were "so numerous, employed such artful strategies and so committed" that it took four military campaigns to defeat them. Despite the government's troops employing modern weapons against the poorly armed and organized Conselheiristas, the first three expeditions resulted in failure, including the death of Colonel Moreira César, which harmed the government's image and alarmed public opinion.

The conflict came to a brutal end in October 1897, when the fourth and final expedition, led by General Arthur Oscar, with a large fraction of the Brazilian Army, was deployed to bombard and overrun the settlement, raze it and slaughter nearly all its inhabitants. (There is debate but its mostly between 5,000 at the very least and 30,000 (25,000 residents) at maximum)

It was declared Antônio Conselheiro himself had likely died of dysentery on 22 September, Before Canudos was burned down and dynamited, Conselheiro's body was exhumed, the head was removed, and it was "displayed on a pike" to be "held high at the front of a military parade for all to see." According to author Peter Robb, it "was taken to the Medical Faculty of Bahia to be studied for abnormalities."When all resistance ceased and "peace" was restored, around only 150 survivors remained.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Antonio_Conselheiro.jpg (Only photo know of Conselheiro - NFSW Warning, not necessarily gory or something, but its still a dead man so careful)

Euclides da Cunha (the main military organizator of the campaign) did not see the fighting but did bear witness afterward, some say he had an "obsession with progress and modernity mixed with 19th century-ish scientific racism that told him the people of the northeastern interior were doomed to backwardness by their mixed race" altought others say he saw it as a "a tragic encounter between atavistic barbarism and modern civilization," where "civilization itself reverted to barbarism"

Practically Canudos served as the 100% solidification of the republican regime and final nail of the idea of any conspiration against it, in cities like Sao Paulo and Rio wich were Republicanists biggest strongholds pro-monarchy newspapers were destroyed and at least one owner lynched at the time of the war.

It was only decades after when a more revsionistic theory wich saw the "Conselheirists" as desperately poor peasants wich had been fighting by themselves without help, and had no real connection monarchists, wich were mostly white, upper-class urbanites, who were horrified at the very thought of associating with such a 'riffraff' of 'fanatics'", with the war basically turning into a massacre of destitute wretches, in which the military had made a "common practice" (approved by the commanders) of tying up prisoners and beheading them in public.

According to some testimonies the prisioners were "surrounded by soldiers, and hacked to death in front of hundreds of witness, including many of their wives and children."

"I saw and witnessed the sacrifice of all those poor people (...) and I say with all sincerity: in Canudos almost all the prisoners were beheaded (...) To take the life of a little child (...) is the greatest of cruelties and crimes man can commit.") Alvim Horcades, Academic and testimony of what he saw

To this day while kinda forgotten its a topic of discussion in Brazil, some people see the Canudos citizens as "martyrs" and others as "crazies", its kinda like a Brazilian version of the Wacko siege, but more brutal, i must say myself i cant help to find some interest on it, as its kinda the clash of both extremes in South America's 19th century societies, the reactionarysm, supesticius, humble, hearty against the modernity society wich had a lot of flaws like that hatred from the poor or in some cases the massive bigotry.

Canudos doesnt exist nowadays, because the place was submerged by water after an accident in one of the dictatorship projects of dams in the 1970s, to this day sometimes masses are held in honour of the tragedy, an state park remains there.

I dont usually recommend stuff in my creations, but i recommend the novel "The War of the End of the World" (1981) by Mario Vargas Llosa wich explores this topic, for me its one of his bests, Vargas just died in April of this year and was one of the last of his generation of writers of the "Latin American Boom" wich saw great writers like Julio Cortazar (1914-1984) - Argentina, Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012) - Mexico or mabey the most well know one Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1927-2017) - Colombia, Vargas Llosa being from Peru and to this day the only Peruvian to won a nobel, he is a great writer but its like that definition of "when someone has the same opinion and you, but they express it in such an obnoxious and pedantic way you low key want to disagree" so i warn it might not be for anibody.

AFTER ALL THIS WALL OF TEXT, WHO THE HELL IM RPING AS?

Basically ANIDOBY in Brazil, preferable the coast states between the time of the war, you can be from a federal soldier to a member of the "Conselheiro" sect, from a housewife, fighter, anti-republican or pro-republican newpaper owner, colonel, former slave, child, prostitute, priest, ambassador, basically anything. This RP will happen between 1896 until the 31 of December of 1897 at maximum.

WARNING!!

Violence, murder, mentions of r*pe, mentions of former slavery, sects, hatred, racism, oligarchical mentions, sexism, alcoholism, mentions of religious themes, massacres, war crimes, poverty etc

Enjoy this one fellas....