[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Pip Boy

Yes, these data I have divulged are the NATIONAL AVERAGE, the result of the last census. These numbers change according to the region, as you said. Still, it does not matter much the state, most of the population is Catholic / evangelical - in Rio de Janeiro, which will be the scene of the Icelander campaign, this is even more real.

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IMO, it follows the national average. In Rio, specifically, evangelicals would be the majority.

Here, it depends on what you want to use in your setting. Our zeitgeist of the moment, post-election 2018, is exactly this: evangelicals rising in political power.

Hmmm... the newest demographic data in English I can find is a decade old, but there slightly over half of Rio's inhabitants identify as Catholic and 23.4% as some variety of Protestant (including some Lutherans and other older denominations, mostly brought by European immigration, before the newer Evangelical/Charismatic churches).

Have Evangelicals really overtaken Catholics in the intervening decade?

Or do you mean more that policemen and other public servants in Rio are more likely to be Evangelical than Catholic, even if Catholics still nominally outnumber Evangelical Christians in Rio?

Upon consideration, it looks like faster-growing Evangelical Christian churches appeal most strongly to lower middle class people, with both the very poor and very rich much more likely to remain Catholic. Unless I am wrong, the Policia Militar seems likely to recruit most heavily from middle class people without the wealth for good universities or connections for higher paid careers, so perhaps Evangelical Christians are statistically overrepresented in BOPE?

Originally Posted by Pip Boy

In our government, there is a pun on the "BBB bench", from 'bible, bullet and oxen", which signifies the ascension of the powers of agribusiness (oxen = "boi"), religion, especially evangelical (bible = bíblia), and armament/firearms and its powerful lobby (bullet = bala).

Neat, colourful slang to use.

Originally Posted by D10

One curious thing about brazilian religious culture is how much it gets mixed on an individual level. There are catholics who subscribe to spiritist and umbanda beliefs, for instance. There are evangelicals who believe in reencarnation, etc.

Yes, I'll try to convey some of that in the six 'Comando da Santa Cruz' operatives and any Brazilian suspects or persons of interest featured in the upcoming adventure, set in the Caribbean.

Originally Posted by D10

I remember an anecdote in a book about a former BOPE officer (which incidentally was the book that inspired the Elite Squad movie duology) where the author claims inside his unit there was a soldier who had a medium grandma, and she consistently gave them impossible insight on how to conduct their operations days in advance, claiming it came to her on dreams or that spirits were telling her stuff.

The author claims initially he was not impressed, but then one day she gave her grandson a knife with a small skull on the pummel and told him to take it to the operation, and the guy was shot exacly there, with the skull stopping the knife.

So although I agree they probably wont associate with outright magicians and etc, I could see them actively trying to figure out which of these genuine gifted religious individuals could contribute to their fight.

That's excellent. That anecdote shall be my justification for BOPE and CORE including some members willing to discreetly accept help from 'good' magicians, even as they carry out a campaign of annihilation against anyone in the favelas even remotely suspected of 'sorcery' or 'the taint of the devil'.

In the state police forces, this sort of thing will happen on an informal basis. In the Marine COMANF / Tonelero battalion, I'll have some foresighted officers be cooperating with some occult-savvy individuals viewed as trustworthy, on a quasi-organized basis. Unless it seems implausible, perhaps the cult of Yemanjá (probably as Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes) has become influential among the Marine commandos as they fight their shadowy war against the mysterious undersea threat.

And then, of course, the 1º Batalhão de Operações de Apoio à Informação, under the Comando de Operações Especiais, will be carrying out an experimental program of fielding units of carefully watched and greatly distrusted occultist-commandos, trained to fight fire with fire, i.e. use approved magical rituals to fight supernatural threats.

Originally Posted by D10

In sum, every spiritist and candomble centers, as well as umbanda terreiros have some people claiming to have the medium and oracle advantages, and many people outside these religions frequent and believe in this.

However, spiritism and etc only really prepare a person to accept the existance of ghosts, reencarnation and psychic powers, not really monsters.

Ah, but if the people who claim to have Medium and/or Oracle (and whom you believe, because they know stuff they shouldn't know) keep telling you that the spirits say that Jorge was killed by a werewolf, Lupita is a werewolf but not a bad sort, Teo, Neto and Jaime didn't flee because of drug debts but were taken by the Deep Ones and you're feeling sick because that girl Gabriela is a vampire and you should stop seeing her and go back to your wife before she kills you like she did Tito, you might find it easier to believe in monsters.

Originally Posted by D10

Inside this there could be subfactions within all major religions in brazil. You could have a hardline Opus Dei-esque kind of catholic subfaction behind the new administration.

I prefer to keep all conspiracies as far away from elected officials as possible. Realistically, unelected bureaucrats and career officers have more practical day-to-day power and a much better chance of avoiding discovery by headline-hunting reporters.

Bolsonaro and some in his administration are aware that there have been factions inside the military, intelligence and security services and the state police forces who for a decade or so have been waging some kind of secret war against enemies of the state. He is also personally aware that very strange things happen in Rio and probably believes that this is due to something unnatural. Finally, Bolsonaro and his administration have a lot more sympathy for militaristic, secret, authoritarian solutions by generals, colonels, police militia leaders and intelligence chiefs than the three administrations before.

None of which means that Bolsonaro or any of the political figures around him are any kind of prime movers in the secret counsels of the network of powerful men who fight the supernatural in Brazil or that anyone in the administration even has accurate information on what is done, in secret, to defend Brazil from the Devil and his minions (as many of the generals, admirals, colonels, captains and chiefs believe they are doing).

Originally Posted by D10

Spiritists despite their crazy beliefs tend to be very secular and to believe eventually science and religion will merge, perhaps theres a faction that has access to truly gifted personel (medium/oracle/esp) and great insight, even with tons of noise.

Given that spirits are sometimes able to grant magical power and teach those who can speak with them working rituals, that would be a good guess.

Unfortunately, spirits can lie, deceive, trick, influence and even possess those who rely on them and for every marginally sane occultist with non-threatening spirit mentors, there are nine or more whose dabbling has made them slaves to dark forces (or worse, willing accomplices who are every bit as dark as the spirits they call on).

Originally Posted by D10

Finally, militarily wise brazil does not have that much to be proud off, but soldiers ocasionally brag about "the secrets of the jungle", without never actually explaining if what they mean. Is it survival techniques? Hidden lore obtained from amazon ruins? I dont know, but they seem very proud of it.

Given that Places of Power can exist even outside the Vile Vortices proper and the Amazon is certainly not full of modern buildings, technology and skeptical, secular people, I should imagine such secrets might be esoteric indeed.

Originally Posted by D10

I can already see the vice documentary title "Meet the priests that accompany brazil's deathsquads" but honestly, I dont think they would care that much other than trying to probe the vatican into explanations, which could expose them to the secret and in turn cause them not to make much fuss about it.

But I dont see any public outcome, only between-agency shenanigans at most.

The Catholic Church is very sensitive to such negative publicity and the help those priests who are in the know provide to Brazilian monster hunters (or anyone else) is mostly of the kind that is hard to criticise (or prove). They advise, guide, educate and consult, as well as comfort and heal those who have been touched by dark forces.

Less than a hundred priests in the whole world are expected to actually go anywhere with armed men who hunt monsters and then only if the oracles and diviners at the top of the Vatican's occult faction consider it important enough to risk such fallout.

Originally Posted by D10

Also dont forget the strong jesuit presence in brazil in general and in rio in particular, they even run the best private college in brazil i believe (PUC-rio)

Yes, the Jesuits are very important to the Catholic Church's response to the supernatural threat. They don't hunt monsters with blade and spell, but they pay attention, observe, listen, analyse and report. Always, they report.