[MH] Brazilian Secret Monster Hunters

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Does Russia really have any significant intelligence assets in the Caribbean any longer?

They may have some in Cuba. Cuba is still officially socialist, and it's surprising how many traditional socialists are keen on present-Russia, even though it's not remotely socialist.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by johndallman

They may have some in Cuba. Cuba is still officially socialist, and it's surprising how many traditional socialists are keen on present-Russia, even though it's not remotely socialist.

Good point.

Though I somehow expect any presence Russia has in Cuba to involve diplomatic contacts more than non-official cover case officers recruiting agents anywhere close to the kind of seedy underbelly of society where they could be drawn into occult shenanigans.

If Russia has NOC intelligence officers in the Caribbean, they'd probably have better reasons to be operating on the Caymans or the Bahamas, trying to recruit agents to illicitly track the offshore financials of oligarchs and/or mafiya bosses.

Which, now that I consider it, provides a possible way that PCs might someday come into contact with FSB officers, as occult or not, the same rule applies in that any conspiracy or secret operation of significant size will always be found if you follow the money.

[dcarson]

Doing some googling finds a expanded version where some Russian "scientists" added the vortices to a planetary grid. Along with classifying them as yin or yang.

https://www.paranormal-encyclopedia....etary_grid.gif

With several points in Russia.
http://missionignition.net/bethe/planetary_grid.php
http://missionignition.net/bethe/pla...p_image047.jpg has the Russian ones.
2. East of Gomel
3. just west of Tobolsk
4. lowlands north of the southern tip of Lake Baykal
5. along the shore of the Sqa of Okhotsk
6. slightly east of Attu

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by dcarson

Doing some googling finds a expanded version where some Russian "scientists" added the vortices to a planetary grid. Along with classifying them as yin or yang.

https://www.paranormal-encyclopedia....etary_grid.gif

With several points in Russia.
http://missionignition.net/bethe/planetary_grid.php
http://missionignition.net/bethe/pla...p_image047.jpg has the Russian ones.
2. East of Gomel
3. just west of Tobolsk
4. lowlands north of the southern tip of Lake Baykal
5. along the shore of the Sqa of Okhotsk
6. slightly east of Attu

That's awesome!

Do you mind if we discuss it in the more general Vile Vortices thread, as the Russian 'scientists' aren't specifically related to Brazil, but I do find myself having to make some decisions about the occult scene in Russia?*

*The PCs have actually found some evidence that a Russian man is somehow connected to the cultists/sorcerers they fought and the group of apparently South American men who are demanding the captured sorceress back. Also, next session, the PCs will meet a dream projection of a mysterious Russian (different one) who is evidently extremely important to Gwen Delvano, the sorceress in question.

[dcarson]

Originally Posted by Icelander

That's awesome!

Do you mind if we discuss it in the more general Vile Vortices thread, as the Russian 'scientists' aren't specifically related to Brazil, but I do find myself having to make some decisions about the occult scene in Russia?*

Wherever suits you, just procrastinating on my own campaign prep.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by D10

Interesting, i guess GRUMEC is going to have a lot of work

Yes, indeed. I imagine GRUMEC as the Special Operations Force primarily associated with the faction in the Brazilian military investigating the mysterious threat from beneath the sea in a scientific manner.

After the Petrobras 36 disaster in 2001, I imagine that there were numerous unanswered questions and anomalous reports connected to it. The Navy would have suspected sabotage, terrorism or something of that nature, but the investigation would have ruled out any plausible human agency.

Still, sonar operators and hydrographers in the Submarine Command would have found plenty of anomalous measurements and inexplicable equipment failure in the region. And while no other evidence could've found to substantiate it, there would be confused eyewitness reports from survivors of the Petrobras 36 disaster about 'masked intruders in diving gear' or even 'monstrous figures' aboard. These were classified while they were believed to possibly point to a terrorist attack, but nothing ever supported that theory.

Between 2001-2005, the Navy would have used any scientific hydrographic research vessels, as well as submarines, to attempt to make sense of the errant measurements and equipment failures in the waters outside Rio. Covertly, as well, GRUMEC and the Marines of COMANF / the Tonelero battalion would have improved security around oil rigs. Nothing conclusive would have been found, but divers, submariners and scientists working at night or at significant depths, isolated from others, would get a creeping feeling of being watched, by coldly hostile beings.

Between 2006-2010, numerous small boats disappeared at night in the area, far more than usual for the boating traffick and weather. Larger vessels and oil rigs lost crewmen overboard, often with no other witnesses, and eventually larger vessels suffered inexplicable catastrophes or disappearances. The accidents and disappearances grew frequent enough for the Navy to suspect some form of piracy and draw up plans for interdicting small, stealthy boats.

As this went on, submariners and GRUMEC divers operating or training in the waters outside Rio reported strange encounters in the depths, with what appeared to be swimming humanoids far from any coast or other known vessels. Other reports, even less credible, were of underwater crafts of incredible stealth and speed.

The Navy even secretly contracted noted biologists to determine if sonar readings might possibly be aquatic animals displaying previously unknown behaviour. Until 2009, no Brazilian Navy vessel or diver managed to close wth the unknown entities, though several apparent accidents where divers were lost shortly after a strange report made senior officers very nervous. As did the loss of the survey vessel Taurus, in a fierce unseasonal storm in 2008, especially as Taurus had reported malfunctioning electronics before the storm and lost radio contact abrubtly.

In 2009, however, the submarine Tupi was lost with all hands. Tupi had been working with divers from GRUMEC investigating a wrecked civilian ship, lost under mysterious circumstances, and sent several reports of increasingly incredible nature, including, in the penultimate radio communication, a report that they had launched torpedos against an unspecified threat. The final message indicated that the Tupi had destroyed an enemy craft and was working to recover several humanoid remains.

In the decade since, there have been numerous encounters between Brazilian Navy vessels and mysterious undersea threats. GRUMEC commandos and Marines supporting them have also boarded multiple drifting vessels where the crew have either disappeared or been murdered, on occasion firing on humanoids found aboard.

Wounded enemies generally dive overboard, but the Navy has captured several bodies for disection. Unfortunately, most of the bodies decay rapidly when brought on land, especially into modern laboratories far from where they were taken, and several have proved to be merely humans or aquatic animals with rare diseases.

It is believed, however, that there is a secret unit of the Navy that analyzes evidence from such encounters while aboard floating laboratories in the waters where they were taken, using specially designed simple and robust devices better able to survive whatever seems to interfere with modern electronics. What they have found, however, seems to be still classified, perhaps because none of their findings are replicable in other laboratories, making peer review impossible.

This suggest several questions.

1) What kind of weapons, sensors and other devices might the Brazilian Navy mount on its vessels to defend from aquatic threats from below?

2) How do you defend submarines from Deep Ones?

3) What kind of specialized weaponry might GRUMEC have in this setting that they don't in reality, for underwater encounters with hostile humanoids? If the Brazilian Navy needed underwater weapons, would they buy H&K P11, one of the Russian designs like the APS (if they are even available for export), the Norwegian MEA supercavitating ammo offered in several common calibers or would they develop something of their own?

[D10]

Originally Posted by Icelander

It is believed, however, that there is a secret unit of the Navy that analyzes evidence from such encounters while aboard floating laboratories in the waters where they were taken, using specially designed simple and robust devices better able to survive whatever seems to interfere with modern electronics. What they have found, however, seems to be still classified, perhaps because none of their findings are replicable in other laboratories, making peer review impossible.

Cool

Originally Posted by Icelander

This suggest several questions.

1) What kind of weapons, sensors and other devices might the Brazilian Navy mount on its vessels to defend from aquatic threats from below?

2) How do you defend submarines from Deep Ones?

3) What kind of specialized weaponry might GRUMEC have in this setting that they don't in reality, for underwater encounters with hostile humanoids? If the Brazilian Navy needed underwater weapons, would they buy H&K P11, one of the Russian designs like the APS (if they are even available for export), the Norwegian MEA supercavitating ammo offered in several common calibers or would they develop something of their own?

1) Not my area of expertise, so its hard to give suggestions here, but I think they would put all possible sensors just to be safe, thermal, radioactive, motion, etc. Also, would be interesting to leave buoys with sensors spread around the sea to give early warning on threats.

2) If overwhelming firepower is not enough defense, then forewarning and speed will be the best defense. They could also make changes into the subs to fire torpedos from the back so they can fight while they retreat

3) I think due to the small scale in which they would be employed, in house development + cavitating ammo would be the best bet. If not, then probably H&K. We do seem to not use/buy russian gear even when its the best option, so I think that would probably be off the table.

[D10]

Theres something else to consider about PUC-Rio, the prestigious jesuit university, that might be interesting.

When we hosted the olimpics and worldcup back to back there were tons of infrastructure works around Rio, one of them was a new metro line that would have a stop in PUC.

However after digging the tunnels, the projects stopped (reason given was lack of funds), and the university was left with a huge network of tunnels under it.

Due to fear of a collapse, they decided to flood the tunnels (which ironically costed millions of dollars by itself), recently they drained the tunnels but still the funds to finish the metro were unavailable, so they flooded the tunnels again.

Always thought it was an interesting place to have something spooky going on.

[lwcamp]

Originally Posted by Icelander

1) What kind of weapons, sensors and other devices might the Brazilian Navy mount on its vessels to defend from aquatic threats from below?

2) How do you defend submarines from Deep Ones?

3) What kind of specialized weaponry might GRUMEC have in this setting that they don't in reality, for underwater encounters with hostile humanoids?

One idea would be to focus high intensity sonar beams on suspected biological targets. This could cause significant injury. The most significant injury is likely to occur at interfaces between materials of different density or elastic properties - such as occurs where muscle meets bone or where gas is present inside the body, such as at lungs or swim bladders. Sound is about the only thing that goes well through water, allowing stand-off strikes against incoming fish-men with a rapidly re-directable beam.

Luke

[a humble lich]

Originally Posted by D10

... However after digging the tunnels, the projects stopped (reason given was lack of funds), and the university was left with a huge network of tunnels under it.

Due to fear of a collapse, they decided to flood the tunnels (which ironically costed millions of dollars by itself), recently they drained the tunnels but still the funds to finish the metro were unavailable, so they flooded the tunnels again.

I don't find that cover story very believable. Clearly what happened here is that they government dug tunnels under the university in order the destroy the bases of the mole-men who lived there. After the mole-men were destroyed, a group of cannibalistic ghouls moved into the empty tunnels, so they had to flood the tunnels. Which of course meant that they became filled with Deep Ones and albino alligators, so the tunnels were drained, which led to an infestation of Kobolds...