[MH] Brazilian Secret Monster Hunters

[Pip Boy]

I think the Army would be more appropriate... If the Vile Vortex affected Brazil since the times of the Empire (before 1889), this could be connected to a group that "infiltrated" in the Army and Navy of the Empire, remaining in the Republic and expanding in 1941 to the FAB. Today, they would be linked to the institutes of advanced studies of the three forces, plus the groups of Special Operations of all...

Besides, the advanced study centers of the Navy and Army are in RJ, on the seafront, so it would fit.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Pip Boy

I think the Army would be more appropriate... If the Vile Vortex affected Brazil since the times of the Empire (before 1889), this could be connected to a group that "infiltrated" in the Army and Navy of the Empire, remaining in the Republic and expanding in 1941 to the FAB. Today, they would be linked to the institutes of advanced studies of the three forces, plus the groups of Special Operations of all...

Well, while it is possible that some reports of supernatural events in the past are actually true, the history of the campaign setting and the real world seem to be indistinguishable until the 1980s. And supernatural phenomena in the 1980s and 1990s was mostly too subtle for anyone to notice unless they themselves had supernatural gifts (i.e. Medium, Oracle, etc.), consisting mostly of psychological influences from invisible spirits.

In the main, I shy away from any ancient conspiracies, simply because I find vast and powerful conspiracies that last generations without being revealed even less plausible than actual magic. In the setting, there have been secretive groups, as in the real world (and indeed the same ones), but none of them kept secret magical traditions alive for more than a century while living in a world indistinguishable from the real world, where magic did not work. So, no occult conspiracies that didn't exist in the real world shall exist in the 20th century, more or less.

I imagine that any groups of occultists and monster hunters in the modern world of my setting will be new, at the oldest dating back to the late 1980s or 1990s, but most being creations of 2000s and 2010s, when area around Vile Vortices had started to experience weirdness that was visible to ordinary senses and increasing numbers of anomalous deaths and disappearances were becoming too many for police to ignore.

One problem with acquiring hard evidence is that magic levels fluctate and interfere with technology. And monsters don't exist without Mana. Even in an area within a Vile Vortex, where the Low Mana conditions at night in certain locations allow for overt monstrous attacks on humans that spread panic and rumours, scientific laboratories in the daytime might remain No Mana and what looked like a monstrous creature before might be simply the corpse of a diseased animal when there is no Mana around.

So there are a lot of rumours and a lot of people, especially around the Vile Vortices, are perfectly aware that the world is by no means the same as it was, but convincing those who haven't lived there is all but impossible. Especially as there seems to be a Facade / Mask of Humanity type effect that causes most people, especially those with strongly materialistic and rational worldviews, to actively reject any evidence of the supernatural, even altering their memories to rationalize away direct experience of the paranormal.

Still, Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo, and to a lesser degree some of the neighbouring states, are so heavily under attack by supernatural influences out of the Vile Vortex that by 2018, few of those who live lives that bring them in contact with 'strange' rural areas or the criminal underbelly of urban sprawls at night are able to rationalize away all the weird things they hear and see.

Originally Posted by Pip Boy

Besides, the advanced study centers of the Navy and Army are in RJ, on the seafront, so it would fit.

Indeed, I saw that.

What would you suggest would be the prevailing view toward the supernatural among those in the Army and Navy who had become aware of it?

Presumably, both would have secret efforts to study the threat and defending from it, but which one is more likely to take a hard line against any hint of 'witchcraft' and focus on commando raids to kill any targets suspected of supernatural connections, which one is likely to focus on scientific study of the threat and where is it most likely that a program trying to use witchcraft against monsters might be found?

Obviously, I presume the Army and Navy are both large enough for more than one informal faction. Individual units, might be shaped by their commander, especially if he is succeeded by a protegé or there is otherwisee significant contuinity in command and unit culture.

Would the Army's 1º Batalhão de Forças Especiais focus on killing all potential supernatural threats and consider any hint of magical talent as justifying a shoot to kill policy? Or is that sort of thing more plausible for the less specialized paratroopers of the Brigada de Infantaria Paraquedista, while the Army's premier SOF unit has actually fielded a few combat occultists of their own?*

Edit: Though when I consider it, it seems obvious that if there is a program of occult operators in the Comando de Operações Especiais of the Brazilian Army, it should probably be run under the auspices of the PSYOPS unit 1º Batalhão de Operações de Apoio à Informação.

And the most suitable Army unit for fanatical shoot-on-sight operations against 'witchcraft' in general would seem to be the 'Law and Order' Operations Brigade, or the 11ª Brigada de Infantaria Leve, as they are trained in urban warfare and deployed against Brazilian citizens, such as suspected drug traffickers and criminals, when the Policia Militar are viewed as insufficient force. That's pretty much the official story for counter-supernatural raids in Rio's favelas.

What about the Navy's GRUMEC? Do they seek to capture aquatic monsters alive for study, to further the esoteric scientific research of the Navy? And are they perhaps much less likely to consider non-human beings who come through the Vile Vortex in a religious context and more likely to view them as mysterious aliens than demons?

And how do the Marines of the Tonelero Battalion fit into Brazilian counter-supernatural efforts? Are they religious fanatics who shall not suffer a witch to live? Or are they perhaps the most practical and adaptable of the elite units who make war on monsters in Brazil, informally adopting everything that helps, including various folk superstitions, but also accepting help from any Christian occultists, Umbanda or Candomblé faithful, sorcerers and witches who seem to be on the side of humanity against the monsters?

*Who are grestly feared and distrusted, of course, by their fellow elite soldiers, who despite their commando skills are every bit as religious and superstitious as other soldiers, but too useful not to experiment with.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Pip Boy

Cool! Caçadores DE Diabos, though. "Devil Hunters".

I'm thinking that the Army uses Caçadores de Diabos as an informal term for units and individuals who are aware of the supernatural threat and have been deployed against monsters or magicians. These can be Pelotão de Operações Especiais of individual formations, especially those stationed or deployed in Rio, Espirito Santo or neighbouring states, or members of units under the Comando de Operações Especiais.

Originally Posted by Pip Boy

Honestly, with our actual paradigm here, anywhere. President Bolsonaro is a ex-military man, there's a ton of military or ex-military personnel in his newly-appointed government, and Brazil in general is surfing a wave of conservatism, especially religious conservatism.

Indeed.

The way I'm interpreting this is that the war against the supernatural has been prosecuted by career military men, police militias and an informal network of believers in the occult within the intelligence, military and security establishment. From the perspective of politicians who do not know about the supernatural or do not believe it is a real threat, any monster hunters that exist within police or military forces are nothing more than extralegal death squads.

This means that ever since individuals within BOPE, BME, CORE, GOT and various military units started to organize and carry out strikes against monsters and other supernatural threats, they've had to hide it from the democratically elected government. Monster hunting is covered under tactical law enforcement, counter-drug operations, counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, training exercises and various other things.

The Policia Federal has had a faction within it of investigators and analysts who've come to see the truth of the supernatural threat for as long as other police forces, but the closer monitoring of their activities by the federal government has meant that until recently, they have been very restricted in carrying out operations against monsters and magicians.

Many crimes they investigate have occult elements, apparent to the believers, though not by those who reject the supernatural, but if mundane law enforcement will not suffice to stop some supernatural threat, those within the Policia Federal who are aware of the occult have usually had to arrange for a unit of the military or a state-level police force, with more freedom for independent action, ends of carrying out the actual operation.

With the election of Jair Bolsonaro, however, the democratic government is now composed of people who are more likely to believe in the supernatural* and also more sympathetic to extralegal police militias, the use of the military for law enforcement and in general the tactics that Brazilian monster hunters have had to carry out in secret until now.

This means that units that until now have been unable to carry out monster hunting strikes will begin to take active part and that Brazilian monster hunters can focus much more on their efforts on fighting the supernatural and much less on keeping their actions secret from their own government. It also means, most probably, that any individual commanders of secret tactical monster hunting teams who have been chafing against restrictions on their activities can now impose much more extensive shoot to kill policies against anything that smacks of witchcraft.

Fighting a terrifying and incomprehensible foe that can infiltrate your society through magic, mind control and possession can make even the most even-tempered and broad-minded strategists suspicious and ruthless. When literally anyone can be influenced to turn against your side, it encourages a hyper-vigilant siege mentality where destroying anything that even might have paranormal powers, before it possesses you or one of your men, seems like the only sane way.

Unfortunately, that sort of mindset not only means that the innocents are killed along with the guilty, it also makes it very hard to find allies.

*Given Bolsonaro's long association with Rio and personal relationships with leaders of many police militias, I'm choosing to cast him as someone who has heard enough stories of the supernatural from people he trusts to actually believe there is a paranormal threat against Brazil. I'm also casting Hamilton Mourão as having been one of the generals within the Army who were aware that operations were being carried out against something other than drug traffickers or dissidents.

Originally Posted by Pip Boy

If I were to pick ONE, I'd focus on army/navy, just because Polícia Civil or Polícia Federal are chiefly manpowered by civilians, and - IMHO - the kind of maniac zeal you tend to be looking sets better in an indoctrinated mind of an professional soldier.

Well, the very nature of the enemy tends to lead to zero tolerence for fraternization, if only because anyone who dabbles in the occult is more likely to attract spirits that might influence or even possess anyone around him. Sadly, it isn't irrational madness to fear and hate everything associated with the occult when you've seen what it can do, it's probably the most natural human response.

It takes almost saintly forebearance and awesome courage to maintain an open mind to the supernatural when you've personally seen what evil spirits like to do with open minds. From a logical point of view, not all magic is evil and it's possible to use paranormal powers for good. From a practical experience point of view, almost no one has the willpower, discipline and self-control to maintain their sanity, personality and motications intact once they get involved with the occult.

It might take minutes, days, months or years, but the end result always seems to be the same, in that all you accomplish in the long run by using magic against the supernatural is increasing the amount of magic the monsters have access to. Granted, this is a more bleak view than is held by many other occult-aware groups and even bleaker than the official Catholic Church dogma, but the difference is ultimately merely one of intensity. Even though the Catholic Church holds some forms of blessings and cleansings permissible, the consensus of their research is that most forms of magic pose a severe threat to both the soul and sanity of anyone who practises it.

So, while religious principles might be one reason for strong anti-supernatural sentiments, they are by no means the only one. College-educated investigators might also hate and fear magiciand and monsters, based on analysis of the many remains they leave behind, interviews with the family of victims and survivors of senseless supernatural violence.

Tactical police and elite soldiers might have heard stories of what magicians, monsters and spirits can do, might even have seen them in action, but investigators and forensics experts have immersed themselves in the wreckage rogue magicians, monsters and evil spirits leave in their wake. Those who investigate crimes, many of which have some supernatural connection, truly know how vulnerable humans are to supernatural influence and possession. How their will and sanity could be stolen at any moment by anyone who has even the slightest inclination toward the occult.

Originally Posted by Pip Boy

However, there is some civilian groups that you can use on you campaign, either for this or other things. Evangelical churches promoted the creation of groups such as the so-called Gladiators of the Altar (Gladiadores do Altar) (https://noticias.uol.com.br/ultimas-...-a-batalha.htm), created by the Universal Church (the largest of these churches / religion in Brazil), and although they present themselves as "altruistic people helping strangers", they have been registered in some cases of religious xenophobia, intolerance and violence.

When you say 'Universal Church', do you mean the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus? Founded by a billionaire media mogul from Rio? Very active in Houston, Texas, close to where the PCs started, where one of them lives and where they have jobs? The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God of which one of the most important bishops (nephew of the founder) is the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro and consequently one of the political figures in Brazil most intimately involved in the war against the supernatural?

Well, it seems it would be GMing malpractice not to include them, so by all means, tell me more of these Gladiadores do Altar!

Originally Posted by Pip Boy

I would say groups linked to some kind of university and serious forensic studies, such as the Civil and Federal Police. Many officers in both have a scientific background in some quality university, which would lead to this less religious view of the subject, and a more scientific (or pseudo-scientific) approach.

In your view, would it make sense to make the Policia Civil of Espirito Santo notorious among other factions in the Braziilian monster hunting scene for their willingness to work with 'good' magicians and even use rituals and oracles themselves to investigate the occult?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Pip Boy

I think that your vision described above hits the bullseye of our generalized and stereotyped views here as well. I am not a military man, and though I have few military friends, in my opinion, you have guessed right. We have basically three types of police in Brazil: Civilian, Federal and Military. They would fit the standard you described, with the Military Police being the worst prepared (just look at the number of deaths it causes each year!), and the most subject to superstitions and religious dogmas without justification.

I think I grasp the general distinction between Policia Civil and Policia Militar forces.

I'm wondering about some subleties, such as Policia Civil units that seem to be trained and equipped like tactical units in Policia Militar forces. How are the tactical units of Policia Civil forces perceived?

In other words, do people consider there to be some kind of difference between the elite military policemen that make up a unit like the PMERJ BOPE and the tactically-trained civil police that make up teams like PCERJ CORE?

Are all the CORE members college-educated? Have they experience as detectives before joining the tactical team?

Does CORE carry out significantly different tasks than BOPE? More targeted, perhaps, focused on the arrests of targets of prior investigations, rather than more general raids into favelas to disperse drug traffickers and seize territory in no-go areas?

Is either unit regarded as more capable or dangerous than the other? Scarier?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Empada

about religion, in Brazil the Christians. church mix a lot! Catholics some times go to Spiritis centers, Spiritis go to Umbanda’s Terreiro, etc. I think only some Evangelicals don’t mix and are very untrustfull against Spiritist, Umbanda and Candomblé. Also, Umbanda has a lot of elements from the Catholic, Spiritist and Candomblé, some people say that it is the mixture of the three.

I think Brazilian hunters, even Catholics employed by the Church, would rely frequently on Umbanda’s “knowledge”.

The way I see it, knowledge about the supernatural, represented in GURPS terms by the Occultism skill, is considered a vital job skill for monster hunters, in Brazil as elsewhere.

However, Magery, Medium, Oracle and similar traits, not to mention training in Thaumatology and the Path skills of RPM ritual magic, are seen as very dangerous traits among the mainstream of Brazilian monster hunters and the occult-aware people in the informal network within the intelligence, military and security apparatus.

Originally Posted by Empada

You can use the word Macumba for a magic performed by a Umbanda or Candomblé practicioner.

Cool, thanks.

What are good terms for Umbanda or Candomblé practisioners who perform ritual magic?

What about good Christians (Catholic or Evangelical, if it makes a difference) who have magical talents and perform protective magics and blessings?

Originally Posted by Empada

Caçador Caveira can be a slang to refer a very good hunter. “ this one is a caçador newbie, but that guy over there is a caçador caveira”. Besides that I don’t think it would be used.

Okay, fair enough.

Originally Posted by Empada

About terminology, you can use Capeta, it is another word for diabo and demônio. Another uncomon word is Tinhoso.

What do 'Capeta' and 'Tinhoso' connote beyond 'diabo' or 'demônio'?

Originally Posted by Empada

Mixing it for some flavor:
you can have a hunter who made a Macumba do Corpo-Fechado (closed body) to not get hurt (in gurps terms you can rise the dodge, add a spiritual shild-like hability, add luck aspected defense only, etc). He does a ritual near a Jacarandá tree and at the end of the ritual he sticks a knife (can be a peixeira) in the ground near the base of the tree. While the knife is there the person is protected, but the knife oxidate with time.

Cool! That's great flavour.

Most of the 'official' groups inside the military and security apparatus would regard such a ritual as playing with fire, if not as actual collaboration with the 'enemy'. On the other hand, it's not like the informal structure of secret monster hunting allows perfect discipline and obviously there will be those who fear physical harm more than stories of magical influence, corruption or possession.

There are also plenty of people trying to survive in the underworld of Rio or elsewhere who'll gratefully take any help they can get. Given the occult influences at work and the supernaturally powerful beings who have come to power among the criminal underworld, not to mention the harsh measures that the police tactical teams use to hunt the monsters and magicians, ordinary people in the favelas are living in occult warzones much worse than any high crime area in the real world.

Originally Posted by Empada

A Mage from the Umbanda or Candomblé background would prefer doing his magic in a street corner (cruzamento ou encruzilhada).

Oh, cool!

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by Icelander

This means that ever since individuals within BOPE, BME, CORE, GOT and various military units started to organize and carry out strikes against monsters and other supernatural threats, they've had to hide it from the democratically elected government. Monster hunting is covered under tactical law enforcement, counter-drug operations, counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, training exercises and various other things.

It seems to me that, to an honest policeman or bureaucrat who isn't in on the secret, this looks a lot like the kind of police corruption that they're already trying to fight - units that are cagey about just what they're spending all that money on, secret operations that never appear in official reports, informal links between units that bypass the normal chains of command and responsibility.

Which gives you adventure seeds. OK, some of this stuff is now coming slightly more out into the open – but that just makes it a ready-made excuse for the real bad actors…

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

It seems to me that, to an honest policeman or bureaucrat who isn't in on the secret, this looks a lot like the kind of police corruption that they're already trying to fight - units that are cagey about just what they're spending all that money on, secret operations that never appear in official reports, informal links between units that bypass the normal chains of command and responsibility.

Which gives you adventure seeds. OK, some of this stuff is now coming slightly more out into the open – but that just makes it a ready-made excuse for the real bad actors…

Exactly so.

With the caveat that if someone is patrolling the bad areas of Rio or the other areas close to the Vile Vortex at night for any length of time, they'll probably eventually realize that something a lot more than ordinary crime and corruption is going on.

Granted, some will resist any realization about the supernatural, even rationalize away direct experience, but they'll at least know that the militia death squads seem to really believe that they are acting against demons and that the criminal organizations seem to be a hotbed of occult beliefs and senseless superstitious violence.

Honest cops who don't believe in the supernatural might consider the organizers of the secret death squads deluded and wrong, but they'll at least probably admit that no legal means seem to be working against the mysterious crime organizations and savage violence that have been steadily growing worse since the 1980s and become something entirely inexiplicable in the 2010s. Of course, which threat they fear more, what is happening in the mean streets of Rio (and elsewhere) or the semi-official death squads being organized in secret by the Powers That Be, depends on the individual in question.

As for bureaucrats, especially for bureaucrats who work in sanitized office buildings, perhaps far away from the battlegrounds near the Vile Vortex, it's much less likely that they'll ever come to believe in the supernatural. Even most of the bureaucrats who cover up for the Deep State of occult-aware generals, colonels, police chiefs and intelligence directors probably don't believe in 'magic', as such. They just accept that there is a mysterious threat that the democratic government can't handle and that secret measures are being taken against the threat.

And through most of the 2000s and 2010s, the vast majority of federal bureaucrats who discover any sign of the Deep State and secret monster hunting by military and police units will indeed react to it exactly as they'd react to 'ordinary' corruption, extrajudicial executions, unauthorized secret intelligence operations and dark collaborations between powerful men behind the scenes.

And, yes, there is a lot of correlation between the kind of right-wing authoritarian militants who in real life organize extrajudicial killings of traffickers and criminals and a powerful segment of the occult-aware Deep State in Brazil. On the other hand, because in the setting, the threat is real and is killing thousands, maybe tens of thousands, every year, there are also those who would normally never condone extrajudicial punishments and are unlikely to find much in common with right-wing police militia leaders under many circumstances, but who can see no other way to defend people from the monsters.

So the informal allegiance of anti-supernatural investigators and monster hunters in Brazil is actually quite a fragile coalition of widely divergent views, where cooperation is only possible because the official government doesn't believe in the paranormal and pretty much every cop, soldier or spy who learns about the supernatural eventually comes to believe that the monsters are worse than even the most wrong-headed and deplorable people.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Empada

the generic term would be Facão (big knife), the Peixeira is a fish knife, but the name get very popular in Nordeste (northeast) region during the Cangaço (Brazilian western, with less guns and more Peixeras). Also, you can have a kitchen Peixeira, very simple knife good to cut everything and people here just call it knife, and a Peixeira you keep with you like a machete when going outside (not in a city, of course). The blade quality can be good or bad, but it normally has fine details on the handle and a matching scabbard, it also can have a size of a knife to a size of a machete.

Originally Posted by Pip Boy

In fact, peixeira is more like a Large Knife. It has this name because it was originally developed to cut fish - the portuguese word for fish is PEIXE. (https://www.google.com/search?q=peix...w=1366&bih=625). In some regions, however, this is a cultural slang for machete.

A proper machete is what we call a "facão" - the literal translation is "Big Knife", but it is the same as a machete. (https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C...67.5v1gWPeAak8)

That aside, I do not know about using specific training of these weapons in the army. I believe there is training in melee weapons, but as far as I'm concerned, it takes the north american mold of CQB with the more proeminent use of jungle knives. The use of BJJ, of course, is widespread here as well.

It's interesting that the 'Peixeras' should be a fish knife, considering that the monsters and supernatural entities seem to come out of the Vile Vortex at sea outside of Rio de Janeiro and that one of the main threats (in that they seem to have some sort of inimical strategy) are Deep One analogues from beneath the depths.

I'm thinking that all Brazilian monster hunters should carry blades, with a fair number of them assigning them a quasi-mystical role, grasping the iron to 'ground' hostile magic or to help them resist spiritual influences.

I want to have different groups carrying different styles of blades, using different terms for them. Any suggestions for which military or police units might use which types of blades and what they'd call them?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Empada

cruzeiro is masculine so use O and DO. Cruzeiro has a lot of meanings and is rare to use it meaning a cross. Cruzeiro do Sul in the other hand is a famous constelation used to guide your navigation in the south hemisphere (like the polar star in the north). It sounds Brazilian like, but not church related.

Originally Posted by Pip Boy

Cruzeiro is an adjective, meaning "that owns or forms a cross," or "marked by a cross." The Soutern Cross is Cruzeiro do Sul. Cruz is the feminine noun that means "the object of the cross, formed of two transverse logs" and so on.
[...].
Only if 'Cruzeiro do Sul' is the proper name of an institution. Something like 'Commando FROM Southern Cross', as said above.

Okay, even though I'm happy with 'Comando da Santa Cruz' as the semi-official insider nickname for the group within ABIN that works closely with Vatican occult intelligence on covert anti-supernatural operations, I want to make some use of 'Cruzeiro do Sul'.

It seems to me an evocative national symbol, the constellation being associated with Brazil since almost the beginning of national identity. Also, it sounds cool.

What would you suggest?

Should 'Cruzeiro do Sul' be an alternative nickname or even symbol of the occult monster hunting commandos and case officers within 'Comando da Santa Cruz'?

If 'Cruzeiro do Sul Comando' works grammatically, it would even have the same CSC initials as 'Comando da Santa Cruz', which is pleasing symmetry, and adequately confusing for two different nicknames used for the same shadowy secret group.

Might 'Cruzeiro do Sul' be the name of one of the PSCs which the ABIN uses as cover for its monster hunters, allowing them, for example, to carry valid paperwork as security contractors protecting a Vatican monsignor on a visit somewhere dangerous, like Venezuela?

If so, what would the official name of the PSC be? Something incorporating 'Cruzeiro do Sul' and ideally not too long, but enough to make it a plausible legal name of a security company in Brazil.

Originally Posted by Pip Boy

I'd use Comando da Santa Cruz, Comando do Cruzeiro do Sul or Comando da Cruz. The difference is basically semantic, if you prefer Santa Cruz to infer the HOLY cross (santa is 'saint'), for example. Personally, I think 'Comando da Cruz' is the shortest name, and it has the most informal feel. Comando da Santa Cruz, or Comando do Cruzeiro do Sul are great, but they sound more like official names that would be adopted, and not so much with nicknames and unofficial names given by own members. The acronym CC also seems to me simpler, and easily used in some informal means of communication, like whatsapp, widely used in Brazil.

I'm happy with 'Comando da Santa Cruz', but nothing prevents people from referencing the group by shortened versions of its semi-official moniker, like 'Comando da Cruz' or just 'Santa Cruz'. I'm not sure about acronyms, if only because the official titles (that would change much faster than rumours could keep up) would usually be some form of acronym.

Originally Posted by Empada

about other names, here people like Saints a lot. Comando do São Jorge is a good possibility, but I don't know other warriors saints.

you can use the Holy Marie variations people here like, but Comando is not appropriate.
Protetores DE Maria Aparecida.
Legião de Nossa Senhora Auxiliadora

change the Maria and Nossa Senhora as you wish. in this case I would use DE instead of DA, but DA is also correct

I'd like to name several Brazilian PSCs, i.e. security firms that ABIN would use to cover the activities of the 'Comando da Santa Cruz' monster hunters. Secret agents aren't usually allowed to carry weapons outside their home countries, but private bodyguards with the correct official licenses (and working for the Catholic Church) might be allowed to carry some form of weapon in many jurisdictions in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Could plausible security firms from Brazil, with licenses to operate in neighbouring countries, be named for saints or the Virgin Mary?

If so, can you suggest some names that sound like they might be security firms, albeit ones founded by very religious people?

If naming security companies for saints or the Virgin Mary seems weird, can anyone with familiarity with Brazil suggest alternative names for fictional PSCs?

Or, you know, if there are any real security companies in Brazil that you think would be plausible as the front for Brazilian intelligence as part of a secret program of covert operations in cooperation with Vatican intelligence?

[Pip Boy]

Originally Posted by Icelander

What would you suggest would be the prevailing view toward the supernatural among those in the Army and Navy who had become aware of it?

Presumably, both would have secret efforts to study the threat and defending from it, but which one is more likely to take a hard line against any hint of 'witchcraft' and focus on commando raids to kill any targets suspected of supernatural connections, which one is likely to focus on scientific study of the threat and where is it most likely that a program trying to use witchcraft against monsters might be found?

I believe it depends on the format of the threat. If it is something big and open (dunno, Pacific Rim style), the Navy and the Army would work together, with both strategies being used. For example, the monsters come from the sea, where the initial confrontation with the Navy occurs; what escapes, receives a cannon volley from the beach ... Whichever comes, would face Marines, Cavalry and Infantry, together. And so forth.

If the threats were more discreet, I think you're on the right track.

Originally Posted by Icelander

Unfortunately, that sort of mindset not only means that the innocents are killed along with the guilty, it also makes it very hard to find allies.

Again, I don't have this kind of detail, but your suggestions seem sound to me. An opinion from someone of the military would be valuable in this distinctions.

Originally Posted by Icelander

When you say 'Universal Church', do you mean the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus? Founded by a billionaire media mogul from Rio? Very active in Houston, Texas, close to where the PCs started, where one of them lives and where they have jobs? The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God of which one of the most important bishops (nephew of the founder) is the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro and consequently one of the political figures in Brazil most intimately involved in the war against the supernatural?

Well, it seems it would be GMing malpractice not to include them, so by all means, tell me more of these Gladiadores do Altar!

Exactly. Haha!

For the IURD - Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (Universal Church of the Kingdom of God), the official justification of the Gladiadores do Altar (Altar Gladiators) is as follows:

1. Gladiators of the Altar is a project of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God for guidance and formation of young people dedicated to the propagation of the Christian Faith, which has been working since January 2015.

2. The discipline that the Gladiators project offers its members is only that spiritual.

3. Its members are volunteers of the Universal Youth Force, a social program that has millions of young people throughout Brazil and in other countries and that develops cultural, social and sports activities to assist in the rescue and support of street people, addicts, young people poor and in conflict with the law.

4. The Youth Force also promotes blood, food, clothing and book donation campaigns for needy communities and recovery clinics.

5. It carries out actions of awareness and citizenship - like the incentive to the young person who obtains the title of elector.

6. Provides free vocational courses to poor people and forwards them to the labor market.

7. Support rescuers in emergencies and tragedies, with the delivery of water, food and other necessary materials.

Unofficially, there are allegations of being the embryo of an armed wing of the IURD, a military band of young men imbued with a certain warrior mysticism. Similar to the formation of militias, it is seen by many as a fundamentalist Christian sect, which was even indirectly responsible and important factor in the election of the new Brazilian president. Altar Gladiators have been forming for years in the temples that IURD has in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru and other countries in Latin America.

Originally Posted by Icelander

In your view, would it make sense to make the Policia Civil of Espirito Santo notorious among other factions in the Braziilian monster hunting scene for their willingness to work with 'good' magicians and even use rituals and oracles themselves to investigate the occult?

Yes, it would. Followed by Santa Catarina's.

Originally Posted by Icelander

I'm wondering about some subleties, such as Policia Civil units that seem to be trained and equipped like tactical units in Policia Militar forces. How are the tactical units of Policia Civil forces perceived?

In other words, do people consider there to be some kind of difference between the elite military policemen that make up a unit like the PMERJ BOPE and the tactically-trained civil police that make up teams like PCERJ CORE?

The elites' teams of the two police are seen as virtually homogeneous by ordinary citizens, perhaps because of their level of military training. Between civil and military police, the difference of perception is greater, when the ordinary guards, who beat the streets, are in focus. Civilian police are usually seen as less confrontational.

Originally Posted by Icelander

Are all the CORE members college-educated? Have they experience as detectives before joining the tactical team?

I do not know. What I found on the internet does not support this as a requirement. But I would say that it SEEMS almost mandatory for me because of the level of quality os the officers.

Originally Posted by Icelander

Does CORE carry out significantly different tasks than BOPE? More targeted, perhaps, focused on the arrests of targets of prior investigations, rather than more general raids into favelas to disperse drug traffickers and seize territory in no-go areas?

Is either unit regarded as more capable or dangerous than the other? Scarier?

Again, I dont know the difference very well :( Here it would be nice to have some advice from someone in the area. I'm from São Paulo, and we do not have BOPE here.

Originally Posted by Icelander

I want to have different groups carrying different styles of blades, using different terms for them. Any suggestions for which military or police units might use which types of blades and what they'd call them?

http://g1.globo.com/sao-paulo/soroca...-exercito.html

This is a 2013 link, but it's still current. The cutler Villar still makes the knives for the army elites. He lives in Arkansas, and his instagram is @r.vilar_knives. He post photos of his knives frequently.

So I would choose jungle knives, machetes, and hatchets for special forces.