This page is divided up into a number of sections covering different aspects of the Chilean Empire. These are listed below :
Click on the section headings to return to the top of the page.
In 1881 Emmanuel de Rodriguez developed superhuman powers, and used them, with the support of the Chilean Army, to win the current war with Bolivia and Peru. Following this he marched on Santiago and took control of Chile itself. As soon as he was firmly installed on the throne, Emmanuel began to eliminate all opposition, and by about 1885, after a few attempts to end his rule, he was in undisputed control of the country, calling himself El Libertador (The Liberator). With his power base assured he turned his eyes abroad. Over the next twenty years his forces took over the neighbouring nations of Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Paraguay and Ecuador one by one and established his control over them with the same brutal efficiency he had used in Chile. His ambitions for the rest of South America were thwarted when the remaining nations of the continent banded together against him and formed the SAU. Chile remained aloof from the conflicts of WWI and WWII, although both times an unsuccessful takeover attempt was made on the Falkland Islands. With the rise of European fascism in the 1920's and 30's El Libertador allied himself with the German, Japanese and Italian governments as although he had no real faith in their ability to conquer they could be useful stepping stones on his way to world domination. However, when the war ended with the bombing of Guaqui, his capital, Berlin and Tokyo only good fortune enable him to escape with his most loyal cadres and several years later, after the rest of the world had mostly disarmed and the Chilean Empire had gained the secret of antimatter explosives, stage a revolt which returned him to power.
Since then the Chilean Empire has remained fairly isolated from the outside world, apart from several events. The first of these was their secret extension of the Empire onto the Antarctic continent; by the time this was discovered in the late 1950's the Chileans were so well entrenched that it would have taken a major war to dislodge them. Secondly, there was the near WWIV in 1973, caused when the SAU unsuccessfully attempted to take over an asteroid which the Chileans had moved into Earth orbit. Following this the Chileans attempted to blackmail the Earth into submission, and another world war was only averted by the intervention of Solar Angel. The most recent event was in 1982, when the Chileans again briefly took control of the Falkland Islands from the British; again only the threat of a war forced them to withdraw.
The Chilean Empire is internally divided into several provinces (from north to south Chimborazo, Huancayo, Illimani which includes the capital Guaqui, Gran Chaco, Aconcagua, Pampas and Patagonia) which bear no relation to the borders of the nations from which the Empire was formed. The official language of the Empire is Spanish.
The Chilean Empire is almost the ultimate fascist state. It is very well ordered but is rife with corruption, hypocrisy and brutality. There is a widespread personality cult of El Libertador. The Empire is blatantly racist, with the Elite and Upper Classes being made up entirely of whites. Although whites also make up most of the other classes, non-whites never rise above the level of the lower classes. Also, the Empire is very sexist - for example a man can divorce his wife whenever he feels like it and he decides what happens to the children, the wives property etc. Women are considered the wards of their fathers, husbands or older brothers (similar to the Roman Empire).
All settlements are walled and have watchtowers and security patrols around and within them; there are also fences around the entire land border of the Empire. Internal passports are necessary for travel within the country, and there are roadblocks at all major road junctions. All law enforcement is carried out by the military - there are no police as such. Penalties for crimes vary very much depending on who the perpetrator and victim are. Torture is the official policy for law enforcement in the lower classes, and usually in the upper classes too. In the lower classes enslavement or the death penalty is the punishment for almost any crime; violent criminals are given the option of becoming Iron Legionnaires.
The Chilean Empire is nominally Christian, but the Chilean Catholic Church is totally state-controlled. Small, generally short-lived underground churches do exist, but are heavily suppressed by the security forces. People occasionally defect from the Chilean Empire, usually to the SAU, but almost since the first the penalties for defection, in terms of reprisals against family members and assassination or capture squads sent after especially prominent defectors, have meant that only the most hard-hearted, or those without families now attempt to defect.
All levels of Chilean society are constantly bombarded by propaganda warning about the dangers of subversion and encouraging loyalty. In the upper classes this is done by both fear and rewards, while in the lower classes fear alone suffices. Images of El Libertador are everywhere, and to most citizens he is nothing less than their God, who demands their obedience and sacrifice as his natural right.
All buildings in the Chilean Empire (even in the Prole shanties) are arranged and built to allow efficient control of people for purposes of movement, searches etc.
The population of the Chilean Empire is estimated to be about 180 million people. Chilean society is divided into five broad groups :
A Chilean Military Officer in Champions terms.
The Chilean Empire has been economically independent of the rest of the world since shortly after its formation; although this has caused problems in certain areas, the Chileans have managed to get around these in one way or another, either buying from unscrupulous dealers or stealing what they need. Because of this Chilean industrial espionage is legendary in some circles.
In addition a small underground trade exists in holidays for rich outsiders who wish to indulge in the kinds of perversions freely available to the Chilean Elite. Although insignificant in terms of the money it brings in this trade does give the Chilean Empire some high-level outside connections.
The Chilean unit of currency is the Peso, which is divided into 100 centavos.
No-one outside the Chilean government knows the numbers of native-born Chilean superhumans. In reality all Chilean babies except for those of proles are genetically tested at birth for an active supergene. Those which test positive are removed from their parents and taken into the care of the government. Genetic samples are taken for use in genetic research and the child is then forced to develop its superpowers by exposing it to extremes of stress. This often involves members of the Elite whose tastes run in that direction. As far as anyone is aware no superhumans appear among the proles; in fact what happens is that they tend to killed by the security forces as soon as they exhibit obvious powers, and tissue samples given to the genetic researchers.
Depending on the child's superpowers they are trained in their use and assigned to some part of the Chilean governmental machine. Those with subtle powers (invisibility, desolidification, shapechanging etc.) are generally employed by the Secret Police for internal security duties. Those with more offensive powers are usually assigned to special military strike teams, often after being 'augmented' with cybernetics of various kinds. The first and most prominent internal security superhuman is Poinsettia. She was the first of the 'new crop' of superhumans to be discovered by the Chilean government after widespread genetic testing was introduced, and because both she and her parents (ex-Nazis who had fled to Chile after WWIII) were fanatically loyal to El Libertador she willingly went to work for the government.
Pericles is the Chilean AI. Unlike most of the worlds other AIs, it is made up of biological components, a collection of large (about four times larger in all dimensions than a normal human brain) genetically engineered human brains that float in tanks of nutrient solution at locations all over the Chilean Empire, linked by high-capacity communications cables. Wires from these penetrate into the brains, mainly via the main nerve trunks, but also linking some of the inner parts of the brains together. All of the sites that contain a node of Pericles (which can be made up of any number of individual brains) not only contain the brains in their tanks, but also their life support and communications equipment, all protected within an armoured, ultra-high-security room. These rooms also contain a back-up power supply that will keep the brains alive if their external power supply in interrupted. Pericles generally monitors its own security and that of the facilities containing its nodes.
The Pericles AI in Champions terms.
After decades of cybernetics experimentation beginning in WWIII the Chilean Empire produced the first of its now standard Iron Legionnaire cyborgs in the late 1970's. They are generally constructed from criminals of various types (usually violent) who are given the choice between death (usually by slow and unpleasant means) or cyborgisation; however there are a few fanatics who actually volunteer to become Legionnaires. The process consists of removing the brain and a few essential organs and placing them in a cybernetic body with enhanced physical and sensory capabilities, capable of using a wide range of equipment. All the cyborgs have implanted devices capable of causing excruciating pain in the cyborg is somehow disloyal or disobeys orders. In appearance, the members of the Iron Legion look like the Briareus cyborg from the Appleseed manga by Masamune Shirow.
The Iron Legion forms an elite arm of the Chilean military machine, and also provides support to the Secret Police in some of their operations against various 'dangerous subversives'.
Rumours occasionally surface of experimental infiltration cyborgs (known as 'Iron Angels') being constructed which are capable of passing as human, at least to a casual inspection, for use in more subtle operations.
An Iron Legionnaire and an Iron Legion Officer in Champions terms.
The Chilean flag consists of a scarlet field, representing blood, on which are crossed silver swords holding between and above them the golden disc of the sun.