Bruuma (Pacifica)

The Voodoo People’s Republic of Bruuma
Flag
Motto: Powers to the People
Anthem: The Patriotic Prayer
File:LocationofBruuma.png Location of Bruuma in Pacifica
Location	North-West Cordilla.
Capital and largest city	Bayougrad
Official languages	Austral
Religion (2022)	State voodoo 64% Folk voodoo 16% No religion 14% Christianity 6%
Demonym(s)	Bruuman
Government	Unitary one-party socialist republic under a totalitarian hereditary dictatorship
• Dear Leader	Brother Unclepear
Legislature	Supreme People’s Congregation
Formation
• Foundation of the Colony of Bruuma	1666
• Establishment of the Voodoo People’s Republic of Bruuma	November 8th 1956
Area
• Total	51,943 km2 (20,055 sq mi)
Population
• 2022 census	12,055,138
• Density	232.08/km2 (601.1/sq mi)
GDP (nominal)	estimate
• Total	$72 billion
• Per capita	$6,000
Currency	Rubledoll

Bruuma, officially the Voodoo People’s Republic of Bruuma, is a unitary state in North-West Cordilia.

Based on a tropical archipelago, Bruuma is a developing country with a lower-middle-income economy. Its main source of income are its reserves of oil and natural gas. Other relevant exports comprise cash crops and food products, arms, pharmaceuticals. There is also a developing tourism industry.

Officially a single-party socialist state with voodoo as its national religion since 1956, it is described as a totalitarian dictatorship centred on the cult of personality of its historical head of state, Eternal Leader Papa Unclepear, and its successor and current highest officer, Dear Leader Brother Unclepear.

History

The Native Age (6000 B.C. – 1666 C.E.)

Bruuma was first settled around 6.000 B.C. by tribes of hunter-gatherers. For thousands of years their descendants lived in villages scattered in the luscious forests of the island, practicing hunting and subsistence agriculture and frequently warring with each other.

The Colonial Age (1666 – 1942)

The first foreigners arrived in the form of seafaring explorers during the XVI century, but it wasn’t until 1666 that Austral-speaking adventurers invaded the island and turned it into a colony of a transcontinental empire.The colonists developed extensive coastal plantations and enslaved most of the natives, who were quickly wiped out by diseases and forced labour. The colonists then replaced them with tens of thousands of imported black slaves. Slavery was abolished in 1838, and living conditions of black Bruumans slowly but gradually improved through the decades, despite the persistence of segregation politics.At the dawn of XX century, a small, educated Afro-Bruuman elite spread among the masses the desire for independence, a struggle that in the 1936 escalated into a violent subversion.

War of Independence (1942 – 1956)

With the Motherland locked into conflict in its own continent, the independentists took the chance to launch a proper guerrilla campaign in 1942.The three main rebel forces were: the Bruuma Voodoo People’s Liberation Front (BVPLF), the armed wing of the voodoo-communist Workers’ Mojo Party (WMP); the Popular Army for the Independence of Bruuma (PAIB), the armed wing of the socialist-democratic Popular Union for the Independence of Bruuma (PUIB), and the Christian messianic Rightful Movement for Equality and Justice (RiMoJE).Through the conflict, Papa Unclepear became the uncontested leader of the BVPLF and, by gaining materal support from foreign Communist powers, turned the group into the biggest rebel force. After a prolonged and bloody conflict, which caused the flight of most of the colonists, the Motherland agreed to a peace treaty in 1956. Bruuma became independent on November 5th, but the BVPLF launched a coup and on the 8th established the Voodoo People’s Republic of Bruuma.

The Voodoo People’s Republic of Bruuma first era (1956-2012)

Having crushed any internal dissent, Papa Unclepear took governing a country torn and impoverished by war. The first decade of the was marred by famines and only the unwavering support of the Communist foreign power allowed to avoid collapse. Oil and gas offshore deposits were discovered in the Sixties and allowed the country to relatively flourish. The collapse of its backer in 1991 forced Bruuma to rethink its standing in the South Pacific and its economy, opening up to tourism.

The Voodoo People’s Republic of Bruuma second era (2012-present)

In 2012, Bruuma began a new phase of more active interventionism. Its forces took part in several civil wars, including the Second Puerto Polloan War after which Puerto Pollo was annexed, first as a Protectorate and then as a Commonwealth. In December 2017 Bruuma invaded the island of Sereva, part of the Republic of Erinor, in support of a local communist guerrilla. Bruuma withdrew from Sereva in 2018 after a peace deal was signed. Bruuma also intervend in the Reizen Civil War, fought between 2018 and 2020. In 2020, Papa Unclepear retired, to die one year later, and Brother Unclepear took over with the title of Dear Leader.

Geography

Physical Geography

The archipelago is composed by a main island, homonymous to the country, and three smaller islets. It has a tropical climate. Most of the original rainforest cover has been lost since the colonial times to make space for agriculture and it is now concentrated on the mountainous slopes and in swampy areas, though reforestation efforts are ongoing throughout the country.

Islands

Bruuma Island

The main island is dominated by two main mountains: Mount Laveaux, 2,881 meters, in the south and Mount Marx, 1,848 meters, in the north. The only significant river of the island is the Gathoroski river, which runs from the centre to the north-east coast. All the main urban centres are located on the island.

Revolution Island

Once inhabited by fisher and sugar cane farmers, it has been turned into a touristic hotspot thanks to its pristine white sand beaches and crystalline waters.

Juju Island

An impervious island with a vast network of caves, since independence has been turned into a giant military base for the exclusive use of the Leader’s personal guard, the Revolutionary Praetorian Guard, commonly known as the Red Jujus.

Augushka Island

A fertile island with a milder climate, thanks to favourable winds and currents, it is one of the most important agrarian region of the country.

Population and culture

Population

Bruuma has a population of 12,055,138 inhabitants, according to its last census. The population is concentrated mostly on the main island, in the south-western plains and along the north-eastern coast. The capital Bayougrad is the largest city, hosting 867,000 people in the municipality and 1,160,000 in the urban area. Other main urban centres, all on the main island, are: Vandooville, the old colonial capital; Orleansgrad, an important port city and Zumbiskoye, an industrial city born with the oil and gas industry. Most of the countryside population lives in small villages which works as collective farms.

The population is ethnically homogeneous of Afro-descent. The number of foreigners as permanent residents is very low and they are mostly working personnel from allied countries.

Language

The language of Bruuma is Austral, brought by the transcontinental colonial power. The Bruuman variant incorporates loanwords from Afro languages and from Russian, which was spoken by a transcontinental Communist power who backed the regime between 1956 and 1991.

Religion & Politics

The national religion is voodoo, which has been integrated with the socialist ideology in a single dual-core system of belief. The Workers’ Mojo Party is both a political party and an organized church and the only legal one for both field. Its official ideology is defined as Spiritual Socialist Patriotism, although scholars often call it colloquially Unclepearanism. The cult of personality of Papa Unclepear has been incorporated in the religious practice.

A communist formation with voodoo and nationalist undertones founded in 1931, the WMP became clandestine in 1936 following the first armed actions against the colonial government and later became the main rebel faction in the independence war fought between 1942 and 1956. Papa Unclepear consolidated its absolute leadership from 1945 onwards and remained at the helm until its death in 2021. The current head of the Party is his successor Brother Unclepear.

Aside from the state church, all other form of organized religions are banned officially. Especially in the countryside, people also practice a looser form of folk voodoo, which enjoys a limited degree of tolerance.

Christianity, which used to be the official religion in colonial times, is still practiced semi-covertly by a minority, since Jesus is recognized as a Loa, or deity, of the wider voodoo faith. Monotheist practices are instead persecuted.

The urban population is more secular and a certain percentage is presumed to be de facto atheist or agnostic.

Economy

The Bruuman economy is based around a Socialist model. It is a centrally planned economy, where the role of market allocation schemes is limited, although increasing. It is dominated by oil and gas extraction, which started in 1962, and refining. Major non-oil industries produces arms and pharmaceuticals. Agricultural exports are centred on sugar cane and its derivatives, tobacco and citrus. Bruuman rum and cigars are internationally renowned. Fishing, timber and mining are also relevant industries.

Welfare

The average Bruuman citizen can afford little in term of luxuries, but extensive public investments have yelded excellent results in term of food security, literacy and healthcare.

Armed Forces

The Bruuman People’s Defence Forces

The Bruuman People’s Defence Forces (BPDF) were founded in 1956 as a direct successor of the Bruuma Voodoo People’s Liberation Front (BVPLF) guerrilla. They are considered the main power of the nation along with the Party.

In 2014 the BPDF invaded the neighboring country of Puerto Pollo, torn by a civil war, in support of the main rebel faction, the Pollos Endemoniados Revolucionarios. The war was won in just 6 days and the country annexed as a Protectorate, later changed in a Commonwealth.

Between late 2017 and early 2018 the BPDF invaded the island of Sereva, part of neighbor Erinor, in support of local communist separatists. Ryccian, Gianlucian and Frost forces intervened in support of Erinor. After a peace treaty was signed, BPDF left the island.

After the reorganization that followed the Serevan War, which includes an ongoing modernization of its arsenals, it is estimated that the active military has a personnel of 275,000 people. In case of need, in particular of an invasion, up to 1,000,000 of trained reservists can be conscripted immediately, with access to abundant, if outdated, stocks of weaponry.

The Bruuman Army includes more of 80% of the total BPDF personnel and is composed of a vast amount of basically equipped regular infantry and an elite of properly trained and equipped Special Forces. Regular infantry are armed with Kalashnikov rifles, RPGs, heavy machine guns, grenades and, characteristically, machetes. The arsenal includes an good number of tanks and multiple rocket launchers and a majority of APC/IFV, artillery guns and mortars.

The Air Force includes also the Air Defence personnel and possesses a sizeable air fleet of combat and transport planes and helicopters, some new and many modernized. Anti-aircraft defences consist of anti-aircraft artillery guns, MANPADS and SAM.

The Navy is a brown water Navy and its fleet is mostly outdated, composed mostly of fast attack crafts and torpedo boats integrated with corvettes and frigates. The submarine fleet is relevant. Coastal defences include both artillery guns and missile batteries.

The Revolutionary Praetorian Guard

The Revolutionary Praetorian Guard, commonly known as the Red Jujus, is the personal guard of Brother Unclepear, to which they answer directly. With the whole Juju Island as their own base, they are an elite force of 25,000 supplied with the best armaments available, including aircrafts and ships.