Brazilian Armed Forces

1. Summary

The Brazilian Armed Forces are one of the two military forces at Schwarzwald, beside a clandestine American special operations unit. The Brazilian Army controls the area around the installation and guards its surface, while the American unit guards the main facility from D3 downward. Both forces operate under independent threat systems, with different territorial jurisdictions, equipment, organizational structures, reinforcement capabilities, and combat behaviors.

What the two forces represent as forms of military opposition: See: Systems › Military Threat Levels. See: Factions › American Special Operations Unit.

2. Organization

The Brazilian presence at Schwarzwald is made of individual soldiers, each holding an operational assignment under a military command, connected by military radios.

2.1 Personnel

The personnel, their three variants, their procedurally generated identities and their behavioral tendencies are described with the enemy. See: Enemies › Brazilian Soldier.

Every soldier carries identification tags engraved with his military identification number. See: Systems › Dead Soldiers Registry.

2.2 Equipment and Military Assets

Personnel communicate through military radios.

The soldiers use operational military vehicles, weapons, communications equipment, and identification documents appropriate to the contemporary period of the game's story. Their equipment is not restricted to historical vehicles from the original research era.

The force's reinforcements and military assets, and how and when they are mobilised, are described with the Threat Levels. See: Systems › Military Threat Levels.

The military vehicles that Edmund can drive are described with the vehicles. See: Systems › Vehicles.

2.3 Operational Assignments

The installation's operational assignments, their vacancies, how reinforcements fill them and the temporary vulnerabilities that vacancies create are described with the Threat Levels. See: Systems › Military Threat Levels.

3. History

Brazil has been part of Schwarzwald since its foundation, and its soldiers have guarded the sealed complex since the 1999 catastrophe. Every date lives in the timeline. See: Timeline › Master Timeline.

3.1 Founding Partner

The installation was founded under the secret German-Brazilian agreement of August 12, 1938, and D1 was built under that military agreement from April 3, 1939. During the first years, military trucks carried the installation's supplies through the forest. The roads they used are described with the surface. See: Places › Surface.

Following Brazil's diplomatic break with the Axis powers in January 1942, German personnel were expelled, and the facility passed to joint Brazilian-American administration. See: Factions › Project Schwarzwald.

3.2 The 1979 Detachment

In the second half of 1979, a Brazilian military detachment of approximately twenty-three commandos was dispatched, on the authority of the Bilateral Strategic Continuity Directorate, to recover the Skull Helmet from an Indigenous community. The confrontation ended in a massacre of about ninety or more Indigenous people and the deaths of two commandos, and late in 1979 the artifact was transported to Schwarzwald. The community's side of the confiscation is described with the community. See: Factions › Indigenous Community. See: Factions › Bilateral Strategic Continuity Directorate.

3.2.1 Strategic Objective

The BSCD authorized a clandestine operation to recover the Skull Helmet from the tribe's territory.

The purpose was to acquire the artifact for scientific investigation and secure it against unauthorized access.

The primary operational objective was straightforward:

Enter the area, recover the artifact, and withdraw with minimal detection and confrontation.

The plan was to try to reach an agreement with the tribe first and, if that failed, to take the artifact covertly. Returning empty-handed was never an option.

The operation was not planned as an extermination campaign.

Nor was the killing of Indigenous inhabitants an intended mission objective.

3.2.2 The Commando Detachment

Approximately twenty-three Brazilian commandos participated in the operation.

The detachment was equipped for clandestine military activity.

Lethal force was available and could be used under the circumstances permitted by the mission's rules of engagement.

However, the preferred outcome was to complete the recovery without resorting to lethal violence.

3.2.3 Two Critical Intelligence Failures

The planning process underestimated two decisive factors.

Failure One — Religious Importance

The intelligence assessment did not adequately appreciate the Skull Helmet's absolute importance to the tribe.

Military planners treated the artifact as a valuable religious object whose removal would provoke resistance but could potentially be managed.

They failed to understand that many community members considered its preservation a matter of existential and spiritual importance.

Some were willing to die rather than permit its removal.

Failure Two — Indigenous Combat Capability

The intelligence assessment also underestimated the tribe's military capabilities within its own environment.

The commandos possessed superior firearms and conventional military equipment.

Nevertheless, the Indigenous defenders possessed profound knowledge of the terrain, exceptional forest mobility, coordinated group tactics, and extensive experience operating within dense vegetation.

The operation placed the Brazilian detachment in circumstances that favored the defenders.

The mission's planners did not sufficiently account for this disadvantage.

3.2.4 Operational Breakdown

The recovery operation took place during the second half of 1979, according to the proposed historical chronology.

The commandos entered the region intending to acquire the artifact and leave.

The situation deteriorated when the presence and intentions of the military personnel became apparent.

Indigenous resistance escalated rapidly.

The commandos attempted to maintain control, but the confrontation developed faster than their command structure could contain it.

The combination of difficult terrain, unexpected resistance, and the importance of the artifact produced a rapidly worsening tactical situation.

3.2.5 The Armed Confrontation

As the confrontation escalated, Indigenous combatants employed traditional weapons against the Brazilian detachment.

The commandos responded with firearms.

Attempts to restore fire discipline and regain control were unsuccessful.

Radio recordings preserved fragments of the confusion, including repeated orders to cease firing. See: In-World Documents › Radio Recordings Of The Confiscation.

The violence continued despite these attempts.

3.2.6 Recovery and Withdrawal

The commandos ultimately secured the Skull Helmet.

They then attempted to withdraw from the area as quickly as possible.

However, withdrawal occurred under increasingly hostile conditions.

The confrontation evolved into extensive fighting during the retreat.

The commandos' superior firepower caused severe Indigenous casualties.

The operation became what later internal records described as a massacre.

3.2.7 Casualties

The estimated losses were:

Indigenous fatalities: Approximately ninety or more.

Brazilian commando fatalities: Two.

The exact Indigenous death toll remains subject to uncertainty in the classified historical records.

The operation achieved its immediate objective of recovering the artifact.

However, its human cost and operational failures were catastrophic.

3.2.8 Military Investigation and Accountability

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3.2.8.1 Internal Investigation

The BSCD did not simply discard the incident or avoid internal examination.

A military investigation followed the operation.

The investigators reviewed available evidence, including:

• Mission planning documents.
• Intelligence assessments.
• Operational orders.
• Radio communications.
• Participant testimonies.
• Casualty reports.
• Decisions made during the withdrawal.

The investigation recognized that the operation had developed far beyond its intended scope.

3.2.8.2 Proceedings Against Commandos

Some participating commandos faced military judicial or disciplinary proceedings.

Certain personnel were detained or imprisoned for limited periods.

However, these penalties were associated with specific military offenses or misconduct rather than a blanket finding that all participating soldiers were solely responsible for the mission's disastrous outcome.

The investigation did not conclude that responsibility rested entirely with the men who had been sent into the field.

3.2.8.3 Responsibility of Intelligence Personnel

A significant portion of institutional responsibility was attributed to failures in the intelligence and planning apparatus.

The intelligence authorities had placed the detachment in an exceptionally dangerous situation without properly evaluating the defenders' capabilities or the importance of the artifact.

Personnel associated with these assessments were subsequently investigated.

Some were subjected to internal proceedings.

The principal institutional conclusion was that the operation had suffered from severe intelligence failures that contributed directly to its escalation.

3.2.8.4 Operational Failure Versus Criminal Responsibility

The internal investigations distinguished between:

• Failure of mission planning.
• Inadequate intelligence.
• Errors committed by field commanders.
• Individual misconduct during combat.
• Responsibilities of the strategic authorities.

This distinction did not erase the deaths or the gravity of the incident.

It reflected the conclusion that the catastrophe had multiple causes rather than a single responsible individual.

3.2.9 Secrecy

Although the incident was internally investigated, its full circumstances were not disclosed to the public.

The operation was classified because it involved:

• A sensitive anomalous artifact.
• Joint Brazilian-American intelligence interests.
• The Schwarzwald installation.
• Classified scientific research.
• Military activity in an Indigenous territory.
• Matters considered relevant to national security.

Documents, recordings, internal investigations, and operational details were restricted.

The recovery of the Skull Helmet remained outside ordinary public knowledge.

3.3 After the Catastrophe

On March 1, 1999, Brazilian and American authorities ordered the complete isolation of the research complex.

However, the entire military perimeter was not completely abandoned. Brazilian military personnel continued to maintain a security presence throughout selected surface installations. The purpose of this continued presence was to prevent unauthorized access, preserve the secrecy of the complex, monitor potential threats, and protect remaining military infrastructure.

How the surface deteriorated in the following decades is described with the place. See: Places › Surface.

Over many years, members of the Indigenous community attempted to penetrate the restricted region and attacked perimeter installations. Some incidents led to the strengthening of Brazilian military patrols and defensive positions. See: Factions › Indigenous Community.

3.4 Surveillance of Former Personnel

Brazilian military intelligence keeps people who once worked at Schwarzwald under observation. The retired lieutenant colonel who served there has been monitored for years because of his former involvement in the classified project.

In 2021 the arrival of five expensive vehicles and a substantial private security detail at his rural property attracted attention. Brazilian Army personnel arrived with two transport trucks and armed soldiers, asked questions about the vehicles and the purpose of the visit, and wanted to speak with the owner of the property. The authorities accepted his explanation that the visitors were acquaintances of an old family friend. See: Characters › The Lieutenant Colonel. See: Campaign › 3. A Flight To Nowhere.

4. Territory and Presence

Brazilian military forces patrol the surface, the surrounding forests, access roads, the airfield, and level D1 of the main facility. They may also enter D2, rarely under ordinary conditions and more often as the Threat Level rises, but never go below D2. They may also operate throughout the accessible levels of auxiliary facilities.

Brazilian soldiers are prohibited from entering D3 or deeper sections of the main facility. This restriction is reinforced at the end of Chapter Five, in a main-story sequence in which a Brazilian soldier suspects that someone has entered D3. After questioning the soldier about what he actually observed, military command orders him to return to D1. See: Campaign › 5. Mystery Base.

Although Project Schwarzwald ceased normal scientific operations in 1999, a limited Brazilian military presence remains active across the surface. The military presence is geographically distributed. Some soldiers remain stationed at checkpoints. Others patrol roads, supervise installations, transport supplies, or perform security duties at auxiliary complexes. These personnel are responsible for guarding the complex, monitoring selected infrastructure, preventing unauthorized entry, and responding to security incidents. Small security patrols occasionally occupy D1. See: Places › D1.

Cameras watch the base on every level. On the surface and in D1 and D2 they are monitored by Brazilian soldiers assigned to that duty, while from D3 downward they belong to the American security systems.

Some of the peripheral structures around the installation, such as checkpoints, guard bunkers, observation towers and patrol stations, continue to support the Brazilian personnel responsible for protecting the perimeter. Others were abandoned decades before the final scientific emergency. See: Places › Surface.

5. Relationships

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5.1 American Special Operations Unit

The two forces have distinct jurisdictions and independent Threat Levels, and the communications between them are asymmetric, as described with the American unit. See: Factions › American Special Operations Unit. See: Systems › Military Threat Levels.

5.2 Project Schwarzwald

Brazil co-founded the installation, has run it jointly with the United States since 1942, and guards it since its isolation in 1999. See: Factions › Project Schwarzwald.

5.3 Indigenous Community

The 1979 confiscation and massacre turned the community's continuing attempts to recover the Skull Helmet into a long-running conflict with the military. See: Factions › Indigenous Community. See: Systems › Faction Conflicts.

5.4 Creatures

Soldiers also respond to threats originating from other factions and creatures. See: Systems › Faction Conflicts.

5.5 Contacts and Former Officers

• A retired lieutenant colonel of the Brazilian Army, educated at the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA), worked at Schwarzwald and knew Friedrich. See: Characters › The Lieutenant Colonel.
• A Brazilian Army captain burdened by debt can arrange a legitimate military truck for the final extraction. See: Characters › The Army Captain.
• A retired Brazilian general familiar with restricted military matters appears in an illustrative strategic branch of Chapter Two. See: Characters › The Retired General.

If Edmund compromised or recruited officials within relevant military structures during Chapter Two, Hamish may request particular authorizations, administrative explanations, or limited changes in military activity through the Brazilian military chain of command. If those contacts were never established, the related action does not exist. See: Systems › Strategic Preparation.

6. Role in the Game

The Brazilian Armed Forces are the human opposition on the surface and in D1 and D2. The player is an unauthorized individual within a highly restricted military region, so encounters with soldiers may result in questioning, detention attempts, pursuit, or combat depending on circumstances. However, soldiers are not designed as generic enemies whose only purpose is to attack the player. They possess individual identities, behavioral traits, institutional responsibilities, and information about the surrounding environment.

Their behaviour, detection and combat are described with the enemy. See: Enemies › Brazilian Soldier.

• Threat Level and escalation. See: Systems › Military Threat Levels.
• Disguise and checkpoint deception. See: Systems › Military Disguise.
• Identification of dead soldiers. See: Systems › Dead Soldiers Registry.
• Military vehicles. See: Systems › Vehicles.
• Conflicts with creatures and Indigenous groups. See: Systems › Faction Conflicts.
• Persistence of alerts and deaths. See: Systems › Persistent Consequences.

7. Open Questions

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