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Fan-fiction: An Empire of Drugs
Svea Rike
post 7 Nov 2017, 19:47
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Since the Cold War the troubled and exploited countries of Latin America had been infected with criminals and profiteers willing to strike gold in the booming illegal drug trade. While the global peacekeepers of the United States and national militaries of South American states managed to put a massive dent in the drug trade by dispatching Pablo Escobar in 1993 and the arrest of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán in 2016, ambitious drug lords and cartels have since taken it upon themselves to become the leading distributors of illegal narcotics worldwide. At the onset of the Global War on Terror, one man would claim the top spot as the richest, strongest and most ambitious drug lord in history.

Booming Dreams and Broken Pedestals – 1994-2020

Almeida Julio “Fernandinho” Vargas was born in São Luís, Brazil on December 20, 1994 (January 20, 1995 according to the CIA) to a young prostitute who had been blackmailed by a corrupt police officer. Growing up in poverty in the outskirts of the city, Almeida learned to survive on his own from a young age as his mother was too poor to care for him and his father was gone. In the middle Noughties the Latin American drug trade was experiencing its first boom years since the end of Escobar’s reign in ’94, as the Mexico-based Sinaloa Cartel expanded into South America. At the time, the government of Brazil was beset by corruption and scandals, allowing the Mexican drug traffickers to enter the country through briberies and intimidation.

Young Almeida was only fifteen years when his mother passed due to an untreated venereal disease. Because of the deteriorating government, including the arrest of President Dilma Rousseff in 2016, Almeida found it more promising to begin a career in crime. By 2018, 24-year old Almeida Vargas had become the leader of a small band of criminals, striking fear in the people of Maranhão. By 2019, the Brazilian Armed Forces had begun a major anti-cartel campaign in the troubled northern regions, and through co-operation with Colombian, Bolivian and Venezuelan militaries – the so-called ‘Anti-Drug Alliance’ – managed to shake away the Sinaloa Cartel from South America. The very next year, Mexican Special Forces killed their leader, Ismael García, and Sinaloa was all but destroyed.


National paramilitary forces used extreme methods to combat drugs in the late 2010s

But there was a new player on the board. The Global Liberation Army, spawned by violent insurrectionists and terrorists from Central Asia a few years before, had launched a war of terror against the People’s Republic of China and the West and was willing to recruit members all across the world. Seemingly without any ideology or motive, estranged drug lords of Latin America aligned themselves with the anti-imperialistic war machine. Though the GLA leadership never acknowledged their allies on the other side of the world, the countries of the Americas saw them as a very real threat. Eschewing old prejudices in the face of an oncoming juggernaut, South American cartels banded together to form a massive rebellion against their corrupt governments. Vargas was one of them.

The Rise of Maranhão – 2021-2030

Colonel Emilio Esteban Leguizamo was a controversial figure in the Venezuelan military since his promotion to officer. With family connections in the old Chávez administration, Colonel Leguizamo was known to employ unnecessary force when dealing with prisoners of war, including torture, rape and unsanctioned executions. After the Venezuelan constitutional crisis of 2017, he was dishonorably discharged and declared an enemy of the state, but thanks to the almost-fanatical devotion of his subordinates, he and his division escaped into the Amazon and linked up with remnants of old Venezuelan cartels. They hid until 2021, when the GLA-backed rebellion against national governments began, and he assumed unofficial leadership of the entire movement.

Almeida Vargas came into service of “El Colonel” Leguizamo soon thereafter. Seen as an upstart by the more professional soldiers, Colonel Leguizamo nonetheless saw potential in the young troublemaker. With brutal efficiency and cunning intelligence, Vargas soon became one of Leguizamo’s most trusted allies. Come 2025, and the Global Liberation Army was failing. Their leader, Deathstrike, was nowhere to be found and infighting had torn the upper echelons of the GLA to pieces. Not long after, United States Navy SEALs eliminated three of the highest ranking members of Leguizamo’s inner council – except for Vargas. Suspicion arose that Vargas had betrayed them, causing a split in the already-fractured rebellion. Vargas and his Brazilian underlings left the movement, and Colonel Leguizamo was defeated soon thereafter.


After Sinaloa was destroyed, the drug cartels centered in South America

With Leguizamo dead, Vargas assumed command of the remaining rebels. He established contact with the GLA’s deadliest doctor, Dr. Thrax. With knowledge of immunology, Dr. Thrax would help Vargas make a drug the world had never experienced before. With the aid of Vargas’ Mexican troops, the GLA infiltrated California and launched a raid against the Lawrence National Laboratory in Livermore, outside San Francisco. There they stole an experimental biochemical agent which would kill and replace antibodies, causing near-total immunodeficiency. While Thrax’s forces returned to Eurasia to use the weapon in war, Vargas and his chemists used the agent to develop a new, highly addictive narcotic known as Poeira do Diablo/Polvo del Diablo – Devil Dust. D-dust not only makes victims extremely addicted, it makes them dependent on it. The antibody-killing drug forces you to take more drugs or else become a walking virus attractor. As the formula for the biochemical agent was destroyed in the GLA raid in 2027, no known preventative for D-dust existed.

Vargas used old connections to distribute Devil Dust across Latin America, where the increasingly tenuous conflict had forced millions into poverty, turning to crime, prostitution and, yes, drugs. With the empty gap Sinaloa left behind ready to be filled, D-dust soon became the most abused drug in history. While other drugs would slowly kill you the more you used them, this drug would kill you the less you used it. Vargas demonstrated the drug’s horrendous capabilities in 2029 by cutting off supply to a heavily-affected region in Bolivia, infecting thousands of people with disease as their immune systems were replaced and killed off. Hospitals reached capacity and hundreds died within days. With this “miracle drug”, Vargas had come to dominate the drug trade by 2030, as hundreds of thousands were already affected, and he promised to burn the remaining supply and recipe should any military action be taken against him. He took on the name Fernandinho, after his favorite
football player.

The Emperor of Drugs – 2031-2042

With a stranglehold on D-dust distribution through both illegal and legal means, Almeida Vargas quickly became the richest criminal in history and his Maranhão Cartel had a GDP bigger than most small countries. The governments of South America banded together to form the South American Pact in 2035, combating corruption and unifying the continent. Vargas was little concerned, however, as his promise to destroy the drugs should they take action against him was his lifeline. With the United States in shambles, no country was capable of developing a cure for the destructive drug.

That is, until the European Continental Alliance and the Russian Federation stepped in to help. With a swift and brutal invasion of North Africa in 2037, the ECA wound up with large amounts of intelligence. A portion of this regarded Tahar Ibrahiim – a known underling of Dr. Thrax – and his biochemical weapons, one of which happened to be the same agent used in D-dust. Through several years of research, European scientists managed to develop a hypothetical cure in 2040. The cure causes antibodies to rapidly multiply, leading to a short period of autoimmunity, before the new antibodies settle down, free of Devil Dust. By 2041, nearly all of South America had received the cure, and the South American Pact went on the warpath.


Brazilian Special Forces hunted and destroyed many drug traffickers in the Amazon

Almeida Vargas’ Maranhão Cartel was quickly reduced in size thanks to backtracking distribution routes, as the drug traffickers had become complacent in their protected state. By 2042, joint-SAP forces had eliminated Vargas’ hideouts and bases, and were now aiming to topple the king. Vargas used his remaining forces to attack the city of São Luís, his home, and hold the city hostage. While he waited for transport to The Zone in Central Africa, the new home of the GLA, Russian Spetsnaz silently approached his stronghold in the night, led by the famous General Orlov. After a brief shootout, Vargas refused to surrender and entered battle with his custom, gold-plated AK-47. The Spetsnaz eliminated Almeida Vargas, the Emperor of Drugs, with a few quick shots.

With Vargas’ death, the Maranhão Cartel splintered. Thanks to increased cooperation between the South American Pact and Russian Federation, and with Mexico a member of the North American Union, the booming drug trade of Latin America was no more. Brazilian President Guilherme Resende made an optimistic speech after his death, declaring the “War on Drugs” finally over and that the nations of South America would do all in their power to make sure no cartel ever rises to power again. Although narcotics and illegal substances continues to be made, especially in The Zone, the Western hemisphere was now able to successfully combat the trade, especially after the United States decriminalized drug use under the O’Connor administration, cutting off a vital market.

But Almeida Vargas had made a lasting impact, and would be forever known as the Emperor of Drugs, the richest criminal in history, surpassing all those before him. The name Vargas would be shunned in Latin America, the same way Adolf was in Germany, and Benedict in the United States.


*****
Hello, everyone. It feels good to write something again. Figured I'd tackle a subject I don't think anyone else has done yet. Hope the story was good!

This post has been edited by Svea Rike: 7 Nov 2017, 19:51


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3rdShockArmy
post 8 Nov 2017, 1:29
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This was so great! Glad to see you back! I've missed your stories, Svea. biggrin.gif
If I understood correctly, the D-dust replaces all of your antibodies and plays the part of the antibodies (i.e. protecting your body), thus causing immediate physical addiction?
I hope no drug traffickers read this, because you just gave them a good idea for a new type of dope. tongue.gif
Anyway, fantastic story! Keep it up! biggrin.gif


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Svea Rike
post 8 Nov 2017, 12:07
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Thank you, Shock. I might write some more stuff. It has been rather dead in this section the last few months, hasn't it?


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3rdShockArmy
post 8 Nov 2017, 14:58
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If you ever decide to invade Russia, for the love of God, bring some warm clothes. We don't want you to blame the "evil Russian winter" when you get crushed, like everyone else who tried.



Unfortunately, yeah. For the last couple of months I've been trying to get the inspiration to write something, but it's going slow. You gave me some inspiration with this story. smile.gif


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Shockfan42
post 10 Nov 2017, 15:29
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Nice story. Fill the lore in South america, and it has inspired me some ideas. It would be interesting that some remnant of these groups would have escaped to Central America. Disputes between the NAU and the SAP by deciding who has the jurisdiction to catch them could be another source of conflict (mainly political)?
The Dust devil efect is the same that the Goa'uld parasite in the inmune sistem, the only thing that seems strange to me is that in the end the SAP finish more pro-russian that pro-ECA. They really look ungrateful for no apparent reason, ECA give the cure, think is more important that the Russian military aid.
The USA could have also appeared, some failed mission, with captured agents could start the feeling anti-imperialist in the region. Are only ideas that could serve as secondary stories.
Sorry for my english, thank you very much for the story.


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