Urica scale

A common trait Assassin’s Creed groups have is the constant theorizing about future settings, because historical tourism is one of the best parts of the series. This series of posts will act as a counter to my Mildly Obscure setting discussions, but rather than looking at a single point, I generally take a broad setting that is popular and looking at several potential settings to explore within it, but instead wants to bring up a single setting I’ve seen discussed in multiple groups, posts, and articles: Simon Bolivar’s charge for the independence of South America.
Venezuela was a colony under Spain who was fighting France in the early 19th century during the Napoleonic Wars. As a young man, Simon Bolivar, then in Italy for studies, witnessed Napoleon being declared King of Italy, and despite distaste for him and other despots - wishing for independence for his native Venezuela combined with the unification of South America - he admired how the people cheered for Napoleon. He returned to Venezuela in 1807 only for Spain to be invaded by France creating a power vacuum in Spanish-controlled Americas. In April of 1810, the municipality of Caracas held a successful movement to depose the Spanish Governor and Captain-General. More municipalities followed suit, and on July 5th, 1811, Venezuela declared its independence. During this time, the UK began invading Dutch-owned Suriname and French Guinea. Many slaves began to escape during the few years Britain fought for control, and despite ceding back to the Dutch and French, there were so many slave escapes they formed a colony called Inini in southern French Guinea, made up mostly of the Maroons. As we know from Freedom Cry and Rogue, the Maroons were heavily tied to the Assassins, and perhaps this acted as an Assassin State.
Bolivar became a Colonel under Francisco de Miranda, but after several major losses, Miranda signed a capitulation agreement with Royalist Frigate Captain Domingo de Monteverde in June of 1812. Bolivar, seeing this as an act of treason, mutinied and with several men arrested Miranda and handed him over to the Spanish. Despite protesting from Bolivar, the Spanish basically gave him a passport and told him to leave the country. Bolivar went west and in 1813 gained Military command of Tunja in New Granada. Starting in May of that year, he marched his forces back east into Venezuela beginning his Admirable Campaign. He arrived in Merida, Venezuela on the 24th of May, heralded as “The Liberator”. To the east, Santiago Marino began a campaign as well, dividing Spanish troops as he marched on Maturin.
Bolivar arrived in Trujillo in early June to learn of Spanish massacres of the revolution’s supporters and war-related atrocities. As a result, he gave his famous “Decree of War to the Death” allowing for the execution of any Spaniards who did not actively support the war. Caracas was recaptured on August 6th, 1813 but not held for long. Spanish General Jose Tomas Boves continued assaults against the Second Republic of Venezuela forcing Bolivar to flee back to New Grenada. Boves would be killed in battle in December of 1814 (perhaps an assassination?), but his troops would still win the Battle of Urica and retake Caracas and Valencia, during which Jose Felix Ribas, a high ranking military officer under Bolivar was killed.
Bolivar would flee to Bogota (which contained an Isu Vault) before Spanish forces would force him to Jamaica and then to Haiti where successive assassination attempts would force him into hiding, aided in part by Haiti’s new president Alexandre Petion. While I am focusing on the northern half of South America, at this time all of Spain’s holdings in America were in Revolt. Even Portugal was in the process of losing Brazil. In Argentina Manuel Belgrano and Jose de San Martin led the struggle for independence, drawing in Chileans for support. Argentina was largely free by 1818, but they continued their war into Peru and Chile which was then devolving into a civil war between peasants and royalists. José Gervasio Artigas led a charge in Uruguay for independence which was being fought over by Brazil and Argentina. In 1820, Artigas’ advance on Argentina led Belgrano to counter, and his troops mutinied. He died several days later due to fluid retention from injuries. Artigas lost support and withdrew from political life, but the control over Uruguay escalated for several more years during the Cisplatine War. The UK would eventually negotiate the Treaty of Montevideo in 1828 which declared Uruguay independent. This would likely be better as part of a game about the Empire of Brazil as posted above.
Bolivar eventually gained Petion’s support in guns, men, and ships to retake Venezuela, and the only promise Bolivar made was that Slavery would be abolished in any lands he retook. Bolivar resumed his campaign in 1816 starting with an expedition of the Keys and eastern Venezuela while Manuel Piar took Guyana. In early 1817, Piar laid Siege to Angostura and captured it on April 11th. Bolivar promoted him to General for this, unaware that Piar had been coordinating with José Félix Ribas, Santiago Mariño, and José Francisco Bermúdez for years due to political disagreements with Bolivar. Piar’s disagreements with Bolivar had him step down and led to him escalating his plans. In October of 1817, Bolivar had Piar arrested for treason and executed on October 17th by firing squad; knowingly sparing the other conspirators. This feels like a perfect AC sequence.
Following success in New Granada, Bolivar had used this land to begin to declare the slaves to be free, establishing the Third Republic of Venezuela, and then a national congress of Angostura. In 1819, Bolivar was elected as President of New Granada with Francisco Antonio Zea as his VP. As a result, Bolivar focused first on the liberation of New Granada and Venezuela second. Marching over the Andes, Bolivar won the Battle of Boyacá consolidating power in New Grenada and making Francisco de Paula Santander VP in New Granada. He marched back to Angostura and formally created the Republic of Columbia before beginning a mission to take back Caracas and the coast of Venezuela from General Borillo. Despite several treaties for peace, Bolivar led the Battle of Carabobo and entered Caracas on June 29th, 1821. The state of Gran Columbia was then officially declared by the second congress, with Bolivar as the president and Santander VP. Zea would become a diplomat and go to the UK where he was killed in a bathhouse that year.
Bolivar next focused on Peru and Ecuador with the battles of Battle of Bombona and the Battle of Pichincha allowing him to enter Quito in June of 1822. Jose de San Martin was the “Protector of Peruvian Freedom” at the time following success in Chile and Argentina. Both Ecuador and Peru had strong royalist factions though leading to the July meeting of Bolivar and San Martin at the Guayaquil Conference. A Venezuelan and Argentinian walk into a room diametrically opposed foes. They emerge with a compromise, having opened doors that were previously closed, bros. The Venezuelan emerges with the nation’s military, and here’s the pièce de résistance! No one else was in the room where it happened! No one really knows how the game is played, the art of the trade, how the sausage gets made. We just assume that it happens. But no one else is in the room where it happens.
San Martin exiled himself to France after the meeting, with Bolivar now the liberator of Peru. He continues some campaigns in the north, focusing first on finishing the Ecuadorian War for Independence with his new ally Antonio Jose de Sucre. José de la Riva Agüero, president of Peru, begins losing battle after battle, asking Bolivar and Sucre to come further south for assistance. Jose de la Mar, division General under San Martin, and former royalist, was on the Supreme Governing Board of the Republic of Peru when this request was made. Bolivar would enter Alto Peru and lead several victories against the Spanish along with Dom Pedro I who had been fighting in the region for several years. Bolivar personally led the Battle of Junin while Sucre led the battle of Ayacucho. With these victories, Peru was mostly secure by 1825. Though it would be another year until the last Spanish fort fell. Peruvians may have been soured to Bolivar, though, as he reportedly plundered churches for supplies along the way.
Dom Pedro would leave to fight in Brazil while the county of Charcas, now free from Spanish, was resisting both Peru and Argentina. Despite Bolivar believing the country should go to Peru, it led a vote to declare independence and signed its declaration on August 26th, 1825 naming the country after him. He remained in Bolivia for several months, lowering taxes and starting the country while Sucre led the armed forces of Bolivia killing General Pedro Antonio Olañeta securing freedom. Bolivar would leave to go back to Gran Columbia leaving Sucre as president, who would create a constitution in 1828.
Andres de Santa Cruz was president of Peru but quickly ousted by Jose de la Mar who was President for 2 years during Sucre’s Presidency and was ultimately fine with Bolivia existing, despite General Agustin Gamarra dissenting. As a result, Gamarra began to undermine Bolivia beyond his legal rights, attempting to assassinate Sucre. Following the attempt and anti-Bolivar sentiment, Sucre stepped down as President, leaving for Ecuador. Gamarra thus staged a coup and forced de la Mar out of office, fleeing to Gran Columbia in 1829. After a brief battle, he fled to Costa Rica where he died a few months later. Gamarra then set his army on Bolivia now ruled by Santa Cruz who forced out the invasion. Santa Cruz would stabilize the new country with reforms and the formation of new ports. Despite Gamarra’s attempts, peace was eventually negotiated in 1836. Sucre traveled to New Grenada in 1830 where he was assassinated during a conspiracy to kill him and Bolivar in part led by Jose Maria Obando.
Bolivar was not having a good time anymore though. Upon his return in 1826, Venezuela broke into large scale riots and rebellion. As soon as Venezuela calmed down, Columbia erupted much the same way. In 1828 Bolivar attempted to force a convention to create a new constitution, but the convention ultimately failed to write anything other than an extremely federalist constitution with the presidency for life. Bolivar was once again declared president as a temporary fix, leading to an assassination attempt thwarted by his “Liberatrix for the Liberator” lover, Manuela. This was the September Conspiracy and led by supporters of Santander for president, who was also accusing Bolivar of betraying republican principles. A few months later, disdain was rising for Bolivar who was accused of trying to create a dictatorship, and Peru under Gamarra invaded Ecuador. Sucre did win the Battle of Tarqui on behalf of Bolivar following de la Mar’s fleeing to Costa Rica. Ultimately Peru left the war at that and let Gran Columbia keep its land.
On January 30th, Bolivar stepped down as President of Gran Columbia, asking for the union to stay together. Within several months, however, his dream of a united South America died as the Gran Columbia split into the republics of Ecuador, New Grenada, and Venezuela. Santander became president of Venezuela while Jose Obando, who had Sucre assassinated, became president of New Grenada. Simon Bolivar died of tuberculosis in December of 1830. I personally feel like both Bolivar and Sucre would be assassin sympathizers but could perhaps get lost from the power lust leading to them needing to be assassinated, or something similar to that.
Despite the 20 years of war, not all of South and Central America were free. Royalist Outlaws and Bandits like the Pincheira Brothers moved to Patagonia in late 1820 until 1832 when Chile and Argentina moved south and forcibly ended the outlaw’s reign. The collapse of the Bourbon Dynasty in 1830 and the death of Ferdinand in 1833 left the Spanish Empire not caring about its former holdings in the Americas. In 1835, Spain formally recognized every free country other than Cuba and Puerto Rico which remained in Spanish holdings until the Spanish-American War in 1898. Personally, I think the end of the wars and destruction of the Pincheira Brothers could be a fascinating DLC. Not only is there a vault near modern-day Puerto Deseado, but the brothers allegedly had a hideout possibly filled with riches called the Cueva de Los Pincheira in Chile. There’s also the possibility of showing the lost city of gold, El Dorado, if not near the mouth of the Amazon in Brazil, perhaps in Peru near Lima or near Bogota in Columbia.