Francisco Bodega (Great White South)

Francesco Simón de la Bodega was a Military officer and national hero of, who served as the country's third between 1915 and 1921.

Early life and family
Bodega was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador on February 9th, 1869, the only child of Ernesto Bodega, a an naval architect, and his Ecuadorian wife Barbara Flores. When Francesco was four years old, his mother died of an undiagnosed illness which historians have speculated was likely to be some form of cancer; and he and his father moved to Valparaíso, Chile. Growing up among sailors of the Chilean navy, he became intrigued by the military lifestyle, and at 17, he enlisted in the joint Army-Navy expedition to, to defend the Chilean settlements on the Continent.

Chilean Army career
When he arrived in Antarctica in 1886, his unit immediately became involved in the, fighting against , n and colonists for control of the Berkner Bay region. This "War" was unorthodox, in that none of the countries involved actually made declarations of war; and the Military actions were practically unknown to the High Command in the home countries.

For 14 years, Bodega fought in Antarctica, and in between stints of combat, he began to build a life for himself among the local Chilean community. In 1895, he married Clara Esposito, the daughter of a prominent local businessman-come-politician. Four years later, his father-in-law introduced him to, another politician who was the leader of a movement which was trying to unite the Chilean and Argentine settlers to found an independent Hispanic nation in the area. Bodega was captivated by Suárez' ideas, and began campaigning among the Military to get support for this movement.

In 1901, a congress was held between Chilean and Argentine settlers, and an agreement was reached to found the nation of. The widespread support from local people, combined with the relative insignificance of the area, meant that all four countries which claimed the area soon abandoned their colonies and recognized Santiago as a new nation. Bodega tendered his resignation to the Chilean army, and, when Suárez was elected as Santiago's first President, Bodega was reinstated as a Captain in the fledgling Santiagan Army.

Santiagan Army career
Between 1901 and 1914, Bodega was instrumental in fully establishing the, and he had major roles in both combat and administration. During this period, Santiago was not involved in any external conflicts, but there were a number of internal issues which the Army had to deal with. For a few years after Santiago was founded, many loyalist settlers from Britain, Russia, Argentina and Chile continued to fight to control the area; and the Army was tasked with pacifying these partisans. Any who surrendered were offered the option of becoming Santiagan citizens, though most of the British and Russians preferred to move to other Antarctic colonies.

In the north, the were often involved in skirmishes with government troops, which eventually forced the army to place a permanent garrison in the area; while in the south, smuggling, piracy and organized crime were rampant, and the police were too understaffed to deal with it. Bodega saw action in each of these three "conflicts", and proved his skill as a tactician and leader in all of them. He was promoted to Colonel after negotiating a temporary peace between the Kaiws and the government in 1907.

In 1914, President  signed the  with Austria-Hungary, which brought Santiago into  as a member of the Central Powers. Francesco Bodega was posted at the Santiago-Russian Antarctica border; and set up defenses against the incoming Russian, British and Australian assaults. He also served a brief period during December 1915 in, Santiago's capital, but this was only during the supposed threat of a British Naval assault, which turned out to be a false alarm.

While stationed on the border, Bodega met with, the leader of the - a Central Powers-aligned guerrilla movement of s from Russian Antarctica. As the KLA were allies of Santiago, Aiy'ak stationed some of his guerrillas in the area to fight alongside Bodega's troops.

Winter Uprising

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In early 1915, Bodega began to realize that Santiago had no reason to fight the War, and had nothing to gain from it. He felt that his soldiers were fighting and dying needlessly, and he began to become highly critical of the Government's handling of the War. In April, he met with six other like-minded officers, and they formulated a plan to oust Esteban Sanchez from power. On May 3rd, Bodega disobeyed orders by signing an armistice with Allied officers stationed in the region; and he and his fellow officers mutinied against the Army High Command.

The mutinous troops - now known as the "Winter Rebels" (Antarctic Winter is during the Summer of the Northern Hemisphere) - began to retreat from their posts and march on the Capitol. They were supported by a large proportion of civilians, who began to organize general strikes in protest of the War. The government responded by deploying troops to subdue the rebels and break the strikes, and began. After 5 months of continuous combat across the nation, the Winter Rebels stormed the Capitol, and President Sanchez resigned his office.

The Rebels set up an interim government, and met with the striking Unions and the (Santiago's only remaining major party) to decide on the fate of the nation. Bodega handed control of the interim government over to, the of the Liberal Party, until an election could be held. He then collaborated with the labor unions to form a new political party - the - which nominated him for President in  to fill Sanchez' vacant office.

Presidency
Bodega was elected to the Presidency with a landslide, signed a finalized peace treaty with the Allied Powers, and began several post-War reconstruction policies. He allowed all German soldiers stationed in the country to return to, and offered amnesty to members of the who did not want to risk returning to Russian Antarctica. He fully deployed the Army into construction and repair work, and oversaw the modernization of several aspects of Santiagan society.

As Bodega had only been elected to complete the time left on Sanchez' term; he faced less than a year later, in line with the usual schedule of Santiagan elections. Due to the popularity of his former policies, he was able to win without much of a campaign, but his victory was narrower this time. In his first full term, he continued his reconstruction policies, but began to downsize them as his goals were gradually reached. He began to lighten taxes, which had been high for years - first to pay for Sanchez' war, then to pay for Bodega's reconstruction - but they still remained unusually high until the very end of his term, when he felt that his targets had mostly been met.

He was also the first President to take a major interest in the country's police force. Under his administration, the force almost doubled in size, and began to make more and more arrests. Some accused him of being "draconian" in terms of his "law and order" policies, but severe sentences such as the Death Penalty did not significantly increase during his tenure, as most criminals were given simple jail sentences. In any case, criminal activity was greatly reduced by his emphasis on policing.