Matore

*"Lutando pela liberdade, juntos."
-*Miguel Hernandes *"Fighting for freedom, together."*
―The Matoran motto in Portugese and English
**Matore**, officially the **Utopia of Matore** is a democratic socialist state in South America, with colonies in Southern Africa. Excluding its colonies it has a total of 59 states in South America. The climates are mostly similar, being humid and hot year round.

Matore's capital is New Lisbon.

## History

The earliest Matore history dates back to the 1400s, when several indigenous tribes inhabited Matore, most notably the Iquany tribe. The various tribes lived in relative harmony.
In the late 1500s, after colonizing Brazil, Portuguese settlers colonized Matore. The group, led by Pedro Alvares Cabral, coexisted peacefully with the Iquany, but decided to eradicate the remaining tribes. The Portuguese breeding with the natives led to a race that is what is known as Matoran today.

The Portuguese granted independence to Matore in 1901. The Portuguese left a monarchy in place of their own government. Like many other former colonies at the time, the country had many struggles after independence, mainly modernization. Matore could not keep up with the rest of the world economy. Because of this, Matore's economy was almost exclusively agriculture. Overtime, through alliances with other nations, namely Brazil, Matore modernized quickly and became a respectable nation.

In the 1980s, Matore received a steady stream of Soviet immigrants. At the start of the new decade, Matore started receiving many more immigrants, and between December 1991 and January 1992, Matore had taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees escaping the shell of the Soviet Union. This influx of communists brought a new era of politics in Matore. The idea of socialism spread like wildfire. The monarch of the time, Queen Josefina Mussolin, desperately tried to surpress this movement. This led to a dark era of censorship. A group of secret police was formed to assassinate the leaders of the movement.

On December 25th, 1995, a peaceful socialist protest broke out at the capital building. A group of police overseeing the protests felt that the protests were becoming agressive, and fired on the crowd. 78 were killed, and dozens more were hurt. The occurrence, known as the Massacre of New Lisbon, sent Matore into a rage. The massacre is recognized by historians as the beginning of the socialist revolution in Matore.

Over the course of the next 4 years, a bloody civil war ensued. Forces loyal to queen Josefina were better funded and had stronger weapons, as well as more troops. The socialist forces weren't nearly as good regarding funding, number of troops, and training.

For about two years, loyalist forces kept control of most of Matore. However, the tide turned when socialist forces launched a surprise attack at Salaus, the largest city in Matore and the main base of the loyalists. The socialist forces took Saulaus and surrounding areas within the week, putting a large dent into loyalist efforts.

After the capture of Saulaus, socialist forces gained an important ally. Portugal announced that they declared war on the Queen's forces on December 25, 1997, on the two year anniversary on the Matore City Massacre. Portugal sent naval and air to the socialist forces.

The combined Portuguese and socialist Matoran fought against the Queens forces for about another 2 years. On October 9, 1999, Portuguese forces raided New Lisbon. They captured the capital, and killed Queen Josefina. Loyalist forces fought for control of the rest of Northern Matore for about a year, but had no chance without their queen. On December 25, 1999, the war officially ended with the Treaty of Porto, where the country was given to the socialist government. The people elected Manuel Afonso, a general throughout the war, as the first president of Matore.

After a few years of instaility, Matore quickly developed into a world power. Matore recently passed it's own mother nation, Portugal, in nation ratings by the World Assembly. In 2016, Matore became even more of a power when it joined the Union of Independent Nations. Even after the oppression that has faced Matore for much of its history, Matore today is recognized as a compassionate, free world powerhouse.

Matore's earliest flag.Matore's claims in Africa