eCanadian Heritage Minute - C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S., Canada's Silent Guardian

Day 415, 20:02 • Published in Canada Canada • by Adam Sutler

And thus, with this one click, I end ten months of silence.


C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S.

C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. was a top secret covert intelligence agency operating within eCanadian borders. Officially christened the CANADIAN EXTERNAL RECONNAISSANCE BUREAU of ESPIONAGE,
RECOVERY and UNDERCOVER SERVICES, C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. and its agents remained active from April to October 2008. The agency was headed by a Director, who reported directly to the President, and when necessary the Ministers of National Defence, Finance and Foreign Affairs. As the title implies, C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. was at the center of numerous international covert operations both active and passive, and maintained agents and informants around the globe. Secure communication was maintained through the private messaging system on the eCanadian Forums, while messages to their intended recipients would be sent upon the eRepublik PM System bearing the message "Your Tea is Ready," indicating that a new C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. report had been delivered to their forum account. C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. was funded privately through its own investment operations and subsidization by numerous Industrial Entities such including, but not limited to Sutler Industries, Ainstain Industries, Stark Industries Canada, and International Warriors.

Origins of C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S.
The Agency was initially born out of necessity during the U.S. Canada War after American troops captured much of the Canadian countryside. After several public calls for a covert intelligence agency at the height of the war, Economics Minister Derick Braham, Foreign Affairs Minister Albert Ainstain and Health Minister Det John Kimble commissioned the creation of this agency by one of its proponents, Adam Sutler. Sutler and select members of Cabinet recruited numerous eCanadian citizens, foreign fighters, and American war dissenters over the course of April, some of whom would become regular contacts or Agents of the organization. Upon Derick Braham's election as President, C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. was named eCanada's unofficial intelligence agency. In order to maintain the security of operations and information, C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. was kept secret from the general public, with only select, trusted individuals and Cabinet Ministers informed of its existence.

Operation CERBERUS
The maiden covert operation of C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. was a hastily put together mission bearing the same name. With the war temporarily suspended in North America by the Admins and the American army growing stronger by the day, defending forces required a way to assault the eAmericans without directly fighting them. Operation CERBERUS entailed the transfer of funds from select war rich corporations to field agents, foreign fighters and citizens, whom would use these funds to purchase weapons, gifts, moving tickets, and finally food from the eAmerican marketplace. This operation, combined with the restarting of the war, weakened the eAmerican economy. Multiple American soldiers were reported as approaching starvation, while the high priced goods still left on the market fueled domestic anger towards GMs who were believed to be war profiteering. The operation ceased upon the signing of the Peace Treaty between eCanada and the eUSA.

Operation GUARDIAN
Upon naming Adam Sutler as the first Director of C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S., President Braham ordered the organization to initiate surveillance operations upon the United States of America. Over the course of the month, C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. monitored population movements, military organization, hospital placement and media traffic within the USA, searching for any indication of second invasion plans. Using this information, C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. drafted its own plans for such scenarios as an emergency evacuation of eCanada, insulation of the domestic market from sabotage, and a Mediterranean Alliance Invasion Plan against the United States; the latter of which was destroyed upon the signing of the perpetual non-aggression pact. The Surveillance Operation dubbed Operation GUARDIAN was later expanded to include Norway upon its sudden expansion into Russia, Pakistan after its invasion of China, and Great Britain following information from one source which indicated an invasion of eCanada might have been planned by the Brits. Surveillance of Great Britain soon ended when the source and his information were deemed unreliable.

Operation BLOODHOUND
Soon after Derick Braham's election as President, the National Bank of Canada disappeared from eCanadian territory, and was discovered first within France before it was moved to Switzerland. C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. Director Adam Sutler was assigned the task of tracking the bank and any movement of currency from it until it was returned to eCanadian hands. The Director was also given a mandate to list possible suspects in the Banks theft. Upon the joint invasion of Switzerland by France and Italy, Operation BLOODHOUND was expanded to recover as much as possible from the Bank, or its equivalent, before the war's end. Several C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. operatives were sent into Switzerland, France and Italy to serve as Mercenaries in the war, drawing in Gold payments from all three nations either through government subsidization or contracts with the producers of war materiel. By the war's end, almost 200 Gold was transferred into the newly created Canadian National Bank. Upon Former Banking Minister John Wilkmots return of the National Bank of Canada to the eCanadian Government, control over the Canadian National Bank was transferred to C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S., and all funds within it were to serve as the agency's operational budget.

Operation ZEPPLIN
The new operational budget of C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. allowed it to invest and independently fund itself. In the longest running operation of the organization, Operation ZEPPLIN, the Canadian National Bank began to purchase vast amounts of foreign currencies, and then selling off once the price of GOLD reached a profitable level. Operation ZEPPLIN lasted for five months, encompassed over a dozen different currencies, and funded the majority of C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. operations during that time.

Operation NELSON
In late June after the creation of the state of Slovenia, members of the Italian Government began preparations for an invasion of Slovenia. Unwilling to commit more troops to the proposed war given the nations current involvement in the Czech-Hungarian War, then-President Adam Sutler commissioned C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. to fund a covert assault upon Slovenia. In the weeks leading up to the attacks, C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. contacted various warriors in Spain, America, Indonesia, Ireland, Sweden and Britain in order to create a privately funded mercenary force. But with the Slovenian MPP with Sweden being signed within the first few days of July, and the conflict within Hungary turning into a Quagmire, Italy withdrew its invasion plans, and thus Operation NELSON was scrapped upon the orders of President Cottus Arci and; its funding being transferred to the newly formed Operation HELLFIRE.

Operation HELLFIRE
When Indonesia invaded South Africa, the official eCanadian policy was that of neutrality born out of necessity. U.S.- Canada relations had warmed considerably, but the two nations found themselves on opposite sides of the Czech-Hungarian War. Despite the war effort, certain segments of the eCanadian population, particularly groups of Aussie resistance fighters, increased pressure to aid South Africa. C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. was thus contracted to aid in the fight against the eIndonesians in order to maintain the balance of power, and keep the expanding Indonesian Empire into South America. C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. began sending agents and monetary assistance into the eUnited States, subsidizing the assaults of various mercenaries directly, and powerful eAmerican fighters such as Emerick and Benn Dover indirectly. The operation was aborted once the war in South Africa was paused by the Admins, as the war in Hungary was starting to spin out of control.

Operation BACKLASH
After the U.S.- Canada war, many eCanadians maintained a personal grudge against then eUSA President Nave Saikilliah, and the feeling seemed to be mutual. The Czech-Hungarian war marked the largest deployment of Mediterranean Alliance Troops since the U.S. - Canada war, and a vindictive Nave soon became involved in the conflict. Using the vast amounts of Gold at his command, Nave personally assaulted and captured several eHungarian territories, including the capital of Budapest. With the former-President's assault threatening to shift the balance of power into the hands of the Czechs, eCanadian President Adam Sutler formed Operation BACKLASH to counter Nave's attack. Funds were transferred to a half dozen mercenaries on C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S.' payroll, with the vast majority of which going to eRepubliks newly minted General, Alucard Bloodlust. Alucard and the other mercenaries joined the joint M.A. defense of remaining Hungarian territories, and assisted in the recapture of all former Hungarian territory captured by Nave.

Operation DRAGNET
When the one-man invasion known as the Jaytlez Multies came to eCanada, C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. initiated Operation DRAGNET, designed to investigate, locate, and report multi-accounters in eCanada. DRAGNET was successful in the short term by reporting many of the multis, aiding the public efforts of Cottus Arci and Banach in that endeavor.

Operation WORKHORSE
The suspension of the entire War Module by the Admins in September-October caused a massive global depression stemming from the near destruction of consumer demand. Without even the threat of warfare to boost demand, manufacturers of weapons, gifts, and moving tickets quickly began to approach bankruptcy. Unwilling to squander the eCanadian budget upon government bailouts and loans, President Cottus Arci instead commissioned C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. to initiate a long-dormant plan for economic recovery: Operation WORKHORSE. WORKHORSE involved the widespread distribution and utilization of C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S.' own operating budget to create an artificial boost in demand. From the halting of the War Module to the release of Version 1, Operation WORKHORSE spent anywhere between 1000-2500 CAD per day on the purchase of excess produce from eCanada's top four employers: Sutler Industries, Enzorek Cooperative/Corporation, Wessex Organization, and Yellowknife Industries. The Canadian National Bank was used to purchase vast quantities of Gifts from the domestic marketplace, and distribute them to eCanada's working population in an effort to maintain productivity and wellness, and in so doing establishing the largest eCanadian gift-bombing operation in the nation's history. WORKHORSE was maintained during the transfer of power to President Banach, and certain members of the Canadian Rangers were granted "private loans" from the Bank in order to store a large cache of Q2-4 weaponry and moving tickets until the war module could be reinstated. By the time V1 was released, C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. had spent the equivalent of over 2000 Gold on Operation WORKHORSE, and thus had expended the vast majority of its operational budget.

Transfer of Power
With the release of V1, Former President and Director of C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. Adam Sutler resigned his position and announced his retirement from the game itself, transferring control of the organization to its new Director, Cottus Arci. Until then C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. was tied to the eCanadian presidency, but with the resignation of President Banach and the disappearance of Deputy Prime Minister Latro, C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S.’ chain of command began to fall apart. To counter this internal crisis, Arci reorganized the formerly centralized organization by adding a council of former Cabinet Ministers and its most effective field agents, dubbed “The Board of C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S.,” in order to plan the organizations future operations.

Due to the usually aggressive & hostile nature of the CPF campaign against former-President & New Director of C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S., Cottus Arci, the newly formed Board of C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. determined that C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. should detach from the Government of Canada. The C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. board determined that the unstable new government, particularly certain leaders would compromise the security of the organization and its agents by revealing its existence to the General Public. Under Arci's direction, C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. continued its passive intelligence and multi-scouting operations. But with dwindling financial resources and several of its former agents leaving the game in protest over V1, Arci and the Board determined that the organization could not continue its day to day operations for much longer. Upon Arci’s suggestion, the Organization set about its last hurrah, two designed to liberate eAustralia.

Operation M.I.A.L.S.I.A.W.
Director Arci quickly gained a high-established position in the resistance preparation, due to his efforts, experience and of course his access to supplies & funds for the war. Some 250 Q4 weapons & 100 Q2 weapons of C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. companies were in the hands of the Australian Resistance Forces in the failed First Battle of New South Wales. The war failed due to lack of promised aid from A.T.L.A.N.T.I.S. and Indonesia's clever use of exploiting the peak time zones of various Resistance forces. The failure of Operation M.I.A.L.S.I.A.W. was a major setback in the conclusion of the C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. legacy.

Operation EUREKA
Working in conjunction with an official Australian Resistance Operation, code named ESKY (where the vast majority of known eAustralians worked for minimum wage at various pro-Resistance Companies in order to secure massive stockpiles for the next war), Arci took a page from the C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. historical playbook and initiated Operation EUREKA. It was almost an exact replica of Operation CERBERUS, in that C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. used what remaining resources they had left to buy up Indonesian market supplies and cause a massive inflation in namely the food, gift, weapon & iron industries. The double-edged Weapon/Iron campaign along with high Indonesian demand was the most effective and it's estimated some 90% of Indonesian produced Iron went to a single C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. company.

Disbanding
Operation EUREKA was in essence a success, but the unthinkable happened when Australia & Indonesia managed to secure a peaceful settlement, giving Australia 2 initial regions, a 3rd after one month of "good behavior" and a view to additional regions upon the same terms.

However after several exhausting operations in quick succession, C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. was certainly almost drained completely of its resources. C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S. underwent a reshuffle, consolidating many of it's companies and selling others to regain collateral & pay off loans used for it's recent Operations. However in it's final board meeting, Arci and the Board decided it necessary to disband their collective operations as it's Director Arci wanted to pursue his "public" Australian political ambitions, which quickly saw him named as Deputy Prime Minister in December & Prime Minister in January.

With its board members quite exhausted and in need of a quieter life for the time being, no one was willing to take up the mantle of Director, and thus Cottus Arci quietly disbanded the organization, ending the nine-month legacy of C.E.R.B.E.R.U.S.