My Life as a PTOer PART 1

Day 2,352, 11:23 • Published in Belgium Belgium • by Manong Z


Jofroi recently published an article about his story and his rise to power. In it, he claims that "[he] and [his] friends have finally been able to get rid of most of the ATOers and took control of the country" after the long political battle that ensued after the liberation of Flanders in the New Era. However, I'd like to present a different story.

Since I am no longer an active member of this community, and my previous involvement was all in the past, I have decided to write about my story as a PTOer, yes as a PTOer, perhaps the most successful PTOer eBelgium has ever seen. I also realize that it really no longer matters at this point, and the statute of limitations should have already run over for my crimes, if there were indeed any.

It is a story that I have kept for so long, and a story only very few know. So here goes my unadulterated tell-all of what really happened during “The Beginning of a New Era”.



The Great Umbrella Enterprise (that no longer exists, tehee)


I was born in the eUSA. There, I managed to become a member of the Umbrella Corporation that held a small but significant amount of political power. Its leaders, Don Keedick and Drake Koeth, were wealthy business owners who held a slew of successful companies and enormous amounts of gold. With their financial capability, not only were they able to make the Umbrella Research Party a viable political force, they were able to recruit many people to do their bidding. I was one of those people.

I started out as a mere low-level Umbrella spy. I was stationed in the eUK, and my primary objective was information gathering. I also did a little bit of political sabotage in some small political parties. Indeed, such affairs were petty and most utterly insignificant; however, through them, I was able to rise up through the ranks of the Umbrella Corp., later becoming the Director of Foreign Recruits, and ultimately an Elder, the highest rank below the CEO.



The Restructuring of Umbrella


Like most organizations, and many small nations in eRepublik, Umbrella was having a hard time with member-retention. We had a network of spies, but only few were actually active in intel gathering, most just wanted the affiliation to Umbrella due to its popularity in real-life. As Director of Foreign Recruits, I was in charge, among other things, of finding new ways to increase member-retention.

At this time, Umbrella’s political wing, the Umbrella Research Party was also losing members. Don Keedick, the founder, also went into inactivity without sharing the passwords to Umbrella-owned organizations that held most of Umbrella’s accounts to the other Directors. Fortunately, with the dedication of Drake Koeth, the new CEO, Umbrella was able to barely survive.

But with dwindling resources and man-power, Umbrella was doomed to fail.



The Belgian Invasion (That’s right!)


Around the time of the restructuring of Umbrella, EDEN (formerly Atlantis) was planning to liberate eBelgium from its union with eNetherlands to prop a puppet government. This operation was carried out by the Romanian group called The Group, and eUSA’s American Seal Team 6 led by Rod Damon. I, of course, got a wind about this.

Thinking of Umbrella’s future, I approached the board of Directors and proposed that Umbrella should also take advantage of the coming invasion. Though Umbrella was in a decline, we still had sufficient manpower and resources to pull off a political take-over. We also will not have to spend a dime in funding the resistance as EDEN will be doing that.

The plan was simple. As changes in game mechanics concerning citizenship at this time were not yet made, one was able to easily become a citizen of a newly liberated nation. Thus, once EDEN liberates Flanders at their expense, Umbrella forces were to sweep in, and gain a strong political presence in eBelgium. If Umbrella were to divert the majority of its manpower to this operation, eBelgium could effectively become Umbrella’s very own puppet state. With this control, Umbrella could easily plunder eBelgium and add funds to the declining Umbrella accounts. In addition, EDEN would also not be so butt-hurt about it since Umbrella was aligned to the eUSA. In fact, they may even let us keep eBelgium and support Umbrella’s control over the nation as such aligned to EDEN’s interests.

The Board of Directors, however, were skeptical to change. The recent restructuring of the enterprise made them weary of overextending our dwindling resources. Thus, they were incapable of taking risks. However, I was not discouraged. I was certain that this was the only way for Umbrella to survive. Umbrella can easily gain a lot of money by plundering eBelgium’s treasury and future tax incomes. The novelty and excitement of the invasion will also increase member-retention. Still, the Board of Directors refused.

But I was insistent. Thus, I formed my own invading force. As Director of Foreign Recruits, I was able to gather a few of the new recruits, among them are people that the eBelgian community has grown and loved over the years namely M.Leviathin (who will later become the last CEO of Umbrella) and RayCaptain.

However, little did we know that our aspirations of plunder will soon turn to love and dedication to the very nation that we hoped to conquer.



PART 2 COMING SOON!
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P.S. M.Leviathin joined my efforts to just troll around, and RayCaptain joined later on (though still under the shade of the already-obsolete Umbrella).